The Virgin Line of Fate
“We’ll begin now. Please, relax your mind.”
Kang-to entered a state of spiritual attunement. In an instant, the shrine, which had been peaceful a moment ago, took on a faintly ominous edge. It was the kind of feeling ordinary people talked about — but to Kang-to, it was something empty and sublime.
From the photo that Lee Bok-soon had brought, a tiny wisp of spirit-fire rose. It quickly took shape, becoming the form of a soul. It was her mother-in-law.
“Mother.”
Lee Bok-soon rose and greeted her with a deep ceremonial bow. Her mother-in-law’s spirit reached out and helped her to her feet.
“Mother...”
Tears fell at once, and the spirit wiped them away for her, too.
-Yes, yes, I’m here.
“Mother...”
-Is that your name?
“Yes...”
-Thank you. For coming so far, to this foreign land, as my son’s wife and my daughter-in-law.
“Mother...”
-That’s why I thought of you as my Burmese angel.
“......”
-You must have resented me a great deal all this time.
“Mother...”
-I know. What kind of world is this, these days? There are probably plenty of daughters-in-law who look down on their mothers-in-law.
“Sniff.”
-And yet you endured me and did as I asked. If it hadn’t been for you, none of this would have been possible.
“Mother.”
-I’ll confess it only now, but your story was my story, too. I lost my husband young and lived alone with my mother-in-law.
“......”
-Yin-yang misalignment killing, hidden-needle killing.
“......”
-You probably don’t know those terms, but they were the two barbs lodged in my fate. Not all such things are true, of course, but in my case, they fit all too well.
“......”
-My mother-in-law was cruel. Day after day, she used me as a punching bag to work out her stress. “The woman who ate my son alive,” “that bitter, poisonous woman”... I lived my life as the village scapegoat. But in those days, daughters-in-law were expected to swallow it all and endure. That was the custom in this country.
“I didn’t know.”
-She doubted me endlessly, scolded me endlessly, gossiped endlessly... I thought my mother-in-law would keep hounding me forever, for a thousand years and ten thousand, but one day she simply passed away in her sleep, struck down by sudden death.
“......”
-Do you remember the day you came to Korea? The day I said my eyes hurt and went into my room for a moment before coming back out.
“Back then, I thought it was because you didn’t like me.”
-I did like you. I’d heard news stories sometimes about Vietnamese brides or ethnic Chinese brides coming to Korea and running away, but you didn’t give off that kind of impression. But...
The spirit flickered and blurred. Then it continued.
-Those two punishment-like misfortunes that had strangled my life — I saw them in you.
“Yin-yang misalignment killing, hidden-needle killing...”
-But as time went on, I began to doubt myself. I wasn’t really a shaman, after all... I thought maybe those were just old sayings. And then your husband...
“I see.”
-That was when I finally snapped awake. Fate. It was too late, but we had to begin.
“......”
-To break it, we needed two secret methods. You needed to work with knives and scissors and earn people’s praise, and maintain harmony with the people around you. Every day was uneasy, but you held on well.
“......”
-I thought it was finally time, so I was secretly arranging the lease for a shop to help you become independent, and then this happened.
“Mother...”
-You sent your husband ahead so early, and then you were alone in a strange land... And yet you stood tall on your own. That makes my heart glad.
“I didn’t stand alone. It happened because of you, Mother.”
-No, you’re naturally gentle of heart. You would have done well even if you’d met another mother-in-law.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t have shown me a way to escape those two misfortunes, though.”
-Thank you for thinking so.
“Mother...”
-And... thank you for coming here like this...
“Mother...”
Lee Bok-soon took the spirit’s hand. With her head bowed, tears dropped to the floor and quickly spread into a damp stain.
-Now that you’re here, let me ask one favor before you go.
“Please tell me.”
-My bond with my son is fulfilled. You’re still young, so meet someone else and live happily. Now that those two misfortunes have been lifted, tragedies like that will never repeat. I asked my son, and he agreed, too. He wants you to live happily.
As the spirit wavered, another spirit came into view — Lee Bok-soon’s husband.
“Darling.”
Her tear ducts burst all over again. Seeing that, the mother-in-law’s spirit turned to Kang-to. She expressed her respect with utmost sincerity, and Kang-to returned the courtesy in kind.
Jang.
With the sound of the spirit-bell, the attunement ended.
“Mother, darling...”
