The First Customer

It's not that hard to make a skeptic believe in fortune-telling. You just have to get every question right. Of course, that's why fortune tellers—con artists by another name—resort to every trick in the book. But if you can pull it off, even a hardcore rationalist like the instructor in front of me might come around.

"……Fortune Teller Namgung Min. You've passed the exclusive exam. Exit through the door at the back……and you're done."

As I listened to Charles Teddybear's hesitant words, I glanced subtly into the empty air.

…….

Having cleared this trash game twenty-five times, I was certain—if I walked out right now, the top spot was mine. The conditions for becoming valedictorian at Romance Academy were simple. Just finish the entrance exam and exclusive test faster than any other student. In the game, Kim Seong-il of the Imperial Family always cleared it in exactly ten minutes. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Beat that time, and the top rank was guaranteed.

About seven minutes, huh?

It had taken a little longer because I'd mixed in conversation instead of just reading the cards, but it was still a solid time. The fastest I'd ever managed was five minutes playing as the Imperial Family special class, so seven minutes was more than respectable.

"…………."

But instead of standing up, I rested my chin on one hand and stared steadily at the conflicted Teddybear. Valedictorian. Yeah, it was a good position. If you weren't a special class, it gave you a chance to get acquainted with those students. If you were, it made building relationships even easier. Plus, there were special rewards and benefits, along with unique events that only triggered for the top student. If you cared about performance, it was practically mandatory.

Especially with this catastrophic physical aptitude for the Fortune Teller class—the rewards from the valedictorian events would be particularly valuable. As a "game" class, becoming valedictorian was the optimal choice.

"Instructor."

"………Hm?"

"Do you have anything else you'd like to ask me?"

"……………."

However, as a "real" class, Fortune Teller was different. This was clearly a game, yet it wasn't. In the game, you couldn't talk to Liu Yen before heading to the exclusive exam room, nor could you just sit here after finishing the test like this. A choice-based 2D game and this reality couldn't possibly be the same, could they?

I need to change how I'm thinking.

This was reality. A world that simply resembled Romance Academy to an uncanny degree. I remembered the conversation I'd had with Liu Yen and Teddybear's surprised reaction. Those weren't just lines of text or code written by my little sister.

Is this a world based on Romance Academy? Or did someone create Romance Academy after seeing this world?

The chicken or the egg. ……Honestly, it was a pointless question. Even if this really was inside the game and Liu Yen and Teddybear were just reciting predetermined scripts, what I needed to do wouldn't change.

I'll reach the perfect ending.

I knew these students' backgrounds. I knew the pain and suffering each of them carried. If I only cared about seeing the ending, I could just ignore their pain like I had twenty-five times before and take what I needed.

Why should I?

When you reached an ending in Romance Academy, a sort of epilogue script would appear detailing what happened to the other characters afterward. If the protagonist had helped them, they'd live happily ever after. If not, the outcomes were completely different—suicide from stress, disappearance after an assassination attempt, emigration following parental divorce, crushing despair from failing to achieve their dreams, mental breakdown from bullying. That part……was filled with the same dark emotions my sister Ji-soo must have felt after our parents' suicide.

That's why, after the first playthrough, I'd reloaded saves over and over in the second and third runs, trying to give everyone a happy ending.

Well, in the end I gave up on that because the game itself just wasn't fun.

But that was the game. This place was different, wasn't it?

"………Namgung Min."

I looked at Teddybear. In a game, he'd be the typical gruff instructor with a tragic backstory. But all I saw was a father who genuinely worried for his daughter.

"Yes, Instructor."

Charles Teddybear was struggling. He was torn between the father who desperately wanted to grab me and ask about his daughter's health, and the instructor who couldn't justify holding me back and costing me the valedictorian spot.

Just like in the Hero's character event, Teddybear was the type of person who would always let reason win over emotion. He could always get a reading after the exam ended. He'd just have to wait until the entrance ceremony a week later. Knowing that, he was trying to send me on my way. All he had to do was endure for one week. Stopping me here would be nothing but a selfish choice by a father.

So, should I follow his wishes and take the valedictorian spot?

"You mentioned you had concerns about your family, correct?"

"…………."

"Since I haven't finished the reading for that concern yet, doesn't that mean the exam isn't truly over?"

What Namgung Min was saying was, absolutely not. This wasn't some foolish choice driven by mere sympathy. Putting aside any pity for Teddybear, even from a purely selfish standpoint, giving him a reading was far more beneficial than becoming valedictorian.

But ultimately, this would benefit him the most.

"……Student Namgung Min. You may not know this, but if you leave now, you'll be valedictorian. So——"

"To me, a customer who wants their fortune told comes before the great and glorious honor of being valedictorian at Romance Academy."

"———"

"Isn't that what a fortune teller should be?"

Leaving the speechless Teddybear behind, I shuffled the tarot cards and spread them across the center of the table. He hadn't given any answer yet, but if I didn't do this, there was no way to convince the rationalist Charles Teddybear.

I smiled at the still-hesitant man. As innocently and sincerely as possible. So that Teddybear's heart might waver.

"Please think of the family member who is causing you concern."

"…………."

"Then, draw three cards."

My words were finished. Now, only his choice remained.

After several moments of clenching and unclenching his hand on the table in deep thought, he——

"…………Here."

——finally selected three cards.

With this, at least in this moment, he had stopped being a rational and reasonable academy instructor. He had become simply a father.

"Good."

Perfect. Now all that remained……was to tell him a story that would captivate him completely.

I gathered the remaining tarot cards and arranged the three he'd drawn. The first one I flipped was the leftmost card from Teddybear's perspective. It was Major Arcana number 16, The Tower.

"The Tower?"

