Chapter 84 – Heavenly Demon’s Disciple (6)
[Chapter 5 – Verse 3] I’m an Idiot
The head of the shaman family remained silently seated, watching until Kang Moon-soo, Seo Hye-joo, and his great-granddaughter disappeared beyond the gates of the estate.
Creak—THUD.
Once the doors finally shut and some time passed, he opened his mouth.
“…Are they gone?”
A middle-aged man carefully answered his question.
“They are. Word just came that they’ve left the shrine grounds.”
“Any chance they saw through it?”
“None.”
“Excellent! Everything went well!”
The head’s faintly dark and serious expression vanished instantly, and he sprawled out across his large chair.
“Dear…”
“Don’t lecture me about dignity. My back felt like it was snapping!”
He shot a sharp look at the old woman scolding him and groaned dramatically.
And that was only the beginning—
“Good work, everyone!”
“Auntie, are you still not getting married?”
“Uncle! Uncle! Play with me!”
The heavy, solemn atmosphere—quiet enough to hear a pin drop—was gone.
In its place, cheerful chaos filled the room like a big, lively family gathering.
Whoosh—
Someone complained their ceremonial ‘shaman outfit’ was suffocating and peeled it off…
“Finally, I can breathe!”
Someone else stretched both legs, which had gone numb from sitting formally for too long…
“Business going well?”
“Eh, not bad. What about you, oppa?”
Others chatted about topics completely unrelated to shamanism…
Whatever the case, one thing was clear—
This scene was nothing like the dignified, intimidating family Kang Moon-soo had just seen.
“Father.”
“What now?”
“Did you really need to make even the busy kids participate in the act? What if we get exposed later—how will we explain it?”
The eldest son’s worried question was met with the head’s firm answer.
“Of course it was necessary.”
“Is his aptitude that incredible?”
“Isn’t a unique, one–of–a–kind aptitude in the whole world naturally incredible?”
“But still…”
“You fool. That’s exactly why your aptitude is ‘Gigolo.’”
“F-Father…!”
The eldest son’s face flushed bright red at the merciless jab.
His aptitude was “women’s counselor”—
A respectable profession that supports women struggling in society, empathizing and advising them.
But when the counselor is handsome with a charming voice?
The head chuckled.
“I’m kidding.”
“Father…”
“You’ve already done more than enough by bringing home a daughter-in-law far too good for you.”
“…So you’re making the great-granddaughter do the same thing?”
The eldest son disapproved.
He agreed his wife was too good for him—but their relationship hadn’t been calculated like this.
There had been love.
“The same thing?”
“Yes.”
“I simply introduced her to a fine husband candidate. Granted, I nudged his sympathy a bit by making our family seem suffocating so he’d want to ‘rescue’ her.”
“As expected of a strategist.”
The head’s aptitude was Strategist—
A natural talent for deceiving opponents and guiding them exactly where he wanted.
“Are you mocking me?”
“If that’s how it sounded, then I suppose I was.”
“My poor daughter-in-law… How unfortunate that she married into this kind of fool…”
“That’s basically insulting yourself.”
The head of the family made a displeased expression, then changed the subject.
“Support Ji-eun completely. You wouldn’t want your beautiful, precious granddaughter marrying a delinquent like you, would you?”
“…Understood.”
A fortune-telling practice with high accuracy, even though none of them had the “prophet” aptitude.
Of course it wasn’t just coincidence.
They gathered every bit of information the client hid or didn’t know about, then predicted the most probable future…
Probability. Statistics. Mathematics.
“Still unhappy?”
“……”
“You really have no shame.”
“…Excuse me?”
“You, pretending to have morals while coming from a family that makes a living selling fake fortunes as if they were real—makes me want to puke.”
“T-That’s…!”
“No matter how amazing you are in bed, if your family had been lacking, you never would’ve gotten married. And now you’re denying the family that allowed it?”
“…I’m sorry. My thinking was shallow. I… am a gigolo, after all.”
