episode_0640

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“The sky and stars symbolize infinite possibilities and inspiration, while the earth and water represent the connection between consciousness and the unconscious.”

“Stars also signify the desire to overcome the limitations of reality, and the effort to find the truth that wells up from deep within us.”

Her voice, speaking as if reciting lines, was calm yet contained a subtle strength.

“Stars shine in the darkness. The darker the darkness becomes, the more clearly the stars will emerge.”

“Being ready to embrace the darkness means being ready to face the truth. Like the woman in the painting…”

She lowered her gaze for a moment, took a short breath, and then raised her head again.

“What I’m about to say is advice she’s giving!”

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Siwoo as if she were revealing a secret she had known for a long time.

Is the ‘her’ that the girl reading the tarot cards is talking about referring to the person in the painting?

Or is it the her that Siwoo is thinking of right now?

“Your inheritance rights as the representative of the group have disappeared, but your status as heir is still valid. The same goes for your rights as master over the family and slaves.”

The girl reading the tarot cards was referring to Siwoo as ‘you’ instead of ‘Siwoo oppa’.

“We have been watching all the processes by your side for a while.”

“And we have come to the conclusion that no further testing is necessary.”

“Because we have sufficiently confirmed your will to protect those who belong to you, and your ability to satisfy them…”

She speaks articulately, as if reading a judgment, notifying the fixed content.

Siwoo feels a sense of speechlessness for a moment at her words, conveyed with a sense of solemnity.

“Now… the time for choice has come.”

As if following a set procedure, she was saying to Siwoo, as if urging some kind of decision.

Her eyes are filled with heavy tension.

“C-Choice?”

Siwoo feels a sense of inexplicable anxiety rising up momentarily.

“Yes… to regain the right of succession…”

She answered Siwoo’s question calmly, in a calculated tone.

She pauses for a moment and stares at Siwoo with a serene expression.

“First, I’ll tell you about the conditions the sponsors have put forward through us.”

She mentioned the sponsors and brought up related stories.

“Huh?”

Siwoo is momentarily bewildered by the words that the sponsors have set as conditions.

“They are… demanding that you choose three people to offer as sacrifices.”

She cautiously looked at Siwoo, as if carefully choosing her words.

“S-Sacrifices? What are you talking about?”

At that word, which was somewhat unfamiliar yet not unfamiliar, Siwoo’s expression hardened in surprise as he reacted.

“The sponsors want you to offer three members of your family, chosen by you, to them as sacrifices in exchange for you regaining the right of succession.”

She was conveying a resolute yet clear message to Siwoo, who was embarrassed, by reorganizing the sentence as if savoring the meaning once again.

“What?”

But Siwoo doesn’t immediately understand the meaning of what she’s saying.

This is because the situations that are unfolding felt so confusing and unreal.

“Fortunately, one of them seems to have decided to step towards the altar herself, ahead of the call.”

“Having meticulously prepared a plan to free the daughter who will be born from the shackles of bondage…”

She continues speaking with a calm but cold expression.

Hearing the words ‘the daughter who will be born’, Siwoo immediately realized that the person she was talking about was his sister, Sejin.

And this afternoon, her attitude and smile, which seemed somehow out of sync, flashed through Siwoo’s mind, awakening forgotten senses.

“And one more! She also said that she is ready to sacrifice herself. If only she is convinced that she can achieve what she wants through you…”

She trails off, unable to hide her sad eyes and expression.

Perhaps the ‘her’ she is talking about now is the person who delivered the words that Siwoo had to hear to her.

It was definitely teacher Yoo Yena.

Confused emotions seemed to be spreading rapidly in Siwoo’s mind.

“Now, if you choose one more person as you wish…”

Leaving a lingering feeling, she draws out the last words and looks deeply into Siwoo’s eyes.

Siwoo wanted to ask something more, but he could only make a bewildered expression.

A bitter anxiety and sense of isolation slowly seeps into Siwoo’s heart.

