It was almost two in the morning when Jimin dropped Jinsu back home, and she was startled to find the place crawling with police.  Jimin stayed with her until they found their parents talking to the chief police inspector and realised that the home’s security guards were also there.  He was yawning too much to consider it worth staying to hear what the fuss was about and asked Jinsu to update him on it in the morning before he drove off.

Jinsu wandered up to her parents.  Her father had left her mother to deal with the police officer’s questions and was busily looking through his phone.  After a little hesitation, Jinsu spoke up.

“What’s going on?”

“Some goons tried to break into the Attayear warehouse,” he mumbled.  “Nothing serious.  Minseok will be awake at this time, won’t he?  I need him here right now.”

Jinsu stared.  “Father, it’s nearly two AM.  Any sane person will be asleep.”

He absently reached out and patted her head.  “I always knew you were a nutjob.  Maybe I should try Yixing instead.”

For a long, long moment, Jinsu was stunned.  Unless she was delirious or very much mistaken, her father had just , and she couldn’t actually remember him ever doing that.

Maybe he’d mistaken her for Jimin.  Deciding she didn’t want to find out, she stumbled away in the direction of the house.

The house was alive and in uproar by five-thirty.  Groaning, Jinsu stuck her head under her pillow and tried to roll over to get back to sleep, only to whimper when she accidentally crushed her broken fingers.

The resultant pain woke her up properly, and she reluctantly got out of bed to go in search of painkillers.  Finding that there were none in the bathroom, she struggled into her dressing gown and then made her way downstairs to find Mrs Kwon.  It would have been very surprising if the housekeeper wasn’t awake with the chaos she could hear all the way up from her bedroom.

Sure enough, Mrs Kwon was bustling around the kitchen when Jinsu got there, and the strong tang of coffee filled the air.  At least fifteen people were crammed in around the kitchen table.  Scanning them for faces she recognised, Jinsu caught sight of a drooping Minseok, who simultaneously looked on the brink of sleep and like he had half a mind to kill anybody who suggested he try to look a little more alive.

Mrs Kwon noticed her and bustled over before Jinsu could register anything else.

“Now’s not a good time, honey – why are you out of bed?”

Jinsu held up her injured hand and stifled a gigantic yawn with the other.

“Hurts,” she mumbled before looking around the kitchen.  “What’s going on?”

“There’s been some kind of break-in at the Attayear’s warehouse,” Mrs Kwon told her.  “The intruders were caught near the machine and I think they’re doing checks to ensure that none of it’s been harmed.”  She produced painkillers and a glass of water out of nowhere for Jinsu.  “Isn’t it supposed to be used for the first time tomorrow or something?  Your father mentioned it in connection with the scientist thingy you’re going to today and I’m pretty sure I saw it in the news.”

Jinsu nodded, though she didn’t really have a clue.  She knew that a trip in the Attayear was a prize for all those chosen to have the most outstanding projects at the science convocation, but her father had also told her that she wouldn’t be going on it, so she didn’t know any details.

Somebody was talking at the table, but Jinsu was too tired to bother listening in.  It was still before six in the morning, and now that the pain had reduced from sharpness to a dull throb, she decided it would be a good idea to go back to bed for another hour or so, maybe even two, and she turned to leave the kitchen.

Halfway up the stairs, she was almost mown down by her father, who was pulling on a suit jacket as he fumed into his phone.

“It was that snivelling Byun family,” he growled.  “They’ve identified the two perpetrators even though they refused to say a thing.  They’ll have been out to wreck the machine, I just know it!”

Blinking in the aftermath, Jinsu paused for a moment or two on the stairs before she continued on up.

The notifications light on her phone was flashing when she got back to her room, and Jinsu took the device off charge as she settled back under the duvet and unlocked the screen.  There were two messages.

The first was from Jimin, with a timestamp from a couple of hours before.

Holy , it read.  I think Dad is about to blow a lifetime of gaskets.  Apparently something’s happened to the Attayear?

Jinsu decided to respond to that when she had more information and went to look at the other one.

It was from Chanyeol and had only been sent a couple of minutes before.

Don’t come into school today, it read.  Just don’t.

Wondering if he’d heard what had happened with the Attayear, Jinsu texted back.

Has my dad been ringing around your family or something too?

The response was instantaneous.  About what?

There was a break-in at the Attayear warehouse.

A few messages came back in quick succession.

Attayear?

What’s that?

Oh wait, is that the time machine thingy?

Wait, there was a BREAK-IN?  What happened?

Oh my God.

Jinsu hesitated before sending her next message.  I overheard him on the phone just now and he said the police identified the intruders as people related to the Byuns.

There was no reply for several long minutes.  Eventually, Jinsu flopped down on her pillows with a sigh, just about to go back to sleep, but then the phone pinged again.

Okay, find yourself a nuclear bunker or something to hide in.  Just, whatever you do, don’t come to school today.  It’s going to be even worse now.

Jinsu nodded to herself around another yawn, but then realised something.  Wait.  If you didn’t know about that, how come you were texting me at this hour telling me not to come into schoo