1- Prologue: Manshin’s Up
#One. Prologue: Manshin’s Karma
A skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan.
[Maggie & John Invest]
“Matthew, as of today, you are fired. Pack your bags right now.”
While drinking his morning coffee, Matthew’s heart sank at the sudden notice of dismissal.
“yes? Is it because of the $1 million loss yesterday? Didn’t I tell you it was defended with minimal losses? Compared to the amount of money I’ve earned so far…”
“shut up. I don’t want to leave my fund money to an asshole who is drugged all day, so get out of here.”
“That, how did you do that…”
“If you understand, get out of here immediately.”
Matthew couldn’t argue any longer and left the building.
The weather outside the office was exceptionally nice.
Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building in front of me were shining dazzlingly as if they were laughing at me.
‘Damn it…’
Matthew thought slowly about how his life had gotten to this point.
His feet were still headed for a drug dealer in Manhattan’s Koreatown.
***
Korean American Matthew J. Cohen.
My Korean name is Jihyeok Kang.
Master of Business Administration, Stanford University.
Adopted to the United States at the age of five, Ji-hyeok was living a decent life.
Considering that he had adoptive parents, a wealthy Jewish lawyer instead of adoptive parents who were drunkards and drug addicts, as shown in the drama, he could have been called lucky.
Perhaps it was because he was adopted at an age where he could think to some extent, Ji-hyeok did his best to study or whatever in order not to disappoint his adoptive parents.
In 2005, 23-year-old Jihyeok finished his bachelor’s and master’s courses in four years and went straight to work at the world’s largest financial company called ‘Lehman Brothers’.
Ji-hyeok’s life started to get twisted around two years after he joined the company.
‘Quickly leave.’
‘This is not a place for you to be.’
‘Follow the guidance of Sasseokcheon.’
It was clear that the damn hallucinations were now in Korean, with vague memories.
When I first heard hallucinations, I thought it was because of the stress accumulated while working as a fund manager on Wall Street.
I received various psychological and psychiatric counseling, but to no avail.
When I left the Jewish church to borrow the power of religion, the condition became even more serious and I began to see visions.
Ji-hyeok, who had been fighting hallucinations for over a year, faced another difficulty.
– 2008 US financial crisis.
Ji-hyeok’s workplace, Lehman Brothers, the world’s largest investment bank, was dismantled due to a failure in mortgage derivatives investment and capital erosion.
After losing his job and becoming unemployed, the hallucinations subsided a little.
Thanks to this, Ji-hyeok recovered his body and made up his mind to get a job again.
It was a time when a cold wind blew through Wall Street, but a third-year finance person with the best academic background in the United States and a low salary compared to practical work was welcomed anywhere.
After getting a job at a hedge fund called ‘Maggie & John Invest’ with a capital of around $1 billion, Ji-hyeok quickly established himself as an analyst and fund manager.
Profitability has also risen to the top level in the industry.
The moment I thought everything was back to normal, the damn hallucinations and hallucinations started again.
At least, the illusion, which did not appear during working hours at the company, now appeared without even trying, and was constantly heard even while sleeping.
Hallucinations and black shadows mixed with screams and high voices.
And a broken body.
It was a painful time.
In the end, Ji-hyeok, who couldn’t find a way, started touching things he shouldn’t touch.
Ji-hyeok, who had never smoked cannabis, used methamphetamine and cocaine as stimulants.
Strangely, others say that taking medicine causes hallucinations, but on the contrary, Ji-hyeok’s hallucinations and hallucinations have disappeared.
However, drug addiction was inevitably accompanied by manic depression, and Ji-hyeok became more obsessed with drugs.
‘I thought I hid it well…’
Eventually everything got ruined.
***
Ji-hyeok’s situation worsened when he lost his job.
Cocaine was a much more expensive drug than I thought, and the money I had accumulated in just over three years of work quickly ran out.
If I had anything of the opposite s*x left, I would have asked my adoptive parents for help and entered rehab, but I started lying because I was afraid of hallucinations and hallucinations that would start again.
He told his adoptive parents that he had left the company to do an investment business personally, and encouraged them to invest.
The lie worked so well that it was so easy.
The adoptive parents willingly invested the $5 million they had saved for retirement into Ji-hyeok’s fund.
