“So…” Minseok drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “In the future I hire you to go into the machine and kill someone to end the curse. That someone is me, according to Junmyeon, but in reality it isn’t me he just wanted me to kill you, which I did.”

“Yes, exactly.” Lu Han nodded enthusiastically.

“Baekhyun is a rat because of the machine, at some point I forget I ever met you and there is another you running around from some future you are not aware of who told you Junmyeon was lying. Am I missing anything?”

“Seriously though, why are we not focusing on me turning into a rat? Am I the only one alarmed by this?!” Baekhyun rambled.

Lu Han and Minseok ignored him. “I met your grandfather, like I said, and another woman. Junmyeon’s mother…I think. She knew I broke the curse. Eventually at least. At some point.”

“A rat. How does a human turn into a rat?!” Baekhyun continued to rant, once again he was ignored.

Minseok tented his fingers, thinking. Ah, yes, there was the soulmate thing. “So if future you said we were soulmates, then does that mean there is a scientific angle to souls?”

“I have no idea. Minseok, I don’t understand any of this I only know what I saw with my own eyes and what I was told by…well, me. “

Minseok tilted his head to the side, observing Lu Han. Baekhyun was saying something but it wasn’t important. No, what was important was to discern if this man was telling the truth. He had already lied to him once, professing a love of science. How could he trust him now? “If I murdered you I dare say I had good reason.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Lu Han threw his hands up. “I told you that your uncle tricked you!”

“I doubt I would have fallen for Junmyeon’s trickery so easily,” Minseok said dryly.

“Are you not disturbed you murdered someone?!” Baekhyun shouted, finally getting their attention.

Minseok pondered the question. Of course he didn’t want to think of himself as a murderer but he was nothing but practical. “I suppose it is mildly disturbing.”

Baekhyun leapt up from the settee. “Mildly?! Mildly disturbing? You are really are a psychopath, Kim Minseok.” He turned to Lu Han. “And if you’re his soulmate you can’t be much better!”

Minseok and Lu Han glared at Baekhyun in turn. The man rolled his eyes and sighed before flopping back down on the couch. “I give up.”

“You aren’t going to drug me again, right?” Lu Han asked, moving on from Baekhyun’s outburst.

Minseok shrugged. “Probably not but I can’t be certain. It depends on what you do.”

Lu Han pinched the bridge of his nose. “You never cease to amaze me.”

“I can’t believe I built the machine and it worked,” Minseok said softly, digesting the news, turning the conversation away from murder. He was thrilled to learn that his theories were correct. He could do it. He wasn’t insane...well, at least where the device was concerned.

“I want to help you build it, even if you do end up murdering me.” Lu Han announced, his tone firm and unwavering. “Murdering me in the future, that is. Since you know, we can maybe get over that with the machine.”

“I don’t trust you,” Minseok instinctively blurted out.

“I don’t trust either of you,” Baekhyun muttered.

Lu Han focused on Minseok. “You have to trust me or we’re both doomed. Think about it. You probably can’t build the machine if I don’t help. You would never know your theories are correct unless I was here. You...”

“I would have discovered they were correct at some point,” Minseok argued.

Lu Han closed his eyes and grimaced. When he opened them again he was sporting a very fake looking smile. “Let me stay. I’ll try not to be in your way and I’ll help where I can.”

Minseok considered the offer. It would be free labor and Baekhyun wasn’t much help. Sure he was good for a laugh but if anything he was a major distraction. Plus if he had hired Lu Han in the future he must have thought the man had great potential.

“If I disturb you out you can drug me again as long as you don’t kill me,” Lu Han offered.

“Deal.” Minseok felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He could do this…assuming he wasn’t arrested for continually drugging the man next to him first.

They fell into a routine, Lu Han dropping by first thing in the morning, helping Minseok with whatever he needed. Sometimes it was the work of a servant – fetching coffee or tea or tidying up Minseok’s study. Other times Lu Han listened as Minseok rambled, furiously expounding on his ideas while trying desperately to stay awake.

A week passed like this, with Baekhyun wandering in and out of the house with a joke or a funny anecdote before he grew bored and went in search of excitement elsewhere. Lu Han staying as long as he could before he dragged himself back home. Minseok shunning sleep and chasing down what he needed during the day with Lu Han and meticulously detailing his findings at night.

It couldn’t be called peaceful, nothing about Minseok’s life truly earned that title. But it was relatively calm which could only mean something would soon happen to shatter the stillness, the ease of his life.

The storm arrived one morning in the form of a furious knock on the front door. Minseok was busying himself in his study, Lu Han sitting across the room and sipping his tea, listening as Minseok randomly read from his notes.

The two men looked at each other when the banging started, both alarmed by the violent nature of the noise.

“Are you expecting anyone?” Lu Han inquired, setting his teacup down on the small side table.

Minseok shook his head. Loud banging on the door at this time of day did not bode well. He debated if he should ignore the pounding but Lu Han was already on his feet, ready to answer it.

“I’ll get it,” Minseok said gruffly, having a mind to peek out the front window and see who it was before he decided to answer it. He was ten feet from the entrance hall when the door opened of its own accord, or so it seemed.

“I’ve no idea what you are on about, old boy!” It was Baekhyun.

Minseok hurried to the door, Lu Han right behind him. He found Baekhyun standing across from an angry looking gentleman that Minseok had never seen before.

“I know he is in here! Lu Han, Lu Han!” the man shouted, looking towards Minseok.

“May I help you, sir?” Minseok drawled, making every effort to stay calm and not eject the man then and there.

The man looked at him with fire in his eyes. He was young, with pronounced dimples and dark eyes. “My name is Zhang Yixing and I am an investor in Lu Han’s great Antarctic expedition. I don’t know what charlatans you keep regular company with sir, but Lu Han accepted my money and never went on this so-called expedition.” Yixing gritted his teeth. “I have reason to believe he is in your home and I wish to confront him.”

“Is that so?” Minseok turned to look at Lu Han, who stood unnaturally still in the middle of the sitting room. “You say he never went on the expedition?”

“He has been spotted around town frequently, sir. Even this very day he was seen coming to this home! He reported that he left town a few weeks back but it was clearly a lie,” Yixing shouted.

Lu Han looked pale, almost like he had seen a ghost.

“Y-yixing?” Lu Han finally spoke, walking into the entrance hall in a daze.

“You thief!” Yixing yelled at the appearance of the man. He jabbed his finger in Lu Han’s face and continued to rant about his thievery and dishonest operations. Lu Han took a step back but didn’t try to avoid the accusations.

After a good minute had passed of the man’s accusations Lu Han finally spoke. “Yixing, is this how you met Minseok?” Lu Han turned to Minseok, still pale but less dazed. His voice was animated, like the pieces were falling into place. “Yixing is your servant, have you not met him before?”

“I have never seen this man in my life,” Minseok answered honestly, more than a little intrigued.

“Servant?!” Yixing guffawed. “I am a respectable gentleman sir, I am most definitely not a servant. Fanciful words for a man who owes me a thousand pounds!”

“I swear this is the most exciting visit to town I’ve had in ages,” Baekhyun remarked, watching the entire scene play out with a smile on his face.