ICBWT 2

Chapter 2

An Old Man on the Street

I was satisfied with the company I currently worked for.

What if the salary was low? I was grateful just to be taken in when I was an incompetent unemployed guy.

What if overtime was frequent? I was lucky enough to work in a cool place on hot days and a warm place on cold days.

What if there were a lot of pushy, bossy superiors? They would easily let things slide if I just gave them a bit of lip service.

However, my endlessly positive mindset was on the verge of shattering.

“No, Assistant Manager Kang. Is this how you do your work? Why was the expense report submitted by our team rejected?”

“Well… There’s a slight discrepancy between the amount on the proposal and the amount on the statement of expense. You’ll need to rewrite the proposal…”

General Manager Kim Hyun-shik came looking for me and blew his top out of nowhere.

He was protesting to me that the expense report submitted by his subordinate had been rejected, but the funny thing was that instead of that subordinate, he had personally come to snap at me.

Was he some kind of superhero boss who took responsibility for his subordinates’ work on their behalf?

No. In my eyes, he was definitely not that kind of person.

From the very beginning, it was clear he had come over just to find fault with me.

“If we submit the proposal now, how much longer are we going to have to wait? What are you going to do if our schedule gets messed up in the meantime? Are you going to take responsibility, Assistant Manager Kang? This is money meant for clinical trials. I’ve already talked with the hospital and everything—are you saying we should cancel it over a few lousy bucks?”

General Manager Kim Hyun-shik had been tormenting me ever since his attempted embezzlement incident last year.

Usually, people wouldn’t badger someone from another department to this extent, but I was the sole exception.

Now, it seemed like he wanted to pick a fight whenever he saw my face.

Spittle from Manager Kim’s mouth flew onto my face.

For a moment, a surge of anger flared up inside me, but I had no choice but to suppress my rage.

“No, sir. I’m sorry. I’ll speak to my team leader and see to it that we process it right away.”

In the first place, I didn’t have the courage to raise my voice, and as a powerless assistant manager, there was nothing I could do.

Besides, who was General Manager Kim Hyun-shik?

He was the brain personally headhunted by the CEO from a conglomerate’s research institute, and the real power in this company who held a tight grip on the Development Team.

He was a figure on a completely different level from a number-cruncher like me.

I immediately reported this situation to the Finance Team Leader.

Hearing this, the team leader reacted as if it was absurd.

“He protested to you? Why? I was the one who rejected it.”

“You know how it is. I’m on Manager Kim’s hit list.”

“You still haven’t managed to change his mind?”

“I apologized to him multiple times, but he keeps looking at me in a negative light.”

“Tsk, tsk. Of all people, to get caught on Manager Kim’s radar. That man’s stubbornness is no joke.”

“Team Leader… What should I do? These days, my heart aches whenever I just see Manager Kim’s face.”

“What can you do? Time is the best medicine. Until Manager Kim cools down, try your best not to do anything that upsets him.”

Even my superior could only offer advice and couldn’t solve it directly for me.

What on earth was I supposed to do?

Thinking about my future workplace life, which was bound to be rough, made me feel nauseous.

It was on my way back home after finishing work.

My work tasks had clearly been the same as usual, but because I had been chewed out by General Manager Kim Hyun-shik, my whole body felt heavy.

To be precise, my mind had taken a beating rather than my body.

What’s more, because I had a personality where I repeatedly chewed over what others said, my stress was even worse.

Fortunately, as soon as I got on the subway, I managed to find a seat.

Hoping to shake off my worries during the ride, I played a puzzle game on my smartphone.

Dragging my exhausted body, I got off the subway and walked down the street.

Today of all days, the neighborhood street felt dark, like a country road.

The streetlights must have been broken.

Eerie vibes, as if a ghost might pop out, brushed down my spine, and I quickened my pace.

“Argh!”

Just then, a strange noise pierced my eardrums from somewhere.

It sounded like the agonizing cry of a beast caught in a trap.

