A/N: Hello! Sorry for the long delay! The fantasy starts here. 
Been doing a little studying on Korea's version of Fungshui. 
Quite similar. This will have some geomancy/pungsu-jiri. 
Please excuse any grammar or spelling mistakes! I'll edit them when I get the chance. 
Enjoy! 

 

Chapter 6

[From: Heechul]

She has impressed me quite well. I’ve extended the offer. 

Taeyeon read the message and smiled. He typed a quick response back.

[To: Heechul]

I told you so. Thank you. I'll tell you more on details later.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he smiled to himself. Taeyeon and his father-in-law were at the shopping district going through antique stores. They’ve walked through multiple shops already, but Leo could not seem to find what he was looking for. Upon entering the oldest store on the block, the father and son-in-law duo walked around the whole store to look. Despite the old and run down look of the storefront, the store had quite a lot of authentic valuables. 

Growing up, Taeyeon’s grandfather had a hobby of collecting antiques. He was quite familiar with a lot of them. He eyed everything carefully, amazed by the quality of many of the items in the display. 

“Look at that Taeyeon! This beautiful vase from the Joseon Dynasty!” Leo came barreling through. Running towards the vase on display. As he was about a meter from the vase, he tripped on the rug causing him to lunge forward. Leo’s eyes widened as he knew what was about to happen, but he couldn’t do anything about it. 

Taeyeon’s eyes widened at the scene. His mouth dropping as he heard the vase fall to the grown breaking. The workers came running towards them. 

“What the hell just ha-!” Yelled the shop keeper, only to see what had happened. He stood frozen trying to process what he had just seen. Then his face turned red as he grew quite angry. Clenching his teeth and his fist, he glared at the man who was on the floor right next to the broken vase. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

Leo felt his face flush in embarrassment and in fear. He quickly rose to his feet, dusting off the dirt from his clothes. He slowly backed up and held up his hands in front of him he pleaded, “It was an accident, lets not be mad right now. If you just kept your rugs properly flattened out, I wouldn’t have tripped on it!” He was beginning to sweat profusely. 

“Do you know the meaning behind this?! This was a belonging to Buddhist Monk Doseon! Despite his buddhist beliefs, he had treasured this vase very dearly. It is worth twenty five million dollars! Do you have the money to pay for that?!” The shop owner yelled. 

Leo gulped as he began to cower, “I-I’m so sorry! But again, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to break it. I tripped on your rug!” 

Taeyeon could only stand to the side with amusement. He had never seen Leo cower like this in public. Only to his wife and his family. But his father had a strange antique collection hobby. Truthfully, half of his antique collections were… well… fake. But Taeyeon didn’t have the heart to tell him. Besides, who was he to him? Just his pathetic son-in-law.

“You just lost this shop an income of twenty five million dollars (29,750,250,000.00 won). Can you afford such price?!” His voice laced with fury that the shopkeeper’s face turned red and purple. 

“I-I don’t have m-money on me at this moment…” Leo said shaking in the corner. 

“I will call the police and have you sent to prison!” Threatened the shopkeeper. 

“P-Please don’t. Please have mercy on me, it was an accident. I don’t even have that kind of m-money!”

“Then you should rot in prison!” 

While the two continued to banter with each other, Taeyeon found a book had fallen from inside the vase. Slowly walking towards the vase he reached for it. Picking it up, Taeyeon inspected the book very carefully. It was a leather bound book with brittle old paper. Flipping through the papers, he saw the righting was in Hanja. Thankfully, he was taught how to read and write Hanja at a young age. 

His eyes read the words ‘Bibo Pungsu’. This caused Taeyeon’s eyebrow to lift. Taeyeon opened the book and began to read what was written in the book. His eyes reading every word on every page. Every time he turned the page, he learned something new. It was like knowing the secrets of the world at his fingertips. It was a whole new concept of knowledge at his fingertips. 

