The Cursed Emerald Necklace
"Beopsa Kang-to."
Song Ji-na came running out almost barefoot, as though the floor itself had set her heels on fire. She was standing in front of the Songra Jewelry design studio—her own stronghold—and had personally called him there. Kang-to had made time on his way down to the island.
"Secretary Hwang, you know our youngest grandson, don’t you?"
The pride in her voice even when she spoke to the secretary beside her was unmistakable. Secretary Hwang greeted him with a warm smile.
"Well? What do you think of this place?"
Song Ji-na pointed toward the private jewelry showroom.
Jewels.
This was on a completely different level from an ordinary gold-and-silver shop. They were truly dazzling, as if someone had plucked the stars from the sky one by one and lined them up here in neat rows.
"It’s so extravagant I can barely keep my eyes open."
"And you shouldn’t be able to. Jewelry is for people, not people for jewelry."
Her conviction rang clear. Kang-to liked that way of thinking.
"Do you like diamonds?"
"I’ve only heard of them."
"Then look. This is a diamond."
Song Ji-na opened the glass door of the display case.
A diamond.
The gemstone with the greatest value on earth.
The words were glamorous enough, but Kang-to had never really understood why people revered them so much.
He understood now.
This was Song Ji-na’s handling. She lifted a 30-carat diamond and turned it this way and that, drawing his gaze with every angle. Only then did he see it: why diamonds were so resplendent. Every precisely cut facet held a touch of mystery. It seized the eye and refused to let go.
"It’s mesmerizing."
"Isn’t it?"
"Expensive, I take it?"
"Roughly five billion won."
"......"
"This one’s ten carats, around 1.5 billion, give or take."
"That’s the price of a Gangnam apartment."
"Diamond lovers don’t compare diamonds to apartments."
Song Ji-na cut him off, and the pride she felt in jewelry came through plainly.
"Do you know why I asked you to come?"
"I’m not sure."
"Because I thought I’d get a little return on my grandson."
"Pardon?"
"I’ve invested in you in my own way, haven’t I? Then I should get something back."
She laughed, bright and clean. That was why people called her a heroine. At times she seemed like a kind grandmother, but when it came to business or investment, her foresight flashed like lightning.
"I can’t deny that. If there’s anything I can do, I’d be glad to help."
"Half of that was a joke, so don’t get tense. You know about compatibility, right?"
"I do."
"I don’t usually believe in that sort of thing, but jewelry has compatibility too."
"Really?"
"Simply put, some pieces have their own rightful owner. Have you heard of the legend of the Hope Diamond?"
"I’ve heard the story."
"This is a copy of it, but..."
Song Ji-na held up a blue diamond.
"I bullied an American friend into getting it for me, and the original’s history is glorious beyond words."
She sat down on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other. At a glance, she looked to be in her early sixties. Lately, thanks to Kang-to, her passion had returned, and with it, a little more life had come back into her face.
"Born in seventeenth-century India; at birth, it weighed 115 carats; its current size is 45.52 carats; and its present address is the Smithsonian Institution in the United States."
Song Ji-na rattled off the Hope Diamond’s history. In her house, too, when the subject was jewelry, her charisma flared to explosive life. That was the moment she was in now.
"It was bought by the French jeweler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and sold to the famous Louis XIV. After that, with the deaths of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette linked to it, it became the very definition of a curse. Even McLean, its last owner, couldn’t escape the web of misfortune; accidents kept piling up, and then he went bankrupt."
"......"
"The curse of the Hope Diamond is just one episode in the world of jewels. There’s also the Florentine Diamond and the story of Tula’s cursed jewel."
"......"
"What do you think? Doesn’t it sound like a chain letter? ‘You are the 12,345th lucky recipient of this letter. If you do not send seven copies within three days...’ Ah, maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about, Kang-to Beopsa. It used to be popular back when people wrote letters by hand."
"I’ve heard of it."
"That was a long introduction. So, what about this jewel?"
Song Ji-na opened another case. Inside was a lavish emerald necklace set in gold.
"Fatal allure. That’s the name of this piece. It used to appear mostly at the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Emmys... One year, an actress who’d won the Oscar for Best Actress saw the Hope Diamond necklace at the Smithsonian, and at the next awards ceremony she wore this, accepted her trophy, and then was shot to death by a drugged-up fan right after the show. Another actress wore it next and ended up in a vegetative state after a car accident... After one more round of bad luck, a work created by the greatest master of the age was abandoned. So I picked it up for next to nothing, but..."
