NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 24 - How to Distinguish Between Fortune-Telling and Fraud (5)
Chapter 24
How to Distinguish Between Fortune-Telling and Fraud (5)
『 Translator – Divinity 』
“…This is an unexpected meeting.”
In the dimly lit basement, with only a few torches providing illumination.
In that damp and oppressive atmosphere, the Saint held and twirled his mace.
At first glance, it seemed like a relaxed action, but…
‘He’s flustered.’
It looked different to Namgung Min’s eyes with
His feet kept tapping, and although he seemed to be smiling, the corners of his mouth were stiff. The mace he was spinning with one hand also faltered several times, stopping and starting intermittently.
They were small signs that would be hard to notice normally, but when they accumulated, it wasn’t difficult to deduce his emotions.
‘Calm down.’
Regain your composure.
If you get caught up in the Saint’s pace, it will definitely be a failure…
“…Ah.”
“…? Fellow sinner?”
Behind the Saint.
A nun, with blood flowing from her head, was tied to a chair with her head bowed.
…She resembled someone in Namgung Min’s memory.
All he could see was her head, not even her face, but…
That lifelessly drooping figure, with her black hair, mixed with blood, hanging limply,
“…Mom.”
“Fellow sinner?”
“…Saint, what troubles you?”
“Well, of course…”
The Saint, who was about to answer unconsciously, suddenly noticed something strange.
Namgung Min had been acting all along. Apart from his unfathomable fortune-telling skills, he had been acting relaxed, mystical, and omniscient.
The Saint had vaguely sensed that, even if not with certainty, but…
…Now it was different.
“Is it because I came here? Or is it because you attacked the nun in the back alley? Or is it because you’re lying with the excuse of a pilgrimage?”
“…Ha, haha.”
Namgung Min laughed. It was the same laughter as always, yet different, with a tinge of sorrow.
He was truly laughing.
The Saint, noticing the change, tightly gripped the mace he was spinning.
Creak.
A grip strength that could even crush a solid steel mace bit by bit.
Even in the face of the violence that seemed about to strike him, the Fortune Teller smiled.
Composure, and a smile.
As if he knew everything. As if he could see through the Saint completely.
A Fortune Teller without composure was an amateur, and he, at this moment, was by no means an amateur Fortune Teller.
“…Fellow sinner. I will tell you this for the very last time.”
“Speak.”
“Turn back. If you do, I will tell you everything later.”
It was a significant concession for the Saint.
He didn’t ask him to pretend he didn’t see this, nor did he tell him to keep his mouth shut.
It was an exceptional offer, saying he would reveal all the secrets if he just left this place now.
This was also an offer possible only because the Saint considered the Fortune Teller a fellow sinner, but…
“I refuse.”
“…That is unfortunate.”
Flutter!
Before the Saint could answer, Namgung Min scattered the tarot cards he created with his job skill.
In that brief moment when the cards floated in the air and fell to the ground,
“I will not kill you…!”
Whoosh!
The Saint, who wouldn’t allow even that brief moment, instantly dashed through the pile of cards.
He lightly swung his mace once to push aside the obstructing cards.
“…!!”
The Saint’s surroundings were instantly covered with blackout curtains.
The Saint, forcibly invited into the fortune-telling shop, was momentarily flustered, then glared at Namgung Min in front of him.
Ultimately, there was only one thing to focus on.
“Namgung Min!!”
Clang! Crack!
He lightly deflected the candlestick thrown by the Fortune Teller and smashed the table and chair, which seemed to be used as shields, with a single blow.
Although the
The Saint, who had crushed the Fortune Teller’s resistance in a matter of seconds, accelerated towards Namgung Min beyond the splitting table.
And the moment his body passed through the breaking table,
“What!?”
The split table instantly returned to its original form. The
So the table, which had been split in two, simply reattached itself, but…
The Saint would be in a different situation if he was between them.
Creak!!
“Ugh!”
The Saint couldn’t react to the unexpected surprise attack that exploited his moment of carelessness.
Even while feeling the pain of being crushed between the reattaching halves of the table, he tried to swing his mace again to—
Clang!
“Gah!”
—Before he could even break the table, he cried out from the impact on the back of his head.
It was another surprise attack that caught him off guard, but this time, the impact was even greater.
