Precautions of a Snakepit - Chapter 71

Won let out a strangled groan and opened her eyes. The familiar scene of her hospital room came flooding into view.

For a moment, she froze in disbelief, then realized she was back in reality, out of that dream- or nightmare. She had gone to the bathroom with Ms. Yang, and in the bathroom, Ms. Yang faded into nothingness and turned into Sol.

‘It can’t be real.’

People aren’t mollusks and they can’t change shape like dough. Maybe she watched too many movies. Even if it’s a dream, it was such a ridiculous situation…

Holding her hand over her heart, Won tried to calm down. She could feel her hand trembling with fright and her heart still racing.

“That’s what you were wondering, isn’t it, noona?”

Won couldn’t get over the smirk in his voice like he finally figured it out. Even though it was a dream, it was so vivid it gave her goosebumps. She didn’t know how to look at Ju-hee for a while. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to face her again, at least not today.

Technically, it was Won’s fault for having the dream and Ju-hee didn’t do anything wrong, but human emotions aren’t always rational. She can’t help it.

As much as she didn’t want to, she always wanted to stay away from Ms. Yang for the time being. The thought of her whole body melting away made Won feel sick to her stomach.

If it was just a mutilated corpse, Won wouldn’t think much because she was used to it. She didn’t have a tolerance for that kind of movie horror, so it made her feel worse.

‘What did this dream mean? Was it just a lucid dream? Why did I have it? Am I afraid of Sol? Am I still holding onto the illogical theory that Sol might be something non-human? That can’t be true.’

Won supposed a person could lose their mind and turn into a zombie. She didn’t know much about medicine, but there are diseases like rabies, so she thought it was possible. Chimeras have succeeded in fusing different species of animals and plants, so it’s possible to fuse humans and animals. Leaving aside the ethical issues, it could genetically be possible.

However, it wasn’t realistic for a non-human to take over Ju-hee’s body and change its form at will. The first two can be explained by science, but this is an occult. The genres are too different. Won doesn’t believe in the supernatural.

“Then promise me you’ll reject them both.”

At that moment, an incident popped into Won’s mind.

When the two men confessed to her, Sol held out his pinky finger and wanted Won to promise to reject both of them. Won was in the position of having to accept Top Dog’s confession because of a prior agreement, so she was going to make the promise lightly. But then Park Su appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her hand…

“I can’t believe someone I know would take advantage of a young, innocent friend to get what they want.”

She was offended. Sol was the one who asked her to promise first and Won was trying to be reasonable. He was making it seem like she was the predatory one.

“Look, you must have misunderstood something. I’m not really-”

“Promises are not to be made lightly.”

“Be careful what you promise, okay?”

She now second-guessed who he was looking at when he said that.

Was it Sol or Won?

In Won’s memory, his gaze was on her.

At the time, she shrugged it off wondering why he gave her such a warning and he must be crazy, but what if she wasn’t who he was talking to? She couldn’t help but wonder if the ‘young and innocent’ friend was her, while the knowing one was Sol.

In shamanic beliefs, shamans are deified and serve the gods and are believed to possess divine powers that ordinary people do not. What if, in his eyes, Sol was ‘something’ that had lived through the ages in human form…

‘Come to think of it, he spoke differently.’

He was speaking with respect when saying ‘someone he knows,’ then was informal. The first words and the subsequent words were directed at different people. If the latter was her, the former could only be Sol, the other being in the room.

Won shuddered. Maybe it was the fact that she woke up from a nightmare at such a late hour, and was alone in a dark, hospital room.

Maybe it was all just a coincidence. Park is untrustworthy because he is a patient, the giant snake-like shadow on the wall that Won saw in her distraught state was an illusion while she was sick, and the meaningful words that Ju-hee said in her feverish state due to her emotions at her age. These are all things that can be explained by common sense, but…

‘I need to meet the shaman.’

She has to meet him. Not because she is superstitious, but to shake off the eerie feeling. She needs to know that he is a fraud so she can rid herself of the delusion and sleep comfortably.

Won looked at her watch. At 6:00 A.M. is when everyone wakes up for exercise class. It’s not even 5:00 yet, so she has to wait over an hour.

If she stays still, her mind will wander, so she jumps out of bed. As she warmed up with stretches and yoda, the time passed quickly and the morning began. Nurses walked around, checking to see if patients were awake and asking them if they were going to class.

Won, who often went there to observe people when she had nothing better to do, knew that Park was a consistent participant. Coincidentally, he was in the same group as her. After the program ended, Won walked over to him. She wasn’t right next time, but she was close enough.

As she walked, wondering how to carry on a casual conversation, Park spoke first.

“I knew you’d come.”

“What?”

“I told you that you need to know well to choose well, but you don’t know ‘well’ yet.”

He pressed his index finger firmly into the center of Won’s forehead. Panicked by the sensation of something hot being pushed into her body, she tried to take a step back, but he withdrew his hand before she could.

“One time. One time, in a time of crisis, begging desperately, and you will be helped.”

“What…”

“I have no more business with you, so go.”

Won was dumbfounded by his unilateral declaration. What was she supposed to do if he was just going to leave?

“Excuse me.”

Won quickly overtook him and blocked his way.

“I guess you just say what you think you’re supposed to say and everyone thinks you’re brilliant?”

He stopped in his tracks and stared back at her with his pale face. She swallowed, resisting the unknown pressure of her shoulders.

She can’t let him go like this. She has to get on his nerves to keep him from leaving. Until she could grasp a clue about him being a normal man, without any spiritual powers. She needed to free herself from illogical conclusions.

“If you’re so great, why don’t you predict my future? If you get it right, I’ll admit you’re no fraud.”

Won inwardly regretting provoking him with such an unkind demeanor. In the heat of the moment, she just said whatever came to mind.

She didn’t come to him for a reading, but what would happen next anyway? What would she use it for? It wouldn’t be right, anyway. Divination, tarot, and other things are all scams.

‘If he could see the future, he’d be the president, and not in a mental institution.’

Won frowned, skeptical of his ability, but the shaman spoke up.

“I see two paths, child.”

It was a woman’s voice that escaped through the man’s red lips. Not one bit of it sounded like a man who was purposely imitating a woman. It was a smooth, flawless voice; the kind of voice that would be recognized by a hundred people as a woman.

The discrepancy between the visual and auditory information made Won short-circuit. She was filled with discomfort, but that wasn’t the end of it. The look in his eyes was so strange. It was the kind of look that even Won, who prided herself on experience, had never encountered before. Her instincts were beeping incessantly like it was broken.

Approaching at a leisurely pace, the shaman circled Won and spoke.

“Two futures: one the way you want it. A normal life. 91%, 12 times, 27 floors. Two, the other future you don’t want. An immoral life. Countless snakes, debauchery, and immortality.”

He spoke in a high-pitched, unintelligible tone like he was reciting an incantation.

“You’ll be happy either way. One is normal happiness, and one is the twisted happiness you get after being broken, but either way, you’re ‘happy’ in the end. That’s good, you cheeky little thing, the promise of happiness.”

“What…”

A chill ran down her spine and Won involuntarily took a step backwards and bumped into something solid. Startled, she turned to look behind her, but an arm wrapped around her waist, and a chin rested on her shoulder.

“Funny.”

A familiar voice sounded beside her ear.

“Don’t just look at my pretty girl. Take a look at my future while you’re at it.”

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