"......"
"I thought, what’s the big deal, and wore it to a domestic awards ceremony once. Then..."
Song Ji-na’s expression stiffened just a little as she spoke, as though the curse had repeated itself.
"That actress got drunk at the after-party, drove under the influence, crossed the center line..."
Bang.
America’s curse had followed her all the way to Korea.
"I thought maybe it was a coincidence, so I wore it to the domestic acting awards too... and that actor ended up in a plane fire and had to end his career."
Kang-to’s interest sharpened. Twice was no longer a coincidence.
"See? Doesn’t that make you curious? When you said you can see spirits, that thought suddenly came to me. A curse—couldn’t that just be a bad energy that has soaked into something? If so, maybe Kang-to can solve this mystery."
"......"
"A curse that even the National Forensic Service can’t unravel. What do you think, Beopsa Kang-to?"
So that was the grandson’s favor she’d mentioned.
She was talking about this.
Song Ji-na handed over the emerald necklace.
Jewelry.
Among the absolute kings of gemstones, diamond stood first. But emeralds were no minor thing themselves; in the trade, they were considered one of the five great gems and a truly premium commodity. That was why some people ranked them right behind diamonds.
"Should I turn the lights off?"
"No, this is fine."
Kang-to began his appraisal. It was gorgeous. Hung around the neck of a woman with the grace of a white crane, it would only heighten her beauty. Why wouldn’t it? Even seen on its own, it was a magnificent necklace.
Kang-to’s gaze slipped into the emerald’s depths. There was nothing unusual there. But—
"......?"
The gold ornament holding the emerald was the problem.
A boy...
A young boy...
Fear clung to it.
Hoo.
He focused his spirit and reached out, sensing for the lingering soul.
Someone was crying.
A little boy... naked, sobbing. Faint. The trace of this spirit was so old that it could no longer be projected clearly. He followed that hazy shape.
Flames appeared. It looked like a furnace boiling over. The naked child walked straight into that fire. It was an unimaginable sacrifice by oxidation.
That fear, that despair, seeped into the furnace together with his resentment.
Hot.
Hot.
It was English, but it sounded no different from a worn-down echo that had faded almost to nothing.
"Hot, you say?"
Song Ji-na’s brow furrowed sharply.
"You heard that?"
Kang-to asked in return, sensing that she had picked up the resonance.
"I did."
"And then...?"
Kang-to looked at Song Ji-na. Her expression suggested she had heard something before.
"I have. Both the actress and the performer said the same thing. The moment they put on the necklace, their hearts grew hot."
"What?"
"The actress who was cursed a third time in America said the same thing. So I tried it on myself, and nothing happened. Neither did it to the other employees."
"Maybe it’s because they weren’t the rightful owner."
"They weren’t the owner either."
"They were while they were wearing it. At least for as long as it was around their neck."
"Hmm..."
"Why don’t you check for yourself?"
Kang-to handed the necklace back.
"Me?"
"Just relax. It happened long ago, so the spirit trace is faint—keep that in mind."
"......"
"I’m starting."
Kang-to’s channeling began. Fatal allure. A pale light seemed to gather on the necklace, and then the spirit rose again.
"You can see the haze-like shape, right? Watch it."
"All right."
Song Ji-na’s body was already shivering with a chill that ran deeper than the skin. At the same time, the reaction spreading through her temporal lobe surged higher and higher. Kang-to couldn’t measure it like a BBC documentary crew might have, but he could feel it even more clearly than they ever could.
"Now."
Once the spirit had taken shape to a certain degree, Kang-to guided Song Ji-na’s senses. And in the instant her perception and the spirit’s echo came into alignment—
"......?"
Song Ji-na’s body jerked. A child, indistinct as mist... she was sensing the boy walking into a furnace of fire like a mirage.
"Urgh."
Song Ji-na shuddered hard, and the resonance ended. Kang-to handed her a tissue. Her face was beaded with cold sweat.
"This..."
"You said the person who made this was a world-class master?"
"Yes."
"Is he still alive?"
"No. He died of liver cancer three years ago, I think."
"Then maybe someone in the family took over the business?"
"His son inherited it."
