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The President Game 
Limited Series 

The Fair: Ep. 12
The spring fair fundraising event raises money but also new relationships and new drama. While on the ferris wheel, Irene has a realization, and so does Seulgi.

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joy huffed, hands pushing through her hair as she turned a page in her textbook. 

“that’s the twentieth time you’ve sighed since lunch break started.” seulgi commented, pulling her lollipop out of . 

“i’m stressed.” joy responded. “you know, the emotion that people feel when there’s something worrying them.” she said, eyes scanning the page desperately. 

seulgi pouted at the jab that joy made at the fact she was always laidback when it came to school and never seen to be stressed about any assignments or exams, but still received good grades.  

“you’re good at science. you’ll do well.” seulgi said, leaning forward on the cafeteria table to look at the textbook. 

“well is not enough. i need to maintain my gpa to keep my scholarship and stay in the school.” joy muttered.

“and you’re cramming last minute because?” seulgi asked as a knowing grin spread across her face. 

her friend looked up momentarily from the book to glare harmlessly at her for teasing. “stop it.” she scowled with a light blush dusting her cheeks. she had recently become engrossed in texting wendy during every free moment she had but didn’t realize how much it affected her studying time until now. she had never felt unprepared for a test, so the stress was getting to her. 

“hi joy.” a sweet voice called out from behind her and seulgi looked up, her smile widening. joy turned around, excitement taking over the stress when she saw wendy waving at her. irene was by wendy’s side, arms linked with hers and it looked like wendy was nervous about something. 

“hi wendy.” joy said with a bright smile. “irene.” she greeted. 

irene nudged wendy slightly and wendy hastily spoke up. “can we go somewhere to talk?” wendy glanced down at joy’s textbook briefly and then looked up again. “it’ll be quick.” she added. 

“o-oh, sure.” joy nodded keenly, standing up. she shot seulgi a nervous but excited look as she and wendy started walking out of the cafeteria and seulgi grinned back proudly. 

irene slid onto the bench to be beside seulgi, who turned to look at her with an amused smile. “hello gorgeous.” she greeted, putting an arm around her and leaning closer. 

the president smiled and reached up to pull seulgi’s lollipop out of . she easily silenced her protest with a kiss, smirking afterwards as she put the candy in her own mouth. 

seulgi laughed, shaking her head but didn’t complain. “what’s that about?” she asked, tilting her head towards the direction the pair went in. 

“wendy’s asking her to be her date at the spring fair.” 

seulgi straightened up, “i didn’t know we needed dates for that.” she said. “why haven’t you asked me?” she asked, familiar playfulness twinkling in her eyes. 

irene met her gaze with a serious expression, “because i asked someone else, obviously.” 

“damn it.” seulgi said. 

her girlfriend giggled, looking at her with adoring eyes as seulgi smiled back fondly. irene’s hand moved up to her neck and her fingertips touched her skin lightly when she noticed the marks.  

“does that hurt?” irene asked with a small frown. she didn’t realize how dark the hickeys could get and it looked painful but seulgi shook her head with a grin, reassuring her. 

“no, i like it.” she said. 

irene shoved her lightly with a blush. “i need to get ready for class.” she said, starting to get up.

“you’re not giving my lollipop back? thief.” seulgi scowled jokingly. “i liked that flavor.” 

irene flicked her hair over her shoulder, looking down at her girlfriend with a smug smile. “come get a taste later then.” she said before sashaying off, leaving seulgi speechless.

>>

the spring fair was bustling with students from velour and nearby schools as well as families. it was an impressive turnout both in terms of the quality of the fair and the number of attendees. 

“fundraising looks like it’s going well.” seulgi said, crossing her arms and leaning against the pole of the student council stall as she watched eunbi draw on the whiteboard to indicate another few thousand won raised for charity. “and nice banner.” she complimented, pointing up at the familiar colorful display above their heads. 

irene smiled, looking up at her from where she sat at the table to greet newcomers, take donations, and provide them with the map and information about the fair. “why aren’t you going around having fun instead of loitering here?” 

seulgi put on a dejected expression, “well, my date isn’t available to have fun with me, so i don’t have much to do alone…” she sighed. 

the president giggled, checking her watch. “my shift here ends in an hour. i’ll find you after?” 

“fine.” seulgi said with another dramatic sigh. “she’s kicking me out so fast.” she added, looking at eunbi who took her seat on the table beside irene. 

“council members only, sorry.” irene joked and eunbi laughed at seulgi’s disappointed face.

seulgi walked over to lean down and give her girlfriend a gentle kiss on the cheek. “i’ll see you later.” she said, making irene smile. 

“don’t go on the ferris wheel without me.” irene added as seulgi started leaving. 

“no promises, i might find a better date!” seulgi responded, smirking as she skipped off and irene rolled her eyes. 

“you two are so sweet, i’m jealous.” eunbi commented, making irene blush. 

across from the council’s main stall, wendy and joy were laughing together in front of a cotton candy stall because joy was attempting to style it as a mustache on wendy.

“i’m just going to eat it.” wendy said teasingly and joy tutted, making her stay still as she balanced the piece of cotton candy above wendy’s upper lip. 

