3 a.m.

Kyungsoo, night-shift waiter, is sad tonight while walking alone to the bus stop because a mad customer has broken his mobile phone. And because he’s too broke to fix it anytime soon.

He waits on the bench for the bus, it should be here soon. He’s the only one in this part of town, though there are probably many astral bodies of townspeople travelling around while their physical bodies dream. Will they dream of Kyungsoo?

Of how he nearly falls from the bench when the nearby payphone starts ringing? Kyungsoo sends it a glance, he should avoid that.

But it keeps on ringing, and Kyungsoo is probably starring in his own horror movie now, but it’s getting on his nerves (of curiosity) so he walks over to the payphone and picks it up.

“Hello?” 

A timid voice.

“Anybody there?” 

“I know you’re there… Um, this is Jongin. I’m calling from a parallel universe because I want to — ” 

Kyungsoo hangs up.

Just in time, his bus comes and slides to a halt. Great timing.



-



3.10 a.m.

Kyungsoo, night-shift waiter, is not walking to the bus stop alone tonight. He’s with his friends, who helped get the drunk customer off his back. Said customer did manage to hurl and break his mobile phone though, and the silent newbie, Jongin, is trying to fix it.

“Dude, you owe us,” Jonghyun says.

Kyungsoo does owe them, and that is why, when the payphone adjacent to the bus stop starts ringing, Kyungsoo’s the one who’s got to answer it.

“Hi? 

“You don’t ever speak, do you… “

That voice sounds familiar?

“Look, I know this may come across as hard to believe, but it’s true really- I’m calling from a parallel universe… because I — ” 

“Kyungsoo, the bus is here!”

Kyungsoo hangs up.

“Who was it?”

“He was calling from a parallel universe.”

They all laugh.

They board the bus, seat themselves and laugh about it some more.



-



3.20 a.m.

Kyungsoo, night-shift waiter, is late for his bus because he went out of his way to fully attend to a drunk, demanding customer. While he’s running to the bus stop, he drops his phone, which breaks.

That’s a bad omen.

Indeed, he’s missed the bus. Now he’s going to be all alone in this side of town for another hour with nothing to entertain him, since his source for music is in shatters.

He fears the dark just a little bit, silence more so, so he counts his breaths, each inhale, exhale. He manages to enter a certain calm, only for shrill ringing to come out of nowhere and hurl him out again. Kyungsoo’s shocked to find it’s the nearby payphone.

What are the chances of a payphone ringing? He doesn’t answer, of course.

After what must be an entire cycle of rings, it stops, and Kyungsoo is relieved for a second- before it starts ringing again. This goes on for so long, and it nags at Kyungsoo so much, that he gets up and strides to the payphone anyway, despite the bad omen from earlier trying to tug him back. He figures it’s probably a call from Fate, unlucky or otherwise.

”Hi. Um, this is Jongin…

“…It’s okay if you don’t speak, but listen a bit, okay? I’m calling from a universe different from yours- Wait! Don’t keep the phone! Your name’s Kyungsoo, right?” 

Kyungsoo was going to keep the phone, but how does this caller know his name?!

“No, it’s not,” he lies and hangs up.

But he shouldn’t be surprised that it rings again, and again, and again, and so on until Kyungsoo finally answers again.

“Please let me explain!” 

“F-fine…”

“Thanks! Um, I know it probably sounds hard to believe, but I’m a scientist from a parallel universe. Name’s Kim Jongin. Professor Kim. I’m looking for an assistant from a parallel world who can assist me to open up a portal between our worlds, so that I can further this science, and it will be a beneficial stride in history for both our worlds if you could assist me with this little thing … You still there?” 

“Yeah.”

“Ah! So… what do you think?” 

“I can help you.”

“Oh, then it’s — EH?! Really?!” 

“I guess…”

“Perhaps, does dimension travel already exist in your world?” 

“No.”

“Then, is science somewhat open on that subject?” 

“I don’t know?”

“Oh. Uh, may I ask, how come you believe me?” 

“I’m willing to.”

“Oh. Um, you are the first among the eighty eight calls I made… I’m in shock.” 

“Eighty eight…”

“Then, is it cool by you if we keep in touch?” 

“What do I have to do?”

The risk-taker in Kyungsoo had said Yes , the survivor had said No , but the risk-taker, troublemaker, had won.



-



Jongin’s not sure whether he should be thankful or doubtful about finding help so quickly. Eighty eight calls is not so much. Not so much, compared to the infinite universes out there.

He’ll see how it goes.

It’s been a long day- and night- and as Jongin gets ready for bed, he wonders about the many questions that have popped up in his mind. He thought he’d find answers, but he got questions instead.

Like, how come, in all the universes, it was the same voice, the same person, that picked up his calls? What does that mean? Does it imply anything?

And he wonders whether he should he feel bad for lying to the last of them.

Whatever, he’s closer to realizing his Dream now. People lie all the time.



-



Kyungsoo’s neighbor’s cat is named Telephone, because she wags her tail whenever the telephone rings, apparently because the sound annoys her. It rings, and she wags her tail.

Kyungsoo picks up the old-fashioned receiver.

“Mrs. Choi’s residence.”

“Hi! It’s me!” 

Kyungsoo almost drops the phone. He widens his eyes at Telephone, and she’s like, Go ahead and talk!, so he does.

“H-how do you- Who are you?”

“It’s Jongin. How have you been, Kyungsoo?” 

Chills go down Kyungsoo’s spine. Why didn’t he trust the bad omen? He probably stumbled on a stalker, serial killer, or both.

“How do you know this number…?

“Oh, I don’t! I just make a connection from my universe to yours, and if my theory is correct, due to some strange force, my call keeps connecting to you, wherever you are. By the way, this isn’t the same phone you used last time? ’Cause you seem surprised?” 

“That was a payphone, this is my neigh- I mean, this is someone else’s’ phone…”

“Oh! What about your mobile phone- wait- don’t tell me, you don’t have mobile phones in your world?!” 

“We do, mine broke. How- how does your call connect to me?”

“To be honest, that beats me too. But hey, I’m definitely going to research on it!” 

He seems too young to be a scientist. No, he definitely cannot be a scientist. Kyungsoo’s instincts say so.

“Okay.”

“So, how are you?” 

“Fine.”

“Great!” 

“Um.”

“Yeah?” 

“Uh, why did you call…?”

“Ah! Yup, I just called ’cause I thought it would be convenient if we got to know each other a little better? You mind?” 

