We left the serenity of the calligraphy tent, leaving behind my ink-blot disaster.
"Next stop," Jun-seo announced, checking his clipboard. "The Occult & Divination Research Club. Or, as they like to be called this year, 'The Circle of Fate.'"
"Divination?" I asked. "Like... ghosts?"
"Tarot," Ha-neul corrected, wiping a smudge of ink from her finger. "They're mostly drama students practicing their acting skills."
We navigated toward a tent that was draped entirely in heavy black velvet. Unlike the other bright, open booths, this one was dark. Electronic candles flickered ominously at the entrance, and the smell of sage was strong enough to knock out a horse.
We stepped inside. It was pitch black, save for a crystal ball glowing with purple LED light in the center of a round table. A figure sat behind it, shrouded in a hooded cloak that obscured their face.
"Welcome, travelers," a voice rasped, deep and theatrical. "You have entered the domain of Madame Mystique. The spirits have been waiting for y—"
"Hi, Ji-min," Jun-seo said cheerfully. "Did the fog machine break again? It smells like burnt toast in here."
The mysterious figure froze. The hood was thrown back, revealing a girl with thick glasses and an annoyed expression.
"President!" she hissed, slamming her hand on the table. "You're ruining the immersion! I am Madame Mystique today! Be quiet or I'll curse your student council budget!"
"Sorry, sorry," Jun-seo chuckled, sitting down on a stool. "Please, proceed, Madame. We seek... enlightenment."
Ji-min huffed, pulling her hood back up. "Fine. But the spirits are offended. Sit."
She looked at me. "The Outsider first."
I sat down nervously. She shuffled a deck of oversized cards with surprising skill.
"Pick three," she commanded.
I pulled three cards. She flipped them over.
"Hmm," she hummed, leaning over the crystal ball. "Interesting. The first card... The Moon. But it is reversed. It speaks of a connection from the past. A distant light." She squinted at me. " Someone you think is lost, but who is actually waiting for you to find the path back."
My heart skipped a beat.
"The second," she continued, tapping a card showing people building a structure. "The Three of Pentacles. Teamwork. Construction. You have a great task ahead. If you fail, the structure collapses."
The band.
"And the third... The Wheel of Fortune. Your fate is... chaotic. Tribulations. You will be pulled in many directions. You are the pivot point. Everything spins around you, for better or worse."
"That... sounds exhausting," I muttered.
"Next!" she barked.
Ha-neul sat down, looking bored. She picked her three cards.
"Ah," Ji-min whispered. "The High Priestess. Wisdom. Study. You will excel, as always. But look here... The Star. It sits right next to The Sun." She glanced quickly at her, then back to the card. "The light you seek is already shining on you. You just refuse to look at it directly."
Ha-neul stiffened slightly but said nothing.
"And finally," Ji-min pointed to the last card. "The Page of Swords. You are a guardian. A helper. You are a protector."
She sighed.
"The spirits do not lie," Ji-min shrugged. "Last one. President."
"I don't believe in this stuff, Ji-min," Jun-seo sighed, standing up. "It's just the Barnum effect."
"Sit," Ha-neul ordered, grabbing his wrist and yanking him down onto the stool. "It's mandatory."
Jun-seo rolled his eyes but reached out. He picked three cards. But as he pulled his hand back, his sleeve caught the deck, and a fourth card slipped out, landing face up on the velvet.
"Oops," Jun-seo said.
Ji-min ignored him, staring at the spread. Her theatrical voice dropped to a genuine whisper.
"Oh. President... this is..."
"What?" Jun-seo asked, leaning in.
"First, The Five of Pentacles. Hardship. Isolation in the cold. You have a difficult winter ahead."
She pointed to the second card. "The Fool. A new arrival. An outsider who walks off a cliff." She jerked her head toward me. "Chaos. Be careful. Something will disrupt your order."
"I'm right here," I muttered.
"Third... Judgement," she said. "The past rising up. A reckoning."
Jun-seo's jaw tightened.
"And the fallen card," she said, picking up the one he'd dropped. She stared at it. It was The Magician, but the illustration showed a figure wearing a mask, holding a wand like a microphone.
"The Hidden Face," she whispered. "A face for the day, and a face for the night. The spirits say... the mask is slipping. The world is watching."
Jun-seo froze. His face went pale.
I saw the card. I saw the panic in his eyes. He was terrified that someone would link the Student President to the rocker at the club.
I couldn't resist.
I leaned in, putting my arm around his stiff shoulders, grinning like an idiot.
"Whoa, Jun-seo-ssi!" I teased loudly. "A secret identity? What are you, a superhero? Batman? No, wait..."
I poked his shoulder.
"Maybe you're that mysterious 'Masked Singer' everyone is talking about on the internet! Maybe you wear a cape and fight crime with the power of ballads!"
I laughed, trying to make it sound like the most ridiculous, impossible joke in the world.
Jun-seo let out a strangled, high-pitched laugh. "Haha. Yeah. Me? That's... that's funny, San-ssi."
He was sweating.
Ha-neul stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the ground. She grabbed Jun-seo's arm and my arm.
"Okay! That's enough spirits for today," she announced loudly. "We're going. The spirits smell too much like burnt toast. Bye, Ji-min."
She dragged us out of the tent before Ji-min could say another word.
"Wait!" Ji-min called out. "I didn't tell you about the romance line!"
Ha-neul ignored her, pulling us back into the bright, blinding sunlight of the carnival, her grip iron-tight.
"You okay?" I asked, grinning. "Scared the spirits will reveal your secret Batman cave?"
"Shut up, San," Ha-neul snapped, but she didn't look at me. She was looking at Jun-seo, her expression unreadable. "Let's go. I'm hungry."