On The Other Side Of Earth In Seoul, South Korea...

Pulling my baseball cap down, I plugged my white earphones into my ears and watched as the dirty, old bus pull into the bus stop. Biting back a sigh, I stepped onto the bus, scanning my card on the way in, and moved to the back to find a seat before the bus could speed off and knock me off my feet, turning other people into bowling pins.

As I took a seat in the back corner of the bus, (the front was usually reserved for the elders and they were very strict about it) my eyes trailed to the people on the bus. Nobody looked at me, pointed at me, or even whispered. No one took their phones or cameras out to take pictures of me. And more importantly, nobody was invading my privacy.

I pulled my smart phone out, pulling up Twitter. Even though I was no longer a part of the group, I should still keep an eye on their activities right? My account was made specifically for promotional purposes and to give fan service, but after I left, NH Media left my account alone, in which I use to keep myself updated. I don't tweet on the account anymore since- I'm not a part of the group anymore.

As I scroll through the feed, I could see a couple of the new member's tweets. (Okay, it's been a few years. He's not exactly a new member anymore, but he's the newest member.) Strangely enough, I have no recollection of actually following his Twitter account, but in tiny gray lettering, Twitter tells me that one of my hyungs had retweeted it. Fair enough. The tweet comes out in English and it surprises me to know that this guy knows English too.

Jun1997: I hope all our beloved fans are having a great day so far! We miss our U.S. fans and can't wait to see you guys! Which is why... we'll be hosting our second U.S. tour a week from now! America, brace yourselves!

So, another U.S. tour? It explains why he tweeted in English. But honestly, in my five years of being in the group I haven't gone on an U.S. tour once. And in three years, this guy gets to go? It doesn't matter anymore, does it? I get to travel to America anytime I like without fans constantly invading my privacy. Good luck to you, Jun.

I couldn't help but feel sour at the thought of Jun joining the group and bathing in the fame, love, and money he didn't have to work hard for. He didn't have to represent the group and work hard for the group to be noticed. It was already noticed and he just came along after all of our blood, sweat, and tears (minus the blood part, we're kid-friendly). Maybe it was because I was jealous of all the fame he got, but for some reason I find him unsettling. The moment I close my Twitter app, my phone vibrates and tickles my hand. I've got a call.

"Hey, hyung. What's up?" I take the call and I could hear his heavy breathing. Dance practice? Well, they've just released their music video. No surprise to how hard they have to work after releasing an album.

"Dong Ho, did you check Twitter?" I lean back onto the bus seat and hold back the urge to nod. For the sake of the group, he couldn't see me.

"Oh, yeah. I saw Jun's tweet." I mumbled, slightly irritated by the thought of him. "Thanks for re-tweeting it only billions of times."

"Shush, okay? I'm just happy to be going back to America for a while. You have no idea how much I miss the things there." I could hear a few shouts and laughter. Shortly afterwards, I could hear Jun's name loud and clear in the background. "Oh, you should come with us. It'll be fun and cool to hang with our ex-maknae in America. I could even help you with your English. That is, if you didn't become a complete foreigner." He joked.

"Ha ha. Very funny." I replied, sarcastically (and bitterly). "You said it yourself; I'm the ex-maknae. I'm not in the group anymore and obviously not the maknae. I also have to go to school-"

"Tch excuses. You'll still be a part of our family. By the way, if you've been a good student ever since leaving, you should be able to take two weeks off. Just two weeks." He continued, persuading me. I was itching for a break. College life had literally swept me off my feet and pummeled me to the cold, hard ground. But the thought of having to spend it with Jun made me feel uneasy. "You should meet Jun too. He's pretty cool."

More shouts and laughter filled the background and of course, Jun's name was being tossed around. They were getting along with him, probably better than they were getting along with me.

"I think about it." For some reason, the thought of going to America intrigued me and I was into the idea of going. I felt like I was missing something and America had it. Maybe the coffee? But Columbia's coffee- let's just say nothing can compare to it. Either way, my heart was already buying a plane ticket to America at the moment as I heard him cough. 

"Well, we gotta get back to practice." I could see him scratching the back of his head and looking around. "So, I guess I'll see you in America! Oh, and Jun wants to say something to you! Bond well, guys!" I held myself back from rolling my eyes and possibly creating some misunderstandings with the people on the bus and waited for Jun to speak.

"Shin Dong Ho-sshi?" His voice was a lot deeper than mine. Not that I wasn't expecting it. Ever since his rap in 'Don't Flirt', I had anticipated that his voice would be deeper than mine.

