Stepping off the subway station at the Seoul stop never failed to make Byul smile. It was crazy even for her; the fact that she just travelled to the future and nobody around her knew a thing. It was her perfect secret, and anything that threatened that was not okay with her. Today though, her face was set in a deep frown since that interaction with the strange man at the park. The image of that young woman laying broken on the ground was burned into her mind, her scarf soaked in blood.

As she walked to her rooftop apartment, she contemplated what would be the right course of action to take. She could simply ignore the whole experience and pretend it never happened and go on with her life. Chalking it all up to one big coincidence sounded good, but even Byul wasn’t that stupid to ignore something this big. She was aware she was not the pretend-it-never-happened type of girl. Even so, what was she going to do about it anyway? The last time she tried to interfere with a life or death situation, death won and there was nothing she could do to stop it. If that woman with the lilac scarf doesn’t die on the 18^th of December 2017 then she would die later in a different way anyway.

Yet, this felt different. Byul felt like that man knew her secret. But that was impossible, she had never told a soul. He couldn’t have guessed that she was a time traveller by her just getting off a subway.  There was another possibility… if that man knew Byul in the future, he would know that the Byul he met in the park was her from the past. But how would she get to know this random man anyway?

Byul tried to shake the anxiety tugging at her chest, climbing the stairs to her apartment two at a time. Frankly, she was shaken and the only place that felt safe right now was her home. She pushed all of it out of her mind, if she focused too much on the future, she would stop living in the present altogether.  As soon as she opened her door, she was greeted by a panting Corgi who was practically standing on two feet trying to greet her.

“Okay Daebakie, okay.” She knelt and patted his soft fur and the area between his ears that he liked. “I know you’re hungry, one sec.”

It was only until Daebakie started chewing on it, that Byul realised she was still wearing the lilac scarf. She ripped it off her and threw it in the direction of her garbage. That scarf gave her the creeps to even look at.

Hearing the happy munching sounds of Daebakie eating his food, Byul allowed herself some time to laze about on her sofa. Well, it wasn’t like she didn’t laze about most of the time anyway.

In the five years, she had gained the ability to time travel, Byul built up a comfortable life for herself. She was eighteen when she travelled to the future for the first time and the first thing she could think of doing was looking for lotto numbers. She only did it once and that was so she could put herself through University, but the sum was quite large. Byul had invested it smartly enough to live comfortably for as long as she wanted. The fact that she lived in a rooftop house was purely out of attachment to the building. Plus, there wasn’t much need for space with just her, her roommate Wheein who was barely home, and Daebakie. It wasn’t like she had a girlfriend living with her or anything.

Byul’s phone buzzed loudly causing her yelp in shock. Damn, she really must be shaken if ever her own phone scared her now. Daebakie gave her a judging look for scaring him and went back to eating his food.

“Yeah, yeah. You just eat, not a care in the world.”

She had one message from Wheein. Ya, drinks tonight???

Byul grinned, drinking with Wheein was always a treat. Right until Byul has to carry a wasted Wheein on her back to take her home. Okay, but you’re buying.

Wheein: Not a chance, lotto :P. Meet me at the bar by work.

Byul: Cool, see you in a bit.

Wheein: K, hurry up though. I already started ordering drinks and the bartender’s getting suspicious.

Byul: Ah, seriously. You deserve to be kicked out.

Drinking with Wheein was exactly what she needed to get out of her sour mood.

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

When she reached the bar, Byul found Wheein deep in conversation with a slightly uninterested looking older man.

“Listen, you invest in me, you’re investing in the future. This app idea I have is going to be revolutionary. Trust me…” She caught sight of Byul and frantically waved her over.

“How ‘bout we let the poor man enjoy his drink in peace, Wheein.” Byul led her already buzzed friend to an adjacent table.

Wheein let out a whine. “Whyyy? I almost had him.”

“I’m telling you to let that app idea go, it’s not going to happen.”

Wheein poured Byul a drink. “You’re telling me an app that allows cat owners to decipher their cats’ meows, is going to be a failure? It’s simply genius.”

