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Chapter – 01
At twenty years old this year, Seol-yeon was a well-known fortune-teller in Cheongdam-dong.
After graduating middle school, instead of going to high school, she spread out a mat on the street and began reading a mixture of fortune charts, tarot cards, astrology, physiognomy, and palm lines.
As word spread about her “mystical accuracy,” more and more clients flocked to her, and by the end of last year she had opened a shop right here in Cheongdam-dong.
Seol-yeon wore long red false eyelashes as her personal uniform. She decorated them with beads, so sometimes her eyes only opened halfway—but she accepted it as an occupational hazard.
The eerie bell on the shop door rang, and a middle-aged woman entered.
As soon as the customer sat down across the round table, Seol-yeon put her elbow on the table with a thump and said,
“You came because of your son, right?”
“Oh my!”
Completely unfazed, Seol-yeon spoke informally to a woman more than thirty years older than her and stroked a glass orb as big as her own face. Her bright red nails sliding over the black sphere added to the mystical effect.
“Give me your boy’s birth date and time.”
Half-hypnotized by the strange atmosphere and the fortune-teller who had guessed her purpose immediately, the woman recited her son’s birth information.
Seol-yeon wrote it down with a brush and stared at it intensely.
“He’s got no yeombok.”
“Y-Yeombok?”
“You don’t know yeombok? It’s woman-luck.”
When Seol-yeon drawled this out, the customer gasped.
“Come to think of it, he did break up with his girlfriend recently… He never dated in his whole life, but now he’s been stressing me out.”
“His wealth-luck is completely blocked too.”
“Oh my goodness. That’s right! He was preparing for jobs just fine, and suddenly he goes around spending money because he’s ‘in love’! And now that they’ve broken up, he cries nonstop…”
“See? That’s because he dated a girl who isn’t good enough for him, so he couldn’t rise.”
The customer conveniently forgot she herself had said she didn’t like her son’s ex. The fortune-teller was scratching every itch in her heart, and she was falling for it hard.
“You’re telling me! He only meets sly foxes!”
“Your son has no woman-luck. And since you have son-luck, that luck of yours got clogged up with his. Tsk, tsk.”
“Wh-What do I do?”
“Hold on. I’ll make you a talisman.”
Even though she claimed to do tarot, fortune charts, and now talismans too, the customer—already wrapped around Seol-yeon’s finger—found nothing suspicious.
When the customer handed over a credit card, Seol-yeon frowned.
“You ever seen an evil spirit that takes credit cards?”
“S-Sorry! I’ll go withdraw cash!”
“Just go out, fifteen meters to the right. There’s an ATM.”
In the end, the customer handed over 150,000 won for the talisman. Seol-yeon checked the bills and grinned.
“Business is done for today.”
Truth was, Seol-yeon could barely read fortune charts. She didn’t know much about tarot either, and she drew talismans by memorizing examples she found online.
Middle-aged customers often asked about their children. After doing this for so long, Seol-yeon could usually guess whether they came about a son or daughter.
If she wasn’t almost certain, she didn’t blurt it out like today.
If it was about a child, the next step was always romance. If the child didn’t have a partner, she told them to get one. If they did, she said the partner wasn’t good enough. The point was always to scratch their itch.
Whatever the customer wanted to hear—custom-tailored fortune-telling by Yoo Seol-yeon. Her schedule was fully booked every day.
She was saving money diligently so that she could retire in Europe.
Especially Germany.
Her only dream in life was to buy a gorgeous castle there and live out a happy old age.
If I’m bored, I’ll play poker with the local grannies instead of card games. And keep increasing my retirement fund…
Dreaming happily of her castle life, Seol-yeon put the money into her safe and picked up the glass orb she’d used earlier, admiring it.
The glass orb she had bought at great cost in Germany was worth every penny. They said it was found in a castle’s warehouse—ancient beyond estimation.
She wasn’t sure it was true, but she felt as if the orb had pleaded with her to take it home, so she had splurged on it.
As she admired it, a sudden wave of dizziness hit her from overwork. She staggered.
The orb slipped from her hand, crashed to the floor, and shattered loudly.
“No! My orb!”
She dropped to her knees, staring at the shattered pieces in despair.
“I worked so hard to get this… waited an entire month…”
Just as she sat there stunned, something like a white animal shape appeared among the shards.
“Aaaah!”
Startled, she scrambled back.
—Yoo Seol-yeon.
A voice came from the shards. As she trembled, the shape spoke.
—I am the god of astrology.
“…Excuse me?”
—I cannot forgive you for selling me and committing fraud.
Seol-yeon stared blankly at the shards, then stood up. She stomped hard with her thick platform shoe and crushed the pieces even more.
“A recorded voice? From a castle? They had to add useless features like this?”