Lee Bok-soon’s wailing continued unabated. Crying one’s heart out was, in its way, a kind of cleansing. They left her to it and stepped out of the shrine. The spring wind blowing up from the lighthouse was unmistakable, and on the hillside beyond, the faint outlines of old grandmothers drifted into view, bent over and plucking wild greens from the mountain slope.
When the sea dries, you can see the bottom. But even when a person dies, you still can’t know the heart.
Kang-to quietly recalled the saying. People who know your face are everywhere; people who know your heart are rare. That was Se-ran. That was Lee Bok-soon’s mother-in-law. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, joined across borders by the warp and weft of destiny. Lee Bok-soon had endured the deepest layers of that woman’s heart and, in doing so, overcome the misfortunes woven into her own fate.
“Kang-to the Beopsa.”
After a while, Manager Seo waved him over. It meant Lee Bok-soon’s emotional cleansing was over.
“This is your payment. I’d wanted to give you more, but this is all the money I brought.”
Lee Bok-soon held out an envelope. Inside was a staggering twenty million won. Kang-to gently pushed it back.
“Beopsa-nim?”
When Lee Bok-soon looked startled, he gave her the reason.
“Today, I’m the one who should be receiving payment. Thanks to the two of you and your affection for each other, I learned a great deal.”
“That’s absurd. Meeting my mother-in-law’s spirit lifted a ten-year blockage right out of my chest.”
Lee Bok-soon refused to back down.
“Then let’s make a deal.”
“How?”
“Donate that money in your mother-in-law’s name. I’m sure she’ll go somewhere better.”
“No. You took a reading that can’t be bought with money.”
“In that case, next time. If there’s ever a next time you come looking for me, then you can give it to me then.”
“Then I’ll use this money to buy the finest Korean beef, and on the day our restaurant is closed, I’ll make a donation meal in the names of you and my mother-in-law. I’ll serve free meals to children and elders who are struggling. Would that be all right?”
Lee Bok-soon had found her own answer.
But then.
That wasn’t all.
“Once a month.”
“Pardon?”
Kang-to lifted his gaze.
“In Myanmar, we have Thingyan, our traditional New Year. It’s in April, and before the coup, the whole country would celebrate with a water festival to wash away evil spirits and pray for good fortune. During that time, temples and neighborhood benefactors would provide free meals in the streets. I ate a lot of those when I was little. And I used to think, when I grow up someday, I want to serve meals like that, too. But now I’m Korean, so I think it’s only right to give to Korean people. Since that season is coming up anyway, I want to start now.”
“Boss...”
“You’ll allow it, won’t you?”
“Of course. Something that noble isn’t for me to grant permission for.”
“Thank you.”
Lee Bok-soon closed out the meeting with a deep bow. Kang-to answered with an equal bow of his own.
As Lee Bok-soon descended from the lighthouse, her face was bright as sunlight.
She had opened her heart to her mother-in-law’s spirit. The world looked beautiful now. And in that gratitude, she wanted to turn around and give something back to people who were struggling even more.
The ultimate purpose of a spirit reading...
Looking out over the distant sea, he thought about it. It was meant to illuminate the fate of human beings wandering in the dark, lost and searching. A shamanic disciple’s shining pride spread outward like the beams of a lighthouse, reaching far and wide across the night sea.
“Kang-to the Beopsa.”
Just as he was thinking he might finally get a little rest, Manager Seo came back in.
“What is it?”
“See that person?”
Manager Seo pointed below the lighthouse. A man in his forties was pacing back and forth.
“......?”
As Kang-to looked at him, his brows slowly drew together. Something about the man’s energy had caught his attention.
“He came in yesterday and said he had to meet Kang-to the Beopsa. Said he had important business or something...”
“Then please show him in for a moment.”
“Sorry. You should be resting...”
“Can a shaman turn away a guest who’s come looking for him?”
He soothed Manager Seo with a smile.
“Oh, Kang-to the Beopsa.”
The middle-aged man started off with a bit of theatrical charm.
“I’m honored to meet you.”
He bowed so low it was practically a formal folder greeting. The kind of person who came on like this from the very beginning was one to be wary of. No one lowered themselves that much unless they had an angle.
“You came to see me?”
“Ah, yes. First, my business card...”
The man produced a business card. It was a high-end card, gleaming with gold foil.