Ji-hyeok, who made a gambling-like investment in a more impatient mind because of the medicine, lost 90% of his investment in less than six months.
More than half of the remaining 10% was spent on medicines.
The one who saved Ji-hyeok from a hopeless situation was Lee Hwa-dyeong, a clown shaman who met while shopping for cocaine in Koreatown in Flushing, Queens.
As soon as Lee Hwa Doryeong saw Ji Hyuk, he clicked his tongue in pity.
“Tsk tsk, how could I have endured until that age? There are all sorts of miscellaneous ghosts hanging around…”
Jihyeok heard Lee Hwa Doryeong’s words as if he knew something, and immediately began to ejaculate.
I felt like grabbing at least a straw.
“Please, please save me.”
“The only way for you to live is to become a shaman. When your mind is clear, come to the shrine.”
Jihyeok didn’t believe Lee Hwa Doryeong’s words from the beginning.
Jihyeok, who had lived as an American for over 20 years, knew about shamanism culture in each country, but thought it was a simple superstition.
However, as soon as I entered the shrine of Ihwadoryeong in Flushing and smelled the faint scent of incense, I had no choice but to believe it as the hallucinations faded like a lie.
“It was just that the god I serve drove away the evil spirits attached to you for a while.”
“Is there really no other way than becoming a shaman?”
Ihwadoryeong, who had been thinking for a while, carefully opened his mouth.
“You can try Nulimgut, but it won’t be easy because your ears are open enough. But if you want to try, I won’t stop you.”
“I will give you any money. Please get rid of this disgusting hallucination.”
So, in the middle of New York, an exorcism was held for three days.
however······.
The exorcism, which cost 30,000 dollars, only made Ji-hyeok’s condition worse.
“aaagh! turn it off, turn it off! Ugh! Please save me…!”
When he was almost in a state of delirium, Lee Hwa Doryeong, who was worse than him, recommended that he go to Korea.
“It seems that your magical powers are not at a level that I can measure. If you go to a place called Tongyeong in Korea, there is a mansin named Jang Soon-deok. I heard that you no longer hold exorcism because you are a Nogura who is close to 80, but it seems that there is no one other than him who can calm your supernatural powers.”
Mansin is a word that originated in the northern region and was used to refer to female shamans.
Occasionally, he added that among the male shamans, there are cases in which a person with high magical power is called a mansin.
“I will go. I will go to Korea right now.”
Jihyeok had always thought of going to Korea, but not like this.
‘I wanted to succeed and go, but…’
Ji-hyeok, who arrived in Korea with an exhausted body and met Jang Sun-deok after asking around, was surprised once again.
Jang Soon-deok, facing Ji-hyeok, said with a very sad expression.
“Hey, I was waiting for you. Fortunately, it’s not too late.”
When Jang Soon-deok, whom he had never seen before, said as if he knew him, Ji-hyeok was surprised and asked back.
“Do you know who I am? Perhaps Lee Hwa Doryeong…”
Mansin Zhang Shundeok shook his head slowly and said.
“Twenty-seven years ago, there was a child who was born with the karma of a mansin through the fortune telling of the Samsinjeseok. I thought that a child born with that kind of magical power would surely come to visit me, but strangely, after a few years, I stopped feeling the energy.”
“That, do you mean that is me?”
“Why not? not much to say Start by preparing to receive God’s coming down.”
“Oh, old man… Wouldn’t it be better to do a nulim-gut instead of a naerim-gut? I don’t want to be a shaman or anything.”
Mansin Jang Shundeok shook his head.
“My child, it is a miracle that the Mansin’s lumber, which was ordained by the Samsinjeseok, is still alive and not descended. How can you resist the heavens and live?”
“Ha, but… so much.”
“Oh, how hard it must have been. Don’t worry, this old man will be your new mother.”
Mansin Jang Soon-deok patted Ji-hyeok’s back with his wrinkled skin.
Since he was also born with the fate of a mansin, he must have known Ji-hyeok’s pain better.
Jang Soon-deok looked at Ji-hyeok, who was still shedding tears like chicken poop, and said.
“How could the fate of the gods be only darkness? Sometimes a brilliant life will be waiting in front of you, so don’t be too sad.”