"If you can get in touch, check with him. That furnace I saw through the resonance—ask whether they used something like that in the smelting process. If they did, then when this was made long ago, they must have used a child as a sacrifice. Like the legend of our Emille Bell."
"A sacrifice?"
"Across cultures and throughout history, children have sometimes been used as sacrifices. In fact, even in our own shamanic traditions... in the past, there were times when an infant’s finger was cut off and used as a myeongdu."
"Really?"
"For now, try that route. If that’s the case, we can find a solution."
"All right."
Song Ji-na checked her contacts. She found the jeweler’s business card, then made a couple of calls. In the end, she managed to get through to his son.
"Really?"
The conversation in English took a while. Kang-to waited silently.
"Wow."
When the call ended, Song Ji-na let out a roar.
"Beopsa Kang-to."
"......?"
"You really are a dead-on oracle. The master’s son says there is an old smelting machine, one his father used whenever he made an important piece."
"What about this necklace?"
"Of course it was made with that. I sent over the certificate, and they photographed and sent back the production records. Here—"
Song Ji-na showed him the photo.
"The old smelting machine—what about it?"
"Since it was one of his father’s relics, they used it twice, and both times the guests ended up bedridden. So now they’ve put it in storage and won’t use it anymore, feeling uneasy about it."
"Then let me offer a solution."
"......?"
"Since even they won’t use it, buy that machine, fill it to the brim with ice water, and bury it in the ground. That’s the remedy for a spirit tormented by heat."
"And after that..."
"Once that’s done, I’ll borrow the power of channeling and guide the child spirit within it on to the next world."
"Can you do that?"
"If the first part is solved, then yes."
"Then this necklace can be used after all?"
"May I suggest someone to wear it?"
"Who? Do you already have someone in mind?"
"Top star Yoo Jae-hee."
"Yoo Jae-hee? That girl who’s been hitting the bottom lately?"
"Yes."
"Our Kang-to’s oracle work is uncanny, but he’s weak when it comes to that side of things. Jewelry isn’t just about intrinsic value; it’s about the story. If you’re going to use it, you should put it on a big star who’s doing well so it can shine even brighter."
"That’s exactly why I’m recommending Yoo Jae-hee."
"Hm?"
"A star who was once a big name, but has now fallen completely apart—if she wears it at the moment of a successful comeback, wouldn’t that make for a far more dramatic story?"
"You think Yoo Jae-hee can make a comeback?"
"I heard she’s filming a movie now."
"With Hong Chan-woo? Sorry, but that guy can’t pull it off either. Best case, he’s an independent-film award director."
"I think he can."
"Is that an oracle too?"
"You could say that. She came to me for a reading not long ago."
"And you connected her with Director Hong, too?"
"That would be telling. Let’s leave it there."
Kang-to cut the conversation short. Song Ji-na was growing more and more excited, but Kang-to stayed easygoing. At times like this, the balance of power tended to tilt toward the more relaxed side.
"Our Kang-to’s betting on an actress, then..."
"Grandma, you should bet on her too. Then the connection will be even better."
"Well, I already knew the child had good character ever since she met Hyung-wook..."
Song Ji-na lifted the emerald necklace. She balanced it in both hands, gazed at it for a long moment, and then reached a conclusion with a crisp, refreshing kind of certainty.
"Then this means our first business venture together starts with this, doesn’t it?"
Song Ji-na laughed as she draped an arm over Kang-to’s shoulder.
***
"......?"
Kang-to, waiting for departure time, blinked in surprise. He was inside the yellow Wrangler. Today he had planned to board the ferry as he was and get off it the same way, because once he ran into the reserved passengers, the area around him would get crowded.
That plan went awry. One of the passengers recognized the Wrangler. In fact, someone even knew the license plate, and before long the others swarmed him.
"It’s Beopsa Kang-to."
"He said he’d start readings tomorrow..."
Before he knew it, there were more than a dozen people, and he had to get out and greet them. The same thing happened even after the vehicle was loaded onto the ferry. When the passengers came over trying to hand him chocolate and other snacks, he had no choice but to step down.
"Beopsa."
Even when he retreated to the corner of the ferry, it was no use. It wasn’t because he was annoyed, so he listened to their praise and chatter, posing for photos as well. It had been a while since Kang-to had run into a scene this familiar.
But...
The island had changed.
Not a little. Completely.