The Wheel Spins
The roulette wheel spun. The chat window heated up right along with it.
The marker spinning inside the circle gradually slowed down. After brushing past a few usernames, it came to a dead stop on one spot.
[Boksun's Grandma]
The chat erupted.
Park Jihun spoke. "Boksun's Grandma, please come in."
A moment later, the Discord connection chime rang out. Soon, the voices of a granddaughter and her grandmother could be heard in turn.
"Grandma, it's connected. You can speak now."
"Aigoo, does this thing really work?"
"I told you it does. I even installed Ocean and logged you in."
"You should have just used yours. Why did you make me do it too?"
"Because if you spin it too, our chances go up!"
The chat immediately buzzed.
Soon, an elderly woman's cautious voice came through. "Hello?"
Jihun replied briefly. "Yes. I can hear you."
"Aigoo, the world has truly become a better place. To think I'm doing something like this."
The granddaughter chimed in from the side. "My grandmother doesn't know anything about this stuff. I'm the one who usually watches your stream, but since you were doing a roulette today, I coaxed her into trying it."
"You always did that first-come-first-served thing, and my hands are too slow for that."
"Yeah. I tried a few times but missed every single one."
Laughter spread through the chat as well.
Jihun asked, "What are you curious about?"
Boksun's Grandma hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Well, my granddaughter says she wants to become a doctor..."
"..."
"I've watched her study by her side for a long time. I saw her keeping the lights on until dawn."
"Grandma, I told you I'm doing fine!"
"Aigoo, I just can't help but worry. She works so hard, so I wanted to know if she can actually walk that path."
The granddaughter sighed over the mic. "Oh, Grandma. Why are you asking something like that? It's embarrassing."
"You hush."
"...Hmph."
Just then—Woof, woof! A dog's bark echoed through the Discord call.
The granddaughter laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Boksun is barking because I closed the door."
Jihun spoke. "Your granddaughter is a good student."
"Pardon?"
"And she's incredibly determined."
Boksun's Grandma gasped. "Is that so?"
"Yeah."
After a brief silence, Jihun continued. "She'll be able to do what she wants to do."
The other side of the Discord call fell silent for a moment. Soon, Boksun's Grandma spoke in a trembling voice. "Aigoo..."
"..."
"That was exactly what I wanted to hear."
Sniffling, the grandmother barely managed to continue. "Thank you so, so much."
The granddaughter also whispered, "Thank you."
Jihun said simply, "She'll do great."
Woof, woof!
The chat erupted in laughter.
Jihun glanced over the chat and said, "Moving on."
As soon as he spoke, the roulette wheel began to spin once more.
Today was the day his mother was moving into her new home. Although they didn't have a massive amount of belongings, there were still plenty of small, tedious tasks once the move actually began. While the moving company workers hauled in the large furniture, Jihun focused on organizing the smaller items.
Once the basic setup was complete, he took a walk around the new apartment. It was incomparable to their old place. Sunlight streamed in beautifully, the bathrooms were spotless, and the rooms felt cozy and warm even without turning the boiler up high.
His mother was still slowly looking around, as if the new place felt unfamiliar.
"Isn't it a bit too spacious?"
"Come on, it should be at least this big."
"It's too big for me to live alone. It'll be so hard to clean, dear."
Jihun chuckled softly as he looked at her. Despite her words, her expression told a completely different story. The slight upward curve of her lips made it obvious just how much she loved the apartment.
Looking at the wall clock, his mother asked, "Are you hungry?"
"A little."
"Should we order Jajangmyeon?"
"Sounds good. You have to eat Jajangmyeon on moving day."
The two of them spread newspapers on the living room floor and sat side by side, eating their noodles. Around them, half-unpacked boxes with torn tape lay scattered about.
"This is delicious."
"Jajangmyeon is pretty much the same everywhere."
"Still, eating it today makes it taste different. It's much better."
Jihun simply smiled instead of replying.
After they finished eating and Jihun cleared the empty dishes to one side, his mother walked back over to the window.
"I get to live in a place like this all thanks to my son. It's truly wonderful."
Hearing those words, a warm smile spread across Jihun's face.
"I should get going now."
"Alright. Watch out for cars."
"I will. Don't come out, it's cold outside."
"Call me when you get home."
"Yes, Mother."
Jihun took the elevator down to the lobby. On his subway ride back home, he suddenly thought of the duffel bag tucked deep inside his closet. It was the bag containing the one hundred million won that Kim Tae-jun had given him. He needed to verify whether it was safe for him to keep that money.
