Accidentally Becoming a Great Prophet?!

I went to my friend’s shop at his request, only to be suddenly asked to watch the store for a while.
“…What, you want me to watch the shop all of a sudden??”
“I really have something urgent to do… Please, I’m begging you! You’re unemployed anyway, so you have plenty of time!”
“You say it’s a request, but you’re stabbing me with a knife?”
“I really, really have something urgent to do!! I have a blind date, okay?! You know how long I’ve been single!”
“…If that’s the case, just close the shop! You can close for a day, can’t you!”
“I haven’t been making much money lately, so I can’t afford to! Please just watch it for a bit! I’m begging you like this!!”
“You said you run some kind of card reading shop or something! How am I supposed to know how to do that?!”
“Just take reservations for customers who come in! You don’t have to do the tarot readings yourself, okay? It’s really simple!”
“Still, I can’t. I have my own schedule, you know.”
I have to crush my promotion match today.
Damn it. Today I’m definitely going to hit Platinum!
Anyway, I didn’t go into detail about my schedule because if I did, he’d just cling to me more.
“I’ll pay you!!”
“You’ll pay…?!”
Oh, now that changes things.
“How much?”
“100,000 won! I’ll give you 100,000 won!!”
“Hey! Who knows how long your blind date will take?”
“Ugh… Okay, then 200,000 won including food and coffee expenses!!”
“I will serve you with utmost loyalty, dear customer!!”
Man, he must have been really desperate. Saying he doesn’t have money, but offering 200,000 won.
Anyway, 200,000 won just to sit and watch the shop for a few hours? I can’t pass this up!
Pushing my promotion match aside, I pocketed the 200,000 won in advance and sat behind the table set up with cards.
“Wow… Now that I’m sitting here, the shop is quite big?”
It was even very luxurious. As a result, it also looked quite mysterious.
Is this how tarot readings become more effective?
I didn’t know much about this field, having never been interested in it before, but it seemed to have a certain feel to it.
Anyway, just as my friend said, there weren’t many customers.
It wasn’t completely empty, occasionally one or two people would come in, but they’d just leave their phone number and make a reservation before leaving.
“Wow~. This is such a sweet gig?”
There wasn’t much to do, so I just had to sit quietly and play around. It was an incredibly sweet part-time job. The pay was pretty good too.
I just had to take simple reservations for the occasional customer that showed up and send them on their way. It was very comfortable.
Since I got meal expenses too, I even indulged in a delicious meal for the first time in a while.
It was the perfect part-time job for a basement-dwelling unemployed person like me.
So I was lounging comfortably in the plush chair, happily watching YouTube videos when the door opened, and the bell attached to it rang.
The sound of a customer arriving.
I quickly put away my phone and looked at the customer who had come in.
This customer was a woman wearing a neat suit with quite a cold impression.
“Welcome! Are you here for a tarot reading?”
“Ah, yes. I came to get my fortune told.”
“Oh, in that case, first…”
As I was about to explain as usual that I couldn’t do tarot readings now and would make a reservation for her, before I could finish speaking, the woman quickly approached, sat down in the chair, and stared at me with a serious expression.
‘W-what? She’s super fast? Is she superhuman?’
As I blinked in slight surprise, the woman spoke to me.
“I have a really important matter coming up. I’d like to see my fortune regarding that matter.”
“Ah, I see. But right now, the fortune teller isn’t here, so we can’t…”
“I don’t have much time. My situation is a bit urgent, and I need to prepare and start the work within a few days.”
“I understand it’s urgent, but right now…”
“Given the urgency of the situation, I’d like to get my fortune told quickly. Is that possible?”
“No…”
‘This person doesn’t seem to listen very well…?’
I was smiling on the outside, but inside I was incredibly frustrated.
No matter how urgent it is, I can’t do a reading when I don’t even know how, can I?
“Still, right now…”
“I’ve heard that the readings here are quite accurate. As such, I’ve prepared sufficient payment.”
The customer opened her wallet and took out a bundle of bright, shiny 50,000 won bills.
‘Gasp…! How much is all that?!’
“It’s 500,000 won. If it’s not enough, I can give more…”
“Ah, no! This is more than enough!”
Good heavens! Not only is she willing to spend 500,000 on a single tarot reading, but she’s even willing to pay more?!
I instinctively knew that the customer in front of me was no ordinary person.
“Very well. Then… can we proceed with the reading now?”
“Ah, well, that…”
I gulped as I looked at the 500,000 won in front of me.
My friend said he wasn’t getting many customers and wasn’t making much profit, so he’s probably not really the super-accurate fortune teller this person seems to think he is…
But putting that aside… the 500,000 won right in front of me was too big a temptation.
“A-ahem… Alright. Let’s give it a try…”
“Thank you.”
At this point, even if I read it wrong, it’s the customer’s fault for not listening to me properly, right?
So… well… I don’t know anymore.
It’s not like tarot readings are 100% accurate anyway, right?
Let’s just… give it a try.
I picked up the cards that were next to me.
And using my experience from playing card games as a kid, I shuffled them with a flourish.
‘Uh… just shuffle them… and spread them out dramatically?’
Thinking of something I’d heard somewhere, I spread the cards out on the table.
But…
“…Sir, the cards are clumped together.”
Someone who only knew how to roughly shuffle a deck and didn’t know how to properly lay them out couldn’t possibly do it well.
The cards weren’t spread out properly and ended up divided into three clumps with gaps in between.
‘…W-what should I do?!’
Feeling cold sweat about to run down my back, I spun my head at maximum speed and barely managed to improvise.
“Ah, that… my card reading style is a bit different. I intentionally divided them into three. Ha, haha…”
‘Please, please…!’
“Ah, I see. Indeed, a reputable place is different.”
“Haha… I am quite different…”
Because I’m a complete novice who’s never done this before…
But still…
‘She bought it…!’
Fortunately, it worked!
Inwardly sighing with relief, I said to the customer.
“Now, could you please pick a card from the right?”
Following my instructions, the customer picked a card.
When we flipped it over, it showed a tower being struck by lightning, on fire, with people falling from it.
“What’s this…?”
“Ah, this is…”
What could this card mean… It doesn’t look like a good card at all…
‘Ah, no use worrying. There’s no way I’d know something I’ve never seen before. Let’s just say something that sounds impressive!’
Having made up my mind, I deliberately hardened my expression, lowered my voice, and spoke with a pretense of gravity.
“You said you had an urgent and important matter, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“You must have worked very hard until now to reach this point, right?”
“Ah, yes. It’s not to brag, but I’ve worked incredibly hard. Training… building a reputation… even this opportunity is the result of a lot of effort.”
“I see, so that’s how it was…”
I interlocked my fingers and spoke as if saying something important.
“If you look at this card… you can see the tower crumbling, right? And people falling.”
“Ah, yes. That’s certainly what it looks like.”
“This means that a tower built with great effort is collapsing. It seems to mean that everything you’ve built up until now might crumble because of this important matter…?”
“W-what?! Then how can I avoid that!”
“Hmm… Well, we’re not done with the tarot reading yet, so let’s pick another card.”
“Ah, alright.”
Calming down the excited customer, I had her pick a card from the center.
This time too, something peculiar came out.

