Tens of minutes after the villainess and the world-hopper left the tent, another person entered, dressed in a suit, the kind which normal salaryman in a company or business ent.i.ty would wear. The guy was tall and had a good body built and posture. His face looked average, but it was the kind which would give off a feeling of intellect yet the goofy grin hanging on his lips made him easy to get along with.In a loud booming voice, he announced his arrival, raising a plastic bag of food and drinks, "Old hag!!! Your handsome and beloved adopted son is here!"
The lady fortune teller looked at the direction of the curtain entrance placidly, "Oh. h.e.l.lo."
Ignoring the lukewarm response the young man looked around while walking towards her table that was clean and empty apart from the money box on the left. The woman extended her fair right hand to s.n.a.t.c.h the bag in his hand. Her adopted son merely shrugged and then sat on the stool there while waiting for her to lay out the cups of noodles, the side dishes and the carbonated drinks on the table
"Your tent is unusually quiet and empty by the way. What happened?"
"A VIP arrived. Of course, I had to reserve the whole place for them. Didn"t you see the sign hanging on the door?"
The fortune teller"s voice was full of contempt, and so were her eyes that were the only ones visible in her face.
There was such thing placed outside? He awkwardly scratched his head, "Well, I missed you too much, mom, that I just barged in without thinking."
"Fool," she spat in ridicule before lifting her own spoon. Tasting the broth scooped up, she nodded, "At least you know where to buy good food. You"re not completely hopeless."
"If I mind this old hag"s sharp tongue or indifferent att.i.tude, I"d die of a heart attack."
"Who is the VIP, by the way? Is he a real VIP of this world, or a VIP from the higher worlds that you told me before?"
She encountered the woman when he was still a part of a group of six. He escaped from the capital only to encounter her somewhere. Then ever since he was adopted by the woman, she began pa.s.sing to him her knowledge about the world and her skills in divination. That was when his mind opened up to reality.
Even though he already accepted that there were all sorts of people in the world, it was sometimes hard to fathom how the two people he encountered five years ago were always acting as if they were the center of the world.
Who knows if they were aware or not, but they were making it appear through their actions that everyone existed for them.
"They are the fated son and daughter of this world. Of course, once their stars or fate started to get drawn to each other, everyone and everything in the world would move in their favor. Even their downfalls are the world"s way of giving them the best things. How else will they only be the ones benefiting through the "fis.h.i.+ng in troubled waters" scenarios," explained to him before by the fortune-teller? How dark had his face become back then?
To his question asked earlier, the woman answered after swallowing a mouthful of noodles. "Well, I don"t know. He didn"t say. Maybe he got annoyed at me because I also kept my ident.i.ty from him. Who knows. What do you think? Help me think so you will not be useless again today."
The young man felt speechless. His brain which only made him qualify as a normal intern in a fairly new company"s marketing department tried its best to convince him that the woman before him was an elder that he should respect. "Don"t lose temper. She has little entertainment in her life and infuriating you is one. Don"t be heartless."
Flas.h.i.+ng a toothpaste commercial smile, Dong Lan told the woman, "Mother, you"re a liar."
The other person felt amused since she just heard the same from her most recent customer. However, Dong Lan felt scared because usually, if her eyes looked to be smiling like that, it meant a disaster would ensue. Gesturing with his hand and the spoon, he hurriedly said, "W-wait. Please don"t be angry. Your son is still young and learning. So whatever you say, I"ll take it as the truth. He he. That"s what I mean. Y-you just heard wrongly earlier."
"Tch." The woman clicked her tongue. Her eyes were on the spoon in her right hand. She glared at the young man and then said, "How did you become so spineless in just a few years? And stupider too. If you"re going to buy noodles, make sure to get chopsticks, not spoon!"
The man chose to play a deaf ear, internally telling himself, "Is it my fault that the store owned by the only beautiful woman in the stall outside has run out of chopsticks? Who am I to refuse a beauty when she offered an alternative?"
The sight within the tent was one between a mother scolding her foster son for something that was not a big deal. However, it always happened in every household, so it was quite heartwarming. This was how a parent-son relations.h.i.+p deepened.
Of course, every child hated being scolded for stuff they don"t think as huge. Dong Lan was not an exception. So to stop the fortune teller from torturing his ears, he interrupted her by telling her something that might interest her.
For example, his encounter with a man who was not a hidden boss or a villain, yet could make things difficult for the male lead or the female lead.
"Alright, mom, listen, I met this guy five years ago and I think he"s the very first person who didn"t mysteriously get led around by those disgustingly lucky people."
"Oh? Are you making up stories again?"
"No. No. I"m somebody living an honest life, alright? I"m telling the truth. When I was still a person without awareness of the world, he kept refusing Han Su and I even heard that after leading him out of the forest, he left him in the town even though it"s past midnight."
"Hmm. Interesting, indeed."
"I know right? I"m thinking maybe this boy is like me, a person with awareness. Or maybe he is also like that Han Su? Hmm, come to think about it, his background his more tragic but he soared to great heights when he got adopted by somebody super rich... So maybe he is really another person like Han Su."
The more than three hundred years old witch shook her head after slurping the noodle"s soup. "It"s impossible for there to be another person like that Han Su in this world. However, I"m intrigued. Who is the person? What is his name? Do you know?"
Dong Lan laughed, "Of course, I know. After all, he"s popular, and my target to be my boss. Maybe I"ll get accepted because he"s at least familiar with me? If I can be employed in his dad"s company, you won"t have to set up a tent in a place like this, in a few years you can set up your own circus or theme park!"
The fortune-teller rolled her eyes, hand reaching out to the can of soda. "There"s no problem l.u.s.ting after wealth but quit daydreaming. And don"t approach that person ever again. He is dangerous."