Chapter 66.2

Chapter 66.2

Ara, who had dealt with countless nightmare customers while working service jobs, found herself admiring it in a very detached way.

“Do you even know what kind of family we are? Do you know who I am? You scam artist selling fake gods, how dare you curse me. Curse me!”

A classic, textbook meltdown.

Ignoring the fact that strangers were sitting in the living room watching her with open curiosity, the woman jabbed a finger toward the ritual room and kept yelling.

“If you didn’t know, you should’ve said so! How dare you wag your tongue like that. You think I haven’t seen one or two fortune tellers in my life? Huh?”

“Ma’am, please calm down. Please.”

As the middle aged woman tried to hold the wealthy woman back, Suho pushed through the chaos and hurried over.

“Ara. What’s going on?”

“Ah, well… I think her reading didn’t turn out very well.”

Ara checked the floor again and stepped back, positioning herself behind Suho so their shadows would not overlap.

Hearing her whispered voice, the woman who had been shaking her handbag wildly suddenly spun around.

“Miss. You should go somewhere else to get your fortune read. This place is a total scam. Absolute nonsense.”

Ara laughed awkwardly and avoided her gaze.

Still fuming even after disrupting the business, the woman stomped toward the exit, her shoulders shaking with anger.

The middle aged woman hurried after her and grabbed her arm.

“Ma’am, the fee…”

“Fee, my ass. You should be paying me right now. Are you threatening me? Huh? Want to go to the police station? Do you know how serious extortion charges are these days?”

“Ma’am, even if you don’t like the reading, this is a bit much…”

“Hyunseon.”

A voice from inside the ritual room cut in sharply at that moment.

“Enough. Bring in the next clients.”

“Yes? But…”

“Now.”

“…Yes, ma’am.”

Pursing her lips, the woman motioned with her eyes for Ara and Suho to go inside.

“Ma’am, please calm down for a moment…”

Leaving behind the middle aged woman struggling to placate the wealthy customer, Ara entered the shrine room with Suho.

The atmosphere inside was far more unsettling than outside. The walls were covered with paintings that resembled Buddhist scrolls, along with grotesque looking dolls. The only light came from a handful of candles on the altar and the multicolored lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

The altar itself was crowded with flowers and vivid red memorial tablets. On the low platform sat a jar filled with rice, bells, and folded fans, all arranged with meticulous care.

Click.

Suho, who had followed her in, closed the door.

Ara startled at the sound and glanced back, then forced herself to remain calm as she sat down on the cushion prepared for guests. Even as she settled in, she stayed keenly aware of their shadows, making sure they did not overlap.

“Please excuse the disturbance outside.”

The shaman spoke from her seat before the low altar.

She appeared to be in her mid fifties. Dressed in a neat hanbok with her hair pulled back into a smooth bun, she looked refined and composed. Judging by appearances alone, she could have passed for the owner of a high end hanbok shop.

“Ah, yes. It’s fine.”

Still, even under the dim lighting, her face looked unnaturally pale.

Is that how it is for people who serve gods and see what ordinary people cannot?

Her pitch black eyes carried a gaze that felt alien, as though they did not belong to this world. It was eerie and distant all at once.

Ara glanced between Suho and the shaman, then cautiously opened her mouth.

“Well, actually, we came because…”

Bang!

Before Ara could finish, the shaman slammed her hand down hard on the platform.

Ara flinched.

“And yet you walk around wrapped head to toe in such vile energy?”

That sudden outburst was exactly what Ara had been waiting for.

Thank goodness. She can see it. Whatever is inside him.

Suppressing the smile that threatened to rise, Ara quickly arranged her face into one of confusion.

“M me? You mean me?”

The shaman’s gaze was fixed not on Suho, but on Ara.

“A truly wicked spiritual force. Among the forbidden arts of false masters, this curse is especially vicious.”

Clicking her tongue, the shaman stared relentlessly at the necklace around Ara’s neck.

Instinctively, Ara clutched the necklace protectively and forced an awkward smile.

“I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding.”

She could not let suspicion fall on Suho because of this necklace. Of all the protective charms she carried, the one Seok-kyung had given her was by far the strongest.

If it were taken from her, it would be like losing her weapon on the battlefield.

“This is just an ordinary necklace I bought at a department store…”

“Who told you that? Was it the filthy thing that gave it to you?”

The shaman struck the platform again.

“That is a curse that shaves away your lifespan.”

Her sharp eyes bored into Ara as if to pierce straight through her.

“If you keep it, you will die.”

Faced with a barrage of incomprehensible words, Ara felt not just flustered but utterly baffled.

What is she talking about?

This necklace was a protective charm infused with power Seok-kyung had given her, power bound to his own life. It was magic meant to summon him whenever danger struck, anytime, anywhere.

So she knows all of that and is trying to deceive me on purpose?

No way. Don’t tell me this shaman is working with the evil spirit inside him.

Ara clenched the diamond so tightly that its facets bit into her fingers, then forced herself to steady her shaking breath.

“Sunbae, I think that woman earlier was right. This shaman feels like a fraud. Let’s just go…”

She had barely lifted herself halfway, reaching to pull Suho with her.

“Ara.”

A large hand closed around her wrist.

“It’s true.”

The grip was gentle but firm, pressing her back down into her seat.

“…Sunbae?”

Ara turned to him, her face stricken with confusion.

Suho looked deeply troubled. His expression was heavy, his voice calm but unyielding as he spoke.

“That goblin king is keeping you close because he wants to use you.”

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