The first time Myungsoo traveled to another time and universe, he was 19 years old.

He didn’t do it on purpose, he didn't even know that he could do something like that. Time-travelling was something that he only knew could happen on books and movies, not in real life. If only he knew that his life would consist of traveling times and universes, he would have read more of those books and movies.

But unfortunately, he barely knew anything about it when he went to his usual bed one night and woke up in someone else's bed the next day.

Fortunately, he accidentally traveled to the right place. When he woke up, when he was barely awake, the first thing he saw was a man sitting on a chair on the bed, looking calm and was sitting in a way that told Myungsoo he had been sitting there for some time, perhaps waiting for Myungsoo to wake up.

Upon seeing Myungsoo waking up, the guy approached him and looked in the eyes, and said, “Don’t freak out, you’re safe here.”

Of course, the first thing Myungsoo did when he realized that he wasn’t in his own room was freaking out.

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Sunggyu traveled, too.

“The world is playing with us,” was what he told Myungsoo, after Myungsoo finished freaking out after waking up at Sunggyu’s room, “Apparently, we can’t go back to our universe on our own, we could only travel when the world decides that it’s time for us to go.”

Sunggyu also traveled to this room when he was 18 years old. He had been staying here since then because no one owned the house, so it was given to him. He had been  unable to go back to his universe. Apparently, there was a loophole in dimensions, causing people to accidentally got transferred to another timeline or another universe, and in this universe, it was well known already while in Myungsoo’s (ex)-universe, no one really knew about it. It was an unexplainable and unsolved problem, and Myungsoo had fallen victim to this loophole. Sunggyu had adapted to this universe, making this his home. He had met a lot of other victims, too. This room was apparently a portal where those unwilling travelers woke up after got accidentally transferred.

Those travelers disappeared soon after arriving here, fate deciding that they should go visit another timeframe or another universe.

Myungsoo felt depressed for days after that, realizing that he might end up not being able to meet his family and friends again. Considering that there was actually a registration for accidental travelers in this universe, he realized that it was common. Sunggyu had to urge him to register, but Myungsoo didn’t even want to do that because he was in denial.

"How am I going to live here?" He asked Sunggyu. He had no one he knew, no place to go. Sunggyu looked at him in something that Myungsoo thought as pity, but he had been calm throughout the time he had to deal with Myungsoo's sadness, so Myungsoo tried hard to not be rude to him.

“Don’t worry, I will help you,” Sunggyu assured him, squeezing his shoulder, “I have been here for almost five years, so I can help you.”

So, Myungsoo let Sunggyu took care of him. He had no choice.

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Myungsoo stayed for a longer time than most travelers who ended up in Sunggyu’s room.

After two months staying at Sunggyu’s house, Myungsoo thought that he might stay here permanently like Sunggyu, though perhaps it might be too soon to think like that. He had slowly gotten used to this universe, even got a temporary work that could make his life not so useless here. Sunggyu had already gotten a permanent job after deciding to finish school here, helped by the country. This was already Sunggyu's permanent universe unless he suddenly got transferred again.

This universe was a much more advanced version of the universe Myungsoo used to live in. Everything was powered by technology and there were fewer people living in the universe. When Myungsoo finally went out, he remembered being so amazed by flying cars. Myungsoo was so sure though that in perhaps in decades from now on, Korea could be like this, too.

“Don’t you miss your old home, though, Hyung?” Myungsoo asked one day, curious about Sunggyu’s life because he rarely revealed anything about his past life, “Your family, too.”

“I miss them,” Sunggyu admitted, Myungsoo could see the sorrow in his eyes, “I miss them a lot. But it’s not like I can do anything about it.”

It seemed so hopeless, their predicament. Myungsoo hated it. He wondered how this all could be possible. He browsed the internet (which was very fast, here) and read a lot of books that were available about time and universe continuum, but he barely understood anything. It was all too complicated for him.

“I have read a lot,” Myungsoo told Sunggyu, “But I still can’t find any solutions for this.”

