Fortune-Telling Lady

Prologue Chapter 1

A Star Who Sees Ghosts

“Sia, your skin looks so dewy today,” Jihyun, the makeup artist, remarked. She worked delicately, as if the slightest nudge would disrupt the healthy glow on her client’s face, like ripples across the surface of a lake. “I don’t know anyone else who can stay up every night of the week and still have skin like this.”

“With how much I pay for skincare, my skin had better be flawless,” Sia replied.

“Sia!” Jihyun giggled.

Sia complained about the exorbitant prices every time she was required to get a skincare treatment. Despite being one of the top stars in the country, she did not particularly enjoy spending money.

“By the way, Jihyun…”

“Yes?”

“You were raised by your grandmother, right?”

“Yes, I was,” Jihyun replied, tilting her head in confusion. Why was Sia bringing this up all of a sudden? It was just something she had mentioned at a party once. “My parents were always busy, so I lived with Granny until I started middle school.”

“When was the last time you spoke with your grandmother?”

“Um, I think it was about two months ago.”

“Two months?”

“Yes. I’ve just been so busy with this latest film shoot, you know. Though now that you mention it, it has been a while since I’ve talked to her.”

Jihyun looked quizzically at Sia while she answered. It was out of character for the actress to show interest in other people’s family affairs. No matter how well Sia knew someone, it was a line that she rarely crossed. If she was being honest, Jihyun found it surprising that Sia even remembered what her Granny had said.

“Phone?” Sia asked bluntly.

“Your phone? It’s right over—” Jihyun began.

“Not my phone. Yours.”

“My phone? Um…” Jihyun trailed off. She hurriedly searched her pockets, then let out a small sigh. “Looks like I left it in my car.”

“Go get it.”

“Sorry?”

“I said go get your phone,” Sia repeated.

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

“But, we’re going to start filming soon…”

“I don’t care,” said Sia.

“Well, I don’t really need it right away. It’s no big deal. I can find it later.”

“Go, now.”

“Huh? I still need to finish doing your makeup…”

“I can finish my own makeup,” said Sia.

“But—”

“You need to hurry.”

Jihyun, taken aback by Sia’s unusually determined expression, hesitated just a moment before rushing toward the parking lot.

“Hyunsuk,” Sia called calmly.

“Yes?” Sia’s manager Hyunsuk looked just as confused as Jihyun had a moment ago.

“Find a replacement for Jihyun for a few days.”

Hyunsuk’s eyes widened at Sia’s sudden request. “Are you firing her?”

“It’s only temporary.”

“Temporary?”

“I don’t think Jihyun will be able to come in for a few days.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

In lieu of an answer, Sia cast her gaze toward Jihyun, who was nearing her car. What Sia was truly watching, though, was the old woman quietly following in Jihyun’s footsteps. It was the same old woman who had been standing behind Jihyun all day, gazing at her with a sorrowful expression. Based on the way she gently stroked Jihyun’s hair and smiled along with her, Sia could immediately tell that it was Jihyun’s grandmother.

I wonder if a week off will do. Or will she need some extra time to recover?

“I’ll also need you to order some flowers,” Sia told her manager.

“Flowers? What’s the occasion?”

“A funeral.”

“Huh?”

Leaving her shocked and confused manager behind, Sia went and finished her own makeup.

* * *

“Granny, you saw what expensive flowers I sent you, right?”

There’s a saying in the entertainment industry…

“I even made a donation to your bereaved family.”

There’s little difference between the life of a celebrity, and the life of a fortune-teller.

After fifteen days of shooting out in the countryside, Sia was finally home. She let out a small sigh. Looking forward to relaxing and finally getting some alone time, Sia opened her fridge and reached for a beer. But when she closed the door, Jihyun’s grandmother was standing there.

“You had a nice funeral, and your body was put to rest in a nice, sunny place.”

Or was it? Does being kept in a columbarium count as a “sunny place?” Regardless, the more important question was why this old woman had come to find Sia out of the blue. Her funeral was finished, and her body was already cremated.

Sia let out a short sigh and brought the can of beer to her lips. “If you don’t have any business here, could you please leave? I’m tired.”

Normally, she would have ignored the spirit, but since she had known Jihyun for over four years, she was a bit concerned about treating her grandmother rudely. But only a bit.

Maybe I should’ve pretended not to notice. I can’t deal with this sort of thing when I’m tired. As if trying to rid her mind of her complicated thoughts, Sia gave her head a few shakes.

«My dear Jihyun.»

Only then did the spirit, who had been watching Sia silently, open her mouth to speak. The wrinkles covering the old woman’s face and hands told Sia that Granny’s life had not been without hardship.

«Please continue to look after her,» the ghost said.

Sia did not answer.

Are all grandmothers like this? she wondered.

The much older woman politely bowed before Sia, smiling warmly. Sia took another sip of her beer. She suddenly remembered what her manager Hyunsuk had told her a few days ago.

“Jihyun was the only one crying at the funeral.”

He told Sia that Jihyun’s parents and other relatives made quite a scene over her grandmother’s inheritance. Other mourners at the columbarium turned heel and left when they saw Jihyun’s family members breaking out into fights, arguing over who should get what was left of Granny’s small bank account and paltry property rights.

What a waste of money. If Sia knew that her gift would be going to a family like that, she never would have sent it.

«Would you do me one more small favor?» asked Granny.

Sia, fighting the urge to groan, turned her attention to the spirit. Lee Sia, Korea’s top actress, was making a name for herself all across Asia. She started acting at the age of fourteen, and solidified her place in the spotlight by finding great success in all of her projects, regardless of genre. She wished she could confidently say that her success came from her good looks and talent. But while those things certainly didn’t hurt, the information given to her by ghosts had been very useful. What was it that set Lee Sia apart from the rest?

