1
# Chapter 1
Grandfather was a stern man.
He was the sort of person who was so awkward at expressing emotions that he would not even smile when his adorable
grandson performed cute little antics in front of him.
Yet there was one and only one time when Grandfather burst into loud laughter in front of the entire family.
“That belongs to your grandfather. You mustn’t touch it carelessly. Doan!”
“What is all this commotion?”
When my stern grandfather entered through the sliding paper door, my mother, who had been trying to stop me, froze in
surprise.
The other relatives outside the room also held their breaths and watched Grandfather’s reaction.
But at the time, my five-year-old level of awareness had never progressed beyond level one.
“Grandpa, is this yours?”
Hmm. Looking back now, it seems I had thrown manners into the trash along with my ability to read the room.
The proof was the vivid memory of every relative watching me in utter shock.
The thing that had captured my attention so completely at the time was the bracelet with a white crystal, sitting neatly
on top of the chest of drawers in Grandfather’s room.
Grandfather frowned as he looked at the bracelet I was curious about, then his eyes widened slightly.
“……You…… want this?”
“Are you going to give it to me?”
“……Heh…… Hahahahahaha!!! Hahahahahaha!!!!! Puhahahahahahaha!!!!”
Grandfather was normally the sort of person who looked down on animals and people who made loud noises.
That was why the sight was even more deeply etched into my memory, and everyone was left bewildered that day.
Grandfather took the bracelet that had been carefully kept on top of the chest of drawers and placed it into my tiny
hand.
“All right, take it. It’s yours now.”
And then he showed me a smile I had never seen before.
I would only learn much later that the bracelet was the most precious possession Grandfather had treasured throughout
his entire life……
“You were supposed to pack your things, but you still haven’t finished organizing…… Oh my, oh my! You still have that?”
“What is this?”
After finally ending my long life as a job seeker, I had rented a room near my new workplace and was packing my
belongings.
While rummaging through a drawer in my room that I had not opened in a long time, I suddenly came across a chain
bracelet with a white crystal.
Strangely, the part connecting the long, angular white crystal to the chain had a straight piece of metal attached to
it.
There was also a round piece of jade at the joint, making it a bracelet that seemed oddly familiar.
“You don’t remember this? You asked Grandfather to give it to you.”
“Ah…… Aah! Oh! I remember. Oh, this bracelet?”
“Oh my, this really has been a long time! You used to play with it all the time until your grandfather passed away, but
you never took it out after that~”
I thought it was because you were sad about Grandfather.
When Mother asked me that, I had no idea what to say.
It was as though that particular part of my memories had been cleanly cut out.
Regardless, Doan quietly stared at the bracelet before stuffing it into his pocket.
“You’re taking that with you?”
“Yeah. I’ll sell it later if I find somewhere to sell it. If Grandfather treasured it that much, it should at least be
some kind of jewelry, right?”
“……You’re going to get scolded by your grandfather later.”
“I won’t, I won’t. It’s already been more than twenty years since Grandfather passed away.”
By that point, he would probably have been sent off peacefully from the afterlife as well.
Watching her son grin mischievously, Mrs. Han Song-i thought to herself,
That mischievous personality of his hasn’t changed one bit, even now.
That was why she thought her son’s life in society would not be too difficult either, and Han Song-i let out a small
laugh.
Meanwhile, his father, who had gone to load the luggage into the car, opened the front door and came inside.
“Are you still not finished preparing?”
“We’re done!”
Only then did the mother and son finish their conversation and hurry to pack up the rest of their belongings before
leaving the house.
As Doan looked back at the room that somehow felt strangely empty, his parents looked at him proudly and began to speak.
“Are you sad because you’re leaving?”
“Of course I’m sad. I’m probably going to be thrilled that I won’t have to listen to nagging anymore.”
“……Oh, goodness! You’re finally leaving this tiresome Chungju and heading up to Seoul. What is there to be sad about?
I’m actually excited!”
