Translator: SourKimchi
29YearOldJobless.
His real name was Kang Jin-su.
That morning, he woke later than usual.
He'd slept badly the night before.
Even in his dreams, PerpetualJobSeeker's warning had kept circling his ears.
「Don't go to that interview at 2 tomorrow afternoon.」
「Because if you go, tomorrow will be your Death Anniversary.」
“......Is he out of his mind?”
Kang Jin-su let out a dry laugh and tightened his tie.
Today was the day of his first-round interview at Osung Electronics. (TL Note: Parody of Samsung Electronics)
It was an opportunity he'd barely earned: he'd started out with only a high-school diploma, made it through a vocational college, and even put himself through a university night program.
His life was far too desperate to throw all that away over a single offhand remark from some streamer.
Right up until he worked his heel into his shoe with a shoehorn and stepped out of his cramped studio, he was only half-listening to what he'd heard on the broadcast.
When he reached the bus stop, he checked the display board.
The bus heading toward Osung Electronics was due in five minutes.
‘Nothing's going to happen. It's pure superstition.’
And yet, strangely, his feet felt heavy.
It nagged at him for no reason.
That was when it happened.
Bzzzzt–
The phone in his pocket buzzed.
The caller was his mother.
“Mom, what's up at this hour?”
“Where are you right now?”
“Me? The bus stop. Today's the interview, remember? What about you, Mom?”
“I'm at the hospital right now.”
At the word hospital, Kang Jin-su's face went rigid in an instant.
“The hospital? Why all of a sudden?”
“I woke up this morning and my knee ached so bad I could hardly walk. So I got it looked at, and they say it's degenerative arthritis. Aigo, the years really are merciless.”
In that instant, Kang Jin-su's feet came to a dead stop.
「Your mother's knees are bad, but you barely even call her, do you? You ought to do some little self-reflection.」
It was what PerpetualJobSeeker had said on last night's broadcast.
His back went damp.
The bus he was supposed to take pulled up to the stop.
The doors opened, and people piled on in a rush.
“You getting on or not?”
The driver pressed him.
“Uh, just a second.”
“Jin-su? Are you listening?”
Kang Jin-su's lips moved without a sound.
His palms were drenched in cold sweat.
‘No way.’
Just because the guy had gotten one thing right by chance didn't mean all of it was real.
Even as he told himself that, his feet wouldn't move.
“Not getting on, then? I'm leaving.”
In the end, the bus doors closed.
Vrooom–
Watching the bus pull away, Kang Jin-su slumped down onto the bench at the stop.
‘......It was real?’
His mind tangled into knots.
When the guy had nailed the story about his childhood traffic accident, he'd still been half-skeptical.
But the thing about his mother's knee was different.
This was hard to write off as coincidence.
Kang Jin-su clenched his teeth.
“......I need to find out why he said it'd be my Death Anniversary.”
He waited for the next bus.
Having missed the one he'd meant to take, he was already running late.
By the time he caught the next bus and arrived at the stop in front of Osung Electronics, he was nearly 20 minutes behind schedule.
About to step off, Kang Jin-su looked out the window and froze where he stood.
“......What the?”
The road in front of the company's main gate had become absolute pandemonium.
People were crowded together, and police cars and ambulances were tangled up among them.
In the middle of the road, the hazy dust and smoke still hadn't settled.
Right beside the crosswalk, a 905 bus sat stopped, its flank torn open in a brutal gash.
And the large truck that had rammed it had skidded off at an angle and lodged itself against a streetlight.
Shattered glass and ripped-off pieces of bodywork were scattered everywhere.
“Did this just happen?”
When Kang Jin-su asked in a trembling voice, a passerby standing next to him clicked his tongue.
“Yeah. They say the truck lost control and plowed into the side of the bus. That bus had just passed the stop and was pulling up to the crosswalk, apparently.”
At those words, Kang Jin-su's face drained dead white.
The 905 bus.
The very one he'd originally meant to take.
He slowly turned his head.
The crash had happened right in front of the crosswalk, the one he'd have had to cross to get into the company.
If he'd arrived on schedule.
If he'd just gotten on that earlier bus.
Kang Jin-su swallowed.
His throat had gone bone-dry.
‘......I'd be dead.’
It wasn't just that he might have been hurt.
Today really could have become his Death Anniversary.
Staring blankly at the 905 bus, he thought to himself.
Even if PerpetualJobSeeker told him the sun rose in the west, right now he felt like he could believe it.
***
“......And that's how it happened.”
Listening to 29YearOldJobless's account over Discord, Park Ji-hun realized the Vision he'd seen had been real.
‘So what I saw was real.’
He still had no idea why it only worked while he was running an Internet Broadcast, but one thing, at least, was certain.
His Divine Sight was working, and working properly.
“PerpetualJobSeeker-nim, thank you so much. Once I score my Job-Hunt Win, I'll send you an even bigger donation!” [TL Note: "Job-Hunt Win" (취뽀) is streamer slang for finally landing a job.]
“Forget that, just take care of yourself first. Focus on prepping for your next interview.”
“Thank you!”
The moment 29YearOldJobless dropped off Discord, the chat exploded.
-BonelessRamyeon : whoa i thought i was watching a movie! insane!
