Leaking Heavenly Secrets
“Hah… hah…”
People glanced sideways at the limping man gasping for breath. Park Su-hwan paid those stares no mind at all.
I’ve lost it! Seriously…!
His head was filled with nothing but the stolen ledger. He had fully intended to leave it alone. Yet when he came back to himself, he was already racing home with the book clutched in his hands.
A cursed thing. It’s a cursed object!
Nothing else could explain why a man who had never committed a single crime would suddenly steal something. He had clearly been thoroughly possessed.
“Urgh…!”
It was far too late to put it back. By now the reapers would have noticed the ledger was gone.
“Hah… hup… hah!”
Park Su-hwan did not want to die. There was no telling what would happen if they caught him. With no idea what else to do, he simply bolted for the one place he thought was safe—home.
The moment he rushed into the alley in front of his house—
Thud!
“Agh!!”
“Ack!!”
He collided hard with someone and went sprawling. A small delivery box tumbled down over his head.
“Ack!”
“What the— shit…!”
The delivery driver glared down at him savagely and barked.
“S-sorry… I’m sorry!”
The ledger slipped from inside his clothes. The instant Park Su-hwan lunged to snatch it up, the book suddenly floated into the air.
Flip-flip-flip-flip…!!
The pages began turning at blinding speed, and the entire world went black—leaving only Park Su-hwan behind.
“W-what the hell is this…?”
Trapped in pure, absolute darkness in the blink of an eye, Park Su-hwan was seized by terror. Then the Underworld ledger appeared right before his eyes.
Instinct told him every single thing that was happening was because of that book. He had to find a way out of this place. He limped closer and carefully peered into the ledger.
The contents were written entirely in Chinese characters. Strangely, though, Park Su-hwan could understand every word. Ordinary personal details of some random person—yet beneath them was a line that seized the eye.
Alongside the time of death…
Life Ended by Blade Wound
Died of injuries inflicted by a knife.
The horrific cause of death was recorded with merciless clarity.
“Shit… When does it even happen?”
That was when it began. A gloomy alleyway unfurled around him, and a young man seething with rage stood before the gate of a house. The sudden change of scenery made Park Su-hwan jump.
What the—all of a sudden?
“Just once. I’m begging you—help me just once.”
The man staggered, a gleaming kitchen knife clenched tight in his fist. One look was enough to tell he was completely drunk.
Park Su-hwan fixed his gaze on him.
“I’m going to kill you.”
Whatever had happened, the man was overflowing with fury. At the far end of the alley a delivery driver appeared, a bag of fried chicken in one hand—the same man Su-hwan had just collided with. Earphones in, he hummed cheerfully as he walked with a spring in his step.
“Chicken, chicken~ Such delicious chicken~ My wife’s gonna love this.”
He seemed to be heading home after finishing his shift.
No way…
Moments later the two of them met—and something terrible unfolded. Park Su-hwan screamed and lunged to stop the man. It was useless. His hands passed straight through their bodies.
No, no…!
In this place he was nothing more than a helpless observer.
Thuck, thuck!
“Die! Die!!”
“U-uaaagh…!!”
He squeezed his eyes shut—and when he opened them the startled delivery driver was staring down at him.
“Hah… hup… hah!”
Park Su-hwan whipped his head around, searching.
That man—that man…! Where did he go?! That crazy bastard!
The man who had been savagely stabbing the driver to death was nowhere in sight.
How could… a person…
The crimson blood spraying across the delivery box and those bone-chilling sounds still rang in his ears. The horrific afterimage refused to leave his mind. Nausea surged up his throat.
“Kid! Kid! You okay?”
The delivery driver grabbed him, voice thick with worry.
“Y-yes…?”
Still gasping, Su-hwan stared at the man with trembling eyes.
“You okay?”
“…Hic… haah.”
Park Su-hwan understood. What he had just witnessed was this man’s future—the exact moment of his death.
September 6th.
He frantically recalled the death date written in the ledger.
“Um… what’s today’s date?”
“Out of nowhere? You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Hurry!”
“Ah, okay, okay.”
Flustered, the man pulled out his phone.
“September 6th.”
Then…
Th-that’s impossible.
That’s today!
“Hey—!”
Park Su-hwan seized the delivery driver’s hand.
“Today. 8:45.”
“W-what’s wrong with you…!”
“You’re going to die at 8:45. Stabbed with a knife!”
He refused to let go, clinging as he spoke.
“You can’t go home! Absolutely not…!”
Thud!
“Get off!”
The delivery driver roughly shook free of Su-hwan’s grip.
“What kind of unlucky bullshit is that?!”
Some guy who just crashed into him out of nowhere suddenly announces he’s going to get stabbed to death? This wasn’t a curse—it was pure harassment. He was already late as hell!
“Young punk. Shit…!”
Clicking his tongue in irritation, he scooped up the fallen package and hurried off. Left alone, Park Su-hwan watched him vanish into the distance and muttered blankly.
Tonight some man… is going to kill you. Right in front of your own house.
To know the secret workings of the heavens—and to speak them aloud.
This is the gravest of all grave sins.
And without even realizing it, Park Su-hwan had committed that very act.
