The Lighthouse Shaman’s Incoming Tide
"......?"
Lee Kang-to tilted his head.
[Health Luck ▮▮▮▮▮]
[Wealth Luck ▮▮▮▯▯]
[Family Luck ▮▮▮▯▯]
[Career Luck ▮▮▮▮▯]
[People Luck ▮▮▮▯▯]
- Merit Box ▮▯/▮▯/▮▯
Standard.
So standard, in fact, that there was no particular reason to divine for this person at all.
The woman in her late twenties was healthy, her money luck wasn’t bad, her family luck was above average, and her career luck looked good. Her people luck was at least middling, too. Put kindly, hers was a life of easy prosperity.
"Beopsa-nim."
She sat down in front of Kang-to and immediately began to tear up. Worried she might be under some kind of funeral-related bad spirit from a recent condolence visit, Kang-to accepted the spirit and looked her over with his spiritual sight. But there wasn’t the slightest sign of it.
"Please, save me."
In the end, the woman even snuffled dramatically.
"Is something troubling you?" Kang-to asked, pretending not to know.
"Well, I have a man I’m seeing, and he’s the capable type. But this bastard isn’t just cheating on me—he’s triple-dipping. He keeps swearing he loves only me and would die for me, but please, lead this lost sheep onto the right path. Should I just give this man up?"
The woman held out a photograph.
"......"
Kang-to’s expression hardened at once.
"Are you having an affair with your brother?"
The oracle slipped out before he could stop it.
"Pardon?"
"Isn’t this your older brother’s photo?"
"......?"
The woman’s eyes went wide. But she immediately shot back at Kang-to’s pronouncement.
"He’s not my older brother. Did you misread it?"
"He’s your boyfriend?"
"Of course. We... we’ve traveled together many times."
"There’s rice here, right? Grab a handful."
"Like this?"
The woman closed her hand around the rice.
"Now sprinkle it while thinking of the person you’ve been thinking about the most."
"Like this?"
She scattered the rice onto the small tray. And then,
Lee Eun-seo
Of all the names that could have appeared, this one startled Kang-to first.
Lee Eun-seo.
The daughter of his biological father. Or perhaps not. There was no law saying there could only be one Lee Eun-seo. Still, one thing was certain: this woman wasn’t seeing that man.
"Then are you a lesbian?"
"Ah, no."
"This looks like a woman’s name."
"L-let me... let me try again."
The woman gathered the rice once more. This time she muttered a prayer under her breath before scattering it, but...
Lee Eun-seo.
The name the rice wrote did not change.
"There’s no way..."
The woman’s face went white.
"You weren’t really here for a reading, were you?"
Kang-to aimed straight for the heart of her panic.
"No... I was. I came for a reading."
"A man will enter your life before the year is out. If you already knew that and came to me anyway, then I’d say you’re better than me."
"Oh? I’m going to meet a man?"
"Yes."
"Is he handsome? What about his height?"
"Ms. Na Hye-ri."
"......"
"Who is Lee Eun-seo?"
"Well..."
"I was going to tell you if I saw any bad luck on your way out, but I think I’ll stop there."
"Bad luck?"
"Lee Eun-seo. Don’t tell me it’s not the Lee Eun-seo from CHJ Entertainment?"
"......"
At Kang-to’s words, the woman’s mouth fell open so far it looked like it might split in two. Bloodshot eyes told him enough; he didn’t even need to hear her answer.
"What’s your purpose?"
"That’s..."
"Bad luck."
When Kang-to’s eyes sharpened, the woman caved at once.
"I’m sorry. Our manager said that after hearing about the older brother, I should check whether this was some kind of scam..."
"Scams are that family’s specialty."
"Pardon?"
"Never mind. Is Lee Eun-seo the one you work for?"
"Yes."
"Then go back and tell her this: if she has something she wants to know, she should come ask me herself. And make sure you tell her plainly that while our family may not be a chaebol, we don’t run scams."
"......"
"Now go on."
"What about the bad luck..."
The woman’s voice sank to a thread.
"Watch out for cars. It doesn’t look like you’ll be badly hurt or anything."
That was the end of Kang-to’s oracle.
"Beopsa-nim."
After the woman left, Manager Seo came in.
"Look at this. Today’s offerings..."
The corners of Seo’s mouth practically reached his ears.
"Are you that happy?"
"Of course I am. Even the Nine Heavens Maiden doesn’t often receive this much in offerings."
"That’s because you handled the reception so well."
"Oh, stop it. It’s because of the Nine Heavens Maiden... her divine power. Someone like me wouldn’t dare claim credit."
Manager Seo left, his shoulders swaying as if he were dancing.
"......?"
Kang-to was looking out at the sea.
