[Second Trial – Gather & Conquer]

[You have met the requirements]

The requirements were only revealed to us after the time for the Second Trial ran out.

[You qualify to participate in the Third Trial]

I was taking a shower and almost slipped when I finally read what the requirements were.

[Second Trial – Gather & Conquer]

- Make a Friend

- Use the Store

- Improve your Status

- Gain more than 3000 points

- Equip an armor

- Use an item

- Send a Gift or Participate in a Duel

Win a Duel to receive a Bonus reward!

[Contracted Self Park Eun-Woo fulfills all mandatory requirements]

So basically…

The Second Trial was a tutorial mission to get players acquainted with the system and the game mechanics.

And more than a hundred people had died because of it.

We all received the system’s message when time ran out, a list with the names of all the Selves who couldn’t pass the trial. I didn’t finish counting, yet I did give the whole list a quick glance, relieved to see no familiar names in it.

Apparently, Dunya, Grace, and Arman had survived as well. I hadn’t tried to search for them yet. Not sure I would.

[You have received a message]

[You have received a message]

I was finishing my meal, the coffee still cooling in my cup. There was only one coffee store in the food court, and it sold only three types of things.

Hot or cold coffee, hot or cold beverage, and sweet or salty pastry. Apparently, the system would materialize the food or drink you liked most, or the one you thought of when purchasing it.

At least that damned system knew how to feed us properly.

[Where are you?]

[We need to discuss things before the Trial.]

I didn’t even have to guess who had sent me the messages.

I replied with the same informal tone.

[Food court.]

Silly me if I thought he would leave me be after knowing where I was.

[You remember the ruins from before, right?

Go there now.]

[I’m finishing my breakfast.]

[Do you use your legs to eat?

Just come. We are waiting.]

I sighed, taking one last bite of the sweet bread in my hand. That guy was too anxious for his own good. We still had almost two hours till the Third Trial, and it wasn’t as if we hadn’t had any meetings in the past day.

I had shared the information I got from Quinn with Kurosawa, in exchange for some healing potions. They were not as easy to come by, according to what Kurosawa said, so it was a good deal. He had also come to the same conclusions I did.

Yet I was quite surprised when neither Kurosawa Touma nor Aída seemed to know about Tarot, much less the twins. Well, if they had strict upbringings and never knew anyone who had contact with the cards, it was not that surprising.

Kurosawa asked many questions about it, most of which I had no idea how to answer. Who created the Tarot, what was the purpose behind it, specific information about the cards, and so on.

The more he asked the more I cursed myself for always making fun of Hyeon. For never paying much attention to her whenever she started talking about these things.

Perhaps I could try to find someone here who not only knew about Tarot but also knew how to do readings.

“Oh! The older mister is here!” Hil was the first one who saw me approaching, waving her hand with a bright smile. I felt my heart warming against my chest.

“You took too long.”

Yet one glance at Kurosawa’s face almost took all the warmth away.

“Did you expect me to come running?”

“I expected you to be quick.”

“Well, I’m here regardless. So, what shall we discuss today? Boss.”

His eyes narrowed for a second. Beside him, Aída stood still with a joyful glow in her blue and hazel eyes. Yet my gaze lingered on the necklace around her neck.

The one I had gifted her.

“I believe we will be moved to the next trial as soon as the clock hits twelve. Eun-Woo, you said you don’t remember much about this Trial’s card?”

“I said I don’t know much about anything related to these cards. I know each suit and each card has a meaning and interpretation, but apart from that—”

“Are you sure?” The dark edge in Kurosawa’s voice startled me for a moment, a certain urgency making his eyes even sharper and blacker. “Any information you provide us may be what guarantees our victory. So as someone hired to give his best, I need you to be sure. Isn’t there anything else you can recall?”

Suddenly all eyes were on me. Not only could I feel their pressure, but their weight. Of the promise of an easier victory; survival. Yet no matter how much I wanted to help them, it was of no use.

I didn’t remember. Things related to the cards were a blur, and when I didn’t even know what the Four of Wands looked like, there was nothing that came to mind. I opened my inventory, checking my current cards again.

Their designs and art were nothing alike any cards Hyeon had ever shown me…

Between the first and second Trial, I couldn’t see any resemblances, so it wouldn’t do too much good trying to compare them.

What about the Wands status? I was almost certain that the status each suit represented was not random. Wands improved my strength and stamina, it focused on physical attributes. So did that mean that Wands trials would focus more on physical challenges?

But then what about the last one? We did nothing.

It was at that moment, as I stared into my status window, that an idea popped up. My eyes lit up, thoughts racing through my mind.

What if I could force myself to remember?

“Do any of you have a high Sword status?”

Confusion filled their eyes, everyone furrowing their brows except one person.

“Hal does! His Swords is really high, it’s more than—”

The boy silenced his sister by covering her mouth, his gaze falling on me with suspicion.

“Why do you ask?”

“Did you feel any difference as you raised Swords? Like, your perception got better, your mind sharper, or perhaps even your memory?”

Apart from Wands, I hadn’t noticed significant changes when I raised my status. But Wands improved my body, Coins was all about Luck, and my guess was that Cups was for an equivalent of mana.

That only left Swords and my bet was it improved things related to the mind. So perhaps the changes would be harder to tell at first glance.

Hal widened his eyes, a hint of amusement on his lips.

