The Chairman’s Uneasy Stirring
“......”
Inside the chairman’s office, silence had settled in layers. Chairman Lee was the same; Lee Hyung-wook was the same. Rising from his seat, the chairman walked to the window. The Cheonjo Group chairman’s office occupied the sixty-sixth floor, its full-length glass panes commanding a view of all of Seoul. It was the kind of location where even while seated, one could take in the whole city.
“So that’s what happened, then?”
“I’m sorry.”
“And what about Chairman Cho?”
“I met him at the hospital.”
“He predicted the helicopter would crash?”
“That’s what he says.”
“Not a coincidence?”
“Before he boarded, he clearly told them there would be an accident and that they should either take a boat or go tomorrow instead. Of course, they didn’t believe him at the time.”
“And then the helicopter went down?”
“He says he gave them some sort of spell or charm, and that was the only reason he barely escaped with his life.”
“Absurd.”
Chairman Lee cut his son off.
“That was my thought as well, but Chairman Cho seems... to believe it, since his life was on the line. In any case, the results speak for themselves.”
“Unbelievable.”
“And that’s not all...”
“What now?”
Chairman Lee turned around.
“......”
“Go on.”
“Well...”
Lee Hyung-wook’s brow twisted unevenly. It was because of his own convictions.
Shamans. Superstition.
He rejected both utterly. If someone wanted to watch it for fun, that was one thing, but believing in it and following it? That was beyond imagination. More importantly, Cheonjo Group was in the middle of pushing AI and automation across multiple fields.
Those things stood on the opposite side of superstition. Science that drove humanity’s future. That was why even bringing superstition into the conversation made him uneasy.
And yet.
That damned superstition kept turning into a headline.
“Chairman Cho’s younger brother is the chief of internal medicine at Han River Medical Center, isn’t he?”
“That’s right.”
“Apparently another incident broke out while he was out with Lee Kang-to.”
“Another incident?”
“An emergency pregnant patient was brought in, and she turned out to be the daughter of Chairman Gong of Seongsan Group...”
“......?”
As he listened to his son’s explanation, Chairman Lee’s eyes darkened with shock.
A helicopter had crashed.
That was unlikely, but still something you could imagine happening if you tried. But this was a hospital. One of the finest medical institutions in the country. And yet he was telling him they had saved a mother and unborn child with superstition?
“That...”
Chairman Lee shook his head. It was more shocking than the helicopter crash.
“I think it’s true that the boy has some degree of precognition. Taken together with everything that has happened so far...”
“Precognition?”
“He called it gongsu. A divination bestowed by a god...”
“Hoo.”
Chairman Lee returned to the sofa.
“Gongsu, is it...”
Resting his head in one hand, he suddenly recalled an old incident. It had happened right after he lured Kang-to’s mother, Park Chang-hae, aboard a yacht.
“This yacht carries a bad feeling. Be careful with fire.”
That had been her impression after looking the vessel over.
Fire? Naturally, Chairman Lee had not taken the words to heart. At the time, his mind had been full of nothing but getting Park Chang-hae into bed.
And then.
The yacht really had caught fire.
It was docked at a harbor down in Busan when some drunken bastard set it ablaze and ran off. Fortunately it had been discovered early, so the damage was minor, but there was no doubt that Park Chang-hae’s forewarning had been right.
That incident, which he had brushed off so lightly back then, now swelled in his mind with enormous force.
“What did that boy ask for?”
“......”
“Father.”
“That’s enough. You may go.”
“I’ll say one thing: I’m the one who stopped today’s M&A payment. Not Lee Kang-to’s fortune-telling.”
“I said leave.”
“Understood. But...”
As Lee Hyung-wook rose to his feet, he finished the sentence that trailed after the ellipsis.
“That matter is your private business, Father, but if it’s financial, I think buying land on the island was more than enough.”
He left the chairman’s office with that final blow delivered.
“Ugh.”
Lee Kang-to...
With a throbbing headache, Park Chang-hae’s face overlapped in his mind.
A plain, simple face that looked as though it had been carved straight from purity itself, a mirror image of Park Chang-hae. And yet his eyes were so deep that they made fear rise in his chest before he even knew it...
[There is one more thing in the gongsu.]
The words Kang-to had left behind began to howl through Chairman Lee’s brain.
***
“Beopsa Kang-to.”