His vision blurred for a moment, and he felt dizzy. The pain, greater than he expected, momentarily paralyzed his body.
Meanwhile, the table continued to press against the Saint, who was caught between the reattaching halves.
“For… tune Teller!!”
How?
The Saint remembered the Namgung Min he saw at Eileen’s house. He couldn’t even react to a single one of the Saint’s swift movements.
But how was he reacting now that he was attacking in earnest?
The Saint, who barely managed to raise his head amidst the pain in the back of his head and the pressure from the table,
“…Ah.”
Met eyes with Namgung Min, who was bleeding from his right eye.
Namgung Min, holding the candlestick he had thrown earlier, was looking down at him with a smile, tears of blood flowing from his eye.
The pupil of his right eye was contracted like a dot, and bright red blood was flowing from it.
“What do you think, Saint?”
“………….”
“You underestimated me.”
Indeed, the Saint had been careless.
It was a mistake he made because
But the situation was different now.
The
And the
“Actually, you know it too, don’t you, Saint? This is also just a momentary advantage.”
“…Fortune Teller.”
“I’m not the only one with skills. You also have skills, don’t you, Saint?”
Yes. Namgung Min wasn’t the only one with unknown skills.
Naturally, the Saint also had skills to overcome this situation, but…
“
“………!!”
“One is meaningless, and the other has huge side effects, doesn’t it?”
…What?
The Saint wasn’t even trying to hide his shock with a smile anymore.
He just glared at the Fortune Teller with wide eyes, enduring the pain.
“Ah, you seem to be wondering how I knew.”
“……….”
“But you already know the answer I’m going to give, don’t you?”
“…Fortune-telling?”
“What else could it be?”
Fortune-telling? He figured it out through fortune-telling?
Reciting the Saint’s past, predicting the future, seeing through Liu Yan’s pouch and the maze.
If it was fortune-telling, it was somewhat understandable. That’s what fortune-telling was all about.
But fortune-telling was abstract.
Could he really accurately figure out the skills I have with that? Something the Church kept strictly confidential?
“That… is not fortune-telling.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“…What?”
“I asked what you were going to do, whether it was fortune-telling or not.”
Drip. Drip.
Namgung Min’s tears of blood fell before the Saint’s eyes.
He seemed to be bleeding from his eyes without rest, but not feeling any pain.
Otherwise… he wouldn’t be able to smile so naturally.
“Ah, that’s right. How about testing it?”
“Testing, you say?”
“Yes. It’s very simple.”
Shuffle.
The Fortune Teller took out a deck of tarot cards from his pocket and held it out in front of the Saint as if to show him.
The Saint, still caught between the table and groaning in pain, couldn’t take his eyes off the tarot cards.
“I will shuffle this well, and then give you one card that you choose, Saint.”
“…And then?”
“I will guess it. How about that?”
“Ha.”
Wasn’t that just a magic trick, not fortune-telling?
More importantly, the pain in the back of his head was subsiding.
If we just continued talking for a bit longer…
“If we just continue talking for a bit longer.”
“…What?”
“Do you think you can do anything?”
Clang!
“Gah!”
The Fortune Teller thrust the candlestick down at the Saint.
The Saint, a job holder, wouldn’t die or have his head crushed by this level of impact.
It was just pain and shock, like before.
“I can see everything when I observe your expression, Saint. What you’re thinking, what you’re going to say.”
“……….”
“So, it’s a simple test. You choose a card three times… and if I can’t guess it even once…”
Muttering slowly, like singing a lullaby,
The Fortune Teller was still smiling.
“I will become your ally, Saint.”
“Excuse me?”
“Aren’t you trying to turn the entire Church upside down? You must find my fortune-telling quite tempting.”
“……….”
At this point,
He didn’t ask how I knew his true intentions, how I knew the goal he hadn’t told anyone.
The Saint just nodded.
“Good! Very good.”
Shuffle.
“…That one.”
“Yes, is this the card?”
“That is correct.”
Yes, let’s think positively.
There are 78 tarot cards in total, and the probability of correctly guessing one of them is naturally 1 in 78.
Moreover, the Saint chose the card himself, and there was no sleight of hand involved.
So. Surely.
“Major Arcana number 12,
“…H-how?”
Surely.
It must be a coincidence.
“You don’t believe me? This is the second time.”
Shuffle.
“…That one.”
He chose a card.
