#084
It was difficult to determine exactly what the entity that granted Ji-ae’s wish wanted. Aside from turning back time, it rarely intervened directly with people.
At least Ji-ae had never been forcibly regressed. There was no need to forcibly turn back time since Hwi-kyung died so frequently. Moreover, although her mind was worn down, Ji-ae hadn’t “physically” lost anything due to her wish fulfillment. In fact, she had often gained material benefits through her son’s deaths.
Perhaps she had managed to survive by crossing the water before paying the price. If not that, then the goal might have been to eat away at people’s minds. Of course, it wasn’t entirely accurate to say she hadn’t paid any price, given that she ended up waiting for the death of Hwi-kyung, whom she had so desperately wanted to keep alive.
That strange entity continued to circle endlessly around Hwi-kyung even after Ji-ae’s departure. It lingered, ready to immediately fulfill any casual wish Hwi-kyung might make.
The shaman became curious about what “price” this entity wanted from Hwi-kyung. Was it trying to cling to her son instead of Ji-ae, who hadn’t paid her price? Or did it want a human body, as such entities often do?
Jung Hwi-kyung was already born with an extremely inauspicious fate, and his energy had been weakened by repeated deaths in his early years. Moreover, like Ji-ae, his innate destiny was full of hardships until he met his benefactor.
Although she didn’t know exactly what price it wanted, the shaman intuitively knew that if Hwi-kyung made one wrong wish, he would be doomed. But rather than being doomed, Hwi-kyung was in a body that couldn’t even die easily because of the wish Ji-ae had made.
“Oh my!”
So she deliberately bumped into Hwi-kyung. As time passed, the shaman genuinely wanted to help Hwi-kyung. She felt sorry for how this young person was suffering because of something strange that had attached to him. From what the shaman had observed, young people as upright as Hwi-kyung were rare in today’s world.
“You’re quite brazen for a young one. How old are you?”
“Twenty-six. I’ll be twenty-seven next year.”
These are the kind of people who should live long… The shaman quickly reconfirmed Hwi-kyung’s birth year. Even recalculating his fate, Hwi-kyung shouldn’t have lived to this age.
In short, saving Hwi-kyung was essentially like pouring water into a bottomless pit. How could one save someone who had already died dozens of times? That would be difficult even for Buddha, let alone a shaman.
“I’d like you.”
“Pardon?”
“If I were to choose a grandson-in-law, I’d like a young man like you.”
But the shaman had no choice if she wanted to save BK Group and Lee Gyo-ha. Although neither of them remembered the vow they had rashly made in childhood, just because they didn’t remember didn’t mean it hadn’t happened.
The shaman needed to buy time until Gyo-ha met Hwi-kyung and ended that “vow”. Although she couldn’t know exactly what vow had been made, Gyo-ha was properly bound to Hwi-kyung. So even if it meant taking him in as a grandson-in-law, the shaman needed to keep Hwi-kyung alive.
To think that helping a young man with no connection would be a way of taking care of family and property. Is this what they mean by life’s unpredictability?
“…I can’t just let such a good young man go. Do you have any wishes?”
“Wishes?”
Strike first for victory.
The shaman wanted to grant Hwi-kyung’s wish one step ahead of that strange entity. It couldn’t cling to someone whose wish had already been fulfilled. The shaman intended to exploit this loophole.
If Hwi-kyung asked for lottery numbers, she was prepared to give them to him, and if he asked for help with his grandmother’s hospital bills, she planned to pressure her son-in-law to provide a private room at a BK-affiliated medical center. She had even finished negotiations with the hospital side just in case.
However, Hwi-kyung’s wish was beyond the shaman’s expectation.
Not lottery numbers or hospital bill reduction, but a wish for a good job. The shaman inwardly broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this wish. Is it okay to be this upright? Is it right to wish for just a job when offered to grant anything?
While it wouldn’t be difficult to parachute him into a position given that her son-in-law was the chairman of BK Group, the problem was that this wish was light-years away from the wish-granting policy the shaman had prepared.
“Is that really all you want?”
Just ask for lottery numbers now. What a clean wish to make… Even the worst wish I expected was asking for 10 billion won in a tax-free anonymous account…
Of course, it wasn’t impossible like wishing for his grandmother’s stomach cancer to be miraculously cured, so the shaman nodded readily in agreement. Although slightly taken aback, it was still something she could handle herself.
BK is a large corporation, so it must be a “good place,” right? The shaman had never worked in a company herself, but she didn’t think the place her son-in-law managed could be bad.
But what’s this? The shaman wasn’t the only one thinking “strike first for victory.”
