#065
At that moment, Jung Hwi-kyung was overwhelmed by the thought that he needed to run away.
It was an irrational judgment. The Kim Tae-pung concert was a place Hwi-kyung had wanted to come to, even committing the illegal act of buying scalped tickets. Moreover, it wasn’t just him; his grandmother Ok-ja was with him.
In this situation, it would be strange to run away from the Buddhist grandmother, leaving Ok-ja behind. This clearly wasn’t Hwi-kyung’s own thought.
Insufficient conditions:
Unless it was the system window’s idea.
Despite being capable of rational thought, his body trembled uncontrollably as if chilled. Hwi-kyung instinctively stepped back. Despite longing to meet the Buddhist grandmother, when actually facing her, an inexplicable fear arose.
“Hwi-kyung?”
Lee Gyo-ha, unaware of Hwi-kyung’s relationship with his great-grandmother, grabbed Hwi-kyung’s arm. Like when they first shook hands, an electric sensation stimulated Hwi-kyung’s nerve endings.
Did Gyo-ha really not know? For a brief moment, all sorts of doubts swirled in Hwi-kyung’s mind. Hwi-kyung had definitely told Gyo-ha about an old woman who called herself a bosal.
Yet Gyo-ha hadn’t said a word about his great-grandmother until now. If he had mentioned it even in passing, Hwi-kyung would have considered the connection between Gyo-ha and the Buddhist grandmother. After all, Gyo-ha was also involved in this regression, and there must have been a reason he was following Hwi-kyung.
However, Gyo-ha hadn’t said anything to Hwi-kyung. He might not have wanted to confuse Hwi-kyung by mentioning uncertain information, or he might not have remembered his distant great-grandmother, having lived in America.
There were plenty of reasons why Lee Gyo-ha might not have brought up his great-grandmother to Jung Hwi-kyung. If Gyo-ha hadn’t visited the hospital, Hwi-kyung wouldn’t have brought up family stories either.
But apart from logical understanding, an inexplicable sense of betrayal settled in Hwi-kyung’s heart. Why didn’t he tell me? Is he actually deceiving me? Maybe Lee Gyo-ha and that old woman are in cahoots. Could it be that even being a fellow regressor is actually a lie?
As someone prone to overthinking, Hwi-kyung’s small doubt quickly grew in his heart. The fear he felt after facing the Buddhist grandmother fueled negative emotions towards Gyo-ha.
Without a word, Hwi-kyung knocked away Gyo-ha’s hand holding him. I need to get out of here. That thought kept occurring to him. It was similar to the feeling he had when he tried to hang himself in the sixth cycle. He wanted to escape this situation somehow.
“Jung Hwi-kyung.”
Fireworks exploded from the stage equipment, signaling the start of the concert. The stage curtain lifted, and Kim Tae-pung, standing in the center, sang a famous trot song. Neither the soulful singing nor the video effects dominating the back of the stage registered in Hwi-kyung’s eyes.
“Jung Hwi-kyung!”
Would you like to regress?
All that filled Hwi-kyung’s vision was the system window with only ‘Y’ remaining. The system window flickered as if this was the last chance.
Ok-ja turned to look at Hwi-kyung with a worried face. Hwi-kyung, who was about to press ‘Y’ unconsciously, had to stop when his eyes met Ok-ja’s. This fear is not my own. That realization came to him again. Hwi-kyung looked at his trembling hand.
Gyo-ha grabbed Hwi-kyung’s shoulder once more. The warmth holding him felt uncomfortable, and Hwi-kyung retched. We finally came to the concert… Finally able to fulfill grandmother’s wish!
He couldn’t go back like this. But he shouldn’t stay here any longer. These two thoughts clashed wildly inside Hwi-kyung. An unbearable pain surged up. Something warm flowed from his nose.
Hwi-kyung felt his face with his hand. His nose was bleeding. It had been a long time since he had a nosebleed like this, not since he died from overwork. Ok-ja was now looking at Jung Hwi-kyung, not Kim Tae-pung.
To Hwi-kyung’s eyes, this whole situation felt like slow motion. Kim Tae-pung’s first song hadn’t ended, and people around whispered quietly, wondering what was happening as Hwi-kyung staggered and collapsed into Gyo-ha’s arms.
