The morning came, Yongrae barely slept three hours that night. He kept thinking about what to get for Sunjung’s birthday but unfortunately, he couldn’t decide. Without waking his parents up, Yongrae got ready and went out to look for a gift. He entered the elevator and went down to the hotel lobby. When the elevator’s door opened he saw Sunjung seated there alone. He got worried because he didn’t want her to see him, so he got out and tried to hide behind the walls there. He kept advancing towards the door and then suddenly Sunjung appeared behind him and hugged him from the back.
“What are you doing here Oppa?”- said Sunjung to him.
“Nothing I was just taking a walk.”- replied Yongrae, disappointed that he failed to leave unnoticed, “What about you?”
“I was going to meet the manager.”- replied Sunjung after letting Yongrae go, “He wanted to check everything for tonight one more time.”
“Hello guys!”- said Gyeong from behind them. Yongrae was surprised again and bowed to her.
“Sunjung did you finish with the manager?”- she asked her.
“Not yet mother…”- replied Sunjung, “I couldn’t find him.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”- said Gyeong while pushing Sunjung away, “Go find him!”
Sunjung left and waved at Yongare while going. He waved at her back feeling relieved that she wouldn’t see him leave. He looked at Gyeong and saw her looking at him with a strange determination.
“Yongrae let's go talk for a bit...”- she said to him. Gyeong grabbed Yonrae’s arm and took him with her to the lobby. They sat there and Yongrae started to feel anxious about what she wanted to tell him.
“Look Yongrae I don’t have anything against you, and we have never talked face to face but…”- said Gyeong to him while looking into his eyes, “Yujun and Sunjung love you, so I will trust their judgment…”
“But if you play games with my daughter or break her heart I am going to make you pay…!”- she said while looking menacing at him. Yongrae felt uncomfortable from that but he kept his poker face while agreeing with her.
“I am going now, have a good day!”- she continued while getting up, “And don’t forget, this conversation never happened.”
She left and Yongrae stayed there a little bit longer. He was surprised by Gyeong’s words but he tried to be understanding since she is a mother and it was normal for her to be protective in regards to her daughter. Then Yongrae got up and left the hotel to go buy a gift for Sunjung. He remembered a nice marketplace that he saw one of the days before, when they were exploring Kyoto and went. He started looking around and the market resembled a hallway and every shop felt like a different house, each one had its different products. He kept walking past the first stores that sold clothes and cosmetic products thinking that Sunjung got plenty of them already.  While walking there, he saw a jewelry shop that had some pretty bizarre stuff on the shelves. This shop got his attention and he entered inside. He started looking around and remembered his mother’s words.
“A gift that reminds me of her…”- he thought and kept looking.
Finally, he rested his eyes on a heart-shaped necklace.
“The heart is the symbol of love and love is what I should feel when I see Sunjung.”- he thought while removing it from the shelf. After looking at it closely he decided to buy it. He went to the cashier and showed him the necklace.
“How much for the necklace?”- said Yongrae in broken Japanese, that he remembered from what he had learned in school.
“This costs thirty thousand Yen.”- replied the cashier. Yongrae opened his wallet and saw that he had exactly the amount of money necessary to buy that necklace. He felt relieved because he forgot to get more money from his parents last night so this seemed like a good sign.
“Can you wrap it up for me please?”- said Yongrae while paying. He wrapped it and Yongrae left the store, satisfied with his purchase. He turned back and started walking out of the marketplace. During that moment he heard a voice calling from a shady alley next to the store.
“Hey boy come here!”- said the voice, “Come closer!”
Yongrae felt curious and went towards the alley. He entered there and saw a lady seated in an open camping tent. She had a green piece of cloth covering her hair and a crystal ball in front of her. From the looks of it, she seemed like a gypsy fortune teller, but she was a Japanese lady impersonating one.
“Are you talking to me?”- said Yongrae to her.
“Yes to you young man.”- she replied, “Come here please!”
Yongrae got closer to her and stopped in front of the tent. She looked at him happy but that made him feel uncomfortable.
“I feel like destiny brought you here today…”- she said to Yongrae.
“What is this sketchy place?”- replied Yongrae, “Lady, are you a con artist?”
“I was mixing my tarot card while looking at you and these two cards fell off the deck”- she replied while laughing, “The fool and the emperor…”
“And what does this mean?”- replied Yongrae to her, suspicious.
“Come sit here boy…”- she said, inviting him to sit in front of her. Yongrae felt curious and sat in front of her, hoping that she wouldn’t be a con artist.
“These two cards represent the two roads ahead of you…”- she said.
“yeah right, I am a young guy so we generally are in a crossroad at this age…”- replied Yongrae annoyed, “That’s called a cold reading!”
“Do you know how many meaningful coincidences happened from the moment you were conceived until now that we crossed paths?”- she replied with a serious look on her face, “If you don’t believe me then believe the spirit guides that sent you here…”
“If you want money I don’t have any…”- responded Yongrae, “I spent it all to buy this gift for someone…”
“Someone special?”- she asked.
“Something like that…”- replied Yongrae while looking away embarrassed.
“You know what, since you don’t believe me then I’ll read your future in my crystal ball for free.”- she said to him, “This way you got nothing to lose since this reading is sponsored by your spirit guides…”
“Okay fine…”- said Yongrae, “Tell me what the future holds for me!”
“I see a golden ring, this ring is part of a chain that is all around a faceless boy…”- she said after looking at the crystal ball, “With him, there is a girl connected with this chain…”
Yongrae felt surprised by what he heard and his skepticism started to fade away, but he kept a poker face without revealing his inner conflict.
“I see the boy sacrificing himself for the sake of someone else…”- she continued, “This might sound like a noble gesture but along with him, this boy is taking the girl to a fake happy ending…”
“She thinks that she is following love but she will be sacrificed too, and I don’t think this is fair to her…”- said the fortuneteller, “He shouldn’t take advantage of her feelings to drag her with him…”
“Is there any way this boy can save both the girl and the person he was sacrificing himself for?”- asked Yongrae worried from what he heard.
“This boy needs to understand that it is not his responsibility to save everyone…”- replied the fortuneteller, “We need to help ourselves first, only then we can try to help others…”
Her words made Yongrae realize what he was doing was not fair to Sunjung or himself, and that he had to stop this before it was too late.
“Thank you for reading my fortune!”- said Yongrae while getting up.
“Don’t forget, he is one decision away from a different future!”- said the fortuneteller while looking into his eyes.