The Agreement I Never Made

Those black hands that had covered my eyes seemed to be forcing something into me. Countless things I couldn't understand rushed through me. Thoughts. Images. Things I couldn't even describe.

Unable to bear all of this rushing through me, I tried to scream from the bottom of my throat, but it was useless. Not a single word came out of my mouth. 'Is this the beginning of the Fool's Journey?'

It finally let go of me. Gasping for breath, I slowly opened my eyes. For a moment, I couldn't understand what I was looking at. Something huge stood in front of me. Then I saw it.

A towering pile of dead bodies, stacked one on top of another. It was something I had never even seen in my worst nightmares. I saw the horrifying sight from a short distance away.

Screams echoed all around me.

In the middle of that pile of bodies stood a man about my size. Like the dawn during an eclipse, dark clouds covered his face, making it impossible to see clearly. Just looking at him made my body go cold.

The corpses were swollen and rotten, their skin dark and wet, with blood and other fluids sticking to their bodies. The stench hit me so hard that my stomach twisted. I clamped both hands over my mouth, but I couldn't hold it back. I vomited everything.

"Hahaha..." The man standing on the pile spread his arms and laughed horribly. He laughed like someone watching his worst nightmare had finally come true.

'Why is he looking like that?' Only when the mysterious man raised his hand did I notice it. The Fool card was in his hand. 'How did it get into his hand?'

Was this a dream or reality? I had no idea what kind of place this was. I needed to get out of here. I tried to take one step backward. But my body wouldn't move.

'Everything is going wrong at the worst possible time.'

The moment I saw what was happening, a cold feeling crept through me. Something terrible was about to happen. I could feel it. His face was still hidden in the darkness, but his eyes were different now.

I could see them clearly. They glowed red. The moment that gaze fell on me, my body went stiff. It felt like a predator had found its next prey. I couldn't look away.

The man raised his hand without hesitation and pointed straight at me. He had chosen me. "You're next."

"...Who are you?" I whispered.

For a second, something changed in the man's expression. Pity. The kind of pity someone might show a person who was already beyond saving.

I couldn't understand why he was looking at me like that. Then, without warning, he threw The Fool card into the air.

My eyes widened. The card shot toward me. "Wait—" I barely had time to react.

The card crossed the distance between us in an instant and slammed straight into my chest. My body jerked. My breathing stopped for a moment. "What—?!"

The mysterious man's voice reached me like a warning. "Soon... you—"

"—!"

"No..."

The card pierced straight through my chest and buried itself inside my heart. Blood burst from the wound. Pain exploded through my body. It felt like my life was being ripped out of me.

I looked down at my chest in desperation. "Ah—!!" A huge hole had torn through my chest, right where my heart was. Blood poured from it.

I glared at the man, barely able to breathe. "Why did you do this to me?"

The mysterious man stared at me. "Why? Why?!" His voice grew louder. "Because you already agreed!"

"I didn't. You fucking bastard."

The mysterious man stared at me for a moment, as if he had already finished what he came here to do. Then his body began to break apart into tiny fragments.

Before long, he started disappearing into the air. I stretched my hands toward him, desperately asking, "Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?!"

But he had already disappeared completely.

This wasn't fair. Not even a little. This was nothing but a cruel act. "No. No..."

The Fool card was still inside my chest. It had torn my heart apart from within, splitting it open, and was now pulsing right in the middle of it.

"Get out of me!!!"

With my life hanging by a thread, I knew I had no other choice. The Fool card was still pulsing inside me. With my heart filled with pain, I struggled to breathe and reached my trembling hand into the wound, trying to pull the Fool card out from inside my heart.

But it refused to come out, as if it was stubbornly holding on. 'What did I do to deserve something like this?'

My vision began to fade. I was at the moment when my life was about to leave my body. 'No... I'm not dying here.'

I didn't want to die because of this damn Fool.

With the last bit of strength left in my body, I kept fighting. My hands were shaking, my breath was barely coming out, but I refused to stop.

"Gah!"

With one final pull, I finally tore the Fool card out. I gasped for air, desperately trying to breathe. But even after being pulled out, the Fool card was still glowing, as if the Fool card had gotten what it wanted.

"—!!" Doubt slowly crept into my mind. 'Am I supposed to die here because of this Fool? Or is this my fate?'

But somehow, I was still alive. 'Or... is all of this just another illusion?'

But the hot blood pouring from my chest, the pain that filled my body, my trembling hands, the spit in my mouth. All of it was real.

That bitter truth gave me something close to relief. A weak kind of relief. "...Why?"

"No. That's the wrong question."

I glared at the Fool card. "How did I even become a part of this?"

Before I could finish the thought, another question rose in my mind. "When did I agree to this?"

The Fool card didn't like my answer. Its glow suddenly intensified. "Wait..."

The light grew brighter. It began burning through my vision until I could barely see anything else.

The Fool card pulsed violently inside my hand, almost as if it had gone mad, as if it had finally achieved what it wanted.

The light spread outward. It swallowed me. Everything around me. For a brief moment, I could feel nothing but that blinding heat.

✦ End of Chapter 4 — The Agreement I Never Made ✦