“They replied me!” Ji Hyo squealed in delight. Her colleagues have finally gotten back to her, after being stuck in Gary’s era for about 2 weeks.

Gary walked over to Ji Hyo. “So, you are going to leave now?” he asked, a little reluctant to let her go.

She shook her head, but she was still giddy with excitement. “No, they’re going to help me reboot the system. It will take another 2 weeks, probably.”

Gary nodded, looking at her. She kept smiling, and Gary found her smiles really pretty. He found himself smiling at her.

“I’ll be visiting my Grandfather tomorrow,” Gary mentioned to Ji Hyo one night. “Do you want to come along? It’s two villages away.”

Ji Hyo nodded. How was she going to survive alone when Gary is not with her? Although she had lived here for a while now, she still doesn’t know how to do many things.

On their way there, Gary explained to her that his family has always been poor, from his grandfather’s generation to his. Even then, his grandfather insisted on the importance of studying, because to him, education was the only way out of poverty. Gary’s parents weren’t cut for studying, so they pinned all their hopes on him. But they died when they were out fishing one day, so Gary went under the car of his grandfather.

Ji Hyo listened to his story intently- all these information was new to her. Mother, Father, Grandfather. It was a completely different system in her time. She knew what they meant, of course. Family. But it meant nothing more than a word to her. She wondered how it was like, to live with them. A family.

“How was it like?” she asked cautiously.

“Huh?”

“To live with your grandfather and your parents.”

He thought for a while. “It was a blissful feeling,” he reminisced. “We were poor, but happy.”

“My father couldn’t study, but he sang beautifully.  I remember sometimes, we didn’t have enough food to eat and we had to sleep on a hungry stomach. So I’d cry, but my father would sing me to sleep, and sometimes my mother would join in,” he said nostalgically.

“People in my village were mostly poor,” he said. “But we helped each other out. I remember days with full moon were the best. The teenagers played out puppet shows for the younger kids, and the adults would gather together and talk. Every family would bring whatever food they had to share. And we’d indulge ourselves for just that night,” he continued.

“How about you?” he suddenly asked.

“I… I don’t have parents,” she said awkwardly. “People in my time… we don’t have parents.”

Gary frowned. “You mean they all died at once? Like at epidemic?”

“No… it’s not like that,” Ji Hyo struggled to explain. “We were born without parents,” she said.

“How can people be born without parents?” Gary asked, confused.

“It’s complicated,” she explained. “Many years from now, a new technology will develop. We can grow babies in test-tubes. It’s to ensure that the best genes are passed down to the next generation. And no defective genes- like those disease or cancerous genes- can spread around.”

“I don’t understand,” Gary said in confusion. “What’s genes? Or cancerous?”

“People realised that whatever we are- how we look like- is coded for these things inside our cells. They are called genes. Cells are little things inside our bodies. I mean, we’re made up of cells...” she trailed off, when she saw Gary’s puzzled look. “Never mind,” she says instead. “All this information is way beyond your time.”

Gary nodded in awe. Even though he doesn’t understand any of it, it sure sounded smart to him. “People in your time must be very clever.”

They finally reached Gary’s grandfather’s village, but were surprised that the entrance was guarded by soldiers.

“Let us out!” the people inside yelled. Some of them recognised Gary. “Save us, Gary! Tell them to let us out!”

“What’s going on?” he asked the soldiers.

“It’s an endemic region,” he said emotionlessly. “We have orders from the court to seal the village.”

“No way…” Gary gasped. “But they will all die!”

The soldier shrugged. “If we don’t seal the village, they can go out and spread the disease. Even more will get killed.”

“I have to go in! My grandfather is inside!”

The soldier shook his head. “It’s an incurable disease. You won’t be able to help them either.”

“Hyun