October 18th, 2005. Ilsan, South Korea.

Namjoon sat in the principal's office, waiting quietly and trying his best to ignore the kid sitting next to him. He watched the clock and became lost in his thoughts...

Half an hour ago, he had been drawing designs in his sketchbook, not bothering anyone, when Moon Sunghan came up to him and snatched his sketchbook out of his hands. He flipped through the pages and sneered.

"What is this you're drawing, loner? A machine to make you friends? It's not going to work, no one would ever want to be YOUR friend." 

Namjoon stared him down and willed his voice not to shake. "No, it's a time machine. I'm gonna be the first person to travel to the future, and everyone will love me."

Sunghan laughed and tossed the book to one of his buddies behind him. "We can't have that. If everyone loves you, it'll be chaos!" He turned to his henchman holding the book and nodded. The henchman began tearing pages from the book, crumpling them up, and tossing them around the room.

"NOOO!" Namjoon dived forward to stop him, but Sunghan held him back. Namjoon watched as his precious drawings were destroyed,his eyes tearing up. When Sunghan finally let go of him, he looked at the bully's face with clenched fists, anger roiling inside of him. Without thinking, he swung his fist...

The principal walked into his office and saw Sunghan. His face lit up, and he greeted him warmly. He only nodded to Namjoon. Namjoon explained what happened, and when he finished the principal dismissed Sunghan. He then turned to Namjoon and gave him a lecture about controlling his anger, as well as a punishment slip to mop the floors after school everyday for the next week and a half. 

At home, Namjoon sat in his room and explained what had happened at school to his dad.

"Appa, I promise I didn't start it. The principal gave me a punishment instead of him because Sunghan is from a rich family!"  He put his head in his hands while his father patted his back.

"I know you didn't. But all the schools these days have favoritism for the kids who come from wealthy families. But Namjoon, I've told you many times, don't waste your time on that silly time machine of yours."

Angry again, Namjoon got up and walked towards the door, but his father caught his arm and pulled him back.

"Look at me son. You have an IQ of 149. You're classified as a genius. You, more than others, can do great things. Become a doctor like your grandfather, and maybe you can cure cancer. Your mother would have liked that."

Namjoon's mother had died last year from cancer, and it wasn't even her fault. The owner of the factory where she worked didn't care for the safety of his employees, only for money, and so she was exposed to carcinogens on a daily basis. After 5 years working at the factory, they found a lethal tumor in her stomach, and and nine-year-old Namjoon was soon left without a mother. 

"Namjoon, you can change people's lives. But this time machine idea is a waste. You could spend your whole life on this and never achieve anything. Please stop this nonsense. I don't want to hear any more talk about this." His father gave him one last pat on the back, and left the room. But Namjoon stayed in his room and continued to think. "Why does no one believe in me? Why is everyone convinced this is impossible?" Namjoon put his head in his hands and began to cry softly. "Eomma, what should I do? What would you want me to do?" Then he had a thought. "If I built a time machine, I could go back and I could expose that factory owner and his malpractices before they ever hurt anyone."

He looked up towards the sky. "Then I could save you Eomma, AND I could change the world."

And so from that day on, Namjoon ignore