The Body That Serves a God Must Live an Ascetic Life
The body that serves a god must live an ascetic life. Appetite, sleep, and every other instinctive human desire and material pleasure had to be deliberately suppressed.
The villagers locked me in a tiny room and fed me nothing but tasteless wild greens. No television, obviously no phone. Snacks were a luxury. Sleep was perpetually insufficient because of the dawn rituals.
“I can’t live like this!!!”
I couldn’t. I would rather die than live like this. If I hadn’t retained memories from my previous life, I might have endured it, but I did. It wasn’t anything grand—just the ordinary existence of a Korean office worker who pulled moderate overtime and ordered fried chicken at reasonable intervals.
At least I hadn’t been trapped in a cell eating weeds. With those memories intact, I opened my eyes inside the body of the youngest daughter of this cult-like shaman village, born to a Korean father and a Japanese mother. Unfortunately, it was a deranged mountain settlement deep in the Japanese countryside—my mother’s country.
And I made up my mind. I would run.
On the day of my escape, I kicked the shrine door open, hurled the sacred bells across the room, and tore a fistful of talismans to shreds.
“You insane cult bastards! I can’t live like this!”
Shrieks rose behind me, but I never looked back. Everything was the fault of that lunatic village. I had done nothing wrong.
Escaping wasn’t easy. The surveillance was ironclad and there was only one path out of the mountain settlement. The reason I still succeeded was because I had…
“Now. Take the left fork.”
“……”
“What are you waiting for? Hurry before they catch you.”
Ridiculously enough, I had a guide. When I followed the voice’s instructions, I slipped past every patrol as if by miracle. It knew exactly when the guards changed shifts and which trails were safe. Thanks to it, I boarded a plane and finally reached Seoul.
But there was one problem.
“Why did you follow me?”
“My child, what manner of speech is that?”
The Deity Link… hadn’t been severed.
A voice echoed inside my head. Clear and youthful, unmistakably that of a beautiful young girl. Yet her manner of speaking carried the dignified tone of an ancient sage while somehow remaining sly and perfectly calibrated to annoy me. It belonged to the Deity enshrined by the village.
I hurled my luggage bag into the middle of my Seoul studio apartment, glared at the ceiling, and demanded answers.
“I destroyed the shrine to cut the Deity Link. I tore every talisman. I threw the bells. So why are you still inside my head?”
“It does not break merely because one declares it broken.”
“Then how do I break it?”
“You cannot.”
“……”
“Either you die, or I depart. One of the two. I, however, have no intention of leaving.”
This cult-like deity.
“Aaaaaargh!”
I clutched my hair. The previous-life memories were one thing. But the fact that I could never remove this nagging voice unless I died felt like some cruel cosmic joke.
“Fine. I’ll be generous and accept that you followed me. But let’s make one thing crystal clear. I will not do fortune-telling. I will not perform rituals.”
Asceticism? Confinement? Never again.
“I’m going to live normally—eating what I want, sleeping when I want. In a penthouse with a Han River view.”
“In what way is that normal?”
“……”
Using cold hard facts was such a cheap move.
“If you wish to achieve that dream, why not simply become a shaman?”
“I said no.”
“Serving a mighty deity is an immense blessing. In the old days, people would line up for the honor…”
“Talking about the old days? Is this the Joseon era?”
With that, I opened my laptop. I had been mulling over an idea for days, and it was finally time to act. Internet broadcasting.
This body had a face that could genuinely stop people. Every time I looked in the mirror I was a little startled. They said that if I just ran my mouth well, the Moon Balloons would roll in. I couldn’t game or sing, but my gift of gab had been reliable even in my previous life.
I scrolled through the categories and suddenly had an epiphany. Worry counseling. Listen to people’s problems, offer appropriate comfort, and collect Moon Balloons. No license required, no startup capital, just a functioning mouth. Perfect.
Now, what should the title be?
「Worry Counseling Stream! I’ll listen to anything for 500 Moon Balloons!」
“Is that not simply another way of saying you will tell fortunes?”
“It’s worry counseling.”
“How is it different?”
“Fortune-telling sees the future. Counseling is just listening.”
It was just normal listening; there was no way it counted as fortune-telling. But the Deity snorted inside my head.
