“I’m sorry to come here without any notice—I was afraid you might be asleep, and since this is such an urgent matter…”

“No need to apologize, really.” If anything, I’m just glad you came, at all. “You said we can use the cards to read the future?”

Aída smiled, nodding once. “Yes! I was doing some exploring and found these standing stones around a table. According to the system, if you gather at least three cards, you can bring them to one of these locations and use them to read your future.”

I suppressed a laugh.

How the possibility hadn’t come to me before was beyond me. It was almost too obvious. It was Tarot, after all. Of course, we would be able to use the cards for readings.

If Hyeon was here, she would freak out.

“Do you have enough cards? If not, we can pass by the Store.”

I shook my head. “No need, I have enough.”

I opened my inventory, looking at my new items. After Kurosawa gave me the cards, I purchased a few things at the Store as well. I got two more cards and a necklace.

[Pharos’ Third Eye - B Class Armor]

[A necklace used by the great Pharos, believed to be the source of their illusions and powers; It shall provide its user a strong connection with the other world.]

[Improve Cups by 5]

[Rarity: Unique]

I had a very strong suspicion Cups was the equivalent of mana or an Intelligence status. Yet I was not sure how much I needed it yet. So far, I hadn’t received any message regarding my Vis being too low.

Which meant my current skills either used too little magic power or none at all.

“Did you know the twins from before?” Aída sudden question caught me a bit by surprise.

“We met in the first challenge.”

“Oh, they said something about it… Was it a train?”

I nodded. “I helped them a bit when one of the operators got…a little too excited.”

“I see…” She remained silent for a few more moments, before glancing at me again. “You three seem quite close, so I thought…perhaps you could’ve known each other in the real world.”

Real world.

To me, this world was just as real. And even if this was a fake world, I would choose to stay here. For there was no other place where I could live as Park Eun-Woo.

“…what kind of world did you live in?”

Aída blinked a few times, confusion flooding her colored eyes. “What do you mean?”

I smiled, looking at the sky as the warm hues became darker and weaker.

“The place I lived in… I won’t lie, it wasn’t a happy place. I was miserable. Yet for others, perhaps it was quite a peaceful and uneventful world. One with a lot of good days mixed with the bad. But sometimes, when I look at Hal and Hil… It makes me wonder. How come we lived so differently?”

Shadows covered Aída’s eyes, a somber expression covering her face like a thick, black veil.

“Before coming here, I had never seen so much of it.”

“Death?”

“Violence. Hatred.” Her voice shook as she crossed her arms, as if the air had suddenly become too cold. “I knew not everyone led happy lives. That not everyone lived a privileged life. Yet I only understood after witnessing myself…”

Whether she was talking about her first challenge, the first Trial, or Hal’s Duel, I was not sure. And in the end, it didn’t matter.

“A privileged life…” That was one word I had never thought of using to describe my life. Was living in a peaceful country considered a privilege? To not have to worry about wars, to only need to be concerned about criminals and troublemakers?

What about having a roof under my head, and a warm place to sleep at night? Perhaps my previous life had made me miserable, yet it had been a privileged one nonetheless. Or perhaps I would prefer to live in the same reality as the twins until my last breath instead, even if that meant saying goodbye to a nice house and warm clothes.

“Here we are.”

I didn’t notice when Aída stopped, my eyes taking some moments to adjust and focus on what I needed to see.

A few meters in front of us stood a round table surrounded by five standing stones.

The one in the middle had a pentagram engraved in the middle, while the other four had the suits' symbols. For some reason, my heart skipped a beat, a lingering feeling or instinct cursing through me as I kept staring at those stones.

Yet as long as I survived through the Second Trial, I didn’t care what I had to do.

The moment I took one step forward, a message appeared in front of me.

[You have found a Reading Circle!]

[Use cards to perform readings and see what future awaits you.]

[Do you wish to learn more about Card Readings?]

I confirmed.

[About Card Readings]

- Can only be performed at Reading Circles

- A Self needs at least three cards

- Future Spreads can be unlocked by achievements or purchase

- Once a Reading is done, a Self cannot use the chosen cards

- Once used in a Reading, the cards will only revert to their original meaning once a Future has been reached

I furrowed my brows.