“Um.”

“What’s wrong?” 

“What do you want to know?”

“Straight to the point! Can you tell me about yourself?” 

“…Like what?”

“Like, how old are you, what do you do for a living, are you into science and if so, what field of study, do you have any hobbies, and so on. I thought it would be helpful if I got to know my helper better, you know?” 

“I’m twenty one, I’m not into science, my hobbies are baking and listening to music.”

“Oh, you’re twenty one!” 

“Yeah… why?”

“Nothing. You like music? Me too, my favorite band’s called H.O.T.” 

“H.O.T? But they broke up?”

“Eh, no?” 

“They did…”

“Wait, don’t tell me, they broke up in your world?!” 

“Yeah?”

“In my world, they’re all still intact! As five! They just released an album last month! Want me to play you a song or two?” 

“Sure…”

There’s shuffling, and then the line goes silent.

When Kyungsoo came to cat-sit for his neighbor, he thought it would be another peaceful evening where he could catch up on some meditation. Seems not.

And Telephone, she’s disappeared.

“Hi?” 

“Yeah?”

“Okay, so I’ve got it. Here goes.” 

There’s music on the other end. Kyungsoo scratches his head as what sounds like H.O.T croon about some lost lover.

No, he hasn’t heard this song before. But yes, it’s indeed them. Or sounds like them. Fascinating.

That’s what he tells Jongin when his voice comes through again. His voice that sounds strangely familiar for a stranger supposedly from another universe.

What are the chances of a stalker being a genius remixer?

Jongin says he has to go, that he’s got an important meeting with colleagues. When can he call again? Does Kyungsoo mind him calling? Kyungsoo tells him to call the day after tomorrow.

And they hang up.

Kyungsoo trails to the window. He spots two crows on parallel telephone lines, and it’s nothing significant, but when he looks down at Mrs.Choi’s windowsill, his eyes land on twin white feathers among the many trinkets she keeps there. He looks at the crows, then at the feathers, and decides that’s definitely an omen.

Telephone comes round the corner.



-



Jongin drops his aching head amidst the piles of books. Books, the internet- nowhere in his studies has he come across an example of connecting to the same personality multiple times in multiple universes.

Well, it’s not like he can have all the resources he needs, everything’s been wiped out, after all. But still, he’s certain that by now, he knows far more than most people, and certainly, far more than the losers in his class. But to think he doesn’t know this vital reason!

Is it because their vibrations attract? But why the same person?!

He decides with a sigh, he ought to focus on his main goal, which, for now, is creating a portal.



-



Kyungsoo’s checked criminal records for persons named Kim Jongin and found none. Mental records, as best as he can. He’s searched the internet (in an internet café, since his multi-purpose phone’s still unusable) and found lots of men with that name, then slimmed the results down to those below thirty years of age since his caller seems to be not that old. There’s a lot of Jongins to choose from.

He’ll start by checking out the ones who live in his area. He opens the tab with the facebook profile of the twenty eight year old banker ten miles away. He’ll visit him tomorrow, after delivering newspapers.



-



“Hi Kyungsoo.” 

“It’s you.”

“You don’t sound too amused,” Jongin chuckles.

“This is my default tone of speech.”

“Right. Am I bothering you?” 

“No, we arranged this call the other day.”

“I have an unusual question for you. What do you think of dreams?” 

“Dreams?”

“Yeah? Do you have a dream? Or dreams?” 

“I’m not sure? I’ve been looking for one, but I don’t think I found one yet. Although, I do know what my dream is not.”

“What?” 

“Doing a nine-to-five desk job five days a week.”

“Okay…” 

“I’m a college dropout.”

“Ah! You were studying your way to a nine-to-five desk job?” 

“Yeah.”

“It’s like the 10,000 ways that didn’t work, right? You didn’t screw up, you just found a way that didn’t work out.” 

“…You could put it that way. You’re optimistic?”

“I have to be! I’ve been struggling with this dream of mine for so many years that if I’d been anything but, I’d have given up from the first failure.” 

“Your dream is…?”

“Connecting to dimensions, universes, you could say.” 

“Right. Like a dimension traveler?”

“Well…!” 

“What?”

“How do I start? Okay, long story short, inter-dimension travel was once a thing in my world, before it got banned and we can’t travel to other dimensions or universes anymore. My dream is to revive that science again, but not necessarily for the whole world, just for myself, ’cause I’m curious. And I don’t necessarily want to be a traveler. I don’t know if I make sense.” 

“Why did it get banned? Inter-dimension travel.”

“’Cause travelers met with more fatalities than successes, you know? Portals would open up in fatal locations- like in the sky, or under water, and so on. It was cheap enough that almost anyone could try out, but yeah, pretty gutsy.” 

“Ah. And who banned it?”

“Our World’s Government. Twenty something years ago.” 

“World’s Government? We don’t have that here.”

“Seriously?!” 

“Yeah.”

“But hey, that must be convenient, because when these guys banned dimension travel, they didn’t just ban it, but the entire study and science of other dimensions and the multiverse. They took away all the equipment, erased most of the discoveries, all for the sake of the people. Or so they say, but I think it’s pretty ridiculous.” 

“Then what are you doing…”

“What do you mean?” 

“Isn’t what you’re doing illegal?”

“Yeah, it is. If I’m found out, my reputation and career as a scientist would be destroyed. My work is extremely secretive. Which is another reason why I need your help.” 

“Interesting…”

“Sometimes I stop and wonder what the hell am I doing, but then a voice inside me says ‘Go get back to work!’ Yeah…” 

“It’s your heart.”

“What?” 

“That voice, it’s your heart.”

“Oh… I guess that makes sense.” 

“My heart told me to quit college, but it didn’t tell me what to do next…”

Jongin laughs, “I’m sorry. That must be pretty hard on you. So what do you do now?” 

“Part time jobs.”

“Like?” 

“Waiting, occasional bar work, distributing leaflets, delivering newspapers, bakery apprentice, fast-food cooking, looking after my neighbour’s cat when she’s away.”

“What’s waiting?” 

“Waiting tables…?”

“Huh?” 

“When you go to a restaurant, who serves you?”

“Servers.” 

“That.”

“Waiter means a server?!” 

“I guess.”

“Wow. Why would you call it waiter, I thought it’s someone who’s paid to wait for something or someone…” 

“I am paid to wait on people… Wait on people, not wait for them.”

“I see…” 

“Why do you want to rediscover dimension travel if you don’t really want to travel?”

