The Devil's Card
“Ugh...”
Her head felt like it was splitting open. With a pounding migraine threatening to crack her skull, Yoon Hana buried her face in her pillow, clutching at her hair. She staggered up from the bed, stumbled to the fridge, and chugged a bottle of cold water like her life depended on it.
“Ah... I’m gonna die...”
Only now was her mind starting to clear. Bright daylight poured through the window, announcing that it was well into the afternoon. Hana swept her hair back and tried to piece together her memories.
So... yesterday, she got completely wasted... went out with Lee Suhyun to buy ice cream... and then they all ended up at a karaoke bar or something... She had zero recollection of the karaoke itself. Had she even sung? Her? No way. But then how had she gotten home? Had she come back alone?
As she rummaged through her blanket for her phone, a wave of dread washed over her. The second she opened it, she was sure a mountain of black history would come spilling out. Hana took a deep breath and tapped the screen with her index finger.
[3 Missed Calls]
[Lee Suhyun (3)]
There were no personal messages from the other members. Only Suhyun had tried to reach her. She opened her messaging app. Sure enough, there were texts from him. As her eyes scanned the messages, her pupils gradually widened.
“Wait a second...”
The time... right now... the clock showed it was past three in the afternoon. Suhyun’s messages had started coming in at 12:10.
“I’m at the club room entrance. Where are you?”
“...Are you sleeping?”
“I’ll just look around by myself.”
“Take your time!”
“...But if something came up, you could’ve at least told me.”
“Ah! Fuck!”
A raw curse that she would never utter in front of others burst out like a scream. Hana hurled her phone onto the bed and dashed into the bathroom.
“Aww... Yoon Hana, you absolute idiot.”
She remembered telling Suhyun that they should have fun tomorrow, that she was looking forward to it. If she was going to forget things, why couldn’t she forget that part too? Why did that memory have to stay crystal clear? No, you crazy bitch. And why the hell would you make plans while drunk in the first place?!
Her feet shuffled anxiously as guilt gnawed at her. She brushed her teeth, didn’t even bother drying her hair, and immediately called Suhyun.
—Riiiiing. Riiiiing. Riiiiing. Riiiiing.
He wasn’t picking up. Was he angry? He had to be, right? If she were in his shoes and someone pushed back their meeting time by three whole hours without a single word, she’d be furious too.
Aaaah... what do I do...
Even while drying her hair, she was debating how much makeup she should put on. Originally, she had wanted to dress up as beautifully as she did on performance days. But she didn’t have time to leisurely play music and carefully apply mascara.
Hana quickly threw on a light blue skirt and a black t-shirt, then shoved her feet into her sneakers. The first thing she needed to do was go beg for forgiveness.
She ran so hard her breath caught in her throat by the time she reached the club room. When she placed her hand on the doorknob, she found it unlocked—someone was clearly inside. The lights were off, but faint sunlight filtered through the windows, softly illuminating the space.
The person she was looking for was right there.
Whether he had grown tired of waiting and fallen asleep, Suhyun was leaning crookedly against the sofa, letting out soft, steady breaths. Relief at having found him crashed into her at the same time as an overwhelming wave of guilt.
Hana slowly approached him, picked up a chair, and set it down in front of him. She didn’t have the nerve to wake him up and suggest they go have fun. After being three hours late, what right did she have to disturb his sleep?
She stared at Suhyun’s face in silence. Her fingers, moving on pure instinct, gently brushed his cheek. His eyelids twitched. It seemed he was sensitive even while sleeping.
“Haa...”
The tension drained from her body all at once. When he wakes up, I’ll ask him to go look around together. He’ll wake up soon, right? Probably?
Sitting quietly without making a sound, the sleep she hadn’t finished caught up to her. Hana scooted her chair right up beside Suhyun and began to doze off, her head nodding up and down... until—
—Thump.
Her head settled squarely onto his chest.
Suhyun’s eyes flew wide open at the sudden, mysterious sensation. The first thing he saw was a growing patch of black roots spreading beneath the yellow hair. It was clear that Hana’s roots were due for a touch-up soon.
He had woken up from what felt like a collision, but the one who caused the collision showed no signs of stirring. As if the position was comfortable, she even leaned her whole body against him now.
Suhyun blinked, trying to make sense of the situation.
“...Hana?”
This was getting a little awkward to keep up. And what if someone walked in and saw them? The rumors would spread like wildfire.
He gently shook her shoulder to wake her.
“Mmm... ugh...”
Hana’s bleary eyes slowly focused. The moment she saw Suhyun, she shot upright and dropped to her knees.
“Hey! Lee Suhyun! I’m so, so sorry. Yesterday... I drank and... haa... I couldn’t wake up... I set an alarm, but I...”
She was babbling incoherently. She was half-asleep but knew she had to apologize, even if she barely understood what she was saying. Because she was wearing a skirt, her bare calves pressed directly against the cold floor.
Suhyun, who didn’t want her sitting like that, quickly helped her to her feet.
“Ahaha. Being late is fine.”
“No, no, it’s not fine at all. I’ll buy everything you eat today.”
Hana felt like she wouldn’t be able to relax unless she did at least this much.
“It’s okay... Instead of food, could you... maybe cover the laundry fee?”
“...Laundry fee?”
