Chapter 1
I had no parents from birth.
It means I'm an orphan.
Nothing particularly strange about that.
Even just looking at the internet, it's overflowing with guys who look like they don't have a mother or father, so why would it matter that I don't have any in real life?
Anyway, generally speaking, actual orphans like me start worrying about how to make a living as soon as they leave the orphanage.
But I'm different.
Not because I'm a legendary orphan, or an SSS-rank orphan.
"Where should we go?"
I smiled at the taxi driver's question. His hair was so white that calling it merely graying felt embarrassing.
"The red-light district—no, let's go to Gangwon Land."
"Um... sonny. I'm only saying this because you remind me of my own son, but if you start going to places like that while you're young, you won't come to any good."
There was goodwill and concern in the taxi driver's voice.
But I shook my head.
Eventually, the taxi set off in silence, and when it stopped in front of a huge building, he tried to dissuade me once more.
Goodwill should be repaid with goodwill.
So I looked at him and said,
"Mr. Yang Gojung."
"...Yes? How did you know my name... Ah. The driver's license..."
"You're fifty-one. You lost your parents when you entered middle school, then joined the workforce without continuing your education to support your two younger siblings."
"Uh..."
"And at thirty-one, you met your current wife, Ms. Go Yeongju, and the two of you have two sons. Both of them grew up kindhearted, just like you, Mr. Yang Gojung."
"W-wait. Y-you... who..."
"You're a good person. That's why you don't hesitate to show kindness even to an orphan bastard like me. Thank you for worrying about me. So, out of concern for you, let me give you a word of advice. Mr. Yang Gojung, don't drive tomorrow evening. Get plenty of rest."
I smiled at him as his face went pale.
"You'll be robbed."
"...What?!"
I gave him another smile as I met his startled, puzzled expression, then got out of the taxi.
Yeah.
What am I hiding?
I can see other people's pasts and futures.
.
.
.
The first time I saw another person's past and future was the day after my departure from the orphanage was decided.
When I woke up, I saw something strange.
I could see the past—and even the future—of the guy who shared my room.
Just to be sure, I asked him about it, and all the past events I'd mentioned had really happened to him.
So I told him.
Next year, after leaving the orphanage, he would grow despondent over life, kill someone, and end up in prison.
So I told him.
Life wasn't fucking much, so he shouldn't be too pessimistic.
We couldn't change the fact that we were parentless bastards, but he shouldn't develop an inferiority complex over it.
Just look at the League of Legends he loved. How many people live as though they're there but don't exist?
So don't cower. Live your life.
That was all the advice I gave him, just a few words, but his future changed.
That's how I learned
that human fate isn't predetermined.
The past that has already happened can't be helped, but the future that hasn't happened can be changed as much as 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 immediately applied for independent living.
And I received an independent-living settlement grant.
Ten million won.
It was seed money I could receive thanks to all you grateful citizens who diligently pay your taxes.
Of course, that isn't enough to get even a tiny room with a deposit lease.
Naturally, I wasn't thinking about monthly rent.
So what was I going to do with it?
That's exactly why I'm at Gangwon Land right now.
"Wow..."
I can't help but marvel.
It's not simply because this is my first time seeing a casino.
Even after seeing countless fates as wretched as sewers while living at the orphanage, this place is truly hell.
No, how can every future I see be nothing but garbage?
That man over there will kill himself three years from now, the other man walking over there will kill himself in two, and that woman over there will become a robber who threatens someone with a knife next year before getting caught and sent to prison.
It's one hell of a mess.
I almost want to bring over the kids from our orphanage who were pessimistic about their futures.
"Hmm..."
Well, that's that.
Let's play.
Let's take only enough to put down a deposit on a two-room place.
When I went to the roulette tables, there were people gathered all over.
Looking into their fates, I saw that some would win and some would lose.
Then all I had to do was bet according to their fates.
My plan was to bet alongside the winners and grow my capital.
And so, after waiting several hours, when my turn finally came,
I started playing right away.
"Oh-ho..."
Apparently, foreigners had a maximum bet of twenty million won.
But as a proud Korean, my maximum is only three hundred thousand won.
How many games will I have to play to turn three hundred thousand won into fifty million?
Phew... I guess I'll get there if I keep at it.
A few hours after I started playing with that thought in mind,
I came to a realization.
This isn't something a person should do.
It wasn't simply because I had to sit there for so long.
As my victories kept piling up, the fates of the people around me changed.
At first, it was only one person.
[H-heh, hehehe. Y-you won this money gambling anyway, didn't you? It's free money, right? So... i-it's okay if I lose a little, right? Huh? Huh?]
Along with that preposterous self-justifying excuse,
he was holding a knife dripping with blood, and I was lying in front of him, bleeding.
And the next day,
he came back to the casino with the money he'd robbed from me, only to be arrested.
Ugh.
I should remember that guy's face.
Thinking that, I continued the game.
And I realized.
The fates of the people around me were changing because of my victories.
One, two, three.
Some were jealous.
