I Became a Fortune Teller in the Game My Little Sister Made – Chapter 154

The couple searched everywhere.

They visited the fortuneteller frequented by others, the bars and entertainment districts where the fortuneteller often went, a bank to freeze their accounts, free legal aid offices, and so on.

Although their hopes crumbled, they were a couple and the parents of two children.

For the future of their kids, they repeated numerous efforts.

“……You can’t catch him…?”

“We’re doing our best, but he’s meticulous, even altering his face with plastic surgery and laundering his identity… It seems he’s already gone abroad, based on precedents from other regions…”

“Ah… ah….”

“Honey!”

His wife, the mother of their two children, collapsed.

She was engulfed in an endless sense of guilt.

“If only I hadn’t mentioned the fortuneteller…!”

“Dear, I agreed with you too. It’s not just your fault.”

“…Is there any money left…?”

“…We don’t even have money for the rent. We’ll have to leave by next week…”

“Minah… Jisoo… I’m sorry….”

They didn’t even have enough money to pay for the rent of their one-room apartment.

Before worrying about rent, they couldn’t even afford to feed dinner to their children tonight.

She sank into despair.

The weary mother, working hard, became ill, struggling to even walk.

Her husband, the father of the two children, did his best with difficult jobs, but nothing changed.

He even kneeled and begged the landlord, but it was useless.

On a cold winter, their family of four was set to be thrown out onto the street.

“Ah… ah….”

“…Mom?”

“…Our Jisoo, our Min… I’m so sorry… truly….”

“Dad? Why are Mom and Dad crying?”

“…Well, Jisoo, let’s just go to sleep for now.”

“Brother?”

“It’s already late. We need to sleep to wake up tomorrow.”

“Okay….”

As Namgoong Min knelt in front of his crying parents, he covered his younger sister with a blanket.

The young sister didn’t understand why her parents were crying.

Even though he was in elementary school, Namgoong Min understood a little.

“…Was it because of that fortuneteller?”

“Minah, how do you know…?”

“I heard it several times while pretending to sleep. You were so happy that because of the fortuneteller, we could eat pork cutlet again and go back to our old home.”

“…Yeah, that was true.”

“…Are we being deceived, then?”

“…Right.”

“You.”

“I know, it’s not something I should say to my elementary school son… But you’re a grown-up son who took care of Jisoo while we worked and folded pizza boxes. So… I need to tell you.”

“….”

“Minah, your mom and dad… failed. All the hope, all the efforts we made have crumbled. In a few days, we’ll be thrown out of this one-room apartment too. Where should we go in this cold winter?”

“….”

“We may not be at fault, but you two are innocent. So we were thinking of leaving you at an orphanage… but we need money for that too.”

“…Dad, Mom.”

“I’m sorry, son. We are too… exhausted. I’m sorry for being irresponsible parents.”

“….”

“So, Minah. Our son.”

“…Yes?”

“Let’s die together.”

With those words poured out in tears.

After contemplating many times, hesitating many times over that phrase.

Kim Eun-ha, who had been watching everything from behind, gritted her teeth.

Because if not that way, she didn’t know what she would do to herself.

Kim Eun-ha shed tears while clearly watching and remembering every moment.

“…Mom.”

“I’m sorry, son. But I can’t leave you two behind… Mom is ill, and Dad lost a finger while working. It’s becoming too hard to endure.”

“….”

“So, let’s die together. Let’s go… together….”

What could be the feelings of parents saying to their beloved young son and daughter to die?

Kim Eun-ha unintentionally thought of her mother.

──Mother was gradually going insane. And she tried to conclude it by killing you.

──Conclude it? Brother, that is…

──She tried to kill you.

Kim Eun-ha’s mother, after going insane, attempted to kill her and ended up being killed herself.

In other words, it was only after she went that insane could she make the choice to kill her daughter.

“….”

She knew too. Her work and Namgoong Min’s were not the same.

