A few days later, our faces were plastered across a major daily newspaper.

  It was a full-page feature, nearly the size of an advertisement. The reporter had written about me as if I were some kind of Seondong (divine child), and he portrayed Grandfather as a mystical Dosa who had descended from the heavens. He had even sensationalized the story of the 'unfortunate woman', turning it into something straight out of The Twilight Zone.

  “How could they write such nonsense?”

  When I complained, Grandfather just laughed.

  “You have to mix in a bit of fiction to make it sell. Those guys might not be novelists, but they sure know how to write things that people want to buy.”

  “But you shouldn't do that, should you?”

  Grandfather's expression turned somber, and he didn't say another word.

  For a while after the article was published, the Saju Philosophy Studio was packed with guests, weekends and weekdays alike. During this time, Grandfather began teaching me more about physiognomy.

  “Let’s run a few scams together once in a while. Business is booming! Heh heh heh.”

  [SMACK!]

  The moment those words left his mouth, Grandmother landed a heavy blow on his back. After the reporters left, Grandfather had given me double the amount he promised, and I reigned as the king of the block for three whole days.

  It was a glorious time.

  I am a cursed woman.

  My name is Kim Soon-ae. Everyone in this neighborhood knows my story. My life has been so tragic that even a toddler would pity me.

  When I turned nineteen, I was married off to a man I had only shared a few cups of coffee with at a tea house through a matchmaker. My mother was in a hurry to find me a husband, likely because we were a family of eight siblings.

  Eight children raised by a single mother.

  Reducing the number of mouths to feed as quickly as possible. That was the priority in our household back then. I couldn't even blame my mother; that was just how the world worked in those days. My first husband was a soldier.

  Until the moment I met him at the arranged meeting, all I knew was his profession. I expected a rough, rugged man. But the man who appeared was...

  Elegant,

  Kind,

  And gentle.

  He told me, “I’m a soldier, so I’m not very good at expressing my feelings. But I fell for you the moment I saw you, Soon-ae. That’s why I asked the matchmaker to set this up so quickly.”

  I liked him, too. For a few months after the wedding, we enjoyed a honeymoon phase sweet as honey. I was so happy. Wealth had nothing to do with it. Perhaps because of that happiness, the fruit of our love arrived early. I became pregnant less than three months into our marriage. As soon as I was sure, I told him the news with a joyful heart.

  “I’m carrying your child.”

  But from the day I told him, my husband began to sigh more and more. Every time he let out a heavy breath, my heart ached. Eventually, I had to ask.

  “Are you not happy that I’m pregnant?”

  I was so sad and hurt. My pride told me to keep quiet, but I couldn't hold it in. He replied to me:

  “I’m truly grateful and happy. But as happy as I am, the weight of responsibility feels just as heavy. I want to make you happy as quickly as I can.”

  He meant it. I felt both grateful and slighted by his words. But I didn't show it.

  One day, he made an announcement.

  “I’ve decided to go to the Vietnam War. I made this choice for you and our baby. You’ll wait for me, won't you?”

  I was terrified by his sudden decision. I worried that my child would grow up without a father, just like I did.

  “It’s okay. Don't push yourself. Don't go to a war zone. It’s too dangerous. I don't need much. I’ll be even more frugal. As long as I’m with you, I’m happy even if we’re poor.”

  “Happy even if we’re poor... No. I can't let you struggle any longer.”

  He told me it was a decision made after long deliberation.

  “I’m not going to a combat unit. When I return, we’ll have enough to buy a house and build a foundation for the three of us to live comfortably together.”

  For the first time since we married, I screamed at him.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “I don't need it! I’ll work after the baby is born. Just please, don't go to war. Please!”

  But he wouldn't change his mind.

  “If I endure a bit of hardship, you and our child will be happy for the rest of your lives.”

  There was no room for my opinion. And just like that, he left me.

  After he left for Vietnam, more money started coming in than his usual salary. It felt like if I saved for just a year, we could buy a small house.

  ‘If I don't spend a single cent and save it all... I can buy a house in a year.’

  The strength to endure my in-laws' mistreatment and our meager lifestyle came from the joy of saving his salary and the child in my womb. After becoming pregnant, I ate a lot. I ate so much that people called me a pig, but I believed it was all for the sake of the baby.

  Then, one day, an official and a soldier in a crisp uniform arrived at my house carrying a small box.

  “Your husband was killed in action. For the country...”

  That was as far as my memory of their words went.

  When I woke up, I was in a hospital. I had miscarried the baby. My mother-in-law said to me.

  “There is no longer any connection between you and this family. Pack your things and leave.”

  “But Mother, to do this so suddenly...”

  At that moment, her expression turned terrifying. She said to me, “I should have listened to the Mudang (Korean Shaman) back then. I should have opposed this marriage to the very end.”

