Chapter 1
I had no parents from birth.
In other words, an orphan.
There was nothing particularly strange about that.
Just look online and you’ll find plenty of guys who look like they never had any parents, so what’s the problem with not having real ones?
Anyway, when real orphans like me leave the orphanage, we usually start worrying right away about how we’ll make a living.
But I’m different.
It’s not because I’m a legendary orphan, or an SSS-rank orphan.
“Where to?”
I laughed at the taxi driver’s question. His hair was so white it was almost embarrassing to call it gray.
“To the red-light district—no, wait. Let’s go to Gangwon Land.”
“Uh... young man. I’m saying this because you remind me of my son, but if you start going to places like that when you’re young, nothing good comes of it.”
The taxi driver’s voice was full of goodwill and concern.
But I shook my head.
In the silence, the taxi eventually started moving, and when it stopped in front of a huge building, he tried to stop me once more.
Goodwill should be answered with goodwill.
So I looked at him and said,
“Mr. Yang Go-jung.”
“...Huh? My name... Ah. Um, my driver’s license...”
“You’re 51. When you entered middle school, you lost your parents and, without attending school, went out to earn a living for your two younger siblings.”
“Uh...”
“And at 31, you met your current wife, Go Young-ju, and now you have two sons. Both of your sons grew up as kindly as you did, Mr. Yang Go-jung.”
“W-wait a second. Y-you... who are you...”
“You’re a kind person. So you wouldn’t hesitate to share that kindness with an orphan punk like me. Thank you for worrying about me. So let me worry about you in return, Mr. Yang Go-jung. Don’t drive tomorrow evening. Stay home and get some rest.”
I smiled at him, now as white as a sheet.
“You’re going to get robbed.”
“...What?!”
I gave him one more smile at that expression of confusion and disbelief, then got out of the taxi.
Yeah.
No point hiding it.
I can see other people’s pasts and futures.
.
.
.
The first time I saw someone else’s past and future was the day after it was decided that I would leave the orphanage.
I woke up and saw something strange.
That roomie’s past—and even his future.
I asked just in case, and every past event I mentioned was exactly right.
So I told him.
This guy would leave the orphanage next year, then grow hopeless about life, kill someone, and end up in prison.
So I told him.
Life is fucking nothing special, so don’t be too pessimistic.
The fact that we’re parentless bastards can’t be changed, so don’t get all self-conscious about it.
Look at the LoL you like—there are tons of guys who live as if they’re not there even when they are.
So don’t be scared—just live.
I only gave him a few words of advice, and his future changed.
That told me.
Human fate isn’t set in stone.
You can’t change the past once it’s happened, but the future—if it hasn’t happened yet—can be changed however you like.
Once I learned that, I got a rough idea of how I should live.
So as soon as I became an adult, I applied to become independent.
And I received the self-reliance settlement grant.
A whole ten million won.
It was seed money I could get thanks to all you good citizens who diligently pay your taxes.
Of course, this was barely enough to cover the deposit on even a tiny room.
Obviously, I wasn’t even thinking about monthly rent.
So what was I going to do with it?
That was exactly why I was here at Gangwon Land right now.
“Wow...”
I couldn’t help but marvel.
It wasn’t just because I was seeing a casino for the first time.
I’d seen more than my share of real gutter-level fates while growing up in the orphanage, but this place was a true hell.
No, seriously, how can every future here be trash?
That guy over there will kill himself in three years, that guy over there in two, and that lady over there will become a robber threatening people with a knife in a year, then get caught and sent to prison.
It’s absolute chaos.
I almost wanted to bring the kids from our orphanage who were pessimistic about the future and leave them here.
“Hmm...”
Anyway, that’s that.
Let’s play.
Let’s just make enough to cover the deposit on a two-room apartment.
When I went to the roulette tables, there were a ton of people gathered there.
Looking at their fates, some won and some lost.
Then all I had to do was follow the winners and place my bets.
My plan was to follow the winners and keep building up my capital.
And so, after waiting a few hours for my turn to come,
I got right into the game.
“Oh-ho...”
I hear foreigners have a maximum bet of twenty million won.
As a proud Korean, my maximum is three hundred thousand won.
How long would I have to play to turn three hundred thousand won into fifty million?
Phew... I’ll manage if I just keep at it.
A few hours after I started the game with that thought,
I reached enlightenment.
This is not something a human should be doing.
It wasn’t just because I had to sit there for a long time.
As the wins kept piling up, people’s fates changed.
At first, it was just one person.
[H-hehehe. I-it’s money you won gambling anyway, right? Free money, right? So... i-it’s okay if you lose a little, right? Huh? Huh?]
And with that absurd excuse for self-justification.
In his hand was a knife dripping with blood, and in front of him, I was lying there bleeding.
And the next day.
He came back to the casino with the money he’d stolen from me and got caught.
Yikes.