“Well, even the scientist hasn’t gotten an answer about this phenomenon,” Sunggyu chuckled as if finding Myungsoo amusing. He ruffled Myungsoo's hair, making Myungsoo felt like a kid.

“I miss my family,” Myungsoo confessed. For days, he kept dreaming about his parents and his brother. Sometimes, it was a happy memory he dreamt about, sometimes, he dreamt that they were crying so much from losing him.

“I know,” Sunggyu said, “I hope you will be able to go back to your place.”

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A year passed by, and it seemed that Myungsoo wouldn’t be going back anytime soon. He had gotten used to living here, feeling as if he belonged here, with Sunggyu. Sometimes, another time traveler showed up and spend the time together, but just like how Sunggyu told him, they disappeared short after. The longest someone stayed with them was two months, sometimes someone even disappeared again only after one day staying there. Seeing them, Myungsoo felt like that he was a little luckier then. He couldn’t imagine visiting several universes at a short time span.

Myungsoo put a cup of tea on the table, in front of the newest traveler that arrived here. He was young, a little younger than Myungsoo, maybe. His name was Sungjong, and he seemed even more upset than Myungsoo when he realized that he was transported to another universe.

“Why does it have to be me?” Sungjong asked, his eyes were still red from tears. Myungsoo felt bad for him—he always felt bad for all the traveler that ended up here.

“Well, we don’t know about that,” Sunggyu answered, calmly as always. He was so used to deal with a new traveler, being a guide to the new traveler was basically his job. The traveler who ended up here were lucky, though.

“Is God having a revenge on me because I didn’t attend Church last week?” Sungjong wondered. Myungsoo almost chuckled at that, because that questioned seemed so naïve and innocent.

“Well, God doesn’t have a feeling, I’m sure he didn’t like having revenge,” Sunggyu said, actually rolling his eyes. He used to be religious, Sunggyu told him. But after what happened, he started to question everything.

“Then why?” Sungjong asked again, desperate for an answer, “What does the universe has against me?”

Funny how even when he went through a depression era, Myungsoo never questioned why it was him who got transferred to another universe. Hearing Sungjong’s questions, though, he started to wonder if he really did something wrong to get this punishment. Or maybe, even though God didn’t like having revenge, he might like playing games with his creations instead.

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“Do you think I will be permanently here, forever?” Myungsoo asked Sunggyu, wrapping his arm around Sunggyu’s while staring at the sky, admiring the stars that were rarely seen. The city had a blackout on purpose once in a while, in order to preserve energy and to let the people knew how beautiful the stars could be. It had been almost three years, and it seemed he was not going anywhere soon.

“Well, it has been almost three years, I guess you will be here forever?” Sunggyu wondered, as Myungsoo leaned his head on his shoulder. They had gotten much closer, had really gotten used to each other’s presence. They had no one else but each other, so they had to rely on each other.

“I guess, so,” Myungsoo said, even if he was the one who asked the question in the first place.

Sunggyu was a nice person, a little prickly sometimes, but a nice person. Myungsoo felt grateful for him, because he made it easier for him to adapt here. If Sunggyu wasn’t there, he would be so lost.

“Is it bad that I feel happy about this?” Sunggyu asked him, making Myungsoo looked up at him.

“You feel happy about this?”

"I have been here alone for 5 years before you come, and no one accompanies me long enough," Sunggyu explained, leaning his head on Myungsoo’s head as they both stared at the sky, “It feels nice to have someone by my side.”

Myungsoo nodded needlessly, understanding. It must be lonely for Sunggyu, he had no one here. But he had Myungsoo, now.

“Sometimes I want to leave, sometimes I don’t,” Myungsoo admitted. Two years ago, he would definitely say he wanted to leave this place and go back to his family. But after growing fond of Sunggyu, he couldn’t say that his feeling was definite.

“Would you take it, if you have an opportunity to go back to your universe?”

