Steel Fall, Life Crushed
It looked like an apartment construction site.
He couldn't make out the finer details, but the scale of the build was considerable. Heavy machinery thundered back and forth in every direction. Shouts and a chaos of noise blended together until it hurt his ears.
Hup…!
On top of that, the thick dust made it hard to keep his eyes open, and he kept coughing without stop.
"Whoa—!!"
Before he could react, a massive excavator barreled straight at Park Su-hwan. He squeezed his eyes shut on pure reflex.
Huh?
When the pain he expected never came, he carefully opened his eyes. The excavator had passed clean through his body.
This is ridiculously vivid.
He let out a breath of relief as he watched the machine recede. It felt so real he could almost believe he was actually standing on a construction site.
His senses were far sharper than when he had peeked into Seo Da-eun's future last time.
That… doesn't seem like a good thing.
Park Su-hwan tilted his head, muttering to himself. Until now he had always watched these visions as an observer. Now he could step in directly and dig for information. That was how he had been able to figure out exactly how Seo Da-eun would be framed.
But if the visions grew any clearer than this, it might become dangerous. He had no real basis for the feeling—just pure instinct.
I'll think about that later…
That wasn't the priority right now. He forced down the unease and scanned his surroundings.
"Man, I really don't wanna do this."
"Then just go home already."
"You gonna pay me?"
"Get lost."
Not far away, a group of older workers were gathered, talking and laughing noisily. They were deep in conversation, clearly enjoying themselves.
In that cluster were not only Han Seung-ju but also Oh Seok-ju, the protagonist of this world. Park Su-hwan headed straight for them.
Clap clap!
"Alright, alright, let's move. Stop clowning around in front of the new guy."
A man who looked like the leader clapped his hands and quieted the ruckus.
"Lunch is spicy pork today, so work hard. Seung-ju, stick with the guy next to you."
"Yes, sir!"
Han Seung-ju answered with crisp military energy and started walking.
"Now that's the new-guy spirit."
The man's sly joke set everyone off laughing. A few more exchanges followed, then they scattered to their tasks.
Han Seung-ju disappeared after the laborer. Leaving him behind, Park Su-hwan trailed after Oh Seok-ju, who was heading somewhere else.
This was Oh Seok-ju's world, after all.
"Hot enough to die. Seriously."
Sweat pouring off him, Oh Seok-ju yanked off his hard hat and grumbled.
"Still better than winter, right? Freezes you solid then."
The coworker beside him gave him a light shove as he spoke.
"…Bullshit. Same damn thing either way to me."
Oh Seok-ju glanced at the mini fan hanging around his coworker's neck. Come to think of it, the weather was murderously hot, yet the other man's face showed not a single drop of sweat.
"Looks nice."
"Hell yeah. My daughter bought it. Super cool. If you press here…"
The coworker hit a button on the side of the fan and an even stronger breeze kicked up.
"Oh."
To Oh Seok-ju, suffering in the heat, it looked like pure treasure.
"Wanna borrow it?"
"For real? You're the best, hyung."
"Just kidding."
"…"
He snickered, teasing Oh Seok-ju, then started walking. He waved back over his shoulder and called out,
"I'll lend it to you this evening. This evening!"
Oh Seok-ju flipped him off as he walked away.
"What's the point of lending it when I'm going home?! Get lost!"
"Hahaha!"
Left alone, Oh Seok-ju roughly wiped the sweat from his forehead. He glared up at the sun beating down on his head and muttered a low curse.
"This really sucks."
He was trudging along when it happened.
"Whoa—!!!"
"Look out!!"
A sharp scream tore from overhead. Urgent voices piled on one after another.
"Huh…?"
The moment he looked up, still not understanding, a massive shadow swallowed him whole.
KWA-AAAANG!!
That was the horrific cause of death written for Oh Seok-ju in the ledger.
"Hup!"
Park Su-hwan's eyes snapped open with a ragged gasp. The image of Oh Seok-ju's arm, half-visible through the dust, had been deeply unsettling.
He rubbed his own arm hard. The feel of the dust that had touched it had been far too real.
Kang-kang!
Baekya was already sitting on his lap—when the puppy had arrived, he had no idea. The little white dog flailed his short front paws, trying to stop Su-hwan's frantic scrubbing.
"Hey… we're leaving. Now."
"Whoa, whoa—"
Oh Seok-ju grabbed Han Seung-ju by the arm and yanked him up. His grip was so strong that Seung-ju was half-forced to his feet.
"I knew it."
"W-what do you mean?!"
"People said it sounded like you were getting scammed, so they told me to follow you. Look at this guy—he's a total nutjob."
Oh Seok-ju fired the words off like a machine gun. On his rare day off, when asked what he was doing, Seung-ju had suddenly announced he was going to see a shaman.