Byul sipped her drink with a smile. “Sure, it is. It’s a genius idea that is going to fail.”

“You always talk like you know what’s going to happen in the future.” Wheein side-eyed her while ordering more drinks with a wave. “How are you so sure? Are you a psychic?”

“Maybe I am.” Byul said with a short laugh.

Truthfully, Byul had gone to the future and Wheein would her find her riches elsewhere, the cat app was a no-go.

Wheein gave a bitter scoff. “Well, if you’re such a psychic, tell me if Kyunwoo wants to actually date me or if he’s just trying to get in good with the CEO’s daughter.”

“Kyunwoo? Who’s that?” Byul asked, happy to worry about someone else’s drama for a bit.

“This intern that just started working at the company. He’s cute and funny and nice to me. I just can’t figure out his intentions though.”

Wheein had previously dated a guy and fell madly in love with him, only to find out that he was using her to get a higher position in her father’s prominent IT company.

“You shouldn’t let that Hyunjae scar the rest of your relationships.” Byul said, wiping snack crumbs off Wheein’s cheek.

“I know, I know. I just don’t want to get hurt again.” She laid her head down on the table. “If only there was a way I could look even a year into the future to see if he’s the right one for me.”

“Mmm, that would be great.” Byul shifted nervously in her chair.

When travelling to the future she tried to avoid meeting her friends or family. She didn’t want to meddle in their lives and try to change things for them in their present to impact the future. But she really didn’t want to see her friend get hurt again. Maybe she could take a short trip to the future tomorrow just to have a quick glance at where things were with Wheein and this new guy. She could even go shopping for a bit. Future shoes felt like walking on clouds.

Byul glanced over at a snoring Wheein. “Come on, genius. Let’s get you home.”

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

The next morning, Byul was psyching herself up to travel to the future. She had never been afraid to travel before but the events of yesterday left her questioning whether she wanted to see what the future was like for her. She told herself that she was doing it for Wheein, her friend.

She decided to will herself to travel to mid-August 2020, three years from now. Getting off the station at Myeong-dong she couldn’t help but smile. She had travelled to 2020 a couple times before but it still didn’t get old for her, it was always new and fascinating for her each time.

Byul thought about it beforehand and concluded that she would go to her and Wheein’s rooftop house first to see if they still lived there. She didn’t know how likely that would be but at least it was a start.

As she reached the rooftop house she needed to make sure future her or future Wheein were not at home. She paid a random kid who was messing about on the street outside her apartment to go knock on the door whilst she hid behind a dumpster. The boy laughed at the amount she offered, saying that wouldn’t even buy him an ice-cream cone. Seemed like inflation was going to be a killer in three years.

Once the kid came back reporting that no one had answered the door. Byul made her way into the house. Thankfully, the passcode was the same.

There wasn’t much different about the house except for a little rearrangement of the furniture. And an aged looking Daebakie greeted Byul, barking loudly at the door, as always.

“Oh, Byulie you’re back already? Did you forget something?”

Byul stopped dead in her tracks. It was not Wheein’s voice, but the voice she had heard telling her off yesterday at the crossing.

She turned slowly, careful to not look like she was somewhere she wasn’t meant to be. She locked eyes with questioning eyes of the pretty brown-haired woman she had met yesterday, just as she expected. Then Byul’s eyes travelled downwards to see that the woman was wearing nothing but a towel.

She quickly shielded her eyes. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean-“

The other woman laughed taking a step closer to the cowering Byul, removing her hands from around her eyes and wrapping it around her towel clad waist.

“Oh, come on. I know we’re newlyweds but you don’t have to act like you haven’t seen it all before anyway. You’re cute, though.”

Byul spluttered. “I’m sorry, did you say newlyweds?”

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Dundundun, what a cliffhanger. The story is slowly moving its way into moonsun glory territory. I know right now that there isn't much moonsun, but i wanted to build up the world a bit first. 

As always, comments/suggestions are appreciated here or on my twitter @absentsum. 

See you next chapter :D