“i give up.” joy said when it kept falling off and wendy laughed. joy held the piece closer to and wendy blushed as she let joy feed her the candy. joy only realized what she had done afterwards, blinking and laughing awkwardly as looked in a different direction quickly. 

“so… what do you want to do next?” she asked, hoping it wouldn’t show that she was flustered by their closeness. 

“um, anything!” wendy said, equally shy. she looked around at the different stalls and games that were available, trying to remember what there was. “let’s go to where the farm animals are.” she suggested, knowing joy liked animals a lot and her heart swelled when joy smiled brightly, nodding eagerly. 

at another stall, yeri sat leisurely behind the table, lollipop stick hanging from as she waited for customers who wanted a tarot card reading. 

“are you even qualified?” 

“seulgi!” yeri’s eyes brightened excitedly when she saw the girl standing before her with a skeptical expression. “come on, let me read your future!” she beckoned for her to take a seat. 

“this feels like a scam.” seulgi said, narrowing her eyes but still sat down since she had nothing better to do. “where did you learn to read tarot cards?” 

“internet.” yeri shrugged, laying out cards in front of them on the table. “now, think about your future and choose a card that you feel drawn to.” she instructed in a calming voice. 

“is that how this works-”

“shut up and pick a card.” yeri said, snapping out of her soothing character and making seulgi snicker. 

seulgi looked at the spread of cards before her, lifting a hand to get a feel of which card she wanted to pick. eventually she settled on one and picked it up to give to yeri, who flipped it over. 

“aha!”

“what is it?” seulgi asked warily, looking at the picture of an angel with a trumpet above a bunch of people with their arms stretched out. 

“the judgement card.” yeri said. “this means there are significant things happening in the future that will change the way you see things.” 

seulgi blinked, “right.” 

“so some advice is…” yeri snuck a glance under the table at her notes. “to be attentive to the people around you and the events that unfold.” 

seulgi looked deep in thought and yeri clapped to bring her back out. “thank you, that’ll be 5000 won.” 

“5000?” seulgi repeated in shock.

“hey it’s for charity!” yeri shot back and seulgi begrudgingly took out her wallet. “i did a reading for irene earlier before the fair started.” she said as seulgi handed over the money. 

“yeah?” 

“she got this one.” yeri said, turning over a card to show seulgi. “the lovers.” 

“oh.” seulgi stared at the card for longer and she wasn’t sure what to say.  

“all about deep connections, bonding, and unconditional love…how sappy, right?” yeri snickered, stacking her cards back together and seulgi managed a smile and nodded. “now go away, don’t hold up my business.” she shooed her away from the stall and seulgi got up to walk away but her mind was still clouded with thoughts. 

she knew it was just yeri’s silly card reading that probably meant nothing, but she couldn't stop a sense of unease. she wandered down the path mindlessly with no destination in mind when a hand on the back of her shirt yanked her behind a tent near the back of where the fairgrounds ended. 

“what do you want now?” seulgi scowled when she turned to see seyoung who had a smile on her face that showed she was up to no good. 

“kiss me.”

“i’m sorry?” seulgi blinked.

seyoung took a step closer which made seulgi lean back instinctively. “prove to me that you don’t have feelings for the president.” 

“i don’t need to prove anything to you.” seulgi said defiantly, crossing her arms and looking to the side. 

“then i guess i’ll have to assume you failed the deal.” 

“i told you, i’m working on it.” seulgi’s voice dropped lower. 

“you really want me to believe she’s that perfect and there’s nothing you can expose?” seyoung scoffed. “you’re taking too long, kang.” 

seulgi bit the inside of her cheek, going quiet because she knew seyoung was right. when did she ever need this long to get something done? 

“i just need a bit more time.” she said. 

“and i’ll wait patiently but only if you prove your feelings for her aren’t real.” seyoung replied, making seulgi shoot her a glare. “if your feelings aren’t real like you claim, then it shouldn’t be hard for you to kiss someone else.” she said in a taunting voice. 

seulgi clenched her fists, looking around them to make sure they were still alone. “fine. but this is so unnecessary.” she said. seyoung smirked as seulgi leaned in to kiss her and she grabbed the front of seulgi’s shirt to keep her in place for longer when she felt seulgi try to move back. 

seulgi heard the click of a phone camera and she pulled back instantly, looking at the phone in seyoung’s hand with a shocked expression. 

“perfect.” seyoung smiled proudly, swiping through the photos on her phone screen.

“what are you doing?” seulgi asked through gritted teeth. 

“now, let’s see... how about one week?” seyoung hummed, waving her phone in the air. “you have one week to expose the president. otherwise… your sweet girlfriend finds out that you’re a cheater, and then it’ll be really hard for you to stay close to her and find out her secrets.”  

“what game are you playing, seyoung?” seulgi growled. 

“the games you like.” seyoung replied with the same smug smile. “what was it that you like to say? oh, isn’t this so fun?” she teased. “after all, what’s a game without a challenge and some time pressure?” 

seulgi exhaled heavily, running her fingers through her hair in frustration as seyoung laughed. 

“one week, kang.” she said in a singsong voice, sauntering off