Born as the Sea, Summer is Peak Season

There’s an old Tom and Jerry episode that always stuck with me.

A baby duck hatches from its egg, sees Tom the cat, and immediately imprints on him as its mother. Tom, of course, just wants to eat the duckling. He looks at it with hunger, but the baby duck follows him faithfully, chirping with affection. Jerry the mouse, usually the one being tormented by the cat, tries to intervene and save the duckling, but it’s no use.

But that’s a cartoon. In the end, Tom is moved by the duckling’s love and sheds big, dramatic tears.

In reality, that doesn’t happen. And as a Saju practitioner, I often find myself in Jerry’s position—trying to warn someone, only to have my words fall on deaf ears.

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to live like that. What can you do? At least he has good traits, right? You said he’s kind when he wants to be.”

I’ve seen it so many times that I eventually just give up. People have to be willing to listen for advice to work. I recently bought a pack of handkerchiefs from an open market, and it turns out that was a brilliant move.

“Your Saju shows you have rhinitis, so stop crying. Your nose is running.”

“Ugh… how did you know that too?”

“It’s written in your stars.”

It’s written in her Saju, but I could also tell by the nasal tone of her sobbing.

Phwaaaa-nng.

Man, she really blows her nose with gusto. I bet no one ever points it out because of her beauty, and other women probably don’t see her as a threat because she’s such a klutz. It means she has no “fake” charm. The problem is, because she has no enemies, she has way too much confidence in her own life choices.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

At least she knows how to apologize.

“Tell me your troubles if you must, but I don’t take questions like ‘How can I win him back?’ If you want to ask that, go drag him here yourself.”

“No, no… I’m going to try to forget him.”

“Liar.”

“…Yeah.”

Since she was armed with a whole arsenal of “stories,” I decided to listen. I made eye contact and nodded along. The skill of giving proper reactions is something you pick up naturally after reading enough Saju for women.

“So, how exactly did you get dumped?”

As I listened to Ye Ji-soo’s story, it was just a typical tale of breakup and obsession. I hear a lot of stories in this job. Some are so shocking I wonder if the person is reciting a fake internet post or a soap opera plot they got too immersed in. Compared to those, Ye Ji-soo’s story wasn’t even that shocking. Her ability to frame herself as a tragic heroine who failed at love was just impressive. It was the kind of vibe where every sad love song feels like it was written about her.

“So you’re still seeing him like that?”

“Yes.”

A twenty-one-year-old acting like she knows everything about love after meeting just one guy. But the story itself was a mess—a soap opera sensibility mixed with actual “love.”

“Well, you’ll probably keep being used then. I just hope you can at least build a firm subjective view of that person.”

“Am I destined to live alone…?”

“I’d bet on this: you’ll definitely go through this again. What you just said is a lie, too. I bet signs of a new love have already appeared, haven’t they?”

“Uh… not really.”

“This is just a guess, but people who pay money to see a Saju reader don’t do it when they’re in the pitch-black darkness of life’s end. They don’t have the luxury for it then.”

“Really? Then when?”

“They usually come at dawn, when the darkness is ending, to ask if this is truly the finish line. If you’re at that point right before dawn and the reason you were depressed was that toxic relationship, it means a new love is budding or you’ve seen a string of hope.”

“You’re a good talker. Who should I meet then?”

“Ideally, a man who can earn your respect, even if his physical charm isn’t amazing. It’s fine to want someone who has both, but men like that always come with a price.”

“True.”

It felt like she had paid quite a high price for her “pick,” mainly because she believes her choice is always right.

“But you’ll always use your beauty to capture the ‘optimal’ man who has both, only to lose him due to some factor.”

“Am I really that much of a crazy woman?”

“You said you met him even though you were okay with being ‘the other woman’?”

“That’s true. Aaaaaargh!”

Ye Ji-soo suddenly covered her face with both hands and screamed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I told you everything.”

For the record, Ye Ji-soo’s story was basically an erotic novel. And her descriptive powers were unnecessarily good. According to the Saju samples and experiences of successful “bad boys” in their 20s who change women constantly, their response to a woman who clings like crazy is usually the same: they raise the stakes, thinking, ‘She still hasn’t left yet?’ Ye Ji-soo seemed to have accepted that by telling herself, “I’m a liberal,” and in the process, she seemed to have opened her eyes to a rather strange world. Anyone other than me would have called her a “crazy b*tch.”

“The older ladies ask about their husbands… um, can I say this?”

“Uh, yeah. What is it?”

“The older ladies even ask me how to get their husbands… you know, ‘up’.”

“Heol! Isn’t that sexual harassment?”