“Haah…”
He was a fraud shaman with not even a speck of real spiritual power, yet he knew instinctively that he had done something that could never be undone. He had never believed in ghosts or Underworld reapers—not while living in a world that never stopped talking about artificial intelligence and science. From today onward, that belief had been completely overturned.
An ancient book bound with a red cord. The Saengsarok. Commonly called the Underworld ledger—the Register of Life and Death. To anyone else it would look like nothing more than a family heirloom, an ordinary old book. Open it, however, and the pages were pure blank white.
Park Su-hwan stared at it and murmured quietly.
Probably because I’m not qualified.
There was no other explanation for why the contents remained invisible. Which left another question.
Then why could I see them earlier?
No—more importantly…
He shook his head hard.
How am I supposed to save that guy?
He vaguely remembered glimpsing the man’s address and the place of death written in the ledger. He should have looked carefully, but he had been too panicked to take it in properly.
Should I just call the police?
And tell them what…?
That I saw a delivery driver die in a ledger dropped by a reaper?
As if the cops would believe that. Even the man himself had treated him like a lunatic. Trying to deny that the future would never come true was pointless. This was the real future the reaper’s dropped ledger had shown him.
“Haah…”
Park Su-hwan lifted his head and looked up, almost without thinking, at the statue of Okhwang Sangje in the shrine. As always, the figure sat with a stern, dignified expression—worth every expensive won he had paid for it.
General…
What are you doing keeping such a careless reaper around? One who drops the ledger, no less.
And I clearly asked you to send me rich clients—not to show me reapers.
He had no idea where everything had started going so completely wrong.
“Su-hwan. You have to be careful. What do you do when you cross the crosswalk?”
“Raise my hand high! Look both ways, then walk!”
“And when the light is red?”
“No! When it’s green!”
Park Su-hwan suddenly found himself tracing a memory that had been cut off. While fretting over how to save the delivery driver, he had dozed off without noticing.
By now… it’s probably already too late.
All he could do was desperately pray that the man had listened.
“Good. And before you cross, you always wait for the light, then start walking.”
“Yes!”
Little Park Su-hwan answered his mother’s instructions with a bright smile. This dream was a memory he could never forget—the day that had upended his entire life, a nightmare he had not once dreamed again since graduating high school.
I thought I’d overcome it completely…
He had no idea why it was starting again now of all times.
Clap-clap!
“That’s my Su-hwan—so smart. Now go on and have a good day.”
Today was the first day of his life walking to elementary school alone.
“Yes!”
He set out bravely by himself, swinging his little chick backpack and shoe bag. Arriving at the crosswalk, he remembered his mother’s warning and stopped. A moment later the light changed and people began crossing. The child raised his hand high, checked both directions, and finally stepped forward.
“I like the mountains~ I like the ocean too~”
But the child, completely unaware of the tragedy rushing toward him, hopped along with an innocent face, singing.
D-don’t go! You can’t!
It was useless. Trapped inside his childhood body, he could do nothing.
Screeeeech…!!
In the distance, the sharp sound of tires scraping asphalt stabbed his eardrums. Park Su-hwan wanted to squeeze his eyes shut.
This is where…
CRASH!!
Little Park Su-hwan was struck by the car and sent flying.
“…?”
No—he was supposed to go flying. That was how it had happened. Yet the child right in front of him was sitting unharmed on the ground, bawling his eyes out. The speeding car had missed him by a hair’s breadth and smashed into the transformer behind him instead.
The dream…
It changed?
“Agh!”
Suddenly the sensation of someone roughly shoving his back crashed over him, and Park Su-hwan woke from the dream with a scream.
“Hah… hah…!!”
His entire body was soaked in cold sweat. Clutching his exploding heart, he gasped for air.
Why did the dream suddenly change?
The accident was supposed to happen.
As if possessed, Park Su-hwan looked down at the leg that had been ruined in the accident.
“Huh…”
That was when a strange sense of wrongness washed over him.
My leg…
My leg is moving.
Even the hated, constant pain had lessened.
In the end Park Su-hwan stayed awake all night, staring at his leg as if he could bore holes through it.
“It’s the same, right?”
The accident had closed the growth plate in his left leg early, leaving the two legs different lengths. Yet right now, as if by a lie, the lengths matched perfectly.
Then maybe…
With a half-believing heart he braced himself on the shrine and slowly rose. The thought struck him that he might actually be able to walk. He carefully took one step—and immediately lost his unfamiliar balance, staggering and falling.
“…!”
It didn’t matter. The simple fact that he had stood fully on both legs was undeniable.
“No way…”
He had wished for his leg to heal his entire life, again and again, yet he had never once imagined the wish could come true. Of course it would take time before he could walk properly, but the important thing was that a ray of hope he thought gone forever had returned.
“Ah… aah…”
Tears poured down as he groped at his left leg with trembling hands. Yes. This was no longer the leg that had stiffened and twisted from that horrific accident. He had lived his whole life as a cripple. A young man dragging around a broken body naturally attracted cruel stares. Because of that he had always carried sorrow and resentment deep in his chest—he had never wanted to be in pain.
In that moment the ledger lying on the divination table caught his eye.
This had been a permanent disability that could never, ever recover. Doctors had even declared it impossible to treat with modern medicine. Which meant this event was…
Yes. There was simply no other way to explain it.
Suddenly seeing a man’s future, and his own leg beginning to heal—both had only started after he picked up that book.