The Unbelievers Chapter 38

As they passed Chungju Lake and arrived in Jecheon, the darkness had grown even deeper. The car climbed along a desolate mountain path where all signs of human presence had vanished. The circular beam of the headlights barely illuminated the road, which was difficult to see even a few inches ahead.

Having arrived safely at the small hermitage situated halfway up the mountain, Manager Nam let out a silent sigh of relief and parked the car. He had been so focused on driving because Yoo Siun seemed to have fallen asleep that his spine felt stiff.

As soon as the engine was turned off, Yoo Siun opened his eyes.

“We have arrived.”

“…”

Manager Nam quickly got out of the car and opened the rear door where Yoo Siun was sitting, scanning the surroundings.

In the small temple, which consisted of only a single Buddha hall and one monk’s quarters, a dim exterior light flickered like a candle.

Yoo Siun got out of the car, and Manager Nam walked to the rear to open the trunk. He took out a box the size of a vitamin drink set, wrapped in a finely colored cloth.

As the sound of Yoo Siun’s footsteps crunched heavily on the dirt ground, the door to the quarters opened, and a monk with a generous amount of flesh appeared.

“I am sorry for the late hour.”

“The man who always says he is coming but never does—what brings you here in the middle of the night? Come in, quickly.”

As Yoo Siun attempted to go inside while apologizing for the hour past midnight, the monk flinched and covered his nose with his hand as if he smelled something.

Yoo Siun, who was just about to take off his shoes, stopped his movements and looked up at him.

“Wait here.”

The monk headed toward the distant communal kitchen and returned after a moment. Not knowing the reason, Yoo Siun and Manager Nam stood in place and waited for him. When the monk returned, he was holding a red plastic gourd.

“Aieee! To come straight here after doing such a thing—is that not going too far? You are going to get hit by a reverse curse at this rate.”

He grabbed a handful of coarse salt and threw it roughly over Yoo Siun’s body. The grains of salt scratched his cheeks quite sharply. Turning his head to avoid the sting, Yoo Siun’s eyes met Manager Nam’s in the air. Manager Nam, who had said he once liked the occult, exchanged a look that said, ‘Look at this,’ suggesting the situation was unusual. Yoo Siun pretended not to notice.

The monk threw a trivial handful of salt at Manager Nam as he subtly stepped forward, then turned the empty gourd over to shake out the remaining salt onto the ground before entering first. Yoo Siun brushed the salt off his clothes and finally took off his shoes before stepping onto the narrow wooden veranda. He carried the square cloth-wrapped bundle handed to him by Manager Nam and closed the door behind him as he moved inside.

There was no furniture to speak of in the simple temple. The monk closed a book, as if he had been in the middle of reading something on a small low table. He gestured for Yoo Siun to bring the bundle he had set down on the upper floor. Yoo Siun handed it over. The monk placed the bundle on the table and unwrapped it. The box was filled with stacks of fifty-thousand-won bills. He roughly counted the stacks with his eyes. It seemed to be about one hundred million.

“You know why they made fifty-thousand-won notes in this country, right? They made them for this—it is light. Not heavy at all.”

The fake monk, who possessed a sharp intuition like Yoo Siun and was a master of the four pillars of destiny and physiognomy, spoke in a satisfied tone. He was mainly called Master Manpo or Dharma Master Manpo; he was a man who influenced people’s fates and was famous for being exceptionally accurate for tycoon families and political circles, despite never having been officially ordained.

“I heard someone from Seongha Construction stopped by.”

“The elder from there came by in person. So, he would be your younger uncle, right? It seems his son is eyeing the successor’s position.”

Master Manpo closed the lid of the box containing the money and set it down beside the table. Yoo Siun sat cross-legged in front of him.

“What did they ask?”

“It seems they met a geomancer somewhere who sees feng shui incredibly well. They brought an address and asked me to look into it, and your house address was among them. When I said I couldn’t tell without seeing it in person, they turned on Google Maps for me.”

“And then?”

“Mmm, I told them, ‘This is not a good spot. Even if it looks like things are going well, it is a place where misfortune will breed.’”

“Is that what you said?”

“Those guys didn’t even bring a single stack—they threw ten million at most and left. Would I tell them the honest truth? I figured that ‘extraordinary’ geomancer would take care of it himself.”

It was what he had expected, but Yoo Siun knit his brows.

“What did they say to that?”

“I told them that if they want to find the ‘Great Rift,’ that amount won’t do. Even with devotion, a few tens of millions is not enough. One must spend hundreds of millions for the ancestral spirits to be moved. Is that not so? We decided to do a ritual. They asked me just to point out the direction. If it is Seoul, whether it is north of the river or south; if it is Gyeonggi Province, whether it is Osan or Suwon—they asked me to tell them specifically.”

“Where do you see it being?”

Yoo Siun asked with a serious, hardened expression, as if he himself were dying of curiosity. Master Manpo locked eyes with him.