After passing the second rest area, Kang-to took a call from Lady Gyeongsin.
“Auntie? I was just about to call you.”
“About to call me?”
“Yes.”
“If you’re going to toss a stone into a still pond, you should contact me right away.”
“Pardon?”
“I just got a call from Chairman Taebaek Construction’s office. There’s a place in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan called the Ube Coal Mine, and apparently when it was flooded long ago, a great many miners died. They want me there immediately for a memorial rite and exorcism.”
“Congratulations.”
“They said it was a recommendation from Beopsa Kang-to?”
“That’s right. That chairman has a killing star and a blood-resentment star on him, and the source of those vengeful spirits is over there.”
“Then why are you handing your own client off to me?”
“Because jinogwi gut is your specialty, Auntie. You’re a Manshin, after all. It’s more authentic, and you’re better at it.”
“As if anyone could beat Beopsa Kang-to, who has the Nine Heavens Maiden as his body deity, when it comes to divine power.”
“A gut isn’t performed by the body deity, is it?”
Kang-to laughed.
A gut was like that.
Part performance, part festival. You gathered the ghosts and sent them on their way. It wasn’t just a shaman hopping and prancing alone; local residents and ordinary people, and even the ghosts themselves, all came together in the same shared current. The aim was to guide restless spirits or the dead to peace, but the comfort it gave the living was just as great.
If you got into the details, there were chants and sacred recitations. The songs of the shaman’s house usually ran on a two-beat pulse of deong-deong, deong-deong. The shaman poured body and soul into that rhythm, and as it shifted into three beats and then five, it would crest in full glory. When a shaman rode that sequence well, the ritual was a joy to watch. Lady Gyeongsin preserved that original form, which made her ideal for soothing the grudges of spirits more than a hundred years old.
“You’re offering too much money for the memorial rite, so yes, that’s part of it. They called for a full three hundred million won.”
“If it’s for the liberation of Chairman Cho’s vengeful spirits, you should take even more than that.”
“What kind of spirit has attached itself to him, anyway?”
“The accumulated resentment of centuries, born from the sins of his ancestors.”
“Resentment of centuries?”
“That place was submerged for more than a hundred years, and it seems the tunnel was only recently opened for bone recovery work. Most of those people had been dragged there as forced labor during the Japanese occupation, and after grinding their teeth in hatred, they were buried alive under seawater. Their resentment must be piercing the heavens. It seems they’re taking revenge on the descendants of the Japanese collaborators who participated in the forced labor back then, so prepare yourselves carefully before you go.”
“Is that Guchen Hyeonnyeo’s gongsu?”
“Yes.”
“If that’s the case, then forget the money. We’ll put on one hell of a proper show.”
“That’s why I recommended you, Auntie. I’m leaving it to you.”
“But they want to go right now.”
“Please do. The sooner, the better.”
“All right, then I’ll assemble the dream team and head out. When I get back, I’ll treat you to something big.”
“Take Baby Shaman with you. Since she’s a body for the Dragon King’s substitute deity to descend into, she’ll be a great help in calming the grudges of those spirits that originated in the water.”
“That was my thought too. And all because of Beopsa Kang-to, no less.”
“And on that note, Auntie.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know someone called Yeonggwang Beopsa?”
“The fool with presidential-appointment syndrome?”
“Presidential-appointment syndrome?”
“He calls himself the man chosen by fate to pick the president. He goes around every media outlet spinning nonsense about who the next president will be, flaunting his connections to the powerful. Then he uses that as a pitch to sell expensive charms and talismans to conglomerates, high officials, and their wives. He’s the same type as those fortune-teller women who only deal with wealthy housewives in Gangnam.”
“Ah...”
“Why?”
“I met him a little while ago.”
“Good heavens, don’t ever associate with that man. If he learns your face, he’ll sell it off somewhere. I met him once a long time ago when some matter involving the recommendation of a living national treasure came up, and I had trouble because he was name-dropping me everywhere he went.”
“Did he really predict the president correctly?”
“No. Let’s be blunt—any fool could do that much, couldn’t they? There are only ever two or three candidates with a real shot at winning. Pick anyone at random and the odds are thirty to fifty percent.”
“That’s true, I suppose...”
“One of the interviews that bastard gave somewhere just happened to line up. He copied that one result, spread it around everywhere, and now it seems to hook a few gullible fools.”