But if she felt a sense of kinship with Namgoong Min, was it just her imagination?

With tears streaming down her face, the mother who tried continuously to grasp her son’s hand was.

Eventually, she sent a wavering gaze at her son, who took a step back.

“Minah…?”

“Mom, Dad.”

“Minah.”

“I’ll try.”

“…What?”

“I can manage, but… Jisoo doesn’t know anything. My younger sister doesn’t even understand why Mom and Dad are crying. She’s just hoping for a fried egg for breakfast tomorrow.”

“….”

“Mom and Dad have already done so much for us and sacrificed a lot. So, I won’t tell you to hang on.”

“…Son.”

“So I’ll do my best somehow. Because I’m… her brother.”

Words that the elementary school child had never even thought of, that determination.

His parents who had been crying endlessly stopped their tears.

With trembling lips barely forming a smile, they embraced their precious son with their one-fingerless hand and sick hand.

“Minah.”

“…Minah.”

“…Yes, Mom and Dad.”

“You truly have a wonderful son.”

“A really… proud son.”

“…Yeah.”

“So Mom and Dad will also… give you everything we can.”

“I’ll… ask you to take care of Jisoo.”

“….”

Yes.

She couldn’t say the final answer.

Even Namgoong Min, trying to sound as reliable as possible, could not speak due to his sobs.

Click.

The light bulb went out. The light of the one-room apartment was extinguished.

──There was no news of the parents’ bodies being discovered after they jumped.

“…Mom, Dad.”

With small hands, covered in scars from working various side jobs.

Namgoong Min, who directly handled his parents’ bodies, buried them in a place where no one would know.

“…Our Min.”

And.

Kim Eun-ha shed tears.

*

“…I guess I’m next.”

Liu Yan looked at the young Namgoong Min with a complex expression.

Having witnessed the process of their close-knit family crumbling.

Liu Yan recalled her own past.

A past where her similarly close-knit family had also fallen apart.

“I’m alone now.”

Once their protective parents all left.

She had to live solely with the title of a “Rich Tycoon.”

The only difference was that Namgoong Min had a younger sister to protect.

“….”

Was this a final consideration for the children?

Namgoong Min and Namgoong Jisoo had truly become orphans and were able to enter the orphanage of the annoyed director, even without money.

Namgoong Min, soothing Jisoo as she whined about missing their mom and dad, laid her down in the orphanage’s cramped room, just allowing them to sleep.

“…Is it time?”

Namgoong Min, who secretly left the cramped room and took a kitchen knife from the kitchen, went outside the orphanage.

Leaving his sister alone was a dangerous thing to do, but it was an unavoidable gamble.

Today would be the first and last time ‘that man’ would come to the orphanage.

Standing in front of a man smoking a cigarette behind the orphanage, Namgoong Min opened his mouth.

“…You’re the fortuneteller, right?”

“Get lost, kid.”

“You’re the master, right?”

“Fuck, how do you know that?”

“My parents are under a life insurance policy. The beneficiary is the director.”

“And?”

“They can’t directly claim the death benefits since they’re wanted by the police, so you came to collect through the director.”

“….”

“Am I wrong?”

The fortuneteller, revered by Namgoong Min’s parents as the master, grinned crookedly.

Rage surged in Liu Yan as she observed that smile, which seemed unbelievable.

The smile of the fraudulent fortuneteller bore a shocking resemblance to Namgoong Min’s smile.

“I wondered who this kid was… so what?”

“Just tell me what to do.”

“What a cheeky brat. You know your parents died because of me, right?”

“I do.”

“And you still want to follow me?”

“I have to, otherwise, Jisoo and I will die.”

“…You little shit.”

The cultist fortuneteller laughed. He mocked the kid that approached him rashly.

Young Namgoong Min seemed to be trying his best to act calm.

But those two eyes were ablaze with anger and a desire for revenge.

