Still fuming, still pointing, still a little... half defrocked, Lu Han tried to contain himself. He was not doing too well unfortunately. He'd landed somewhere on the ground outside of Minseok's estate, more than a little miffed about the sudden shift in timelines. Of all the occasions for Minseok's machine to work! He hadn't even noticed the new progress on it. Or the wire, because young Minseok's machine still looked nothing like the one on which Lu Han had died. He supposed that was always the case though. Two machines, two different methods of functioning. Had young Minseok set it up already so that a single 'passenger' would end up right where Lu Han had ended? He should be fortunate he'd not been zapped somewhere random, surrounded by a hoard of hungry dinosaurs or something. In the meantime:

"God damnit, Minseok! I said your bedroom now!"

This older Minseok, this murderer, made no move whatsoever. Instead he remained standing with his arms crossed. Lu Han noticed the myriad of empty liquor bottles and wine glasses on the table between him and Junmyeon. Speaking of Junmyeon...

"And you, sir, don't you move a muscle!" Lu Han shouted. 

Minseok stared at him like... like a very amusing dead man come recently back to life. He was drunk, too. A rarity to see. But as neither of them moved--in fact, Junmyeon looked just as bemused if not a little nervous--Lu Han spun around and pointed at Yixing instead. 

"You! Arrest Junmyeon and keep him tied up somewhere safe until we can deal with this mess, and no, Yixing, don't give me that look. You're not a servant at all, you're a very persuasive who's interested in Minseok's time machine. I know all about you now. I met you in the past the day you met Minseok and I was there when he hired you on as a financial investor. Cut the crap, lock that man up or kill him, I don't even care right now. What's with this delay, now do it!"

Shockingly, it worked. Yixing spared one tiny, apologetic glance at Minseok, whose eyebrows were through the ceiling, said, "Yes, sir," and did just what Lu Han asked. Junmyeon squawked but was too inebriated to fight against Yixing's muscle. Finally, Minseok stepped up.

"Excuse me, but what?! What?! Yixing, what?" He was sobering up quickly now, Lu Han could tell.

"You. Bedroom, now--"

"What?!" cried MInseok again.

Lu Han sighed. "Oh, never mind. The bedroom can wait. But we need to talk. More importantly, I need you to send me back to the past again so I can see what mess I left there unexpectedly, and also would you mind not murdering me while I do it this time?" 

He put his hand around Minseok's elbow and started deftly moving him out of the door and towards the grand ballroom. In two seconds Minseok had shaken away his touch, but he followed nevertheless.

"I thought you were dead?" Lu Han heard him mutter, almost disappointed.

He scoffed. "Yes, sorry, it didn't work. Well, it kind of worked, but fortunately for me I was already in the past and you were halfway to engineering Model No. 1 of your time machine which, via accident, I touched at a most inopportune manner and poof, here I am again." 

Minseok stopped walking at this. "Inopportune manner? Would you care to explain?"

Lu Han halted too and gave Minseok the most deprecating look he could muster. "My shirt, gone. Buttons, gone. All thanks to you of course."

Minseok smiled. "Was I... preparing you for another funeral or..." His eyes dropped lower to where Lu Han's pants buckle had been messed with, though it was still hanging on. "Oh. Oh, I see." 

Lu Han rolled his eyes. "Look all you want, but right now I need you to get me back into the past so I can-"

"So you can what? Finish getting ed by a more gullible me?" 

Lu Han wanted to scream. First of all, who said anything about getting fu-- Or maybe he should just let that one go. "Gullible?" he shouted at the man. "Look, you may not remember your past too well because of the accident, but you sir, are not now nor have you ever been gullible. In fact, you ten years ago are just as infuriating and annoying as you are right now. Also, I'd like to opt out of that contract to marry you. Baekhyun was right about you. You are a psychopath!"

The smug look on Minseok's face dropped in a heart beat. "B-Baekhyun? What?! You met Baekhyun?"

Something about the grief on Minseok's face made Lu Han almost pity him. Almost. "Yes, Baekhyun, your best friend. Brown hair, a little scrawny, likes to talk a lot and never shuts up. Pets people on the whenever he likes their contour well enough. The Baekhyun you somehow turned into a rat, your own friend."

Without warning, Minseok slapped him. 

Lu Han gasped and clutched his cheek, more than a little shocked at the anger now permeating from Minseok's entire being. Oh. So, Minseok did remember Baekhyun... 

"I..." he began.

Minseok was quicker. "You shut up about Baekhyun."

"I," said Lu Han again, "I didn't know you remem-"

"I said, shut up about Baekhyun." 

Lu Han closed his mouth. His cheek hurt, but he was still more shocked than anything else. If Minseok was this upset about Baekhyun then it must mean it happened sometime after the accident which had caused his memory loss. 

"I'm sorry," said Lu Han quickly. 

