Hongdae Street 2
Sia had stood in front of the display case in Gyeongbokgung Palace whenever there were pieces of jewelry on sale. She would often admire them from there.
At first, I didn’t think Sia cared much about jewelry, so I figured she was just surprised by the unusual pieces sold at the palace and was taking a closer look.
But now that her interest in jewelry had increased even though we weren’t at the palace anymore, but in Hongdae, I realized Sia must be looking for something specific.
The problem was I had no idea what exactly she was looking at.
It would have been easy if there had only been one item on the stand or in the display, but there were necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, keychains, and so on, all arranged in abundance. I couldn’t figure out what Sia was looking at at all.
The only possibility I could think of was… maybe it was the necklace.
I had bought her a necklace as a gift for her birthday last year. She had worn it for a few days, and then said she would keep it in her room whenever we weren’t going to meet.
I heard she had put it away safely because the auntie had told her the metal might corrode if she wore it too often.
So perhaps she was planning to replace the chain of the original necklace I had given her and wear it again.
“Sia, shall we go look at the shop?” I asked.
“Eh, eh? W-what… w-what?” Sia looked at me in surprise.
Her reaction told me that she had been trying not to show her interest, but it was already obvious.
“Jewelry store. You were looking at it, weren’t you?” I said.
“Ah… th-that…” Sia stammered.
“Let’s go look inside.” I suggested.
“O-okay…” Sia agreed.
We approached the display case right in front of the store.
There were keychains hanging on a stand beside us, but Sia wasn’t even glancing at them.
To figure out what she was looking at, I stood right beside her and quickly moved my eyes to follow hers.
At first, Sia looked at everything, but gradually her attention narrowed to one spot.
And that spot was right here.
‘Rings…?’
It was rings.
Sia, who never even wore earrings, was looking at rings. That was incredibly surprising.
“What would you like to buy?” The shop owner came out from inside the store.
“Ah… we were just… looking around…” Sia explained that she was only looking.
The owner, who had been watching us carefully, asked with a smile.
“You two are together, right?”
“Yes.” I answered.
“Hehe… take your time.” The owner told us.
Sia began to look more slowly after hearing that.
Her gaze was oddly fixed on the rings.
Noticing her stare, the owner peeked at me for a moment and said.
“Student, would you like to try on one?” He asked.
Sia hesitated but offered her hand. The owner gently took it and asked.
“Shall we try on a bracelet?” He said.
“Ah… th-that…” Sia began to protest.
“Trying on doesn’t cost anything. Don’t worry.” He reassured her.
“Yes…!” Sia responded.
For a while, Sia tried on the bracelets the owner recommended.
The owner’s sense of style was excellent, and everything looked great on her, but…
Sia seemed restless from the start, as if she had no intention of buying anything.
Noticing her unease, the owner let go of her hand and smiled.
“Hehe, it’s been a while since a beautiful girl came in. Have a good day.” He waved at us.
Hearing that, Sia replied.
“Ah…! Goodbye!” She headed outside the store.
I lowered my head slightly and followed her.
“Student.” The owner suddenly called to me.
“…?” I turned in confusion.
He made a finger gesture of 1 and 0 and winked.
At first, I was puzzled by what he meant, but the owner then gestured toward Sia with his eyes. I finally understood what he had said.
“…Thank you.” I said.
“Hehe, goodbye.” He replied.
We left the store and found Sia waiting for me.
“What did the owner say?” I asked.
“…Um? I was looking at the keychains before we came out.” I answered.
“Ah, are you going to buy it?” She asked.
“No, I was just curious. Anyway, where are we going now?” I wondered.
“Ah, follow me!” Sia said confidently and walked ahead, so I followed her.
Sia walked briskly, glancing at her phone while carefully looking at something. As I got closer, it looked like she was using a map app to find her way.
Curious, I asked.
“Are you lost right now?” I wondered.
“No! It’s my first time going somewhere, so I just got confused!” Sia answered in embarrassment.
I knew Sia wasn’t the type to get lost, but I wanted to tease her a little.
After following her for a bit more, we came to a building with a large sign in front that read [Taro, Fortune Telling]. I instinctively knew that was the place Sia had wanted to visit.
“There’s a store here?” I asked.
“Yes! My friends told me to visit this place when I go to Hongdae! It’s super good!” Sia said excitedly.
