Translator: SourKimchi
Sunlight pouring through a gap in the window made Park Ji-hun squint and turn over in bed.
His head felt a little heavy from digging through the Internet Broadcast Gallery late into the night.
"Ngh...... what time is it?"
Forcing his eyes open, he reached first for the phone by his bed.
The time on the screen read ten in the morning.
"Slept like the dead."
Park Ji-hun dragged himself upright and stretched.
Just then, his phone rang.
Bzzzz.
He looked down at the screen.
[Caller: Mom]
Park Ji-hun blinked a couple of times, then picked up.
"Hello?"
"Ji-hun, what are you up to?"
At the familiar voice, he cleared his throat once.
"Nothing much. How about you, Mom?"
"Oh, same as always. Have you eaten?"
Park Ji-hun raked a hand carelessly through his messy hair as he answered.
"Of course. It's hardly early."
"You're not just saying you ate when you didn't, are you?"
"I told you, I did."
"Really? Your voice says otherwise."
Park Ji-hun let out a small laugh.
"I really ate."
Faintly, through the receiver, he heard his mother click her tongue.
"And the job hunt, is that going all right?"
At that, Park Ji-hun fell silent for a moment.
Only a few days ago, just hearing that question would have knotted up his stomach.
He kept failing interviews, and his bank account had hit rock bottom.
No matter what he tried, nothing showed any sign of working out.
But now it was different.
"It's going well. Don't worry."
It wasn't a lie.
The direction had just shifted a little.
"Good. Don't get yourself worked up over it. Just make sure you eat properly."
"Okay."
"Don't make your mother worry, all right?"
Park Ji-hun nodded slowly.
"As soon as some money comes in, I'll send you some spending money."
Even to his own ears, the words sounded a little strange coming out of his mouth.
Before, it was something he could never have brought himself to say.
At that, his mother scolded him through the receiver.
"Quit talking nonsense and just take care of yourself."
"No, really, I think I can give you some soon......"
"I said it's fine. I'm okay."
For a moment, Park Ji-hun was at a loss for words.
It was always like this.
She scrimped and saved for herself, yet always told her son she was fine.
He answered, gruff for no real reason.
"I'll come visit soon."
"All right. If it's too much, you don't have to push yourself to come down."
"No. I'll definitely come."
"Okay. Go rest now. I'll call again."
The call ended.
Park Ji-hun sat there for a while, the phone still pressed to his ear.
"Hahh."
He let out a soft breath and tossed the phone onto the bed.
I'll send you some spending money soon.
The words he'd let slip a moment ago came back to him.
The Ji-hun of a few days ago couldn't have said it even as a bluff.
But now it actually felt possible.
Park Ji-hun got off the bed and loosened up.
There was still time before the stream.
And there was one thing he'd clearly felt yesterday.
To do a Spirit Reading for any length of time, his stamina had to hold up too.
"Eat first, then go for a run, I guess."
Sweeping back his messy hair, he headed toward the bathroom.
***
Park Ji-hun sat back down at his desk.
A note he'd put together in advance lay on the desk.
Five paid clients for today.
SilentRoom and agei, plus three more.
As for the single free reading, he planned to pick someone himself once the stream was live.
Park Ji-hun gazed quietly at the Ocean broadcast window open on his monitor.
He was a little nervous.
Maybe because he knew the crowds would pour in today.
As the moment to go live drew near, his heart was beating faster than he'd expected.
"Hahh."
He exhaled briefly and moved the mouse.
[Stream Start]
A moment later, the blacked-out screen came to life.
At the same time, viewers began flooding in by the dozens.
-agei : here we go
-dwm9911 : ugh i'll probably get a reading like tomorrow :(
-LegendBarrel : this the guy who called the bus crash right?
The chat window started scrolling up fast.
Park Ji-hun glanced at the viewer count floating in the corner of the screen.
[Current Viewers: 319]
'...... Already?'
He'd thought it was faster than expected, but the number had no intention of stopping.
627.
1,146.
In less than a minute since going live, it had crossed into four digits.
-Kkoka : whoa so many new viewers damn
-SseomyeonMaster : did everyone come over from the broadcast gallery
-Soljji : divination fee's 50,000 right?
-ask2311 : does his voice still change when he does the spirit reading today?
-SilentRoom : ngl yesterday was honestly kinda scary
Park Ji-hun's brow tightened.
"I'm not like that normally. Only when I'm doing a Spirit Reading."
The chat erupted at once.
-WoofWoofNonsense : so it's not a Concept after all lol
-Fallout : changing only when he reads is kinda wild
In the meantime, donation alerts started going off one after another.