“You should just stop talking!”
Trying to force down the sadness that might have settled over them, Doan closed the door to his room.
Now was the moment he would take his first step into society as a working adult.
***
Contrary to what he had thought would be his first step into society, one week after moving into his rented room, Doan’s
complexion had never looked more haggard.
“……How could things get this messed up…….”
He had gone through the interview and been accepted by the company, only to discover that the HR department had
accidentally sent him the wrong email saying he had passed the interview.
Even worse, a correction email had arrived while he was signing the lease and packing his belongings, but he had not
checked it.
Then, on his very first day at work, he was turned away at the door.
“We sent you a correction email saying you had failed. Didn’t you see it?”
He had never felt such humiliation and shame as when the HR representative looked at him with pity.
Every employee arriving at work was staring at him strangely, as though they were looking at some bizarre person.
It was not something he could simply laugh off.
“……I…… see.”
However, while everyone was looking at him with pity, Doan was not thick-skinned enough to cause a scene.
He hurried home out of embarrassment, but the regret and humiliation that came crashing down on him afterward tormented
him for quite some time.
The thought of going back home made him wonder what on earth his parents would think of him.
I was going to find a part-time job, at least……
No matter what kind of bad luck had latched onto him, every place he applied to remained silent.
To make matters worse, the few places that did contact him only ended up rejecting him after the interviews.
His appearance was not exactly the sort that people would consider unpleasant, and he had quite a bit of part-time work
experience as well.
……Seoul is scary……
At this point, he was beginning to wonder whether the old folks back in his hometown were actually right when they said
that in Seoul, someone could have their eyes open and still get their nose cut off.
He considered finding even a day labor job, but then he came down with a cold and ended up bedridden for several days.
I really have the worst luck.
Had things ever gone this badly for him in his entire life?
What kind of cold was this to be so vicious?
The pain was so severe that it felt as though his intestines were twisting, and he woke up repeatedly throughout the
night.
At one point, he even wondered several times before dawn whether he should go to the emergency room because surely
something serious had gone wrong with his body.
But whenever I try to go to the hospital, I miraculously get better.
At this point, the strange thought that he might have somehow gotten entangled in some kind of ghostly incident began to
occupy his mind.
“Haah…… Seriously, what is wrong with me…… Why has my life become so messed up…….”
The rented room he had managed to find was a cheap semi-basement, so sunlight barely entered the place, making it so
gloomy that he felt he was about to become depressed.
The light slipping through the small window attached to the ceiling felt almost like—
[Doesn’t it feel like you’re inside a coffin?]
“……?!”
It was a frighteningly accurate assessment, but who was that?!
The semi-basement studio was fairly spacious, with the kitchen separated by a sliding door.
However, there was not much furniture, nor was there anywhere a person could hide.
The only possibility was the bathroom, but its door was wide open and brightly lit.
“……If you’re a thief, get out. If you’re a ghost, get out too!”
[Tsk, tsk. Look at him. This idiot still hasn’t come to his senses.]
“……?”
No matter how he thought about it, that sound was strange.
It did not feel like a voice because there was no echo to it.
Instead, it felt as though something was pushing its way directly into his thoughts, slipping between his own thoughts
inside his head.
The unfamiliar sensation, combined with his lingering illness, made him wonder if he was delirious.
[Don’t you know why you’re so unlucky? Shall I tell you?]
“There was a reason?”
It was true that he was intrigued.
He decided to humor himself and listen to the unknown voice echoing inside his head.
Only then did the voice seem satisfied and began speaking with slightly more excitement.
[Do you know that everything in this world has something called energy?]
“……Energy?”
[Everything on this earth has qi flowing through it. Depending on how that qi flows, the energy of the place where you
live changes as well.]
“So…… you’re saying the flow of qi here is bad?”
[Exactly. So from now on, move all the furniture exactly as I tell you.]
Should he believe this or not?
But what else did an unemployed man have besides time?
