“Jae-ha, your dark circles look a little lighter today?”
Jihyang, sipping on her Americano, brushed her gaze over Jae-ha’s cheek as he set his bag down in the seat next to hers. His eyes had always been shadowed, giving him a cool, languid impression, but lately—after so many sleepless nights—the addition of dark circles gave him an almost decadent aura.
“Lighter? I barely slept at all.”
Slumping into his chair, Jae-ha covered his face with one hand and yawned. Thanks to that bizarre thing—whatever it was, person or not—that had woken him up at the crack of dawn and caused that whole scene, he hadn’t been able to fall back asleep. He ended up sitting alone in the empty living room, zoning out until the sun came up.
Thinking back, the whole thing felt so surreal it was hard to believe it wasn’t just a dream. If there hadn’t been evidence in the kitchen that someone had rummaged around trying to feed that scruffy mutt from the night before, even he would’ve started doubting it himself.
“Jihyang, do you happen to know any good fortune tellers?”
The question slipped out impulsively.
No matter how he thought about it, what that pervert had said at dawn just wouldn’t stop bothering him. It hadn’t felt like a random guess based on how tired he looked—no, it was oddly specific and dead-on.
A curse, huh… You couldn’t exactly go to a hospital and ask about something like that. You’d be labeled crazy in an instant.
Honestly, just meeting that guy in the first place felt like a stroke of misfortune. Maybe it was worth checking if there really was some sort of bad energy lingering in his fate.
“A fortune teller? Because you haven’t been sleeping?”
Jihyang widened her eyes. As expected of a top student—sharp as ever. Jae-ha gave a casual shrug.
“I’ve also been having some weird dreams lately. Kind of worrying.”
“Hmm… I think Yoon-taek might know someone. He’s into that stuff and goes often.”
“Yeah?”
Jae-ha pulled out his phone. The junior she mentioned, Yoon-taek, was a sociable guy who showed up to classes regularly and was active in their department, so he easily found their chat in his contact list.
As soon as he messaged him, a reply came back. The younger student made a fuss, asking what brought this on, and as Jae-ha typed his request, Jihyang muttered teasingly beside him.
“Just don’t get conned into buying some overpriced talisman.”
“If I go broke, you’ll treat me to at least one cup of coffee, right?”
He had never really believed in shamanism seriously, but he wasn’t a total stranger to it either. He’d gone for a saju (four pillars) reading a few times with friends who were into that sort of thing, and even got a spiritual reading once, accompanying a friend who was too scared to go alone. Unfortunately, that time they ran into a con artist who demanded thirty million won for an exorcism right off the bat…
Jae-ha briefly recalled the hassle of dragging his friend out of there before she got scammed. He shook off the memory. Still, among the shamans he’d met, there were a few who were eerily accurate. He just hoped this time would be one of those.
Yoon-taek replied quickly. A list of fortune-telling places filled the message window. Skimming through it, Jae-ha quickly picked one. The only deciding factor: it was the closest.
After class, he called, and as luck would have it, someone had canceled their appointment today, so he was free to drop by right away. With no other plans, it was perfect timing.
Jihyang, who had been organizing her bag, offered to go with him, but he waved her off and told her to study instead. If what that pervert said really was true and there was a curse affecting his sleep, it was obvious Jihyang would get caught up in it too and start worrying.
The fortune-teller’s place was a few subway stops away from school, nestled in a residential area filled with single and multi-family homes. After wandering around a bit, he found the house marked with hanging fabric. Inside, despite the ordinary exterior, the decor exploded with colorful wallpaper and paintings.
A middle-aged man sitting in the living room gave Jae-ha a small bow and pointed toward the back. The solemn atmosphere prompted Jae-ha to return the bow before quietly heading in the indicated direction.
The large room, probably the master bedroom, was even more flamboyant than the living room. An altar stood along one wall, decorated with a folding screen and various paintings… As Jae-ha looked around, almost like sightseeing, his gaze met that of the shaman—no, Hongyeon Seonnyeo—seated at the back.
“Hello.”
Jae-ha gave a polite bow. The Hongyeon Seonnyeo stared intently at him with an oddly piercing gaze, then beckoned him over with a wave.
“Name and date of birth, including the time?”
She asked dully. After he answered, she closed her eyes, holding a colorful ritual cloth in one hand and a bell in the other, murmuring something low under her breath. The bell jingled sharply as her murmurs blurred into the noise.
“You’re very loved, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
The random statement caught Jae-ha off guard. ‘Me? By who?’ But the shaman didn’t bother answering his confusion and just continued mumbling to herself.