[SseomyeonMaster has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
-SseomyeonMaster : if i donate a bunch will you bump me up the line lol
[Soljji has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
-Soljji : reserving a spot too
The short chime rang without pause.
Park Ji-hun's eyebrow twitched slightly.
The response was definitely hotter than yesterday's.
But that lasted only a moment. A cold presence wrapped itself around his whole body.
"Quiet."
A single word, short and low.
Strangely enough, that one word sent the chat into an even bigger frenzy.
-Talented : his voice is scary as hell
-SseomyeonMaster : this is why we watch lol
-SilentRoom : how do you pick the free one?
Park Ji-hun skimmed the chat.
Then he spoke in a low, level tone.
"The free one, I'll choose myself."
-dkeo11 : ooh can't wait
-LegendBarrel : how many paid ones in the queue rn?
-Berserk : is this the shaman who caught that two-timer?
Park Ji-hun tapped the desk with his fingers, tap tap.
"I'm starting now, so everyone stop chattering and listen up."
It was just as he was about to open his mouth.
[BonelessRamyeon has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
-BonelessRamyeon : thank you so much for your help yesterday!
The chime rang out especially clear.
The chat reacted right away.
-Kasungi : oh she's here
-SseomyeonMaster : she just dropped the divination fee lol
Looking at the donation message on his monitor, Ji-hun spoke.
"No need to torture yourself over it. The old clunker's leaving, and a Benz is on the way."
***
Park Ji-hun drummed his fingers on the desk and spoke.
"We go in order of reservation. No answer, and you go to the back. All right, SilentRoom."
An answer came from the chat right away.
-SilentRoom : oh yes that's me
-dkeo11 : whoa bet he's nervous af
A moment later, SilentRoom joined on Discord.
"Uh, so I'm trying to start a business. There's a spot I've had my eye on, and I wanted to know if it'd be okay for me to move in there."
Park Ji-hun stared quietly at the screen.
In that brief instant, a short scene flickered through his mind.
A bright signboard.
People coming and going.
Empty plates piling up on the tables.
And the bustle of a busy weekend evening.
A spot like that would do pretty well.
Park Ji-hun said, sharp as a knife.
"Take that spot, no question."
The chat stirred.
-Kkoka : oh he says definitely take it
-LegendBarrel : guess the spot's a good one
SilentRoom asked in a shaky voice.
"Really? It'll be okay for me to go in there?"
Keeping his gaze fixed, Park Ji-hun went on.
"The location's solid. Foot traffic's not bad, and the customers will stick. You'll have an easier time of it than you think."
"Wow, thank you. Really."
Park Ji-hun's fingers didn't stop.
Then, for an instant, the look in his eyes changed.
One more short scene flickered past.
A crumpled receipt.
A hand fisted in a collar, curses.
A relationship in ruins.
"But don't take on a business partner."
The chat hitched for a second.
-SseomyeonMaster : oh
-Kasungi : looks like he saw something
Park Ji-hun added in an indifferent tone.
"Let the wrong person in and all your money leaks out. The people are a bigger problem than the location."
SilentRoom answered in an uneasy voice.
"Actually, there is this one guy who wants to go in on it with me......"
-dwm9911 : wait there really was one
-Berserk : damn this is kinda chilling
Park Ji-hun said curtly.
"Cut that guy."
"Understood. Thank you, really. I almost tangled the whole thing up trying to bring him in for nothing."
"As long as you got it. If I get the chance, I'll come by for some sundae soup myself." [TL Note: sundae here is Korean blood sausage, not the dessert; sundae soup is a hearty broth made with it.]
"Huh, how did you know I was opening a sundae soup place...... oh, you already saw it."
"That's right. Don't get too greedy for money. Put your heart into it. Do that, and the place will be packed wall to wall with customers."
With the consultation done, Park Ji-hun turned his eyes back to the chat.
***
Once SilentRoom's session ended, the chat started rushing past again.
Park Ji-hun was skimming over it when, at one point, his hand went still.
LunaBell.
It was just a couple of ordinary chat lines.
-LunaBell : this is really fun
-LunaBell : is this spirit reading thing actually trustworthy?
And yet, oddly, his eyes caught on it.
It wasn't anything that stood out.
Even so, that one nickname lodged itself in his eye.
Clinging unpleasantly, like a wet hem of cloth pressed to skin.
Leaning back in his chair, Park Ji-hun spoke.
"Now I'll do the one free reading. LunaBell. You."
A brief silence passed, then a chat line came up.
-LunaBell : huh? me?
"Yeah, you. Come on Discord."
A moment later, a short connection tone sounded, and a woman's voice came through.
"Uh, can you hear me?"