Grumbling, she went to get a broom to clean up. She didn’t believe in astrology—or any supernatural powers, or parallel worlds.
As she searched for the dustpan, red smoke rose from the broken glass and wrapped around her. In an instant, she vanished.
Of course she never believed the god of astrology existed.
And that recorded voice was laughably cheesy—like a rookie scammer. So when she opened her eyes again, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
First, a ceiling she didn’t recognize. Seol-yeon always slept curled on her side, so waking up and seeing a ceiling was shocking.
“I’m sleeping straight? No—that’s not the point!”
She bolted upright and screamed.
“W-What?!”
She was naked. Completely naked. Thankfully a large silk cloth covered her body, but that didn’t stop her panic.
And where even was she?
Looking around, she saw a dazzlingly clean marble building. She was lying on an altar about a meter above the floor. She quickly wrapped the silk cloth tightly around her body.
That crazy astrology god—what the hell did he do?!
Her broom had somehow traveled with her during the dimensional shift. Clothes didn’t come, but the broom did—she knew his intentions.
Cursing the perverted god, she trembled when she heard voices near the open doors.
“That light just now!”
“It must be the arrival of the priestess Amila!”
“Quick, let’s go check!”
Someone was coming.
Swearing under her breath, tears forming, Seol-yeon squeezed her eyes shut. Tears dripped off her red-beaded eyelashes.
“I’m sorry, god of astrology. I won’t call you a pervert anymore. Just help me…”
But the voices grew closer… and then stopped.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Before her stood ten—or more, they kept entering—men of various ages, all frozen with their mouths hanging open.
On the altar, a woman wrapped in one piece of silk. In the temple, a crowd of stunned men. An extremely awkward first meeting.
She heard their murmurs.
“Huh? Isn’t Amila supposed to have black hair and red eyes?”
Who’s Amila? Black hair and red eyes? That doesn’t sound human…
“Oh, I know her!”
One priest flipped through a priestess guidebook tucked under his arm, then stopped and exclaimed,
“Here—gold hair, light-green eyes. This must be Priestess Diana Estrella!”
“Oooh, of course! The model student!”
Gold hair? Light-green eyes? Those even exist?
She wanted to say this out loud but was too shocked to speak.
An older man with white hair stepped forward, bowed deeply, and said,
“You’ve come to save us, Priestess Diana. Thank you.”
His voice trembled. The others bowed too. Seol-yeon’s eyes widened anxiously.
“Who? Me?”
“As you know… His Highness plans to execute all of us and demolish this temple.”
“I get that, but… my clothes…”
“For Roxand to send you to us at this moment… I, High Priest Bernadoc, feel my lifelong devotion finally rewarded.”
“No, seriously, my clothes…”
“Please convey the words of the god Roxand! Priestess Diana!”
Ignoring her, the old man knelt and shouted,
“Which direction should we march our forces? South or north? Our lives depend on this choice! Please tell us!”
Apparently, they would not give her clothes until she answered.
Trying to save face, Seol-yeon knelt awkwardly with them and closed her eyes.
She pretended to ponder, peeking slightly. She heard priests muttering things like “How long is this going to take?” and “My legs are numb…”
She was about to admit the misunderstanding when a voice whispered in her ear.
—Tsk. Fine. I’ll give you this one. South.
It was the perverted astrology god again. Seol-yeon perked up.
“Y-You heard that, right?”
“H-Heard… what?”
“You didn’t hear? He said it just now—south.”
“The god Roxand said south?”
The youngest priest, freckles like strawberry seeds, gasped. He was Ritader Olson—soon to become the right-hand of “Diana Estrella.”
Trembling with emotion, Ritader said,
“We lowly priests cannot hear the god’s voice! Thank you, Priestess!”
His enthusiasm made the others tremble with gratitude as well.
“Thank you, Priestess!”
“We’ll deliver the message to His Highness immediately!”
“Thank you for descending to us!”
Their cries made Seol-yeon even more terrified. She tried to stay composed, but her body shook.
Fortunately, the priests rushed out to relay the answer. She watched them leave with relief—until her eyes met High Priest Bernadoc’s. His gaze was icy.
She gulped. Did she answer wrong? He looked ready to snap her neck.
“I will take my leave, Priestess Diana.”
He left as well.
Once alone, Seol-yeon began tearing at her hair in panic.
What do I do? How do I escape?
She lied daily for a living, but she had never lied with her life—or anyone else’s life—on the line.
What if I heard wrong? What if people actually die? Why did that old man glare like that?
While she spiraled in panic, a line of maids entered.
Unlike the priests, they looked wary of her.
Their leader was a sharp-eyed woman with brown hair pinned up and decorated with jewels.
“Priestess, this way. We will show you your quarters.”
“Okay!”
Seol-yeon leapt up and hurried after them.
