[I thank you kindly for accepting my contract.

  Do not forget, you must not disclose the terms of our contract with another soul; be them a Self or another Benefactor.

  Break this rule and you shall perish.]

  Well, this was a lovely message to start the week. I opened the message as soon as I saw it, surprised to see the way my Benefactorl spoke.

  [In wished to gift you something special, as a token to express my gratitude and expectations of our new relationship.

  I believe these will be quite useful in a near future.

  Blessings,

  Fool]

  How…courteous.

  I was a bit unsure of the way they had phrased it, yet… Well, couldn’t really complain about receiving gifts.

  There was a small present icon glowing on my left, and the moment I pressed it, confetti exploded on my face. A full-colored hologram, passing through my mouth, nose and checks until it disappeared.

  [You have received the card ‘Five of Cups’]

  [You have received the card ‘Six of Swords’]

  Suddenly everything made sense, a piece of the puzzle falling right into its proper place, questions being answered, while many more popped into my mind.

  I hadn’t realized before. Since I had never been into those things back on Earth. Divination arts, astrology, love spells, prosperity rituals, superstitions, and all this nonsense. They were silly to me.

  However, Hyeon was somewhat more…curious. She liked to read and learn things related to that stuff. And she would often pester me about it.

  Once she took me to have my future read. I only went as a favor, and the experience was not at all pleasant to me. Yet there was one card that I never forgot; a woman on her knees weeping with three chalices spilling blood on the floor while two remained behind her, filled with water.

  Although Hana had gone abroad only for a few years, I was grieving. My life had changed too much, far too much, in only a couple of weeks after her departure, and I was having a hard time coping.

  Even though Hana would call me sometimes, she was not there. She was not by my side. The card was an unfortunate reminder of how much I was aching, and it stuck with me.

  And at that moment, even though the design was somewhat different, the key elements were the same. The number of chalices, the grief, the melancholy, the somber atmosphere, the gut-wrenching feeling I got simply by looking at it….all of it.

  Tarot.

  Suddenly familiar names and expressions came to me, like 'suits', 'arcanas', and 'spreads'. Cards and terms that, from time to time, Hyeon would talk to me about. It all made sense and, at the same time, it didn’t.

  How could that be even possible? And those trials, were they based on Tarot as well? And how would I even use those cards? Read the future with them? ?

  As I accepted the cards, my inventory opened automatically, one of the tabs glowing. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the inventory was separated by tabs.

  It appeared to have the same categories as the Shop. I clicked on the tab with the glowing icon—a card—trying to see if there was any useful description of the ones I had received, either on how to use them or what each one did, when a bell chimed through the space.

  「Fo-for all the New and Contracted Selves, the First Trial is about to begin. Please, re-read the rules carefully.」

  The squire’s voice filled the space, however no matter how many times I turned my neck and searched, I saw no likely source for his voice.

  I looked over toward the arc, the number 3603 glowing faintly. It was starting before all spots had been filled?

  「All survivors will be rewarded according to their participation. So re-remember to make your Benefactors proud.」

  For some reason I felt my muscles tensing, the anticipation of it all making my heart race. I should probably be scared and nervous; it would be the most natural response to that situation.

  So why wasn’t I?

  [First Trial - Defend the Tower!]

  1- Selves can contribute to the Defense by purchasing structures.

  2- Selves can place structures anywhere along the Tower’s path

  3- Points can be earned by defeating monsters

  4- Points earned within the Trial will be stored in the Tower’s Vault

  5- The Stage will only be cleared once all monsters have been defeated

  6- Selves can upgrade weapons by using points

  7- New rules may be added as the Trial progresses

  I read the rules at least three times, my smile widening by each read.

  Wasn’t that…

  Just a tower defense game?

  It couldn’t be, right?

  On the right corner of the rules, there was a wands symbol with a ‘II’ beside it. . So my guess was right…the trials connected to the cards, somehow. Did that mean they used the tarot card as inspiration?

  Shit, I wished I knew more about those cards—Hyeon would be helpful here. Was there any way I could get my hands on a manual, like a ‘Tarot for Dummies’?

  Of course not, they wouldn’t sell in the Shop.

  “Mister!”

  I felt the impact on my leg, almost losing my balance. The twins were back, and one glance at Hal’s face told me they managed to get a hold of some interesting information.

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  Still, there was no way I could ignore the fear in Hildr’s eyes. I caressed her hair a few times, a trying to pass as much confidence I could with a smile. Not sure I actually succeeded.

  “Back so soon?” I asked with Hil wrapped around my leg, the girl nodding once.

  When I glanced over to Hal, he had both hands on his pockets and I kept wondering if that was simply his relaxed stance or if he was constantly reaching for the knife.

  “So, did you find out anything?”

  The boy remained a few moments in complete silence. Then, he started to type in midair. It did not take long for a notification to pop up.

  [You have received a message]

  I opened it, reading the content of Hal’s message with a furrowed brown.

  Was he serious? It couldn’t be, right?

  “Are you certain of that?”

  The boy shrugged, pointing his head toward the walls that surrounded us. “Are you smart enough to win this trial?”