“I don’t know,” Myungsoo shrugged, “I want to see my family again…but I don’t want to leave you. Can’t we go back together? You said that we might come from the same universe.”

“That will be nice, perhaps, but doesn’t that seem like a too generous choice?”

Sunggyu was right. Getting an actual opportunity to come back was already impossible, it felt like fate wouldn’t let the both of them came back. Myungsoo could only wish that whoever controlled the world would be kind to him after ing up his world by at least letting him stayed in this universe.

Several months later, Myungsoo disappeared from this universe.

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In his next universe, Myungsoo woke up to several soldiers in uniform staring at him. He felt so confused and then it took a while for him to realize that he was transferred to another universe yet again. His heart broke right away, he couldn’t even say anything when people were questioning him, their questions unheard by him. Sunggyu must be devastated when he saw that Myungsoo disappeared from his room. It hadn’t been one day, but Myungsoo already missed Sunggyu and his family.

A gruff voice interrupted the questions, and he could hear someone reported, “We have another time traveler, Sergeant.”

“Good,” The gruff voice said, “He could help us fight for the country.”

It was funny how after throwing him in a ty situation, fate still wanted him to serve military time.

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Myungsoo stayed in the military for 2 years, it felt even longer than the time he spent with Sunggyu.

His next universe was nothing but a desert with no one around. The place actually made the military seemed like heaven. During his time there, he walked and walked without actually finding anything. He didn’t find anyone and it was very hot at night, but very cold at night. He slept on the ground, with only his last cloth covering him. He didn’t know how long he had been there, but one day he finally collapsed and he thought he would die there, alone.

He didn’t die.

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After collapsing in the desert, Myungsoo woke up in the hospital. He slowly fluttered his eyes open, and this time a man was beside of his bed. His face looked familiar, like Myungsoo had seen him before. After he gained more consciousness, he realized that the man reminded him of himself, but much older. It took a while before he realized even more that instead of him, the man reminded him more of Moonsoo.

“Myungsoo Hyung!” The man yelled when Myungsoo was finally fully awake and managed to keep his eyes open. He then confirming Myungsoo’s thought, “It’s me, Moonsoo.”

“You’re really Moonsoo,” Myungsoo managed to say, but his voice was so hoarse and it hurt when he talked.

“I missed you so much, Hyung,” Moonsoo said, there were tears in his eyes, “It had been so long since you disappeared.”

Was he finally back in his original universe? Suddenly he felt a little happy, but it was so weird because Moonsoo looked so old now, much older than Myungsoo. Moonsoo was supposed to be around 23 years old now, but he looked like he was in his thirties instead.

“How long has it been?” Myungsoo couldn’t help but ask.

“It has been twenty years, Hyung,” Moonsoo answered, “You suddenly showed up in your old room, but you looked like you were dying so I brought you to the hospital.”

Had it been twenty years? Myungsoo couldn't wrap his head around it. At the longest, it should only be 6 years since he disappeared. But time had gone by that fast, and if Myungsoo was like Moonsoo, then he should be in his thirties, too. And yet now, Myungsoo was only in his mid-twenties.

“Where are Mom and Dad?” Myungsoo decided to ask, deciding to not think now because his head hurt.

“They have moved to the countryside, Hyung. I called them, they are on their way here.”

After years, he finally met his family again. They cried a lot when they finally met again, but Myungsoo felt like a stranger though thankfully as time slowly went by, he could adapt again.

Too bad he only got three years with his family, before he disappeared to another universe again.

▴▾▴▾▴

Myungsoo woke up in a familiar place, a pair of hands were holding onto his hand. It took a while for him to wake up, but then he heard Sunggyu’s voice and he knew that he was back at the room he arrived when he first traveled.

“You’re back,” Sunggyu said, welcoming him. He was crying and Myungsoo had never seen him cry before. Sunggyu repeated, again and again, “You’re back.”

