I arrived at the shop. But wait! The clothes I had taken off were gone.

  ‘Did someone move them? Why aren’t they here?’

  Anxiety surged through me. Even though it was late at night, I called the older sister I worked with. Waking from her sleep, she spoke to me.

  “They looked dirty, so I tossed them in the washing machine. They’re in the shop’s washer. Probably finished spinning by now? I checked the pockets earlier and made sure they were empty. There was nothing in them.”

  ‘Oh no!’

  To hide the fact that I was carrying a talisman, I had sewn a small secret pocket inside my vest. I had kept the pouch in there, hidden from everyone. I dashed toward the shop’s laundry room.

  But...

  Found inside the washing machine after the spin cycle, the silk pouch from my vest was in tatters, looking like a ragged dishcloth.

  “Noooooooo!”

  After that event, once the talisman was ruined, nothing but bad luck followed.

  I bought food ingredients, but they arrived spoiled. Immediately after, a health inspection was conducted, and I was slapped with an absurd fine. I even got into a petty argument over nothing with a close older colleague I treated like my own sister. Finally, she screamed at me.

  “You bitch! What did I do so wrong? Why are you being so prickly? Are you telling me to leave? Just because business is picking up a bit now?”

  Unable to take it anymore, she showered me with curses and went home. I didn’t try to stop her. Though I didn’t say it, I think I held a grudge against her for ruining my talisman.

  She must have been furious because she didn’t show up for work for days. Sensing the atmosphere, the other staff members looked grim as well. With things like this, the shop’s sales hit rock bottom.

  What annoyed me even more was that regular customer. Since that night, he’d been hooking up with the widow from the side-dish shop. People in the market told me they’d seen them going to tea houses, meat restaurants, and bars together.

  I didn't want to know, but every time the two of them entered somewhere, people felt the need to tell me. Knowing that he and I had a thing, the market people began badmouthing him in front of me.

  “He was testing the waters with you, and when he got rejected, he went to that woman from the side-dish shop? What a scumbag.”

  “Exactly. Dirty bastard. Does he just hit on any widow he sees?”

  They poured out insults about him. I knew they were doing it to comfort me, thinking I’d be upset. But I didn’t exactly enjoy hearing them bash him. Was it because I still had feelings for him?

  I told them, “It’s not like that. There was something between us, but we weren't that serious. We certainly weren't dating.”

  At my words, people looked even more flabbergasted.

  “Oh, please. Look at you lying through your teeth. Fine, let's say that's true. Does your heart not ache?”

  Of course, it ached. It burned dry, like seasoned firewood in a furnace. But I couldn't say those things to them. To change the subject, I mentioned that he hadn’t come by for gukbap since then, even though he used to come every single day.

  When I said that, the people replied with frustrated sighs.

  “Goodness, you're a widow to the bone. You should be thinking about changing your fate, not worrying about the sales of your eatery!”

  “Ugh. You’re hopeless. You should be running over there to pull that side-dish woman’s hair out. Why are you worrying about the business at a time like this?”

  I said those things to people, but he wouldn't even meet my eyes. Or perhaps, it was I who refused to meet his.

  The moment I was caught by the police in his car was the turning point where my luck took a sharp turn for the worse. Looking back, that was likely the exact moment the talisman was spinning inside the washing machine.

  When my thoughts reached that point, I realized.

  ‘Everything I enjoyed was only possible because I followed the Dosa-nim’s teachings and cherished the talisman.’

  And I reached a conclusion.

  ‘Since the talisman is ruined, everything is gone! So, if I get a new one...!’

  Immediately, I found the number for the philosophy studio I had noted down and called.

  “Hello. Is this the philosophy studio in Yeongmu Village?”

  A woman picked up the receiver.

  “Who’s this? You lookin' to make an appointment?”

  “Is the Dosa-nim there?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “He ain’t here right now. We don’t do phone consultations. Come in person.”

  She answered in a very businesslike and unfriendly manner. My luck was truly out.

  “Could you tell me where he went?”

  “Why you wanna know where someone else’s husband went?”

  Her reaction was incredibly hostile. Still, I had no choice. I explained that it was an emergency. After a long explanation, she finally told me where he was.

  “He went near Daegu to buy some books and said he’d stop by a client for an off-site consultation on his way back.”

  “Where exactly is the consultation? I’m also near Daegu...”

  Fortunately, the place he visited was near my neighborhood. It seemed my luck hadn't completely run out yet.

  “Since he’s already in the area, could he stop by my place? The address is...”

  When I said this, she spoke in a very clinical voice.

  “Look here, lady. Even if that Dosa guy is already in your area, the fee for an off-site visit is double the usual price.”

  She also gave me a warning.

  “I’ll call the place my husband is visiting and tell him to stop by your eatery as well. But...”

  Suddenly, her voice became dead serious.

  “If you're calling because you've fallen for that handsome Dosa’s looks, a demon will haunt your dreams. If you have any impure intentions toward him, I’ll know instantly. You must never do that.”

  I was speechless at her absurd words.

  “That is my condition for sending the Dosa guy over to you.”

  She was being serious, but it felt like a hilarious joke to me. When I tried to laugh it off, she demanded I make a vow.

  “Yes, I so-lemn-ly swear~ that I shall harbor no lustful thoughts toward the Dosa-nim~.”