“As if you will manage that. I shall watch closely.”
“Watch what? Just stay quiet. Don’t speak while I’m streaming.”
“Even your grumbling is adorable.”
I took a deep breath and adjusted the camera angle. My small face filled the screen. I brushed my hair back roughly and forced the corners of my mouth upward.
“How do I look?”
“You fled the village only to do cam streaming?”
“How would they catch me? They’re not going to chase me across the ocean to Korea.”
“If they wish to catch you, they will use any method necessary.”
“See? Then whether I stream or not, the result is the same.”
“Now that you mention it, that is true.”
Did the Deity have a bit of a clumsy side? Anyway, I pressed the start button.
Click.
Zero viewers. After about five minutes of silence, the first person finally entered.
“Hello, this is the worry counseling broadcast. I’ll listen to your concerns for 500 Moon Balloons each.”
“One hundred forty-four centimeters.”
“……”
Why did I feel annoyed the moment I started? Still, I kept the smile plastered on.
I’d heard somewhere that getting cursed out on your first stream was basically tradition. Stay calm.
“Okay, I’ll take the first story. Gift 500 Moon Balloons and write your worry. I’ll really listen to anything—romance, career, relationships, all of it.”
It was a casual remark. There was no way someone would drop fifty thousand won on their very first broadcast…
Anonymous has gifted 500 Moon Balloons!
[I’ll take it]
Apparently there was.
“Thank you for the 500 Moon Balloons! What is your concern?”
It was an ordinary worry. I was about to give an ordinary answer.
But the Deity cut in.
“Do not go to that company.”
The voice that left my lips was not mine. It was clear, youthful, and unmistakably the Deity’s.
“It will collapse within two months. The president is preparing to flee with the company funds. Even if you pass the interview, you will not receive a single paycheck. Furthermore…”
My mouth moved on its own. I tried to stop it, but my body refused to obey.
“The second child of that household is in grave danger. Tell them to take the child to the hospital at once. The lower right abdomen. Immediately.”
“Ah…”
My mouth finally loosened.
“Why are you still standing there? Go to the hospital at once!”
It still wasn’t fully under my control. The Deity had seized the microphone and was shouting. I wanted to die.
The chat window was still flooded with laughter.
I gripped the microphone tightly, cold sweat running down my back. The viewers had no way of knowing that the words that had just left my mouth were not my own.
Deity. What did you just do? I told you not to use my body however you please.
A sly voice answered inside my head.
A human life is at stake. It takes precedence over your petty pride.
I bit my lip. There were mountains of things I wanted to argue, but the chat on screen was more urgent. People were still treating it as some kind of concept performance, which was honestly better. If rumors spread that I was doing real fortune-telling, the villagers might hear about it. Or maybe I was overthinking it?
“Haha, sorry. I do that sometimes.”
I laughed awkwardly and tried to move on to the next story. About thirty minutes later, the job seeker from earlier returned.
The chat froze for a moment. Then it exploded.
The donation alerts began ringing like crazy.
500 Moon Balloons
500 Moon Balloons
500 Moon Balloons
500 Moon Balloons
500 Moon Balloons
I stared blankly at the screen. The concurrent viewer count was climbing like mad. What had started at three people had already passed ten, twenty, thirty.
Deity.
Why do you call?
I just wanted to live a normal life.
With fifty thousand won pouring in one after another, you still speak of normality.
My eyes narrowed at the Deity’s words.
Well… that part’s a little tempting.
I had been weak to money even in my previous life. On top of that, I carried the grudge of being locked in a room and fed nothing but greens. Watching the Moon Balloons pile up made my chest swell with grandeur. I simply couldn’t refuse.
Even if my actual chest was an AAA cup.
Wait. So you’re the one reading all of them?
I am.
Then I just have to move my mouth?
More or less.
It’s fortune-telling, but since you’re the one doing it, technically I’m not the one telling fortunes, right?
Our child is so foolish that even her sophistry is adorable.
Good. Rationalization complete. Let’s start the business.
I lifted the corners of my mouth. This time the smile was genuine. Moon Balloons flooded the screen in a colorful explosion of fireworks above my small face.
I swallowed dryly and clicked the next story. Since I had already turned on the stream, I might as well earn some money.
“All right, next person.”