Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Chapter 76

Hojoon escorted Arum into the tea room. She passed by his study that she visited before, then arrived before a sliding door.

“I’m here, dad,” he announced his presence and opened the door.

It was quite a large room. One side of the wall was filled with all kinds of tea cups.

Paekhoon was boiling water before the tea table.

The tea table was a rectangular type with a length of one meter. It looked as if a tree was lying on the floor. There were small and big tea cups on the tea table.

“Welcome,” said Paekhoon, greeting them with a bright smile.

“What incident have you brought here this time?”

Even before she sat down, her face flushed.

“Oh, the reason is…” she stammered.

What excuse could she make?

While she was thinking hard, Paekhoon let Hojoon go out briefly on the pretext that he had to protect his client’s privacy.

When he went out, she felt much more comfortable.

“I prescribed geomancy advice that would dampen the love luck of the newlyweds’ house of my ex-boyfriend right before his wedding. What should I do?”

“So what?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking your frame of mind now. I’m just asking what you want to do. The client is not your ex-boyfriend, but you, reporter Yang, who is sitting in front of me. Since Hojoon has left this room, just tell me what you want to say frankly.”

“Well, I….”

“Just tell me honestly. For example, I want to have him, split up with him, or take him away, et cetera. One’s mind is torn between a myriad of different motivations and thoughts, but you can’t judge which one is good or bad.”

“I would like to restore him back to his original place. Is it possible?”

“Every problem is supposed to have its own solution. So, don’t worry.”

Paekhook hit the side of the brass bowl on the tea table with a wooden stick. Though it looked like a plain soup bowl, it rang a mysterious sound. It was like a gracious bell. Originating from within the bowl, its sound echoed throughout the room.

Arum felt strange upon hearing the sound.

“I really didn’t want him to cancel off the marriage,” she said, making an excuse.

Paekhoon didn’t say anything.

She was more nervous amid a long silence.

Finally, Arum said, “In fact, I wanted his disengagement because I felt so bad about him. I thought it was not fair that I alone got my marriage cancelled off. So, I wanted to get even with him. But at the same time, I wanted to meet him again since we broke up. When he told me he was cancelling off his marriage, I suddenly came to my senses, and I also realized that this was not what I wanted.”

“So, what do you want me to do for you, reporter Yang?”

“I just wish Konsu will go on his own way, so that I wouldn’t feel like seeing him again. I hope he gets married to his current fiancé and lives a wonderful married life. Though I might feel jealous, I still hope he won’t come back to me to confess love or say he was sorry back then. I don’t want to hear his excuses like that ever again.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” she answered without breathing. “I really want him to get married. He shouldn’t be allowed to cancel off the marriage. I don’t want to marry him. If he confessed he cancelled off the marriage because of me and clung to me, saying he loved me, I really won’t be able to stand it. How can I marry him when I don’t love him?”

She was sincere, and desperate.

Was there any real geomancy way to solve her problem? She would never have cast a look at geomancy if she had known that her situation would get so complicated like now.

Arum was nervous because he might say, ‘I don’t have any solution.’

Paekhoon looked at her with a sympathetic look.

“It’s really difficult to correct somebody’s wicked intentions.”

Arum got more nervous now.

“I just did it impulsively. I didn’t know how bad it was back then. Can you find any good solution?”

“Of course, I know a way.”

He twisted his body and opened the wooden box.

She stared at it, thinking he might have a secret method in it. But there was a tiny refrigerator there which stored rare tea leaves.

Then he took out a tea bottle with the drawing of a beautiful lady, who could be seen in Chinese classics.

“Let’s have a cup of tea.”

He slowly brewed tea.

“This tea is called the Beauty of the East. If you drink it, you will have a beautiful mind like her.”

Without paying any attention to her extreme nervousness, he just focused on brewing tea. He chose tea cups, boiled water, and heated the tea cups.

She was anxious to hear the answer right away. An orange tea soon filled the white cup to the brim.

“Even its fragrance resembles the beauty,” said he jokingly.

Arum smiled a fake smile at that.

‘Can he give me the answer quickly if I drink it quickly?’

She sipped the hot tea quickly.

“Your second tea is the real beginning.”

He then poured tea again in the cup.

As if to show her indomitable spirit, she drank the second tea quickly without caring about its fragrance or taste. Emptying the cup, she looked at him.

‘Tell me now!’

But he held the kettle again.

‘What shall I do?’

She had to give him her cup for another fill.

“This tea really tastes sweet,” she said woodenly.

“You know how to drink it.”

Feeling satisfied with her sipping, he poured tea into the cup slowly.

Resigned to her situation, she held the cup again.

“Huh?”

This time it was just water.

“It looks like you gave me wrong tea,” she said.

She pushed her cup back to his side.

“No, that’s a special tea I made for you, reporter Yang. Drink it quickly.”

Recommending the tea to her, he fiddled the lid of the tea kettle.

Come to think of it, the tea kettle with which he poured tea in her cup was not the one he had been using up to now, but a white pottery right next to it.

Arum drank the water. As he prepared it in advance, it was lukewarm.

“How about the taste?”

Arum tasted it, but didn’t feel any special taste. It was just plain water.

“I don’t know it well.”

“Yeah, you’re right. No taste, no smell. Those are the characteristics of this tea.”

He then poured tea once again, and then he put the kettle between her and himself.

“Aren’t you curious about this tea?”

He spoke in a tone as if he already read her mind. He slowly opened the lid.

She craned her neck to look inside the kettle. She was so curious what kind of tea he brewed.

And then he took out something from the kettle with a pair of bamboo pincers.

“Oh my god!”

Arum was surprised. There, she found a bright violet jewel. The jewel, wet with water, looked fresh.

“This is the answer.”

He put the jewel into her cup. At that moment, the water in the cup seemed to be stained with purple.

“How can I drink it?’

Arum felt somewhat uncomfortable. She drank it without any concern, knowing it was water. But when she thought the water now contained a jewel, she felt leery about it, though it looked beautiful.

“Just think of it as medicine and drink it.”

As he prodded on, she drank the tea again. While she was drinking it, she could see the jewel right before her eyes. She felt good while watching it sparkling in the water.

“This is called the violet quartz tea that also appears in Donguibogam or the Old Korean Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine.”

Ah, the identity of this violet jewel was violet quartz!

She could trust its veracity as he said it appeared in Donguibogam.

“There is a record in Donguibogam that our ancestors enjoyed boiling violet quartz from ancient times. When they drink it over a period of time, it allegedly keeps their body warm. And those women who couldn’t get pregnant also used to drink this tea. So, the more you believe its effect, the more effects you will enjoy.”

“Is this jewel kind of a therapy?

“You’re a real reporter! Yes, I was looking for the right word. You have found it for me. Jewel therapy! Fantastic expression! The word ‘birthstone’ was all the rage in the past.”

“My favorite is diamond.”

“Regardless of the East and the West, in the past, jewels were loved by everybody. It’s not just because jewels were expensive. They believed in the bright, unique energy force of jewels.”

“Like the crystal room of the sauna house?”

“You just took it right out of my mouth. I don’t know who thought of such an idea, but it was very good. Why did they create a crystal room? Because it had the effect of curing diseases; namely healing.”

“Then, is this tea the secret method?”

“It can’t be. You have to first comfort the man who was hurt. You can do it only when you have the right frame of mind.”

‘Why is he so slow in giving me the solution?’

Arum got scared suddenly.