Chapter 85
***
The manager of Dazney Land's souvenir shop, Louise Aniwel, looked around with an expression that said the world was unbearably boring.
The people who came here were enjoying their visit to this land of dreams and fantasy.
But to the woman in her forties, this place was merely reality.
She worked here, received a paycheck, and had to feed her son and daughter with it.
To her, this place was the same mundane, repetitive routine day after day.
Their happiness, and her boredom.
A crack appeared in that ordinary, repetitive routine.
"Wow!!"
"Looks like there's some kind of event going on outside!!"
People were heading outside.
Could it be a parade?
But it wasn't time for the parade that passed through this area.
Puzzled, she asked another employee to watch the shop and went outside.
A dense line had formed outside the shop.
Beside the broken fortune-telling machine.
There, an Asian man was grinning as he held out cards, while the person who turned one over wore an astonished expression.
"Clemens. You'll get a C on this exam and your father will beat you up."
"Damn it...! Then what am I supposed to do?"
"What do you mean, what? Study."
"Isn't there anything besides that textbook answer?"
"Hmm... If you kill the professor, you won't get a C."
"...I'll study hard."
The woman beside him interpreted the man's words.
The fluent English flowing from her lips left the freckled college student in front of them crestfallen.
After he passed, the next person was a red-haired girl.
The girl smiled brightly and held out a toy, and the man who received it grinned back before shuffling and holding out his cards.
When the card was turned over, the man said calmly,
"Miss Lois. There is a boy you're interested in lately. His name is Brown, isn't it?"
"Oh, no!"
"You have to be honest with me."
"Ugh... Yees..."
The girl, who looked about ten years old, nodded slightly.
Her face was flushed, and she twisted her body shyly.
She was the very picture of a girl in love.
Who on earth was that man, and how had he figured that out?
"Brown likes you too."
"Really?!"
"Yes. He's just too shy to confess. So confess first. A courageous woman wins the handsome man. Ah. And you know you have a rival, right? Jessie likes Brown too."
"That bitch Jessie!! Even though she said she didn't!"
"Hey. You said you didn't either, Miss Lois. When it comes to winning at love, you have to be ruthless."
Was that really something to say to a ten-year-old girl?
But the girl was nodding with utmost seriousness.
"Dating him is fine, but it would be best to keep it a secret."
"...Yees. Actually, that's what Dad said. He told me never to date a boy... that Remington, Dad's one and only friend, would get angry. But who's Remington?"
"The shotgun in your father's bedroom."
The girl nodded seriously.
The next person was an old man who appeared to have come with his grandson.
The old man, who was holding his grandson's hand tightly, spoke.
"Heh heh. I never thought I'd have my fortune told at my age. Actually, I came because I was more curious about my grandson than myself..."
"Haha. Since you're here, let's have a look at yours too."
Then he held out a card.
When the old man turned it over, he chuckled.
"Mr. Clemens. You grow cherries."
"Huh!"
"You're thinking of replacing the Bing cherries you're growing now with Tulare cherries, aren't you?"
"I-I am!! How did you know? What will happen?"
"You'll go bankrupt."
"Gasp..."
"I can see you regretting in the future that you should have planted Rainier instead of Tulare."
"Good heavens... That's right. I'm debating between Tulare and Rainier. But why will Tulare fail?"
"I don't know that myself. I'm not a farmer. You know cherry farming better than I do... If you're really curious, why not plant Tulare on one side of the field and Rainier on the other?"
"Hmm... I see. But if I plant Rainier, will it do well?"
"Yes."
"Thank you!! If my cherry farm does well, I'll definitely send you cherries! Where should I send them?"
"Haha. You don't have to send me any."
"No. One must repay a kindness. Wizard, according to what you said, I'll suffer a huge loss. But judging by what you've shown so far, you're the real deal. If that means avoiding a huge loss, it's not too much at all. About 1,000 pounds..."
Perhaps he wasn't used to pound units, because he took out his phone.
Then he said, bewildered,
"Wait, are you sending almost 500 kilograms?"
"Actually, that still seems a little short to me."
"Well, if they're cherries from your farm, I suppose it isn't that much."
"Right? In that case, I suppose 3,000 pounds would be appropriate."
"That's too much!"
After bickering for a while, they finally agreed on 1,000 pounds, and the old man happily laughed as he stepped away.
The fortune-telling continued after that.
At the sight of it.
Without realizing it, Louise joined the line.
After quite some time, it was her turn.
The line was long, but each reading ended quickly.
"Oh. The manager of this shop has come too."