“Sunggyu.” Myungsoo finally called him out, couldn’t help but smile because he missed Sunggyu a lot. He felt sad that he had to leave his family again, but he felt glad that he came back to Sunggyu. Unlike Moonsoo, Sunggyu didn’t seem much older than he originally was. He and Myungsoo still looked like they were around the same age.

"You jerk, how could you leave me like that," Sunggyu asked through his tears. Myungsoo couldn’t help but laugh. He hoped that he would live here for a lot of time.

▴▾▴▾▴

“You know, we can get married, here,” Sunggyu randomly told him, one year after Myungsoo came back, “Unlike in another universe.”

Myungsoo smiled at the complication, staring at Sunggyu who was sitting in front of him, playing with the edge of his tea cup using his finger and wondered, “You want to get married to me?”

There was no reason for Sunggyu to suddenly tell him that unless he wanted to get married to him. And he specifically said we. Honestly event without being officially married, he already felt like he was married to Sunggyu. They spend their days almost always together, helping each other, being loving together.

“If you want to,” Sunggyu shrugged, seemingly hesitant to just say that he was proposing to Myungsoo. It had always been a little awkward for Sunggyu to actually say what he wanted. He never changed.

“Well, if you love me just say so,” Myungsoo prompted, “I don’t mind.”

“I love you,” Sunggyu confessed, but then quickly added, “I think.”

Myungsoo laughed, “You’re really a tsundere, Hyung.”

Sunggyu frowned, “What’s that?”

▴▾▴▾▴

Sunggyu and Myungsoo really ended up getting married. There was no party, they just registered that they were married to each other. Myungsoo was actually hesitant to do this, because he might end up getting transferred to another universe again. But Sunggyu insisted, so they finally got married for real.

They managed to go on a honeymoon and spend 4 years as a married couple before Myungsoo disappeared again.

▴▾▴▾▴

Myungsoo wasn’t sure if he transferred to the same universe where he spent military in, when he woke up, he woke up on a street and the place that used to be a military camp had turned into a green village. The people there provided him with shelter, the same shelter they provided for the other travelers that ended up here. They talked a foreign language and Myungsoo couldn’t understand them at all, but they treated him well. Soon after he found out that it had been more than fifty years since the last time he was in this universe.

He stayed there for another two years, before getting transferred to a desert again. On the days he spent there, he realized that he might be hopping through the universe to another universe on loop.

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Myungsoo was right. He was living a universe looping. After the desert, he woke up in a room, which turned out to be his old room. He met Moonsoo again, who still lived in the house along with his wife and children. This time, Moonsoo looked older again, like he was in his fifties, while Myungsoo was in his thirties. Moonsoo looked tired and worn out, but he was healthy enough.

Myungsoo thought he knew the answer, but he still couldn’t help but asking Moonsoo, “Where are Mom and Dad?”

“They died, Hyung.”

Of course, they did. It had been more than twenty years since the last time Myungsoo visited them, if they were still alive, it would be a miracle. Myungsoo silently cried for the whole night after that, missing the parents that he couldn’t meet often.

He stayed for only one year in that universe and went back to Sunggyu.

▴▾▴▾▴

“Why do you choose to get married to me?” Myungsoo asked Sunggyu one day, after finally got transferred there again, “You can get married to anyone else in this place.”

Sunggyu had lived in this universe much longer than in his original universe. He never traveled to another universe again, making this the place he grew up. Myungsoo had come to realize that he was aging based on the time here, so Sunggyu never got much older than he was. He now knew if he got transferred again, he would always come back to this place, back to Sunggyu’s arm.

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu answered, they were gazing at the stars again, something they did often because both often sometimes miss seeing those stars, who disappeared when all the light lighted up, “I don’t want anyone else but you.”

Myungsoo’s heart still thumping hard whenever Sunggyu said that. They were still married. Sunggyu never married anyone else during the time Myungsoo was away, being faithful to Myungsoo. Myungsoo felt bad, though, for not being able to be there all the time. It felt like they lived on a borrowed time, because Myungsoo didn’t know when he had to go again.