After returning home, Jihun started a private stream. Soon, a chilling sensation crept up his spine. Jihun closed his eyes and slowly opened them. Then, he asked in a low whisper, "That money."
The image of the bag hidden deep in his closet flashed in his mind. "Is it safe for me to keep it?"
Silence fell. If it were money he shouldn't accept, he would have felt an ominous premonition or seen a horrific vision. But this time, there was nothing. His temples were quiet, and his mind was perfectly still.
...So it's fine to keep.
Jihun nodded slowly. "Good."
He rubbed his chin, pondering his next thought. Maybe I should raise the bokchae a bit.
At that exact moment, a sharp throb pulsed through his temples.
"Ah."
A brief, piercing pressure swept through his head. It felt completely different from before. It wasn't that the money itself was the issue. It was more like a warning not to cross the line.
Jihun furrowed his brows. "So accepting gifts is fine..."
He muttered quietly, "But I shouldn't raise the base bokchae any further?"
A brief silence ensued. Jihun organized his thoughts. The five hundred water droplets for the bokchae were closer to a minimum threshold—the baseline sincerity required to receive a shamanic reading. He shouldn't be the one to raise the price first. However, it seemed there was no issue if the other party chose to give more of their own accord. Perhaps there was no reason to block extra offerings given out of pure gratitude. That was why the one hundred million won from Kim Tae-jun was perfectly fine. It wasn't money Jihun had greedily demanded first.
Jihun let out a slow breath. "Ah, so that's how it is."
Lost in thought for a moment, he smirked. "Understood."
He shook his head. "I'll just keep the bokchae at five hundred."
It seemed best to maintain the current fee for his shamanic readings. There was no need to mess with it. Besides, money was already flowing in from other sources anyway.
It was later that night. The study of the Chairman's estate was dead silent. The person sitting in the desk chair was not the Chairman, but Secretary Choi. Secretary Choi was staring intently at a laptop screen open on the desk. The streaming platform was Ocean, and the broadcast of the Perpetual Job Seeker was on screen. It was currently offline, scheduled to go live in two minutes. Chairman Kim Jaejin sat silently on the sofa behind him, watching the screen.
Secretary Choi swallowed hard. Over the past few days, he had thoroughly reviewed all the stream clips, news articles, and online community reactions. The job seeker who avoided the bus accident. The attempted kidnapping of the actress. And various other incidents. The streamer was clearly no ordinary person.
"Is the stream on?"
"It will start shortly, Chairman."
"Right. Since it's first-come-first-served, you'll need to click quickly."
"Yes, Chairman."
A moment later, the stream went live. Park Jihun's face appeared on the screen. Not long after the broadcast started, the viewer count began to skyrocket. Glancing at the chat, Jihun spoke.
"The roulette last time had a great response, but it dragged the broadcast out a bit. So, we'll only run the roulette about twice a week. Today, we're opening the priority system again."
With a tense expression, Secretary Choi tightened his grip on the mouse. The moment the priority system opened, he clicked instantly.
Ding-dong!
Secretary Choi let out a short breath.
"Did you succeed?"
"Whew, I barely managed to secure the fourth slot."
"Good," the Chairman nodded.
Secretary Choi turned his gaze back to the screen. The readings for the people ahead of him began. They were short and decisive. Jihun didn't beat around the bush. With every word or two he dropped, the client's voice visibly stiffened. The chat went wild with every revelation.
Secretary Choi swallowed dryly. Watching it live was completely different from watching edited clips. The atmosphere radiating through the screen felt strangely chilling.
"Chairman, what should I ask?"
The Chairman stared at the screen for a moment before speaking.
"Throw out something of your own."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing too obvious. Let's just test the waters."
The Chairman had no intention of stepping forward directly just yet. However, he needed to see what kind of questions Jihun would take and where he drew the line.
In the meantime, it was Secretary Choi's turn.
"Next, YangsandongOnePunch."
Secretary Choi immediately entered the password sent via direct message and joined the Discord channel. After a short connection chime, he connected to the audio.
"Can you hear me?" Secretary Choi asked, keeping his voice as calm as possible.
The Chairman sat on the sofa behind him, listening in silence.
Jihun asked bluntly, "What are you curious about?"
Secretary Choi brought up the pre-planned question.
"There's a project I'm currently handling..."
"..."
"I'm curious if I should keep pushing forward with it."
A brief silence fell. Secretary Choi swallowed hard without realizing it.
Then, Jihun spoke.
"That's not the question you want to ask."
"...Pardon?"
"Ask what you're actually curious about."
Secretary Choi's expression froze.
Jihun added indifferently, "I don't do proxy readings."