"Yeah. You're Jun Young, right?" Things were awkward for me. I wasn't sure if Jun was feeling the same way because he laughed as I said his name.

"So you remember my name, huh?"

Odd choice of words, but still kind of normal.

"Well, you're an idol now. Congrats." I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up as the conversation continued. My urge to diss him was growing by the minute and it became more suffocating for me.

"Thanks. I really owe you everything. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have a future like this."

Okay, another odd choice of words, but please carry on.

"Please, I didn't really do much for you." I mumbled, observing my surroundings to get my hostile feelings to tone down a bit.

"You have no idea how much you've helped me. You should really come to America with us. I'll treat you to a meal or two, hyung." I froze as he said the word, "hyung". It had sounded so hostile. His laugh however, contradicted the way he said the word and he continued to speak in a light and cheerful tone. "I mean, if it's okay to call you that."

"It's okay." I lied. To be honest, I didn't even want to think that I was close to him.

"I guess I'll take to you some other time. We have to get back to practice." His voice shifted a bit and his laughter seemingly didn't fit in with his tone. "It was nice talking to you." 

The next thing he said threw me off. Wayyyyyyyyyy off.

"I can't wait to see you again."

My phone beeped to inform me that the call had ended and I couldn't put my arm down. Jun and I had just about the weirdest conversation. What did he mean by, 'I can't wait to see you again'? There was a small possibility that he had said 'again' by accident, but the way he said it led me to believe he meant it. When had I ever seen him? A fan meet maybe? Somewhere in my mind tells me that I've seen him before. Not once, but loads of times.

I was finally able to put my arm down after what had seemed like eternity and I sighed. Maybe it really was me. Was my health condition getting worse? I could've sworn that it had been getting better these three years. I pressed the button, telling the bus to stop and I got off the bus. 

Walking will help. I needed to distract myself. And keep myself healthy. Even if it meant arriving to my Physics class twenty minutes late.

Classes were over and I was back at home, idling around. I was propped up in front of my computer, comfortably playing video games. League of Legends to be exact. It was addicting. And after a couple of years, this game was still wildly popular in Korea. Why?

Well, considering the fact that the government was trying to restrict us from relying on other countries, they banned a couple of supposedly mainstream games. If anyone wanted to play Final Fantasy, good luck. It's banned. The only other "popular" game was Maplestory. Maplestory or League of Legends? League of Legends any day. I'd much rather spend my time strategizing than running into Amoria, poking slimes with my wand or a level one sword.

The lock on the front door clicked loud and clear. My mom was home. Only my mother would come home this early at five p.m. since my dad was often too busy with the magazine company. He comes home so late in the night that I've already slept for a full eight hours and ready for school. Sometimes, he doesn't even come home. Business trips to remote places in South Korea and Japan. I leave my laptop and head over to my mother, busy with some bills.

"Mom, I need to speak with you." I pull out a chair and sit next to her in the dining room. She looks up from the bills and focuses on me, expectantly. After my brother, Dong Jin left to expand dad's business in China; she's been spoiling me a bit more.

"Yes?"

"I want to take some time off of school and go to America for a while." I told her bluntly. I wasn't going to beat around the bush. My guild was waiting for me back in my room. "Just two weeks. I'm going to hang out with the group for some time and spend the rest of my time alone."

"Ah, America. Yes, I heard that they're going to have a tour there. So, in other words you're going to go with them?" I nodded and my mother blinked a couple of times before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Your health condition isn't the best. Dong Ho, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't. For the past three years, my health condition has only been getting better." I pointed out, brushing my bangs aside. My hair was dyed back to the dark red color I had during the ManManHaNi promotions and I have to say that I liked it. "I'll go to America for two weeks and I'll come back in one piece okay? By the way, I've always wanted to expand my English vocabulary. There's no better way of learning than experiencing it, right?"

My mother's shoulders slumped and I knew I had her approval. She tousled my hair and took my hand, as if she was saying good bye forever.

"Fine. Only because you want to go so badly." She muttered. "And I know you've always wanted to hang out with the guys again. Just make sure you don't do anything wild, okay?"

"Got it. I'll be super responsible." My heart felt light at the thought of going to America. "Speaking of being responsible, I have a team of monsters to destroy before it gets my guild. Talk to you later." I stood up abruptly and headed back to my room to continue with my mission.

Somewhere Else In Seoul....

I dusted the shelves and rearranged the display of 13 inch Piro Piro plushies and stood by the cash register, admiring all my hard work. I have to admit it was a bit creepy, standing in a store- or rather a room filled with all kinds of Piro Piro items that had large white eyes, staring at me. It was twelve at night to make it all the creepier. But their eyes were cute, so it shouldn't really count as creepy.

