Without Bokchae
Thanks to being seated at the bus stop, Park Su-hwan didn't fall. Gasping for breath, he locked eyes with Choi Yuri, who was staring at him wide-eyed.
"Um…"
"I'm fine."
Su-hwan shook his head as he steadied his breathing. The more he traveled to and from the ledger, the faster his return to reality became. It was as good as saying he was getting used to all this.
"…More importantly, I have something I need to tell you."
"Excuse me?"
The shih tzu thrashed its short little legs at Choi Yuri's feet.
"There, there. I'll pick you up."
She carefully gathered the dog into her arms, then turned her gaze back to Su-hwan.
"You said you had something to say?"
Su-hwan swallowed dryly and opened his mouth.
"As you can see, I'm a shaman."
Leaking the secrets of heaven always made him tense.
There was no telling how someone would react to being told they were about to die—and whether they'd even believe him in the first place was an open question.
"And I make my living helping people."
"Ah… I see."
Choi Yuri's eyes went cold. Distrust and outright wariness began to show in them.
No—she'd had her guard up from the moment he first opened his mouth.
"Understood."
In her eyes, he was nothing more than some lunatic.
"Wait, just a moment—"
"No. I don't believe you. I don't even hold ancestral rites."
She seemed to be taking him for a cultist. If he pushed any harder, she looked ready to call the police. That was why he'd kept his tone gentle…
Apparently that hadn't been the right answer either.
"This coming Wednesday. Four thirty-eight in the afternoon."
Su-hwan spoke in a rush, sounding almost aggrieved.
"…?"
"That's when you'll be in a traffic accident. While rushing your sick dog to the hospital."
"What?"
Su-hwan's gaze dropped to the shih tzu in her arms. Catching that look, Choi Yuri answered with an incredulous expression.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
She furrowed her brow and snapped at him sharply.
"My Mungchi is perfectly healthy. He's a bit older, sure, but he's still going strong."
Just as she said, the dog looked free of any illness. But the condition Su-hwan had seen in the ledger was entirely different. It wouldn't have been strange if the animal's breath had stopped at any moment.
Tch…
Su-hwan's mouth clamped shut like a clam. He had no idea why the dog was sick, so he couldn't refute her.
A gap had opened. A crack in the future the ledger had shown him.
He knew the reason for Choi Yuri's death, but he had not the faintest clue what was wrong with the dog—even though that was clearly the trigger that would set her death in motion.
"Just… be careful."
In the end, all Su-hwan could offer was a limp warning.
"Meaning he might suddenly get sick, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. Nice try, fitting the pieces together after the fact."
Choi Yuri let out a scornful laugh and turned her back. In that instant, Su-hwan remembered something he'd forgotten and urgently caught her arm.
"We're not done yet?"
Su-hwan bit down hard on his lip. Because he had leaked a heavenly secret, he absolutely had to receive bokchae.
Otherwise he would be tormented by nightmares of becoming her and getting hit by a car—three days and three nights without rest.
"…Bokchae. You need to give me bokchae."
"What? Seriously? Is this how people make money these days?"
For a moment he considered saying her name and address to win her trust—they'd been written in the ledger.
But that wouldn't just make him look like a cultist. It was the perfect way to get himself flagged as a stalker.
"You look young and healthy enough. Why don't you just get a real job? Instead of scaring people and trying to shake them down for cash."
"…"
Su-hwan swallowed a sigh and glanced at the bus approaching in the distance. Then he pulled a business card from his wallet.
It's hopeless. Getting bokchae out of her…
"I don't force anyone. I only pass on what needs to be said and give a warning."
Choi Yuri accepted the card with a bewildered look. On it were the three characters of Park Su-hwan's name and the address of an unfamiliar shrine.
"Wednesday. Four thirty-eight. That day, keep a closer eye on Mungchi than usual. Choi Yuri."
"…!"
Choi Yuri flinched at the sound of her own name. Leaving her standing there, Su-hwan boarded the bus without looking back.
— Woof! Woof!
Somewhere, a dog was barking. It didn't sound like it was baring its teeth at a stranger.
It sounded more like… it was happy to see someone.
What is this…?
There was nothing to see. Only sound. Su-hwan tilted his head. Or rather, he seemed to have done so.