“You’ve probably never had any major hardship in life, and won’t face much in the future either… You were born under a blessed fate. Wherever you go, someone’s always helping you out—your life will never be truly difficult.”
It wasn’t the first time someone had told him he had an exceptionally lucky saju, so none of this was surprising. And truthfully, his life had been pretty smooth. At least this wasn’t some scam artist. Satisfied with that, Jae-ha carefully shifted toward the real reason he came.
“Thing is, I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I was wondering if there might be something wrong.”
The shaman tilted her head.
“Not sleeping well? Didn’t you sleep fine last night?”
Jae-ha froze. ‘How the hell did she know that?’
“You’re not sleeping because you’re too loved. There’s someone unusually obsessed with you clinging on. Putting that into a person’s body… What are they hoping to gain, enchanting someone like that? Greedy bastard.”
She clicked her tongue in disapproval, twisting and untwisting the ritual cloth out of habit. Her eyes scanned his face like she was dissecting him.
“Still, you’ve got a rare spirit looking after you now, so you should be fine. Didn’t they step up and offer their help first? They’ll guard you with everything they’ve got, I’m sure of it. Didn’t I tell you? No matter where you go, someone always lends a hand.”
“…Is that so?”
“Of course it is. You’re not supposed to meet someone like that so easily, yet somehow you’ve crossed paths. That’s not ordinary luck. How did you even meet them?”
She called them a “rare spirit,” but there was no way Jae-ha could admit he found them in a cardboard box near a trash heap. He stayed silent, pretending not to hear.
The shaman’s words were shockingly similar to what that pervert had said. No, not just similar—they were practically identical.
Honestly, Jae-ha hadn’t expected her to see through things this precisely. He’d only found out about this place barely an hour ago. Even if someone was trying to orchestrate a trick, this would’ve been impossible to fake.
…So that pervert had been telling the truth? He really was trying to help me?
“Um, by any chance… have you heard of someone being a descendant of Haetae?”
It was something he hadn’t intended to bring up—he didn’t want to sound completely insane. But now, he really was curious. As soon as he cautiously mentioned it, the shaman smacked her palm on the table as if she’d been waiting for it. The loud thud rattled the nearby trinkets.
“Ha! So that noble spirit is a Haetaeson—a descendant of Haetae! No wonder their energy felt so pure and radiant, like that of a spiritual beast. Go ask them for help immediately. That’s your best option. After all…”
She kept mumbling, but then her voice abruptly faded out, and her lips clamped shut. What now? Jae-ha blinked in confusion as their eyes met. The shaman, who had been staring into space, murmured in a vaguely bewildered tone.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Even my guardian general’s attention is drawn to you. What in the world? Are you sure you’re human? Maybe the reincarnation of some high noble? No, even if you were, it wouldn’t explain this. I’ve never seen someone this blessed. Your life’s going to be a walk in the park.”
“…Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. It’s your life, after all.”
She replied curtly and flicked her colorful cloth. Her expression made it clear the reading was over. But this couldn’t be it. Jae-ha feigned ignorance and pressed further.
“Um… can’t you just fix my insomnia without relying on the Haetae?”
But the shaman immediately shook her head, flailing her hand so forcefully it looked like she might strike him.
“Oh, no. Absolutely not. What, you want to drag me into a fight between titans? I’m not getting caught in the crossfire. Just ask that spirit for help already. What’s the problem? They’ve helped you once—why wouldn’t they again?”
The thing was… Jae-ha had already kicked that noble spirit out. He clenched his eyes shut, swallowing the words rising to his throat. Those absurd ramblings had actually turned out to be real. This just kept getting more and more ridiculous.
After that, the shaman kept repeating that everything would be fine if he left it to that rare spirit, and how envious she was of his fortune. It didn’t seem like she had any new revelations to offer. Jae-ha listened half-heartedly, then got up and gave a polite bow, trudging toward the entrance. But just as he was about to leave, the shaman called out to him.
“Wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
He turned around at her call, only to find her narrowing her eyes and staring at him intently. What now? With no idea what she was thinking, Jae-ha stood still. The shaman eventually muttered in a doubtful tone.
“Hmm… do you happen to have a shaman in your family?”
…What the hell was that supposed to mean? Jae-ha shook his head. His mother ran a fashion business, his father—before he passed—had worked in a trading company, and his younger sibling was just a rebellious college student. None of his relatives, as far as he knew, had anything to do with shamanism.
“Really? I see. I asked because I wasn’t sure.”
Her reply was unsettlingly vague. With a wave of her hand, she signaled that he was free to go. It was clear she wasn’t going to say anything more. Still feeling uneasy, Jae-ha gave a polite bow and had no choice but to leave the fortune-teller’s house.
