"Wu Yifan, just WHAT on earth did Luhan do to you in the three months that you were under him?!"

 

Baekhyun was literally screaming at his friend over the phone. He didn't exactly have to - he was walking back to his shared apartment and the streets were pretty deserted - but he felt that if he didn't scream, Yifan wouldn't get how utterly flustered he was.

 

"Luhan? Oh, he brought me to an archaeological site and made me excavate an ancient tomb."

 

Baekhyun stumbled over nothing. "WHAT?!"

 

"What? What did he suggest you do, Baekhyun?"

 

"He... He..." Baekhyun felt like a truck had just slammed into him. He didn't know who got it worse, Yifan or himself. Excavating a tomb was nothing like what he fancied himself doing, but then again, neither was travelling back a thousand years and kidnapping a Crown Prince.

 

Baekhyun somehow managed to get back to the apartment without any serious mishap. By then, Yifan was practically shrieking back at him in excitement.

 

"Freaking hell!! That's so darn awesome!! Now why didn't Luhan let me do that?!"

 

What?! "Wait, you actually believe his nonsense?"

 

"Don't underestimate Luhan, Baekhyun ah. The last time I did, I got whisked into a helicopter and flown to a mountainous area miles away from civilisation."

 

"Ouch."

 

"So shut up and stop complaining. Time travel is nothing compared to excavating tombs, Byun Baekhyun."

 

Baekhyun sighed, and slumped his body on the sofa, handphone wedged between his ear and his shoulder as he pulled off his socks. 

 

"You don't think Luhan sunbae really has a time machine, Yifan hyung?"

 

"Why not?" Came the reply. "Technology is limitless nowadays. And knowing the weirdo that Luhan is, he might have very well gotten his hands on something like a time machine."

 

"Very helpful, hyung." Baekhyun buried his nose in his hands in defeat.

 

"Just go check it out. I assure you that Luhan, being the oddball he is, is actually loads of fun to be with."

 

 

His flatmate Chanyeol stuck his head out of his room. Baekhyun ranting wasn't something new, of course, but Baekhyun plucking off the leaves from the house plant one by one definitely was.

 

"Baekhyun hyung!! Don't strip my bonsai!!"

 

Baekhyun turned to stare at him lifelessly. "Chanyeol ah, do you believe in time travel?"

 

Chanyeol blinked at him incredulously. "I guess?"

 

Baekhyun sighed and resumed the murder process.

 

---

 

Believe it or not, Baekhyun actually found himself standing at a bus stop the next morning, clutching his scarf and shivering in the cold. He looked up and down the street fervently. 

 

Finally, Luhan's tiny figure came hurrying up to him. He had buried half his head in a muffler, and given how small his head already was, that left him with only his two eyes peeking out. He had another strange imprint on his forehead - perhaps the texture of his jacket sleeve? - and he was all smiles and laughter despite the bitter cold wintry morning.

 

"You came!! Splendid! Let's go princess." Luhan tugged him along the path excitedly.

 

"Don't call me princess. You look more like a girl than I do."

 

Luhan erupted into peals of laughter and shook his head. Baekhyun huffed in frustration. Why did I even agree doing this?!

 

---

 

They arrived at Luhan's house in a short while. Luhan's house was kind of what Baekhyun expected. There were copious amounts of books, piles upon piles of thick volumes on endless walls of sleek wooden bookshelves.

 

Then there was the clutter. Luhan's house was extremely... not exactly messy or untidy, but more like full. There were stuff piled high on the coffee table, the dining table, the mantlepiece, even the armchair. And that was only the living room.

 

"Don't mind the mess, I usually don't have visitors." Luhan pulled off his muffler and shrugged out of his coat, gesturing for Baekhyun to do the same. Baekhyun held onto his coat awkwardly, not knowing where to put it. For one, Luhan didn't have a coat rack. 

 

"Take it with you. You might need it when you're travelling," Luhan replied with an amused smirk, and Baekhyun sputtered nervously. 

 

"Are you serious about this?" He whispered, almost afraid to hear the answer.

 

Luhan faced him squarely and crossed his arms. 

 

"Do you want to get a good grade? Do you want to write a stunning report? Do you want to do as well as your Yifan hyung?" Baekhyun's eyes widened at this. "Do you want the most unique report ever produced in the shortest amount of time?"

 

Pleased with Baekhyun's slow but steady nodding, Luhan grinned. "Then trust me."

 

He took Baekhyun's wrist and led him to a tiny room at the corner of the house, almost the size of a storeroom. It was empty, devoid of furniture, and it only had a small cardboard box on the floor. 

 

"Oh!! I forgot something. Stay right here, don't go anywhere!!" To Baekhyun's alarm, Luhan slipped out of the room.

 

 

Baekhyun eyed the box warily. It came up to half his knee, and had some foreign language on it, together with a logo that resembled a clock and a human figure fused together. It looked kind of ominous, and he didn't really like the idea of being alone with it in the room, so he slowly started to back away...

 

...Until the door opened and Luhan walked straight into him. 

 

Baekhyun shrieked. "Oh my freaa-"

 

"It's just me, you bundle of nerves." Luhan grinned sunnily, and shoved something into his hands.