Minseok winced and his arm twitched like he wanted to punch Lu Han again. Instead, he refrained. After a few tense moments, his face softened up and the wrinkles he'd conjured out of anger smoothed and disappeared. He began walking again, and Lu Han followed. Several minutes later as they stood before the machine, Minseok stopped and said, "I'm not letting you back onto this machine again until you explain more about what happened. Tell me about Yixing." Lu Han did so, warily, but Minseok seemed to accept his statement. "I suppose I'll question him soon. Okay, spill the rest. What kind of machine did I build anyways? You are... right, that there was an accident somewhere back then. I lost maybe half a decade of my memory. Has it been eight years now? I have the blueprints for the original device, but only a few scraps of it left. It was a one-way transport, but I never rebuilt that particular model. My earliest memories after that incident include deciding to create another prototype. That's when I moved from the townhouse back here to my estate. This one here is actually the third machine."

Lu Han cleared his throat, wondering what exactly to say. He figured somehow that explaining to Minseok how he'd been locked tongue to tongue with his younger self was not going to fly very well. Then again, part of that was already evident judging by the state of Lu Han's undress. He shivered, remembering still that he was without a shirt. Minseok's eyes flocked to his chest for a brief moment before very pointedly, Minseok looked away. 

"I'm sorry I killed you, by the way."

Lu Han sighed. "Save your apologies and don't do it again. It's been a month for me. I already hashed out regrets with your younger self."

Again, Minseok's eyes brushed up on Lu Han's half body. He grumbled, "Clearly, you did." 

"If it's any consolation, you drugged me at least once back in the past because you didn't trust me."

Minseok allowed himself a cautious smile. "Attaboy," he said with a smirk. 

Lu Han just groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Don't suppose you have an extra shirt anywhere laying around?"

"Your suitcase will still be in your bedroom. Also there's probably the shirt that is on your cold, dead body, if you care to fetch it." 

Lu Han felt his stomach churning, but he only glared sideways at Minseok.

"Sorry," said the man, not sorry at all. 

Lu Han bit the inside of his cheek and fumed silently for another minute or two. "Psychopath," he muttered. 

"I am indeed," said Minseok. "Can I ask... was the at least good?" 

Before Lu Han could do something stupid, like hit Minseok, or else kiss him, there came a scattering of tiny feet from across the floor. Lu Han stood up and followed the sound. Minseok, already bending over, sighed. 

"Hello there, Baekhyun," he said to the rat. The small animal hopped into his hand. Minseok deposited it on his shoulder. Baekhyun sniffed and squeaked, then turned his tiny red nose at Lu Han, who looked at the thing with newfound pity. 

"Baekhyun..." he said, full of sorrow. 

The rat squeaked again. Lu Han fancied it was a proper greeting, maybe even one of welcome. 

"Do you remember me then?" Another squeak. 

But Minseok turned around and blocked his view. "Don't get your hopes up. He may still be Baekhyun but he'll never do more than squeak, , or sleep, and if he's in a good mood maybe run a little maze, but that's it. Do you get it now, Lu Han? People who spend too much time around me end up dead, or like this. Better to end every bit of our agreement before the mood strikes me and I have you killed again."

"Or, better yet, I can help you solve the curse." 

Minseok raised one eyebrow, unimpressed. "By tag-teaming with me into more and more dimensions of time? I can barely control when I send you, I can't maintain a link indefinitely. I don't even know what we're looking for. It could take ages and who knows when I'll d-- Who knows when we'll find something useful."

"No? But I know a great place to start."

"Yeah, and where is that?" 

"Kim Jongin, 1741." 

Minseok paused, and Baekhyun squeaked. "Kim Jongin, my great-grandfather?" 

Lu Han nodded. "You had a hunch about him before. Thought maybe it started around there because he disappeared like all the others, but unlike everyone else he can't be found anywhere in your dreams."

"Uh huh. Is that what I said?"

"Y-yes," said Lu Han, feeling more and more uncertain about this plan. 

Minseok smiled, and something about it was more unnerving than just about any other expression he'd seen before. "Lu Han."

"Yes."

"Let me tell you about something you obviously don't know yet about Kim Jongin."

"O-okay."

"Kim Jongin is my great-grandfather."

"Uh huh." 

"Kim Jongin is not in my dreams." 

"Right..."

"But in fact, and this is what the younger version of me wouldn't know: Kim Jongin showed up at my doorstep five years ago in the body of a ten year old little boy. He's fifteen now, and practically insane. Other than his name he hasn't a clue about who he is or what happened, or how he got here. I never gave you the grand tour before you died, did I?"

"Uhm, no." Lu Han shook his head at this revelation.

"Well then, how about we go meet him. After you get a new shirt of course. It gets drafty up the attic, where he prefers to live. Or would you prefer going back to the past right now so you can get it on with myself. You never did respond by the way. Was the any good? Or didn't you ever get that far...?" With one more look at Lu Han's body, he smirked and turned away.