Lee Hyung-wook, and now Lee Eun-seo.
The biological siblings were taking turns poking at him. It was pure prelude, a complete feint, because the one who should really be here was Chairman Lee.
He thought of the two oracles he’d sent back to Seoul that day.
And yet there was still no news.
The daughter had sent someone, but it didn’t seem to have been at the chairman’s command.
Still, it wasn’t bad. Even if it wasn’t the will of his biological father, it was undeniably a chain of cause and effect born from him. Too much farting turns into crap—so in the end, Kang-to believed the man would come to pay his respects.
The issue of entering the family register would come after that.
His was the first and only man she had ever dated. Kang-to, born from that union. Raising him had been a secret she’d sealed away for a lifetime, as well as a first love gone wrong. But a biological father paying respects to Kang-to’s mother was a matter of human decency, and Kang-to had no intention of giving up that conviction.
Unlike Kang-to, the view beneath the lighthouse was completely different. The people who’d had their fortunes told were excited; it was all thanks to Kang-to’s uncanny skill. Everyone was satisfied, so an impromptu proposal came up.
"How about we make a Kang-to Beopsa fan club?"
Mrs. Kwon Ga-hee, who had just learned that her daughter—missing for three years—had been in a psychiatric hospital after an unforeseen accident, made the suggestion on the spot, and the fan club was born. They decided to open a café under the name KTLM, short for KangToh’s Lighthouse Miracle, meaning “Kang-to Beopsa Lighthouse Miracle.”
"How about we hold the official launch dinner tonight with Beopsa-nim? You’re taking the morning ferry tomorrow anyway, right?"
Kwon Ga-hee, who was to become the café manager, said it with a smile. She’d once run a famous moms’ café herself, so she had experience.
Watch out for cars...
That was the only thing Na Hye-ri could think about as she came down the hill afterward. Between the unanimous divination and the 100 percent hit rate of the eerie shivers she’d felt herself, she couldn’t stop worrying.
But the concern didn’t last long.
No matter how many times she looked back, there was no car. Only then did she realize it was an island. The sedan Hong Yeong-ja had ridden in had carried off a full load of people and gone back down. If there were no cars, there was nothing to crash into.
I worried for nothing.
At last she let herself relax and put her earphones back in. To calm her startled heart, she played a song by her favorite singer.
Apartment~ apartment~
How long had she gone on like that? Some sound came from behind Na Hye-ri. The moment she pulled one earbud out and turned around,
Clatter-clatter-clatter.
"Out of the way, out of the way!"
A farm tractor loaded with sacks of rice was already right in front of her. Startled, Na Hye-ri hurriedly stepped toward the roadside. The dirt beneath her foot gave way, and she tumbled all the way down the embankment.
Plop.
"......?"
Na Hye-ri’s face crumpled. Of all places, she had gone straight into a little puddle.
"What, are your ears clogged, young lady? Didn’t you hear me telling you to move?"
The village head, Choi Byeong-gae, climbed down and held out his hand.
"Are you all right?"
"Y-yes..."
When she picked up the bag she’d dropped, her dress looked utterly ruined.
Humiliation.
The instant her face burned, Kang-to’s oracle flashed through her mind.
-Watch out for cars.
Oh my God.
Na Hye-ri’s gaze flew toward the lighthouse. She couldn’t even speak; her lips trembled too much.
Ring-a-ding-dong.
As she pulled a tissue from her bag and wiped her face, her phone rang. It was Manager Lee Eun-seo.
"Managerrr."
She was still shaken, and her pronunciation had completely tangled.
"Na Hye-ri, why does your voice sound like that?"
"Well..."
"Forget it. Did you find out?"
"Well..."
"Hey, did you take something? Speak properly."
"Manager, what did my older brother say?"
"He said it looked like he was doing readings. Why?"
"It wasn’t just 'looked like' readings—he’s a straight-up pin-point genius. A human compass. A needle genius."
"That good?"
"I showed him our brother’s photo and asked him to see how compatible we were, and he immediately barked at me, asking if I was having incestuous love, can you believe it? As you know, our brother takes after our father, so he looks nothing like me."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Were there a lot of customers?"
"Lots. And they were all loaded, too... and..."
"And what?"
"He told me to watch out for cars, and on the way down I got into a tractor accident and fell into a puddle."
In the end, Na Hye-ri burst into tears.
"Manager, I’m scared. But the ferry out isn’t until tomorrow."
"Are you hurt?"
"I don’t think I’m injured, but I’ve got chills all over from the shock."
"That good, huh?"
"I’m telling you, it is. He even knew everything about why you sent me."
"Does that even make sense?"
"Exactly. He told me to think of the person that came to mind and scatter the rice, and your name came out. Because I was thinking about you, Manager."