Once a Future has been reached?

Well, I guess this would make sense. Though it was still odd, somehow.

“Have you tried it yet?”

Aída shook her head. “When I found this and saw what it was, I went straight to you.”

Somehow, I felt my face get warmer, my heart beating against my chest a little faster than usual. “I-I see. Thank you for that.”

Park Eun-Woo, you fool. Focus on what matters.

I took a deep breath, walking toward the table.

There were lines carved deep into the stone, almost as if they were veins circling, swirling, connecting, and intertwining. However, there was a clear space in the middle, a smaller rectangle.

I opened my inventory, taking three random cards and placing them on the table. As my fingers brushed against the stone, a static ran through my arm—almost like an electrical current—its touch gelid and hollow.

[Does Contracted Self Park Eun-Woo wish to read into his future?]

The purple letters floated above the stone pillars, their glow ethereal and eerie.

Suddenly, the words felt heavy and bitter in my mouth. What exactly did I wish to know? Would the cards show me a future where I thrived or one where I perished?

“I do.”

The letters reacted to my voice, their glow intensifying, shining brighter and brighter until the glow passed to the cards lying on top of the table.

The moment Aída grabbed my arm and pushed me back was the moment light exploded from the standing stones and the table, the three cards flying around the stones, getting faster by each second.

[Ancient Beings are looking at you]

[Ancient Beings are reading into your Fate]

As I read the system’s messages, something crawled over my skin. An unpleasant sensation, one I couldn’t get rid of. Somehow…

I could feel something or someone's gaze, their touch not on my body but on my core. A place I could never reach myself, one I didn’t even know how to locate.

Sweat ran down my neck, and chills ran down my spine as my heart raced.

And then—

[Contracted Self Park Eun-Woo has read into his future]

[The cards will only revert to their original state once the future is reached]

[Congratulations! You have made your first Reading]

[You can access it at any time to check its progress]

In front of me, three cards hovered.

The first had a five marked on top, depicting a smirking man as he held a sword on top of his shoulder. Behind him, four people glanced over their shoulders with shadows crossing their gazes, their expressions cold and unforgiving as they held their own swords low as if defeated. They seemed to be in some sort of arena, the sky clouded and somber.

The one on the right showed a person from behind, on top of a stage. They were raising their hands, a crowd in front of them celebrating and throwing flowers and confetti. Three wands stood tall, their stance empowering and majestic, from each side of the stage. On top of the person’s head there was a crown made of vines and speckled with gold, a six showing on top of the card.

The last one, the card in the middle, was a bit different.

It showed a horseman surrounded by flames, the symbol for Wands made of embers and wood behind him. It was as if he was about to go on a quest—his clothes noble, elegant, attractive. However, it was his eyes that pierced through me and grabbed my attention. It felt as if he was looking at me.

As if he knew who I was.

They are not expecting me to know what each of these cards mean, are they…?

“Do you know what they mean…?” Aída’s voice reached me from afar, pulling me back to reality like a welcoming breeze.

I looked away from the horseman with an itch in my throat.

“No. I hope the system will have the decency to explain them to me, at least.” I muttered, opening my inventory. The cards shrunk and disappeared, a new notification glowing in my inventory tab.

I went for the cards tab, the new reading shining as if it was desperate to get my attention. When I clicked on it, a new window opened. It didn’t show the cards themselves but their names and short sentences.

[Contracted Self: Park Eun-Woo]

[Spread: Three Card]

[Five of Swords: A relentless ego brings forth an unsavory victory]

[Prince of Wands: Your fierce spirit is admired]

[Six of Wands: Your bright success casts envious shadows]

I blinked a few times.

Aída’s face popped beside me.

“What does it say? Is it good?”

“I…am not sure,” I told her what was written, her puzzled expression almost the same as mine.

“It mentions victory and success, so this means you will pass the second Trial, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose it is…”

But in the rules, it said the cards only read a possible future. This meant I could still fail.

And I still had no idea how to pass that damned Trial.

----------------------------------------

Whether Aída’s cottage was in the same direction or she simply didn’t notice, she walked back with me.

