Click.
The third viewer entered.
"Hello."
This time the voice was low and heavy — a man who sounded a bit older.
Forties? Fifties?
Soon a new scene unfolded before my eyes — what looked like an office appeared.
No employees in sight, the lights were off, and stacks of documents were piled on the desk. Beside them sat a bottle of soju.
Still unopened.
......There's a company where you can have a drink while working overtime?
"You've been there a long time."
"......How did you know?"
Fatigue dripped from every word of his voice.
"I just saw it. Has it been twenty years?"
"Twenty-two years, to be exact."
Twenty-two years.
I looked deeper into the office.
Inside the desk drawer was a resignation letter.
It had been written but not yet submitted, and judging by the date, he'd written it two months ago.
For two months, he'd kept it in that drawer without being able to pull it out.
"You wrote a resignation letter. About two months ago?"
"......That's right."
I heard the sound of him swallowing.
"What's the reason you haven't been able to submit it?"
Silence followed.
He said nothing for a long time, and then slowly, a short answer came.
"I need to pay my kids' tuition. And the living expenses."
I looked at the office again.
In one corner of the desk sat a photo frame. A family photo — two children, and from the uniforms they were wearing, they were probably around high school age.
I also checked the documents he'd apparently submitted; more than a few had no stamp in the department head's column.
Were they all rejected?
"Are you having problems with your boss?"
"I am."
"You've been worn down badly."
There was no answer, but the silence was an answer in itself.
......How do I see the future with this?
Do I just ask it to show me?
Right then.
The same office, but time had passed.
The desk was empty — it looked like someone had packed up.
Then another scene.
A small office.
Much smaller than the previous one, but the man was sitting there reviewing documents — and his expression was different.
It wasn't that heavy, exhausted face from before.
He wasn't completely at ease, but he was breathing.
'He leaves. And goes somewhere else.'
When the scene shifted again, his two children were wearing university graduation gowns.
'Tuition works out somehow.'
"Leave in the first half of next year."
"Excuse me?"
"Not right now. The first half of next year. If you leave then, you won't need to worry about the kids' tuition."
"How could you possibly know......"
It wasn't that heavy, exhausted voice anymore. It was the voice of someone trying to hold on to something.
"After you leave, there'll be another place. Smaller, but you'll be able to breathe."
At my voice, I heard him suck in a breath, and in the silence that followed —
It wasn't a very long silence, but it sounded like someone settling something in his heart, and a voice came through that was at least a little more at ease.
"Thank you."
"I should be thanking you. You've been watching my stream."
"Oh, I just thought... there are people worse off than me, so maybe I'm actually fine...... well, something like that."
"......"
Now I'm the one who's not fine.
"I talked too much. Thank you."
Click.
He left with that sound, and now I was the one who wasn't okay.
"Excuse me. Can someone counsel me too?"
― What the hell is he saying?
― Jinwoo, snap out of it, you have talent
― He was doing fine, why is he suddenly like this?
― This is why bottom-tier streamers can't make it
"No, I just received emotional damage. Someone counsel me too, please."
― Anonymous donated 20,000 won! ―
[Jinwoo, buy yourself some fried chicken for dinner with this]
"Thank you for the 20,000-won donation! After fees that leaves 10,000 won, so give me just a little more."
― Anonymous donated 1,000 won! ―
[This bastard has no shame]
"I'm joking. Anyway, it's getting late, so I'll call it here for today."
― WhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhy
― The tide is coming in, row the damn boat!
― This guy throws the oars overboard
― Can you not see the viewer count? You've made it!!!
― Is fifty really making it though?
[Viewers: 51]
Currently watching my stream — a whopping fifty-one viewers.
I couldn't even remember the last time I'd broken fifty, and considering my usual viewer count, I'd genuinely made it.
......Compared to yesterday's me, at least.
"I'd love to keep going too, but my eyes hurt so I can't."
Even now, tears were streaming from my eyes, and there was a slight pain too.
A side effect of the ability?
Then where am I supposed to go?
"One last thing — my eyes hurt, so where should I go?"
― Anonymous donated 1,000 won! ―
[An eye doctor, you bastard]
"Not an eye doctor. How should I put it — I can see the future? You saw what happened earlier, right? I've developed some kind of special ability, and if I go to an eye doctor and say this kind of stuff, won't they just send me to a psychiatrist?"
― Now that you mention it, that's true
― Isn't that like a divine descent?
― Divine descent?
― Then where do you go? A temple?
― A shaman's parlor, you bastard
― Anonymous donated 1,000 won! ―
[There are a lot of scammers these days, so check the ratings before you go]
"......Wouldn't good ratings actually be more suspicious?"
― Anonymous donated 1,000 won! ―
[Now that you mention it, that's true]
"Anyway, I need to sort some things out too. Then I'll see you all tomorrow. Hit subscribe and like once each! Thank you!"
After those final words, I pressed [End Stream] and stood up from my chair — and the eye pain that had been bothering me just moments ago vanished as if it had never existed.
"Huh? What?"
I touched my eyes and only tears were flowing — but with the pain gone, I could finally breathe.
"......Should I actually go to a shaman's parlor?"
