The Broken Railing
In an instant, his vision went black. The tool shop packed with every kind of ritual implement, Choi Young-gam, and Choi Hana—all of them vanished.
"Again?"
Park Su-hwan had once more been dragged, against his own will, into the world that held nothing but the ledger.
Along the way he had managed to grasp one pattern about it. The ledger appeared whenever his eyes met those of someone whose death was imminent. Beyond that single rule, however, he still could not pin down any more precise criteria.
If that were truly the only condition, then every future of every person destined to die should have unfolded before him. Yet the ledger did not work that way. It seemed to react only at very particular moments.
Just what was that…? No. More importantly, that meant Choi Hana was going to die soon.
That was absurd. Choi Young-gam’s only blood relative, his granddaughter, dying? He absolutely could not let her die—not when he thought of all the kindness he had received from the old man.
Still, there was a silver lining. The future was not yet fixed.
With a resolute expression, Park Su-hwan hurriedly began reading through the ledger.
"It's your fault Grandpa died, you know that?"
A sharp, venomous remark stabbed into his ears. Before he knew it, Park Su-hwan was standing on the windy rooftop of a school building.
"Shut up! What kind of bullshit is that?!"
Choi Hana, dressed in her school uniform, stood surrounded by classmates who looked to be her peers.
What’s going on? A fight?
Clutching the ledger, Park Su-hwan approached them to grasp the situation.
"'Bullshit,' she says. You filming a historical drama or what?"
"Right? Just like a shaman bitch."
"Hey, careful. She might curse us."
"Hahaha!!"
Invisible to them, they stood around Choi Hana in the middle, laughing and chattering among themselves. This was not simple mockery—it was clear bullying and harassment.
So she was being bullied at school. The way they treated Choi Hana was so natural it proved they had not just begun tormenting her a day or two ago. She always wore such a bright face whenever he saw her that he never dreamed she was going through anything like this.
A boy at the back of the group pulled a bag of salt from his pocket.
"Hey. I brought salt anyway. Everyone sprinkle some when we leave later. Like this?"
He flung the salt into Choi Hana’s face.
"Ahk!"
She rubbed her eyes, her face contorted in pain.
This son of a bitch…!
In a surge of rage Park Su-hwan swung his fist at the kid without thinking. Nothing met his fingertips.
He gritted his teeth and forced the boiling anger back down.
"You think you can act like this and get away with it? Take that back right now!"
"If I take it back, does that bring your grandpa back? Cerebral hemorrhage, right? Then he's pretty much a living corpse."
"You already ate your parents, and now you ate your only family, your grandpa too? Whoa. Scary, so scary."
"You… you'll all die for this. You'll get divine punishment. Even in the afterlife!"
Tears finally burst from the eyes of the girl who had been holding on with pure venom. But they did not even blink—instead they only mocked her further, asking whether shamans even cried.
"Oh no. Our Hana. All alone now…"
"Shut up!"
With her reason snapped, Choi Hana seized Baek Yoon-seul by the hair. Immediately the others swarmed her like a nest of bees.
"Let go!!"
"Take it back right now! Take those words back!! Aaagh!"
Choi Hana clenched her teeth and refused to release the hair she held.
"Somebody get this bitch… Aaagh! Fuck!"
"Yaaah! Hurry!!"
That was when a boy who could no longer watch—Kwon Ha-seong—roughly grabbed Choi Hana by the throat and yanked.
"Ghk…!"
Feeling the pain of her windpipe being crushed, Choi Hana involuntarily let go of the hair.
"Get lost!"
"Ahk!"
The following kick sent Choi Hana staggering into the old railing behind her.
"That fucking bitch… Uwaaaagh!!"
Baek Yoon-seul screamed at the sight of her own hair still clutched in Choi Hana’s hand.
"What the hell were you all doing?! Against a bitch like that!!"
"You okay? Yoon-seul?"
Kwon Ha-seong carefully helped the disheveled Baek Yoon-seul to her feet. Then he glared murderously at Choi Hana, who was moaning in pain as she gripped the railing and struggled to stand.
"You really wanna die?"
"Hey. Kwon Ha-seong."
Even under that murderous threat Choi Hana did not flinch and opened her mouth. Somehow her demeanor was completely different from anything she had shown until now.
"What…?"
As if… a god had possessed her.
"Do you think you can do this and remain unharmed?! Your mother will die young without reaching fifty, and your father will die a lonely death on the streets…!"
"Shut the fuck up, you crazy bitch!"
Seized by an inexplicable fear, Kwon Ha-seong screamed and shoved Choi Hana hard.
Crash!
Ordinarily it should have ended with her slamming into the railing.
"Huh…?"
But the dilapidated railing could not withstand the second impact and finally tore free with a thunderous roar. Losing her support, her body tilted heavily to one side. Choi Hana’s eyes widened in bewilderment. And the eyes of everyone present stretched wide as if they would tear.
"U-uh…!!"
Realizing the situation, she stretched a hand toward Kwon Ha-seong as if begging to be saved, but…
"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!"
It was already too late.
"Uwaaaagh…!!"
Back in reality, Park Su-hwan snapped his tightly shut eyes open with a rough scream.
"You bastard! Snap out of it!!"
Slap! Smack!!
Choi Young-gam was slapping Park Su-hwan across the face.
"Haaah, huuk…"
"Snap…!"
Choi Young-gam’s hand rose high again. Park Su-hwan hurriedly raised his own hands to block it.
"I'm, I'm awake."
"You okay?"
"Yes. Getting hit by you hurt more, sir."
In that brief span his whole body was soaked in cold sweat.
This really doesn't get any easier.
