A man’s seventeenth birthday is a coming-of-age ceremony. Well, it’s a woman’s, too. Regardless. Seventeen. Coming of age. Remember that.

In general, on the seventeenth birthday itself, not much happens. It’s socially acceptable to have a large party – girls in new dresses, boys in whatever is the fashion, lots of booze. It depends on what kind of person you are, you know? What kind of celebration you have. I knew a guy called Key once who invited over three-hundred people to his sollemne. He rented out the entire local hotel and made his entrance at eight in the evening at the top of the stairs, wearing gold all-over with a huge boa constrictor around his shoulders.    

My big sister held her sollemne in the back garden. She invited five people. They spent the day doing stuff together – I don’t know, girl stuff – and after pizza for dinner they all went home again.

But the entire point of a sollemne – the surrounding motivation – is the Ovo.

My sister’s Ovo is beautiful. It’s a six of diamonds, and it’s a beautiful dark green color. The tattoo is in a kind of sketch expression, like it was created with thousands of tiny flicks of a very sharp pencil. Under it is the name Eric Nam. She hasn’t met him yet, but when she does, I’m sure they’ll be very happy together. Lizzy and Eric. It’s almost poetic.

On the night of your seventeenth’s birthday, you are gifted with the name of your soulmate, and the playing card that represents them. Each suit has its own feeling to it; every number or face card has a sentimental, emotional value to it.

Sometimes, if the tie to your soulmate is very strong, you’ll be gifted an Ovo twice: one on either wrist. People like that are absolutely blessed, because they know when they meet their soulmate, it will be the most intense tie they have to a person. Their happiness is doubly sure.

It is on this fundamental part of our lives, the Ovo, upon which Deck High is based on. Deck High is the first of its kind: the first high school in Korea to be based upon the Ovo.

As the playing cards represent a human’s deepest soul, it divides the students of Deck High into four individual groups: the House of Spades, of Hearts, of Clubs and of Diamonds. Students choose which house they most represent, and each house is led by a Prefect: a valedictorian, of sorts.

The Prefect over the house of Spades is Wonwoo, Ace of Spades. Wonwoo is a perfect example of a Spade: he’s calm, neat, a little fussy, and painfully punctual. If he promised to show up at 2PM, he will arrive at that exact time. It’s almost freaky. He’s also the dark, strong, silent type. More often than not, students are intimidated by his cold look.

The Prefect over the house of Hearts is the King of Hearts, Seungcheol. He’s the school’s taekwondo champion, and the muscle behind the Prefect Five. If there is any funny business around, Seungcheol doesn’t just know about it, he’s already kicked the perpetrators into purgatory and back again. He’s bright and very masculine, except where his boyfriend is concerned.

The Prefect over the house of Clubs is the Queen of Clubs, DK. And there is nothing he hates more than being called the Queen, so of course as his best friends, we bring it up as much as possible. Like most clubs he’s emotional and sensitive: but most of all, he’s got the sun shining out of his 24/7. He’s the Prefect you go to if you need cheering up. Or candy. Or a tissue. Or some of the girls even go to him if they’re out of feminine products. Most of us wouldn’t be seen dead with a pad in our bag, but DK has five sisters. Suppose he’s used to it.

Lee Jihoon is the Jack of Diamonds, the Prefect that strikes blind terror and panic into the hearts of the students. He’s also the aforementioned boyfriend of the great Choi Seungcheol, and the connection is utterly bizarre. Jihoon is stunningly smart, and painstakingly creative, so it was a toss-up on whether he would go to diamonds or clubs, but then Seungcheol got his Ovo and it was decided. Jihoon is cold, cunning, strategic, amazing with numbers and a sarcastic piece of . But I’ve seen him when he thought he was alone with Seungcheol. He’s just a little duckling that wants to be cuddled. And his boyfriend goes from a burly athlete to a cuddle machine.

It’s real weird.

There’s five Prefects, not four, even though there’s only four houses. The Joker Prefect is in cha