Like an actor who has forgotten an important line on a theater stage, he felt like his mind was going blank and he couldn’t even think of a single word properly.

In that short moment, he had the illusion that even his own existence was fading.

Like losing the solid floor of reality and floating in the air…

Siwoo barely suppresses the feeling that tears are about to pour out and calms his breathing.

Then, recalling the faces of his family members one by one, he desperately came up with the question he had to ask right away.

“W-What if…”

Siwoo barely opened his mouth and spat out the words.

She looks at Siwoo with a pitiful look for a moment.

“What happens if I don’t make a choice…?”

As if trying to desperately hold on to the truth that needed to be confirmed, Siwoo’s voice flowed out in a trembling voice.

The fear seeping into the end of his words lingered in the air like a faint chill.

She lowers her head with a look in her eyes tangled with complicated emotions.

For a moment, an awkward silence flowed.

Like the silence just before the curtain of the stage and ritual closes…

She took a deep breath as if taking a deep breath and exhaled quietly.

And then, looking straight up at Siwoo, she opened her mouth.

“If you don’t make a choice, nothing will happen…”

“It’s just that… the connections and possibilities that were connected to this place will be closed.”

“You will return to your daily life and continue living the life you used to live.”

“The memories will remain… but the connection you made with this world will be quietly forgotten, as if it never existed from the beginning…”

Like someone cautiously crossing the boundaries of reality and mystery, she was talking to Siwoo, looking at him as if engraving the lingering feelings of her words deep in her heart.

“And maybe you won’t even be able to see how we and those women who were once slaves are degenerating…”

“You will be completely excluded.”

There seemed to be a cool sadness in her calm tone.

As if the words she is conveying now are an irreversible boundary and declaration for her as well…

For a moment, Siwoo feels that the look in her eyes has changed subtly.

“And as if nothing happened, the world will continue to turn.”

“As if even the fact that you were once a part of that world has been denied…”

Her words are filled with inexplicable tension and suppressed trembling.

“This is probably the last piece of advice she can give you.”

As if finishing the card reading, she arranges the scattered cards and speaks in a calm but lonely tone.

As soon as she finished speaking, Siwoo felt a chill run down the back of his neck, as if he had reached an unfamiliar truth.

Were all of those lines prepared in advance?

Even the advice of advice that came out after the last card?

From deep inside Siwoo’s heart, an unknown sense of reality welled up.

**

“Now, have the things you were curious about been resolved a little?”

She smiles brightly at Siwoo again, as if nothing had happened.

She is making a completely different expression than before, as if she had scattered the tension into the air…

“Uh?…Uh uh…”

Siwoo answers awkwardly, unable to keep up with her changed atmosphere.

“That’s a relief~ Please use it a lot next time~ I don’t know when it will be hehe~”

She returns to her childlike tone and gives a playful smile.

The conversation she had with her while looking at the tarot cards just before felt as distant as a dream.

She picks up the tarot cards and gets up from her seat.

She bows to Siwoo and then gestures as if calling the teacher standing nearby…

“Ah, that’s right!”

She turns her head as if she had forgotten something and looks back at Siwoo again.

“This is a discount coupon. Please check the expiration date carefully, and if you visit again within that period, you can receive a discount service~!”

She takes out a piece of paper from the loose sleeve of her robe and hands it to Siwoo.

The coupon was made of luxurious textured paper.

The gold-leaf letters delicately engraved on the dark purple background are shining.

Siwoo’s penis was erect under the blanket, and her body handing over the coupon was close to Siwoo.

Siwoo still couldn’t get a sense of reality about what had just happened.

“Uh…thanks…”

Siwoo awkwardly conveys his thanks to her as he receives the coupon.

She turns around and approaches the teacher, and then moves to another table again according to the teacher’s instructions.

Siwoo was sitting there with his eyes fixed on her dreamy back figure wrapped in a robe for a while.

Then, Siwoo carelessly checks the coupon she handed him again.

Siwoo suddenly felt a cold shiver running down his spine.