“It did, actually.”

A smile brightened my face.

“Great.”

I raised my Swords by ten, making it as high as Coins.

I directed my thoughts to the past. To the many days I spent with Hyeon, the days she would talk about specific things, forcing myself to remember her words.

After five minutes had passed, I increased another 3 points.

C’mon, there must be something. Hyeon wouldn’t shut up about those things, there has to be something we can use now.

I was about to spend more points when I heard an echo. Fading words from a memory I had completely forgotten.

I ran after that sound, those words—forced the memory to resurface. That day, I met Hyeon at a café, during lunch. It was pouring outside, and I had forgotten my umbrella at my desk.

「… ■ ■, you know Sujin, that bitch?」

「The one you that broke things off with you after she learned about your shitty personality?」

「Fuck off! I was the one who broke things off. Anyway, a few months back I heard she started seeing someone else, so I did a reading—」

「Please, not again… Isn’t this a privacy violation? If I were Sujin, I would sue you.」

I remembered Hyeon slapping the cookie I was about to eat out of my hand.

「As I was saying, I did a reading a few months ago, yet I was sure I was reading things wrong. I even took a picture, because it just made no sense, you know?」

I got my cookie back from my lap, looking Hyeon’s phone with as much interest as I could muster. I saw many cards spread out almost randomly, with one at the center.

「And what, whatever the cards showed happened?」

「Yes! First, that bitch lied to me about liking women, then she lied about her debt, and finally, I learn this.」

As I focused on the picture, the blurry image became clearer and clearer. The card at the center, although I could not see much, had two details I focused on.

The number four.

And the happy faces of the two people holding hands.

I could hear the anger in Hyeon’s voice as clearly as I could see the sadness in her eyes.

「Sujin…that bitch is getting—」

“Married,” I suddenly blurted out, my eyes going for the four people around me.

Kurosawa did not seem happy with what I said. “Are you still playing games, Park Eun-Woo?”

I shook my head, going back to that memory with Hyeon again and again inside my mind. No, I was sure of it. No matter how many times I recalled it, I was certain about what she said to me that day.

And it was about that one card, at the center of the reading.

“This card, Four of Wands, I remember it being about marriage. At least this one time, with my friend.”

Kurosawa seemed conflicted. As if he could not decide if I was insane or trying to make fun of him.

I rolled my eyes, taking a few steps closer to them.

“Look, these cards… From what my friend often told me, they are not restricted to one meaning. They have this… idea, of what they represent. Depending on the situation, or the cards surrounding them, they can represent one thing or another.”

That got both Kurosawa and Aída thinking.

“Basically, what you are saying is that marriage could be one interpretation based on the ‘idea’ of this card?” Aída asked, her hand grasping her new necklace.

I nodded once. “Yes, this could be a good way to explain it.”

Kurosawa fell silent, his eyes deep in thought.

“What could be other interpretations, then?” he asked without looking at me.

This is the thing I want to know the most…

“Perhaps we can think about what marriage can symbolize. We may find similar themes.” Aída suggested, her gaze sharper as she glanced between us.

“That could work,” Kurosawa replied, his eyes staring at the ground. Then he met my gaze, his voice certain as he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “A contract. By definition, marriage is but a contractual transaction between two people.”

I suppressed my urge to laugh.

“Cap, you didn’t date much back in the real world…did you?” Aída’s voice was almost apologetic.

“Why would I waste my time with those things?”

To me, the amusing thing was how offended Kurosawa sounded by her question.

“What about a party?!” Hil raised her hand, her voice infused with so much glee it almost made me forget why we were discussing such things in the first place. “People like to celebrate marriages with parties, right?”

Aída ruffled Hildr’s hair, her words kind and sweet. “You are completely right.”

Hal seemed to be lost in thought before he gave his own answer, kicking a rock a few meters away with both hands in his pockets.

“Maybe…family. People who marry each other become family, right? Or they want to create one.”

There was a sorrowful tone in the boy’s voice, it was enough to grip my heart tight and crush it. I wanted to ask. I wanted to hug the twins and say things were going to be good from now on, yet I didn’t want to lie.

Hil hugged Hal’s arm, the boy patting his sister on the head before Aída spoke.

“Wouldn’t love be an option? Or something like a union?”

Kurosawa turned back to me. “Don’t you have ideas of your own? You are the one who is familiar with these cards.”

An idea of what “marriage” could mean…?

To me, the first thing that crossed my mind was ‘an impossible feat’. Something I knew, in my previous life, would never be attainable to me.

Something I would think about sometimes, even long for. While others, it simply seemed too bothersome and complicated to even try.

Yet this was not about what marriage meant to me. It was about the cards. And one thing I could still visualize in the card Hyeon showed me was the expression on the couple’s face. Something that, for a moment, I envied.

“…happiness.”

Although I gave my answer, I was not sure the others heard me. As I spoke, we all heard bells coming from afar, followed by a message from the system.

[Third Trial – Till Death Do Them Part]

[You will be moved to the Trial’s location for the Preparation Stage]

[Your Squad is being defined…]

[Squad Selected]

All these messages appeared one after another, barely giving us any time to react.

“Listen! In case we get separated, contact the others through messages. Do not act on your own before we can assess the trial—”

The system never let Kurosawa finish his sentence.

Before I could blink, my body was enveloped by light, and then we were all gone.