“I don’t know… I just want to? It just interests me?” 

“Okay.”



-



Jongin’s found that there is one person in his country who’s worked on inter-dimensional travel and who’d know all the theories behind it, who’d know how to make a dimension travel machine. Heck, he might even have one in his possession.

“I’m here to see the Professor.”

The guard eyes him up and down. “Who’re you?”

“I’m a big fan of his.”

“So?”

“Could I possibly visit the professor, I’m a Physics student and a huge fan of his work, it would be such a great honor if there is some way I could-”

“No visitors allowed.”

“It doesn’t have to be today, if there is some procedure I could-”

The guard phrases each word carefully as if Jongin is a child, “He doesn’t take in visitors,” and his word is final.

No matter. Jongin goes back to his rented truck.

He waits till it’s dark. Seven o’clock, eight o’clock, ten o’clock, one o’clock, three. Now should be a good time.

He slips into a dark tee and dark jeans and covers his blonde mop with a beanie. He double checks that he’s got his tools and everything else he needs.

He climbs over the tall walls, disables the security cameras and alarms, steals into the mansion. An eternal advantage of being a tech nerd, fix-it-guy and general geek is that he always knows his way around electronics.

His arrogance is short-lived, however. He did manage to get a good look of the security alarms outside the mansion, but he hadn’t been inside, and even though he thought he scanned the place thoroughly, apparently the sensors are too sneaky for him. An alarm goes off, Jongin backtracks, runs for his life and barely manages to escape in time.



-



Jongin calls Kyungsoo every other day with prior notice as to when he’d call- what time of the day- so that Kyungsoo can station himself near an accessible phone beforehand. His mobile phone’s still not fixed and he hasn’t bought a new one either. It’s not like it’s an absolute necessity for his minimal lifestyle, anyway. He just misses the music on bus rides between work and Sunday market queues.

He finds that the déjà vu phone calls from Jongin ease from awkward suspicious to comfortable familiarity sooner than expected. That’s okay with him. It’s not enough for the risk-taker to be triumphant, though, yet.

Sometimes, Jongin talks about his dream and that makes Kyungsoo envious.



-



Kyungsoo hangs up the phone and clicks the Stop button on the recorder. Now he’s got a sample of Jongin’s voice- if he ever needs it for reference.

He’s visited five of the Kim Jongin’s so far. Many more to go.

He decides that it’s possible, and most likely, that his caller isn’t actually a Kim Jongin, but is using an alias.



-



Jongin’s experimenting, researching, building up his equipment from scratch. The usual work.

The problem, though (one he’s seen coming), is that hardware costs money, and money, he’s starting to run short on. There’s only so much his pocket money can pay for. He’s got to get a part-time job.

He scrolls down job listings on his laptop, and it doesn’t take ten seconds for an advert to catch his eye: “Servers Wanted”. It reminds him of a certain someone, and Jongin thinks, why the heck not.

He calls up those employers.



-



Kyungsoo’s about to start his waiting shift, tying his apron around his waist, when he overhears a conversation between his manager and a familiar voice. A very familiar voice, and it makes him perk up. His manager advices the apparently first-time waiter, approves his request to work at the later slot and the new waiter turns to leave just as Kyungsoo starts heading towards them.

He’s quite tall, lean, with thick lips and brown hair. A pretty boy.

As he gets closer, Kyungsoo manages to squint enough to be able to read his name tag, and it is just as he’d suspected, doubted and feared: Kim Jongin.

Kyungsoo stands there, frozen. The guy has long passed when Kyungsoo starts running after him.

He catches up to him in the kitchens and grabs him by the elbow. The very act sends a shock through Kyungsoo and he pulls his arm away just as the guy turns around.

There’s incredulity in his eyes, but one look at him up close and Kyungsoo gets that he’s special. This is someone he knows- and will continue to know.

“Kim Jongin?!”

“Yes…?”

“I’m- I’m Kyungsoo!”

“…Okay?”

Only this Jongin doesn’t know Kyungsoo.



-



“Hi Kyungsoo, it’s me.” 

“I’ve been waiting for you to call!”

“Now that’s a surprise! Albeit a pleasant one.” 

“Are you going to start being a waiter?!”

Jongin’s shock makes him pause for a second. “No? Server, you mean?” 

“Yes, that!”

“No, why would I be a server, I’m a scientist and thankfully it pays more than enough to get aroun-” 

“Don’t start being a server! You mustn’t!”

“I told you I’m not-” 

“If you want to reach your destiny, if you want to realize your dream, if you want to connect to my universe, then you mustn’t become a server! Because… because you will meet me.”

“…What?” 

“You’ll meet your world’s version of me.”

“What…” 

“You’re really not going to start being a server?”

“’Course not?” 

“Oh…”

“Uh, may I know why you said that? Did something happen?” 

“Yeah. I met you, my world’s version. You joined as a new waiter.”

“I see… but, why did you say I mustn’t become a server if I want to realize my dream- all that?” 

“Um.”

“What?” 

“Nevermind. Forget what I said.”

“Okay…” 

“It’s just that, I thought what happens in our worlds are reflections of each other.”

“That’s right. That is what happens most of the time, with a few exceptions and deviations.” 

“Then, will you meet your world’s version of me soon?”

“Is that a problem?” 

“…I don’t know. Nevermind. I have to go to the bakery now and the bus will come any minute. Can you call later?”

“Oh. Sure. Bye then.” 

“Bye.”



-



“I’m sorry to call you again, but it’s bugging me, Kyungsoo.” 

“I almost got onto a bus- what?”

“I lied to you.” 

“Huh?”

“I’m not a big shot scientist, I’m a science- I mean, a Physics student in second year of university. Everything else is true though…” 

“Oh…”

“And you were right, I was running out of money to finance my research, so I just got employed as a server… and my first shift is tonight.” 

“EH?!”

“Yeah…” 

“Then- then you could meet me…”

“Can you tell me, why is that a problem?” 

Kyungsoo pauses. How can he explain it without throwing himself under the bus? He’s never been good with explanations, with stuff to do with the logical side of his brain. Like thinking.

“Hello?” 

“I’m here. Um, it’s like this. The reason you’re calling me is because you’d want assistance when the time comes when you manage to make a portal to my universe- right?”

“Exactly right.” 

“If you meet your world’s version of me… I think you’d eventually see it as pointless to call me, then you would lose the drive you currently have for realizing your dream. That means your dream would go unachieved.”

