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Chapter 26
When I stood up, the blonde guy rose as well, brushing off his crumpled pant legs.
“Listening to you talk to your god earlier, it doesn’t seem like you want to die, Eun-sol. It’s funny that someone like you is digging into the Yongseon Guild, but that made me all the more curious.”
“Curious about what?”
“What is a woman who hasn’t called me back in over a week thinking, burning through her own thread of life just to dig into the Yongseon Guild?”
“And so?”
“It hurt my pride more than I expected.”
The blonde guy stepped closer and flicked a speck of dust off my hair.
“Ugh, seriously, stop!”
When he lowered his head close to my face, I recoiled in disgust without even realizing it.
The blonde guy paused for a second, then let out an infuriatingly bright smile as he spouted absolute nonsense.
“It’s that exact attitude that hurts my pride and makes me like you. If you don’t fall for me within a month, I won’t accept a single penny from you.”
“What kind of ridiculous proposal is this?”
“I won’t charge hazard pay, and if you call, I’ll fly over like the wind even at the crack of dawn. However, the Yongseon Guild matter is excluded. How about it? Isn’t this a pretty good deal?”
“First, prove it to my satisfaction.”
To avoid getting scammed this time, I glared at his slick, handsome face and declared my terms:
“Treat my addiction state right here, right now.”
—Wait! Wait! Don’t let that guy touch you! That guy is—
“Shut up.”
“Is your god telling you that he doesn’t like me, Eun-sol?”
With those final whispered words spoken through a smile, a strange formula began to etch itself onto the blonde guy’s hand.
Glowing warmly yet intensely, it hovered around his hand as if it possessed a mind of its own.
Like a person with a firm and unyielding resolve.
“Alright, treating another patient today.”
“You treat people like this?”
“Close your eyes, patient.”
“Huh? Wait, no—!”
The blonde guy’s long fingers approached soundlessly and covered my eyes.
To skip straight to the conclusion, the treatment was a success.
According to Song Shin-woo, the potent smoke escaped from my mouth like a white snake fleeing for its life.
‘I don’t remember a single thing, though.’
Once the warm hand covering my eyes was removed, the blonde guy had asked how long I had been inhaling that smoke while delivering prophecies.
I wasn’t sure of the exact timeframe, but when I told him I had been inhaling it frantically for half a day every day starting about a week ago, his expression turned odd.
It was just as Ms. Park Il-suk had said.
That man was surprisingly tight-lipped when it counted. He didn’t blab recklessly.
‘Which means hitting on women is just a habit for him.’
Well… I suppose people like that exist too.
In the end, the blonde guy signed a contract as my attending physician.
Song Shin-woo still looked displeased, apparently worried that I might end up handing over my heart and soul to the guy.
This time, we drew up a proper contract. As luck would have it, the blonde guy always carried blank contracts around with him.
For someone who claimed to care so much about money, he declared he wouldn’t take a single cent until I fell for him, brimming with self-fueled motivation that I would yield soon enough.
Then, stating that the Guild Competition on the surface was about to wrap up and it was time for him to make money, he abruptly departed.
Even if the shitty Constellation was unhappy about me being with the blonde guy, he could no longer object like before.
‘Because then you’re dead.’
Keep that in mind. From now on, if you make the wrong choice, I’ll splurge all my money, go insane, and choose to remain with the Red Demon God.
—My incarnation, please calm down…
“Whether humanity perishes or not, let happen what will! A shrine maiden’s occupational hazard? Fuck off with that. This isn’t Greece, it’s 21st-century South Korea, and you contracted with me as an Awakener and a Constellation—that doesn’t mean I deserve to be treated like an ancient Greek priestess!”
Completely out of the right mindset to work, I followed Song Shin-woo’s advice, closed up the pseudo-Greek temple and shrine, and stepped outside.
Fortunately, there weren’t many reservations for Monday. I contacted the clients who had booked, explained the circumstances, and rescheduled their appointments.
It was unfortunate that many people had to make a wasted trip, but it couldn’t be helped.
Even though the blonde guy had flushed out the toxins in my body as an emergency measure, he had advised that I needed at least a day of rest.
If the one-and-only SSS-rank Oracle unfolded as foreseen, I would survive even in an addicted state.
Sick, insane, and remaining human all on my own!
Without realizing it, I slammed my fist onto the table. Beer sloshed violently over the rim.
Poor Song Shin-woo, the sinful Constellation, and Song Shin-woo’s kind father who had just brought out the chicken were all startled.
—My incarnation, calm down a bit—
“Oh my, Eun-sol, is something wrong? Shin-woo, you didn’t do something wrong, did you?”
“It’s nothing like that…”
“Eat up, Eun-sol! Beer’s on the house for you too, you know? Still, drink in moderation! Drinking every time you get angry is a shortcut to becoming an alcoholic!”
“Thank you…” I bowed my head slightly, barely pushing down the rage inside me. Uncle, the fried chicken, and the beer were innocent.
“Kim Eun-sol. Isn’t it okay to tell me now?”
Song Shin-woo, sitting across from me, asked quietly.
“Who on earth you’re talking to, which god you’re talking to. Even if you say you see ghosts, I’ll believe you, so just tell me.”
I grabbed Song Shin-woo’s hand as he handed me a napkin.
