The next morning.
The male bank teller arrived at the office first.
"Grandpa, that teller from yesterday is here."
"Let him in."
Grandpa asked for his birth information and immediately began the reading.
Before the teller entered the consultation room, Grandpa had been fuming with anger, but once they were face-to-face, he became incredibly cold and analytical.
A short while later, a woman arrived.
"Ma'am, are you here from the butcher shop?"
She nodded. Grandpa had strictly instructed me to let him know the moment she arrived, even if he was in the middle of another reading. I opened the door.
"The butcher's wife is here."
I had been told to always speak formally in front of clients, so I did. But Grandpa, who usually insisted on such politeness, spat out.
"Tell that wench to get in here too. That crazy b*tch..."
As she entered the consultation room, her eyes met the bank teller's.
The man's face turned sour. In fact, it was the face of someone who realized they were as good as dead.
As soon as she sat down, Grandpa turned to the man.
"Did you bring the month's salary? Still in the envelope?"
"I don't know why it's necessary, but I brought it," the teller muttered.
He fumbled in his suit's inner pocket and pulled it out. Grandpa snatched the envelope right out of his hand.
[Snatch!]
He checked the amount written on the outside and verified the cash inside. Then, he spoke without hesitation.
"With this one month's salary, I've just saved your life. Now, run. Right now."
"What?"
"Die or run, it's your choice. Once word gets out that you've been having an affair with a client, you'll be blacklisted and kicked out of the industry anyway. But running now is your best bet."
Grandpa then looked at the woman and continued his warning to the teller.
"Running away is a hundred times better than being sliced to death by this woman's husband. Get out of here while you can. You saw him yesterday, didn't you?"
The teller scoffed.
"He's just a butcher. I'm a banker; I see people like him all the time. Most of them look tough on the outside, but they're softies at heart."
"Is tha-a-a-at so?" Grandpa drawled sarcastically.
But the teller wasn't intimidated. He even chuckled.
"He's so soft and a bit dim-witted that he doesn't even know his own wife is cheating. That's why she fell for me. She probably fell for my masculinity and intelligence. Haha!"
As he spoke, the woman's face flushed red. Grandpa spoke up.
"You're right. He is soft. A strong man turns soft when he gets a wife and a child."
In Saju, a son is seen as the Gwan (Officer Star). The Gwan weakens the 'Self.'
"What?"
Grandpa smirked at the teller's confusion. "That guy... he was the best blade-man in Western Gyeongnam. Have you ever heard of the 'Twin Blade Incident' at the Pumpkin Nightclub?"
The teller's expression darkened instantly. Ignoring him, Grandpa continued.
"I only found out after asking the police a moment ago. Why did you do it? Why did you touch the wife of a tiger who was trying to live a quiet, honest life?"
Even in the bright daylight, the man's face seemed to turn grey. However, he was still a paying client. He managed to ask, "What will happen to my future? Should I go to Seoul and find another bank?"
Grandpa snorted. "Forget it. You'll just do this again. You'll either die by a blade or end up in prison for adultery."
The man was at a total loss. Grandpa barked at him.
"You! Why haven't you run yet? What are you going to do if her husband shows up right now? Are you going to spray blood all over this room?"
"W-what? He's coming here? Now?!"
The man practically flew out of the room. He didn't even put his shoes on properly. He just grabbed them and started sprinting. Grandpa shouted at his retreating back.
"Run far! Very far! Don't spill your blood in our village. Go do it somewhere else!"
Once the man had vanished, Grandpa turned his attention to the woman.
"I usually don't interfere even if people are about to die. I only open a path for those who seek me out at this office. That is my rule."
It was true. Grandpa never meddled in the lives of others when he was out. He believed that forcibly changing someone else's fate would inevitably shorten his own life.
At first, I thought this was just superstition. But after living at the office, I realized that the work itself was draining enough to shorten a lifespan. It was dangerous work.
After the man left, Grandpa spoke to the butcher's wife.
"I didn't break my taboo because I felt sorry for you. Personally, I wouldn't mind if you dropped dead."
The woman remained silent.
"I moved because I felt sorry for your husband. That poor man who lives only for you and your child. When you strip everything else away and look at the fundamental flow of his destiny, your husband is the only one left standing all alone. Think of how pitiful and lonely he must be."
The woman lowered her head.
"You were born with the destiny of a hostess. Even if you get divorced now, you could probably spend about five years living however you like, selling your smiles and your body in those clubs."