“What did you say?!”

Thankfully, it was the sound of a human voice.

It was the sharp voice of a young male.

When I turned my head toward the noise, three young men were surrounding an old man.

They were youthful kids who looked to be around twenty at most.

“Old man. You’re saying I won’t meet a woman for the rest of my life?”

“Looking at your natal chart, your Hong Yeom Sal (Charm Fate) is weak, so your romantic luck isn’t following you. Even if your Do Hwa Sal (Attraction Fate) is weak, it’s way too weak.”

“Fuck, are you kidding me? So you’re saying I should live as a solo for life?”

The old man surrounded by the men was a fortuneteller reading Saju on the street.

In front of the old man sitting on a mat lay a makeshift sign made out of a box.

[Saju (Four Pillars of Destiny), Marital Compatibility, Naming]

Looking at the situation, it seemed those men had their fortunes read by the old man.

However, whether they didn’t like the result, their tone toward the old man was harsh.

A strong scent of alcohol could be felt in their words, suggesting they were picking a fight while drunk.

In particular, the man who heard he had the fortune of a lifelong solo flew into a rage, hurling insults and violence at the old man.

He stomped on the mat with his foot, crumpling it, and even threw fortune-telling books at the old man.

The friends beside him were merely snickering and mocking, showing no intention of stopping him.

‘Gasp!’

In that moment, I ended up making eye contact with one of the guys in the group.

Instinctively, I looked away.

Getting involved in a fight for no reason could ruin one’s life, after all.

Honestly, that was just self-justification; I was simply scared.

If anything, young kids whose heads were barely dry were the scary ones.

You never knew what guys who had nothing to lose might do.

On the other hand, I was a father who had to take care of a family.

“Look at that bastard, he got scared from meeting my eyes and is running away. Pfft.”

As I tried to pass by pretending not to notice, I heard a voice behind my back mocking me.

Instantly, my heart began to pound.

I was already filled with pent-up rage from being harshly scolded by Manager Kim, and that single word from that man tore down my wall of patience.

“Excuse me. What do you think you’re doing right now?”

“Mister, if you’re scared, just go on your way.”

“From what I heard, you were raising your voice at an elder, and you shouldn’t do that.”

“What’s this? Are you in cahoots with this geezer too? Are you this old man’s son or something?”

The drunk man held back nothing.

Just looking at his eyes, you could tell he had lost his mind.

“I think you’ve all had a lot to drink, so why don’t you quietly head home?”

“What do you mean I’m drunk? I’m someone who doesn’t even flinch after drinking a whole box of soju!”

Without warning, the man slapped my cheek.

There wasn’t even time to dodge. It was a violent act committed without any notice.

Slap! Sounded out.

It had been a long time since I was hit by someone in my life.

In the middle of this, my brain first thought about receiving a settlement fee.

They say a husband and wife grow to resemble each other, so rather than worrying about my body, I thought of money first.

Shortly after, the police who received the report arrived at the scene.

As the police approached, the drunkard suddenly started playing the victim card and squeezing out tears.

“Mr. Police Officer. That old man over there told me I’m going to live as a solo for life. Is that something you say to a twenty-year-old?”

Looking at his pathetic drunken display, I could see why he wouldn’t be able to meet a woman.

However, there was a bigger problem.

It was a face that naturally brought out a sigh.

“Oppa! Who is it? Who hit you?”

It was while I was giving my statement at the police station.

My wife, who arrived after receiving a call, made her entrance boasting a booming voice.

Instantly, every gaze inside the interrogation room turned toward her.

At first, they turned their eyes at the arrival of an unfamiliar figure, but afterward, it was mixed with admiration as if looking at a beautiful work of art.

“I take it you’re his wife?”

“Yes. She is my wife.”

“I’m jealous.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, no… I mean… Your wife seems to care a lot about her husband. Haha.”

The investigator stammered in embarrassment and let out a forced laugh.