“This is all because I meet my world’s version of you? But why? I don’t get it?” 

“Because if you and your world’s version of me meet, you will fall in love.”

“…Oh.” 

There is a long pause.

“Did you fall in love? With your world’s version of me?” 

“Not yet. But I think I could.”



-



Kyungsoo had spoken of Destinies. How realizing his dream is Jongin’s destiny. Destiny. Destination.

What more does Kyungsoo know?

Jongin is reaching for his phone when outside, out in his shared dorm, someone rings the doorbell. He ignores as usual, and starts making the connection to Kyungsoo’s universe.

Except there’s a knock on his bedroom door.

He opens it. A couple of POLICE officers show him their ID’s.

“Mr. Kim? Kim Jongin?”

“That’s me.”

That last expedition at the scientist’s mansion- Jongin didn’t know he’d get caught. He definitely didn’t mean to. But it seems that he has been.

The Forces, POLICE, whatever, they’d checked him out, identified him, followed him around, traced his purchases of scientific equipment and library history- basically snuck along his trail till they became clear of what he was up to. All while Jongin was clueless.

He’s under custody for breaking in. That, he can get out of, but there’s something more to lose.

The two POLICE officers inform him that from now onwards, they’ll be monitoring him. That he’s to stop his scientific work, that if he’s to proceed with that, they’ll know and he’ll be detained for an uncertain period of time.

The only satisfaction Jongin gets out of the whole ordeal is the shock on the faces of his dorm mates as he follows the officers out of the dorm and into their car. He might as well be a real-life Clark Kent equivalent in their eyes now, and he likes that.



-



Kyungsoo’s spread over his neighbor’s Mongolian rug with Telephone on his chest. He usually doesn’t tell her his human worries, they only ever enjoy the peace and fun that comes with just Being in the same space. That’s enough for Kyungsoo to learn of her daily trysts and adventures.

But today, he does tell her of his worries. How he quit his long-term waiting job to avoid meeting the other Jongin, but is now short on income. How he thinks the other world’s Jongin didn’t quit the job, because now it’s been two weeks since he last called. How part-time work is hard to come by these days. If his parents are doing fine.

How he wonders whether Jongin not having called him is due to what they spoke of last time- whether Kyungsoo’s reaction to Jongin not being a real grown-up scientist wasn’t good enough and implied that he already knew about it. Whether that confession shamed and bothered Jongin so much so as not to make a connection again.

Or whether he actually met and fell in love with that world’s Kyungsoo.

He misses Jongin, and it’s strange to miss someone again.



-



Jongin wants to call Kyungsoo. Tell him about stuff, his current situation. He wants to talk to someone, and being the nerd that he is, Kyungsoo’s become the sole confidante he’s lately had.

Jongin wants to tell him that he doesn’t want to give up his dream, and what to do now? Kyungsoo should know, or at least come up with one of his quirks that strangely make sense.

There’s something in him that’s different but at the same time, resonates with something in Jongin. Also, Kyungsoo said that he could fall in love with his world’s Jongin. Are their individual vibrations really that attracted to each other, that it’s the reason why Jongin’s inter-dimensional calls kept connecting to Kyungsoo?

Then it hits Jongin- this Kyungsoo, he’s getting attached to him, but he might never even meet him.



-



Jongin wants to risk it all. He’s got many reasons, they’ve increased. They make his desire for his Destiny stronger, even if the hole for escape from his current hell seems microscopic.

He tries pleading with the authorities. He tries confessing- that he’s contacted other universes via telephones, but he’s never travelled to any, hasn’t found how to and will give up looking for how to. He tells them that his intentions are harmless and that he’s not going to share his discoveries with anyone else in the world, so they needn’t worry. He tells them he won’t extend his studies further, that they can monitor him all they want- but to just let him keep on making inter-dimensional calls.

They refuse, of course.

Then Jongin asks if he can meet the scientist, please.



-



The first thing old Professor Do tells Jongin is, “You look like someone I once knew.”

And Jongin gasps, because he’s got Kyungsoo’s voice. And the could-be-love Kyungsoo was talking about- Jongin realizes exactly what he meant.



-



Kyungsoo finds and starts work as a janitor at a Physics institute (the advert had reminded him of Jongin and getting accepted had made him feel triumphantly bittersweet).

It turns out to be big mistake on his part, because on the first day itself, he sees Jongin there. His world’s Jongin.

Who’s passing through the hallways within the hordes of highschoolers and spots Kyungsoo before Kyungsoo spots him. His eyes are as shocked to see Kyungsoo as he was that first time, and Kyungsoo’s more surprised that he recognizes him. He flees the scene.

His world’s Jongin is a highschooler. And a Physics student.

As Kyungsoo calms his racing heart near the back of the building, he wants to scream out all the WHY’s. WHY is he meeting this guy again, when he took all those pains not to?!

Won’t this corrupt their Destinies- Jongin’s one of connecting to Kyungsoo’s universe and Kyungsoo’s one of helping him? Is this a bad joke? A cruel coincidence? A test of some sort? Is the Cosmos mocking them?

Or is this Fate after all.



-



Professor Do has been telling Jongin to drop his studies on parallel universes, and he’s unconvinced that Jongin’s got no intention of sharing his present and future discoveries with the rest of the world. ‘Nobody does things without a purpose.’ 

Do changes approach. “I’ll tell you what happened to the love of my life.”

Jongin’s externally composed, but hearing the last four words stirs a sudden ache in his chest. He wills it away.

He shouldn’t care that he’s loved before, he mustn’t fall in love. 

“He picked up and developed a thrill for dimension travelling because of me.”

Jongin can figure where this will go.

“One day he went, and never came back.

“I don’t know what happened to him. I was convinced he got lost somewhere- but I didn’t know where. I searched for where he might have gone to, but he left no traces behind. He got lost and I couldn’t find him.

“And this isn’t only me. Do you know how many people have lost loved ones to dimension travel?

“We all signed a Treaty. Appealed to the World’s Government. Rioted, struggled, waited, cried. A long process, but our request eventually fell through. And it’s the one thing that’s been able to keep my heart in peace all these years.

“Son. I’ve been your age before. Please drop this. It’s too unsafe, and for what?”

Jongin wants to tell him that their cases aren’t the same. They aren’t similar at all. That he should freaking leave the past behind. 

“What if,” he starts, “The reason I want to rediscover the science is because of the same thing that banned it? Love. Would that be fair enough?”



-



One day, Kyungsoo approaches this world's Jongin after class.

