(A/N: chapter zero, because I'm a compsci nerd and indexing begins at zero)

Dodging around some of the slower moving cars, Woohyun kept one eye on the road and another on his dashboard to make sure he wasn’t speeding too much, all while singing along to his favorite. After all, getting pulled over would just make him later than he already was.

It was 6:30AM, typically far before the morning rush, but traffic in his city was known for being spotty and he could find a horrible backup at any given moment.

He was going to a convention in New York, one that his teacher had recommended him to. It didn’t excite him terribly much – he was just there because he was nearing graduation and internships and careers were very important items to the college upperclassman. He certainly didn’t look forward to a weekend of schmoozing, but perhaps he could duck away and visit the Museum of Modern Art at some point during the trip.

Thankfully, no traffic appeared, and Woohyun arrived at his school at 6:50, finding a wonderful surplus of parking spots.

Woohyun hopped out of his car, grabbed his suitcase, and sprinted over towards the other side of campus. The bus was supposed to leave at 7:00AM sharp, and it would take at least ten minutes to get to the bus stop. He pulled out the retractable handle as he ran so that he could roll the suitcase behind him, even though it flipped around every time he hit a curb or an especially meddlesome crack in the sidewalk.

He arrived in a huff at the bus stop, glad to see that it was still there. He was one of the last to board, finding a seat smack dab in the middle of the bus next to a Caucasian man engrossed in his Nintendo DS. Leaning back as he let his breath slow down, Woohyun sighed in relief. Since he was running on just a few hours of sleep, he fell into dreamland quickly and easily.

He woke up to a crashing sound, a tumbling, sharp pain in his right shoulder, and a dull throbbing in his head. Groaning, he lifted himself off of what looked like the ceiling of the bus and crawled over to the emergency exit, following the stream of people. Still dazed, he didn’t quite notice some of the other, crumpled bodies around him until someone shouted for them to help the unconscious out of the bus.

And so he did, helping someone carefully carry someone out of the emergency exit. Thankfully, it felt as if the person’s blood was still flowing, despite their unresponsive state. He could only contribute one arm, as moving the other was impossible without unreasonable amounts of pain.

When he arrived outside, he collapsed on the floor, black spots blocking out his vision as his head swirled. He felt someone touching his arm gingerly, and the word “dislocated” blurred in with the rest of the commotion around him.

The black blobs slowly covered his entire vision, until he closed his eyes in defeat. All of the words around him piled on top of each other and flowed away in a thundering river, leading far, far away from him. Finally, the world around him was silent. When he opened his eyes again, everything was black. Except, for some reason, he could see himself, as if his skin and clothes were glowing just enough to give his body light, but none of his surroundings, save for a red string that stretched into the darkness before him.

His gaze followed the string down to his hand, where it was attached to his pinky finger.

Well, there was nothing else to do but walk. And so he did, not one speck of light permeating the darkness around him. With every step he took, the searing pain in his shoulder became just a bit more bearable, but still not a bit less present. Something – he had no idea what it was – told him that he was nearing the end of the string.

Suddenly, his shoulder lurched backwards. Woohyun screamed in pain, dropping to his knees and clutching his shoulder. His eyes were squeezed tight as the pain receded, but opened them when he found that it wasn’t nearly as bad as before.

Once he’d opened his eyes, he found that he wasn’t in the forest area next to the road where the bus had crashed anymore. He was in a more heavily wooded area, and could hear a small stream trickling nearby. He was sitting in a bed of fallen leaves that painted the floor bright orange, and the trees above him were sparsely leaved.

A sudden, cold feeling on his shoulder stole his attention, and he found that part of his shirt – thankfully, it wasn’t one that he particularly treasured – had been ripped off. Squatting next to him was a man in a tank top and shorts, a ridiculous outfit for late autumn, and intricate tattoos or swirling patterns decorating every inch of his arm. His hair was dark brown and his eyes pitch black. No, not the dark brown that most Asians had. They were perfectly, absolutely black, in every hint of light that dared to come close. It was scientifically impossible, but there they were.

He was also applying some sort of poultice to Woohyun’s arm.

