Geomancy couple

Chapter 74: Chapter 74

The student was keeping an eye on Hojoon’s every move, including his facial expression. He looked at his father. Given his tight lips, his father was not ready yet.

“Dad!” he demanded.

His father hesitated, looking at his son with mixed feelings.

Hojoon emphasized to him that the effect of geomancy depended on time. It was totally different from just one-time airing out and ventilation.

“This is the right opportunity. Everything is in its right place at the moment. Things and your wife in your house. Just go back to your right place as husband before all of them disappear.”

His last words swayed the student’s father.

“Before all of them disappear…”

Hojoon went on, “Put the piano back there first. What your wife needs now is not the piano itself, but your generous consideration of her.”

“…..”

“And if you still think geomancy is superstition, please report me to the police even now on deception charges.”

Juyoung’s face turned dark when he heard that.

“Chief!”

Though Hojoon’s geomancy advice paid off as a rule, he couldn’t guarantee his clients every success. And that was the pitfall of the geomancy business, too. People would have no problems or headaches at all if geomancy were a panacea.

Even the doctor whose job was to save people’s lives could come up with a wrong diagnosis. Juyoung was nervous while looking at Hojoon tell the student’s father confidently about the effect of his geomancy advice.

“Hey, don’t you know he won’t get anywhere no matter how much effort he makes when he can’t reconcile with your wife?” Juyoung murmured to himself in a low voice.

At that moment, the student told his father that he would change his study room into a piano room right away.

“My room used to my mom’s piano room anyway.”

“Mind your own business!” his father rebuked.

“Dad! Do you think I can’t be distracted if you get divorced?”

“Do you think I can win your mother’s heart because of the piano? How innocent!”

“But you have to try your best, dad. If you don’t, I’ll do it. I’ll do what I can do to prevent your divorce.”

After staring at his son for a moment, his father left the office.

“Just follow him,” said Hojoon, pushing the student.

“Sorry, Chief.”

The student felt sorry for Hojoon because all this happened because of him.

“Don’t worry. Your father is definitely going to do what I’ve told him today.”

As soon as he said goodbye, the student went out to catch up with his father

“Whew!”

Arum smoothed down her blouse after the student and his father left the office.

Their case was closed now. Her heart was still pounding after she witnessed a real case of a client taking issue with Hojoon’s geomancy advice for the first time.

“Heemang, bring me a cup of water!”

Juyoung, who remained tense until the last minute, finally relaxed.

“Hey, Hojoon, are you crazy? You know that we don’t give our clients any refund even if your geomancy advice doesn’t pay off. How come you can tell your client that he can freely report his complaint to the police?”

That was true.

“I’m confident.”

“Oh… You told them that there was no 100% guarantee of success in your geomancy advice, didn’t you?”

“Brother Juyoung, if you win someone’s heart, the other party is supposed to follow. Piano? That doesn’t matter. Once a woman finds out that her lover is considerate of her, she will be totally touched by his act. This is not geomancy , but psychology.”

His reasoning seemed plausible.

“Nonetheless, you went overboard when you mentioned the client’s right to accuse you. Look at my back, man. Cold sweat all over!”

“Sorry. I should be tough to a tough client. If I look weak, neither I nor the student can change him at all.”

While listening to him, Arum got curious about one thing.

“By the way, Chief. Did you really know there used to be a piano in the student’s study room?”

Heemang nodded in agreement. Everybody including Juyoung must have been curious.

“Did the student tip you off in advance?”

“Nope.”

“How did you find it out then? Were you possessed by a spirit at that moment?”

“No kidding.”

“You look serious now, Were you really possessed by a spirit?”

“Nope.”

“Then, how did you know it?” Arum demanded.

“Didn’t anyone here find out?” Hojoon asked back. He even seemed surprised that they didn’t know about it. “Juyoung, how about you? You didn’t know it, either?”

“How can I?” said Juyoung in a sullen voice.

Hojoon called them to his computer and said, “Look here!”

He enlarged the picture of that specific spot in the student’s room several times.

“Look at the floor linoleum.”

Hojoon pointed at that specific spot.

“Can you enlarge the picture?”

Juyoung was determined to find out the clue by looking at the picture closely.

Arum noticed the spot in the middle of his room where a piece of furniture was placed lightly. “Right here, I think. This spot looks different from other areas in his room.”

“Correct!”

At that moment, Juyoung and Heemang, who were racking their brains to locate the exact spot, lamented. Arum, Heemang and Juyoung were kind of competing to find it first.

“Look at that! That pretty subtle spot. While looking at it, I wondered what kind of furniture could be placed there. If it were a wardrobe or a bookshelf, it would leave some trace near the wall. But the spot is in the middle of the floor, not the wall.”

“I know that, man. So what?”

“That was a piano, and a grand piano at that. If it was placed away from the wall and at the center of the floor, its owner must be a piano major. When she was a student, she must have attended an arts middle school and high school. If she was really talented, she would have probably gone to Germany or Russia for further studies. What does piano mean to this type of woman?”

“Everything. It means everything to her,” answered Arum, as if she were in that woman’s shoes, who had been playing piano all her life.

“You’re right. Though she didn’t become a famous piano player, she must have lived as a pianist all her life. Then, she got married, delivered a baby, and most probably gave her piano room to her son, and she did so willingly.”

“So what? There are so many women like her,” said Juyoung.

His point made sense.

“Well, she didn’t need to. That student was the top student in his school. In fact, he was the top of all the students in the country. He had two rooms, one for his sleep, and the other for his study. That was his father’s decision. His father took away his wife’s private space. That student told me that he found it uncomfortable to use two rooms as he mostly stayed at school.”

“After that, his mother lost everything because of her husband’s decision, right?”

“This kind of trouble sometimes happens in our country. Parents give their main bedroom to their children for their studying. From their standpoint, they want their children to study in a more comfortable space. But that’s something you should avoid by all means in geomancy.”

“Why?” asked Arum, curiously.

“The room has its owner. The largest room in the house occupied by parents symbolizes their authority. When parents feel relaxed, their children will also do well.”

“Are you writing a novel?” Juyoung teased him with an envious look.

“This is not a novel, but my proven ability. It’s your turn, brother.”

“What?”

“Why don’t we bet? You can verify my ability, and at the same time, you can find out whether my geomancy love can work out for a divorced single man like you. Do you want me to get your divorced wife to come back?”

“Hey, your jokes are sometimes pretty scary, man. I enjoy my life as it is now. Let’s call it a day, everyone!”

“I’ve got some other work to do,” Hojoon said.

He picked some files to take care of.

“Don’t you know we have to put off our work today until tomorrow? Before it’s too late, give her a ride back to her house. Otherwise, this is overtime work, man.”

In the end, Juyoung drove Hojoon and Arum out of the office.

***

Hojoon stopped his car in front of Arum’s villa.

“Let’s watch a movie or have dinner when our project is done.”

“Sure, Chief. Please go back and rest. I have found today that it’s a tough job to deal with customers. I really hated jobs that needed deadlines like mine, but service jobs like yours are also pretty difficult. Let me upload the relevant information on our shared folder.”

“Yeah, it was a tough day. Why don’t we kiss?” Hojoon approached her slyly.

She freaked out and stepped back.

As she was seated right next to his, both of them were close enough.

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“Not really.”

Though she didn’t hate it, she felt it rather awkward to make physical contact with him in the small space.

“Do you want a bottle of soju? Can’t you see me when you’re sober like this?”

“God! You’re teasing me again.”