  When I couldn't answer, she continued.

  “I had to see both my son and my grandchild devoured before I could finally kick you out. Even now, it’s too late. Get out. I have nothing more to say to you.”

  She told me that when my husband first said he wanted to marry me, she had visited a Mudang. The Mudang had thrown grains of rice for divination, looked at my Saju, and said this:

  ‘This girl has been cursed since birth. She is a man-eater who devours every man around her. She devoured her own father as a child, and now she will devour her husband and his father. Do not let her into your home. She is an ill omen.’

  But my late husband had insisted, so she had reluctantly allowed the marriage.

  “I should have stopped this marriage even if it cost me my own life.”

  My mother-in-law only ranted about the Mudang’s prophecy right in front of me, even though I had just lost my husband and child.

  “The wretch who devoured her father! The wretch who devoured my son and my grandchild! You cursed, wretched woman! We can only live if we stay away from you! Get out now!”

  I thought to myself, 'That makes no sense! She’s just being unreasonable.'

  But then, another thought crept in. 'But looking at the results, that Mudang wasn't wrong, was she?'

  Having lived as a dependent of my in-laws, I was finally kicked out. But I couldn't go back to my own home. My family was full of men, especially my younger brothers. If it were true that I really devoured the men in my life as the Mudang said, would I devour my brothers next?

  Once that thought took hold, I couldn't bring myself to go back. I settled in a city far away from both my in-laws and my own family. To survive, I took every odd job I could find in the marketplace.

  “My husband is gone now. I must forge my own future.”

  Five Years Later

  Using the cooking skills I inherited from my mother and the money I had worked to death to save, I opened a small Korean eatery. I was the first to arrive at the market alley every morning and the last to leave it at night. One day, the younger woman who ran the side-dish shop next door spoke to me.

  “Soon-ae, have you ever been to a cabaret (an adult dance hall)?”

  I had spent my youth looking after my siblings and doing chores before getting married. I had never even been to a common disco club.

  “What’s the point of just earning money? Soon-ae, do you even know how to spend it?”

  The woman from the side-dish shop had also been married once, but she was now a divorcee. While I had become a widow through the tragedy of death, the reason her marriage ended was very different from mine. While her husband was sweating away at the steel mill, she was sweating on the dance floor of a cabaret. The problem was, she got caught during a massive crackdown and even appeared on the news. Then, she was divorced.

  “It’s not like I was playing around with a gigolo, I was just dancing. I felt it was so unfair.”

  “Is dancing really that fun?”

  I had lived a life devoid of 'fun'. so I wanted to know what she meant. I didn't know how to play. As the eldest daughter of eight, my mother, who raised us alone, worked without rest and had no time to look after us. So, I had been looking after my siblings since elementary school.

  “Let me try having some fun for once.”

  With that resolution, I spoke to the woman from the side-dish shop.

  “Could you take me to that cabaret place?”

  She smiled.

  [THUMP— THUMP— THUMP— THUMP—]

  The cabaret (an adult dance hall) was loud and unfamiliar. I didn’t even understand why it was supposed to be fun. The woman from the side-dish shop, however, was having the time of her life. She talked easily with men and danced with excitement. Since I didn’t know how to dance, I just sat at a table. Then, a man approached my table. I wasn’t even drunk yet, but he looked exactly like my late husband.

  “May I join you?”

  He had a sly smile. That smile made me realize he wasn’t my husband. But as I accepted and drank the few glasses he offered, I began to see my late husband’s face in him again. Was it the alcohol? Every single thing he did reminded me of my husband. It felt as if he had come back to life.

  The next day, despite my hangover, I forced myself up to open the eatery.

  “Soon-ae! When did you disappear with that guy last night?”

  The woman from the side-dish shop came by in the morning to start gossiping. I told her, “I’ve decided to start dating him officially.”

  She looked shocked. “No way. You don’t even know who that guy is.”

  Just then, he walked into the eatery. “This is the place. I thought you might have lied to me at the inn last night.”

  The side-dish shop woman’s jaw dropped.

  I gave him everything he wanted. My body, my heart, and my savings. I found peace in giving him everything. Looking back now, I think I felt a sense of comfort by doing for him the things I couldn’t do for my dead husband. One day, he said to me, “Shall we move far away to another country together?”

  “I’d love to. This isn’t my hometown anyway. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  I put the eatery up for sale immediately.

  A short while after I put the shop on the market, the police arrived and arrested him while he was lounging in a corner of my eatery. I rushed to the police station in shock. The detective told me, “This guy has been fleecing women long before you. He’s wanted nationwide for fraud, embezzlement, and marriage fraud.”

  I was devastated.

  “Why is my life like this?”

  It was from that day. From that day on, I began searching for famous Mudangs and fortune-tellers.