Chapter 146 - Pay-Per-Minute Spiritual Call

Jun Hyeon was doing the asepsis procedure before entering the operating room for the surgery he would perform in an instant. His mind wandered to the magical moment of dawn, and Ye Rim's beautiful face came to mind. Her half-closed eyes, and her plump, sensual lips, her soft hair and of course, the taste of her kiss.

Then, as if he had been suddenly punched, he frowned reflexively, his head aching,

'Migraine?' it was a surprise, but again he felt short of breath as in the night before. Stunned and blinking, he turned and leaned against the stainless steel sink, feeling nauseated. He didn't understand the symptoms, it couldn't be a stroke, could it? His assistant arrived to also perform asepsis, and saw Dr. Kim breathing heavily, holding his head in both hands,

"OMO! Dr. Kim, your nose is bleeding!" said the assistant, alarmed.

Instinctively the doctor checked with his fingers, which confirmed the problem. A diffuse sensation of pain throughout his body followed. He couldn't perform surgery like that.

The assistant insisted that he sit down for a while, they would call another doctor to see Dr. Kim.

What was happening? He kept asking himself, but as for now, he had no answer.

°°°

"Now that we have finished the plans, we have to find the professionals. And well, I must admit that the strategy of taking... ugh Ryan Lee to the catwalk is a good one," Woo Geun conceded, and En Ha clapped her hands, excited.

Ye Rim heard Woo Geun and Eun Ha talking, but her mind wandered.

She was looking for suitable places to do the runway show, on the laptop, when she thought it wouldn't hurt to deviate her focus for a moment. She typed 'ghosts that look like shadows' into the search bar, and came across an extensive list of sites that spoke of the supernatural. 

Some readings seemed just fictional tales unrelated to what she had witnessed. Shifting the search to 'how to tell if you have paranormal gifts', Ye Rim felt a little ridiculous, and after doing some tests online, she just realized that they were just pointless casual games. She didn't know what else to research or whether she really took any of it seriously. An ad that flashed on the side of the screen caught her attention, 

MO BIN, THE SHAMAN

FAMOUS PSYCHIC PROVIDES YOU SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

I HAVE THE ANSWERS YOU NEED

100% GUARANTEED

PHONE CALL, PAY-PER-MINUTE OR PREPAID SESSIONS

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - TELL ME YOUR NAME AND I WILL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE

Ye Rim snorted, disdaining that cheesy ad. But as she researched and the collective voice of the internet only responded with nonsense, the shaman Mo Bin was becoming more and more attractive.

Grabbing the cell phone, Ye Rim left the room with the first excuse she found, leaving Eun Ha and Woo Geun to plan the event. Getting into the kitchen, Ye Rim looked both ways before frantically typing in the number for the oracular consultation with the psychic Mo Bin.

A recording answered, instructing her to buy the minutes of the consultation with the shaman Mo Bin. Intending to be assertive and not fall into any kind of scam, Ye Rim grudgingly typed in her credit card number and bought ten minutes of consultation.

But the shaman didn't pick up the call immediately. Ye Rim heard a recording instructing her to inform her date of birth, and shortly thereafter, the recording informed her of lucky numbers, lucky colors and lucky days. Ye Rim was already feeling cheated, and about to hang up the phone. Then she remembered that she bought 10 minutes with the psychic, and that they weren't that cheap. So she forced herself to listen to the messages, until a soft male voice spoke,

"My dear friend, tell me your name!" 

"Ye Rim! Nam Ye Rim!" the singer grunted. But she waited to see what he would say now that he knew his name.

"Nam Ye Rim, your name is exquisite! Like your name, you bring talent and you are precious like a jewel."

'Will he be saying that kind of thing?' she asked herself, annoyed. But the shaman continued,

"Ye Rim, Ye Rim, your birth date is very peculiar and I see here that the beginning of your life was very intriguing. You were in a lot of danger, still in your mother's w.o.m.b."

'OMO! How can he know that?!' the information was so accurate that she gasped.

