LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 66
“Let’s take a look at that.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s go!”
“Wait a minute!”
Iarin held Ella’s hand tightly as they entered the roadside fortune teller’s house. Ella, gripped firmly by her hand, tried to pull away, but Iarin’s strength was so strong that she couldn’t escape at all. Furthermore, the floor was inexplicably slippery, causing her to slide along behind her.
“Excuse me!”
Ding-dong.
As they subtly pulled aside the cloth to enter, the bell announcing customers rang out. The diviner, who had been doing something on his smartphone, glanced up at the two and put his smartphone down, sitting at the table to welcome them.
“Oh my, welcome!”
Upon receiving that greeting, Ella looked at the diviner with a slightly shocked and dazed expression.
A slender figure.
Long legs.
Hair tied back into a ponytail that reached up to his neck.
And a beard that resembled that of a bandit.
“There are two pretty girls here. Come, have a seat.”
The diviner was a man.
A man who spoke in a feminine tone and behaved in a feminine manner.
He smiled brightly and sat the two across from him, giving a subtle wink to Ella, who was staring blankly at his face. The moment she received that wink, Ella snapped back to reality.
‘Right… Whether they’re gay or straight, they’re still people. It shouldn’t be shocking or discriminatory because of that.’
She realized that she had been shocked because she unconsciously thought a rugged-looking man couldn’t be gay, vowing to shed such prejudices moving forward. She then glanced at Iarin, who was sitting very close to her.
‘Right… Sigh… I shouldn’t have prejudices…’
Before sunset, she had even shouted about Iarin being a lesbian.
Yet, Iarin remained close to her naturally, not caring a bit.
At this point, it began to seem like a level of affection deficiency.
It wasn’t like a puppy sticking to its owner; she was constantly yearning for human warmth.
It made her curious about what kind of lives high school girls in Korea were leading.
“This pretty girl has such a diverse expression. You look innocent and curious. Oh, since it’s a compliment, don’t take it the wrong way.”
The diviner spoke kindly, finding Ella’s demeanor amusing.
“Yes, you came for a divination, right? What kind of reading would you like? I’m not great with Eastern divination, but I excel at both Trump card and Tarot readings.”
“What’s Trump divination?”
He spoke gently as if finding Iarin’s question cute.
“Hehe, it’s a question from our lovely girl, so I must answer. Trump card divination is a reading done with Trump cards, and you can see the future using constellations and symbols. It’s a bit different from Tarot, which uses mystical elements and symbols for divination.”
“Which one is more accurate?”
“Oh my, both are definitely accurate! I am a versatile person, after all!”
“That certainly shows!”
“Oh my, this child is quite something.”
Before long, Iarin and the diviner began chatting as if they had known each other for years, and Ella found herself drifting away from interest. She took the opportunity to subtly try to rise from the table.
But at that moment, the diviner’s eyes met hers, and he winked again.
“Miss? Pretty girl must stay still because you need a reading.”
Ella, bewildered by the diviner’s incomprehensible words, ended up sitting back down, and Iarin seemed curious again, throwing another question.
“Why do we need a reading?”
“Umm~ It’s a rather long explanation.”
He flashed a sly smile.
“Us diviners can see things. Cause and effect and such unnecessary stuff, things you don’t want to see but can’t help but see. Think of it like a job hazard. Just like a janitor can’t help but see litter on the ground, or a chef can’t help but note the expiration dates.”
“Oh, that. Did you see some weird cause and effect thing?”
“Umm~ Not quite like that. Hohoho.”
The diviner pulled out a Tarot card deck and a bundle of Trump cards from his pocket.
“Let me give you a piece of advice. It’d be good to have a reading now.”
“Now?”
“Oh my, this isn’t a sales pitch. It’s just a pure act of kindness. Yes, my lovely, I won’t take any payment. We can work it out later, so just have a reading. How about it?”
Payment later?
Ella shot her head up and glared at the diviner.
Even though the diviner was smiling sincerely at her, Ella felt an urge to use witchcraft right then and there.
“Do you think I’m an idiot?!”
“Oh my? What’s wrong, miss?”
“Are you trying to trick me into giving you something instead of payment! Later payment? If you vanish, I can’t pay for the reading, and then it means I got a free reading, right? Ha!”
Payment means ‘the money given to the diviner in exchange for the reading.’
On the surface, it seems like a simple service transaction where one pays for a service, an apparent trade.
However, there is a taboo surrounding this seemingly simple transaction.
