A New Commission (3): A Grandfather's Desperation
Sakamoto Ryusuke had known the Japanese bubble would burst soon. While others poured money into stocks and real estate, he chose to preserve cash and invest in American stocks instead.
In those days, selling all the land in Tokyo could have bought the entire United States.
Everyone mocked his decision as foolish, but he paid them no mind.
Then the bubble burst.
The wealthy around him collapsed. Buildings went up for sale at rock-bottom prices.
And not just buildings.
Land. People.
Everything became cheap as the bubble collapsed.
He snatched them up quickly. He surpassed the sudden nouveaux riches who had sprouted like bamboo shoots during the bubble years and became one of the wealthiest men in Japan.
Such a man loved his wife deeply.
While other rich men chased hostesses and mistresses, while they created illegitimate children and destroyed their families, he loved only his wife and wished for a harmonious family.
Unfortunately, he was not blessed with many children.
His first son had a weak heart.
His second daughter was miscarried.
Finally, after much struggle, he obtained a third son.
The boy was healthy. He even married a Korean daughter-in-law.
Yet both died in a traffic accident.
No matter how much money he had, even he could do nothing about life and death.
He grieved.
But he could not give up.
Because he still had a grandson.
His own blood, whom he loved and cherished.
That was why he wanted to give his grandson everything.
The best education. The best lifestyle.
The finest clothes and the finest home.
Fortunately, the grandson was healthy.
He was endlessly grateful for that.
So he felt at ease.
Until the day his grandson went missing during an overseas trip.
I led the sobbing old man outside.
We could not talk like this here.
"Sob… I originally came to ask something else, but…"
"Yes, yes, I understand. Please stop crying here. Let's go outside first."
I guided him out, avoiding the stares of others.
People's eyes followed the sight of the weeping elder.
"Let's go over there for now."
We sat on a bench in front of a nearby convenience store.
"I received word. Sob… My grandson has gone missing."
"I see. It feels wrong to talk like this. Let's at least have something to drink."
I went inside and bought canned coffee.
I barely managed to calm the still-sobbing elder. Once he had settled somewhat, he continued his story.
His grandson had gone on an overseas trip.
Even with bodyguards assigned, the boy had stepped out of the hotel for a single beer and vanished.
One of those bodyguards had been hired since high school and was completely trustworthy.
If it had been a kidnapping, he would have paid any amount of money as long as he knew his grandson was safe.
"But… there was no such contact at all…"
The old man's voice had lost all strength.
Worry for his grandson seemed to have completely shattered his mental state.
"I heard about you from Kim Seokchun."
Kim Seokchun had found his long-lost sister in an instant.
If such a fortune-teller existed, perhaps he could find his grandson as well.
That was why he had come here and waited, he said with difficulty.
Before finding the grandson, we might need to worry about the old man's health first.
"Just a moment…"
I bought heart-calming pills from a nearby pharmacy.
After taking them with effort, the elder looked at me with desperate eyes.
"Please… Please find my grandson… I beg you!!"
He tried to prostrate himself again.
I barely stopped him.
We almost could not have come to this convenience store…
"First, please flip this over."
I held out the card.
Elder Ryusuke carefully turned it over.
The Death card appeared.
"Hic…!!"
He did not know much about tarot. But if an investigation into his missing grandson produced the Death card so openly, anyone would be horrified.
Still, flipping the card was merely a formality and held no real meaning.
"Your grandson is alive."
"Is… Is that true?!"
"The last place he made contact from was… Eastern Europe, correct?"
"Yes!! That is correct!!"
"Your grandson is in Japan."
"…Pardon?"
Elder Ryusuke looked bewildered.
But it was the truth.
"That bodyguard you mentioned."
"Y-Yes."
"He and your grandson are lovers."
"…Is that really true?"
A lovers' escape.
Yes.
Together with one of the female bodyguards, Elder Ryusuke's grandson had attempted to run away for love.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
She was actually a follower of a cult.
Her goal was to lure Elder Ryusuke's grandson into that cult.
"H-How…!!"
"Please check the immigration records. The airline is ANA."
He seemed quite shocked, as if he had never imagined they would return to Japan.
He picked up his phone and made a call somewhere.
I could not understand the Japanese, but from the atmosphere, he appeared to be ordering an investigation.