“When I looked closely like this, your house address caught my eye perfectly. That house built on that great site that they say can even produce a President.”

“It is a site you designated, Dharma Master, so of course it would be. I am someone who does not spare money on such things.”

Yoo Siun felt a prick of conscience inwardly, but he maintained a faint smile on the outside. Even without revealing it, his desire—his ambition—was seething like lava buried underground, waiting to explode.

“Could you look at this address as well?”

Yoo Siun asked as he wrote the address of his penthouse on a notepad provided by Master Manpo and handed it back.

“I told you, I have to see the surrounding mountain terrain and the flow of the buildings to know.”

“Look at it on Google Maps.”

Master Manpo gave Yoo Siun a resentful glare, then pulled a laptop—which did not suit such a place—from a drawer behind him. With his glasses perched on the tip of his nose, he entered the address with slow movements and meticulously checked the satellite photos around the address Yoo Siun had written, scrolling the mouse wheel.

“…It is not a bad spot, but it does not match your four pillars.”

“I am aware of that.”

“Did I not tell you this before you bought it?”

“It was listed so cheaply.”

The reason Yoo Siun brought bundles of money to Master Manpo was not out of blind faith in his fortune-telling, but simply as a price for him to give those who visited him the answers Yoo Siun wanted—answers favorable to Yoo Siun. A smile that revealed his rational personality—showing that he did not blindly believe and follow everything the man said like others did—briefly played on Yoo Siun’s lips before vanishing.

“It is not that the site is bad, but physiognomically, it is bad for you. This place is too overflowing with the energy of gold, so it is not a place to stay for long, and if you are doing something, there is a possibility it will not work out.”

“I guess I shouldn’t move there.”

“No, why move when you have that great site? Did I not tell you? If you live there, you can even untangle the fate of Jahyeongsal—the curse of killing others and killing oneself, the curse that leads to ruin.”

“Does that mean I won’t have to handle trash anymore?”

“Yes. It is a site that good. Rent this place out. I hear monthly rent is quite lucrative lately. Is this not a world where the building owner is the Creator?”

“Yes, I suppose I should. Better to get rent than leave it empty.”

“The fortune and misfortune of our lives depend on ‘Gate, Fate, House, Appearance, and Cultivation.’ You have a good family, your four pillars are decent, and your house is on a site I chose, which is a position that could make a President. The rest are Appearance and Cultivation. Your appearance is that of a born noble, but the problem is Cultivation. Because you have Jahyeongsal and your conduct involves only deeds that accumulate bad karma… that is a pity. Carry some salt with you. Throw it around generously. Do not save on the cost of salt. Or else, hold a grand ritual.”

“Can a ritual solve it? It is not just one or two people.”

“…Well, that, I suppose so.”

Hmm, he muttered while idly staring into the laptop screen.

“The site here is good. All the energy of Suinsan flows into it. This was built with a geomancer involved.”

Then Master Manpo subtly checked the reaction of Yoo Siun, who was sitting quietly without responding. Yoo Siun closed his mouth and ears and wiped his face of expression like an old man who had lived his whole life. He was a cautious individual who rarely revealed his inner thoughts, even in front of Master Manpo, whom he believed he had recruited to his side.

“I am not making this up just because you take good care of me. It is the truth. That is what your four pillars say. Everything is good, but one thing is the problem. You must solve that one thing.”

“It will work out eventually. I am putting in the effort.”

“Tsk. A man who won’t even do as I say. Honestly. Your preparation is thorough. Well, I suppose it is that level of preparedness that allows you to swallow up such a large company.”

Master Manpo spoke while rubbing the thick bundle of money, saying that although he was a sly one who cherry-picked words only when necessary, bringing piles of money was a better way to clear karma and a more rational choice.

“I have no intention of doing that.”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

On the surface, it truly looked as if he had not even a speck of such intention, so Master Manpo laughed heartily and gulped down his tea as if drinking liquor. Yoo Siun also drank the fragrant tea poured for him. The scent was good, but it was merely bitter and tasteless.

“Look at this. Why the face? This is extremely expensive tea. I told you it was brought from Tibet.”

“If the location of the target is found, you must tell me first. No matter what anyone gives you, I will return it tenfold.”

“Don’t worry. I am a rational person just like you.”

“I will enjoy the tea.”

Yoo Siun lifted the teacup and drank. He savored the tea water pooling in his mouth.

Yoo Siun did not believe in the sixty-year cycle. He did not believe in Gate, Fate, House, Appearance, and Cultivation either. He couldn’t care less about things like the four pillars of destiny. Nor did he believe in the god ‘who came by the side path’ that his family awaited. Yoo Siun was a person who believed in the saying that heaven helps those who help themselves.

“See? It tastes good, right?”

“Yes, it does.”

While responding indifferently, Yoo Siun wore a smile that showed respect for the other person. It was a one-time smile that would vanish the moment he opened the door and turned his back.