I should remember that guy’s face.
Thinking that, I kept playing.
And then I realized.
My victories were changing the fates of the people around me.
One, two, three.
Some felt jealousy.
Some felt envy.
Some felt despair.
The more clearly my victories stood out, the more their sticky emotions changed the future.
Honestly, making money this way is insane.
If I kept going, I was really going to get stabbed to death.
“You have won.”
So I only took half the chips and put them in my bag.
Fifteen people.
The eyes of the ruined gamblers whose fates I had changed landed on me.
“Uh. Sir. The rest of the chips...”
“I only take half of what I win. Do whatever you want with the rest—give it to the people gambling here or not, your call.”
I think I understood why Goni only took half his winnings.
The moment I left without a second thought, leaving half the chips behind, the fates of fifteen people changed.
They turned their eyes to the ownerless chips instead of killing me and taking the money.
Phew. Let’s not even piss this way anymore.
.
.
.
I left the casino.
I only took half of what I won, but I still made about ten million won.
At this rate, I’d gone from a semi-basement monthly room to a first-floor monthly room.
So what next?
Should I work part-time for a while and wait for an opportunity?
I was thinking that while rummaging through my old phone in a cheap inn room.
[Tarot Cafe Part-Time Staff Wanted (Short-Term)]
[Seeking part-time staff to run a tarot cafe for an event at Seoul Sagniell Hotel.]
[200,000 won per day / Experienced applicants preferred]
[Hiring: 1 person]
Holy shit.
Two hundred thousand won a day?
That’s a sweet deal.
From the description, it looked like all I’d have to do was sit there and talk.
When I was this short on cash, I couldn’t pass up a part-time job that paid 200,000 won a day.
I’m going right now.
After I applied, a text message came to my phone a little later.
It asked if I could come in for an interview tomorrow if possible.
Tomorrow, huh.
I don’t really know tarot cards, but if I study hard today, I should be fine.
And so, the next day,
after getting ready, I headed to the event company where the interview was being held.
“How can I help you?”
I thought an event company would be just a small place, but it was pretty big.
I went in and waited, and after a while a man in his mid-twenties came out.
“Hello. I’m Kang Noa.”
“Ah... nice to meet you. I’m Jung Yoo-chan, in charge of the Orwen Event Hotel. You’re quite young. Do you have any experience with tarot cards?”
“I’ve studied the major and minor cards, at least.”
Though it was just cramming.
“I see. More than the cards, what matters is how you deal with people.”
“Haha. I suppose so.”
“I think divination is about authority.”
“Authority?”
“Yes. Seeing your fortune means you’re anxious about your future. To ease that anxiety and offer that future, I think you need to show that you’re in a higher position.”
Well, that made sense.
Seeing someone’s future is a way of guiding them, after all.
So you need authority and dignity.
“We can also give you a few days of training like this. If you do well at this part-time job, you might even become a full-time employee.”
Not bad.
“If I become a full-time employee, what’s the salary like?”
“We get paid through allowances, so... the base salary is around this much, and...”
Not bad.
Of course, compared to the casino it was nowhere close, but it was enough to make a living.
But I wasn’t especially interested in becoming a full-time employee.
I had my own plans, too.
“Anyway, shall we start the interview right away?”
He smiled and handed me the tarot cards.
“Would you try reading my fortune with these tarot cards? It doesn’t matter whether you get it right or wrong.”
What mattered, he said naturally, was the aura that could overwhelm your opponent—and the image of a fortune-teller.
And he’d correct me while watching what I did.
I shuffled the cards casually, then laid them out in three piles like I had seen yesterday.
“The left is the past, the middle is your concern, and the right is the future.”
He flipped over the left card.
Fool
It was the Fool card.
Generally, it signifies a new beginning.
A new beginning, huh.
I stared intently at the card.
Then I slowly looked at Jung Yoo-chan.
I can see it.
.
His past.
His future.
.
His fate was appearing before my eyes like a mirage.
Then I just had to tie that to the cards and spin a decent story, right?
“Jung Yoo-chan, you’ve liked getting other people’s attention since you were young.”
“...Pardon?”
“The cause must have been back when you were in elementary school. Surely... it was because your first love liked funny people.”
“.....”
.
Jung Yoo-chan’s expression stiffened.
.
“But you didn’t have the talent for it. All you could do was make a fool of yourself and buy her attention that way. That wasn’t wrong. But it became the pillar that governed your life.”
.
Jung Yoo-chan.
Thirty-three.
The reason he joined an event company was also because of an obsessive fixation carved into him when he was young—that he had to make other people laugh.
.
“W-wait a second, Mr. Kang Noa.”
.
“That’s why you were bullied in middle school.”
.
“....!!”
.
Jung Yoo-chan shot up from his seat.
I looked straight at him.
.
Divination is authority.
.
I was just saying what I could see, but to them it would be nothing but absurd mysticism。