The way back was silent. Before I realized it, night had fallen like a quiet and intrusive rain, permeating the sky with a cool breeze. The cards’ sentences kept spinning inside my head, the words colliding against each other as I fought to find more meaning to them.

A relentless ego…

My fierce spirit…

I wondered how much one was the reflection of the other. How much I depended on each one, and which one was more likely to bring me the success the card spoke of.

Deep down, perhaps I was afraid to know the answer. Because I had a feeling the answer would tell me I was not a good person.

That I didn’t care about being good, at all.

“Hey, Eun-Woo…”

“Yes?”

Had she ever called me by my name before? Perhaps she had, but still... Hearing Aída call my name made me happier than I would have liked.

She opened her mouth a few times before the words finally came out. “I’m sorry. It feels like I wasted your time with all this.”

I immediately stopped in my tracks, turning to face the woman who now could not even look me in the eye.

“Hey, it wasn’t a waste at all! You really helped me. I had no idea these readings existed, and now I know I can pass the next trial. All I need to do is figure out how.”

Aída took a deep breath, her eyes locking into the sky.

“They like to use these words a lot here, huh? Words like ‘fate’, and ‘destiny’. I wonder if these words carry more weight here than they did in our world.”

“I think it’s pretty much the same…depends on how much you believe them.”

Her eyes met mine, and as I tried to not lose myself in her earnest gaze, she spoke again. Her voice curious and sad.

“Do you?”

As I stared at her, I wondered what was passing through my eyes. What kind of thoughts she was able to grasp through my expression as I tried to sort out all my feelings.

The sheer frustration and resentment I nourished for my past life.

The desperation I had to preserve my new one.

The bitterness that words like ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ brought to me.

“…I would rather believe in myself.”

When she smiled, I could almost swear the stars above shone a little bit brighter, as if they didn't want to lose to her.

“I prefer to believe in myself, as well.”

Before any of us could leave, a thought crossed my mind.

It was something I shouldn’t do…

Yet what change would it make? None at all. All things would remain the same.

But if there was one thing I wished to change, it would be…

“Here. For you.”

I took away the necklace from my inventory, its glow reflecting on Aída’s surprised eyes.

“When did you get this?”

“I got it earlier today, in the Store. I have no real use for it, and I wanted to thank you for the help.”

She blinked a couple of times before shaking her head, motioning her arms in refusal.

“I can’t accept this. Things at the Store are expensive, and—”

“And I have quite a lot of points, so I can try my luck next time and get something better. Something I will actually use.” I smiled, my voice sharing the warmth the night lacked. “Just take it. I will be sad otherwise.”

The breeze brushed against her hair, a sweet scent reaching me as Aída sighed, nodding twice as if she had given up. I was about to place the necklace in her hand when the most foolish of ideas came to me.

“Turn around.”

I wasn’t sure who surprised me most. Myself, for complying with the idea with greed. Or Aída, for actually doing what I asked.

The pendant fell on her chest as I held both ends of the necklace. There was nothing to close it.

[Do you wish to gift ‘Pharos’ Third Eye’ to Contracted Self Aída Del Bosque?]

I confirmed, and the moment I did both ends intertwined and connected with each other, sealing the necklace’s cord.

The pendant was made of an opaque white stone; a disk with a hole in the middle. The circle itself was perfect, and it had almost like a charm on one of its sides—an elaborated and elegant piece of silver covering the right side of the disk in an embrace, showing two koi fishes holding a star with their mouths.

It definitely looked better on her.

“There. All done.”

When she turned again, Aída touched the pendant, her smile melting and becoming even warmer and gentler.

“Thank you, Eun-Woo.”

If there was one thing I wished to change, it was the sadness in her eyes. And even if I would gain nothing more than that, as long as I could take some of it away...it was more than enough.

“I should be the one thanking you, really.”

Then, in that moment—

A message appeared in front of me.

And I simply could not contain my smile.

“Really… I don’t think I could thank you enough.”

The pressure I had around my heart exploded with both joy and relief. For, apparently, my foolish choice had brought more than just a small change.

[Second Trial – Gather & Conquer]

[Contracted Self Park Eun-Woo has met the requirements]

[You now qualify for the next Trial]