Staring seriously back at me, Song Shin-woo’s eyes trembled violently.
“Song Shin-woo!”
“W-What…”
“What I’m about to tell you—don’t tell anyone else, no matter what. Got it? Keep it a secret from your father, too. I only found out about that blonde guy by accident, so I didn’t even have time to hide it!”
Song Shin-woo’s face seemed to flush red.
Since I was speaking so seriously, he must have realized the gravity of the situation, right? I tightened my grip on both of his hands.
“If you know, you could be in danger too! Promise me! Since you know I’m trying to poke around the Yongseon Guild, if those bastards frame you as an accomplice, there’s no way out!”
“A-Alright!”
His large, submissive hands, holding still without any resistance, felt strangely clammy. He must have been startled because of me.
Sorry. You’re going to be even more shocked.
“I… actually contracted with a Constellation.”
I knew it. Song Shin-woo’s thoughts were completely readable on his face.
“My prophetic abilities are all passive skills related to that Constellation. It’s a bit different, but anyway, the reason I was terminally ill was because that Constellation didn’t properly explain how the ability works.”
Why was Song Shin-woo’s expression turning more menacing the more I talked?
“You saw me pointing and cursing out the window earlier because I was mad, right? It’s because he’s a guy related to the sun. The suicide commotion? That was because I’m an important pawn for achieving that Constellation’s goal, so I was holding myself hostage to threaten him.”
“Why?”
The low voice he spat out sounded almost like a curse directed at the Constellation.
“Why does he need you for his goal?”
—Incarnation! Stop! If you reveal my story—!
I glanced sideways at Uncle, who was washing dishes in the kitchen.
Lowering my voice even further, I whispered:
“Remember when I told you about the 12 Core Rifts? The Constellation contracted with me fell in love at first sight with someone trapped in there, and he was trying to use me like a tool for his own romance. Because I was a compatible Awakener…”
Hearing up to that point, Song Shin-woo stood up abruptly with a grim expression rarely seen on his face. It was an intimidating look that made me flinch inadvertently.
In the end, Song Shin-woo couldn’t hold back.
Pushing open the glass door—the new one replaced after the Golden Ram broke the old one—with a loud BANG! as if he were going to break his huge frame through it again, he stomped outside, pointed at the sun, and began pouring out curses.
Startled by the commotion, Uncle poked his head out from the counter and asked me worriedly:
“Eun-sol, why is he acting like that?”
“I think he suddenly grew to hate god.”
“…Did he adopt a religion? Since when? Is he going to church or something?”
“Shin-woo isn’t drunk, right?” Being the type to leave his child alone unless it was a major incident, Uncle clicked his tongue lightly and went back into the kitchen.
—My incarnation! Please! Just do one oracle today! Please!
“No.”
—It doesn’t have to be an oracle! Just open the shrine doors! Then I’ll be able to recover my divinity! Please! My divinity level dropped to 11%!
“What?”
When a sharp tone slipped out of me without thinking, he must have decided not to speak at all this time, as no further messages came through.
‘You deserve to be cursed at.’
I took a sip of beer, feeling a sense of vicarious satisfaction through Song Shin-woo.
Having day drinks with a clear mind after the addiction symptoms were cleared was truly the best.
—Divinity: 10.99%…
Just like my precious part-timer, this precious percentage was driving me crazy.
It wasn’t even that late at night. A single night hadn’t even passed yet.
I was waiting in Ms. Park Il-suk’s cafe with my hoodie pulled deep over my head.
It was around 8:00 PM.
Hiding my identity while keeping a close eye on the stairs leading to the Delphi Shrine, I spotted the woman I had seen in the A-rank Oracle heading up to the 3rd floor as if being pursued by someone, and I quietly stood up.
“Na-yeon. Unnie has an urgent matter to attend to, okay? Let’s read the rest together later.”
“When are you coming back, Unnie?”
Na-yeon asked softly.
Regrettably, Na-yeon only opened her mouth to me and no one else. It was said that she refused to communicate with anyone at school, and the same applied to Ms. Park Il-suk.
This wasn’t something I could fix.
On the contrary, Ms. Park Il-suk honestly confessed that she was just glad I was by Na-yeon’s side.
Well, what can you do? Being an anomaly, I just played happily with Na-yeon like an unburdened aunt or uncle.
“An important client just showed up, and I might have to pull an all-nighter. I might not be able to come tomorrow. Listen to your grandmother while I’m gone, okay?”
“Here, let’s put the bookmark we made right here.”
“…Okay.”
Na-yeon and I had been reading an old comic book series themed around Greek and Roman mythology together.
There were many missing volumes here and there, but even this was enough to build up knowledge to handle urgent situations.
The content related to the Iliad had just begun. I could roughly guess what kind of existence the Constellation contracted with me was.
‘So he’s that kind of guy.’
Once I grasped what kind of bastard the Constellation was, I understood why he had treated me like a tool at his own whim.
That was just his personality to begin with. A trashy character hiding behind the facade of a perfect golden boy.
‘Will his love actually work out properly this time?’
Even just skimming through the educational comic book made it clear. Though it felt a bit irreverent to say this about my own Constellation, this god was a being whose karma of messing with other people’s love lives ultimately ruined his own.