I agreed with her logic. A store that reads tarot is usually a simple building, but this one was quite large. It probably meant it was doing well.
“Sounds good.” I agreed.
We were about to go inside when—
CLANK CLANK!
“Eh… why is the door locked?” It was closed, contrary to our expectation.
“Ah…” Sia said.
“Maybe they’re not open today.” She added.
“Yeah… too bad.” Sia looked disappointed.
Since we had to look around Hongdae, we turned and walked away. But my eyes caught another store. Before the stairs leading down, there was a simple sign, and it was also a place for tarot and fortune telling.
Normally I would have passed, but since Sia had looked so disappointed, I suggested.
“Sia, instead of going to that one, let’s try the other?” I asked.
“Where? Ah… the other one?” Sia asked.
“Yeah, we came to Hongdae. It’s good to visit at least once.” I said.
“Um… okay.” Sia agreed.
We descended the stairs. Honestly, since tarot is usually for fun, the location didn’t matter.
DING!
I opened the door and entered a dark interior. It had a somewhat spooky, fortune-teller shop atmosphere that anyone would imagine.
The walls had simple, undecorated interior with only dark red curtains visible.
“Um… let’s go in.” I said.
“Okay.” Sia agreed.
We parted the curtains several times and entered. A person sat at the table.
She wore a rabbit mask and a hood, so I couldn’t tell who she was.
As we hesitated, the person in the rabbit mask looked at us for a moment and pointed to the seats.
“Please sit.” She said.
Her voice was female, but her age was hard to guess. It felt a bit suspicious, but I sat in the seat thinking it was part of the store’s concept.
Once we sat, she leaned forward slightly and asked.
“Why did you come here?” She asked.
“I want to see the tarot!” Sia replied.
The person in the rabbit mask paused for a moment and then asked.
“Which one would you like to see?” She asked.
“Are there different kinds?” Sia asked.
“Yes, there are regular tarot and special tarot.” The owner answered.
“How are they different?” Sia wondered.
“Um… it depends on the person, so I can’t say.” She replied.
I thought she might be doing something suspicious, but I hadn’t heard of any such thing.
“It’s not something like that. You can choose whatever you like.” She said.
I was surprised, thinking she was good at hiding her feelings, but at that moment I thought my face had betrayed me.
“I’ll go with regular tarot!” Sia said.
“Okay.” The owner pulled out a deck of cards from under the table and shuffled them.
“Which one would you like to see?” She asked.
“Please tell us if we can get married!” Sia said.
I was surprised and started to say something, but in the meantime, three cards quickly came out from the owner’s hand and landed softly on the table.
“?!” “?!” At that moment, I realized we hadn’t chosen them. The owner quickly flipped the cards.
The cards that appeared were The Hermit, The Sun, and The Lovers.
At first glance, it didn’t look like anything bad had happened.
“Hmm… you two aren’t dating right now, are you?” She commented.
“…!” “…!” We were exactly right about our situation.
Of course, she had just guessed, but she drew one more card and said.
“Ah… a result will come soon.” She said.
We were speechless at her accurate reading, since she knew our situation well.
After hesitating, Sia asked again.
“Then…! Th-that! Can we go to the same university?” Sia asked.
The owner shuffled the cards again and drew three more.
“Hmm… it might be difficult alone, but if you work together like you’ve done so far, it should be possible.” She answered.
“Th-that’s…!” Sia exclaimed.
“……” Sia said.
“Siwoo, ask something too!” She urged.
Since I had listened to the previous conversation, I asked a question in my own way.
“I’m worried about my career. If I go to university… will I be able to find it?” I asked.
“……” The owner drew three cards without saying anything.
Looking at the cards immediately, she said.
“The guest has already made a decision. You’re not just going to university, but choosing a major.” She said.
“…!” I was surprised.
“If you’re curious about the future beyond that… being together with the guest next to you seems fine.” She concluded.
I was at a loss for words at the owner’s words.
This summer vacation, my parents and I had already discussed university related to my career.
My mind had naturally decided to continue the family business.
So I had planned to go to a major related to company management.
And the owner had guessed it all in one go.
It was tarot, but this was on another level. I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“Is there anything else you want to know?” The owner asked.
Even though she was wearing a mask, something felt strange. For some reason, I felt as if she was smiling inside the mask. Now a chill started running down my spine.