Some were envious.
Some were despairing.
The more obvious my victories became, the more those clinging emotions they displayed changed their futures.
Making money this way is insane.
If I keep going, I'm really going to get stabbed and killed.
"You've won."
That's why I took only half the chips and put them in my bag.
Fifteen people.
The gazes of the fifteen gambling degenerates whose fates had been changed by me fell on me.
"Um, sir. What about the rest of the chips..."
"I only take half the money I win. Do whatever you want with the rest—give it to the people playing here or don't."
Now I understood why Goni only took half the money he won.
When I left without a second thought, leaving half the chips behind, the fates of fifteen people changed.
Instead of killing me and taking my winnings, they turned their eyes to the unclaimed chips.
Whew. I'm not even going to piss in this direction again.
.
.
.
I left the casino.
I took only half of my winnings, but I still made about ten million won.
That was enough to trade a semi-basement monthly rental for a first-floor one.
So what should I do next?
Should I work odd jobs while waiting for an opportunity?
I was thinking that as I idly fiddled with an old cell phone in a rented room at an inn.
[Short-Term Tarot Café Part-Time Job Recruitment]
[Seeking a part-time worker to run a tarot café for an event at Sagniel Hotel in Seoul.]
[Daily pay: 200,000 won / Experienced applicants preferred]
[Number of recruits: 1]
Damn.
The daily pay is 200,000 won?
What a sweet deal.
From the description, it looked like all I had to do was sit around and run my mouth.
With me short even a single penny right now, there was no way I could pass up a part-time job paying 200,000 won a day.
I'm going right away.
As soon as I applied, a text message arrived on my phone a little later.
It asked whether I could come in for an interview tomorrow, if possible.
Tomorrow.
I don't know much about tarot cards, but I can cram them today and go tomorrow.
And so, the next day.
Once I'd finished preparing, I headed to the event company where the interview was being held.
"What brings you here?"
I had assumed it would be a small place since they called it an event company, but it was fairly large.
After I went in and waited, a man in his mid-twenties came out a little later.
"Hello. My name is Kang Noa."
"Ah... Nice to meet you. I'm Jung Yuchan, in charge of hotels at Orwen Events. You're young. Do you have any experience with tarot cards?"
"I've studied the Major and Minor Arcana."
Though it was nothing more than cramming.
"I see. What matters isn't the cards so much as how you treat people."
"Haha. I suppose you're right."
"I believe fortune-telling is all about authority."
"Authority?"
"Yes. Seeking a fortune means you're anxious about your future. To ease that anxiety and offer guidance about the future, I believe you need to make it clear that you're in a higher position."
That made sense.
Telling someone's future meant guiding them.
So you needed authority and dignity.
"We can provide a few days of training on that as well. If you do well at this part-time job, you might even become a full-time employee."
Not bad.
"What would the salary be if I became a full-time employee?"
"We work on commission, so... the base salary would be about this much..."
Not bad.
Of course, it was nowhere near what I could make at a casino, but it was enough to live on without trouble.
But I wasn't particularly interested in becoming a full-time employee.
I had plans of my own.
"Anyway, shall we start the interview right away?"
He smiled and held out a tarot card to me.
"Would you like to read my fortune with tarot cards? It doesn't matter whether you're right or wrong."
He said matter-of-factly that what mattered was the presence to overwhelm the other person and the bearing of a fortune-teller.
And he said he would watch me and correct me.
In that case...
I roughly shuffled the cards, then laid them out in three piles, just as I'd seen yesterday.
"The left is the past, the middle is what concerns you, and the right is the future."
He turned over the card on the left.
Fool
It was the Fool card.
Generally, it signified a new beginning.
A new beginning.
I gazed intently at the card.
Then I slowly looked at Jung Yuchan.
I can see it.
His past.
His future.
His fate was appearing before my eyes like an illusion.
In that case, I could just loosely tie it to the card and spin an appropriate story, right?
"Mr. Jung Yuchan. You've liked receiving attention from other people since you were young."
"...Yes?"
"The cause must go back to when you were in elementary school. Surely... it was because your first love liked people who were fun."
"....."
Jung Yuchan's expression hardened.
"But you had no talent. The only thing you could do was show off your foolishness to win her attention. There was nothing wrong with that, but it became the pillar that ruled your life."
Jung Yuchan.
Thirty-three years old.
He had joined an event company because of a compulsion etched into him since childhood: the need to make other people laugh.
"W-wait a moment, Mr. Kang Noa."
"Because of that, you were bullied in middle school."
"....!!"
Jung Yuchan sprang to his feet.
I looked straight at him.
Fortune-telling is authority.
I'm merely describing what I see, but to them, it means experiencing an inexplicable mystery.
So.
There was no reason to avoid the eyes of someone who had leapt to his feet in shock.
So I looked directly into his eyes and said,
"Mr. Jung Yuchan."
"....."
"I will change your fate."
As I said that, I tapped the deck.
He stared blankly at the stack of cards.
His hand
was moving toward the future.