It was a light, bright voice.
"I can hear you."
A quick reaction flickered across the chat.
-Berserk : nice voice
-SilentRoom : lfg
Park Ji-hun wasn't looking at the chat.
Instead, he listened quietly to the sounds reaching his ears.
An engine.
The faint hum of a car body.
The lively blare of a trot song. [TL Note: trot is an older, sentimental Korean pop genre.]
The tick of a turn signal, and the sound of other cars sweeping past in the distance.
He spoke without much feeling.
"You're in a taxi right now."
The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.
"...... Sorry? Oh, yes. That's right."
The woman asked back with a laugh.
"You can see that too?"
"It's not that I see it."
Park Ji-hun said flatly.
"I hear it."
The woman, who had been laughing a moment, spoke again.
"So there's something I'm curious about. Will I be able to pass before the year's out?"
For a brief instant, his vision wavered strangely.
Instead of the answer to what she'd asked, he saw something else.
A dark car window.
A shut door.
A taxi gliding up a slope where the streetlights stood far apart.
The scene that flashed before his eyes was short, but his fingertips stiffened first.
"Where are you headed right now?"
"Sorry?"
"You were heading home, then. Where's home? Ilsan?"
"No. It's Seongbuk-dong."
Park Ji-hun closed his eyes, then opened them.
"This isn't the way to Seongbuk-dong."
This time, the laughter stopped on the woman's end.
"What?"
"That car, it's not headed toward your home right now."
The line went empty for a few seconds.
Park Ji-hun said nothing.
Then the woman's voice came back, dropped a little lower.
"I guess he took a wrong turn. Should I ask him?"
"No. Don't ask the driver."
Park Ji-hun's words were clipped.
This time, no answer came right away.
"...... Why?"
"Just don't ask."
Over the line, her breathing trembled, very faintly.
Eyes on the monitor, Park Ji-hun spoke again.
"Act like you don't notice."
This time, the silence stretched out unmistakably.
In the meantime, the woman's breaths grew shorter, little by little.
"...... Um."
"Go ahead."
"...... You're messing with me right now, aren't you?"
A breath shaking roughly.
Park Ji-hun's gaze settled into something icy.
A scene flashed past again.
A crumpled receipt.
A disposable coffee cup dropped under the passenger seat.
A coarse hand gripping a wrist.
Inside an unlit building, an empty corridor.
It wasn't an accident.
It was a planned crime.
Park Ji-hun asked at once.
"That driver, he's not a stranger to you, is he?"
From the other end came the sound of the woman swallowing her breath.
"...... I'm not sure."
Her voice trembled a little, but Park Ji-hun didn't so much as blink.
"That guy knows you."
The other end went quiet.
For a while, neither of them could speak.
If anything, that silence was ratcheting the tension higher.
Then the woman barely managed to speak.
"...... What should I do?"
Fear clung to the end of her slightly cracking voice.
Park Ji-hun said curtly.
"Look at the window."
The woman didn't answer right away.
Instead, a few seconds later, she said, very quietly,
"It's too dark outside."
"Not a main road either, right?"
"Right."
"Try opening the door, just a little."
This time, the answer was slow in coming altogether.
The silence dragged on as if her breath had stopped.
And after a moment, an even lower voice came back.
"...... It won't open."
The moment those words dropped, an image flashed through Park Ji-hun's mind.
Ka-chunk.
The sound of a lock dropping down.
In the rearview mirror, the corner of a mouth curling up at a slant.
A leisurely look in the eyes, as if it were all already over.
Park Ji-hun leaned forward a little.
"From here on, listen to me carefully."
The woman didn't answer.
Instead, she drew in a very small breath.
"Act like nothing's wrong. And talk like you normally would."
"...... What?"
"Like you're on the phone with a friend."
After a short silence, the woman parted her lips.
Park Ji-hun looked at neither the monitor nor the chat, focusing only on that sound.
"Um...... I'm in a taxi on my way home."
He could feel her forcing it, trying to sound the way she always did.
"Yeah. I'm almost there."
The end of her voice quivered slightly.
"No, it's just...... the road feels a little unfamiliar."
In that instant, the sound of brakes being slammed came through.
Then came the creak of a leather seat compressing, the presence of someone twisting their body around.
And, from right beside her, a man's voice.
"Who are you on the phone with?"
Her breath caught in her throat.
A silence so sharp it carried even over the line stretched out.
Park Ji-hun said nothing.
And the voice that followed was lower, clearer.
"Han Yu-na-ssi."
It was as if he could see a face smiling beyond the rearview mirror.
"Quick on the uptake, aren't you."
Beeep–
And then, the call cut off.