Using the interpreter's voice, the man grinned and said,
Louise nodded slightly, and the man—
the one called Kang Noah—held out a deck of cards to her.
When she turned one over, it was the Chariot reversed.
"Ms. Louise Aniwel. You have a son and a daughter."
"...Yes."
"Before coming to work this morning, your son stepped on a toy car, fell, and hurt himself, didn't he?"
"...!!"
It was true.
Her lovable but troublesome son had teased his sister, then stepped on his sister's toy car and fallen.
Remembering how she had nearly been late after treating him, Louise stared at Kang Noah with astonished eyes.
"And you're worried because the rent has gone up recently..."
"...Yes!! Yes!!"
They had exchanged only a few words.
Yet her trust in this man was rising like crazy.
"Don't worry too much. Someone from upper management will call for you tomorrow or so."
"M-me? Why...?"
"To offer you a promotion. Of course, if you get promoted, you'll have less time to spend with your children."
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Getting promoted would be good.
But if that happened, she wouldn't have time to take care of the children, just as he had said.
"If that happens, ask your younger sister Kate to help. Kate needs money right now too, so she'll accept."
"...I-I see."
"Ms. Louise. I know you've always struggled because you don't have a husband. But you are a wonderful mother."
"....."
His warm words made her chest tighten with emotion.
She had raised her children alone ever since her husband died.
She had thought that was simply what she had to do.
"I am an orphan. I've lived without parents. Unlike me, your children, who grew up in your arms, are proud of you. Even if they don't show it."
"...Ahh."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
His matter-of-fact words were healing her heart.
"And when you go home today, something good will happen."
He didn't tell her what that good thing would be.
Louise rose from her seat as if bewitched.
Seeing several more people waiting behind her to have their fortunes told, she trudged back to her post.
After a while, the outside grew quiet, perhaps because he had left as well.
The parade that passed through this area.
The sight of that parade, which symbolized happiness and dreams,
the sight she had seen hundreds, even thousands, of times looked a little more splendid to her today.
After finishing her day's work, she clocked out.
Her heart fluttered slightly as she headed home.
What good thing could it be?
When she opened the door to her home, her heart was pounding with nervousness and excitement.
"Mom!!"
"Mooom~!"
Two lovely children were waiting for her.
"Mom! I got a hundred on my test today!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"Oh my!!"
It was just as he had said.
It was a small thing, but to her, it was an incredibly happy one.
The happiness of her two children filled her with joy.
"And... this!"
"What's this?"
"Hehe. Mom, you always work so hard raising us!"
It was a flower from her beloved daughter, Joan.
And James, her prickly but kind son, held out a small box.
It was a hairpin.
"Mom. Thank you for everything."
Those small gifts.
They made her heart even happier.
It was exactly as the wizard who had suddenly appeared at Dazney Land had told her.
***
Dreams and fantasies ended the moment we left Dazney Land.
The traffic's fucking awful.
The traffic jam was bringing us back to reality.
"You're incredible."
Linda, sitting in the driver's seat, said this to me as I looked at my phone in the back seat.
"What is?"
"Your way with words is incredible. You persuaded people at once and got them to accept your advice."
"Aw, anyone can do this much. I can see other people's pasts and futures, after all."
"Even so, getting them to accept it is another matter. How many people can't acknowledge reality even when it's right in front of them? Yet everyone believes and follows what you say, Mr. Kang."
"When words are how you make a living, this is just basic."
It was when I answered with a smile.
JJ, sitting in the passenger seat, picked up his phone.
"Good heavens. Mr. Kang, they're giving you a shout-out at Dazney Land!"
He showed me his phone.
"I can't really tell; it's in English."
Han Yu-na took his phone instead.
"The owner of Dazney Land called you a great magician worthy of respect for today's event and said he'd love to meet you if he gets the chance."
"Oh... I see."
"Are you going to meet him?"
"I don't know."
I thought for a moment, then smiled.
"We're going back to Dazney Land tomorrow anyway. If I get the chance to meet him, I will."
The next day.
A man was waiting politely in front of us as we made another early run for the opening.
He wasn't the owner of Dazney Land.
"I'm Simon Drain, secretary to Governor John Hopkins of Oregon."
The middle-aged white man looked at me seriously.
I held out the deck of cards toward him.
Flustered, he tried to say something, but I held out the cards again, and he sighed before turning one over.
"Mr. Simon. Please tell Governor John."
"Tell him what...?"
"A huge typhoon will soon hit Oregon and wreck half the state. If he handles the aftermath well, he may win the next election."