"As you said, this card symbolizes The Tower. The tower is struck by lightning and crumbles, engulfed in flames, while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people leap from it in panic."

"………."

"That family member……has been going through difficult days since the past, I see."

"The past……you say?"

"Yes. These three cards each represent the past, present, and future."

"……Yes, that child has been sick since she was very young……."

Did Teddybear even realize he'd muttered that to himself? Probably not. But that was a clear sign he was starting to believe in my reading enough for his true thoughts to slip out.

I reached for the second card.

"Then what about the present? Oh……it's Major Arcana number 15, The Devil."

"……The Devil."

"The Devil seeks to corrupt Adam and Eve and make them its slaves. The Devil isn't something on the outside. It exists within people's hearts."

The more I explained, the more his face turned ashen. He was probably thinking the description matched his daughter's condition. Her illness wasn't visible on the surface. She looked perfectly fine, yet she continued to suffer.

"Then……."

"She is in a very dangerous state right now."

"…………!!!"

Upon hearing my words, Teddybear……broke into a cold sweat all over his body. He looked like he might dash off somewhere at any moment. No matter how gruff and rational an instructor he was, after hearing something like this, how could he not worry about his daughter? Especially now that he almost believed my reading was the truth.

But he only glanced somewhere and twitched, never actually leaping from his seat. Of course. There was still one card left. The most important one—the card symbolizing the 'future'.

"The card……!"

"Let's flip it."

With his breathing growing ragged, I turned over the final card.

"………This is."

"…………Major Arcana number 13, Death."

"Ah, aah——"

"Fortunately."

"——Ah, huh?"

For a moment, Teddybear's face cycled through despair, sorrow, frustration, and confusion. Then it twisted into pure rage as he glared at me.

BANG!

He shot up from his seat, clenching his fist so tightly it looked like it might draw blood.

"Namgung Min………!!"

"Tarot cards have upright and reversed positions. You know that, right?"

"What does that matter!! My daughter is going to die and you're saying it's fortunate——!!!"

"And usually, a reversed card means the opposite of its upright meaning."

At my words that seemed to celebrate his daughter's death, the enraged father's hand flew toward me. I had neither the strength nor the will to dodge his fist. I simply continued speaking to the man who had lost his reason for a moment.

"How do these cards appear to you?"

"——What?"

"The past Tower, the present Devil, the future Death. To you, Instructor, they appear upright, but to me, they look reversed."

"…………What are you saying."

Watching Teddybear gradually calm his emotions, I let my eyes gleam. This was it. This was the critical moment that would move his heart. Now, had Teddybear really chosen The Tower, The Devil, and Death purely by chance?

Absolutely not.

When I'd first spread out the tarot cards, I'd intentionally placed those three cards closer to Teddybear's side. When someone is overwhelmed with worry and anxiety, their field of vision narrows. Even if he'd chosen different cards, it wouldn't have mattered. In fact, one of the cards he'd actually drawn was The World.

Fortune telling is never about luck. It's manipulation using psychology, technique, and information.

I'd swapped them. While gathering the cards, I'd replaced The World with The Devil, and the still-confused Teddybear hadn't noticed. I'd also rearranged their order to Tower, Devil, Death. The result was the current tarot reading.

"The reversed Tower has a similar meaning, but the reversed Devil is different."

"Different…?"

"The reversed Devil that I saw means the breathing eases and recovery begins."

"Breathing eases……? Recovery……?"

"Right now, your daughter is desperately fighting through the Devil's torment."

"Ah, Aileen……."

Thud.

Teddybear collapsed back into his chair, strength leaving his body. His eyes were trembling, cold sweat poured down his entire body, and he was breathing heavily. All of it was the result of my obvious fraud.

"Then what about the reversed Death?"

"………Ah."

"The reversed Death means escaping death."

"I see……so that's why you said it was fortunate……."

It was a lie. What the reversed Death actually meant was 'fear of change' and 'obsession with the past.' Rather, it was telling him not to be bound by that death, to let go cleanly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and move forward anew. In a way, both upright and reversed Death carried the message to accept that death.

But so what?

I don't believe in fortune telling.

This was nothing but a fraud, not fortune telling at all. So what did it matter what meaning the tarot cards used in that fraud actually held? Whether the card was Death, The Fool, or The World, I was the one who decided its meaning. That's how tarot cards worked. The interpretation of the images changed depending on who was reading them. I was simply using the same methods as those phony fortune tellers.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize……."

"There's no need to apologize. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It was my fault for not explaining properly."

Caught in my web of deception, Charles Teddybear laughed and cried at the same time. Honestly, it hurt. Seeing him shed tears of relief made my conscience sting so badly it felt like it was being carved out. This was exactly why I hated fortune telling. Because a single card could control a person's life.

……Just like it did with my parents.

But I was different from that damn con artist bastard. That son of a bitch and me. He had ruined an entire family purely for his own wealth and fame. I wasn't like that. More than for myself, this was for others.

So, it's fine.

It would be fine.

"Instructor, after the entrance ceremony, would it be alright if I visited your daughter?"

"Uh………hm? How did you know my daughter was sick……?"

"You told me earlier, Instructor."

"……Right. I did say that. I did."

I looked at my very first customer. I had intentionally deceived him with something called fortune telling. So if I wanted to be different from that con artist, Teddybear needed to receive something far greater in return. And I would make sure he did.

"Doing a reading indirectly and doing it in person are clearly different. Right now I could only see a vague future, but……perhaps I might discover something about your daughter's illness."

"………Student Namgung Min, I have to say this first."

"Yes?"

"Thank you……thank you so much."

……Haha. In all twenty-five playthroughs, I'd never once seen Teddybear smile.

"……Thank you as well, Instructor."

Because that smile of his seemed to tell me that this world was real, I could only smile back.