[The Pandora's Ledger]
There are no secrets that last forever in this world.
Especially when the group sharing that secret is a bunch of attention-seekers who are practically dying to spill the beans.
Furthermore, humans possess an instinct that rivals the desire to reveal secrets.
It is the sense of superiority that comes with thinking, "I know something you don't."
The Ghost Experience Gallery, which would usually be filled with reviews of abandoned house explorations or analyses of spirit photos, was buzzing with a strange atmosphere from the crack of dawn.
The sun is high and you're still in bed? lol
You guys are going to regret this for the rest of your lives.
You just kicked away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Stars were literally pouring down on Taebaeksan Mountain last night.
Of course, you guys will never see a sight like that in your lives. Later.
If you argue, you're wrong.
Why? Because you didn't see it. lololol
(Pepe waving hands like crazy.gif)
└What kind of nonsense is this so early in the morning
└Did everyone who went to Taebaeksan take drugs together?
└It wasn't drugs, we saw the truth.
└Real lol. Those who didn't come yesterday don't deserve to be in the gallery. Leave.
└No, what did you see? Tell us!
└Can't tell you. The Gallery Admin told us to keep our mouths shut.
└Then why are you acting like this, you crazy bastard lol
└Acting like this is my freedom, and the content is a secret. Should've come if you were curious.
└(Reply) tq
The posts were divided into two distinct camps.
The "Victors" who had rushed to Taebaeksan Mountain at dawn, and the "Losers" who had slept soundly in their beds.
Title: So satisfying, lol
Title: Upvote if you're a victor lol
Title: Guessing the expressions of the losers who just woke up.jpg
The victors, following Kang Jinwoo's instructions, never spoke of the specific details. However, they cleverly, and quite annoyingly, teased the losers by dropping hints that they had experienced something extraordinary.
It was insane.
The screen and the real thing are completely different.
He was just standing there, and he was literally glowing.
Especially at the very end, wow.
My life is divided into before and after yesterday.
No questions.
└No, there's no content, what kind of review is this -_-
└No content is the review.
└They're going crazy among themselves
└Yeah~ You guys will never know~
└Is this collective gaslighting disgusting or what?
└lol
└haha
└No, seriously, what is it? Stop driving people crazy and just tell us
Even though everyone was keeping their mouths shut, the gallery was noisier than ever.
Title: Recovered 12 pieces of the jar lol
Title: I found the weird thing the Gallery Admin mentioned
Title: FFS, what is the Admin doing? The gallery is ruined
The victors giggled, exchanging slang that only they understood, while those who couldn't go to Taebaeksan writhed in alienation and hurled insults.
But the more they were insulted, the higher the victors held their heads.
Don't talk if you didn't go.
If you didn't see that yesterday, you're not a real ghost gallery member.
Just a lurker.
If you're annoyed, you know what to do, right?
└Ah, seriously
└Should've gone when the Admin held a knife to your throat and offered taxi fare lol
Because even those insults sounded like praise born of jealousy and envy.
Not CGI.
Not a hologram.
Not hypnosis.
It was just a miracle.
If you argue, you're right.
Keep living like that forever.
Because we saw the real thing.
└Ah, please, what is it!!!
└Curious? Should've come if you were curious lol
└You couldn't see it even if you gave all your money. Later.
└Should've come when the Admin offered taxi fare, tsk tsk
└Opportunity only comes to those who are prepared.
The Ghost Experience Gallery was going insane, but there was a clear hierarchy within it.
Those who shared the night at Taebaeksan, and those who did not.
It's not like you're some cult, why are you only talking about things you guys know.
What's the jar, what's the light!
Let me know too!
Please tell me... please...
I'm getting dizzy...
└Nope, not telling you~
└Hey, the Admin said it's a secret.
└If you're curious, pray that it appears in your dreams tonight and go to sleep lol
└(Pepe mocking image.jpg)
An invisible wall was heating up the gallery even more.
A penthouse in Gangnam, Seoul.
"Pfft!"
Kim Hyungseok, or rather, the Admin of the Ghost Experience Gallery, nearly spat out his coffee while looking at the monitor.
"Crazy bastards, they're really something else."
He clicked his tongue, but he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. His fingers, which were managing the bulletin board, moved busily.
[This post has been deleted.]
[This post has been deleted.]
[This user has been blocked.]
"Ugh, this guy is crossing the line. I said no specific mentions."
To keep his promise to the Gallery Admin, he mercilessly deleted posts that mentioned what happened at Taebaeksan, but...
Title: Upvote if you feel bad for the losers lol
He secretly left the posts that were "teabagging" the others.
"Upvoted!"
Because Kim Hyungseok was also an accomplice, one of the victors intoxicated by a sense of superiority.
"Honey, stop laughing. It's terrifying."
At that moment, Lee Mina, who had been sprawled on the bed, shook her head in disgust.