A much darker sense of unease crawled up her spine than before. Laundry fee? Why was he asking for that? Don’t tell me I did something even worse during the parts of last night I can’t remember.
“Ah... well... you...”
The hesitant look on Suhyun’s face as he debated whether to say it made Hana’s mouth go completely dry.
“Just tell me. I can’t apologize properly if I don’t know.”
“You threw up on my clothes.”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaah!”
Hana let out a bloodcurdling scream and buried her face in the sofa. I’m done for. I’m so screwed... What is this... This has to be a dream. It has to be a dream. She grabbed her own hair and yanked at it again.
To do something like that on the clothes of the guy she liked... When she should’ve been trying to look her absolute best... To do something so disgusting...!!!
Suhyun was momentarily speechless at the sight of Hana completely losing control of herself. Is this the part where I’m supposed to comfort her? But I feel like the victim here...
“...I’m sorry.”
Even though embarrassment was making her head spin, Hana forced herself to stand up straight once more.
“The laundry fee. I’ll pay it. Of course I will. And I’ll buy all your food today too.”
“For food, we can still go half—”
“No? I’m paying! Please let me pay!”
It was a crude way to try to make up for it with money, but Hana’s mind was filled with the desperate need to do at least this much.
“Uh... then should we head out first?”
It was already past four. Their original meeting time had been noon. They were extremely, unforgivably late.
The two of them left the welfare center and stepped outside. In front of the school buildings, all kinds of club booths and tents had been set up. Hana, who had wanted to do all sorts of things with Suhyun, was now completely deflated. She had wanted to confidently lead him around and show him a great time, since he had never really enjoyed these kinds of events before... but there was no way a vomiting, three-hour-late girl looked cool in his eyes.
“Hana.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you still feeling sick or something?”
Suhyun asked, sounding worried as he watched her spaced-out expression.
“No, no. It’s just... I feel so bad...”
She wanted to tell him it was fine and to brush it off casually, but Suhyun couldn’t bring himself to say something like that, even as a joke.
She tried her best to erase the painful memories of last night.
“Still, we promised we’d have fun today.”
Suhyun gave an awkward smile and patted her on the back.
“Then how about we go over there?”
The place Hana pointed to had a sign that read “Tarot Readings.” Tarot, huh... It was one of those activities Suhyun had never tried in his life.
“Hana... do you get your tarot read often?”
“Nope?”
“Then why...”
“Just because? This is the kind of thing you do at times like this. It’s like an event.”
When they stepped inside, a woman who looked a bit older than a typical college student was waiting for them.
“Welcome. Here for a tarot reading?”
“Yes!”
Since this was completely new to Suhyun, he stayed quiet and simply watched what Hana did.
“What kind of fortune would you like? Are you a couple?”
It wasn’t common for a guy and a girl who weren’t dating to come into a tarot booth together at a university festival. Even if they weren’t officially together, people usually assumed there was at least some romantic interest.
“No. We’re just friends.”
Suhyun smiled and drew a clear line. Hana, however, looked quite displeased by that statement.
“I see~ Students usually come to ask about their love lives. So would you like to look at academic or financial fortune? Or should we do separate love readings for each of you?”
“Separate love readings please!”
This time, Hana jumped in first. She shot Suhyun a look that asked if he had any objections. Since she was the one paying, he had no complaints.
“Alright~ Who wants to go first? The older sister? Or the brother over there?”
“...What do you want to do?”
“You go first, dude.”
Hana decided the order for him.
“Then I’ll go first.”
The woman smoothly spread the cards across the table. Cards decorated with spade symbols covered the soft green tablecloth.
“Would you like to pick one first?”
“Sure.”
Suhyun followed instructions and picked cards one by one.
“Okay~ First, we’ll look at the gentleman’s overall love fortune for this year. This was the very first card you drew, correct?”
“Yes.”
The woman flipped the card over. Suhyun, who only knew this stuff existed but had never seen it before, watched with wide eyes as the first card was revealed.
“Hmm...”
Even though he didn’t know anything about tarot, he could tell this one was bad.
A devil stood in the center, flanked by a naked man and woman. Chains were wrapped around their necks. If this was supposed to represent his love life, it didn’t look promising at all.
“...This is a bad one, isn’t it?”
Suhyun frowned as he asked.
“Every card has both positive and negative meanings. It’s rare for a card to carry only one single interpretation.”
The woman traced her finger over the image of the devil.
“However, when this card appears in a love reading, it generally symbolizes ‘obsession’ and ‘addiction.’”
“Really...? Does that mean I’m going to become obsessed with someone?”
Suhyun couldn’t picture himself as the obsessive type. He gave up on things easily. Was he really the kind of person who would cling desperately to someone?
“Not necessarily. It doesn’t have to be you who becomes obsessed. It could be someone around you, or it might mean a new connection will bring obsession into your life.”
“But yes, the meaning is quite negative. Usually, when it comes to romantic relationships, I advise people to be careful of crises like affairs or love triangles.”
So this is why people say you should only do this for fun... Suhyun turned his head slightly at the diagnosis that felt completely unrelated to him.
“...Hana?”
Her expression had grown even worse than when she had been begging for forgiveness for last night.
“Huh...? Uh...?”
“Are you okay?”
“Ahaha... I’m fine. Hey, hurry up and open the next one. I’m curious.”
...Is she calling me an obsessive girl? Yoon Hana’s over-immersion level: 200%.