“It’s you,” Jongin breathes.

“You remember me?”

He nods.

“Do you have time to talk?”

They sit on a bench outside the building. Kyungsoo asks Jongin about Science.

They talk in this manner over the course of a week.

Apparently Jongin’s only sixteen, but he knows a lot. He tells Kyungsoo of quanta, wave-particle duality, something called Fermat’s principle, other theories and names Kyungsoo can’t keep track of.

What he does remember, as it strikes and resonates with him the most, is the theory that says ‘reality is actually an illusion’. Or maybe it’s a mix of theories, he’s not sure. According to Jongin, the essence is that humans are under the false perceptions of what their brains interpret the external world to be, that it’s really all a made-up illusion, and everything is truly only energy and space. Something about something called qualia. It makes sense to Kyungsoo and answers a lot of his questions.

Then there’s another one, a philosophy: ‘everything in our lives, we’ve attracted’.

“Depending on one’s frequency of thought, the conditioning of his brain, he manifests and unconsciously attracts things of a similar frequency into his life.”

“Okay…”

“Negative attracts negative. Positive attracts positive. What goes around comes around.”

“Sounds like religion.”

“And when a decision is made, alternative worlds are created depending on the probable outcomes, and a person can fall into either probability or world depending on what he’s manifested.”

Pieces fall together in Kyungsoo’s head.

“So, on that train of thought, if parallel universes really existed, would it be possible to join them? Make two parallel universes come together?”

Jongin looks confused for once, and Kyungsoo elaborates, “If you train your brain to manifest an outcome where you’re subjected into the world where parallel universes do meet, that’s possible, right?”

“That’s an interesting thought.” Jongin frowns for a while before concluding, “Even if parallel universes did exist, I don’t think that would be technically possible. There must be some physics that prevents parallel worlds from joining, I’m sure.”



-



Thanks to Jongin’s persistence, Professor Do somehow relents to let him call Kyungsoo’s universe- but for just one reason. So that Jongin can, for the last time, say farewell.



-



As much as Kyungsoo was able to learn from the younger Jongin, it bothers him that that Jongin has got no Faith. Kyungsoo quits the janitor job, too.



-



“He-hello?”

“Kyungsoo.” 

“It really is you!”

Jongin laughs. “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry I haven’t called in ages, I’m happy that you haven’t forgotten me already.” 

“Um. Why didn’t you call?”

Jongin’s also happy that it’s why didn’t you call, not why did you call like in the previous times.

“Something happened. There’s this one scientist in our country who’s worked on the study of the multiverse and dimensional travel before, I visited him- well, tried to visit, but they wouldn’t let me, and I had no choice but to break in. So I got caught. The Forces here have detained me and forbidden me from doing scientific work, and this is to be my last call to you.” 

“Take that back, what you said.”

“What?” 

“You can’t give up, your dream becomes impossible only the moment you give up. It’s still possible. You have to believe that you’ll connect our universes, that we’ll meet.”

Jongin sighs. “That’s a tad too optimistic, isn’t it, Kyungsoo?” 

“I’m being both idealistic and realistic.”

“They’ve detained me, they’re monitoring my every move. I’m forbidden from broaching science again and even this call, I’m taking secretly- if the authorities find out I don’t know what will happen, Kyungsoo. I’m trying to be realistic here.” 

“While you were gone, I quit being a waiter and started a new job as a janitor, so that I can avoid my world’s Jongin- only I met him there, too. I talked to him, and you know what I learned? I learnt that the reason I met this Jongin is my own fault and responsibility- it’s because I went looking for him. I went looking for all the Kim Jongin’s in my world to find you. I manifested it.”

“Oh.” 

“And so… you also met your world’s version of me, right?”

“… Yeah.” 

There is a pause.

“Yeah, I met him- you. He’s the scientist whose lab I tried breaking into, he is the one who allowed me to make this call, as long as it’s my last. He… he was involved in the halting of dimension travel in our world because he lost his lover to it.” 

“Lost his lover?”

“Yeah, I’ve told you, right, about how portals can open up in fatal locations? Well, they can also close up too soon, and this guy never managed to come back. That’s what Professor Do told me, anyway.” 

“I think his lover ended up in my world.”

“Huh?” 

“Why do you think I believed you when you said you’re calling from a parallel universe, when there’s no such physics or evidence in my world?”

Jongin hadn’t thought anything. He’d just gone ahead and accepted that Kyungsoo’s open to believe things out of his world.

“When I was really young, tenants stayed at our house. There was one in particular- he died within a few years’ stay, but I’ve read his journals. He talked about dimension travelling, his lover in the other world, getting lost in our universe and wanting to go back. He’d been looking for ways to go back before he died. ”

“And you think this is Professor Do’s lover?” 

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Still, this isn’t going to help us get anywhere.” 

“He’s recorded it all- all his research while looking for ways to go back. I remember reading things that were way too complicated to understand when I was younger, but now I’ll probably understand. If I go back to my parents who threw me out, if I search the attic, I might still find his journals. And then we could maybe find a way. If you can call me again.”

“How can I do that… Also, your parents threw you out?!” 

“Yes, because I dropped out of college and came out as gay, but that’s not important. Listen.”

“I’m listening.” 

“I’ll somehow get the journals. You, you leave that place, escape. Try, you can do it. Most vital of all is that you get away from the scientist, because otherwise, you’ll fall in love with him and your dream will become impossible.”



-



Jongin takes Kyungsoo’s words to heart. He doesn’t want to give up on his lifelong dream just like that.

He waits for the right time. There’s a time for everything, he believes that now, and if he tries to skip rungs, he’s only going to fall down from the ladder. He has to be patient, he can’t afford to screw up and get caught this time.

It’s good that the guards wear masks. And it’s good that Jongin’s experienced in dealing with security cameras. He implements the action movie favorite: knocks out a guard, dons his getup and steals away. He even succeeds in getting access to a car. Kyungsoo was right, Jongin just had to try.

Now he’s on the run, but if he’s caught, he might as well be dead.



-



Kyungsoo and his biggest backpack take the train to his parents’ house. He sees many uplifting omens on the way. When he gets there, his parents are conveniently not in, and he tries going in with his old key.

But the lock’s been changed. They key won’t fit in. He expected that, but it still stuns him.

His mom drives up at that moment, to his dismay. She thinks he’s come to apologize, but he says no, and leaves.



-



“Kyungsoo.” 

“Hey!”

“I escaped!” 