[Fortune Platform Startup CEO Han Ki-ju]
“A fortune platform?”
Kang-to asked.
“You know what I mean, right? These days, platforms are all the rage. You don’t need anything else.”
Grease shone on the man’s face.
“That’s true enough, but...”
“Yesterday I arrived and finished touring the island. I even heard what the locals had to say. But honestly, our Beopsa-nim, isn’t this completely insane?”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, my mouth can be a little rough, but still... You’re practically a state shaman now, and yet a house and shrine in a place like this? What on earth are you doing on this little island?”
“Pardon?”
“What I mean is... for someone with your level of spiritual power and divine ability, you should at least be receiving guests from an office in Gangnam with a Han River view. And catering to the ultra-elite, at that.”
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.”
“The truth is, I come from a lineage of shamans myself. Isn’t it obvious? We’re skilled, but we’re not treated like it.”
“What is it you want to say?”
“Take a look at this.”
The man laid out a stack of documents.
“......?”
“This is the fortune platform I’ve been planning. If we start as a startup, investors will come from everywhere... and then we just roll around in money.”
“And?”
“You know what platforms are, don’t you? Once the stage is set, the money just gets scooped in. The future is a war of platforms. We have to seize this first, and luckily, shamanism doesn’t have a platform yet. This is a golden opportunity.”
“Listen here.”
“Let me get to the point. I handle the technology and management, and you provide the reputation. How about a partnership? I’ll give you a 7-to-3 profit split. Seven for me, three for you.”
“You’re asking me to go into business with you?”
“Exactly. If you team up with me, you won’t have to scrape up petty readings on some backwater island. You’d live like a king. A man of your caliber ought to be moving into Gangnam Palace or the Lotte Tower.”
“Are you finished?”
“Not at all. I’ve got a list of sponsors. Investors with real names. All you have to do is sign, and I can pull them all in. We’re talking instant jackpot money.”
“Manager Seo, show this man out.”
“Beopsa-nim, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. It won’t come again.”
“Shinburi.”
There was force in Kang-to’s voice.
“......?”
The man was instantly cowed. Kang-to’s words carried the majesty of the divine, cutting through the ears and eyes alike with overwhelming spiritual authority.
“That’s the only reason I let you talk this long. You have Shinburi, don’t you?”
“......”
“And yet you never accepted the divine calling? So it passed to your younger sister, and now she’s in a psychiatric hospital?”
“......”
“You have Shinburi, so you should be able to understand at least a little of what I’m saying, shouldn’t you?”
“......”
“You’ve heard of Tanham Killer, haven’t you? The misfortune tied to your fate.”
“......”
“Horse and cow meet tiger and die.”
“......”
“Pig and dog meet tiger and are hurt.”
“......”
“You’re poking at a tiger’s fur right now. Do you understand that?”
Clack.
Kang-to’s spirit-bell rang like thunder.
“......”
The man’s face drained to the color of lead.
“If you don’t want the rest of your life to be miserable, go and receive your divine calling. If you keep wandering around doing stupid things like this, you’ll die — and your younger sister will die, too.”
“......”
“Go.”
The closing oracle was only a single word. But it struck like lightning, pounding the heart and shaking the soul. The man, who had been babbling nonstop until a moment ago, was suddenly drenched in cold sweat. In the end, he turned away with a face gone white.
“Honestly, if you have Shinburi, there’s a place to act up and a place not to. What gives you the right to come here and try something so shameless...”
Manager Seo flung a handful of coarse sea salt at the man’s back, an act meant to shake off impurity and bring him to his senses.
A miraculous fortune = a mountain of money.
That kind of formula belonged to frauds. If you didn’t understand the calling and joy of a divine oracle, you were no different from a swindler.
Jjjarang.
Kang-to’s spirit-bell sound followed the man for a long, long time, just like the Gingojū spell that had once tightened around Sun Wukong’s head. By the time the ringing faded, his phone rang.
......?
Kang-to’s instincts rose just slightly. It was the top singer he had seen at the cocktail bar — Naive Baek Ri-rin.
“Hello?”
As he answered, a subdued voice came through the line.
She said she was thinking of coming to the island next week, asked if he could read her fortune, and begged him to keep it a secret from Manager Lee Eun-seo.
Something she had said over drinks. Now it was clear it hadn’t been a joke.
A secret?
Even a successful idol singer had a story she couldn’t tell anyone?