  I made the vow in a slightly sarcastic tone. Surprisingly, the woman on the other end sounded very satisfied.

  “Alright then. I’ll send the Dosa guy over.”

  After hanging up, I thought to myself, ‘He really must be a true spiritual guide. It’s as if he knows exactly when I need him most and appears just in time to help.’ She said the fee for an off-site visit was double, but that was much cheaper than closing the eatery and going there myself. I waited for the Dosa-nim.

  The Dosa-nim and the Little Dosa appeared. The Dosa-nim was in ordinary clothes, and the Little Dosa was sucking on a large lollipop, wearing shorts. As they opened the door and entered the eatery, I approached them. The Dosa-nim asked the boy.

  “How does this person’s physiognomy look to you?”

  The boy who had previously called me miserable. ‘He’ll probably say I’m miserable again.’ I expected the answer and lost heart. But the Little Dosa, sucking his lollipop, looked at me and said:

  “She’s an ordinary but elegant and pretty lady.”

  “Hey! Who do you take after to talk like that? Did I tell you to look at her beauty? I told you to read her face!”

  At the Dosa-nim’s scolding, the Little Dosa looked at me intently.

  “Well, it’s an ordinary face. But why...”

  The boy trailed off. Did he see something? Was he about to say I was miserable after all?

  “Why did you stop? Keep talking.”

  At the Dosa-nim’s command, the Little Dosa spoke.

  “Why does this lady give off the vibe that she’s in a relationship? Well, she has a good face and a good body, so she could definitely attract men, but it’s a bit... risky. If she were a widow, maybe, but at this rate, I’m afraid she’ll end up on the news.”

  The Little Dosa didn't seem to recognize me at all. He was saying things completely different from what he had said last year. Then, the Dosa-nim, who had been smiling silently, asked me.

  “So, why did you call for me?”

  I couldn't answer. It was hard to admit I had ruined the talisman. When I remained silent, he asked again.

  “Looking at your current energy and the eatery, you seem to be doing well these days. What are you worried about?”

  Fumbling, I silently held out the silk pouch that had been torn apart in the washing machine. Looking at the pouch, he laughed and said.

  “You certainly kept it well. Your energy looks bright, and you seem to have become happy... Isn't that a good thing? Did you see what was inside?”

  “No. You told me never to open it and to keep it on me at all times. So, except for when I bathed, I always had it with me.”

  Even after hearing this, the Dosa-nim laughed it off as if it were nothing.

  “You followed the rules I gave you, didn't you? Your energy tells me you did.”

  “Yes. I followed them all.”

  I looked at him as I spoke. Then he said:

  “You’ve become happy, haven't you? Then isn't everything fine?”

  “Yes, but the talisman... the talisman ended up like this.”

  I held it out to him again. Without even looking at it properly, the Dosa-nim said.

  “That object has already done its job. You don't need something like that anymore.”

  It sounded like he was refusing to write me another one. I knelt before him.

  “From the day you gave it to me until now, I haven’t let it leave my side for a single day. Please, write me just one more. I’ll pay whatever it costs.”

  The Dosa-nim grabbed my elbows and lifted me up, looking flustered.

  “Goodness, why are you kneeling? If you put that much sincerity into it, no wonder the eatery did well.”

  “Yes, business was great, and everything was going well. But...”

  “But why did you call me? My wife said you sounded very desperate.”

  Then, I explained the situation.

  “The one day, truly just once, that I went out without it, a staff member put the vest with the talisman in the washing machine.”

  “Ah, that can happen. You didn't yell at the staff member or anything, right?”

  The Dosa-nim didn't worry about the talisman; he only worried about the staff. It was a bit absurd. Still, I told him my predicament.

  “Ever since the talisman was ruined, nothing, not the eatery and not my love life, is working out.”

  The Dosa-nim said, “Isn't it just your mood?”

  “No! I was hit with a fine I shouldn't have paid, and I broke up with the man I was dating. If things keep going like this, the eatery will fail, I’ll never meet the ‘decent man’ you mentioned, and I’ll end up dead.”

  At my words, the Dosa-nim spoke firmly.

  “That wasn't a talisman.”

  “What?”

  “What I gave you wasn't a talisman.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Did I ever once tell you that pouch was a talisman?”

  I asked him again, bewildered. Then he said to me:

  “Traditionally, a talisman is written on yellow paper dyed with gardenia, using finely ground cinnabar mixed with sesame oil. And before writing a talisman, one must pray, light incense, and perform many rituals.”

  Thinking back, the Dosa-nim hadn't done any of those things back then.

  “So, are you saying you need more money because it takes so much sincerity to make one?”

  He waved his hand.

  “I’m saying, don't you remember that I didn't do any of those things back then?”

  “What?”

  It was true. I hadn't seen any yellow paper, let alone cinnabar or a brush.

  “Doesn't that mean what’s inside isn't a talisman? Go ahead and open the silk pouch.”

  I was startled. “But you told me never to open it!”

  “Things that are closed and tied are meant to be opened and untied someday. You can open it now. It’s so torn up it’ll be easy to open anyway. Try it.”

  Pushed by his words, I tore the remaining threads of the silk pouch and opened it. As I opened that red silk pouch I had believed to be a talisman... inside was a piece of paper torn from a notebook, with words scribbled haphazardly in ballpoint pen.

  [ Il-Che-Yu-Sim-Jo (Everything is created by the mind) ]