“I’m sorry," Myungsoo apologized, feeling genuinely sorry about everything. He wished he could find a way to control his traveling. But no matter how many books he read, no matter how many things he tried to learn about quantum, he never found a way.

“It’s okay,” Sunggyu assured him, “There isn’t anything we can do about it.”

Myungsoo hated hearing that, it made him feel so helpless. He hated not being in not control, and considering that he couldn’t control his life at all, it was a wonder that he hadn’t gotten crazy.

“I hate living like this,” Myungsoo said, “I want it to stop.”

“I know,” Sunggyu said, smiling at him. He stayed silent for a while, before finally asking, “Do you want to adopt a kid with me while you were here?”

▴▾▴▾▴

“Dad,” Mari asked, as Myungsoo dressed her for school in a neat uniform, “You won’t disappear, right?”

Myungsoo froze upon hearing the question, not expecting his daughter to ask that kind of question. It had been three years since Sunggyu and he managed to adopt her, having a hard time before that because of the uncertainty of Myungsoo's travels. She didn't know that Myungsoo could disappear anything, being only 7 years old, Myungsoo thought that he wouldn't be able to understand about things like that.

“I won’t,” Myungsoo lied through his teeth, “Why are you asking that?”

“My teacher disappeared. My friends said that she’s a time traveler, so sometimes she disappeared,” Mari told him, “You’re not a time traveler, right?”

Myungsoo could only smile, and started telling his daughter lies to assure her. His daughter believed him easily, because she thought that he would never lie to him.

Whoever controlled his life was being kind for once. At least he got another 5 years to spend with Sunggyu and their daughter this time before disappearing another universe.

▴▾▴▾▴

Myungsoo kept traveling between 4 universes and the only constant people he knew for those were universes were Sunggyu and their daughter. They were always there when he arrived at their universe, and Myungsoo finally started to notice that unlike his previous assumptions, they were actually getting older faster than he was. In another universe, the people he knew always died before he arrived in that universe again.

Sometimes Myungsoo wondered that maybe the two universes after Sunggyu’s universe was not universes, but another place or another timeline in Sunggyu’s universe or in his original universe. But he couldn’t confirm that, because all these universes have the same basis, and some universe had the basically same people living a different life. It was complicated.

This time, Myungsoo arrived at the same room again, the room Sunggyu still stayed in. The difference with the previous times he arrived there, though, the machines that were there, hooked on to Sunggyu’s body to keep him alive. Their daughter was not there and Myungsoo suspected that she was in another room.

“You came again,” Sunggyu said, smiling weakly, still awake. There was a nasal cannula on his nose, providing energy for him.

“Of course,” Myungsoo said. He felt upset seeing Sunggyu like this, barely hanging on to life. He spent too much time in another universe, apparently. The last time he saw Sunggyu, he was still healthy.

“You still looked quite young, I am jealous,” Sunggyu joked, managing to laugh despite his condition. Myungsoo never thought that there would be a day that he had to see Sunggyu being weak and his like this.

Myungsoo could only tease, “You have really become a grandpa.”

"Well, unfortunately, time travelers were not vampires. We aged.”

This time, Myungsoo stayed long enough to watch Sunggyu slowly died before he got drifted off once again.

▴▾▴▾▴

Myungsoo can’t remember how many times he has traveled during his lifetime. But he could remember well how tired he always feel when he wakes up in yet another time, another universe.

Weirdly he can remember almost all people that he met in those universes and times. He remembered their faces when he first met them and their faces when he last met them. It was weird how he could know how some people looked when they were young, but also know how some people looked when they were old of age, barely hanging onto life.

This one time, he wakes up on top of the building instead of the last bed he slept on. He doesn't know which universe is it, but he also doesn't care. When he can see the sky, he stands up right away with a long sigh. He quickly realizes that he is on top of a building, a place that he never wakes up in before, meaning that he might be in a new universe he has never visited before.

He just decided to go on the edge of the roof, looking down to see that it was completely empty down there.

And then he freefalls.