How This Fortune Teller Becomes Famous
「……What the hell is that guy?”
Liu Yen let out a sigh as she glanced in the direction the fortune teller had run off, even while watching the collapsing wall. To her, Namgung Min was exactly that kind of existence. They had only known each other for less than ten days, yet……he was a guy whose true intentions she couldn’t read at all. Even when she looked at him with the class skill of a Great Wealthy Person, nothing came through.
“……It usually works just fine.”
“What are you looking at?”
When she used her class skill Eyes that Chase Wealth on the bitch standing beside her, a clear golden aura appeared. The size of that golden hue roughly told her the target’s value and how much money she could earn from them……the greatest contributor that had truly elevated Liu Yen to the position of a great wealthy person.
Simply activating this skill and browsing an antique shop once could easily net her hundreds of millions, and it was also the reason she held an unrivaled position in the stock and investment markets all on her own. She had succeeded without relying on anyone, living entirely by herself until now. That was why she had always placed absolute trust in Eyes that Chase Wealth.
‘Then why the hell can’t I see anything on that bastard!’
Did she now have to start doubting even this?
‘Fucking hell…….’
From long ago, and gradually. Liu Yen turned her head to the side without realizing she was growing exhausted from her own suspicions.
“……Hey, you bitch.”
“It’s Lane Arthur.”
“Yeah, you fucking bitch.”
“Shall I blow your head off?”
Boulders the size of human heads floated around the frowning Lane. But Liu Yen simply snorted at all of them and muttered.
“Forget it. Why are you being so cooperative with that fortune teller?”
“………Pardon?”
“I didn’t mean to, but I’ve been watching you for a long time. The you I’ve seen until now was just a bitch with zero manners. The kind of bitch who grinds anyone weaker than you under your heel.”
“………….”
“And by your standards, that fortune teller is definitely one of the weak ones, right? What you care about isn’t how competent someone is.”
“……….”
“You just look at whether you can beat them in a fight or not, right? Last time you blew some nouveau riche bastard’s jaw off just because he tried to hit on you the first time you met. What’s so different about him?”
Lane Arthur remained silent. Normally she would have thrown something back at Liu Yen’s words, but this time she couldn’t. The clearly stronger Namgung Min had told her he wanted to live quietly, and answering Liu’s question would inevitably reveal his strength.
……Though seeing him openly step forward like this made her wonder if he really wanted to live quietly, a superior’s command was still a command. Well, if she didn’t answer at all, that persistent and shorty bitch probably wouldn’t accept it. What should she say?
“It’s just a whim.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it fun to watch? That pathetic fortune teller who only knows how to flap his lips acting all high and mighty—isn’t it entertaining? Even though one slip-up would send him straight to hell, the way he walks that tightrope is delightful.”
“……Is that for real?”
“Oh? Didn’t you just call me a bitch? A bitch does what bitches do.”
The way Lane smiled sweetly as she said that……was enough to make even Liu Yen feel a little creeped out. So that was why she was cooperating with someone weaker than her. She really was just pure evil.
Lane turned her head away from Liu’s icy glare that clearly said ‘isn’t that going a bit too far?’
‘……This should be enough, right?’
It was better to let Lane pile on more infamy than to let the topic drift back to Namgung Min. She already knew she was secretly called an evil woman anyway. The Arthur family was also turning a blind eye because they needed a scapegoat, so she would simply accept that decision. She followed the law of the strong preying on the weak, and she had to show absolute obedience to the strong that was her family.
“………….”
“……….”
The surroundings were noisy with all kinds of sounds, but an awkward silence continued between the two. They had known each other since childhood—childhood friends, if one were to be precise—but they had always hated and avoided each other.
But right now, both of them clearly realized something.
‘……Even though I’m suspicious of that guy, this bitch is genuinely evil. That fortune teller can’t get trampled by her. He should be crying and begging in front of me instead. I’d rather turn this bitch’s attention toward me……!’
‘If this paranoid patient starts suspecting Namgung Min……it’s only a matter of time before she finds out, and then his order to live quietly will go out the window. I need to focus this bitch’s attention on me first!’