-agei : <link> theres a news article up too damn
-bvk0014 : im still on the fence about this
-dwm9911 : how are you still not buying it lol
-MutedStream : do a Spirit Reading for me pls (3rd try)
Park Ji-hun skimmed the chat.
It was scrolling much faster than before.
And the viewer count had swelled even higher without his noticing.
‘It's gone up a lot.’
But the instant that cold sensation grazed his mind again, his lips parted on their own.
“You're next. BonelessRamyeon.”
The chat stalled for a moment.
-BonelessRamyeon : me?
-BonelessRamyeon : omg wait you mean me right
“Get on Discord.”
-BonelessRamyeon : yes! im hopping on right now!
Then, all at once, Park Ji-hun opened his mouth again.
“One thing before you come on.”
-Ajukara : whats up now
-dwm9911 : what's he gonna say this time
Ji-hun paid them no mind and asked.
“You're a girl, right?”
The chat stirred up again.
-BonelessRamyeon : omg
***
“Oh, um, hi. This is BonelessRamyeon.”
BonelessRamyeon's voice was a little young.
“How did you know I was a girl?”
“Never mind that.”
Park Ji-hun said in a low, level voice.
“Just stay still. I'll tell you what I'm seeing.”
“Oh, okay!”
The moment a female viewer started getting her Spirit Reading, the chat's reaction turned strangely heated, too.
-SweetCrapDude : air just turned all sweet outta nowhere lol
-MutedStream : do a Spirit Reading for me too pls! (4th try)
-Kasungi : calls her up right away just cuz shes a girl lol
-Kkoka : some of us are on try number 4 but a girl gets picked instantly lol
Park Ji-hun ignored the chat and stared at his monitor.
At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Her health, her family, all of it was unremarkable.
“Your health's fine. No major problems.”
“Really? Oh, thank goodness.”
“Your parents are doing all right, too.”
BonelessRamyeon's voice brightened at once.
“Wow, that's such a relief.”
“You did pretty well in school, too. Grades weren't bad.”
“Huh, you can see that too?”
“I'm saying it because I can.”
Park Ji-hun replied flatly.
Then, for an instant, his gaze sank just a fraction.
At first it was only a faint blur.
But the longer he looked, the more one side clouded over, murky.
Like storm clouds rolling in over one corner of a clear sky.
“......You've got man trouble.”
The chat stalled briefly.
-Kasungi : outta nowhere?
-SweetCrapDude : oh this is kinda juicy
BonelessRamyeon answered in a small, deflated voice.
“...... Yeah, that's right.”
“You had a big fight with your boyfriend recently, didn't you?”
“Yes.......”
“He wanted to break up, and you were the one who held on to him.”
The faint sound of BonelessRamyeon catching her breath carried over Discord.
“......Yes.”
Park Ji-hun's brow furrowed.
It wasn't just a faint blur anymore.
Behind the storm clouds, surreal scenes began to flicker past.
Gaudy neon signs.
A table with liquor bottles rolling across it.
A bed in disarray.
And a man tangled up with a woman he didn't recognize.
“Ha.”
Park Ji-hun let out a short breath.
It was an ugly thing to witness.
The chat didn't miss even that tiny sigh.
-Kkoka : why'd it suddenly go quiet
-SpaceClassroom : looks like he saw something
-dk1923 : dont tell me theres more
Just then, BonelessRamyeon asked timidly.
“Even so...... I still believe he's a good person. Is it okay if I keep trusting him?”
Park Ji-hun answered without hesitation.
“Don't.”
For a second, Discord went dead silent.
“......What?”
“That bastard's got another woman.”
The chat just blew up.
-gkp40 : what???
-Syawol : whoa shit
-SseomyeonMaster : two-timing?
-SpaceClassroom : if this is real thats actually spine-chilling
-MutedStream : todays stream is insane
BonelessRamyeon couldn't get a word out for a while.
Only the sound of suppressed breathing carried over Discord.
“Th-there's no way.......”
Park Ji-hun cut her off in an icy voice.
“Like hell there isn't.”
A brief silence.
“He's with her right now, even as we speak.”
***
Kim Woo-sik pried his eyes open with effort.
He'd slept in like a slob since it was his Off-Broadcast Day, and before he knew it, it was night.
“Ugh...... is there anything to eat?”
He rummaged through the fridge, but all he found were containers of leftover delivery food.
With no other choice, he started boiling water for a cup of instant ramyeon.
While waiting for the water to boil, Woo-sik logged onto Ocean out of habit.
Then, out of nowhere, he thought of Park Ji-hun.
“Now that I think about it, Ji-hun said he was streaming today too.”
He wondered how many people were watching his friend's broadcast.
Woo-sik scanned the screen, sorted by viewer count.
Normally, the handle should have been somewhere among the streams pulling 10 viewers or so.
But PerpetualJobSeeker was nowhere to be seen.
“The heck?”
Woo-sik frowned and scrolled up a little further.
Only then did the familiar handle catch his eye.
PerpetualJobSeeker.
But its position was strange.
“......Huh?”
Woo-sik's eyes went wide.
[Viewer Count : 571]
“No way, has he lost it?”
500 viewers on the second day of broadcasting.
“......What the hell is this bastard even up to?”
As if in a trance, he pressed the Watch button.