“If I showed my customers I was uncomfortable, how would I stay in business?”

“I did it too, though…”

“I forgot already. What did you say?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. Finally, her somber, tearful face cracked into a snicker.

“Thank you.”

“For what? I didn’t hear anything.”

Ye Ji-soo squirmed for a long time, lost in thought. I just watched her, giving her enough time to process her embarrassment.

“I feel like I’ll get scolded for saying this, but there’s something I want to ask.”

I had a feeling she was about to say something that deserved a scolding. Wait, could that “hope” be…

“Is it ‘Should I meet my ex-boyfriend because he wants to get a drink?’ or maybe ‘My ex-boyfriend’s divorce looks imminent’?”

According to Ye Ji-soo, her ex was a “church oppa” ten years her senior who had married. He was the driving force that kept her going to a youth group she didn’t even believe in for five years. He never explicitly said he loved her, but he’d say he missed her and ask to meet. And she, unable to refuse, was continuing a secret affair.

“Uh… uh… wow, that’s eerily accurate.”

“Let me say one more thing.”

“What? You can scold me. I think I deserve to hear it.”

“Do you want to get smacked?”

“Pardon?”

Kids these days don’t know this meme…

***************************************************

I charged Ye Ji-soo the consultation fee plus the cost of the handkerchief. No matter how much you tell someone about their life, they have to live it the way they want to feel satisfied. Even after I pointed out all the toxicity of that source of her misery, she said she’d still meet him. At this point, it was out of my hands.

A person can be fooled three times and still not learn. I received the fee via an app.

“Transferring through Pay is so convenient.”

I never had much money, so I rarely used internet banking, but clicking on that bald character’s face made the money appear in my account. Meanwhile…

[By resolving the romantic concerns of a woman your age and reviving the red thread of her fate, your Jaeseong-un (Wealth/Women Luck) dwelling in Fire rises. With a large boost from the ‘Summer Bonus,’ you can now strengthen Fire-related luck and Jaeseong-un.]

[Earth Luck, signifying mediation, has increased slightly.]

“My Jaeseong-un went up again.”

Wealth Luck rises well during the special summer period. Apparently, it’s a 1.5x bonus. Around the summer solstice, the world is filled with bright, hot energy. In my destiny, “Fire”—the hot energy—represents wealth, women, and my father. In this Saju system, it’s easier to reap both women and wealth in the summer.

Since I was “born as the sea,” summer is indeed the peak season.

<Women Luck LV3> Seasonal Luck Boost + LV1

You, who were once accustomed only to the company of men, used to perceive women as a different species and found them difficult. Now, you can become friends even with women.

Primary activities for leveling: Dating, blind dates, conversations with the opposite s*x, sexual relations.

Note: This luck only activates properly if your Bigeob-un (Friend Luck) is LV3 or higher. If you possess a Dohwa-sal (Peach Blossom Charm), short and fiery romances are possible.

Saju Fortification had seasonal boosts. Wood in spring, Fire in summer, Metal in autumn, and Water in winter all receive bonuses. They go up even without fortification, but since it’s temporary, it disappears once the season passes. Originally, my luck was:

<Women Luck LV2>

You marry through a matchmaker or family arrangement without much interaction with the opposite s*x. Your married life depends on compatibility, your and your partner’s Gwan-un (Career/Authority Luck), Child Luck, and regular Wealth Luck.

Note: If you have a Dohwa-sal, your partner will show romantic interest at first, so the honeymoon period will be happy.

Note: If you have a Yeokma-sal (Wanderlust), there is a higher chance of marrying a foreign bride through a matchmaker.

It was exactly this. In short, the kind of luck where you have a lightning-fast marriage with someone like a “Ms. Nguyen” from Vietnam. I’m still young, but my mom had already been dropping hints that marrying a Vietnamese girl wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s not that I haven’t met women during the years or seasons when Women Luck kicks in, but it’s true that those instances were rare and my experience is limited.

“Where should I invest… hmm.”

I can’t raise Father Luck because consecutive fortification isn’t allowed. The “Jaeseong-un” tab includes regular wealth, liquid wealth, women, and playfulness luck. Health Luck can also be raised, including heart function, eyesight, erectile function, blood circulation, athletic ability, and facial features.

“What the heck is ‘facial feature fortification’…?”

Health Luck is good for preventing cardiovascular diseases and such, but since I’m young, those levels are already high. I’ll definitely take those later when I’m older and scared, but for now, I thought about investing in Women Luck.