"I am telling the truth, am I not?" asked the shaman.

"Well, I think I heard a story about it. But listen, I'm not the main reason of this call. It's about someone else. In fact, something else. Shaman Mo Bin, if you really are a good shaman, you will explain to me what I saw."

"Hmm, isn't the consultation about you? But you are the person I see here. And you are very special. You…!" The shaman's thought-provoking tone did not buy her, however. He might want to shove his formulas on her, but Ye Rim wasn't going to spend time and money on bullshit. She wanted the shaman's help.

"Listen, Shaman Mo Bin. I saw something in my friend's bedroom last night. I need to know what it was."

"How come that a single woman is visiting a male friend's bedroom?!" questioned the shaman on the other end of the line with a laugh.

"Boyfriend," Ye Rim simplified, and corrected herself. 

"Hmm, let me see, let me see," he took a while to answer, and almost two minutes passed. Ye Rim was almost complaining when the shaman spoke again,

"Ye Rim, Ye Rim, your boyfriend and you  are crossing each other's life like two stars in the sky align sometimes. It is brief and beautiful, like an eclipse. What is his date of birth?"

'Aigoo, didn't he understand that that's not what I want to know? Is he stupid or what?' she wondered. "Shaman Mo Bin, let's focus on the monster, okay?"

Well, it didn't hurt to find out with Jun Hyeon Oppa his birth date. She typed the question for him, hoping he would answer before the consultation ended.

"Ye Rim, I see here that you are a person who brings life and well-being to everyone around you. You are like a beacon in the darkness. However, there is a f…"

"Listen, Shaman Mo Bin, I don't have time to talk about myself now. I want to find out how to help my friend," she looked at the answer that came on the screen,

KJH: 'My date and time of birth? Are you trying to discover our romantic compatibility?'

She felt herself blush, immediately. Was it making him conceited? Just because of a kiss?

KJH: 'I'm in a meeting, we'll talk later.'

He went offline, just as the shaman Mo Bin said,

"This man is unreachable for me now. Without knowing his Four Pillars, I have no way of knowing about him. But you Ye Rim, you will soon see things that many people would doubt! Amazing but real things! Be very careful! You will see things thirsty for light, things capable of devouring you! But trust yourself, you have the necessary power! Just trust that you can and cut off the evil like using a knife!"

"...!" it was confusing, but at least it looked like he was referring to the creature, this time.

"My dear friend, we are reaching the end of the credits you have acquired. Do you want to buy more credits so we can continue our conversation? I have something very important to say to you now."

Ye Rim agreed, and bought more minutes. 'Gosh, I'm really stupid!'

"So, what's important and what do you want to tell me, Shaman Mo Bin?" she asked anxiously.

"Ye Rim, I see here that the supernatural surrounds you. And not everyone around you is what they say they are "

"What?" 'How did the subject change so quickly?!'

"Not everyone is what they seem, and they  act quite differently than they are when they are away from you."

"I want to know what you meant by 'cutting off with a knife'," she demanded in exasperation, feeling that this was the most important part of this whole conversation, "The thing I saw, is that what I have to cut with the knife? It's a spiritual knife, right?" It was better to make sure they were talking about the same thing. And not that he was suggesting to her to stab people.

"Ye Rim, to get rid of the harmful things that you will see from now on, you have to 'cut them off'. Yes, we are saying the same thing."

"Give me something, Shaman Mo Bin. Anything for me to deal with."

Then, the shaman said something. Strange words, "Ye Rim, this is the Word of Power of the Serpent-Sun, if you need to, recite that and the evil will go away."

Ye Rim repeated the words, trying to engrave them in her mind.

"But listen, I still have something to say. The people around you, as I said, they aren't what they appear to be. You'll be disappointed soon and…"

Eun Ha came into the kitchen, bringing the tray with empty glasses. Ye Rim quickly hung up the phone, embarrassed, and dropped the cell phone on the table as if it were on fire.

Her unnie just raised an eyebrow, but asked no questions.