They share laughs and excitement. Jongin relates his escapade and how he had to build up a way of connecting from scratch because the POLICE had destroyed his previous machine.

“Where are you now?” 

“I’m at an inn. I went to my parents’ house today.”

“You got the journals!” 

“Not yet. But I’m going to try again tomorrow.”

Kyungsoo tells Jongin about the good omens he saw on his way here, and of how it was from Kai that he picked up the habit of reading them.

“Kai was his name? Professor Do’s lover?” 

“Yeah. And my first love,” Kyungsoo chuckles at the faint memories.



-



Jongin thinks that it makes sense that little Kyungsoo would have a crush on Kai- because Kyungsoo is the same as the older scientist Do in Jongin’s world.

But he wonders why Professor Do is so much older than Kyungsoo. Shouldn’t they technically be around the same age?

A strange thought dawns on him out of nowhere- what if he is Kai reborn? Because he’s sure there’s some soulmate thing going on, that’s why he and Kyungsoo get connected. But then he realizes; Kai died in Kyungsoo’s world when Kyungsoo was young and Jongin himself would’ve already been a kid at that time, in his own world. Kyugnsoo’s twenty one, Jongin’s twenty, he’s only a year younger than Kyungsoo.

He shakes his head and drops the silly idea, he’s not Kai.



-



Kyungsoo goes to his parents’ house again and this time, he visits when they’re in. He gains access inside by telling them he has things to confess, and when they’re all seated, he tells them that he still loves them but doesn’t regret his choices- won’t regret his choices. They’re let down, ‘why did he even bother?’ On his way out, he asks if he can go to the attic to get some stuff he left behind. They refuse.

It doesn’t matter, he thinks, that’s not why he confessed his feelings anyway. It’s because he has the inkling that he won’t get to say them again.

He goes out of the house and hangs around the neighborhood till it’s dark. He returns to the house when the lights are all out- his parents sleep early- and climbs up to the attic. He smiles, because this is how his brief employment at a construction site comes in handy. He thinks it’s true- when you decide to take the seemingly rocky path to your Dream, you find that Life’s been preparing you for it all along. Although sometimes you have to search inside, thoroughly.

He reaches the attic window, only to realise he doesn’t have a way of passing through it. He goes back down, gets himself a rock, climbs up again and breaks enough glass to fit his hand inside, so that he can unlatch the bolts. When he’s successfully in, he looks for and finds the journals.



-



“Kyungsoo?” 

“Jongin! I got the journals!”

“Really?! Good job!” 

“Mmhm. How are you?”

“I’m actually in a fix. The Forces, POLICE, they’re looking for me.” 

“I guess it’s expected. Please stay safe.”

“I will. Let’s not worry about that, tell me what’s in the journals! Did you manage to read them?” 

“Yeah, I did. He’s talked about manifesting too. And the surefire way to realize your dreams.”

“What!” 

“We already know it though.”

“Tell me what!” 

“Okay, okay, relax. Basically, there’s five things you need. One: Desire, so much desire for the thing you dream of that it’s what you wake up and live for, each day.”

“Right.” 

“Two: Belief, you have to be a hundred percent convinced that you’re gonna get what you want.”

“Okay…” 

“Two point five: Positive mindset- it comes with the hundred-percent belief.”

“Go on.” 

“Three: Action, lots of devoted action in the direction of where your dream lies. Action with faith.

“Four: Creative visualization. Each day, every day, all the time, imagine that you’ve already got what you’re seeking.”

“And the last is…?” 

“Five: Not totally necessary, but it helps if you have someone who’s gonna help you. As in, both your dreams lie in the same direction, so you help each other. Two minds work better than one. This is where Kai fell short.”

“That’s it?” 

“Yeah.”

“What the hell.” 

Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh at Jongin’s dejected tone.

“I think it’s true though, it’s how you successfully manifest. The day you’re the living embodiment of the principle, that’s the day you’re gonna get what you dream of. Till then, it’s a long process of stages.”

Jongin whines. “I get all that, but like you said, we’re already on that path. Till we become the living embodiments, what? We need a mechanism we can lay all that faith and belief on.” 

“Well, he’s also written something about the seventh sense, third eye, if you’re into that. It can help to manifest faster, maybe. But…”

“But what?” 

“I’ve always been intimidated by it. It could go wrong.”

“I’ve heard about the third eye powers. You have to be pretty spiritual, right?” 

“Yeah. And even then, it’s not guaranteed that the powers you’d have will include inter-dimensional travel. I don’t know, Kai hasn’t written much about this.”

“I’d give it a try, if I knew how to.” 

“I think I can find about it if I search around… Um, and there’s something else I’ve thought of.”

“What is it?” 

“What’s your dream, Jongin?”

“My dream? Connecting to other universes- your universe- and meeting you.” 

“Mine too. If you successfully manifest, then your dream will come true. And if I successfully manifest, my dream will come true.”

“Yeah.” 

“But, what if one of us successfully manifests his dream, but the other doesn’t?”

“Then… the one who manifests will meet the other, but the other won’t…” 

“Then, say, if you manifest successfully but I don’t, then alternative worlds will be created, and you’ll be in the world where you will meet me, thinking it’s really me, but I’ll be in the world where I don’t meet you. And you wouldn’t know, but I would. Right?”

“If we don’t both meet each other from both perspectives, then our joint dream wouldn’t be a success.” 

“Yeah… And the result of our successful manifestation… could it also be a joining of parallel worlds… Or am I wrong?”

“Well… You could be right. Anything’s possible, I guess.” 

“My head hurts when I think about all this. I hate thinking.”

It’s Jongin’s turn to laugh. “Let’s not worry too much. I’m confident that we’ll meet each other.” 

Kyungsoo is silent, but then he says, “So am I.”

Jongin smiles to his receiver.

“Can I tell you something?”

“I’m all ears.” 

“Around two years ago, I quit college, tuition funds and so on included. I came out of the closet, got thrown out of my family and started to survive on my own for the first time in my life- all because I was following my heart, no rational reason at all. My heart wasn’t happy in that first situation. But when everyone started saying how disastrous my decisions were, I doubted myself and lost faith in my heart that still did not regret- but now, I know why all that happened. It was because I could meet you.”



-



What Kyungsoo said gets Jongin stunned and thoughtful, and reminds him of how he’s blindly following heart too. He rethinks why. 

