Hearing my grandfather tell a man to perform a shamanic ritual was absurd, so I had to ask.

  "What about his Saju?"

  It wasn't exactly the kind of thing a kid should say. But by then, I wasn't just any ordinary kid. I was at a stage where I had learned the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, the Ten Heavenly Stems, and the Twelve Earthly Branches. I was even dabbling in the Ten Gods , which meant I could hold my own in a conversation between practitioners.

  That was why I asked about the man's chart. Grandpa recited the man's Saju and explained it like this.

  “It’s tricky, but I saw that his Siksang (the energy of output and talent) will arrive in full force three years from now. Since his chart is centered on Wealth, he is the type who can generate immense fortune once that Siksang energy begins to fuel his Wealth. That is why I told him to endure just one more year. I wanted him to hold on until the path starts to open. I was prepared to be called a fraud if it meant giving him that spark of hope.”

  "But why? If it’s actually three years away, why did you tell him one year?"

  I was curious why Grandpa had told a lie he didn't need to tell. He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  "If I had told him to wait three years, he probably would have died right in front of me. To a desperate man debating whether to die today or tomorrow, a thousand days is an eternity."

  I was speechless at Grandpa's lack of concern for the future consequences.

  "But if things still haven't improved a year from now, won't he just give up and commit suicide then?"

  "That’s why I told him to come back whenever things got tough, and that I wouldn't take a penny for a year or two. I even pressed 300,000 won into his hand before I sent him off."

  I was floored. Grandpa’s livelihood was taking money from people who came for consultations.

  And he gave him money?

  A whole 300,000 won?

  To a man he had just met today?

  "I told him to pay me back ten times over when he succeeds. I told him I was investing early because he has the face of a rich man. A man like him can only hold on if there’s at least one person who believes in him the way I do."

  "300,000 won? Does Grandma know you gave that much to a complete stranger?"

  At that, Grandpa smirked playfully.

  "If she knew, I’d be a dead man. It’s a secret. Obviously."

  I immediately pointed behind him.

  "Grandpa... Grandma is standing right there."

  A year later, the man with the Jeo-an (pig eyes) and Sabaek-an (four-white eyes) returned to the Saju Philosophy Studio.

  “You! Dammit! Why is my life still such a mess?! It’s been a year!”

  He shouted as he kicked open the gate. Seeing this, I piped up.

  “Mister, why are you coming here to take out your anger just because your life is going wrong?”

  That day, I had been playing marbles and stick-ball with my friends. I had lost every single round, so I wasn't in the best of moods. My luck had been so bad that my results were far worse than my actual skill. I was in the middle of analyzing why my luck was so poor when he burst in.

  ‘I’m here reflecting on my own failures to solve them, but this guy is just blaming his luck. Is he really an adult?’

  Hearing my words, the man seemed a bit embarrassed, and his anger subsided slightly. Just then, Grandpa rushed out, hiding me behind his back, and spoke.

  "Saju is calculated by the lunar calendar, isn't it? The actual new year doesn't even start until mid-February. Come back after the lunar new year has passed. Next guest, please!"

  Absurdly enough, the man actually listened to that and just left.

  The following year, the man finally returned. He was carrying a knife.

  "Dammit! This world is trash, let's all just die together! Hey! You old Dosa bastard! You’re coming with me! You lied to me! 'Turning my life around' my ass! Things are only getting worse and it's a total hellscape!"

  This time, I was terrified and ran away. Seeing me, Grandma calmly gripped a heavy wooden rolling pin.

  "My precious grandson, don't be scared. Grandma isn't afraid of a little pencil-sharpening knife like that."

  The knife looked like a proper raw-fish slicer to me, but Grandma remained unfazed. Then, Grandpa spoke up.

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  "You're right! It’s true I’ve been lying to you for two years. But from the moment you first walked in, your Saju showed you wouldn't succeed until three years had passed."

  "You son of a bitch! You’re still lying to the very end!"

  Grandpa roared back with a voice that shook the room.

  "Hey! Have I ever taken a single cent from you? If you’ve got eyes, look at this!"

  Grandpa tore a page out of his notebook where the man’s birth chart was written, crumpled it up, and threw it at the bloodshot-eyed man.

  “Open it up! And check the date of your first visit! You’ll see the ink has blurred over time. you'll know it was written back then!"

  The paper quality back then wasn't great, and regardless of the paper, writing with a ballpoint pen usually caused the ink to bleed over time. On the paper Grandpa threw, the following was written.

  [How can I help him get through three years? Next year will be harder, and the year after that will be even worse. Should I tell him a lie just to keep him going?]

  After smoothing out the torn notebook page, the man’s legs seemed to give out, and he slumped to the ground. Grandpa spoke to the collapsed man.

  “At first, I thought I’d save a life and maybe make some big money for myself later.”

  As Grandpa began to speak, the man looked up at him.

  “That’s why I pressed that money into your hand and sent you on your way.”

  “Did you know... I would come back like this?”

  “I expected it. I could have called the police the moment I saw you coming up the path, but then I’d never get back the money I invested in you, would I? That’s why I’m sitting you down to explain this.”

