F-Class Destiny Hunter

Chapter 4:

Part 2: Earthquake

“Ah, Mr. Seo Gangrim, you’re here.”

When I came to my senses, I was standing in a bright place. Looking around, it seemed to be some kind of cafe. The corpses and blood were nowhere to been; only the neatly organized interior of the cafe caught my eye.

‘Did I succeed in returning?’

Not knowing exactly at what point in time I came back, I stood there blankly until someone approached me.

"Thank you for coming even on such short notice. The person who was supposed to come today had a sudden car breakdown..."

“Breakdown?”

"Yes. Didn't I tell you on the phone earlier? The fortune teller today suddenly couldn't come, so..."

As I heard those words, I remembered roughly what year this was. This was five years ago, when I was failing at finding a job one after another. I was working part-time at a fortune-telling cafe.

On this day, someone suddenly couldn’t come, and I had to urgently fill in for them. This was a day that I wouldn't ever forget.

I lightly nodded my head towards the cafe manager who was looking at me with quizzically.

"Yes, you did. Well then, I'll start now."

If I remember correctly, I was indeed supposed to be here on this day.

After the manager smiled and left, I glanced at the direction of the cafe kitchen. There was no one there at the moment. After picking up a knife and putting it in my pocket, I entered the counseling room in a corner of the cafe.

After waiting for a while, a couple soon entered. After them, several groups then went by. And soon after, a particular couple went in.

"Hello, we came to get our fortunes read."

The man smiled when walked in. He had a somewhat scruffy face, and he seemed familiar. But he wasn't the person I was looking for. The man spoke towards the person behind him.

"Sooah, come in!"

There stood Shin Sooah. Without an eye patch, and with a younger face than in my memories. This was also the day I first met her.

As the man smiled and took his seat, Shin Sooah sat down with a somewhat reluctant expression and distanced herself from him.

"We’re on a blind date today. So, we came to check our compatibility," the man said.

There was a faint discomfort on Shin Sooah’s face.

If my memory serves me right, she once mentioned that she went on a blind date because a friend forced her, and she ended up getting involved with a strange man.

I held out a piece of paper in front of the two of them, and said,

"Please write down your name, and the date and time of birth."

They then filled out the paper and returned it. The man glanced at Shin Sooah's paper and said,

"Sooah, shall we go on a date on your birthday? I know a good high-end restaurant..."

"I'm sorry but I have something to do on that day."

At Shin Sooah’s sudden rejection him, the man was momentarily at a loss for words. He then coughed for no reason and looked at me, saying,

"Hey, before checking our compatibility, can you read my fortune first? I've heard that my fortune is very good, but I've never had it read properly. They say I will have a lot of money with my good personality."

The man gave me a meaningful gaze as he spoke.

I looked at their ‘Four Pillars of Destiny’ and told him his fortune,

"You have indeed a good fortune in wealth. It seems you will receive many blessings from your parents."

I could see the corners of the man's lips rising. I continued with my fortune telling,

"But you'd better be careful."

"Why?"

"Since your horoscope indicates that if you're not careful, you could end up in complete ruin."

The man's face quickly turned red. Meanwhile, Shin Sooah looked at me with a slightly surprised face.

I naturally changed the topic.

"Shall we see your compatibility, then?"

"...Okay."

The man reluctantly agreed, his expression uneasy. On the other hand, Shin Sooah seemed to be getting interested little by little as she looked at me.

I started explaining slowly.

"People have attributes determined by the Four Pillars of Destiny, which are classified into the Five Elements: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. These attributes have a relationship with each other."

The man was staring at me with eyes that seemed to ask me to stop talking nonsense and tell their compatibility quickly. I then slid a piece of paper forward with my notes written on it.

Looking at the man, I said,

"You’re a strong metal type and she is a solid wood type. In fortune-telling, it is called metal conquers wood......"

Eyes filled with anticipation flew from the man. I looked into his eyes and continued speaking,

"It's an awful compatibility because it's like an ax cutting down a tree."

The man's face stiffened instantly, while Shin Sooah blinked her eyes, slightly surprised, and then smiled.

"I see. It can't be helped if our compatibility isn't good."

At Shin Sooah's words, the man glared at me as if he wanted to kill me. The man stood up as if he was going to grab me by the collar.

"Are you kidding me right, now? What are you doing? Where's the manager?"

"At the counter," as I calmly replied, the man's face turned even redder.

"Sooah, let's go! This guy is a complete fraud!"

"I think this person is good at fortune-telling, so I'm going to see my fortune before I go," Shin Su-ah said calmly.

At her response, the man was stunned and then flared up again,

"You'll regret this. Do you think a woman like you can find a man like me anywhere?"

