The Fortune-Telling Old Man
The old fortune teller. Wiji Cheon, the final boss of The Heavenly Poison Witch, had died two years ago. To be honest, when I first heard the news I was pretty thrown off. The man who could be called the root of every single incident in the original story—the hidden mastermind behind it all—was dead. That meant none of the events I knew about would ever happen.
At the same time, a part of me thought, Isn’t this actually a good thing? Most novels where someone gets sucked into a book have the protagonist using their foreknowledge to snatch every advantage they can. But I’d also read plenty of stories where relying too heavily on that information backfired spectacularly. So having nothing happen at all didn’t seem so bad.
Besides, what had started as a simple job for money had turned into two years of living with the Dokgo Clan. I’d grown genuinely attached to the people here. If the original plot had gone ahead, every single person working for the clan would have been slaughtered. But with the mastermind gone, that tragedy should never come to pass.
“Ah, now that I think about it, young miss.”
We were walking down the back mountain after finishing training when something occurred to me. I turned to Dokgo Rin.
“Is there anything you want for your birthday?”
She stopped mid-step. A hint of laughter threaded through her voice as she asked, “Why? Planning to buy me something?”
“It is your birthday. I couldn’t get you anything last year.”
She made a thoughtful little hum, tapping her index finger against her chin. Then she suddenly broke into a mischievous grin.
“Right now, the thing I want most is you, Chilbok.”
“I meant an actual object, not me.”
I gave her a light chop on the head. She let out an adorable “Ouch!” then puffed her cheeks in a pout.
“You blockhead.”
“Don’t you think it’s about time you gave up? How long are you going to keep saying you like me?”
“For the rest of my life, obviously. I already told you that.”
“Thanks to you, the clan head glares daggers at me every time he sees me these days.”
“That’s fine. I already spoke with Father. He said he’d approve you as my partner once he has dirt in his eyes.”
“…Young miss, are you familiar with the term ‘sarcasm’?”
“Then do you know what ‘a man’s word is worth a thousand gold’ means?”
“Sigh. Let’s just stop talking.”
“Good idea.”
Dokgo Rin still showed no sign of abandoning her stubbornness. I’d honestly thought she would change her mind quickly, but two full years had passed and her devotion hadn’t wavered once. Realistically, though, the difference in our stations made any relationship impossible. Even if we did start dating, there was no way her doting father Dokgo Jin would allow it. More than that, the weight of the love she directed at me was so heavy it sometimes left me flinching. If we actually became a couple, I was sure her symptoms would only get worse.
“Anyway, young miss, I heard you’ll be attending the academy starting this April. Guess we won’t see each other for a while.”
She had been humming a little tune as we descended the mountain, but now she tilted her head as if she’d never heard anything so ridiculous.
“Why are you talking like it has nothing to do with you?”
“Because I’m not going to the academy?”
“Wrong. You are going.”
I blinked at her.
“Excuse me? What are you talking about? This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“I submitted your enrollment under your name. All you have to do is show up.”
“Why on earth would I go there?”
“You’ve already learned martial arts. At your current level you could easily beat an average mid-rank escort warrior from any decent merchant guild.”
She flashed a V-sign with her fingers. I was the one who taught her that gesture, but seeing it now only made it more irritating.
“Besides, a disciple should follow her master wherever she goes. Where exactly were you planning to sneak off to by yourself?”
She gave a small, deliberate cough. When I didn’t answer right away she glanced at me sideways.
“…You’ll go, right?”
Now that the initiative had finally passed to me, I let out a small chuckle and nodded.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Nice!”
She clenched both fists in open delight right in front of me.
“I never said I was definitely going.”
“You’ll come if I ask you to anyway!”
“Ugh!”
I couldn’t deny it. I’ve always been weak to her requests.
“If it’s too much trouble, you could just consider going to the academy with me as my birthday present instead of buying something.”
“No, those are two separate things. I’ll definitely get you a proper gift.”