My wife stared closely at my face, checking me over.

“Oppa. Are you hurt badly?”

“What about Hye-rin?”

“I left her briefly with the lady downstairs.”

“Honey. I’m sorry about yesterday.”

I didn’t miss this opportunity and slyly brought up yesterday’s incident.

“Is now the time to talk about that? Oppa. You should worry about your body first.”

As expected, my wife was the only one who truly worried about me.

I was almost brought to tears.

“Right. I should probably go to an orthopedic clinic or something.”

I intentionally grimaced and stroked my cheek.

It didn’t seem like I was badly injured, but I had to get a settlement fee, after all.

The perpetrator meekly confessed to the facts.

There were many eyes watching around, and there were even CCTV and dashcam footage.

“Hey there. Come take a look here for a moment.”

The old man gestured and called me aside.

When I approached him, the old man tightly held both my hands with his and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, something terrible would have happened.”

“Don’t mention it. I just did what anyone should do.”

I put on an embarrassed expression.

I had never imagined in my life that I would say words like these.

It was the kind of answer people featured as good Samaritans on the TV news might give during an interview.

It was a new experience brought about by courage.

“Because I’m so grateful, as a token of my thanks…”

The old man fumbled through his pockets, pulled out his wallet, and opened it.

I quickly waved my hands and said:

“It’s fine. I’ll take the thought, elder.”

“A person has a conscience—how could I send back empty-handed someone who helped me? Take it.”

The old man pulled out a piece of paper from his wallet and held it out.

It wasn’t King Sejong, nor was it Shin Saimdang.

What he held out was a single piece of paper with red characters written on a bright yellow background.

It was none other than a talisman.

“What is this?”

“It’s a talisman containing the energy of earth.”

“Earth?”

“Looking closely, I see a huge fortune of wealth in you. But a massive stream of water is blocking it right up.”

“A stream of water?”

“When the energy of Water (Su) is strong, a person becomes weak and easily consumed by fear. That’s why we suppress it with the energy of Earth (To).”

“Ah… Is that so?”

Honestly, I didn’t tend to believe in fortune-telling or Saju.

I had a personality where I didn’t easily believe things I couldn’t see with my own eyes.

However, since the elder spoke so earnestly, I nodded my head enthusiastically.

“From now on, you will acquire immense wealth.”

“Will it really turn out that way? I’m just an ordinary company office worker…”

No matter how much I thought about it, it was hard to accept the old man’s words.

Unless a miracle suddenly happened, there was no way for money to come my way.

It would have to be something like finding out a distant relative was a chaebol chairman, or winning the lottery.

It would need to be at least that level—was it even realistic?

“Instead, there is one thing you must keep in mind.”

“What is it?”

“You must never let your wife know. Her Pa-sal (Destructive Fate) is no joke.”

“Pa-sal? What’s that?”

“It’s an ominous fate that blocks wealth. It’s tightly clogging the path through which wealth flows.”

“That’s right. My wife did have some debt.”

“Therefore, you must never let your wife know the path through which wealth comes out. If you keep just that one thing in mind and carry this talisman around, wealth will follow you.”

I wondered if this was why people fell for fortunetellers or mystics.

Listening to the old man’s confident words, I almost fell under his spell without realizing it.

“Oppa, what are you doing? Let’s hurry home and rest.”

“Yeah. Let’s go. Let’s go.”

I gave a final deep bow to the old man in greeting and followed my wife out.

And the talisman the old man gave me went inside my wallet.

“Oppa. What did you talk about with that elder earlier? You two were chatting for a long time.”

“Huh? Ah, well… He said thank you, so I said it was nothing.”

“Is that all?”

“Huh?”

“He pulled something out of his wallet earlier.”

“That? He offered to give me some money as a reward out of gratitude, but I declined. It felt a bit wrong to take money from an old man making pocket money reading fortunes on the street.”

“…You did well.”

There was a slight hint of regret lingering on my wife’s face as she answered.