"Aren't you amused? Look at this. The ones who didn't go are dying of jealousy."
"Amused? Hardly... My legs are still shaking."
Lee Mina sighed and rubbed her face with both hands.
The events at Taebaeksan were too vivid to be a dream, and too unreal to be reality.
The souls of babies soaring into the sky.
The overwhelming power that crushed the shaman while she shed tears of blood.
She wondered if they were even the same species.
"What kind of person is he, really? He's not a shaman, and he's not a pastor."
She had asked her husband out of concern, but...
"I told you. The Gallery Admin is the real deal."
Kim Hyungseok replied triumphantly, as if there were no issues at all.
The fact that his judgment hadn't been wrong was more thrilling than when he had made tens of billions of won.
"So, did you send money to that 'real deal' person?"
When Lee Mina asked, Kim Hyungseok turned on his mobile banking app and showed her the screen.
"Of course. I sent it as soon as I got home."
[Transfer Complete: 50,000,000 KRW (Recipient: Kang Jinwoo)]
"50 million won? Are you crazy? Is it okay to send that much at once?"
"Don't worry. I handled the tax issues myself before sending it. My principle is to never inconvenience the Gallery Admin."
Kim Hyungseok added boastfully.
"I'd love to send him 5 billion won, but if I did that, the Admin might get caught up in troublesome matters, right? I have that kind of sense."
"Ugh, you're really something else."
To him, 50 million won wasn't just a donation.
It was a ticket to get on board with the Gallery Admin.
"But honey. What's that?"
"Ah, this?"
When Lee Mina pointed to an old, black leather ledger on the desk, Kim Hyungseok put his phone in his pocket and picked up the ledger.
"The Admin entrusted this to me. I found it in a suspicious safe while cleaning up the ritual hall yesterday, and when the Admin saw it, he just tossed it to me."
Kim Hyungseok recalled the memory of that dawn.
The Admin had glanced through the ledger and handed it to him without a moment's hesitation.
"You look somewhat smart, so organize this and let me know later."
At the time, Kang Jinwoo was merely offloading a tedious chore, but to Kim Hyungseok, it looked different.
'The Gallery Admin trusts me!'
In any case, Kim Hyungseok finished his recollection and stroked the ledger with an emotional face.
"Doesn't that mean he trusts me completely?"
"...I don't think so. Didn't you say you only finished elementary school? Didn't he just give it to you because he was annoyed?"
"Blasphemy!"
Lee Mina had carefully thrown a jab, but it didn't reach Kim Hyungseok's ears.
"The Admin trusted me and entrusted it to me. This is an opportunity!"
"So what is it? Is there something amazing written in it?"
"I was just about to open it."
Kim Hyungseok opened the ledger with a reverent heart.
"Let's see... who lined up for the Earthenware Bowl Granny."
But the moment he turned the first page.
"Huh?"
The smile vanished from his face.
[May 201X. OO Construction, Executive Choi. Praying for successful bid. 300 million KRW.]
Up to here, it was the content of a common ledger.
But as the pages turned, the weight of the names written down changed.
[September 201X. XX Party, Assemblyman Kim. Nomination confirmed. 500 million KRW.]
[January 202X. △△ Group, Vice Chairman Lee. Succession process. 1 billion KRW.]
The tips of Kim Hyungseok's fingers, turning the pages of the ledger, began to tremble.
"...Why are these names like this?"
The names written in the ledger were not merely local notables or nouveau riche.
A former minister who had retired and been forgotten.
An honorary chairman of a conglomerate who had stepped back from the front lines of management.
A former chief prosecutor who once controlled the South Korean prosecution.
The names of big shots who had decorated the front pages of the social, political, and economic sections of the news kept popping up one after another.
"Honey, what's wrong? Are they people you know?"
Ignoring his wife's worried question, Kim Hyungseok turned the pages as if possessed.
What was written in the ledger was not just a record of fortune-telling fees.
[Chairman Park, removal of competitor representative. 700 million KRW.]
[Success - Traffic accident]
[△△ Party, Assemblyman Lee. Political rival's downfall. 500 million KRW.]
[Success - Scandal leak]
[President Choi, whistleblower handling. 300 million KRW.]
[Success - Death by illness]
Someone's downfall, a suspicious accident, a sudden death.
All of them were results obtained through the sorcery of the Earthenware Bowl Granny, Park Chunja.
And what was even more shocking was.
[Incumbent Police Commissioner Nominee Park XX.]
This meant it wasn't just a record of the past.
'F***, what is this.'
Kim Hyungseok, who had opened Pandora's box, gasped.
This wasn't just a ledger. It was evidence of a massive cartel that moved South Korea.
But this was just the beginning.
"...What is this again?"
[January 202X. Tribute - The Root, 1 billion KRW.]