“Good. Then act like it.”
“Yes, Father.”
The head turned away without hesitation from his shame-stricken son.
Then he murmured softly:
“May the great ancestral spirits protect that child in their soft, Molang-like embrace.”
***
Using Chief Seo Hye-joo’s car, we returned to Elmolance University Hospital, and in her private office/training room, our real conversation began.
“Hello. Allow me to introduce myself again.”
Her name was Jeon Ji-eun.
A daughter of a shaman lineage with 700 years of history, and one year older than me.
Recognized for her exceptional beauty and reception skills, she had been the official public representative of the family since she was 17.
That was the gist of her self-introduction.
“Kang Moon-soo, Dr. Seo. I look forward to working with you.”
“Same here.”
“Please take care of us.”
Jeon Ji-eun’s role was to collect the patient’s personal information.
Because, like Nam Hae-soo, there could be secrets even the spouse didn’t know.
So much for fortune-telling…
From the moment I saw that “genius shaman” Yoo Il-am’s pathetic performance, I felt it:
There were no real shamans.
Even Jeon Ji-eun’s illustrious 700-year shaman clan was just using collected information to calculate likely futures.
Still, regardless of how the process worked, their “predictions” certainly looked accurate.
“Kang Moon-soo. If there’s any information you need, please tell me. The head told me to give you full support.”
“Just speak comfortably. I’m younger anyway.”
“I can’t do that.”
Her firm tone made me stand my ground too.
“If we’re uncomfortable around each other, we can’t work together.”
“…Fine. But then Moon-soo, you talk casually too.”
“Well, I’m used to talking that way because I worked at a convenience store for so long—”
“……”
“Ahem! I’ll talk casually.”
We ironed out some other details too.
“For smooth communication and cooperation, I found a place to stay three minutes’ walk from Elmolance Hospital.”
“Geh! Isn’t real estate here insanely expensive?!”
“……”
“…It’s not expensive?”
“You don’t need to worry. This is what the family wants. Or would you prefer somewhere near your university dorm?”
“No! This is better!”
Her moving near my university dorm sounded far more burdensome.
Marriage.
A family sending a woman to approach me for that purpose—
Living right next door?
I wanted to politely decline.
“From now on, whenever you leave the university campus, contact me first.”
“Why?”
“Yoo Il-am. You remember that man, right?”
“That weird fake shaman? Why?”
“He’s been going on broadcast for months, speaking in a way that implies—without crossing legal lines—that he’s your mentor.”
“…Huh?”
What the hell?
“But now his lies are starting to hit their limits. So he needs you. He’s going to approach you soon, pretending to be close.”
“If I meet him and just say no—”
“He’ll edit the footage.”
“…Hm.”
I hesitated. I had no guarantee Jeon Ji-eun was telling the truth.
“You beat down Yoo Il-am’s younger brother, Yoo Il-chung, recently, right?”
“Ah…”
Just how powerful was her family’s information network?
“Yoo Il-am is already spinning that as some kind of disciple-versus-disciple match between his brother and his ‘student’ on his channel.”
“That crazy bas— ahem! Sorry.”
I’d been so shocked that the swear word escaped before I could stop it.
“If you don’t believe me, check his broadcast channel yourself.”
“……”
If she said it this firmly, it was probably true.
“And tomorrow you’re sparring with Yoo Il-chung’s girlfriend, Go Yoon-kyung, the world’s number one female Taekwondo athlete, right?”
“…How did you know that?”
“Yoo Il-am already advertised it massively on his channel.”
“……”
Unbelievable.
“What you need, Moon-soo, is a manager to handle these trashy problems for you. Otherwise, you’ll keep getting used like this.”
“A manager… for me?”
A manager—someone who handles scheduling, contracts, and troublesome issues.
Since I rarely competed due to my ‘main job,’ I thought that was something far in the future.
And I have Coach Jang Seo-yeon anyway…
Most athletes rely on their coaches for managerial work, so I never thought about it.