The shih tzu thrashing with foam at its mouth—that heartbreaking image had stayed with him right up until he'd fallen asleep. He hadn't expected to have a strange dream like this on top of it.
— Woof! Woof!
Listening again, it didn't sound like Mungchi. It was a deeper, heavier bark—the kind a much larger dog would make.
"Baekya."
That was when a gentle male voice drifted from somewhere. But the view was still pitch dark, so he couldn't make out a face.
The unknown man seemed to be the dog's owner.
"Haha! I'm working right now. You want to play? We can't do that…"
Then came the rustle of paper. Since the man had said he was working, he must have been sorting through documents.
Su-hwan strained his ears as hard as he could, trying to grasp the true nature of this bizarre dream.
"Hm? Baekya. What's that in your mouth again? Hold still. That sweet smell… You stole Pantao again, didn't you! Aigoo. My head…"
Pantao…?
There was only one Pantao Su-hwan knew of—the legendary peaches of immortality cultivated by the Queen Mother of the West.
Why is that showing up here?
"Baekya."
The man's tone hardened. He was clearly about to scold the dog.
"How many times has this been? I told you to stop going there."
— Woof!
"You're the one who did wrong, and now you're mad at me? That's rich. I raised you wrong. I spoiled you too much."
He let out a long sigh and muttered under his breath.
"For a while, absolutely not. The Peach Banquet is coming up soon. I'll get in trouble too."
The Peach Banquet…?
It was a phrase he'd never heard in his life. From the context, though, it sounded like some kind of important occasion.
Su-hwan also got the strong sense that this man was no ordinary human. And then—
— Knock knock.
Someone rapped on the door. The moment the man asked who it was, a deafening blast of noise tore at Su-hwan's eardrums. It felt like a radio locked between stations.
Urrrgh…
Su-hwan squeezed his eyes shut and tried to cover his ears. Or rather, he tried to. But the sound only grew louder, swallowing his mind whole.
Urrrrrgh…
Just as Su-hwan's consciousness was about to snap under the noise, his vision suddenly blazed open, as if he had opened eyes that had been closed.
Gasping, he carefully looked around. But his body still refused to move as he willed it.
What the hell… Ah.
Only then did Su-hwan realize why his body was locked in place.
"Hah—huff—haah!"
Waves of grief, despair, and agony crashed over him.
"Mungchi… Please, stay with me…!"
Yes. The price of failing to receive bokchae had come due.
Drenched in sweat from head to toe, Park Su-hwan's eyes snapped open.
In the dream he had become Choi Yuri, racing to save Mungchi, only to be struck by a car in the end—and that horrific pain had felt utterly real. Every bone in his body seemed to have been crushed to powder.
Haa…
He remembered the nightmare of becoming the delivery driver Kang Dong-hyun and dying from a stab wound. Back then, too, the terrible sensation had lingered even after he woke.
This never gets easier.
That was exactly why he had tried so hard to get the bokchae. But it wasn't as if he could force people to hand it over, either.
Tch… Maybe I should've just asked for some trash.
Regretting it after the fact changed nothing. Beyond the shrine door, bright sunlight was streaming in.
Still. Two days. Just two more days of this and it'll be over.
"Aigoo! Aigoo! That's it, good boy! So good!"
From outside came the landlady's bright, cheerful voice.
"That's right. Sit! Wow, you're really smart."
What's she doing out there?
Su-hwan rose from his seat and carefully stepped outside.
"Oh, Su-hwan. You're up?"
The landlady who had always called him "young man" had started using his name. It meant the two of them had grown that much closer.
"I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No, it's fine."
"Your face is soaked in sweat. You look pale, too. You're not sick, are you?"
"Ah, no—I just had a bit of a nightmare. More importantly…"
Su-hwan's gaze landed on the white puppy sitting in front of the landlady.
"I have no idea where he came from, but he followed me all the way home. And he listens so well."
— Pant, pant.
"…Is that so?"
"I'm telling you, he listens so well! You think someone abandoned him? A cutie like this…"
Su-hwan couldn't take his eyes off the puppy. The little dog padded over on its short legs, then planted itself against his leg and started clawing at him, tail thrashing wildly.