I firmly cut off her suggestion, then peeled off the lead-lined robe I’d been wearing over my clothes. It was something Dokgo Rin had specially ordered for me. At first glance it looked like an ordinary outer garment, but it was made of lead and weighed an absolute ton. The inside even had multiple pockets so I could add more lead weights and adjust the load.
“By the way, young miss, when exactly am I allowed to take this training robe off?”
“Hmm… when you reach the point where you won’t get beaten up wherever you go?”
“And when would that be, roughly?”
“I’d say once you’re at least a peak-level expert?”
“…Doesn’t that basically mean I’ll be wearing this for the rest of my life?”
After two years of brutal training I had only just reached the tail end of the second-class realm. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the day I could call myself a peak expert. But Dokgo Rin’s opinion was different.
“No, at your pace it won’t take that long. Maybe by twenty?”
“Am I really that talented?”
“More like you have an excellent master. I perform the Chugungwahyeol point-striking technique on you once a week, and I even share all those expensive spiritual medicines instead of eating them alone.”
“Yet somehow it feels like only your martial arts have been improving by leaps and bounds.”
“That’s the difference in natural talent.”
She puffed out her chest with a proud little smirk. Her once-small frame had grown so much in the last two years that her chest now strained against her training clothes. The fact that she was still growing only made it more terrifying.
“Pervert♡”
She must have noticed where my gaze had drifted, because she covered her chest with her right arm.
But I stood my ground. “This is an unavoidable force of nature. Men are instinctively drawn to look at breasts.”
“If you became my partner right now, you could touch these big breasts whenever you wanted.”
“A truly tempting offer, but I must decline. I don’t particularly want to die young.”
“Tch.”
She clicked her tongue openly in disappointment, then glanced at the sky. Deciding we had wasted too much time chatting, she said we should hurry down before sunset.
“Understood.”
I fell into step behind her and we continued down the mountain in silence.
Thanks to focusing solely on running without speaking, we managed to reach the village before the sun went down. Just before entering the village entrance, Dokgo Rin pulled the black veil she always carried over her face and glanced at me.
“Let’s go, Chilbok.”
“Yes, young miss.”
With her coming-of-age ceremony approaching, Dokgo Rin’s beauty had fully bloomed. Whenever she walked around the village now she always wore the veil. It covered most of her lower face, leaving only her eyes visible, but those mysteriously seductive eyes stole the hearts of countless men. When she was younger people had called her cute rather than beautiful, so she hadn’t drawn this much attention. These days she was basically a walking heart-bomb.
What did I think? Having known her since she was a child and seeing her face almost every day, I’d grown somewhat immune.
As we emerged from the back mountain after another long training session, the village youths began slinking out like hyenas circling prey. But because of Dokgo Rin’s naturally aloof aura, none of them dared approach. They simply watched from a safe distance.
Even now it’s like this. In a few years it’s going to be an absolute mob scene.
I was thinking exactly that while walking beside her when a voice suddenly called out.
“You two there.”
Someone stopped us as we passed an alleyway. I turned my head and saw an old man sitting on a mat spread across the ground, staring straight at us. A large bamboo hat hid most of his face, but the white-haired elder gave off an inexplicably extraordinary presence.
“Is something the matter, sir?” I asked carefully, maintaining proper etiquette.
The old man stared at us from beneath his hat for a moment, then spoke abruptly.
“If you’re not in a hurry, how about having your fortunes read before you go?”
“Fortunes?”
It was such a sudden suggestion that I glanced back at Dokgo Rin to see what she thought. To my surprise, she agreed without hesitation.
“Sure. Let’s have it done.”
“Won’t the clan head scold you if we’re late for curfew?”
“How long could one little reading possibly take? Besides, opportunities like this don’t come often.”
She was right. It was extremely rare for a fortune teller to visit a rural place like Sangam. To earn more money they usually headed for big cities. In the end I followed her lead and crouched down in front of the old man’s mat.
He pulled an old book and a brush from his robes and said to us, “Then please tell me the four pillars of destiny for both of you.”