"What...? Yes..."
"Your Saju says it clearly. That you'll return to that life. But five years from now, when you can no longer sell your body and you've caught a disease... is that how you want to live?"
She shook her head vigorously. "No. I ran away from that life because I didn't want to end up like the seniors in that industry. I don't want to go back."
"Weren't you happy? Did you want to live like a glamorous flower again?"
She didn't deny it. "Yes."
"A flower does not stay red for ten days, and the moon begins to wane once it is full."
"Excuse me?"
I was surprised. Grandpa rarely used such philosophical quotes. But he wasn't finished.
"Don't you even know those song lyrics? Don't you realize that if you get divorced, it's all over? Or rather, don't you realize you'd be stabbed to death before the divorce even happened?"
"I... I think I understand now..."
After a moment of silence, Grandpa spoke again.
"Your husband knows everything. The rumors have already spread through the whole town. Everyone knows that Choi the Butcher's wife is having an affair."
Ah, so they were having an affair. This woman really was terrible.
"That guy might be honest and stubborn, but he is by no means stupid. No one who carries the Metal energy is a fool. That's why I interfered. It was because I felt bad for him."
The woman looked at Grandpa in shock.
"The reason he played dumb and asked me about it... was because he wanted me to tell him it wasn't true. Do you know why?"
She shook her head. Grandpa looked at her as if she were hopeless.
"Because he was in agony. Did you really think he didn't know? I could tell just by talking to him once."
[Waaaaahhhhh!!!]
The woman suddenly burst into violent sobs. Only then did she begin to repent.
"I... I am a monster. My husband sacrificed everything for me. He even cut off his own finger to leave his gang just to be with me. And I betrayed him. I deserve to die!"
Grandpa just watched her cry. When her sobs finally began to subside, he spoke.
"I sent you and your husband to that bank yesterday on purpose. I wanted you to see that the man you were with is the kind of coward who runs away. Your husband will protect you, but that man will abandon you and run."
Grandpa turned his back to her. "How could you not see that? So frustrating. You fool."
The woman continued to sob quietly. She managed to choke out a question.
"Can we... can we ever go back to how things were?"
I was stunned. 'How shameless can this woman be?'
Grandpa answered her question.
"Your husband is handsome, has a great build, and earns good money. Eventually, within three years, he will have an affair of his own. Back when you worked at the bars, weren't there plenty of women who liked him besides you?"
She nodded. "It's true he was popular, but why would he cheat? He only cares about me."
Grandpa looked at her as if he couldn't believe her ears.
"Why? You're asking why he would cheat?"
He pointed a finger at her, his patience finally snapping.
"Because of you! It's because of you! He knows you've already cheated. Do you think he'll actually believe me if I lie and say you didn't?!"
The woman flinched at his sudden outburst.
"Do you still see that man as a dim-witted fool?"
I was startled by the intensity of Grandpa's reaction.
"Do you think I brought that bank teller here and read his Saju because I liked his face?"
Ashamed, the woman lowered her head.
"The reason I told him to run was because I knew that within a month, your husband would get drunk and go kill him with a blade, no matter what I said."
The woman's face turned as white as a sheet. She likely knew her husband better than Grandpa did. She knew Grandpa was right.
"If that happens, your husband is the one I pity. His only crime was working himself to the bone to feed his family, while his wife was busy seducing young men all over town."
It seemed there had been more than one. She couldn't utter a word of protest.
"If he gets angry and goes back to his old ways, he'll just become a convict again. A criminal."
Her face remained pale.
"He's already a former convict, so if he goes in this time, he'll never see the outside world again."
She hung her head low, looking truly repentant.
"But then, what about your child? What will happen to him? Is there anyone else to look after him?"
When Grandpa mentioned her child, she began to wail again.
"I... I think it's best if I just die. Rather than my husband and my son suffering, if I just disappear..."
Grandpa sounded even more annoyed.
"And what about your son? Looking at his Saju, if he loses his parents early, he'll become a gangster. If not, he has the destiny to become a police officer or a prosecutor."
* * *
The Saju for a gangster and a prosecutor are actually very similar. Detectives, too, share similar charts. Even with the same Saju, the outcome depends on the environment.
With the same destiny, one can become a prosecutor in a good environment, but a gangster in a bad one. While the gap between wealth and poverty is a factor, the most important variable is the parents.
Of course, there are exceptions, but the rule usually holds.