 

"You'd definitely need this, Baekhyun. No way you're going to travel to ancient Korea without this....-"

 

Baekhyun felt his heart pound erratically. "Luhan sunbae!!" He exclaimed, "stop!!"

 

Luhan tilted his head questioningly.

 

"C-can you tell me again... Why am I doing this?" 

 

It really isn't a joke. Luhan is completely serious about this.

 

"Fine, obviously you weren't paying attention yesterday, so I'll repeat myself... You are going to Year 908, to the Balhae era, and you are going to find the Crown Prince, of the name Dae Jong Kim. You have two choices, either to stay there and observe him, or take him back here. But I suggest the latter because there is no way you're going to bring your notes and recorders and laptops to an era with no power plugs and no electricity and no optic fibre broadband."

 

Baekhyun rubbed his forehead. "But won't I be changing history?"

 

Luhan grinned. "The Balhae Royal Family have plenty of sons. If one goes missing they can always find another to replace him."

 

"You're trying to say that we're bringing him here for GOOD?" Baekhyun pinched his nose bridge. 

 

"You can always send him back when we're done." Luhan shrugged. 

 

Then he reached over to the package in Baekhyun's hands, unwrapping it clumsily. Some beautiful exquisite cloth tumbled out, and Luhan held it out to him. It was a gorgeous male hanbok, intricate designs adorning the sides, fabric shimmering and giving off a very mature air.

 

"I just remembered that you can't wear your coat there. Wrong time period." Luhan laughed heartily, and ed the costume into his hands. "Change into this first, then I'll tell you what to do."

 

He stood and smiled at Baekhyun. Baekhyun cleared his throat loudly, yet Luhan remained unabashed. "Just change. I won't look."

 

He twisted around and squatted down, fumbling with the cardboard box. Baekhyun took a deep breath and started to strip off his clothes, down to his thermal underwear, and decided to leave that on. However, after slipping on the heavy hanbok, he realised that the underwear wasn't necessary at all because of the well-insulated fabric.

 

Luhan turned back around until the rustling had subsided. His smile grew. 

 

"Wow, you're handsome!!" 

 

For a split second, a slightly hungry gaze crossed Luhan's eyes, and Baekhyun drew backwards. He wasn't exactly sure how straight Luhan was, and judging the look on his eyes, he probably wasn't ruler material.

 

"Umm, what do I do now?"

 

Luhan blinked several times and shook his head. "Uwah! The Palace maids will totally fawn over you for sure. Oh anyway, you wear this and wrap this around your hand." 

 

Luhan handed him a pair of white bionic glasses, and a wrist cuff attached to the glasses with a long wire. Baekhyun took it hesitantly, the lightweight machine feeling more like a kiddy toy than something that could potentially distort space and time.

 

Luhan pulled out a cloth bag from the package, made with scraps of soft fabric delicately sewn together. "I'm putting two extra sets inside." He placed two bubble-wrapped packets into the bag and closed it up.

 

"Two sets?"

 

Luhan raised an eyebrow. "You'd never know, the Prince might demand for his pet canary to come along as well."

 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, and Luhan burst out laughing.

 

"I thought I'm kidnapping him!! Since when does he have a say in anything?" 

 

Luhan helped him adjust the wrist strap with a knowing smirk. "You'll never know about Crown Princes..." Luhan tapped a small controller at the side of the wristband. "Press this red button to return back to the present, exactly the same as you've left it. Don't touch the blue dial - it's for me to set the date and place you're going to. And the password for unlocking the use of the buttons is 2-0-1-4. Just in case the Prince has itchy fingers and starts to press them by himself."

 

"Right."

 

"So are you ready?" Luhan was practically bouncing on his heels with excitement.

 

"I guess... Wait!! What about food?"

 

Luhan chuckled. "People do eat in Year 908, you know. But don't worry, I've thrown in bottled water and some snacks in case you think their food contains poison."

 

Baekhyun fought back the urge to roll his eyes again, and he perched the glasses on his nose. It wasn't actual glasses, as expected. Instead, Baekhyun was faced with a black screen. 

 

Luhan was holding his wrist and adjusting the dials. "Hold on a moment, princess... Okay all done." He hooked the sling bag over Baekhyun's shoulder and let go of his wrist. "When you're ready, just open your mouth."

 

"Why-" 

 

There was a bright blinding burst of light, and the black screen glowed dazzlingly white. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes into slits, as the numbers 908 appeared on the screen. Suddenly, there was a strange weightless feeling, an odd thrumming sound, and Baekhyun lost the feeling of his limbs. In the distance, he thought he heard Luhan laughing. Then there was silence, except for the occasional muted thrum.

 

---

 

Whoosh.

 

The brightness in his vision slowly dimmed back to black. Baekhyun gradually began to regain his senses, and the first thing he noticed was the crisp, sweet smell of nature. Then he realised he was sitting on a patch of moist grass, the blades soft against his skin. A birdcall rang out crystal-clear in the distance.

 

Baekhyun waited a while until he was certain that the thrumming sounds had really died down, before slowly removing the glasses.

 

 

Trees.

 

More and more trees.

 

Grass, trees, shrubs, and a bubbling spring. Clear blue sky. Nothing but greenery as far as he could see.

 

Oh my god.

 

WHERE AM I?!

 

 

 

a/n: just an intro chapter :) Baekhyun goes to Balhae to find Jongdae, the crown prince .