The orange wind chime by the door chimed as I directed my attention to the front door. He moved over to a shelf and took a Piro Piro neck cushion and placed it around his neck, sending me a childish grin.

"For the sake of age, you're twenty-nine, Alexander." I crossed my arms and stared at my childish hyung. Alexander pouted and picked up a plushie, holding it close to his chest.

"Stop reminding me of my age! Age is but a number. Sheesh." He complained. His attention span was short and he turned back to the neck cushion he was wearing. "By the way, my plane ride from Hong Kong was so tiring. I could've used one of these."

"Then buy it." I teased and Alexander sent me a playful glare, before setting it aside along with the plushie.

"You're so mean, Kibum. I came back here, all the way from Hong Kong just to see you and you treat me like this? Way to treat your hyung." I scoffed and resisted the urge to lightly punch his arm. 

"The only reason why you came back to Seoul in the first place was because you had a fan meet here, right?" Alexander laughed an nudged my shoulder.

"It's not the only reason. Just wanted an update on how things were doing there." Oh right. There. 

"Everything is moving along just fine. They're keeping me updated on it. They come to visit me at times and it seems like the population is growing." Alexander beamed at the thought of population growth, but his smile quickly turned into a frown.

"But that means that they're spending too much time there." I shrugged and wiped the counter again, just for the sake of talking to Alexander a bit longer.

"I guess, but we didn't leave the group for nothing. We just didn't have enough time to be idols and manage a place like that. Thanks to you, the company terminated my contract first and labeled me as a 'talentless fool'." I said, remembering what the articles had said. "If you had actually spent some time tending the place, then I wouldn't have been tardy to most of the practices and most importantly, concerts."

"Hey, at least I left the group with you. I kept you company." Alexander protested, listing out just one thing he had done for me. "By the way, your fans know that you're not some talentless fool. You're a handsome, talentless fool." He said jokingly. I shot him a glare and put the rag aside. "Your fans know better. You're not talentless. Especially since you have a flourishing Piro Piro business going on here."

"Well, managing my Piro Piro business, the place, and being an idol is overly too much anyways. And at least I didn't have to pay the termination fee to terminate my contract." I was trying to look at the bright side. I wiped down the store window, taking a look at the calm streets of Seoul and the navy blue sky.

"Speaking of the place, I came back to talk you about something." The urgency in his voice caused me to stop what I was doing and turn around to face him. His face had no signs of a twenty-nine year old child and he looked grim.

"I'm all ears." I lean against the window, staring at him to show him I was giving him my undivided attention.

"Remember how we felt something weird three years ago? How we couldn't settle down?" I didn't speak and I nodded. Thanks to whatever the thing was, I couldn't sleep for nights. "Well- it seems as though someone had travelled back in time and that someone has a strong aura."

"A strong aura?" I muttered. "If they're that strong, why would they travel through time? Doesn't that mean that-"

"There's something a lot stronger than them. And recently- well you've felt it too, haven't you?"

The worry, eating away at me? Yes, I've felt it. 

"It's not much stronger than them, but it seems that there's more than one person this time." As I had expected. It was nothing new, but I was sure Alexander was aware of my knowledge and obviously had more to share. "Kibum, I think someone we know is a time traveler."

"Someone we know...?" I echoed. As expected of Alexander. He was so observant despite his child-like behavior. I was more of a logical person, creating strategies and making analysis. I went through a list of people I knew and the list of people Alexander knew. Anyone that belonged in Hong Kong was automatically crossed off my list because I didn't know any one there. Anyone who was affiliated with my Piro Piro business was crossed off the list as well because Alexander didn't know them.

Crossing people off my list one by one, I finally reached the last few guys. It was possible that any one of them could've been time travelers. Determining the person with Alexander's facial expressions, I stood up and faced Alexander with my coldest facial expression.

"Are you sure?" Alexander smiled and nodded.

"Positive. If I'm correct, I get to keep that Piro Piro neck cushion." 

"In your dreams." I hit him with the rag in my hand and turned the atmosphere back into a serious one. "So you're saying that-"

"Shin Dong Ho is the time traveler."

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*Chapter Three done! A quick warning, I DID NOT draft this chapter out before hand, so it may seem kind of.... weird? Yeah, so Sera (So Li) wasn't in this chapter. As we can see, both Dong Ho and So Li have no recollection of the future or their past? Complicated o.O We'll find out why soon enough. xD. Enjoy~*