Watching someone die right in front of his nose was a far more horrific experience than he could have imagined.
"Something's wrong with you, right? We're going to the hospital right now. Hana. Did you call 119?"
Seeing Park Su-hwan suddenly thrash around, Choi Young-gam had nearly fallen off the ladder in shock.
"I was just about to call. Hold on."
"I'm fine. No. I don't need a hospital."
"Is it because of the money? I'll pay."
Park Su-hwan thought Choi Young-gam really was a good person and smiled faintly.
"It's not that. I was possessed by a spirit."
"What…?"
Choi Young-gam reacted as if he had heard something he should not have.
"It's true."
"You bastard. You're a fraud. Where do you get off lying! I said I'll cover the bill!"
"Come on. I'm telling you it's not. The General finally recognized my devotion."
"A guy who wants to buy used ritual tools?"
Choi Young-gam was the one who had fed him when he was at his lowest and freely given him expensive tools as well. He was a benefactor who had helped him in every way, but Su-hwan could never speak of the ledger’s existence to him.
"Stop talking nonsense!"
"More importantly, sir. You need to go to the hospital first."
Park Su-hwan recalled what he had seen in the ledger. Baek Yoon-seul. She had clearly said the old man collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage. Choi Hana’s fatal fall was two weeks from now. That meant Choi Young-gam would collapse from a brain hemorrhage in between.
"This one's really gone mad."
"Sir. You can't take my words lightly. This is a gongsu the General delivered."
Here, gongsu meant he had heard the future directly from a god.
"What?"
"I can see blood pooling in your head. You'll collapse before long. You need to get to a hospital before that happens."
Looking at his serious expression, Choi Young-gam realized it was not a lie.
"Huh… You really received a god?"
"Yes. I prayed with a bowl of water at least once a day. Now I even offer peaches—no, delicious fruit. And you."
Park Su-hwan immediately turned his head to look at Choi Hana. At his chilly gaze she flinched involuntarily.
"You're being bullied at school, aren't you? Getting pointed at as a shaman bitch."
"…What? No?"
The secret she had so desperately wanted to hide from her grandfather. She never expected it would be exposed now, and she was momentarily flustered.
"Grandpa. I'll call 119 right away."
Hastily composing her expression, she tried to change the subject in a rush.
"Hana. What is this about?"
But it was already too late. Choi Young-gam’s eyes were already filled with deep suspicion.
"Don't even think of lying. Baek Yoon-seul. Kwon Ha-seong."
Park Su-hwan added the names to drive the nail in.
"…!"
"Still going to play dumb?"
"It's true…"
Choi Hana hung her head and shed thick tears.
"Hana…"
Choi Young-gam looked at her with pitying eyes and pulled her into a tight hug. How long had she been suffering all alone? His chest grew heavy with the guilt and regret of not having noticed his granddaughter’s pain all this time.
"Waaah… I, I don't do the shaman thing because I want to either!"
Under her grandfather’s warm comfort, Choi Hana finally burst into the tears she had been holding back. A child who had received a divine calling at a young age. Unlike Park Su-hwan, the livelihood fraudster, she was a “real” shaman chosen by a god.
"Aigoo. I'm sorry. Grandpa's sorry. I'm so sorry."
He could not even begin to imagine how heavy the stares and sorrow she had to endure living as a shaman instead of an ordinary student must have been.
After sobbing for a long while, Choi Hana wiped her tears with trembling hands. Then, with her swollen eyes, she lifted her head and looked at Park Su-hwan.
"You said you received a gongsu?"
"That's right. Don't tell me you still don't believe me?"
"N-no. I believe you. It's just that my Lady never said a word about Grandpa."
"Of course not. The god I serve is stronger, that's why."
At Park Su-hwan’s shameless answer, Choi Hana made a puzzled face.
"Didn't you say it was the General? I serve Princess Bari."
Park Su-hwan rolled his eyes for a moment. Then he soon straightened his face and raised his voice.
"But that's not what's important right now, is it? Your grandpa's about to go to the afterlife!"
"Ah, right! I'm sorry. Grandpa. This isn't the time. Let's go to the hospital right now. Hurry!"
She jumped up and was about to pull Choi Young-gam by the hand when a thought flashed through Park Su-hwan’s mind.
Wait. Hold on.
"What? Every second counts right now!"
"We still can't just go to any hospital."
He needed a skilled doctor who could catch a brain hemorrhage that had not yet ruptured. More than anything, he needed someone who would believe his words and order a full examination on a perfectly healthy-looking person.
"I know a doctor. Professor Kim Jun-young at Hankook University Hospital."
He said he would listen to me… so he must have avoided the disaster.
"Hankook University Hospital? How do you know someone like that, Oppa?!"
"I helped him out a bit before. Let's contact him right away and get an appointment…"
Park Su-hwan confidently rummaged in his pocket for his phone, then suddenly froze.
"What's wrong?"
Disaster. He had received Kim Jun-young’s business card but had not saved the number separately. Thinking there was no chance he would ever need to call had come back to bite him.
"The card's at home. I'll go grab it right now. And once we send the old man to the hospital, you and I are going to school tomorrow."
"School? Why…?"
"Why else? To beat those bastards up. You think I'm just gonna let them go?"
Park Su-hwan hurried home to find Kim Jun-young’s business card.
"Where have you been off to?"
But the moment he arrived at his front door, an unbelievable situation unfolded.
"Thank you. Thanks to you I saved my life. The patient as well. And myself."
A man loaded down with bags in both hands. It was none other than Professor Kim Jun-young of Hankook University Hospital.
Speak of the tiger and he appears. The timing was truly incredible.