I opened a card over lunch alone

At lunchtime, the protagonist, who avoids the crowded cafeteria and eats alone, pauses before a tarot card between the fact of being alone and the reason she believed she had to be.

Twenty-six-year-old Minseo always eats alone at the company cafeteria, at the very latest time. One day, after seeing a coworker notice Minseo's empty seat and choose a place with others first, eating alone repeats every lunchtime. In counseling, Minseo draws a tarot card, but the question she wrote beside it stays with her longer than the card's meaning. At the decisive moment, Minseo sits alone at the same table, staring at the screen without ever sending the message she meant to send someone.

When eating lunch alone keeps bothering you

If you briefly set apart the feeling that added “I have to be alone” to the fact that you ate alone, the scene you avoided comes into clearer view.

On the day you wanted to avoid eating lunch alone, what scene came to mind first?

Minseo, what stayed with you longer than eating lunch alone was the moment you had already decided you were alone before sitting down. More than the card, I noticed the sentence you wrote beside it. Was it loneliness that made you sit in the same spot again today, or was it the part of you that found it harder to speak first? If you're going through a similar lunch, you can tell me about that, too, slowly.

Scenes

• 01 · Only empty seats were left 01 · Only empty seats were left — When Minseo approached with her tray, Jihyeon was placing her bags on the two seats beside her. Jihyeon: We'll sit together here. Minseo: Oh, okay.
• 02 · Maybe it wasn't because I was alone 02 · Maybe it wasn't because I was alone — Even after turning her phone face down, Minseo couldn't take her eyes off the empty chair across from her. She couldn't tell whether she disliked eating alone or being seen as someone who ate alone. Minseo: I usually feel comfortable eating alone.
• 03 · The Question Beside the Card 03 · The Question Beside the Card — Minseo drew one tarot card and wrote beneath it, “What am I avoiding when I'm alone at lunchtime?” Yeonhwa pointed to the sentence instead of explaining the card's meaning first. Yeonhwa: What scene came to mind first when you wrote this question, before the card?
• 04 · The Lunch I Couldn't Send 04 · The Lunch I Couldn't Send — That Friday at lunch, Minseo sat alone in the same way. Her phone read, “Want to eat together today?” but her finger stopped just before she sent it. Minseo: If I send this, it'll feel like I'm the one clinging first.