"Holy crap."
"I want to go home."
"Fine. Go stay at a guesthouse or something and rest before heading back."
Lee Eun-seo’s parting words were decisive.
"Oh my—?"
Just as Na Hye-ri was putting her phone away and looking back at the lighthouse, she jumped in fright.
It was Kang-to.
He stood on the lighthouse railing, looking down at her. The distance was far, but it felt as though he were looking straight through her. Na Hye-ri’s knees went weak. As she pressed a hand to her chest, another crash of thunder rolled in from behind her.
"Auntie."
"......?"
When she turned, Sol-bi was standing there.
"Can I borrow some tissues? Dong-cheol’s nose is running too much."
She tugged along the six-year-old boy beside her. The child blinked his cow-sized eyes and blinked again. Kim Dong-cheol, the son of the fishing village chief, was a boy with a mental illness. The other children avoided playing with him, but Sol-bi didn’t discriminate, not even against that.
"Here..."
Sol-bi took the tissue and helped Dong-cheol blow his nose. Watching her, Na Hye-ri felt there was no way a child could be so brisk, so sharp, and so composed.
"But Auntie."
After taking care of Dong-cheol’s runny nose, Sol-bi turned back to Na Hye-ri.
"I’m not an auntie."
"Anyway, why do you keep staring at my dad for so long?"
Sol-bi cleaned her off in neat little strokes, her words coming out like laser fire.
"Is the lighthouse shaman your dad?"
"Yes."
"Do you like my dad?"
"No, I mean... I was just scared..."
"Has your heart not been fixed yet?"
"Huh?"
"My dad’s a heart-fixing doctor, you know? It looks like he’s fixed all the other aunties already."
"W-well..."
"Auntie, were you faking it?"
"......"
"Mm-hmm. You were faking it."
"......"
"Come on, Dong-cheol."
Sol-bi took Dong-cheol’s hand and skipped away.
Oh my God.
Like father, like daughter. Starting with that ironclad look in their eyes, Na Hye-ri only felt even more drained.
"For Beopsa-nim Kang-to."
In the evening, the launch ceremony was held at Park Seon-jang’s sashimi restaurant. Since the club members had come to pick him up in person, it was hard to refuse. The body deity didn’t turn his nose up at fish, so the food wasn’t a problem. There was even a warm little argument over who should pay. When Hong Yeong-ja and Choi Yoon-jae both insisted on paying, Kwon Ga-hee waved them off.
"We’ve all received Beopsa-nim Kang-to’s grace, but I’m the one who found the daughter I thought was dead. Besides, I was the one who suggested this fan café, so tonight I’m treating."
Kwon Ga-hee refused to let the bill go.
To be honest, she was flush with both prosperity and husband luck, since her husband ran a scholarship foundation. Even that kind of wealth had failed to find the whereabouts of her little daughter, who’d gone missing. Now that it had been solved, she looked ready to buy the whole world a meal.
"Beopsa-nim Kang-to."
Once a glass of makgeolli went down, Kwon Ga-hee’s voice turned lively too.
"From now on, we’ll protect Beopsa-nim Kang-to."
As Kwon Ga-hee led the chant,
"We’ll protect him."
the chorus rang out with hearty force.
"Beopsa-nim, you’ll probably be busier starting tomorrow, so keep that in mind."
"Pardon?"
"The café I opened today—I posted an emergency notice to the moms’ café I used to run, and the membership has already broken five hundred. More than half of them asked for directions here."
"......"
"Anyway, I hope everyone comes to Beopsa-nim with all those unspeakable worries they’ve been carrying and leaves feeling lighter. Just like we did."
"Thank you."
Clap, clap, clap.
The seven founding members.
Since many of them belonged to the upper crust, they didn’t drag the drinking session out for long.
Manager Kwon Ga-hee’s abilities were proven the very next day.
The afternoon ferry brought a jackpot. No fewer than fourteen guests poured into the lighthouse.
"We came because of the fan café chairwoman’s recommendation."
The customers lined up.
"......?"
Manager Seo’s mouth wouldn’t close, but there was a problem. Two guesthouses were nowhere near enough to handle fourteen people. Manager Seo sprang into action and temporarily secured the captain’s association president’s place and Hong’s family home as makeshift lodging, putting out the fire for the moment.
At last able to breathe, Kang-to called the fan café chairwoman, Kwon Ga-hee.
"Chairwoman, thank you. Thanks to you, we’ve had a lot of customers come by."
"No need to thank me. This is probably just the beginning."
"But..."
"......?"
"I’m sorry, but could you please post an emergency notice? As you’ll know once you come, the island guesthouses don’t have many rooms, so those coming in on the afternoon ferry need to secure lodging before they arrive."
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