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That strange entity was quicker than the shaman, who needed to contact her son-in-law to create a job opening. Have an agile day! The shaman ended up being counterattacked while trying to strike first.
If only Jung Hwi-kyung had wished for lottery numbers, everyone could have been happy… But life never flows in the best direction.
That strange entity clung to Hwi-kyung just like that. It was more persistent than it had been with Ji-ae. It revealed itself to Hwi-kyung in the form of a system UI that was somewhat familiar to him, and was a bit more favorable to Hwi-kyung than it had been to Ji-ae.
However, the favor of such entities usually only had negative effects on people. It was especially fatal for Hwi-kyung. It often intervened in Hwi-kyung’s thoughts and actions.
The shaman, who had been bedridden for days with stress-induced illness, got up and immediately started tracking Hwi-kyung. Then she examined that strange thing attached to Hwi-kyung again.
It wanted “Jung Hwi-kyung” as the price for the wish. In other words, it wanted Hwi-kyung to be with it forever. It wanted Jung Hwi-kyung to be in the same situation as itself in an endlessly returning and repeating world.
The fulfillment of Ji-ae’s wish wasn’t a coincidence. From the beginning, it had intended to obtain Hwi-kyung through Ji-ae. The neighbor’s words that the child’s illness might be due to spiritual possession were correct. In a way, this could also be considered spiritual possession. Something intangible had targeted a person and made them sick.
A body that had died and come back to life dozens of times became weak in energy and easily possessed. A healthy mind dwells in a healthy body, but with the body shattered, the mind was in an even worse state. Hwi-kyung easily fell into despair. Unhappy humans had many vulnerabilities to exploit.
If left alone, Jung Hwi-kyung would have regressed forever. Think it would end with retirement? The system window never once suggested such a goal. Retirement was just the goal Hwi-kyung set for himself to avoid going crazy.
Living for eternity in a body that can’t die. No one would wish for such eternity, but it was a kind of “favor.” Regardless of the outcome, Hwi-kyung wouldn’t die, and even if his physical form disappeared and he drifted eternally between times, he would always be with it.
No matter what wish he had made, Hwi-kyung’s ending was predetermined. Wishes are granted, and prices are paid. The problem was that because of that “vow,” Gyo-ha was also trapped as a package deal.
Unlike Hwi-kyung, Gyo-ha could physically die, but as long as he was bound to Hwi-kyung by the vow, dying had no meaning. Every time Hwi-kyung regressed, Gyo-ha would have to face the morning of his first semester of graduate school in his American studio. Just like how even after Ok-ja had held several funerals, turning back time would bring her back to that place.
Although he might go crazy more slowly than Hwi-kyung himself, even Gyo-ha couldn’t endure the eternally repeating first semester morning in his right mind forever.
The shaman went to great lengths to solve this problem. She had always been a wanderer, unable to settle down due to her restless nature, but she couldn’t help but intervene when everything she had built up was at risk of being lost.
When she faced that entity, risking her entire life as a shaman, she managed to make one proposal.
“…I earnestly request.”
The shaman called it a “bet.” It wasn’t wrong to say so, given that her family and property were at stake. But if you think about it, it was more of a “wish” than a deal or a bet. To negotiate with that entity, the only way was to “make a wish,” regardless of the price to be paid.
“Please give just fifteen chances. If my grandson saves that boy within that time, leave cleanly.”
“Wishing” was not easy, as expected. From the beginning, that entity didn’t show much interest in the shaman. It ignored the shaman, focusing on Hwi-kyung. Later, it even started to avoid her.
However, it couldn’t ignore the shaman’s wish forever. This was because the shaman offered Gyo-ha as the price for the wish. The one who interfered with everything, bound to Hwi-kyung by a vow. A tenacious human who couldn’t be easily separated due to being bound by the vow.
If Gyo-ha couldn’t save Hwi-kyung, she would sever their connection and nullify the vow. That was the price the shaman proposed. In the end, it had to reluctantly agree to the shaman’s wish, or deal.
As soon as it agreed to the wish, the shaman quickly added additional conditions. As mentioned earlier, wishes should always be specific. To avoid any aftermath, one had to snatch in as many conditions as possible right before the wish was granted.
“Addition! At least the final fifteenth time must only be triggered by Jung Hwi-kyung’s choice!”
Although she lost half of her spiritual power that had remained potent even in old age due to snatching in these specific conditions, the shaman didn’t regret this deal. She might not have landed the first punch, but she did land a blow from behind.
This was the best the shaman could do for Hwi-kyung. The rest depended on Hwi-kyung himself. Even if forced regressions repeated, he could endure as long as he didn’t move to the fifteenth time.
As long as he doesn’t carelessly move to the fifteenth time…