To reach Level 11 in Housing Luck, there’s a required tech tree. I need Level 7 in Bank Balance (Wealth Storage) Luck (Wood/Siksang), and Level 6 each in Liquid (Windfall) and Regular (Salary) Wealth Luck (Fire/Jaeseong). And to get Liquid Wealth to Level 6, I need Level 5 in Women Luck (Fire/Jaeseong). I also need Level 3 in Child Luck (Earth/Gwan-un), but I was born with Level 5, so that’s fine. The theory is that one needs to desire a large dwelling only after tethering a horse, bringing in a wife and children, and needing a place to store wealth.

“Being friends with the older ladies is making the business earn money. Hmm.”

In the general theory of Saju, if there is wealth, the wife doesn’t leave the house. Statistics from matchmaking agencies back this up—the divorce rate for men earning 10 million won a month is near 0%. Conversely, sometimes wealth comes in because a woman enters the life. I can’t say for sure because it varies by industry, but since women enjoy divination more, this is an industry where women bring in the wealth.

I won’t say I’m not interested in the higher chance of dating, but since my main customers are women, I’m raising it in hopes that word of mouth spreads more. Besides, dating is important. My 20s are fading away.

“Fortify Women Luck.”

Once summer ends, it will drop back to Level 2. So, to maintain the current level boosted by the summer effect, I raised Women Luck to Level 3. With the seasonal boost, it is currently Level 4.

<Women Luck LV4> Seasonal Luck Boost + LV1

Even without a Dohwa-sal or a socially arranged marriage, you have romantic contact with the opposite s*x. Women may even be the first to take a liking to you. You have an average number of romantic relationships; at this level, marriage is impossible or fails unless Wealth and Housing Luck support it.

Note: Dohwa-sal complements the number of relationships and increases the probability of women liking you.

“Huh?”

As soon as I raised the level, a messenger app on my phone chirped. The profile picture was a talking cat. I had a feeling I knew who it was. She calls herself “the crazy one.”

“She seems to like the ‘crazy’ character…”

I bet she’s eventually going to say that famous line: “I’m the crazy btch in this neighborhood.”* I had given her my contact info so she could find the philosophy hall, but we hadn’t added each other on the messenger. She must have added me first.

Usually, when people are given a “bad” label like that, they get offended and protest. But I’ve seen some people say things like, “Yep, this crazy girl is going to sleep now,” or “Yep, this crazy girl has no money,” as a sort of protest. But the fact that she actually likes it is bizarre. I have nothing to go on, so I can’t figure it out. Saju shows if someone is a pervert, but it doesn’t show what kind of pervert they are.

***************************************

“Oh, young master Taoist!”

“Ah, hello.”

It was summer and my hair was getting long, so I was at Ms. Kim Soon-ok’s hair salon to get my head shaved. she said she’d do it for free. While I was there, two of her friends walked in and recognized me. They were all familiar faces. I wanted to bow, but I couldn’t move my head, so I just greeted them verbally.

“Unni, you come to this salon too?”

“The lady said she’d shave it all off for me, so I came.”

“Why shave it? You should grow it out.”

“It’s summer and it’s hot.”

I don’t really care about hairstyles. I either shave it or get a two-block cut. My hair grows too fast, which is a nuisance. Since the ladies gathered were all my customers, the topic naturally turned to Saju.

“The Taoist told me I’m a lotus flower bud maturing by the water,” the youngest of them, a “new bride” in her late 40s (I don’t know why she’s called a new bride, but anyway) who had a six-year-old child from a late marriage, bragged.

Immediately, Ms. Kim Soon-ok and the other middle-aged woman expressed their doubts.

“Oh, really? He told me I’m a sunflower in a flowerbed.”

“He told me I’m a flower, too.”

“Wait, then are we all flowers? Why is everyone a flower?”

“Aing? Taoist, do you just call every middle-aged lady a flower?”

“Ow.”

Ms. Kim Soon-ok’s grip on my hair tightened. Their glares were not ordinary. Suddenly, I felt like a weirdo who had used the “flower line” on all three women.

For someone born as Fire, I call them a “lustrous, precious candle” or “twinkling starlight.”

For Water, “a blue sea” or “clear spring water.”

For Metal, “a polished jewel” or “a sharp dagger.”

For Wood, as mentioned, “a flower.”

Even for those born as Earth—the element seemingly furthest from beauty—I call them a “small flowerbed,” “elegant Joseon white porcelain,” or “a garden touched by dew.” I say good things for everyone.

It’s a technique where I use nature descriptions based on Saju to frame the person’s character as something luminous. My flattering remarks seemed to have been found out, but…

“Well, then ‘Pretty Hair Salon’ is truly a flower garden, just like the name suggests.”

I covered it up with an even bigger compliment. The ladies who were cornering me immediately burst out laughing.