Chapter 66.1

Chapter 66.1

Suho looked back and forth between Ara, who was gazing up at him, and the red letters on the sign for Wolsandang.

“What do you want to ask once we go in?”

His voice was gentle.

Ara wet her dry lips with the tip of her tongue, then quickly scanned the words printed across the plastic sheets pasted all over the building’s exterior.

Fortune, fate, compatibility, auspicious dates, spirit guidance, exorcism.

“Um… maybe this year’s luck? Or compatibility, something like that?”

“Compatibility?”

A faint note of disappointment crossed his composed face.

Ara winced inwardly.

She had been so focused on avoiding things like spirit guidance or exorcism that she had grabbed the first familiar term she saw.

“Ah, sorry. I’ll skip that one.”

“I’m kidding.”

Suho laughed lightly as he looked down at her flustered expression.

The slight edge in his eyes softened, as if it had never been there at all.

“If we’re going to ask about anything, that’s the one we should ask. Let’s go in.”

He gently nudged Ara’s back, urging her to stand closer to him.

“Anyone here?”

Watch the shadows. Always.

Ara flicked her gaze downward, quickly adjusting her steps so their shadows would not overlap, and pushed open the shrine door.

Clink, clink.

The sound of bells rang out, strangely ominous.

Inside, Wolsandang looked no different from an ordinary house.

A reception room that doubled as a living room sat at the center.

Beyond a sliding door on the left was a kitchen.

In the middle and to the right were two closed rooms.

“Oh, you’re here. The two of you?”

A middle aged woman stepped out from the kitchen, greeting them.

“Yes.”

“Mmh. The customer inside will be done soon. Sit here and wait.”

She pointed to a pile of cushions stacked in one corner of the room, then disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Ara. Can you wait here alone for a moment? I need to use the restroom.”

“Oh, sure.”

Suho set a cushion down in front of Ara, then headed toward the kitchen.

While he asked and was shown where the restroom was, Ara sat down and continued to take in the shrine.

It looked much like the fortune telling places she had seen in shows.

Candles scattered here and there, remnants of colorful lanterns, artificial flowers and ritual instruments cluttered the space, making the room feel busy and cramped.

Her eyes drifted to the central room, its door covered with talismans.

Murmured voices came from inside, along with the faint jingle of bells.

That was probably the ritual room.

Is this shaman really the real deal?

Will she notice what’s inside him the moment she sees him?

If she’s a fraud, should I just get angry and drag him out?

If this is a dead end, what excuse do I use next?

Ara rubbed the gemstone at her neck with her fingertips, running through every possible outcome in her head.

“Here, have some of this at least.”

“Thank you.”

Ara took a sip of the cold barley tea the middle aged woman had brought over and waited for Suho for quite a while.

He didn’t notice and run off, did he?

She was just starting to glance nervously toward the kitchen when it happened.

“What kind of crazy bitch is this?!”

Bang.

The door to the ritual room flew open, and a woman stormed out.

“I came all the way out to this mountain backwater because you said you were good, and it’s all nonsense! What? Every business I touch fails, and my son is going to die young?”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, clearly unconcerned with dignity, though the way she was dressed screamed wealthy housewife.

That voice is impressive. Did she major in pansori* or something?

*Pansori – traditional Korean narrative song, performed dramatically.