  The man stared at the ceiling in silence, then looked at the knife in his hand. He looked like someone who had been momentarily possessed by a dark spirit but was now coming out of it. Grandpa calmed him down and spoke again.

  “Think about it. Am I an idiot? Why would a man who makes his living doing this give money to someone who came for a reading? If you were me, would you risk your life for a job that doesn't pay a dime?"

  The man listened to Grandpa for a long time before trudging out of the Saju Philosophy Studio.

  This time, Grandma was the one who packed 300,000 won for him.

  “He might seem like a foolish fraud, but many lives have been saved by listening to this man. Since the Dosa said you will succeed, you definitely will. Never give up hope. Take this money and make sure to pay it back.”

  That year, which was three years after he first visited Grandpa’s Saju Philosophy Studio, the man succeeded like something out of a movie. And he returned with six million won.

  "I succeeded exactly as the Dosa said. Please, take this first."

  Grandpa replied, “I only lent you 300,000 won. Why are you giving me so much?”

  “The lady gave me another 300,000 won the day I left. That makes 600,000 total, so six million won is the right amount.”

  Then the man bowed deeply to Grandpa and said:

  “Thank you. For saving my life. I will visit you once every year just to say hello.”

  “There’s no need to come so often. Everything will go well from now on. No need to spend your money on me.”

  Even so, the man visited every single year until the day Grandpa passed away.

  Time flowed on. When Grandpa passed away, I became the chief mourner.

  Despite being a relatively distant relative, his youngest cousin’s grandson, I took on the role because of Grandpa’s will.

  “That lad is the closest with all my clients. Put the armband on him.”

  That wasn't the only reason, but when I was asked to be the chief mourner, I accepted without a word. (In Korean tradition, the role of chief mourner is strictly reserved for the closest male relative to lead the funeral.)

  Grandpa had no sons. He had also been married three times. The two daughters from his first wife lived in the United States, and he had no children with his second wife. His third wife had a daughter from a previous marriage before she married Grandpa. My third aunt was younger than me and was in England.

  Since it would take at least two or three days for all the daughters to arrive, it seemed he had chosen me, the one who could rush over the moment he called.

  On the first day, an elderly gentleman who had arrived with several attendants spoke to me.

  “Aren't you the little Master from back then?”

  Since I had spent several years at Grandpa’s Saju Philosophy Studio, many people recognized me. However, my memory wasn't great. I couldn't remember every single person the way Grandpa did. So, I told him honestly.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t recall who you are.”

  At my reply, the elderly gentleman in the suit said.

  “I’ve lived my whole life grateful to the Dosa, but I’ve also been grateful to the Little Master who recognized me and alerted the Dosa right before I made a terrible mistake.”

  Only then did I realize the old gentleman was the man who had come to the Saju Philosophy Studio with those Sabaek-an and Jeo-an eyes. I said to him.

  “Ah! Back then... I see. It was you.”

  Remembering him vaguely, I was very happy to share old stories with him.

  “Still, Grandpa was wrong about things quite often, wasn't he? Even so, he was such a good man.”

  When I said this, the old gentleman replied:

  “No. I think you might be misunderstanding something about your grandfather.”

  The gentleman took a sip of soju.

  “He didn't tell me everything he knew. He only told me the parts that would help me. But I knew one thing for sure, that he only gave me advice that was truly for my own sake.”

  I felt there were stories I didn't know. So, I kept my mouth shut.

  “I believed in the Dosa’s words until the very end. And that is how I succeeded.”

  Having enjoyed a long run of success, he eventually faced the brink of bankruptcy during the IMF financial crisis.

  ‘Should I just die?’

  It was a day filled with regret for the hard life he had lived. A day of regretting that he hadn't prepared for this.

  ‘He clearly said things would keep going well.’

  Unknowingly, he had come to rely heavily on the Dosa. And for good reason, because every time he faced a hardship, he could find a solution by visiting his Saju Philosophy Studio.

  ‘Wait, I didn't visit him this year.’

  With so many things happening lately, he hadn't been able to visit the Saju Philosophy Studio this year. Furthermore, early last year, the Dosa had asked him to lend about 300 million won, and he had lent it. But the Dosa still hadn't paid it back.

  “My wife is looking for land to buy and is a bit short on cash. Can you lend me some?”

  The Dosa who had borrowed the money with those words still hadn't paid it back. As it wasn't a burdensome amount for a successful businessman like him, he had lent it without really expecting to get it back. But there had been no contact since then.

  Since it was a significant amount of money, he hadn't visited the Saju Philosophy Studio, fearing the Dosa might feel uncomfortable.

  [Whirrr, shuck-shuck-shuck...]

  He was now withdrawing all his remaining money from the ATM.

  ‘Let’s stop by the Saju Philosophy Studio one last time before I die.’

  He wasn't even thinking about getting the money back from the Dosa. He was only thinking of this. The reason he had so readily lent hundreds of millions of won was because he believed the Dosa had saved his life.

  ‘Still, the interest was quite high. He’s a total loan shark.’

  He thought to himself with a bitter smile.