The kitchen knife he had brought with him in his pocket testified to that.

He felt neither guilt nor fear towards this little brat.

But the cultist fortuneteller saw ‘talent’ in Namgoong Min.

If nurtured well, he could bring in a lot of money.

The calculations complete, the trickster laughed once more.

“Alright, I’ll let you work for me as much as you want.”

“…Yes.”

“…Shit.”

To survive, he bowed his head to his enemy.

Liu Yan had done it many times as well.

Therefore, she understood that feeling well.

Even being openly used while the intention wasn’t hidden? It meant they were looking down on you explicitly.

Living with such treatment, a person had either the chance of a ‘Rich Tycoon.’

Or something worth protecting—one of the two.

For instance, like a younger sister.

“But… that fortuneteller has no sister…?”

Right, that’s the problem.

Liu Yan had already gone through background checks and document analyses multiple times, so she had no doubt left.

Could it be that this past was merely the past created by The Mediator?

“I’ll teach you the tricks of a fraudster from now on. Simply put, you’ll be a fortuneteller.”

“A fortuneteller….”

“Keep this in mind. A fortuneteller is a scammer, not someone who gets swayed by fortune-telling.”

“….”

“The first thing is to smile.”

“Smile…?”

“Yes.”

Poof!!!

“Ugh!?”

“What’s the hold-up? Smile.”

“I… can’t breathe….”

“It doesn’t matter, just smile.”

Thud! Thud! Ugh!!

“No matter how many times you get punched, no matter how much you’re disrespected right in front of you, even if your life is threatened, you have to smile. If it wavers, it’s deadly.”

“Augh… ugh….”

“So, what? Can’t do it?”

With that statement, the charlatan’s face was smiling in a manner disturbingly pleasant.

Even Liu Yan, who had seen all kinds of human characters as a Rich Tycoon, trembled in disgust.

But Namgoong Min kept rising.

Even while throwing up bile and stomach acid, even while bleeding from his nose.

He stood up like that.

And smiled.

“…Hoh.”

That was not a real smile.

Filled with pain and groans, it was simply a faint smile with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

But it seemed to be enough; the charlatan nodded as if satisfied.

Liu Yan could finally be sure.

‘This is certainly Namgoong Min’s past.’

If it weren’t so, it wouldn’t be possible for the fortuneteller to induce such murderous intent watching a kid being forcefully made to smile.

Liu Yan, the Rich Tycoon, doubted everything but trusted herself more than anything.

Thus, Liu Yan judged based on her feelings.

‘The Mediator and this fraudulent bastard.’

Both of them.

Swore to erase it from this world under the name of the Rich Tycoon.

Immediately after that vow.

Everything begins to turn back.

*

“This is… our Min’s past.”

“This is an excessive tragedy.”

“…Namgoong Min.”

“Where is this place?”

Maybe it hadn’t been long in terms of time, but it truly felt like a long time since the four of them had met again.

With the return of the final Observer, Liu Yan, Namgoong Min’s past came to an end.

As if to prove it, a door glimmering in the darkness appeared on one side of the pitch-black space.

“That’s where we… should go out.”

“If we go out, that Mediator woman will be there, right? I’ll rip her apart with my superpower first.”

“While the unbeliever is distracted, I’ll go for the solar plexus.”

“Oh, we connect on this front too, huh?”

“You’re the unbeliever here.”

“…No.”

While Lee Rain and Eileen plotted to commit murder and cover it up, Liu Yan mumbled to herself.

She was gazing not at the shining door but at the dark space.

“Here… isn’t it possible?”

“You paranoid… what are you trying to say?”

“Your Highness, doesn’t that Mediator lack skills related to dimensional spaces?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Then this space is derived from that diary. Although I couldn’t use it, it must be an artifact too.”

“Wait, where did that diary come from again?”

“From the slum of the Daehan Empire, in the house where that fortuneteller lived. Anyway, it means we’re in an artifact.”