I lay on my bed and searched on my phone for the divine descent the viewer had mentioned. A ton of related posts came up, and most of them said it was a scam.
......If most are scams, how do I find a real shaman?
"Let's see......"
I searched for nearby shamans on the map app, and dozens popped up — most with either good or bad ratings.
Among them, only one place.
Had a rating of zero — and it looked like it had been around for a while.
"Should I go here?"
A word of caution read: don't bring too much cash in your wallet.
Apparently you might end up handing it all over?
My wallet's empty anyway, so that's fine.
My wallet, and my bank account — both empty!
Times like these, my broke-ass wallet is actually reassuring.
......Is it reassuring, though?
Anyway, first thing tomorrow morning, I need to visit a shaman's parlor.
***
The next morning.
I woke up without even setting an alarm.
This was a waking habit beaten into my body from my convenience store job days. I was now unemployed — no, a streamer — but you can't change a lifestyle overnight.
Being diligent wasn't such a bad thing anyway.
"Let's see."
I opened the map app I'd used last night on my phone.
The zero-star shaman's parlor.
Thirty minutes on foot — and there was no real reason to hesitate.
I had nothing to do today, and my wallet was already empty.
......Would it get even emptier after this, since I'd have to pay 30,000 won as a consultation fee?
I'd have to survive on pasta for the time being.
A hearty pasta you could make for a mere 950 won per serving.
A solo-dweller's best friend and a ray of sunshine in a life of poverty.
I finished getting ready, left the house, walked through the alley, and followed the map app's directions until a small sign appeared on the first floor of an old building.
[Fortune Telling / Horoscopes / Counseling]
The sign was old, the door was old, and everything about the place was old.
The shops on either side were all modern, but this place alone seemed frozen thirty years in the past.
I stood in front of the door for a moment, then pulled the handle.
Creeeak.
The door opened and the smell of incense hit me, followed by a voice.
"Come in."
A voice came from inside — an elderly woman's.
"Hello."
Stepping inside, I found a grandmother who looked about seventy sitting on a floor cushion, watching me.
But her expression was peculiar.
Not surprised, not happy.
Just the face of someone who'd known I was coming.
"Sit."
"Yes."
I sat on the cushion across from her, and the grandmother looked me up and down.
"Did something attach itself to you yesterday?"
"How did you know?"
"I can see it. Something about you has changed since yesterday — it shows."
The grandmother folded her arms and continued.
"You've started seeing things?"
Should I be honest? Will she believe me?
Well, I've come this far — lying now would be stranger.
"I can see people's situations. Both the present and the future."
"How clearly?"
"Clearly enough to see every item inside a desk drawer."
The grandmother went quiet for a moment after hearing me, then clicked her tongue softly.
"Tsk."
I couldn't tell if that was a good sound or a bad one.
"Is it a divine descent?"
"It is."
"What kind of deity?"
The grandmother studied me briefly, then spoke.
"That, I don't know. The deity has no reason to tell me their name."
"Then what can you tell me?"
"I can tell it's a powerful one. Seeing the present and future simultaneously — that's not common."
The grandmother looked me straight in the eye and continued.
"Let me ask you one thing."
"Yes."
"What are you going to use that power for?"
At her question, I paused to think.
A scam shaman would've started asking for money right away, but this grandmother hadn't said anything like that.
......I should answer honestly.
"I have to make money."
"You're honest."
"There's nothing to gain from lying."
"True enough. The deity behind you is a being far above the Little One I serve."
......Is there a ranking system among deities, like in Greek mythology?
The grandmother lifted a teacup from beside her cushion.
"Using it to make money is fine. But one thing."
"One thing?"
She set the teacup down and looked at me.
"Everything comes at a price."
"A price?"
"I serve the Little One. I offer devotion with bells, fans, ritual garments — things like that. To serve a deity, you must do what they wish."
With those words, she pointed to the wall.
There stood a spirit altar — hung with bells and draped in cloth of five colors.
"But you're different."
"How so?"
"The one behind you......"
The grandmother paused and stared at the space behind me as if trying to see something, then narrowed her eyes.
"They're warm."
"What?"
"There's no energy seeking payment. They're simply watching. Like a parent looking at their child."
A parent's gaze upon their child......?
I'm an orphan, so I've never felt such a gaze.
Ah — is it similar to the way the orphanage director used to look at me?
"They're not forcing anything from you. They're just watching over you. Wanting you to do well."
The grandmother lowered her gaze back to my face.
"The Little One I serve gets upset if I don't show proper devotion. But the one surrounding you — there's none of that."
Huh? What does that mean?
"A child who's lost their parents is called an orphan. A woman who's lost her husband is a widow, a man who's lost his wife a widower — but there's no word for a parent who's lost their child."
"What?"
What on earth is she talking about?!
"A parent doesn't need a reason to love their child. Even animals love their young. Of course, there are plenty who are worse than animals, but in my eyes......"
SMACK — the grandmother slapped the table and extended her hand toward me. What does that mean?
"I'd love to tell you for free, but the Little One says they want candy."
"......"
I pulled out my wallet and took out the entire 30,000 won I'd withdrawn on the way.
"Here."
"......Candy money's a bit cheap."