Hearing the cries of Leo, Taeyeon snapped back into reality. He quickly put the book in his satchel discreetly. He saw the vase and remembered the first page of the book. It was how to fix the vase back to its original state. He quickly said, “I can fix the vase for you, and it will look even better than how it was!” 

The shopkeeper scoffed. “You think I’m some idiot? You’re not about to pull out some superglue out of your little man purse and just make it like new again” 

Taeyeon just smiled and shrugged, “What do you have to lose? It’s already broken and not worth anything anymore. If I fix it, it’s back to being worth twenty five million dollars… if not more!” 

The shopkeeper paused and thought for a moment. The kid was right though. What did he have to lose? He already lost the profit, but if there was a chance this kid could fix the vase, he’d be rich again. “Fine, but! If you can’t fix it, you and the old man can rot in prison!”

Leo cowered behind Taeyeon clutching onto his shirt. “Taeyeon, do you think you can really fix that?”

His son-in-law chuckled and nodded his head, “I know what I’m doing dad,” 

It was all thanks to the first page of the book. It must have made that the first page for anyone who broke the vase. Very clever of whoever wrote out this book. “Taeyeon… I don’t want o go to prison!”

“You won’t go to prison. Not with me around,” he smirked. 

Stepping towards the vase, he scanned the pieces before turning to the shopkeeper. “I need some eggs, a bowl, a brush, and some rice paper” Taeyeon said. 

The shopkeeper quickly nodded before ordering one of his staff members to get the items. He wasn’t that dumb, they could’ve used that excuse to escape if he had retrieved the items himself. 

It didn’t take long for one of the staff members to bring all the items requested. They handed it to Taeyeon who quickly took the items and created an egg wash. Using the rice paper on the inside of the vase, he quickly and delicately put everything back together. Leo and the Shopkeeper couldn’t help but watch Taeyeon in awe. 

Leo couldn’t help but wonder how Taeyeon knew how to do such act. He was thankful for his son-in-law for stepping in, but he was still skeptical. But this was better than being thrown into jail for an accident. Although, he does admit that it was a bit careless of him to be running inside the antique store. But, he was not going to admit such faults to anyone. 

When Taeyeon was finished putting the vase together, the shopkeeper was indeed impressed. It looked like it was good as new. “How did you… how did you know such ancient restoration trick?”

Taeyeon just smiled casually, “I did some studying,” 

Just as the shopkeeper was about to put his hands on the vase for further inspection, the front door swung open and a voice yelled, “Do not touch that vase!” 

Everyone turned their heads to the newcomer. Their eyes widened at the sight of who it was. It was none other than the young miss of the Jung family. 

It was no other than Jessica Jung. The eldest granddaughter of the Jung family. She was the favorite of Lord Jung. She was running parts of the family company now. A privilege that none of the other Jung grandchildren had. 

“W-What?” The shopkeeper said stopping halfway from what he was just about to do. 

“Didn’t you say he just did a restoration ritual? You can’t touch it! If what you’re saying is true, that vase can easily be priced double.” The blonde said, walking closer towards them. She walked around the newly restored vase and was highly impressed. She knew a fair amount on antiques. It was a hobby she shared with her grandfather. 

“W-Wha…?” 

Taeyeon couldn’t help but smirk. It was all thanks to the book he had just read. Just as he thought about the book, inside his satchel, the book had turned to dust. But every word in that book had been etched into Taeyeon’s mind. His smirk grew as he felt what was happening to him. 

The blonde turned to look at Taeyeon. She had sharp features and a cold aura to her. She didn’t carry herself like many of those her age, she was different. Since she was a Jung, it only made sense she carried herself this way, with so much dignity and poise. Her family was the most richest and influential in Seoul Hills. Still, she was no match for the Kim family of the City. 

“Who may you be?” She asked looking him up and down. Seeing Taeyeon had her slightly confused. 

“My name is Kim Taeyeon,” Taeyeon smiled politely as he bowed in respect. 

“Aren’t you a little too young to know such techniques, especially in this situation?” 

