The shaman's place was in a back alley in Euljiro.
There wasn't even a sign. The navigation app had finished giving directions, but all Dohwa could see in front of her was an old metal gate. She checked her phone again. The address was right. When her grandmother had dragged her here back in high school, she'd dozed off in the taxi and hadn't remembered where they'd arrived. So this was the kind of place it was.
She pushed the metal gate. It creaked open. A narrow staircase led underground. A single fluorescent light flickered overhead.
'Is this really the place?'
Dohwa went down the stairs. At six foot two, her shoulders brushed the walls in the narrow stairwell. That had never happened when she was a woman.
There was a door at the bottom. It was wooden. She was about to knock when a voice came from inside.
"Come in."
Dohwa opened the door.
The room was cleaner than she'd expected. The smell of incense hung in the air. One wall was covered in talismans, while a small table and two cushions sat across from it. A woman was seated behind the table. She looked to be in her fifties. With her ordinary knit sweater and glasses, she looked more like the director of a neighborhood cram school than a shaman.
"Sit."
Dohwa sat on a cushion. Her knees came up to the height of the table. The woman looked her up and down.
"You're the one who called?"
"Yes."
"Your voice sounded different on the phone."
Dohwa kept her mouth shut. She'd used the highest voice she could manage on the phone. It was a habit—a habit of trying to speak in a woman's voice. But in this body, there was only so high she could go.
"It's just that..."
"Never mind. I can tell by looking at you."
The woman took Dohwa's hand. Her hand was cold. She stared at Dohwa's palm for a long time, then closed her eyes. Her lips moved as she muttered something. Dohwa sat still. Her heart was pounding.
After about a minute, the woman opened her eyes.
"It's a curse."
"...Excuse me?"
"You weren't originally in this body, were you?"
Dohwa felt like her breath had stopped. How did she know when Dohwa hadn't said a word?
"That's right. I was originally a woman. I was a woman until yesterday, but when I woke up this morning, I was like this..."
"I know. I can see it."
The woman picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. Her composure only made Dohwa more anxious.
"Can you break it?"
"It can be broken. But you have to do it."
"Me?"
"That's how curses work. The person who was cursed has to break it. It's not something I can do for you."
The woman set down her teacup.
"What did you say last night?"
Dohwa hesitated. Last night. The drinks. The words she'd said in front of Yeonwoo.
"...I said, 'If I were a man, I would've treated you better.'"
"That's it."
The woman nodded.
"What you said became a curse. More precisely, the sincerity in your words was so strong that your body followed them. It's not common, but it does happen sometimes. To people whose hearts are so desperate that their bodies move first."
"Then what do I have to do to turn back?"
"It's simple."
The woman looked straight at Dohwa.
"You have to act on what you said."
"...What?"
"You said you'd become a man and treat her better, didn't you? Then treat her better. The person you said it to. Sincerely. Once she accepts your sincerity, the curse will be broken."
Dohwa sat there in a daze. Yeonwoo's face rose in her mind.
All she had to do was treat Yeonwoo better? As a man? But Yeonwoo didn't know her. Not this version of her. If a complete stranger came up to her and started treating her well, would that even count?
"Um, she doesn't know me. Not like this."
"That's for you to figure out. Do you really think a curse would be kind enough to make things easy?"
The woman let out a quiet laugh. Dohwa couldn't laugh.
"One more thing."
The woman raised one finger.
"There's no time limit. But the moment you give up, it's over. You'll live in that body forever. Understand?"
Dohwa nodded. Her hands were trembling.
She stepped outside. Afternoon sunlight slanted through the alleys of Euljiro. People passed by. No one paid Dohwa any attention, even though a six-foot-two heartthrob was standing there in a daze.
Dohwa leaned her back against the wall and looked up at the sky.
She had to treat Yeonwoo better. As a man. As a stranger. Yeonwoo had to accept that sincerity.
'How?'
Yeonwoo was kind. Warm. But that was how she acted toward her friend Dohwa. If a complete stranger suddenly approached her, wouldn't anyone be wary? Especially since she had a boyfriend.
But if Dohwa gave up, she'd be in this body forever.
Dohwa took out her phone. Yeonwoo's KakaoTalk profile was on the screen. A photo of her smiling faintly, without any makeup. Dohwa had taken it.
'Yeonwoo.'
Dohwa spoke to her silently.
'I'm going to come to you. As a man you don't know. But it's me. I'm Dohwa.'
She slipped her phone into her pocket and clenched her fist. It was a man's fist, large and thick-knuckled.
First, she had to choose a name. She couldn't go on living as Baek Dohwa.
Dohwa thought as she walked. Something that carried on from Dohwa's Do. A name that would keep her from forgetting who she was.
"...Kangyeon Do."
The name sounded strange coming from her lips. Strange, but not bad.
Kangyeon Do. Starting today, she'd live by that name.
Dohwa—or rather, Kangyeon—walked out through the alleys of Euljiro. Her six-foot-two shadow stretched long behind her. She walked with her shoulders squared. She was still trembling, but she kept her back straight.
Because she had to go to Yeonwoo.