  It was one of the big questions. So far, I still didn’t know if the reason for my survival in the past challenge was due my quick thinking or pure, mere luck. And if it was luck, at what point would it run out?

  「Luck is what fools hope for. If you are wise, you’re going to hope for something else.」

  Those words suddenly came to me, something I had heard a long time ago. I had no idea why I was remembering it at that moment, why it came so suddenly to me.

  Was that what I had truly become then? A Fool who kept hoping for foolish things? A weak smile formed on my lips, debating if I was turning into a fool or a madman.

  Yet who had said that to me? Had it been Hyeon or Jiho? Somehow I couldn’t picture any of them saying something like that, Jiho’s “pieces of wisdom” were usually so weird with silly and odd metaphors, it didn’t look like him.

  And Hyeon would never say something so eloquent and poised—she would add at least some curse words.

  Then who was it?

  Had it been Hana?

  At that point, another screen appeared in front of me and everyone else—the same messages displayed with an eerie purple glow.

  [You can now choose a “Leader”]

  [You can now purchase structures from the Trial’s Store]

  [The first wave will start in 2:00 minutes]

  A leader…?

  How could we choose a leader when no one knew each other? Was it going to be by vote, or something else?

  There was a low ‘ping’ sound, a giant screen opening above all of us. Five people were having their pictures displayed, their names written below.

  I recognized two people on that screen.

  [According to Performance Level, Amount of Points, Benefactors, and Impressions, these are the current Contracted Selves best suited to become the Trial’s Leader: ]

  One of them was trench-coat-guy.

  1- Kurosawa, Touma

  2- L?ster, Irma

  3- Davis, Allison

  4- Costa, Henrico

  5- Park, Eun-Woo

  The other person was me.

  [Vote for the person you want as ‘Leader’]

  “Look! Both misters are on the screen!” Hil was now looking up with a gleeful smile in her voice, her eyes glowing.

  Hal looked unimpressed at best.

  Another screen popped in front of me, the names shining with the light reflecting on my eyes.

  Did I want to become a leader? Actually, I was surprised my name was even there.

  Sure, I had placed first in the last challenge and I did have a lot of points.

  However, there were a lot more things to consider when it come to ‘leadership’. People’s skill was not even at the top of the list. Also, my actions and decisions would impact everyone else around me, not only regarding the amount of points each one would receive by the end of the trial, but their lives.

  Did I really want such responsibilities on my shoulders?

  Short answer was no.

  “This Touma guy looks pretty good, huh? Like a real CEO.”

  “Irma looks quite strong too. I can see fire in her eyes, you feel me?”

  “Everyone is quite decent, actually. Well, you would've to exclude—”

  “ guy?”

  “Oh, yeah, that bloke doesn’t belong there. D’you reckon he paid his way in?”

  “Well, if points are not the only reason he’s there, something’s wrong.”

  “I must admit, he looks a bit of a prat.”

  "Doesn’t he? For a second, I thought it was just me.”

  “You all are talking about that Park Eun fella, right?”

  “Could it be anyone else?”

  [Unique Aura - Foolish Endeavor]

  [Active]

  Hal was holding his stomach, on his knees, trying not to laugh. After a few seconds he just burst, pointing his finger at me as tears ran down his face, the boy laughing nonstop.

  “Oh, your face—

  …right.

  There was this skill. Suddenly, trench guy’s reaction to me was not that out of place.

  …I had nothing to say, really.

  And there was a really small chance that if I said anything, it would make things worse.

  I had truly become a ‘Fool’, whether I wanted or not.

  I let out a long sigh, passing my fingers through my hair. No need to keep thinking about that, right? After all, I still had to vote for someone.

  I would drop dead before I ever voted on that guy, so I kept looking at the others. Tried to search them amidst the crowd, though it was not so easy to spot them.

  I did found Irma, and just like the picture, she really looked strong. She had her hair braided, the sides shaved. She had real muscles on her arms, almost certain her shoulders were wider than mine.

  In the end, I voted for Irma.

  With Hal still laughing his ass off and Hil nagging him to stop, I opened the Trial’s Store.

  Then a big smile grew on my face.

  “You asked me if I was smart enough to win this trial, right?”

  Hal didn’t stop to laugh right away, but he did start to pay attention to what I was saying with tears still running down his face.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know if I am smart enough to win, but…”

  The most expensive structure in that store, that we could currently buy, was 30 points.

  “I rich.”

  It took a few seconds for the boy to process my words and when he did, he gave a real smile.

  “Wow, you sure are something else.”

  [Total Points: 4,328]

  “Have you ever played a tower defense game before?”

  When they both shook their heads, my grin got wider.

  “Well, this mister here will show you kids how you play.”

  “Gross.”

  “Mister is so cool!”

  My pride had partially recovered.

  Then the giant screen above us let out confetti and balloons, accompanied by trumpets and news messages.

  [Every Self has voted]

  [The new Leader has been chosen]

  One picture pushed all the others aside, its size getting bigger as the name of the person glowed brightly for all to see.

  The children cheered aloud, throwing their fists in the air while jumping.

  Kurosawa Touma had won.

  Again.