Taeyeon simply said, “I studied it,” half true and half a lie. He did kinda study it, but it wasn’t his profession in any way shape or form. 

“Well, you are talented,” Jessica smiled complimenting Taeyeon. 

The shopkeeper couldn’t help but blink as he looked at Jessica then Taeyeon then back at Jessica, the vase, then back at Taeyeon. “Did you just… did you just compliment him?!” 

 Jessica turned to looked at the shopkeeper, “Did you know that the egg wash technique hasn’t been used in centuries? It’s not commonly used now. And since it’s the most original and useful technique of restoration, it doubles the value of an item that gets an egg wash. How do you work in antique trading, but don’t know the best way to keep things in best value?” Her eyes cold as ice, it made the shopkeeper shiver. 

Taeyeon couldn’t help but grin at the shopkeeper’s cowardice. 

“I-I… I” the shopkeeper couldn’t say a word. 

“You are dismissed,” the blonde spat as she crossed her arms. Then her demeanor changed, when she turned to look at Taeyeon. 

The blonde couldn’t help but stare him down, trying to analyze him. Her first impression was a bit dismissive of him. She didn’t think much of him, other than the thought of him as a commoner. But he intrigued her. He didn’t look much in status or influence, but it seemed like he was quite different from anyone. 

“You are talented and smart,” Jessica said. 

During all of this, Leo couldn’t help but literally gawk at how the scene played out. He went from fearing his future to just being blown away. His son-in-law is standing before a member of the Jung family and he is being complimented?! Additionally, he actually fixed the vase and raised it’s value?! What in the world was happening? 

The young miss of the Jung family, is respectfully talking to his son-in-law. The one and only live-in-son-in-law of Seoul Hills. His son-in-law had caused his family great distress. He was good for nothing, yet someone of miss Jung’s class is complimenting him. Was he dreaming? 

“Thank you,” Taeyeon politely said as he slightly bowed. 

“I should be thanking you for saving the vase and much more. How can I repay you for your help?” 

Leo quickly thought of a way to make money, but before he could say anything Taeyeon spoke. “Do not worry about it, it was my father-in-law’s fault that the vase had broken in the first place,” 

Leo’s jaw dropped as he got pale. Did Taeyeon just throw him under the bus? “W-What?! Taeyeon don’t say such things! I tripped on that rug!” He yelled. 

Jessica couldn’t help chuckle at the sight of the small banter. She understood where both sides were coming from, kind of. She saw it all play out from the corner of the store. The blonde smiled as said, “Would you like me to get you a ride home?” The blonde kindly offered. 

Taeyeon smiled, “Thank you for your generosity, but we drove here ourselves.” 

The blonde nodded as she looked into her small purse. She pulled out a business card before she handed it to Taeyeon. “Please take my business card. Call if you need anything antique related,” 

Taeyeon took the card and smiled,” Thank you,” He slipped the business card into his wallet before saying, “If it’s fine with you, my father-in-law and I will take our leave” 

She nodded as she motioned towards the door, “Have a good day. I hope to see you again soon” she smiled. 

Taeyeon motioned for his dad to go first. Leo quickly headed straight for the door and out of the store. The fresh air made him let out a long sigh. It felt like all that heavy weight from earlier just lifted, and it was all thanks to his son-in-law. When he saw his son-in-law come out of the store, he couldn’t help but say. “Thank you, Taeyeon” 

This caught Taeyeon by surprise. He had never once thought he would ever say a heartfelt thank you from the man who had always berated him. This was all thanks to the new leaf that had been turned. “You’re welcome dad” he smiled as he led the two of them back to their car. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t mention this to mom and Tiffany?” Taeyeon carefully suggested as him and his father-in-law stepped into the car. 

“Absolutely!” Leo breathed out in relief. What was he going to tell his wife? He broke a very expensive vase because he tripped and that Taeyeon had saved his ? Tiffany would be worried and would lecture him on his antique spending habits. If the two of them can keep this a secret, all would be fine and well.