And not just any shaman—someone he owed a huge debt to, supposedly.
Ridiculous. In this day and age, what debt could you possibly owe a shaman? It had to be a con, so out of concern Oh Seok-ju had taken it upon himself to come along.
The shaman had suddenly rolled his eyes back until only the whites showed, then started trembling all over. After that he had scratched at his own arm like a madman.
If that wasn't a lunatic, what was?
"You work hard for your money and blow it on this crap? Do you have a brain or not? Get out of here. Now."
"W-wait a second!"
"No. Hurry!!"
"Just wait—!"
Han Seung-ju was being dragged along by the arm when Park Su-hwan, now fully conscious again, fixed them with a cold stare and spoke.
"You're just going to walk out? Really?"
"What, you want money or something?"
Oh Seok-ju let out a disbelieving laugh and sneered at Su-hwan.
"Trying to squeeze a kid's pocket money? Real classy."
"That so? Then leave."
Park Su-hwan smirked, one corner of his mouth lifting. He looked completely unbothered.
I'm no pushover. Tch.
Thanks to Baekya he had come back to himself quickly. He had planned to warn Oh Seok-ju about the cruel fate closing in on him.
But he had zero desire to keep being kind while getting treated like this.
Time for a proper lesson. Come to think of it, it's been a while since I really got angry. I've been way too nice lately.
He considered exactly how to break Oh Seok-ju's arrogant nose.
"Hey. We're going."
"J-just a moment, hyung!"
"Hurry!!"
"You have to listen!!"
Han Seung-ju raised his voice loud enough to ring through the shrine. Startled by the unexpected force, Oh Seok-ju's eyes went wide.
"He did the same thing before."
That was right. The shaman Park Su-hwan who had suddenly spoken to him in the supermarket had acted exactly like this and predicted Han Seung-ju's future.
Seung-ju had nearly lost his mind over it. At first he had laughed it off as crazy talk, but in the end that one sentence from the shaman had saved his life.
So he absolutely could not let this moment slip by.
"Get a grip. You think that makes any sense? Huh? I treat you nice and now you're climbing all over me?"
"You get hot easily, don't you? And you've got a mouth full of curses."
Park Su-hwan cut in, tossing the words out casually.
"You. Yeah, you. Oh Seok-ju."
"…!"
"Did he tell you my name?"
Oh Seok-ju clenched his teeth and glared at Han Seung-ju, looking ready to explode.
"N-no. I only said a hyung I know was coming with me."
"Then how the hell does he know my name…"
"I was trying to handle this nicely, but you're way too cocky. I took pity on you and this is the thanks I get. Tch."
Park Su-hwan snorted and spoke again.
"What?"
"That's just your fate. What can you do about it? Right? So…"
He roughly flipped open the lid of the salt jar beside the divination table, scooped up a fistful of coarse salt, and flung it at Oh Seok-ju like he was throwing a punch.
"Get the hell out!!"
"Whoa—!!"
This place was entirely Park Su-hwan's domain. No matter how foul-tempered someone was, they couldn't casually throw hands inside a shrine.
Especially not against a shaman whose eyes were blazing with murderous presence—no one had the guts to talk back.
"I felt sorry for you because you're about to be eating memorial rice, so I was gonna save you! And you come at me with this crap?!"
Oh Seok-ju's face went blank with disbelief, as if he couldn't trust his own ears.
"M-memorial rice? You mean…"
A shaken Han Seung-ju repeated the words in a trembling voice.
"Hey. Don't hang around with that guy."
Park Su-hwan jerked his chin toward Oh Seok-ju and snapped.
"That nasty stink of his is gonna rub off on you. Dragging a half-dead man in here and ruining my mood."
"What the hell are you…"
Terrified, Han Seung-ju grabbed Oh Seok-ju's arm and tried to force him back down.
"Hyung. Apologize. Right now!"
"What's wrong with you? You believe that?"
"Please! That man warned me ahead of time and I lived because of it. Do I look like I'm lying?"
Park Su-hwan watched the scene with a leisurely expression. That very calm only made the shaman's pressure heavier.
"Ha…"
In that moment their eyes met.
"I said get out."
He was certain. He would win this invisible contest of wills. It was only a matter of time before Oh Seok-ju dropped to his knees of his own accord.
"…I'm going to die?"
"Who knows. I wonder."
Still talking down to me, huh?
Of course that attitude didn't sit well with him. Park Su-hwan tilted his head mockingly, a crooked little smile playing on his lips as he savored Oh Seok-ju's inner struggle.
"…"
"Hyung. I'm serious."
Fists clenched tight, Oh Seok-ju kept his mouth shut for a long moment. Then, slowly, he began to speak.