“Major Arcana number 12,
He guessed it correctly again.
“Twice in a row…?”
“It’s not impossible, is it?”
What were the odds of drawing 1 card out of 78, and that card being the same card twice in a row?
Naturally, he couldn’t help but suspect manipulation.
“Saint, it’s not like I chose it, you picked the card yourself, didn’t you? And you chose it from completely different positions. Did you see me switching the cards or anything?”
“…No.”
But there was no evidence. It was true that Namgung Min shuffled the cards randomly, didn’t tamper with them, and that the Saint chose them himself.
The smiling Fortune Teller was about to shuffle the cards for the last time.
“The third time. It’s already the last one.”
“Don’t shuffle the cards.”
“Yes?”
“…The top card.”
It was the Saint’s last struggle.
At least
In a way, it was like increasing the odds from 1 in 78 to 1 in 77, but the Saint believed there was something about that
Otherwise, it couldn’t have come up twice.
“Major Arcana number 12,
“…Huh?”
So.
There’s no way it could come up three times?
“The one below that is
“Th-this is!!”
All the tarot cards were
The Saint’s eyes widened as he realized he had been deceived.
He was serious about drawing the cards, but to Namgung Min, it was just a game.
“This is a scam!!”
So the Saint shouted loudly. With anger and frustration.
And even at the cost of the side effects, he was about to activate the
“So what?”
“What?”
“Didn’t I tell you when we first met?”
—All you can do is read the hearts of the desperate and deceive them.
“You spout all sorts of nonsense and claim a fate that doesn’t even exist, you frauds.”
“……….”
“I have only fulfilled my duty as a Fortune Teller. Deception.”
“………….”
Drip.
The blood flowing from Namgung Min’s eyes stopped.
Splattering the pool of blood he had created, Namgung Min, who had deactivated
“Are you worried about Eileen?”
“……….”
“Because she’s a Saintess? Because she has to walk the same ‘pilgrimage’ as you to be recognized by the Church? Because she might die unnoticed in the process?”
“………….”
“That may be true, but there is another, more fundamental reason.”
Saintess.
Actually, Saint and Saintess were the same job, except for their gender. The job skills and aptitudes they possessed were completely identical.
But since ancient times,
They were deeply intertwined with the Church.
…In that they shook the existing power structure of the Church.
“What would happen if a Saintess appeared while a Saint was still alive and well?”
“……….”
“A faction would emerge, wishing to serve the Saintess. And if she survived the pilgrimage? According to the doctrine, another power that reigns above even the Pope would be born.”
“………….”
“Then the Church would be split, and internal conflict would arise. Humans are the kind who cannot rest until their enemies are completely eliminated, so they would fight until only one remained among the Saint faction, the Saintess faction, and the existing Pope faction.”
“……….”
“That is not what you desire, is it, Saint?”
The Saint desired the complete purification of the Church. He wanted a Church where people served God freely and honestly, not one where they were obsessed with power and corrupted.
But paradoxically, to achieve that, he needed perfect power.
Absolute power that allowed him to reform the Church as he wished without any problems.
That’s why, in the game, the Saint was a character who agonized and struggled.
He felt the need for power, yet was reluctant to pursue it.
“Eileen is a Saintess. If this is revealed to the Church, the power structure within the Church will be greatly disrupted, and even I will be affected. More importantly, she might die on the pilgrimage.”
“…But if we leave her as she is,”
“She will continue to suffer. Unless she finds her own God.”
“So… there is a…”
“There is a way.”
Namgung Min crouched down, meeting the Saint’s eye level.
His normal left eye and his right eye with an abnormally contracted pupil.
The Saint unconsciously gulped at the strange dissonance.
“I will help you.”
“…How?”
“That is none of your concern, Saint. You just need to follow my instructions.”
“You expect me to… trust that?”
“Haven’t you seen it so far? My uncanny fortune-telling. A fortune-telling that knows everything, predicts everything, and accomplishes everything.”
“…Fortune-telling.”
“So just trust and leave it to me.”
“…”
“I will save Eileen.”
“………….”
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He tried to move, but in the end, he just stayed still.
The Saint was agonizing and struggling.
He sincerely wanted to help Eileen, but he also felt troubled by her existence.
That’s why he called himself a sinner in front of her.
The Saint…
“Well done.”
…nodded.