But Yoo Il-am’s abnormal obsession with me was the problem.
The man who had kicked an unconscious girl—kicked Song Sun-young—
I absolutely did not want to get used by someone like him again.
“So what will you do?”
“…This manager won’t be free, right?”
“For now, the trial period is free.”
“Oh!”
Chief Seo let out a deep sigh.
“Moon-soo. I’ve said this a hundred times, but nothing in this world is free.”
“But department stores have free sample stations.”
“That’s marketing.”
“I’ll try to fix it.”
I knew I had a bad habit.
But if I refused something free, I’d regret it all day and obsess over it—so I couldn’t help it.
Seeing that things were more or less settled, Jeon Ji-eun smiled gently and—
Slide—
Placed a stiff contract folder on the desk.
“It’s a simple agreement. If I’m going to act as your legal representative and handle external issues, this is necessary.”
“…You prepared this from the start, didn’t you.”
“I foresaw it through a reading.”
Now I understood how her family maintained their “shaman” reputation and high credibility.
“May I look at the contract?” Chief Seo cut in with a sly smile. “Not that I’m doubting you, but if your side monopolizes Moon-soo, that would be problematic.”
“Of course. Take your time.”
Jeon Ji-eun handed it over without the slightest concern.
“Hm…”
“How is it?”
“It looks fine. The clause that you can’t sign with other agencies is obvious enough…”
“Let me look too.”
“Sure.”
Having been burned once by my former swimming coach’s contract, I carefully checked every line.
No clauses disadvantageous to me… no hidden fees… Good.
Scratch—scratch—
I signed the contract.
“From now on, when you introduce me, call me your manager.”
“Ji-eun, you’re quite skilled, aren’t you?”
Responding to Chief Seo Hye-joo, Jeon Ji-eun gave a polished business smile.
“I’m glad you think so.”
I only planned to get the patient’s personal information.
But somehow, I had ended up signing a manager contract.
It felt a bit like I’d fallen for a multi-level marketing scam.
No actual loss, so it didn’t matter… but it still felt suspicious.
“Shall we get to the main topic?”
“…Yeah.”
“The man your family asked us to look into is Mao Zhai. His aptitude is ‘pianist.’ But since his family is extremely wealthy, he ignored his aptitude and spent his youth learning traditional martial arts.”
“Traditional martial arts?”
“Ancient Chinese martial arts. Its history is very long.”
“Is it strong?”
“It has never once been used in any international fighting competition.”
“…I see.”
That explained why she said he’d “wasted his youth.”
“Mao Zhai is eccentric, but his reputation is very good. His hobby is collecting ancient Chinese martial arts novels.”
“Wuxia novels?”
“You seem familiar with the genre. Yes, they’re called that.”
Wuxia—martial arts epics set in ancient China’s murim, revolving around love, revenge, and heroic martial artists.
This was information the patient’s family had never mentioned.
“They lied.”
“About what?” Chief Seo frowned.
“Mao Zhai’s family said he only played piano as a hobby. And sometimes virtual reality games.”
“Ah!”
Ji-eun added:
“He did play VR games. Because, with an aptitude as a pianist, rough exercise like traditional martial arts didn’t suit him. So he satisfied his fantasies through VR games… though he was so physically uncoordinated he compensated by buying expensive gear.”
“That’s… kind of sad.”
But thanks to Jeon Ji-eun’s research, I now clearly understood who this patient was.
Apparently, she thought more information would help, because she continued:
“Mao Zhai has one wuxia novel he cherishes above all others. He even used the protagonist’s name as his avatar name in VR games.”
“Oh…”
“The title is ‘Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?’ It’s a massive 215-volume series.”
“215 volumes…?”
Is that even physically possible?
“What will you do?”
“…There’s no choice.”
If I wanted to increase my survival rate even a tiny bit, I couldn’t complain.
Besides—
If it truly is a wuxia world…
Then there would absolutely be ways for me to become stronger there.