“The unbeliever, what are you trying to say?”

“There’s no one who knows artifacts better than me in this world. Even the <Blacksmith> that makes artifacts.”

“Well, you always walk around covered in artifacts, huh?”

“Exactly, Your Highness. This kind of space can be broken from within.”

“……What?”

Ignoring Rain’s astonished question, Liu Yan took out the artifacts she had been carrying in her bosom and poured them onto the floor.

Bam!

“…Is all this artifact?”

“Here, they’re all useless. But we can break them down and take their essence.”

“Are you talking about mana? Are you crazy? You won’t even gain 1% of the essence by breaking them down in such a foolish way!”

“I don’t care. This is for the sake of taking down that fortuneteller and messing with that unfortunate woman.”

The artifacts brought out were worth around 1 billion won.

Coincidentally, it was similar to the amount that Namgoong Min owed Liu Yan.

‘Should I tie this all up as debt?’

The more debt tied, the less chance Namgoong Min had of escaping her grasp.

If any fortuneteller had heard this, they would be begging on their knees, but Liu Yan threw the artifacts to the princess.

“Please break them all.”

“…You won’t charge Daehan Empire for this, right?”

“I’ll only charge the citizens of the Daehan Empire.”

“What a poor kid, our Min.”

Creak.

Shaking her head, the crown princess crushed the artifacts with her sheer strength and passed the mana to Rain, who was at the efficiency’s end.

At this rate, they could bomb the dark space.

As if pushed to the limit, the gathered psychic energy trembled and strained, but the continuous mana replenishment kept compressing the psychic power.

And next to them, Eileen, eyes closed and hands clasped, was gazing silently.

“You should help Your Highness and destroy the artifacts too. You have strength like a gorilla.”

“…No, leave it.”

“Why are you being like this, paranoid?”

“Shut it. Let’s leave it as it is.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

Rain and Eun-ha stared at Eileen and Liu Yan, not understanding, but Liu Yan merely continued pulling out artifacts.

Meanwhile, Eileen, as if praying.

Rain gradually reached a limit.

“Buckle up… it’s getting tight!!!”

“Seems like the artifacts are going crazy too.”

“Good, you malicious girl. Blow it up!”

“Ha, leave it to me…!!”

Pure psychic energy was gathered, compressed, and mingled, lifted high into the dark space.

If that blew up──

“──Do you think it’ll have that much power?”

“What? Why is this woman who was quiet now…?”

“Shut up and watch, unbeliever. If it were you, I’d say it’s good enough to show.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

General skill <Holy Radiance>.

Flutter!

With a splendid shining halo and her two wings spread wide, Eileen ascended above the dark space.

No matter how dark the area was, light followed wherever she went.

Liu Yan smirked as if she’d expected that, and the eyes of Lee Rain and Eun-ha filled with shock as they finally realized Eileen’s true identity.

“A saint…?”

“There’s a saint in existence…?”

“What if there’s a second saint? Our saint is on our side now.”

“Did you… know?”

“It was a coincidence.”

Now that Eileen had stopped hiding her identity as the saint, when she added her hand to the sphere of psychic energy.

The psychic energy wrapped in holy light rose high towards the darkness──

“Unbelievers! Gather under my wings!”

──It exploded.

───────────.

There were no sounds of explosions or vibrations.

The explosion, exceeding what the artifact’s world could bear, utterly obliterated the world.

And then.

“Ugh!?”

With a sound like flesh squelching, the Mediator, who had been flipping through the diary, began spewing black blood from her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and skin.

“You’re looking calm, Mediator.”

“Ah… psychic power aftereffects….”

“Unbeliever, are you ready to die?”

“We finally meet. You unlucky, cursed woman.”

“…Haha, everyone. Hello…?”

The four girls looked down at the Mediator with cold expressions.

It was time to face the consequences of their actions.