“I see.”
“If you ever meet him again, don’t even pretend to know him. Why do you think they call those people frauds? A fraud is someone who invokes secret heavenly knowledge while stoking power-lust and greed, all to satisfy their own selfish appetites. Word has it his love life is a mess too.”
With that heavy-handed warning, Lady Gyeongsin ended the call.
“Then travel safely on the way up.”
Kang-to thanked the driver in front of the passenger ferry terminal.
“Beopsa Kang-to.”
As he entered the waiting room, Grandma Hongseo waved him over.
“Out for a job?”
“And you, Beopsa? Been out telling fortunes?”
“Yes, over in Seoul a bit...”
“Heavens, Seoul people can smell a good thing from a mile away, just like ghosts can.”
“You too, Grandma...”
“This old lady isn’t talking nonsense. There, there, over here—this is Beopsa Kang-to.”
The grandmother gestured toward the chairs by the window. Two women who had been working hard on their phones looked up.
“This is Beopsa Kang-to?”
One woman took off her sunglasses.
“My, he’s not a Beopsa at all—he’s an idol.”
The woman beside her laid on the lipstick-service charm attack too.
“Who... are you?”
“We came after seeing you on Seung-ah TV. They said Do Seung-ah went to see you for a reading, and that you were so sharp you put even the best expert to shame...”
“Do Seung-ah? Ah...”
Kang-to pressed a hand to his forehead. That woman. The holiday couple in matching shirts. The one who had then received his gongsu and escaped a marriage fraud scam.
“I’ve met handsome monks before, but a handsome shaman...? I’m already trembling before we’ve even started the reading.”
“Me too. It feels like the trip was worth it.”
“Looks aren’t the important thing here, you know. Our Beopsa Kang-to’s spiritual power is second to none. That’s right.”
Now even Grandma Hongseo had joined in.
“Sol-bi, it’s Dad.”
First, he called Sol-bi.
“Dad, where are you?”
“About to board the ferry. What should I bring you, Sol-bi?”
“A hamburger. Beef bulgogi.”
“Anything else?”
“Anything else? Just come home, Dad.”
“......”
“What about Chae-rin unnie?”
“Chae-rin said she was busy.”
“Mm-hmm... I see.”
Sol-bi’s voice dropped an octave at once.
“Then I’ll see you in a little bit. Dad has to go buy your hamburger now.”
Kang-to grew busy. He bought a bulgogi burger and picked out some other snacks, too. Since Manager Seo liked the crackers called senbei, he made sure to get a few of those as well.
Whoo-oong.
The ferry announced its departure. He took the five hamburgers in hand and barely managed to board.
The waves had not forgotten Kang-to. The moment he stepped onto the deck, they sent up spray in greeting.
“Beopsa, here.”
Kang-to took shelter in a corner of the cabin because of the waves, where a man approached and held out a drink. It wasn’t an ordinary beverage, but an incense-dragon pearl tea made by a han clinic.
“Our chairman came to get a reading, but...”
The man pointed toward a lady of the boat deck. She had apparently come with a secretary in tow. The lady sent him a subtle nod of greeting.
“Our chairman is busy, so could you do the reading right away? We’ll pay generously for the divination fee.”
“It won’t take long, since it’s only a few minutes. Our branch manager is on the island, so please register on site.”
Kang-to did not budge for a bottle of juice.
“Dad.”
As the island drew near, Sol-bi’s shout was swallowed by the waves. Beside her, Hongseo, Tae-hee, Yoon-ji, and the others bounced up and down too.
Good thing I bought a lot.
He smiled at the hamburgers. For the children, mainland hamburgers, chicken, and pizza were small treasures—little dreams brought in from afar.
“Hamburger!”
The children each took one from Sol-bi, and their cheers shook the island.
“Did you have a good trip?”
Manager Seo had come out to meet him as well. But unlike usual, five women were lined up behind her. Five of them, no less.
“Is this Beopsa Kang-to?”
The five of them sang out in unison.
“Who...?”
Kang-to asked, and
“These are the devotees who came to receive gongsu from Beopsa Kang-to. Two came in on last night’s boat, and two more came in on this morning’s ferry. They saw a YouTube video saying you were amazingly gifted, so they rushed straight over.”
Seven guests waiting already.
Manager Seo’s voice, as she explained it, was full of pride.