‘What’s that… pillar in the back? A person bleeding and collapsed… and what’s that round thing? Is that water in front? Something’s laughing next to the person… What kind of card is this?’

“S-sir. What kind of card is this one?”
“Hmm… this is…”
Once again, I put my brain into overdrive and improvised a story.
“You see these two pillars? This means you’ve successfully passed an important moment in this matter. However, because of this rock here, it seems you might collapse pitifully just before reaching your destination here. The… dogs next to you are howling mournfully at your sight.”
“T-that can’t be… But sir, is this really a rock? It doesn’t look much like a rock…”
Even I don’t think it looks like a rock… but I’ve already said it, so I have to stick with it.
“It is a rock. Hahaha…”
“Ah, then how can I avoid this?”
“Well… it’s simple. You need to be careful of rocks…?”
“I see… I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”
“Then shall we look at the last card?”
The customer picked the last card, and I turned it over.
This time, a rather bright-looking card appeared.
‘Bright atmosphere… a person riding a horse? There are clouds too… Hmm… This looks like a good card?’
It would be better to explain this one positively. After hearing bad news, she should hear some good news too, right?
“What kind of card is this…?”
“Haha… it’s simple. If you overcome the crisis well… that is, if you handle the rock well somehow… you can return in triumph like the person riding the horse. In other words, it means you can succeed.”
“! I see…! Then sir, lastly, could you explain in more detail about that rock…”
“Haha… There’s a limit to what can be foreseen with cards. I’m afraid I can’t say any more. From here on, you’ll have to navigate on your own.”
This is too much…! My brain is overloaded and not working well anymore…!!
Please just go now…!
“Is that so… I understand! I’ll take your words deeply to heart, sir! But… could I possibly get your contact information?”
“Huh? Why do you need my contact…”
“If this matter ends well, I’d like to show my gratitude. And if things unfold as you said, I’d like to use your services often.”
“Uh… um, yes. Alright.”
Before I knew it, I had even given her my number.
‘Hmm… I don’t know what her business is, but I just did a rough reading… Surely there won’t be any more to this…?’
Anyway, the customer left like that, and I, having somehow managed to get through it, sighed.
And then I pocketed the money.
‘Hehe… Still, I’ve made a nice little side income!’
Shortly after, my friend returned, and this part-time job came to an end.
“The man is back!!”
“Oh, why are you so cheerful? Did the blind date go well?”
“You bet! I can see my escape from being single!! Let’s go out!! It’s my treat today!!”
“Ooh! Are you showing off~!!”
With my friend’s return, I forgot about what had happened earlier and happily left the shop.
But at this moment, I had no idea.
That the fortune-telling I had just roughly done would completely change my life…!!