Chapter 101: Fortune-Telling (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 101: Fortune-Telling (2)
As a yokai fox with a deep connection to fate, Heukbi had occasionally told fortunes. Sometimes for humans, sometimes for other yokai.
However, Heukbi did not particularly enjoy telling fortunes.
A fortune was nothing more than a piece of gossip.
Even if a bad omen appeared, one was supposed to let it pass without giving it much thought.
But those who knew of her abilities would relentlessly beg her to reverse their fate whenever a bad omen appeared. Exhausted by it all, Heukbi no longer read fortunes.
For such a person to be reading Karami’s fortune was no simple whim. When you read someone’s fortune, you could catch a glimpse of the path they had walked, and the path they would walk in the future.
It was, in a sense, an investigation.
“There are twelve cards. Each holds its own meaning. The method is to draw three cards in order and combine their meanings to read one's fate.”
Heukbi set twelve cards on the table.
“First, the first card. Please draw one that you like.”
“Hmm…”
Karami looked at the spread of cards, contemplating.
He didn’t believe in fortunes.
He had no faith to speak of.
Even if the reading was a great misfortune, he wouldn’t dwell on it, but it was human nature to feel good when you got a good fortune.
“Hsss.”
Karami swallowed dryly and tilted his head. After much deliberation, he brought out his ultimate move. He extended his index finger and moved it over the cards as if playing a piano.
“Coca-Cola, yum, yum, yum. If it’s yummy, have some more. Have some more, your tummy’s sore. Ding, dong, dell…”
“…What are you doing?”
“I’m asking Dr. Know-it-all for his opinion. Ah, now you made me forget where I was. Don’t talk to me. From the top. Coca-Cola, yum, yum, yum.”
Heukbi stared blankly at his bizarre behavior.
Asking Dr. Know-it-all?
What kind of doctor was that, and how could he possibly ask him when there were only the two of them here?
Was he capable of some kind of magic?
But she felt no mystical power, and more importantly, he looked like a man who would never have a connection to magic in his entire life. Heukbi immediately dismissed the thought.
“Ding, dong, dell, do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do~”
Borrowing the power of Dr. Know-it-all, Karami pointed to a card with his finger. He pressed down firmly and drew it.
It was the Ox.
“Now, please draw the second card.”
Karami once again brought out his ultimate index finger.
As he began to call upon Dr. Know-it-all again, Heukbi squeezed her eyes shut.
Good heavens.
To think he would perform that bizarre chant again.
If he was doing it again, didn't that mean he would do it a third time as well?
As if it were some kind of yokai-exorcising chant, listening to that tune made a strange irritation bubble up from deep within her chest. Her body tingled, and she couldn’t stay still.
Unable to bear it any longer, Heukbi spoke, her brow furrowed.
“Doing that a hundred times won’t change the result. Hurry up and pick.”
It was such a strong reaction that if this were a game, it wouldn't have been strange for an achievement like [Anger Heukbi] to appear. A very difficult achievement to unlock.
“Tch.”
Having no other choice, he had to draw the second card without Dr. Know-it-all’s help.
The second card.
The Rat.
“…Please choose the last card.”
Karami drew the third card.
It was the Rooster.
“This is…”
Heukbi narrowed her eyes, looking down at the three animal cards. Then she glanced at Karami. His own nerves pricked at her subtle reaction.
“Is something wrong?”
“How is it that you only pick cards like these? I suppose this, too, is remarkable in its own way.”
Heukbi slid the first card, the Ox, forward.
“First is the Ox. It symbolizes wealth and abundance. Its leisurely actions also symbolize peace. It is also simple and steadfast, so once it sets its mind on something, it never breaks.”
“Wow! And I happen to be a merchant. Wealth for a merchant? This is a done deal.”
Karami exclaimed.
He knew he’d picked well.
Dr. Know-it-all is always right.
But Heukbi calmly recited the rest.
“To be steadfast also means to be stubborn, and to never give up is the same as being foolish.”
It can be interpreted that way?
Isn’t that a stretch?
While Karami tilted his head in confusion, Heukbi presented the next card.
“The Rat. The rat is famous for being a diligent animal. Diligence is closely linked to wealth. After all, one must work hard to accumulate riches.”
“This one is truly meant for me. I can confidently say there is no one as diligent as I am.”
As if she couldn’t bear to see Karami happy, Heukbi uncannily explained the rest of the meaning.
“However, being diligent can also be interpreted as being greedy. Just as a rat will gnaw away at a field a farmer toiled to cultivate, just to fill its own belly.”
“Hmm…”
“They are also wicked creatures that eat a person's fingernails to transform into them and cause harm, and they can be the starting point of disaster, spreading disease.”
The negative aspects far outweighed the positive. Karami's mood, which had just started to lift, plummeted.
Heukbi felt a small thrill at this.
But she didn’t let her inner thoughts show as she presented the final card.
“Last is the Rooster. The rooster is an auspicious, sacred animal that ends the long night with its crow and heralds the arrival of light. When the rooster crows, the demons and ghosts that roam the night are said to retreat.”