In the end, he followed the instructions and completely rearranged everything, from his bed and computer desk to the
chest of drawers and bookshelf.
After that, whether it was merely his imagination or not, the chill that had been flowing throughout his entire body
disappeared without a trace.
[How is it? The energy itself has changed, hasn’t it?]
“How…… did that happen?”
[That is because the window of this basement room faces west.]
In feng shui, the place where the sun rises is the east, where life is born, while the west, where the sun sets,
represents life coming to an end.
Furthermore, the guardian deity associated with the west was the White Tiger, which could be likened to searching for
prey—
[It faces west, and it’s a semi-basement, so naturally the yin energy has been intensified and all the energy has been
completely drained away. On top of that, you had positioned your bedding directly in the window’s line of sight. It was
the perfect position for a grave robber to enter.]
“In other words…… all the furniture in my room was positioned so that it could become a coffin?”
[Exactly!]
“……No, but who are you, anyway? Who are you supposed to be……?”
At that moment, the voice did not answer.
Instead, there was a rattling sound from inside the drawer of the desk.
“What is it this time?”
When he opened the drawer, what was shaking inside was the white crystal bracelet, his grandfather’s keepsake that he
had brought with him on the first day he moved in.
Why was it suddenly moving on its own at a time like this?
“……Don’t tell me this thing is possessed……? Is this why I’ve been so unlucky……?!”
[You’re talking complete bullshit, you crazy bastard. I just saved you from dying, and now that you’ve come to your
senses, you’re spouting nonsense?]
“Huh? Is that the voice from earlier?”
[Yes. It’s me, you idiot.]
The crystal flashed once, and light rippled above it like a hologram.
At that moment, what appeared was a shabby-looking old man with an extremely indifferent expression.
Even his cane looked withered, as though he had picked it up from the roadside.
He was dressed in rags, and his beard was thick and unkempt.
He certainly did not look presentable.
[I am the Divine Geomancer, Jiri Dosa, the god who oversees every geomancer in this world.]
“……A Taoist…… god? A god?”
No matter how he looked at him, he seemed much more suited to being a ghost than a god.
At that very moment, the hard cane came flying toward him, and a pain that felt as though his skull had been struck rang
through his head.
“Ow!!”
[How dare you treat me like a ghost? I have supported your Ji family for generations, keeping you fed and prosperous.]
“T-The Ji family……?”
[Your Chungju Ji family has been renowned as a family of feng shui masters since ancient times, and I, Jiri Dosa, stood
at the center of it.]
“A feng shui master? I’ve never even heard of that…….”
[That is because once you became well-off enough to live comfortably, your desperation disappeared and you became
complacent. I told them to pass this bracelet on to the next successor.]
“What exactly is so special about that bracelet?”
From what he had heard, the bracelet passed down to the successor seemed to be a rather important object.
So the Divine Taoist stroked his scraggly beard and lightly tapped the bracelet with his cane.
The bracelet immediately floated into the air.
Seeing that, it certainly seemed appropriate to call him a god.
Or perhaps he was simply a poltergeist.
Either way, none of this was remotely realistic.
As he was thinking that, the Taoist slowly spun his finger, and the bracelet came undone.
The chain and white crystal hanging beneath the round jade looked like a pendulum.
[This is a pendulum for locating underground water veins. With it, you can determine whether a piece of land is yang or
yin, as well as what kind of site it is.]
“With this……?”
[Yes. Because you found me so late, my appearance has become this shabby, but]
He proudly declared that in his prime, he had possessed such a pure and lofty presence that no one had dared look down
on him.
[Well, since this happened because humans are ignorant, I won’t blame you. From now on, you must inherit my abilities
through this pendulum.]
“Why me?”
He understood that this was something his family had done for generations, but did he really have to do it too?
Besides, traveling around examining land with a pendulum was hardly the life he had dreamed of.
He had wanted to join a major corporation and live a stable life as a salaried employee.
