Chapter 52
The next morning, Yoo Se-chan led me to a fortune-teller's in Incheon.
Beside a building that looked like a remodeled tile-roofed house was a vast parking lot, and every car occupying it was a luxury model.
Despite its fairly remote location, nearly a hundred people were waiting outside nearby, bowing, praying, and muttering something over and over.
This made the sign announcing “Ten groups a day, 100% reservation-only” seem utterly pointless.
“It looks like even the people scheduled for this evening have all come already.”
“And probably people who aren't supposed to come for several days, too.”
“Huh?”
“The logic is that coming early and waiting shows that much devotion, and the ancestral spirits will recognize it.”
“I see.”
This wasn't even an overnight line for a subculture event, so seeing well-off people behaving like that was bizarre.
I also wondered if this was what one had to do to obtain something money couldn't buy.
At the entrance, I looked up and saw a sign proudly declaring, ‘Mine Philosophical Hall.’
A search online revealed that it was famous throughout the country, not merely in the local area, for its accuracy.
Apparently, a man named Sim Bak-su could manipulate the secrets of heaven, or something like that. Not a single thing he had said had ever failed to come true.
Even so, I thought that was an excessive exaggeration—until I saw the price and understood.
…At five million won for ten minutes of consultation, of course he had to be accurate. If he weren't, that price would have prompted a scandal long ago.
When we opened the door, a neatly dressed man greeted us.
“Have you made a reservation? Everyone on today's list has already entered, but….”
“Tell him the Reverse Walker (逆行者) has arrived, and he'll understand.”
Upon hearing the words ‘Reverse Walker,’ the man nodded and went inside.
“All reservations from today onward are postponed indefinitely. All deposits have been refunded, and we'll contact you once the schedule has been sorted out.”
A short while later, with an employee's guidance, every customer inside and outside the building was ordered to leave.
Those ordered to leave were initially confused or angry, but before long, they either accepted it or gave up and left the fortune-teller's.
It was a sight where the phrase ‘the customer is king’ clearly didn't apply.
“You must be quite the big shot.”
“Are you any less so, if a big shot like that has to be summoned for your sake?”
Yoo Se-chan shot back the question in a sly voice.
Personally, I wanted to live as an inconspicuous salaried worker rather than receive special treatment.
“Come in!”
A forceful roar from a middle-aged man came from inside.
Although the main hall had to be a fair distance away, the voice struck my ears like thunder.
“…I'll show you in.”
I followed the employee inside.
The walls were densely covered with photographs of Sim Bak-su alongside celebrities and powerful figures from the political and business worlds.
The strange thing was that no matter how intently I stared, I couldn't tell what Sim Bak-su's face looked like.
Despite his distinct features, the moment the photograph disappeared from my field of vision, nothing came to mind.
The instant I looked away, it felt as though his face had been carved out of my memory.
By the time the smell of incense, growing stronger with every step, had become dizzying, we arrived before a door.
“Tell them I'll close the door until it's time to light the incense again.”
“Understood.”
“You two, come in.”
The room beyond the sliding paper door was more lavish than I had expected.
Dozens of lotus lanterns hung from the ceiling, while paintings of unknown guardian deities densely covered the walls.
An incense burner, candlesticks, and small dolls sat on the table.
An old man stood at the center of the room.
He wore clothes combining the red and blue associated with shamans.
In contrast to his wrinkled skin, he held his back perfectly straight, and his eyes were full of keen intelligence.
His appearance alone was enough to explain why people called him someone who could manipulate the secrets of heaven.
“You insolent brat.”
He shouted at me when he saw me.
“Yes?”
“When you see an elder, you should greet him first. Why are you staring so rudely?”
“I'm sorry.”
The old man looked at me with pity and clicked his tongue repeatedly.
“If he'd lived without knowing anything, he would've enjoyed a natural lifespan of a hundred years, but he doesn't realize he's cutting his own lifeline into pieces, tsk tsk….”
“I told you not to let a Management Bureau employee look at him carelessly.”
“Then you shouldn't have brought him.”
“Good grief.”
The old man firmly shot down Yoo Se-chan's words.
“Park Ppit-pi, this is Elder Sim Bak-su. He's a gifted shaman. Elder, this is our youngest.”
“Hello.”
“I told you to pause once after ‘Sim,’ too.”
“Let's overlook the small things, okay? This is urgent.”
Sim Bak-su sighed deeply at Yoo Se-chan's words.
“I thought I told you the Bureau had no business interfering in matters of the afterlife.”
“I also said there was an exception when an entity was consuming souls.”
“Are you sure?”
“With my life on the line.”
“Sit.”
After confirming that Yoo Se-chan sat down first, I sat down as well, only for rice grains to suddenly fly into my face and stick there.
“Ow, that stings!”
I hurriedly tried to brush the rice off my face, but for some reason, the grains stuck to me wouldn't come off.
“What terrible malignant energy. Such terrible malignant energy….”
Sim Bak-su furrowed his brow.
“You're a child who must have had a great deal clinging to you, not just today but normally as well.”
“We have totems on our team, so they probably kept it at bay. This just happened to blow up when I was taking over from them.”
“Totems?”