“And?” Karami asked, propping his chin on his hand with a sullen expression, as if to say, pretending it’s good won’t work on me.
“But it is not always a good thing. If a rooster does not crow on time, or crows without knowing the time, it is a sign of ominous things to come. There's a saying that if it crows in the early evening, it brings bad luck; if it crows in the middle of the night, misfortune will occur; and if it crows after sunset, the household will fall to ruin.”
It was just as he’d expected.
Like the others, it ended on a bad note.
“To summarize, it is this.”
Heukbi organized the fortune.
“The desire you harbor is immense compared to your meager abilities. Your recklessness will lead to failure. You will pay dearly for proceeding with your work by ignoring the words of those around you and being stubborn.”
A great misfortune among misfortunes.
The reading could not have been worse.
“If only I’d had Dr. Know-it-all’s help…”
Seeing Karami's displeased expression, Heukbi felt a secret sense of satisfaction. She knew it from the moment he started his nonsense.
“You said you were an acquaintance of the Celestial Fox, guest. When it comes to fortunes, the Celestial Fox’s are far more accurate than this humble one’s. Why did you come to me?”
“I had my fortune told by her, too. She said I was dyed black and would die soon.”
Heukbi’s eyes widened slightly at Karami’s grumbling words. The Celestial Fox’s fortunes were different from her own. She was a messenger of the heavens who read fate itself, so her readings were less fortunes and more prophecies.
If the Celestial Fox said he would die, then he would die. That being the case, the fortune that had just been read sounded quite plausible.
Now I understand.
She had wondered why he had come to her instead of the Celestial Fox. He already knew his fate. He had come to beg her to reverse his destiny, terrified of his impending death.
What on earth was the Celestial Fox thinking?
She, of all people, should know better than anyone that a yokai fox must not interfere with fate, yet she had introduced him to her.
Something must have happened to her while she was associating with that Gumiho.
“Do not be too disheartened. If you try hard enough, there will surely be a breakthrough.”
It was not a sincere piece of advice, but a remark laced with sarcasm.
The struggles of a mere mortal could not defy the Mandate of Heaven. She was merely instilling false hope in Karami.
Karami fiddled with the cards, as if he still had lingering feelings about the reading.
“By any chance, what’s the best possible fortune?”
“There is no such thing as ‘the best.’ The content of a reading varies wildly depending on who draws, when they draw, and what they draw.”
“But there must be a general idea, right? What is universally considered auspicious.”
“It’s not that there isn’t one…”
“If there is, please let me have a look.”
Heukbi didn’t really want to, but she decided to grant what she considered the last request of a man soon to die.
She picked out three of the face-down cards, as if she already knew which was which without needing to look.
When she turned them over, they revealed the Dragon, the Monkey, and the Rabbit.
“The Dragon, which means all your endeavors will prosper, and the Monkey, which signifies a life partner. The last is the Rabbit, which possesses the liver of longevity. It also symbolizes peace, tranquility, and a harmonious family.”
The combination was so far removed from death that it seemed to be the perfect reversal of Karami’s fate.
“Oh, this is nice.”
Karami showed a flicker of interest.
Heukbi watched him with cold eyes.
He’ll obviously ask me to reverse his fate now.
But that was out of the question.
Heukbi had no intention of reversing Karami’s fate. Not for personal reasons, and not for official ones.
Just as Heukbi was thinking this, Karami spoke.
“Well, I still like the ones I picked better.”
“…Pardon?”
Pushing aside the cards Heukbi had chosen, Karami brought back his own. He slid the cards around, changing their positions.
What had been Ox, Rat, Rooster became Rooster, Rat, Ox.
Seeing that arrangement, Heukbi’s eyes flew wide open.
The meaning was completely overturned.
The Rooster card, placed at the very beginning.
The auspicious bird heralding a good omen.
The rooster's crow, which had symbolized ruin, now drives away the night and announces the start of the dawn.
The Rat is still diligent.
It will stop at nothing to achieve its goal.
The result of such effort is wealth, abundance, and peace.
This was not the lazy Ox, bloated on peace. This was a peace finally won at the very, very end.
The Rat's diligence acts as a sturdy bridge in the middle, a reliable support. A tower built with diligence does not easily collapse.
The cards that spelled the greatest of misfortunes had, just by reversing their order, transformed into the greatest of fortunes.
“How about it? Isn’t this good, too?”
Karami beamed at Heukbi, as if to show her.
To some, it might have looked like a forced, meaningless interpretation, but to Heukbi, it was different.
She was the fox who reversed fate.
She had seen countless people who, upon seeing their fortune, would throw a tantrum and demand she change it. But Heukbi had never before seen someone try to overturn their own destiny with their own hands.
Right in front of the Dark Fox, of all people.
Without the Dark Fox's help.
Even with a better fate laid out before him, he does not deny the path he has chosen. He does not give up, but strives to turn it toward a better outcome.
Looking at Karami, Heukbi murmured without realizing it.
“A Heaven Defier…”
A person who does not submit to the Mandate of Heaven, but overturns it.
The world calls such rare and peculiar individuals Heaven Defiers.