Well, I… I see ghosts.

* * *

“Jihyun.”

“Yeah?”

Judging by how thin she looked, Sia could tell even over video call that her grandmother’s death had hit Jihyun hard. Sia felt a pang of sympathy.

“Haven’t I told you before? I’ve always been interested in fortune-telling.”

“Yes, even when Granny passed away, you were the first to know. I was so confused when you kept telling me to go get my phone that day. But now…” Jihyun trailed off.

“I just had a feeling that fortune was not in your favor that day.”

What an obvious lie. It had nothing to do with fortune-telling. Sia simply pretended to be interested in fortune-telling to explain what she really learned from the ghosts she saw.

“Didn’t you say you go to church, Sia?”

Her manager Hyunsuk appeared beside her, joining the conversation.

“Yeah, I do,” she answered.

No, I don’t.

“I’ve been baptized.”

At one point, to cope with seeing ghosts, Sia did attend church diligently. She was even baptized. On the day of her baptism, she left the church quietly, ignoring the crowd of congratulatory ghosts that only she could see. After that, she also tried attending a Catholic cathedral and a Buddhist temple but found nothing that helped there, either.

“What does fortune-telling have to do with church?” Sia asked.

“Well, I just meant—”

“Forget it.”

Sia quickly cut Hyunsuk off to avoid taking the conversation any further. She turned her attention back to her phone.

“Are you still staying at your grandmother’s house?”

Unlike Jihyun’s other relatives, who left as soon as the funeral was finished, Jihyun stayed behind in her grandmother’s empty home to organize her belongings. “If she wants any of that inheritance money, she had better hurry up and sell that place,” Hyunsuk muttered with a snort.

While Jihyun could have hired people to sort through Granny’s things for her, she said she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Jihyun didn’t want Granny’s precious belongings to be thrown out like trash by others. It broke Sia’s heart to think about how Jihyun cried, begging for just a few more days to finish taking care of the house.

“I’m sorry,” said Jihyun. “I know I need to get back to work soon…”

“Yes, you do. Hurry back, Jihyun. I don’t want a bunch of strangers touching my face,” Sia responded.

“Yes ma’am!”

Over the past few days, Jihyun had heard nothing but the same hollow condolences. She seemed to brighten up at Sia’s refreshingly blunt words.

“By the way, is there a persimmon tree on the eastern side of Granny’s house?” Sia asked.

Finally. This was the whole reason she called.

“Oh!”

Sia heard Jihyun’s shocked gasp through the speaker.

“Yes, there is!”

I know there is, Sia thought.

“I’m not sure if it’s on the eastern side,” Jihyun continued.

I am. It’s to the east.

“But there is a persimmon tree. How did you know that?” Jihyun asked.

“Today, your fortune said you would find great wealth under a persimmon tree to the east,” Sia answered nonchalantly.

“W-wealth?”

“Try digging under the tree and see for yourself.”

“Like, in the ground?”

“Yes.”

“Um, okay…” Jihyun sounded reluctant.

I must sound crazy. I thought it was crazy too, at first, thought Sia. It would be ridiculous to follow such an absurd piece of advice. But when someone hears a message like that, it’s equally hard to ignore. People can’t help but think that they should give it a shot, just in case.

“You might find something of real value down there. What’s the harm in a little digging?”

Given that Sia had successfully predicted her grandmother’s death, Jihyun found the suggestion even harder to ignore.

“Well, good luck.”

“Thanks,” Jihyun responded.

With that, Sia hung up immediately.

That was the last of it, right? She had finally finished the favor that Jihyun’s grandmother asked of her the previous night.

«Please tell her to dig underneath my persimmon tree.»

Since she was young, Jihyun had worked all kinds of part-time jobs to support her younger siblings. Her parents, who claimed they were too busy running a business to bother with their kids, wasted all of their money on themselves. Was that why Granny had been watching Jihyun with such a sad expression?

It sounds like she’ll find a lot of money, thought Sia. Granny said that she had saved all the money she made from farming and buried it under that persimmon tree. From early on, Granny set aside a portion of her earnings for her granddaughter and stored it in a large clay jar. Her land and property would inevitably be divided among her greedy children after she died. It seemed Granny worried that, in the end, there would be nothing left for Jihyun to have.

Granny also said she wrote Jihyun a letter, Sia recalled. As if she knew she would die suddenly of a heart attack, Granny wrote a message for Jihyun a long time ago and added it to the jar. It read: “All of the money in this jar is yours to keep. I hope you’ll keep it for yourself this time, instead of feeling pressured to take care of your family.”

Her family won’t be getting that money, Sia thought. Jihyun was not so naive or foolish as to share this last gift with her relatives.

Well, I’ve done my part. Nothing more I need to worry about now. Sia had finished everything that Granny had asked of her, and now her work was done.

“Wow, are you really that good at fortune-telling? What about me? What’s my fortune?” Hyunsuk, who had stuck around to listen to the conversation with Jihyun, looked at Sia expectantly.

Sia stared back at her manager thoughtfully, and then said, “I’m not sure about your fortune, Hyunsuk, but I have an idea about Hye-Eun’s.”

“Hye-Eun?” Hyunsuk looked stunned to hear his wife’s name.

“I heard she’ll also have good luck with money today.”

“Really?”

Whether or not he believed in fortune-telling, Hyunsuk’s face lit up at the thought of his wife’s good fortune.

“Should I tell her to buy a lottery ticket?” he mused, cutting himself off with an excited giggle.

Hyunsuk, your fortune says you’re going to lose money today… Sia had grown close to her manager’s wife Hye-Eun and had spoken with her on the phone recently. She looked at Hyunsuk with pity, recalling how Hye-Eun laughed when she revealed she had discovered her husband’s secret emergency fund.