Chapter 61

Attayear
Please Subscribe to read the full chapter

It was probably about mid-morning when, thoroughly refreshed and feeling better than she had done for some weeks, Jinsu finally woke up.  Sunlight was streaming in through a floor-to-ceiling wall of a window over to her left, and there was somebody knocking on her door.  Sitting up in bed, Jinsu called out to whoever it was to come in.

The woman from yesterday – was her name Sunny? – appeared, followed by two others, one of whom was in a smart skirt suit and the other of whom was in military uniform.  Just before the door shut again, she caught a glimpse of three, possibly more, soldiers standing to attention in the passage outside the room as though they had been there for hours.

“Good morning,” said Sunny.  “General Kyujong apologises for keeping you so long yesterday when you were clearly so tired.  The major general was supposed to do this as General Kyujong was originally busy, but the general has rearranged his schedule this morning and he’s asked if you can join him for breakfast for a proper discussion and then we’ll take you over to the hospital wing for medical check-ups and you can see your injured companions.  We quarantined the three we found remaining on the machine yesterday in the secure ward of the hospital as one was exhausted and two had injuries.  Jo Minhwan said to check on the four of you as he believed you all had outstanding injuries too.  If they’re free, you may also be meeting others on the command chain or some members of government.”

It surprised Jinsu that Minhwan had asked for them all to have medical check-ups, but then again, he’d considered himself in charge of the Attayear after they’d left the 1950s and he was probably trying to be responsible.  She wasn’t so sure what she felt about seeing a string of important military personnel.

“What about the others?” she asked as the woman in the suit carefully put a neatly folded stack of clothes on the chair by her bed for her.

“They will be taken over to the hospital for their medical check-ups in half an hour or so,” said Sunny.  “As for the bodies—”

“Leave them where you found them, please,” Jinsu cut in, ignoring the hollow feeling in her chest.  “We want to take them home with us.”

Sunny pursed her lips.  Jinsu wasn’t sure if it was the mention of going back into the past to the present – which would alter the present of Sunny’s world – or whether it was disapproval at the treatment of the bodies.  She didn’t dare ask: the last thing she wanted to do first thing in the morning was get into an argument with their hosts about whether or not they could go home, especially with armed soldiers standing around.  Sunny made no further comment, though, and Jinsu decided it was best to leave it for the time being.

“This is Amber,” Sunny said, gesturing to the female soldier.  “She’s been assigned as your bodyguard, and she’s from the US part of our alliance, though she speaks Korean fluently.”

Amber gave a sharp salute, but didn’t say anything.

“Well,” said Sunny, “I’ll leave you to attire yourself appropriately for breakfast, and then I’ll take you over to the General’s quarters.  Do you have any requests or anything that I can get for you?”

Jinsu wondered if it would be impertinent to ask for Baekhyun, or perhaps one of the other boys, but she was pretty sure that she was the only one with the breakfast invitation, and as much as she wanted moral support, she was the guest and it was best not to push her luck.

“I’d quite like to know the history of what has happened between when we left our natural time and now,” she said instead.

Sunny nodded.  “I believe that will be discussed with you, probably by the general.  If he doesn’t have time, it’ll be his aide.”

After a few pleasantries, Sunny and the woman in the suit withdrew.  Amber saluted again.

“I’ll wait just outside the door, ma’am,” she said politely, her voice a beautiful, clear alto that Jinsu hadn’t been expecting.  Awkward on the best way to respond, Jinsu nodded.  Amber marched out, the door shutting firmly behind her.

To her complete and utter surprise, the clothes that Jinsu had been presented with were more or less army regulation.  They did fit, when she managed to struggle into them, and she debated for a while over whether or not to wear the jade pendant too.  She didn’t particularly want to leave it (heck, she also wanted to feel a little less soldier-like, because there was no way a career in the army would suit her), but it definitely didn’t go with the khakis.  In the end, she tucked it into her pocket, and then looked around for a bathroom, hoping that it would be supplied with toothpaste and soap.

Fifteen minutes later, feeling out of place and wondering if maybe she ought to have showered (but just washing her hands with her still-healing fingers had hurt quite a lot), she was following Amber down the hallways towards the general’s quarters.  Amber herself appeared to be fairly highly ranked, because a number of people saluted as she walked past.  Jinsu hurried along as close as she could behind her, trying to remain inconspicuous.

Kris was there when they got past the guards after some kind of saluting and shouting ritual with Amber, and he’d exchanged his lab coat for military uniform as well.  Now that she wasn’t stressed and exhausted, she found herself noticing things like his height (he was several heads taller than her), and his beautifully symmetrical features, and also how drop-dead-gorgeously handsome he looked, which she hadn’t thought was possible for somebody with closely cropped, military-style hair.  He also had a star on his epaulettes, which she knew meant he had to be a ranked officer, though she didn’t know nearly enough to be able to tell what rank.

General Kyujong had four stars, she noticed, when he came in and invited them to join him for breakfast.  They were soon sitting around a polished mahogany dining table (imported from somewhere in Europe; Jinsu didn’t quite catch where) with a tremendous spread in front of them and Jinsu didn’t know where to start.  The fruit was so fresh that she could smell it over the full English breakfast (even Baekhyun would have had trouble serving up the quantity that was sitting in front of her), but there was also an extremely comforting display of traditional Korean breakfast foods, and she immediately piled rice onto her plate.

It was hard to hold back and eat with dignity.  She hadn’t starved on the Attayear by any stretch of the imagination, but the diet variation for the last week on it had been terribly bland, and familiar tastes were far too good to ignore.  The general inquired as to whether she’d slept well and found her quarters satisfactory – she said yes to both, the latter out of politeness as she hadn’t had much time to explore – before moving onto business.

“I apologise for keeping you yesterday,” he said.  “I spent a few hours in the archives last night and I was wondering i

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter
Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
Korekrypta
It's EXO's 4th anniversary today, so four chapters will be going up in a bit!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
Hyeji1990 #1
Here I am again..
Mitsukiii #2
I remember I had read this story about 10 times on my last account. Years later, back to do the same thing....
evaporous
#3
Chapter 20: Ik Jinsus family basically ruined baekhyuns life but he is just so mean to her
evaporous
#4
Chapter 19: 'I tried to withold this chapter. I failed. ' what does this mean Korey
evaporous
#5
Chapter 16: United We Spy? Is that the Gallagher Girls series? I love it! Wow, I can't believe a quote from that made it here.
evaporous
#6
Chapter 10: "Go away before someone sees you fraternising with the enemy"
HARRY POTTER-INSPIRED QUOTE from Goblet of Fire
Bbhfever #7
Chapter 97: Now I believe this is the 4th time I’ve read this all the way through! Going back to reread favorite scenes because it’s tradition at this point lol! I always forget how emotional I get reading this! You really did not let my girl rest… she faced problems after problems!!
Bbhfever #8
Chapter 12: And here I am again… I should really keep count just to see how many times I’ve actually read this 🤣.
Imthtdiamond95 #9
Re reading this fic 3 years later, can honestly say this is my favourite story on the platform, it’s just soo good. Your writing is seriously amazing, thank you for this story!
Justanother-girl #10
Chapter 97: Re-reading this again a few years later, and it’s still as good. Thanks korey for the wonderful story. 😍