He’s never questioned it- there was no reason, just that he loved cosmology and ever since he’d heard of dimension travel being banned, he’d become curious. A what if. It started out as a spark of curiosity, a little wish of a young boy, persisted and transformed to Hope that he might learn the science someday, to the Desire to make it happen, and finally to the Belief that he will. The last missing puzzle was Kyungsoo.

But the question still stands. Why does he have this Dream?



-



Kyungsoo decides that he wants to buy a water filter so that he can remove Fluoride from his water, decalcify his pineal gland and hence work on opening up his third eye- but his savings don’t suffice. He tries manifesting a filter. He visualizes drinking from one. He already doesn’t use Fluoridated toothpaste.

Meanwhile, his landlord reminds him to pay the monthly rent and Kyungsoo learns that he can barely pay up. He has to find an even cheaper place to live in.



-



The next time they call, Jongin tells Kyungsoo his problem- he wants to know Why he has this dream- that bugs him now that he’s thought about it, and would that be a hindrance to fulfilling their mission?

Kyungsoo replies, “ Or it could be an answer. Why don’t you keep asking yourself- if you keep on asking, if you keep on looking, you will find.”



-



Jongin does keep on asking. He asks day and night, all the time; while he’s driving, while he’s switching the cars he rents, while he’s sneaking into bathhouses and running from cops. It frustrates him sometimes, but he reminds himself to stay positive and routinely Ask.

Once, Jongin stays the night at a motel run by a cousin, and when he comes down from his room the next morning, his cousin tells him that someone had come asking after him. He asks him if it’s the Forces, but his cousin replies that no, it was a man in thick glasses and a grey suit. Jongin’s shocked, because that would be Professor Do.



-



Kyungsoo is moving out of his apartment.

When he goes to tell that to his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Choi, an idea strikes him. He doesn’t tell her what he came to say, and instead asks her if she can let him stay at her place in exchange for taking care of Telephone, nursing them both when necessary, cooking meals and doing housework. Mrs. Choi says that’s a long stretch and she doesn’t really need a caretaker, but if Kyungsoo moves out, there’ll be no one to look after Telephone when she’s away, so okay.

Kyungsoo’s happy.

It’s only later on, after he’s moved in and has started making dinner in Mrs. Choi’s kitchen, that he sees the new water filter she’s bought.



-



Jongin calls and tells Kyungsoo that he won’t be able to call as much because he’s constantly on the move now, even more so than before because Professor Do almost caught him. Jongin relays how he barely sleeps, trying to work on the science and also routinely asking himself The Question- but still, everything is fruitless. This is the most agitated Kyungsoo’s heard Jongin sound. It makes him uneasy, too.



-



Jongin comes to his rented car (the latest one, in which he’s living these days) after a trip to the convenience store, to find Professor Do stationed there.

Jongin starts to run away, but it’s too late, and Professor Do calls that he’s come alone and the Forces aren’t with him. Sure enough, Jongin can’t spot other vehicles or people, but they could be hiding for all he knows.

“It’s only after you escaped that I realized that you’re Kai- reborn.”

Jongin makes sure that there’s a good several meters between him and the scientist. The latter steps closer and Jongin steps away, until Do realizes what Jongin’s about.

He continues, “I didn’t believe in reincarnation, but now I’ve been proven otherwise- you not only look like him, but have the same craze for parallel universes as he did.” He shakes his head.

“You’re mistaken, I’m not him.”

But the Professor is stubborn. He refuses to believe otherwise and asks Jongin to come with him, that he’ll help him uncover the science. That he’ll help him create a portal. He’ll free him from the hold of the Government and the Forces.

“How do I know this isn’t a trap?”

“I’m being honest here. I’d be the last person who’d get you in trouble or want to hurt you, Jongin, believe me. But either way, you don’t have much of a choice now,” he raises his eyebrows.

Jongin gets what he’s implying. Do can catch him now if he wants- heck, what if he’s armed? He’s telling Jongin that the beneficial route would be to follow him quietly.

“Alright. I’ll come with you.”

He gets in the professor’s car, eyeing him warily. He’s very skeptical inside, but he tries not to show it.

One- Jongin knows his Answers won’t come this easy.

Two- He’s in love with Kyungsoo from the other world, and trusts his advice about not getting close to the professor for it will have the opposite of the desired outcome- he’ll get farther from his dream.

But, by following the Professor, Jongin might learn some crucial science. There’s a reason behind each opportunity the Universe sends one’s way, after all. Jongin believes in his dream, so he trusts that the Universe won’t trip him over now.

This must be a Test of some sort.

They go into the professor’s lab. His house- no, mansion- and lab are connected. There’s a lot of black- for some reason, Jongin had expected mostly white interior, but it is not so. There’s no sign of Forces and there are only a minimal number of guards.

Jongin refuses food and drink and wants to immediately start working on the science, so they do that. But before they start, Jongin’s got to make something clear.

“What’s the condition?”

The Professor looks at him puzzled. “Condition?”

“I know there’s a condition involved. If I were you, I wouldn’t seek me, find me, only to lose me again.”

The professor laughs, “You’re right. The condition, huh? The condition is that you can’t meet this man that you’ve been contacting.”

‘I knew it’, Jongin’s thinks to himself.

“I want out.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Jongin draws his chair back, “I said I want out. I’m not interested anymore.”

The professor raises an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? I’m literally handing you your dreams in a silver platter.”

Jongin shakes his head. “I’m going.”

“You’re in my house.”

Sure enough, when Jongin opens the door of the lab to go out, two security guards meet him and block his way. He tries to get past them, but they hold him back. Jongin fights.

He manages to run a few meters, only to get held back again. He fights them harder. They’re way too strong for him.

“Easy now! Don’t hurt him!” Jongin hears the professor call out.

Hurt or not, Jongin’s got to get out of here.

With his last bursts of strength, he tries to tackle the guard holding him down. He gets onto his feet, push, pull, kick — but overlooks the railing behind him. One of the guards push him too hard and all he registers is his back meeting a bar before he topples over it.

There are shouts and Jongin goes crashing ten feet to the ground floor. He bumps his back hard.

While he’s losing consciousness, he hears Professor Do yelling to hurry, call an ambulance.



-



It’s like he’s been carrying all the weight of the world on his shoulders and just got relieved of it: that’s what leaving his physical body feels like, Jongin learns.

He watches them stroll him out of Professor Do’s mansion and into the ambulance. But Jongin doesn’t watch the scene for long, he turns and goes in the opposite direction, into the house.

He goes into the professor’s personal lab and starts searching for the key science.