‘Not paying for the service’ is precisely that.
Every magic involves a cost.
And this applies to divination, which is a magic that reveals the future, meaning anyone wishing to glimpse the future must pay a cost.
Usually, it’s paid in forms of life force or lifespan, but if one were to view a significant future without the means to pay, they could face a cost beyond imagination.
At least, common divination using cards, coffee, etc., tends to have milder costs.
But when it comes to ritual-level divination, one might have to give up years of life, and there have even been instances where one died on the spot, turning into a desiccated mummy for having seen what they shouldn’t.
But if there’s a cost, there are ways to lessen it.
Diviners reduce their burden of cost by exchanging ‘payments’ and share the cost through the act of ‘exchanging payments’ with the client.
If they can lessen and share the costs in simple divination, it usually ends with the cost being just a slight fatigue, making it an easily accessible type of magic for the public.
However, even if it is public and familiar, there are still rules to be observed.
That is, if one has received a fortune, they must surely pay the fee.
“Frau Li! Let’s go!”
To say that payment wouldn’t be necessary means one is entirely willing to bear the costs incurred from the reading.
To shoulder fully, without relief or sharing, the costs and burdens alone.
Of course, this isn’t an abnormal thing.
Wanting to offer your talent even at a loss to another is rare, but it’s certainly not impossible.
But just like the saying ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch,’ hidden behind seemingly advantageous offers are often ulterior motives.
If you hear a fortune without paying, the diviner obtains a sort of ‘collection right.’
Not of life force or lifespan, but of something equivalent to the value of the fortune offered.
Typically, what’s taken are fortunes (運氣), and losing such fortunes could result in unfortunate events, or in extreme cases, a life-threatening crisis.
Thus, a sane person would never trust a diviner saying they would give a free reading.
Never.
Ella stormed outside.
“Oh my! Miss! It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
Regardless of the diviner calling her desperately from behind, she exited the tent with anger, pulling the fabric aside and stepping into the cold air, and Iarin, having intended to follow her, threw a question at the diviner, who cried “misunderstanding!”
“…Why did you say that?”
“Oh my, it seems there was a misunderstanding….”
The diviner sighed at Iarin’s inquiry.
“What I meant was that you could pay the cost once the fortune is proven to be correct. Payment doesn’t necessarily have to be face-to-face; if I give a part of my body, you could find me and settle the payment with that.”
“A part of your body…?”
Instead of answering, the diviner smiled slyly.
Then, he pointed outside, as if suggesting she follow, and Iarin waved her hand in a brief goodbye and chased after the storming Ella.
“Ugh…”
Left alone, the diviner made a strange noise amidst the stillness that suddenly enveloped the tent.
He pulled out his smartphone again, turned it on, and entered his fingerprint.
“The more I look, the more splendid and beautiful it is. Hoho.”
The app running on the smartphone was a mirror.
A ridiculously simple application that uses the front camera to show a live reflection, just like a mirror.
He displayed his face on the smartphone as if enamored, curiously smiling while repeatedly checking out his appearance, behaving like someone deeply entrenched in narcissism.
After staring at the mirror app for quite a while, as if he might become entranced by his reflection like Narcissus, the diviner subtly curled the corners of his mouth upward.
“I haven’t seen a kindred spirit in a while; it’s a pity…”
“Kindred spirit? He looks like a failed kid!”
Then he began to perform as if in a one-man play.
Alone but seemingly not alone.
Speaking to himself as if in conversation.
The diviner spoke in a feminine voice, then shifted to a masculine tone.
He navigated between the speech patterns and actions of both genders as he put on his one-man show.
“Failed? Oh my! You can’t say such things to a child!”
“That’s true. A witch who doesn’t even know her own status is just foolish, isn’t she?”
“She’s still young! There’s potential, there is!”
“Potential is nonsense. I was selling drugs at that age.”
“Oh my, do you know how corny that sounds?”
“Corny? Ha, I’ve got no shortage of words!”
“A witch could be ignorant! We can see cause and effect, but what would that girl know?”
The diviner in reality laughed.
“Ha, it seems there’s a faint scent of magic wafting from that girl next to her.”
The real diviner chuckled.
“It doesn’t matter since she’s not the party in question and just reeks of magic!”
“True, that’s not my concern!”
Hahaha—
Hoho!
Laughter echoed with a deep male voice and a delicate female voice within the tent.
“Hah, that scammer diviner is still around?”