Woohyun, a firm believer in modern medicine, looked at the concoction skeptically. “What are you doing?” He finally asked.

The man snorted, “Really. I do you a favor and un-dislocate your shoulder for you, and that’s how you’re going to speak to me? Calm down, I’m just trying to fix your damn limbs. Unless you don’t want them anymore.”

Woohyun had half a mind to lecture him on how it was unlikely that applying something to his skin could possibly affect the joint underneath, but the man’s mesmerizingly void stare told him that it probably would not be a particularly good idea. Instead, he obediently rested his head in his other hand, letting the man do his work. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Name’s Sunggyu.”

“Woohyun.”

The man nodded, returning to his work. Indeed, Woohyun could feel his shoulder numbing up – that was what he assumed was going on, as he was too stubborn to admit that whatever outdated remedy this man had made could have actually cured his shoulder.

“Um, if I might ask, where am I?”

“In a forest. People don’t usually name forests, so there’s not much I can tell you there. You kind of just upped and walked away from that accident and in here. Freaked everyone out.”

Woohyun blinked, “Did you follow me out here?”

“No. I’m not one of you.” Sunggyu said simply.

“Can you take me back?”

“No, you’re too far gone for that now.” Sunggyu took Woohyun’s other hand and held it in front of him, showing him a burn mark on his pinky, right where the red string had been tied earlier. He then lifted his own left hand. It was more rugged than Woohyun’s smooth, city-boy hands, but it sported the same burn mark around it.

“Red string of fate,” Woohyun whispered to himself.

“Yep. Now get up, you’re fine now. I have stuff to do and people to see, and you have to come with me.”

Woohyun opened his mouth and closed it, trying to figure out how he could possibly get out of the situation. Then again, what else would he do? Wait for another bus to pick the passengers up and take him to the conference?

Without another word, he stood up, finding the other man to be just a bit taller than him. “Alright, where to?” he asked firmly, newfound determination coming with his newly healed shoulder.

Sunggyu smirked slightly. “I like your spirit.”

“You didn’t answer the question. Do you have a car nearby or something?”

“No.”

“So…you walked? Biked?”

Sunggyu wrinkled his nose. “Ew. No, I don’t walk places. Here,” he held out his hand, and one of the tattoos on his arm floated off of his arm and expanded into a large circle on the floor. Within its perimeter, a glowing appeared on the ground, iridescent light covering what used to be a bed of fiery leaves. “Come on now, step right up.”

“Oh, yes, I’ll definitely walk into this strange circle you just conjured. You really don’t enjoy explaining yourself, do you?”

Sunggyu made a face, “Well, I have to do it every time I get caught up in mortal , so yeah, you can probably imagine. But, I’ll give you the spiel anyways. I’m the gatekeeper, I can make portals between different locations, universes, and times.”

“Time?” Woohyun furrowed in eyebrows, “How? Won’t you get stuck in a paradox?” As a science enthusiast, Woohyun had his experience with time-travel stories and logistics.

“Well, being the gatekeeper means I’m basically transcendent. I live outside of time. Since you aren’t, though, you won’t be doing any sort of time travel. Sorry to burst your bubble, if you had one,” Sunggyu explained, “Anyways, in this timeline, there’s been an issue with a malfunctioning gate between universes – that is, creatures and people from another universe have been let into it.”

Woohyun decided to put all science aside for the moment and assume this guy knew what he was talking about. “So, we just need to go around and send them back?”

“Well, not necessarily. First, we need to figure out the source of the problem. Once we eliminate that, the best case is that everyone gets sent back automatically. Worst case, you’ll have to help me with roundup, but I’d probably be able to handle that myself. We will have to make some stops first, though. So, whenever you’re ready,” Sunggyu gestured at the portal on the ground.

Woohyun nodded, processing the information and staring down at the luminous pool in front of him. Well, there was nothing to lose anymore – if it was all a hoax, all that would happen would be that his newly-met “friend” could for being gullible.

Taking a deep breath, he put his right foot into the circle, and it disappeared in the light without a hint of resistance. Before he could stop himself, he jumped through.