While he’s searching, he pauses, because he realizes he knows something. It tugs at him. Something- a well so deep in him that it is him, has always been him, only, he’d forgotten after being born as a human, just as all humans forget when they are born.

The entire History of Things that was inside him all along.

He stumbles back as the weight of its knowledge hits him and he allows himself to fall- down, down, down. Down into his True Self. He embraces Himself as he is and in return, gets enveloped with Infinite Love.

And he Knows, and it’s beautiful.

In infinite universes across the Multiverse, Professor Do’s and Assistant Kai’s were deep in love. In those worlds where travelling across dimensions was possible, they shared a passion for it. They’d travel together, to islands in the sky, starry voids, mountains and untouched gardens, and everything seemed like nothing could go wrong. But they also travelled alone sometimes when their lover was otherwise occupied, and on one such occasion, the portal closed out on Kai.

In worlds where inter-dimension travel didn’t exist, the Kai’s vanished or died. That was Fate, but it caused their brokenhearted lovers to not want to live any longer, either.

The Professor Do’s lived on only in those words where dimension travel did exist, for they knew why Kai went missing, and waited in the hopes that he’d come back.

Still others, to avenge for Kai, worked to ban dimension travel, unaware of the irony that the way he can come back, if ever, is through that.

The Kai’s who got stuck in other worlds, they sought ways to return to their homes. That transformed into a Dream. A Dream to cross dimensions again to Love.

And the Do’s Dreamed of reuniting with Love.

Dreams are picked up by the Soul of the Multiverse, which makes those Dreams Their own. From Kai and Do’s Dreams and DNA, They made Jongin and Kyungsoo. They gave them a life mission to fulfil two lovers’ Dreams.

In worlds where Kai disappeared or died, Jongin’s were born to replace him. For those Do’s who had passed-on, Kyungsoo’s were born in their place.

In worlds where Kai remains alive but stuck in worlds he considers foreign, Jongin’s are only born after he dies, since there can’t be two of the same spirit in the same universe. In worlds where Do’s are still alive, awaiting Kais’ return, the Kyungsoo’s are born only after he dies.

Jongin thinks it’s a pity that the Professor Do he interacted with, and the other Professor Do’s like him out there, conditioned himself to view inter-dimensional travel as disastrous. Because the seed with the wish of wanting to reunite with Kai again, he has it too, only he can’t carry it out due to his conditioned prejudices.

Jongin thinks of the infinite other versions of him- and of Kyungsoo, his Soul Twin- all with the same Life mission. Not all of them would fulfil it.

Some would meet each other in the same world and fall in love. Therefore, there’d be no reason for them to fulfill the mission, and it would go unfulfilled.

Yet others, in worlds where the science of dimension travel doesn’t exist, would take their dream as a silly, too-big, unrealistic mission, and it would go unfulfilled.

And yet some of them will discover the science in their world.

Jongin, he, himself, considers himself lucky to have been born in a world where dimension travel once existed. That caused him to be interested in recovering the lost science, hence pick up on his Life mission. There’d be other Jongin’s like him. They’re the lucky ones.

And it would be the same for Kyungsoo. Only the ones who have proof to believe the existence of other universes would believe calls from Jongin’s in parallel universes, and cooperate in fulfilling their mission.

Jongin now understands. He and the Kyungsoo he knows, they will be among those who would overcome the obstacles, fulfill the mission and-

Jongin’s memory stops there. Because the next thing is a thing for the future, and his memory doesn’t hold that. As for him and Kyungsoo fulfilling the mission, he knows that because it’s the present.

The present — That thought strikes him, and he finally looks around himself and realizes he’s not in Professor Do’s lab anymore, but floating in open space, in the Heart of his Universe.

He senses a presence behind him- he turns around and there’s Kyungsoo.



-



Kyungsoo descends to his limiting physical body. Everything he knows now, everything he Is, all of it will be difficult to interpret once he’s back in his body, as there is intelligence that extends beyond human language. He slips into himself and his body starts twitching almost immediately. It takes a while to regain full control of his limbs.

He steadies his breath and thoughts, and he was right, thought limits interpretation. When he’s eventually ready, he opens his eyes.

His room is the same. Jongin stands in a corner. Kyungsoo would have thought it’s his human, physical body, had he not been already acquainted with his astral self. He sought Jongin in his Universe, Jongin followed him back to his.

Jongin comes in front of him and kisses him.



-



‘Imagine you’re in your physical body.’ 

Jongin imagines.

‘Imagine experiencing the physical sensations, how it would feel if you’re in your physical body, kissing me.’ 

Jongin wills himself, as per Kyungsoo’s thought-instruction. He tries to stir memories of his physical body, his tangible experiences, what touch feels like. The Love he feels through this connection, the tender joy he feels while being in the same space as his Love, the timeless bond- Jongin wills himself to imagine that his human form is present and experiencing the kiss.

He pictures the infinite times he and Kyungsoo have been together. The times they’ve kissed before, the times they’ve held hands, the times they’ve blended into one. The times they travelled to other worlds, the times they counted stars before bed, the times they gazed into each other’s eyes. The times they spoke over telephones, that time they were Kings in enemy nations, the lives they lived as pharaohs, as geishas, as two pods in a pea. A life where they were sisters, another where they were goats on the way to be slaughtered.

The time they fought wars together in the desert, the songs they sang as mermaid and merman, the many times they had to abandon each other, kill each other, love each other from afar. It doesn’t take all that long for Jongin to feel tears b past his closed eyelids. He’s missed Kyungsoo so much.

He didn’t register when it was that he came through to his physical body, but when opens his eyes, he’s really there, kissing his Love.



-



Kyungsoo holds Jongin in his embrace, firm enough to be his nest, gentle enough to not trap in his wings. Jongin’s head on his chest feels as fluffy and warm as Telephone.

The Professor Do inside him is happy, the Kyungsoo’s who gave up dreams are happy, all of his other selves, all he has ever been and all he’ll ever be- they’re all in him and are happy. There’s a certain happiness that comes with reuniting with Love, the Love who’s also been within him since eternity.

When they open the door to exit the room, they are not in Mrs. Choi’s residence. Open landscape, wild grass and sky that seem to stretch till forever, with scatterings of trees and flowers, is what welcomes them.

Light Beings travel the sky, their trails delicate arcs. A tall man, the most graceful they’ve ever seen, in pale clothes and with a brilliant aura, steps towards them. With him, he brings the wind.

He tells them that they’re in a higher plane, and welcome to Exo.