[June 202X. Tribute - The Root, 1.5 billion KRW.]
A ledger that contained not only records of receiving money but also records of sending enormous sums of money somewhere.
More than half of the money Park Chunja earned was flowing into a place called "The Root."
"1 billion? 1.5 billion?"
Kim Hyungseok's eyes widened.
He had been surprised by the shaman's income, but most of it was being paid as tribute to a place called The Root.
"Where is The Root? Is it a temple?"
"No, this isn't a place name."
When Lee Mina leaned in and asked, Kim Hyungseok swallowed hard.
Among shamans, "The Root" means the place where the spirit they serve descended, or their spiritual origin.
However, the "Root" used in this ledger didn't mean that.
It was a place of tribute.
It meant that even a big-shot shaman like Park Chunja was nothing more than someone's underling.
And the last page.
A phrase written in red ink made Kim Hyungseok's heart drop.
[Offering - Black Coffin Lord (12 Prince Ghosts)]
Not a tribute, but an offering.
In an instant, the jars that were at the Taebaeksan ritual hall came to mind.
The souls of the babies that were wailing.
'...That was the offering?'
Kim Hyungseok's hands were trembling.
"They're crazy. These guys are truly insane."
"Honey, what does that mean? What is an offering and what is the Black Coffin Lord?"
When Lee Mina asked in a terrified voice, Kim Hyungseok looked at his wife with a resolute face.
"Park Chunja was just the tail."
"What?"
"Even a shaman who had big shots controlling South Korea lining up for her was nothing more than someone's underling. This ledger is evidence of that massive food chain."
Kim Hyungseok's gaze fixed back on the last page of the ledger.
Black Coffin Lord.
The ominous and overwhelming energy felt just from the name.
If it was someone who controlled a shaman like Park Chunja, their true form might be a monster that transcended the category of humans.
"Honey, let's throw this away."
That was why Lee Mina grabbed Kim Hyungseok's arm.
"Let's burn it, or send it to the police anonymously. If we keep this, we'll be in danger too. You saw it too. Those people, they're people who wouldn't blink an eye at killing someone."
An extremely sensible reaction.
It's best not to get involved with such dangerous items.
However.
Thud.
"No."
Kim Hyungseok closed the ledger and hugged it tightly to his chest.
"What? Are you crazy?"
"Why would the Gallery Admin give this to me? He knew everything! He knew the weight of this ledger, and the true nature of the guys hiding behind it!"
"......"
"Don't know because I only finished elementary school? Don't know because I don't watch the news? Ha! That was the Admin's consideration and test to put us at ease, no, to test me!"
Kim Hyungseok's delusions had already gone beyond certainty and into the realm of faith.
"This is a declaration of war. The Admin is trying to wage war against this massive axis of evil that is gnawing away at South Korea. And he chose me, Kim Hyungseok, as the logistics officer for that war!"
The trash that Kang Jinwoo had tossed aside because it was annoying had become a holy relic and a mission for him.
"No, please stop writing novels! You'll really die if you keep this up!"
"I know the truth, I can't look away."
Lee Mina tried to stop him while crying, but Kim Hyungseok had already made his decision.
Standing in front of the window, he looked outside and muttered.
"Mina, I need to get another insurance policy."
"...Insurance?"
"Yeah. A whole life insurance policy. Find me one with the best death benefit."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden!"
Kim Hyungseok clenched his fist and grinned.
"If I happen to die heroically while fighting the forces of evil, use that money to open an Hermes store. But you know..."
He looked down at the Seoul cityscape outside the window and muttered in a voice as excited as a child the day before a picnic.
"...Wow, is this dopamine? This is insane. My heart is pounding harder than when my coins were mooning."
"This man is truly!"
Whether Lee Mina collapsed while grabbing the back of her neck or not, Kim Hyungseok took his phone out of his pocket.
And with familiar movements, he opened the chat room.
[Ghost Knight Order]
It was a room where the core members who had stayed until the end to help with the cleanup among the Taebaeksan expedition team were gathered.
Tick!
As soon as he registered the announcement, the chat window climbed rapidly.
-Scared?
-Scared?
-Scared?
-Hey, there's no exit door.
-Dangerous? Who cares lol
-Better to go to hell following the Admin than to go to the Han River lol
-Let's go with the heart of a beast
-Admin, if I die, is it covered by industrial accident insurance? If it is, I'm in.
-The Admin will resurrect us
-Ah lol, can't resist resurrection lol
-My brain has melted, I don't know the word 'danger'. Later.
-I'm standing by in just my underwear.
"Ugh, I'm the only sane person here. I have to do a good job."
Kim Hyungseok twisted the corners of his mouth up while looking at the chat window that was climbing like crazy.
Once they had tasted that brilliant and overwhelming miracle of Taebaeksan, they were people who could no longer return to their boring lives from before.