I asked because I thought he was referring to the team leader, but the answer was an unexpected name.
“The team leader and Kang Chae-young. The latter comes from a family of shamans going back generations. She herself isn't one, though.”
“Is the fact that the team leader so often remains alone at the branch also a personnel assignment based on that?”
“You could see it that way. Of course, it's not just the two of them who make use of the totems—entities exploit them, too.”
With a promise to explain the rest later, Yoo Se-chan turned his gaze toward Sim Bak-su.
“You won't be able to solve it, will you?”
“No.”
“Is there anywhere we could ask for help?”
“The Exorcist Order, Shamanic Council, Dharma Masters' Association, and Spirit Requiem Society will all shake their heads.”
After hearing Sim Bak-su's words, which he practically spat out, Yoo Se-chan tapped my forehead with his middle and index fingers together.
“Forgive me, Park Ppit-pi. Looks like we'll have to do the dirty work ourselves.”
Apparently, he couldn't bear to watch the Black Priests' Order perform an exorcism, even if it killed him.
I did feel like I was being dragged around, but it was difficult to coldly refuse the request of someone who had saved me from danger and vomited a bowlful of blood.
“So if I refuse, Senior and I die, and if I join in, things will somehow turn out for the better?”
“Of course. Not a single operation I've participated in has ever failed.”
“That's reassuring.”
“If you two are going to keep talking, take this and get out.”
While I was accepting my senior's proposal, Sim Bak-su handed a note to each of us.
“What is it?”
“Information about where you two need to go.”
“Won't it be troublesome if we get involved? Is it all right to just give us this?”
“The generals say it'll be a disaster if we don't help, so what choice do I have, you little punk?”
Sim Bak-su's gaze turned toward the paintings of the guardian deities behind him.
As he was a shaman, he seemed to prioritize the words of the gods he served over treaties or the rules of organizations.
“What did you give me?”
“How would I know? I didn't write it. Open it when you think you're about to die.”
Upon hearing that it had been written by a general spirit rather than Sim Bak-su, I carefully put the note in my pocket.
In general, you had nothing to lose by listening to your elders.
Especially when those elders were people who could manipulate the secrets of heaven.
***
“I will remain and live. I will remain and live. I will remain and live.”
“I will remain and live. I will remain and live. I will remain and live.”
A meeting hall in Seoul.
In the auditorium, hundreds of people had their hands clasped and knelt before tables laden with food, repeating the same words over and over.
“Isn't it amazing? They say it's all an act for accumulating merit.”
A woman smiled proudly as she showed me the scene, the resonance created by everyone keeping the same rhythm reverberating throughout the auditorium.
“Is it really possible to share merit with one's family just by believing?”
“Of course. You came into contact with our Bonhyang Haewondang because you received the merit your family members accumulated, too.”
“I see.”
“You'll feel it a little more deeply after hearing the other members' testimonials later. What do you think?”
“I'll participate.”
I mechanically nodded at the woman's proposal, as she actively urged me to take part in the event.
I had no enthusiasm for it, but I had to participate in everything anyway to understand the situation.
The name written on the note Sim Bak-su had given Yoo Se-chan was that of a religion.
Bonhyang Haewondang, a new religion whose influence had been rapidly expanding recently, centered around Seoul.
It taught the absurd-sounding doctrine that after death, one's soul wandered the living world and could pass the merit accumulated during life on to one's family.
The problem was that this absurd doctrine was actually possible.
If a person believed that they would wander the living world after death, their soul would remain after they died.
And someone was offering those souls to an entity.
It was impossible to know what the offered souls were being used for, but considering yesterday's attack on the Management Bureau, it certainly wasn't for anything good.
In other words, the people praying with all their might for hours in the auditorium were….
“I will remain and live. I will remain and live. I will remain and live.”
They were doing their best to volunteer as food for an entity.
I learned why while listening to the testimonials that began after the prayers.
“I received my mother's merit.”
A middle-aged man standing on the stage was speaking through tears.
“For the past year, my business had been going downhill and my family had fallen on hard times. To make matters worse, my son had fallen ill with an unknown disease.”
Sighs poured from the crowd.
“But before my mother, who believed in this religion, passed away, she told me, ‘Everything will be fine. I'll make it that way,’ and then she died.”
The image on the screen changed. Two photographs appeared.
“Amazingly, good things began happening from the very next day. My business stabilized, and my son regained his health.”
Beside a photograph of a boy who had been emaciated and lying in a hospital bed was a contrasting photograph of the same boy with baby fat in his cheeks and a bright expression.
“It wasn't until I came here that I learned this was because my mother had shared her merit with our family.”
Exclamations erupted from all around the room.
“And I, too! I plan to accumulate merit for my family and the family my son will create in the future, so I can share it with them later!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Applause exploded along with the man's declaration.
“Everyone! Let us all remain and live! Let us accumulate merit with the mindset that we're giving our loved ones one great gift when we leave them!”
“I will remain and live! I will remain and live! I will remain and live!”
The auditorium was once again filled with the sound of prayer.
The faces of the believers who had heard the testimonial were positively radiant.
But there was only one person who couldn't smile: me.
An entity that consumed souls was not so merciful.
And this religion had only been created six months ago.