Ok-ja’s faint scream was drowned out by the singing. Only one old woman standing there clicked her tongue.
“Oh my. How did such a weak-spirited one get caught up in this?”
Even in his fading consciousness, the old woman’s words were quite clear.
Would you like to regress?
Jung Hwi-kyung lost consciousness right there.
* * *
Shamanism has existed steadily since the time when tigers quit smoking and fell in love with bears to become human. As long as humans have life and death, belief in spirits or gods was bound to persist.
While there may be individual differences, it’s rare for someone to go through life without searching for their fortune at least once. Whether one considers shamanism to be pseudo-religion or not, topics like past lives or fate are just the right material to pique human interest.
Even in modern times when shamanism is looked down upon, politicians and businessmen often entrust their futures to shamans. Lee Baek-gyeong of BK Group was one such businessman.
While there’s not a single mention of shamanism in his rags-to-riches memoir, anyone who dug a little deeper into the BK family would know that this chaebol family was quite dependent on shamanism.
Should I sell this business? Is it okay to start a new business next year? Baek-gyeong poured out such questions not to management consultants, but to his mother-in-law, who was a shaman.
While others might find it laughable, Baek-gyeong’s mother-in-law really did grow BK Group into the country’s top company. An old woman who seemed to know nothing about business acumen or money flow elevated her son-in-law to chaebol status solely through her revelations of heaven’s secrets.
Why wouldn’t one believe in the divine when their business has flourished with the help of a shaman? Baek-gyeong hung on his mother-in-law’s every word. Even his fondness for his youngest son, Gyo-ha, was influenced by his mother-in-law. Unlike his other siblings, Gyo-ha had inherited a strong bloodline from his maternal side and was good at ‘seeing’.
However, contrary to Baek-gyeong’s expectation that his third son would become a shaman and determine BK Group’s future, Lee Gyo-ha left for America to become a model, having been born with a slightly off fortune.
It was said that the fortunes of entertainers and shamans were just a hair’s breadth apart. Unfortunately, contrary to his father’s expectations, Gyo-ha couldn’t perform spirit possession or prophecies. Instead, his energy was so strong that evil spirits would fall away even when he was just standing still.
He was so good at repelling evil spirits that Gyo-ha, despite inheriting the shaman bloodline well, had never seen ghosts or gods.
Until he met Jung Hwi-kyung.
“It seems he just fainted due to physical weakness.”
“But he lost so much blood?”
“Has he been under stress recently?”
“Well…”
“He just temporarily lost consciousness due to a big shock.”
Gyo-ha looked down at his dress shirt. The front was stained red with Hwi-kyung’s nosebleed. It looked as if he had killed someone.
Despite losing this much blood, the doctor calmly said it wasn’t a big deal. The diagnosis was that there was nothing wrong except for slightly low blood pressure.
When stress, the root of all diseases, was given as the reason, Gyo-ha lost the energy to argue. No matter how he looked at it, the cause of Hwi-kyung’s sudden shock seemed to be his great-grandmother.
“Great-grandmother.”
“You should go change your clothes. What a sight.”
“No, I can change clothes later. Can I ask you one thing?”
“As if you wouldn’t ask even if I said no.”
The hunched old woman clicked her tongue. Gyo-ha was seeing his great-grandmother for the first time since he was seven. Aside from his great-grandmother being incredibly elusive, Gyo-ha had lived independently after becoming an adult and then left for America, so he didn’t have many chances to meet his family.
Initially, Gyo-ha had completely forgotten about his great-grandmother. He knew his father relied on shamanism, but he thought it had nothing to do with him since his sister Jung-hye would inherit the business anyway.
Moreover, contrary to the adults’ expectations, Gyo-ha had no divine powers. The same was true for Jung-hye and Sung-ha. So, he privately considered his great-grandmother, who was a famous bosal, to be more of a con artist than a shaman.
“How do you know Hwi-kyung?”
However, Gyo-ha now had to admit that the old woman before him was not a con artist. With people regressing after getting jobs at black companies, why wouldn’t there be real shamans?
To that question, the old woman stroked her wrinkled face once. The large jade rings on each of her finger joints looked dazzling.
“Why wouldn’t I know? I saved that boy’s life.”
“What?”
“His mother came to me, begging to save her son.”
“Huh?”
“Can’t you see it too? What’s behind him.”