[Oh? You’re refusing? Well, then, go ahead and refuse.]
“……You’re giving up that easily?”
[Of course. I’m not the one losing anything.]
The Taoist merely stroked his beard, showing absolutely no sign of regret.
Doan had expected himself to hold the upper hand, so seeing the old man back down so easily somehow made him uneasy.
“……Just in case, let me ask. What happens if I don’t inherit your abilities?”
[Nothing much. What, do you think the world will turn upside down?]
Judging by his carefree laugh, it seemed nothing particularly serious would happen.
Doan was briefly relieved.
[Well, the members of the Ji family have been protected by serving me under a contract for generations. They have lived
without serious illness and accumulated wealth. At worst, they’ll suffer from some terrible disease and die from it,
while those who survive will lose their family fortune, end up on the streets, and lose their minds. That’s about all,
isn’t it?]
“That’s extremely serious!”
Not only would he be affected, but his entire family could be ruined!
How could the Taoist act so casually about something this serious?
Was he really saying that he did not care even if an entire family was reduced to ruins?
[I’ve done everything I could for you, so I can simply wash my hands of it and leave. Though…… I do feel a little
bothered by how shabby my current appearance is.]
“Then why are you making me take this on……?”
[Because you’re the next contractor, and you made a contract with me.]
“When did I ever do that?!”
I had never signed any such contract in my entire life!!
Unable to even express his frustration properly, Doan watched as the Taoist continued to act completely indifferent
while casually picking at his ear.
[Didn’t you desire me? Ever since you were a baby.]
“……Huh?”
[Exactly. That is why your grandfather transferred me to you, and the contract was established from that moment.]
“This…… is insane……!!”
What kind of contract was that supposed to be?! How could they make a contract like that with a little child who knew
absolutely nothing?
Doan jumped around in frustration, repeatedly protesting that it was unfair, but the Taoist’s reaction remained cold.
[Then you can just let your entire family die. Why are you making such a fuss like a wild animal?]
“……What…… do I have to do?”
It was painfully obvious that there was no point trying to reason with this person.
After being sick for several days, Doan had realized just how easily a person could actually die, so he did not think
the threat was an empty one.
And although the old man looked shabby and practically like a beggar, there was something unusual about his eyes.
……For some reason, they were frightening.
Looking into those eyes, which seemed capable of seeing straight through everything, Doan felt certain that resisting
him would be a bad idea.
Once Doan finally gave in, the Taoist grinned and laughed heartily as he hung the crystal pendulum from his cane and
waved it in front of him.
[Here, take it. From now on, the crystal will take care of the rest.]
“……Haah…… Seriously…….”
His situation was already dire enough that he was willing to play along with something like this……
Following the Taoist’s guidance, he stretched out his hand.
The jade attached to the pendulum settled perfectly against the middle finger of his hand.
At the same time, the white crystal began spinning and emitted a brilliant light unlike anything he had ever seen
before.
Then it pointed diagonally toward the front door.
“……Is there something outside?”
[Come on, let’s go!]
“You seem awfully excited.”
[Of course! Who wouldn’t be excited to put their abilities to use in this world?!]
For some reason, Doan thought that this so-called god was incredibly meddlesome.
He opened the front door and climbed up.
Just then, he saw an elderly woman holding a cloth bundle, looking anxious and restless.
[It’s an old woman who has lost her way.]
“Looks like it.”
[What do you think you should do when someone has lost their way?]
“……Help her find her way…… right?”
[Exactly! Then let’s go!]
Trying to ignore the strange feeling that he had somehow become the Taoist’s Pokémon, Doan approached the old woman
carrying the cloth bundle.
“Ma’am, is something wrong?”
He spoke to her with the most harmless smile he could manage.
“……What’s this radish-dried-up-looking brat?”
“…….”
At that moment, Doan felt that both this old woman and the Taoist had completely forgotten the concept of respecting the
elderly and had instead embraced the concept of attacking the elderly.