That they now shared a common point called Namgung Min. And that it wasn’t exactly a good thing. And that they had to redirect each other’s attention back to themselves to prevent the conversation from flowing toward Namgung Min.
“………Bitch.”
“……Shorty paranoid patient.”
But the only method they both knew was provoking each other with insults. So they simply kept cursing at one another.
The class 'Fortune Teller' has catastrophic aptitude for physical activity. Please be careful even when running!
After running for a bit, I realized something. The Fortune Teller class is clearly a non-combat class. In other words, my physical abilities are significantly lower compared to combat-related classes. And there was one more thing I had forgotten until now.
“So……that warning was literally telling me to be careful……”
My already low physical stats combined with catastrophic aptitude for physical activity. These two things formed a disastrous collaboration that stopped my steps in less than a minute and left me half-collapsed against a wall.
Wait, even if I’m a fortune teller, I’m still a class holder, so shouldn’t I be a superhuman? Even if I can’t run like a car like Swordsmen or Martial Artists, shouldn’t I at least be better than an average person? This feels worse than my physical condition back in reality.
A superhuman with worse stamina than someone aiming to be a police officer? Are you kidding me? Besides, I was fine when I was shoveling last time. What exactly counts as physical activity?
“I should have……just asked some other students……”
“What might you be referring to?”
“…………Ha, haha. Should I call this good luck?”
Thanks to the Cleanliness skill I wasn’t sweating, but with my breath caught in my throat, I forced a smile. The very person I had been looking for had come to me directly.
With a sense of gratitude, I slowly exhaled and inhaled, calming my breathing. Now, let’s try smiling properly.
“Hoo……I greet Her Highness, the Princess of the Unified Korean Empire.”
“It might have been appropriate when we first met, but isn’t it funny to be so formal now?”
“There were many people then, but now it’s just the two of us. It’s only proper.”
“That’s a nice thing to say. It would have been even better if you hadn’t said it while sitting on the ground.”
“Haha, my legs gave out.”
“Pfft. Are you joking that your legs gave out because of me?”
No, they really did. My legs are shaking so badly I can’t even stand right now! ……But I can’t say that outright, so beating around the bush is the best option.
“I searched for Your Highness until my legs gave out like this.”
“In the end, you couldn’t find me and I came to you instead, didn’t I?”
“That must also be my good fortune.”
“You really have a silver tongue.”
Kim Eun-ha, the princess who crossed her arms and let out a small laugh. Her arms looked so slender……but knowing that one swing from them could turn me into dried fish jerky made my body keep trembling.
“So, why were you looking for me?”
“I need Your Highness’s strength.”
“……I know what you’re doing right now. Gathering students to break down the maze walls—you’re probably the first in Romance Academy’s history to do that, right?”
“I need Your Highness’s strength.”
“I heard you have psychics, a great wealthy person, a mage, and even a swordsman backed by Japan. With hundreds of students, you should be able to push through most walls easily.”
“I need Your Highness’s strength.”
“………You’re quite persistent.”
Where do you think you’re changing the subject? Not a chance. Fear of violence is one thing, but forgetting my goal because of it would be stupid. Besides, Kim Eun-ha’s violence……or should I call it her switch? It gets pressed very easily when it comes to her older brother Kim Seong-il, but it doesn’t get pressed easily toward others. Of course, since it’s ‘not easily,’ I still need to adjust my approach carefully.
“Alright, I’ll get straight to the point. I have no intention of cooperating with you.”
“May I ask for the reason?”
I already knew the reason, but asking once was only polite. And the princess’s answer was obvious.
“There’s no reason for me to tell you th───”
“──You’ve been avoiding me, haven’t you?”
“………Eh, yes?”
That’s why I had to strike first. Now then, Your Highness. I wonder if you can really stay silent after this?
“Actually, I read the fortune once.”
“……Fortune?”
“My physical strength is weak, so I gave up on escaping this maze from the beginning. That left me with plenty of time, so I decided to read some fortunes.”
“………….”