"I have no intention of meeting anyone like you ever again. So, goodbye."

In the end, the man stormed out angrily. Shin Sooah, meanwhile, quietly looked at me.

"You seem to be good at fortune-telling. Could you read my fortune for this year?"

"Yes. Then..."

-Ping―

***read at ***

At this moment, sudden dizziness came through me and my ears buzzed. My vision was shaking, and Sooah's body was also trembling but it wasn't because of my dizziness.

-Kugugung-!

The building was actually shaking violently.

"What... what’s happening?"

"I-It's an earthquake!"

People screamed and the sound of dishes and bottles shattering from all over the cafe could be heard. Chaos ensued.

"Hurry up and get under the table!" Shin Sooah shouted urgently,

It was just like back then. Shin Sooah was the one who evacuated me when I was confused and just froze up. As I squeezed my body under the table, the building shook again. It felt like a giant had put me in a barrel and was shaking me wildly. And then darkness came. Between the shaking, darkness, and excruciating pain splitting my head, a mechanical voice sounded in my ears.

[Your abilities are being determined based on your birth date and time of birth.]

Today was an unforgettable day, because this was the Day of Awakening.

As time passed, the surroundings became quiet. The mechanical voice also stopped speaking., and the earthquake seemed to have ended.

I crawled out of the table and looked around. The electricity seemed to have been cut off and it was dark all around, and the emergency exit signs were blinking in a strange green light.

Soon, the voices of confused people could be then heard.

"What the heck is that?"

"Why is there such a big earthquake in Seoul?"

"I heard a strange voice earlier."

"Voice?"

"Yeah. It said something about abilities? It was like an announcement."

Without warning, words flickered in the darkness.

[Checking your abilities!]

It was like a monitor screen floating right in front of my eyes. The letters soon disappeared, and new ones appeared.

[Name] Seo Gangrim

[Rank] Insect Third Class

[Element] Fire

My rank was no different in this life or the previous one. Unfortunately, all the abilities I obtained through ‘Destiny Theft’ had disappeared. I also didn’t have ‘Regression’ any longer. Instead, there was something I hadn’t seen before.

[You currently have a lot of negative karma.]

Karma. As was written in the description of 'Destiny Theft', I indeed accumulated karma. I knew it wasn't good to accumulate karma, but I couldn't help it at that time.

"Hey, get up. Let's evacuate quickly," Shin Sooah's voice reached my ears, instantly bringing me back to reality.

In the darkness, I could faintly see her face. She seemed extremely calm. She couldn't see her own Destiny window yet, so it might be why she was still able to remain calm and composed.

"Let's get out of here quickly before another earthquake comes."

"Where's the elevator?"

"We’re on the seventh floor, so let's just hurry and go down."

People were panicking and trying to leave. Even though they must have heard the message, no one was talking about their abilities, which seemed normal because they couldn't see their Destiny windows. After all, unless they had an ability like "Destiny Analysis" like me, they wouldn’t be able to check their own Destiny windows. And in times of confusion like this, it might be better not to see their Destiny windows.

Amidst the panic, Shin Sooah tried to blend into the line of people evacuating, but I quickly pulled her out, which elicited a puzzled look from her.

"What are you doing?"

"Wait a minute. There are too many people evacuating right now, so it's more confusing."

The lights were out, and the stairs were dark. Although there were emergency exit signs, they weren't enough. Meanwhile, some people were pushing others and going down.

"Get out of the way! Don’t block us!"

"It's too dark, I can't see ahead!"

The steps were too dark to see clearly. Besides, as people went down, people from other floors would also be bustling about. Moreover, the earthquake was not the important thing now. It would start soon.

Shin Sooah looked at me with a surprised faced and just as she was about to say something, a loud scream echoed.

"Aaah!"

The sound came from below. And a moment later, people who were coming down started rushing up in a panic.

"Run away! It's a monster!"

"What? A monster...?"

People were bewildered by those words, but when they looked beyond the floor, they were horrified by what they saw. A gigantic insect was crawling towards them. It looked about the size of a medium-sized dog. As soon as the insects saw a person, they immediately revealed their teeth and clung to the man.

"Get away, get away!"

"Aaah, help me!"

The insect opened its mouth and bit off a man's hand. In the darkness, dark red blood gushed out and flowed down the stairs. Just as another insect rushed towards Shin Sooah, I plunged my knife into its body.

-Squirm!

A sound full of pain echoed, but I paid no attention to it as I started killing the remaining insects one by one. After slicing them in half, I wiped the mucus off my cheek. I looked at the people around me. Their gazes towards me were quite strange. They looked at me, a mere Insect rank, as if I were a fearsome existence.

I then said to them,

"If you don't want to die, prepare to fight."