“He’s a genius”

“I heard he’s the one who uncovered most of the information we know about dimensional universes.”

“He published an book on space-time when he was 23 and got tenured as a professor in the university’s theoretical physics department at age 25.”

“That’s crazy!”

“I also heard he’s still single”

“Gross, you know students can’t…”

You stop listening once the girls began talking about things you weren’t really interested in. You were sitting on a bench by the fountain at your college campus, when you overheard some girls talking about the most famous professor at your university. Could this be the guy Jungkook was talking about? You think to yourself, as you pretend to flip through the pages of your textbook while eavesdropping.

The endless search for this so-called “guy who will tell you everything you need to know” has continued in vain since Jungkook had brought it up the day before he left. It’s been months and you had no luck in this quest to find answers. That is, until now.

You quickly run to the university’s information desk and look up this so-called genius professor in the university staff catalog.

Professor Kim Namjoon

Theoretical Physics Department

Building W-52 Room #701

Office Hours: 6am-6pm

You didn’t even have time to think before found yourself running towards the physics building on the other side of campus. You sprint through the courtyard and over the Stonebridge, crossing the river, before you finally reach the east bank. The buildings were much older there, and their stonewalls were covered in blue-green ivy. It was a quite area, and from what you knew, most students strayed away from majoring in physics these days. Claiming the job outlook was not too good and the thought of being a nerdy professor was unappealing.

You walk through the empty hall. It was quiet, dimly lit, and smelled of old books.

“Can I help you?”

You turn around to see a lady peaking at you above her reading glasses. She exuded a kind aura and you could tell her age was up there from the way her short, curly gray hair shone under the lamplight.

“Um, I’m looking for Professor Kim Namjoon.”

“Oh, he’s in the library on the second floor.”

You politely thank her and walk up the round staircase. The wooden steps would creak ever so often, but you still tried to be as quiet as you could, not wanting to disturb the silence.

The shelves of the library were so tall they looked like they reached all the way up to the high ceiling. The books were thick, the type that you didn’t even bother looking at because you knew you would never have the patience to read through it all, the type that would make your backpack so heavy it could cause chronic back pain and other spinal health issues. You shiver at the thought of having to haul such monstrous things to and from school. No wonder students rarely come here.

The place is empty, completely void of living beings, other than the man sitting at a desk in the center of the room. Must be him.

“Professor Kim Namjoon?”

The man glances up from the book he was absorbed in, his face looking much younger than you had previously imagined. He looks around confused before his eyes locate you standing by the doorway.

“Yes?” He says, taking off his spectacles and signaling for you to approach him.

“Umm, I have some questions about the Yin and Yang dimensions” You say, voice slightly shaky because you didn’t know if this was something he’d be willing tell you about, and you also didn’t know if he was busy doing something actually important and didn’t want to be bothered at this moment.

“Of course, that’s my favorite topic to talk about” His mouth forms a wide smile that put his dimples on display. You feel your previous hesitation dissipate at his positive reaction.

You slowly but steadily begin asking about the cycles. Are they really 100% accurate and if “glitches” were possible, in which Namjoon just chuckles, saying that it depends on how you view accuracy in the scientific world, in other words, do you consider a small error rate to be negligent.

You continue on and finally sum up the courage to bring up Jungkook, once Namjoon has made it clear that he has always strongly believed that glitches are very much real, and that he knows way more than you expected.

“That’s amazing!How do you know all this?” You ask, genuinely curious and in awe of how much information and knowledge the man seems to be able to contain in his brain, after he has explained everything about the Yin-Yang dimensions down to the last detail.

“You’re forgetting I’ve dedicated my life to researching different dimensions of the universe” Namjoon chuckles, grabbing another book from one of the old dusty shelves of the vast library and walking over to his cluttered desk.

“The transition period occurs when you two meet at the same age.” He proceeds to explain. “Meaning, you’re going to have to travel through the portal to meet him, instead of the other way around.”

“That’s in a little over a year” You whisper to yourself. At first you thought it was too soft for Namjoon to hear, but he surprises you by nodding his head knowingly.

“What happens if I don’t?” You ask, out of pure curiosity, cause god knows you wouldn’t be able to resist doing anything you could to see Jungkook. But you were just wondering if changing something so key to the process would alter it entirely.

“Then it all ends” Namjoon says, peaking at you above his glasses. His head was still tilted down at the book as he his finger to turn the page.

“You mean… I won’t ever see him again?” You ask, trying to keep your voice steady, but it comes out shaky enough to expose how terrified you were at the thought.

Namjoon sighs and shakes his head. “You won’t even remember such a person even existed.” He says, causing your legs to go numb, and you to almost stumble and fall backwards on the hard wooden floor.

“But what happens on my first and his last meeting?” You ask when you’ve finally regained your balance, remembering that the inevitable day will come, and this is your chance to find out more than you ever could anywhere else.

“The next time he is born and ages up, and you are old and start aging down, it will have been like the glitch never happened as the cycle starts anew, and the thread of time realigns.” Namjoon’s voice is steady and even. He seems to be reading an important passage from the book in front of him as he answers your question. “You’ll forget meeting him in the Yin dimension and he’ll forget meeting you in the Yang dimension, meaning both of you will lose all the traces of the memories you had of each other.”