I sipped my canned coffee and waited for the call back.
After some time, Elder Ryusuke's phone rang.
He answered like lightning, then slowly hung up.
"It was true. He really… really returned to Japan…"
"Fukuoka, correct?"
"You knew after all!!"
In Elder Ryusuke's future, I saw his grandson.
The boy, completely brainwashed by the cult, spoke with conviction.
He said he must live for the cult leader.
He said that only by offering all their assets to the cult leader could they reach heaven.
Since his father and mother were in hell, he insisted they must donate every worldly possession to reach heaven.
"Right now, he has not been fully brainwashed yet. However, that woman has likely gaslit him to some degree, so please take good care of him."
"…Ha. Hahaha…"
Elder Ryusuke, drained of strength, stared at me blankly.
"Thank you… Thank you so much…"
"No need. I am helping because you are a good person, Elder Ryusuke."
Despite amassing enormous wealth, he had chosen to help others rather than trample them to gather more.
That was why I had decided to assist him.
"Rather than staying here, your priority should be taking care of your grandson."
"Yes. You are right."
I gave him the address where his grandson was staying.
In that moment, the future changed.
From a future where he would eventually support the cult, unable to resist his grandson's threats after the boy had fallen completely under their influence,
to a future where he would die peacefully, mourned by his grandson, the grandson's wife, and their lovely great-grandchild.
"This is as far as I can help. You will be able to handle the rest on your own, correct?"
"…Thank you. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!!"
Ah, I told him not to prostrate himself.
.
.
.
After Elder Ryusuke left, a relatively peaceful time passed.
"If you confess, she'll cry. Don't do it."
"The wolf?"
I checked the news on YouTube and saw a report that a wolf had dug its way out of an Incheon zoo.
Searchers appeared in interviews, and through them I could roughly figure out where the wolf was.
"Right now it should be around Gyeyangsan Pigogae. But this is not very accurate either. I saw it by fortune-telling the people on the news, so it might have moved somewhere else by now."
I hoped they caught it soon.
Anyway, after fortune-telling for ten people as usual and chatting idly, I ended the broadcast.
The phone rang.
It was an international call.
Spam. I should ignore it.
-Ring ring ring!!
Huh? Not spam?
I answered the phone again.
"Hello, Teacher."
It was a voice I had heard recently.
Oda Ryuki.
"Ah. Yes. Hello."
"It was just as you said, Teacher."
"I see. I'm glad you found your grandson."
"However… there is a problem with the young master."
"What problem? He shouldn't be brainwashed yet…"
"That part is fine, but… the issue is that he has fallen completely for that cult woman."
"Ah…"
Well, he is at that passionate age.
Being fervent in love is only natural.
Especially since they have probably been physically intimate…
There is that saying that once you share a bed, it is hard to let go.
I heard that bodyguard had been with the grandson since high school…
If they had been together since then, the attachment would run deep.
…But that guy is older than me, right?
He received a good education too.
Yet he still fell for something like that.
This is what happens when you grow up too sheltered… Tsk tsk.
"So what?"
"If possible, could you help us, Teacher?"
"I only see the past and future. I am not a hypnotist."
"I see…"
"If I must suggest something, there is one method."
"Really?! What method…!?"
"Just beat him until he comes to his senses. How about that?"
"…"
Why the silence?
The orphanage director used that method without mercy on troublemakers and it worked very well for rehabilitation.
"This is all because he grew up too sheltered."
That so-called grandson.
He really grew up too pampered.
So maybe he needs a proper lesson to realize, "Ah, I have lived a happy life."
"That… method seems a bit difficult."
What a shame.
Then what other answer is there?
"Send him abroad to study. If he is in another country, maybe things will resolve themselves. Distance makes the heart grow distant, after all."
"…Study abroad. Is that the only way after all?"
"I do not know either."
We would have to see.
I had only seen the grandson's face in Elder Ryusuke's past and future, so I had nothing more to say.
"Understood. Thank you for your advice."
The call ended.
Well, nothing more to do with this side now, right?
Just in case, I checked my reflection in the mirror.
Tsk.
It was a vain hope.
I could see a future where Elder Ryusuke comes looking for me again.
At least he will not prostrate himself this time. That is a relief.