Mudoo - Chapter 54

“Do you… remember me?”

Seula hesitated before stepping inside the tent, sitting down across from the old woman.

It had already been half a year since she’d had her tarot read here—late winter, when spring was just around the corner. Now it was late summer, with autumn creeping up, and somehow she was sitting in front of the same fortune-teller again.

“Of course. You came to ask about getting a job, but I ended up rambling about something else entirely…”

The old woman chuckled awkwardly and cleared her throat.

“I was out of line back then.”

“No, not at all. It was something I needed to hear at the time.”

Seula waved it off. But she was curious—how did this woman know about that tie she just couldn’t cut off? And why had she insisted Seula should cut it?

Another thing that nagged at her: in the middle of this busy street, hundreds of people must have passed through this tent for readings. How could the old woman remember her, and even recall she’d asked about a job?

Seula studied her suspiciously. But the woman’s face, folded with deep wrinkles, crinkled into a crescent smile, making it hard to see her eyes at all.

“Do I seem suspicious to you?” the old woman asked, almost teasing.

“…Yes.”

Maybe it was prejudice, but Seula always imagined older women like her running palm-reading shops or telling fortunes from birth charts, not shuffling tarot cards with such skill. Watching her hands move, it almost felt like there really was something mystical in those cards.

“It’s only natural to be suspicious. The world’s a dangerous place these days. But these cards—you can trust them. They’ve never lied.”

That didn’t land for Seula. Cards don’t talk, so how could they lie? It wasn’t the cards that mattered—it was the person interpreting them.

The old woman spread the cards over the deep-purple cloth with a flourish that, despite herself, Seula found oddly reassuring.

“Pick five cards with your left hand.”

Seula reached out, then paused. “I haven’t even thought about what to ask yet.”

“No need. I’m going to read your fate. Even the parts you don’t know yourself.”

Come to think of it, last time the old woman had ignored Seula’s actual question and just told her whatever she wanted to say. Now she wasn’t even pretending to take questions.

Still, Seula carefully picked five cards with her left hand. The old woman flipped them over one by one.

“Hmm. Interesting.”

Seula straightened in her seat, feeling her pulse quicken. How much could this woman really see? If she started talking about Kang Tae-shin or Yeo-ok, Seula was sure her skin would crawl.

“You’ve managed to cut off that toxic tie… but the lingering attachment is still holding you back.”

“…”

“You want to shake it off, but it’s not so easy, is it?”

She was dead-on. Seula didn’t want to believe in tarot, but she couldn’t help pricking her ears at that.

“Now everything comes down to your choice. Will you reconnect with the person you’re thinking of right now… or let them go completely and start fresh?”

“…”

“Fate says it will follow your decision.”

The old woman’s words were as vague as ever. Seula had hoped for a clear answer, but instead she was left in deeper confusion.

Anyone could say something like that, couldn’t they?

Last time, she’d said Seula had to cut the tie no matter what. Now she was saying it was her choice whether to start something new with him.

A “new” connection?

“Do you remember what you told me back then?”

The old woman’s lips curved into a bitter smile.

“There are people who carry a karmic tie they have no choice but to cut. Sometimes they even have a red string wrapped around their finger.”

“Then… what does it mean to make a new connection with that person?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Cutting that tangled tie, then tying a new one. Is that so hard to understand?”

She tilted her head, covering her mouth with one hand and laughing softly.

“Yes. I have no idea what you mean.”

Frustration leaked into Seula’s voice.

“You’ll understand in time.”

It sounded like nonsense. Talk of ties, fate, and “you’ll get it eventually” didn’t feel like a reading—more like wordplay.

Last time she’d stormed out swearing never to touch tarot again. Now she was remembering exactly why.

Seula looked around the tent.

[One Question – 10,000 won]

The price had doubled in six months. Inflation couldn’t explain that. Muttering under her breath, she opened her bag for her wallet. Pulling out a wad of bills, she asked casually,

“How do you even remember me? You must get hundreds of customers here.”

“You…”

The old woman trailed off—and then suddenly, her eyes welled up. “Oh dear, look at me,” she said, pulling out a tissue and dabbing at her eyes.

Seula stared at her in surprise.

“I just… worry about you.”

“Sorry? About me?”

“I want to do something for you, but I don’t know what would help. So I just… circle around, thinking about it.”

Seula was lost. They’d barely spoken before—just one short conversation, months ago. Worry about her? Want to do something for her?

“Because… you were born without the blessing of parents, destined to stand strong on your own.”

“…!”

Her heart lurched.

“I’d like to place you in a healthy, happy family, but that’s not something I can control. You just have an unusually hard fate. All I can do is pray that you meet someone you love and build your own happy family.”

The old woman spoke as if Seula’s lack of parents was somehow her own fault.

Who was this woman? Seula wanted to ask—

—but when she came to her senses, she was standing in the middle of the busy street. The red tarpaulin tent was gone. There was nothing where it had been.

Had she just been daydreaming?

Office workers streamed past, heading home.

“Woo Seula!”

She turned toward the voice—Shin Haejun—and blinked before checking the time on her phone. Exactly thirty minutes had passed.

“What are you doing just standing here?”

Ha-jun strode over and gave her a friendly tap on the shoulder.

“I… what was I just doing?”

Her mind was hazy. Where did the dream end and reality begin? Had that old woman even been real?

As she kept glancing back at the spot where the tent had been, she followed Haejun.

“I need to head home after we eat. What do you want? Pork cutlet? Spicy pork?”

“Uh… either’s fine.”

“Then let’s get both and share. And grab an ice cream bar after.”

“…Okay.”

Her delayed answer made Haejun bend down and study her face.

“You’re acting weird today.”

“I’m fine.”

“Ever since you started at your new job, I thought you’d gotten back to normal. But today, you’re… spaced out. Like when you were seeing Kang Tae-shin.”

Hearing Tae-shin’s name from someone else’s mouth startled her. Her chest tightened, sharp as salt on an open wound.

“I told you not to bring him up.”

“I don’t know why you two broke up, but I think it was for the best.”

“….”

“He looked nice enough, but something about him just rubbed me the wrong way.”

“That’s just your insecurity talking.”

“You didn’t even know what he did for a living, or where he worked. That says it all.”

Haejun had always been wary of people whose backgrounds were unclear.

Seula knew exactly who Kang Tae-shin was—what he’d done, how long he’d been around, where and with whom he lived. But none of that could be explained.

All she could do was bury him in her heart.