You want to respond, but your throat has gone dry and the room feels like it’s spinning. You grip the edge of the table and bite your lower lip, trying to stop yourself from falling backwards and just fainting.

“Unless of course, the legend is true,” He says, noticing you haven’t responded after a long silence.

“T-the…. legend?” You croak, barely audible, but the professor’s ears are sharp.

“Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung” He states, matter- of -factly.

“Oh” You say, furrowing your eyebrows and recalling the famous tale.

“Funny thing is, that story is the reason I’m here today.” Namjoon chuckles again. “I was so obsessed after hearing that story as a child that I couldn’t stop thinking about it, which lead to developing a passion for studying universes and researching space-time, and here I am.”

“Were they really lost in the depths of a black hole in the end?” You ask, wondering if that’s the only other option for you as well.

He shakes his head and sighs.

“That’s a simplified version of what happened. But in reality they actually jumped into a wormhole, only to reach another dimension where they could live together happily for a set amount of time, meaning their lives would inevitably end one day. But we don’t know what happens to biological life after organisms die in that other dimension.” Namjoon folds his hands together and pauses before continuing. “According to my research, the most plausible explanation is that their essence just ceases to exist, but the people there believe they either go to a place called “heaven” which is so glorious its inconceivable by imagination or “hell” which is a fiery pit of doom.”

“Complete bliss or unbearable pain. It sounds risky and scary.” You shiver a little as you try to wrap your head around the foreign concept.

“What did he do?” Namjoon suddenly asks.

“Huh?” You lift your head to look at him confused. The professor is looking at you with an unreadable expression.

“On your first his last”

“Oh, he….” You close your eyes and picture the day you first met Jungkook. The memory was fuzzy, and your head almost hurt trying to conjure the time you saw him disappear for the first time from the back of your mind.

Then you see it. Clear as day, sending goose bumps shooting down your spine.

“He jumped into a black hole”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sometimes those dreams are so vivid they feel like events that actually happened or something.” You explain to Dr. Kim, your primary psychologist, as he calmly takes note of your every word, writing all the details down in his notebook.

It was only the fourth session you’ve had since entering the clinic, and you’re already finding it much easier to remember the dreams you have at night. Before you sought treatment you would wake up in the morning covered with cold sweat and clammy hands that shook nonstop, not being able to recall a single memory from your dream the night before, even though you knew you dreamt of something because of the lingering intensity of the emotions you would wake up to.

“What is the closest feeling you can describe from those dreams?” Dr. Kim asks, looking at you with furrowed eyebrows. His gold brown bangs covering the wrinkling of his forehead.

You take a moment to think. Attempting to find the right word to describe the feeling that has been familiar to you for most of your life.

“Longing” You finally say, feeling a bit vulnerable admitting it so openly.

Dr. Kim nods and jots a few things down in his notebook. Before he’s able to ask the next question, you hear the door open slightly, and someone peak their head in. He was also a young man in his mid-twenties, probably the same age as Dr. Kim, but he had pale pink hair, and was slightly shorter in stature.

“Taehyung!” He says excitedly as he walks in the room. He closes his mouth when he notices you sitting on the leather couch across from Dr. Kim, clearly in the middle of a session.

“Dr. Park, we promise our patients privacy” Dr. Kim, closes his eyes in annoyance as he turns around to give the pink haired doctor a scolding look, but the tone in Dr. Kim’s voice is not harsh, and you can tell they’ve known each other for a long time.

“Sorry, I forgot you were with a patient.” The pink haired doctor says as his cheeks flush a shade similar to his hair color. He begins to slowly back out the room, but your words bring his feathery backward steps to a halt.

“Oh no, it’s completely fine. My session is almost over anyways,” You say, waving at Dr. Park to stay in the room. He hesitates for a second, but ends up beaming at you for being so chill about it, because some patients tend to have explosive tempers.

Dr. Kim sighs. “Please make it quick, Dr. Park” He mutters.

“Eh, why are you being so formal?” Dr. Park says with a smile that makes his eyes disappear into crescent moons. “I’m not used to you not calling me Jiminie,” He says, almost coming out as a whine.

You almost choke on the saliva you were swallowing as you hold back a laugh. Dr. Kim’s cheeks are heating up as he tries to not die of embarrassment. His fingers fidget with the note taking pen he’s holding in his hand, waiting for Dr. Park to just cut to the chase.

“Oh yeah, I came to tell you that we just got a new addition to the clinic. He’s some MD-PhD neurosurgeon going by the name of Dr. Jeon.” Dr. Park says remembering why he burst into the room at such an awkward time.

“A new doctor?” Dr. Kim says utterly confused and surprised at the same time. “But didn’t we make a pact that this clinic would only be run by you and me?” He says, voice rising a little.

“Whoa, Taehyung, calm down, he came as a patient” Dr. Park explains. “I just diagnosed him with depression. He should’ve came in the earlier stages of his condition, but his superiority complex has hindered him from accepting he’s in desperate need of help.”

“Well, what can you expect from an MD-PhD neurosurgeon. They’re geniuses that have been praised all their lives. It’s understandable why he wouldn’t accepted it right away.” Dr. Kim says.

Dr. Park nods and exits the room after apologizing to you one last time for the interruption.

“So where were we?” Dr. Kim says as he turns his attention back to you.

.......