“I asked what I would be doing after 12 o’clock, and lo and behold! Surprisingly, the result said I would be doing just fine without any major incidents. At that moment, I thought to myself.”
“Ah, so even if this fails, there won’t be any big problems?”
I casually muttered the lie while observing Kim Eun-ha. She must have sensed something ominous as she met my gaze fiercely. I was about to reveal her most secret secret. A secret she would want to silence me over even if it meant killing me.
“In that case, there shouldn’t be any problem if I just sit here. But I moved anyway.”
I was inferior to Kim Eun-ha in every way—stamina, ability, status, fame, money, everything. But no matter how much of a princess she was, she couldn’t kill me or erase me from the academy. The fortune teller Namgung Min had already left a strong impression on all the new students. Even if she could silence the students from the Unified Korean Empire, she couldn’t silence the students from other countries like Lane or Liu.
But openly revealing it and becoming her enemy would also be a big problem. So what should I show her?
“I gathered the students. I formed a group, a crowd, and we started breaking down the walls.”
“……The leaps in your story seem quite extreme.”
“What does the process matter? What’s important is the result. Anyway, as we kept breaking the walls, other students gradually started cooperating too, and our numbers grew.”
However.
“But you, Your Highness, were not among them.”
“That’s because I was in a different direction.”
“Haha, Your Highness. From the moment we met like this, that explanation has no meaning. Can’t you hear that sound? The sound of walls collapsing and buildings being destroyed? It’s so clearly audible—how can you say you didn’t know?”
“……….”
“You said it yourself at the beginning, Your Highness. That you had no intention of cooperating with us. And that was exactly the case.”
If I hadn’t been able to find the princess, I would have simply given up. If she had gone to the completely opposite side, she might not have heard the noise. But the fact that we could meet after I only ran for about a minute means she had deliberately avoided this direction.
But that created one question.
“Then isn’t that fine?”
“Then why did you come looking for me?”
After avoiding me this whole time, now? Deliberately?
“………….”
“It would have been simple not to meet me. So why did you come to see me in person like this? Especially at the moment I had separated from that group?”
“…………….”
“The answer is simple. The reason Your Highness doesn’t want to cooperate isn’t with ‘me,’ but with ‘that group.’”
Princess Kim Eun-ha. She had one secret. A secret shared only with her family, one that would have already exploded if not for her older brother Kim Seong-il.
“Why do you think that is?”
“…….”
And here.
“…………….”
“………….”
“……………….”
“…………?”
Suddenly, I fell silent. At the highlight of the story, the climax of the conversation, the most crucial part where I would uncover the secret, I closed my mouth.
“……What is this? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Your Highness, I will not speak of what comes next.”
“Ha. You asked in self-mockery why, but in the end you don’t know the answer?”
“No, I do know the answer. It’s simply the kind of thing that shouldn’t be said, as Your Highness knows very well.”
“…………….”
I wouldn’t say it. But even without saying it, I already knew. The princess’s eyes gradually grew cold. She was probably thinking about what to do with me. If I really knew the ‘answer.’
Because that was the secret she needed to hide more than anything else.
“So, would you like me to read your fortune?”
“………Fortune?”
“Yes. A simple tarot reading.”
I created tarot cards in the air and shuffled them. During that brief moment, I clearly saw the princess’s fist clench and unclench. In the end, the princess had to confirm whether I truly knew her secret. That’s why she didn’t choose to simply end the conversation and leave.
And for a moment she thought of a very simple solution but soon gave up on it. A solution that could be considered the secret itself, in a way.
“Just pick any card you want.”
“………….”
To the princess, this was probably just her humoring me. There was a high chance she would have someone kidnap me the moment this conversation ended. It was a secret that could deal a massive blow to the imperial family itself, enough to warrant such coercive measures.
So her mind was elsewhere, and she drew a card without much thought. And then—
“………!!!”
“……The Major Arcana number 8, Strength.”
That was why the shock was even greater.
“What do you think, Your Highness?”
“………….”
“Is my reading correct?”
Princess Kim Eun-ha. She……had once beaten a person to death with her innate ‘violence.’