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“So, you’re telling me, you’re the phantom unit of the King?” you shook your head in confusion after having talked to the men who were in your living room.

“Yes, we serve the King from the shadows, doing what we can to help him, whether it’d be getting intel or engaging in battle,” the man who introduced himself as S.Coups, or his real name, Seungcheol, said, nodding. He sat on the floor, with his head held high and dignified; you presumed he was the leader by the way the others listened to him.

“Oh my god, I’m stuck here in a house full of lunatics!” you exclaimed, throwing your head in your hands.

“What is a lunatic?” the one named Dino, or Chan, whatever, asked. You didn’t understand why some of them used two different names—were they code names?

“Listen, there is no King, unless you mean the President,” you ignored Dino, and shot a look to the man on your right, Wonwoo, when he reached over to your bookcase and touched your decorative ornaments. “Don’t touch that,” you quickly said. He quickly recoiled his hand, a semi-pout on his face. “Geez, what century do you guys think you’re in anyway, dressed like that…” you trailed off, your nose crinkling when you saw patches of mud on the hem of their pants.

“Is it not year X?” the man, Woozi, or Jihoon, standing to your left, with his arms crossed, asked.

“Year X?” you furrowed your eyebrows, completely confused, having never even heard of the year. “It’s 20XX.”

“2-20XX?!” the man named Dokyeom, or DK, exclaimed loudly. “What the—did we travel in time?!”

“I’m telling you it’s a trap!” the man, Seungkwan, threw up his hands in frustration.

“It does make sense if we did though, seeing that we have no idea what anything is,” the kind man from earlier, Joshua, said, nodding his head.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re actually considering that we traveled to the future,” the man next to him, Jeonghan, sighed.

“Well, Joshua could be right, I mean look at that,” the one named Vernon pointed to your ceiling lights. “It’s like a floating candle, of some sort.”

“It’s a light bulb,” you corrected him, rubbing your temples. Traveling to the future? That sounded like a load of bull, but somehow, you felt like it was plausible, seeing that they had no idea how anything worked. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw two people, Hoshi (Soonyoung) and Mingyu, both fiddling with your TV remote.

“Didn’t I tell you guys not to touch anything?” you snapped, shooting them a glare. Mingyu gave you a look while Hoshi shrugged. You watched them for a bit longer, before deciding to test their reactions to the TV. If they were really from the past…

Quickly, you stood up and yanked the remote out of their hands. With a quick click, the TV switched on to the news channel. At the same time, you watched their reactions go from tense to utter bewilderment.

“A person is stuck in there!” the one named Jun cried, pointing to the TV in utter shock.

“What is this?” the other one next to him, The8, or Minghao, asked.

“Oh my god, what if they really are from the past?” you blinked, gauging their reactions. Their eyes were all glued on the TV, no one letting out a single breath.

Tired of their silence, you turned off the TV and took a seat again, directing their attention back to you.

“Okay, so let’s say you guys are really from Year X,” you slowly said, deciding what to say. You could’ve cared less if they were from the past, you realized, all you wanted to know was:

“Why are you in my house? And what do you want me to do about this, isn’t this your problem?”

They were silent from your unexpected question, all of them shuffling.

“Well, if we really are stuck in the future like Joshua says…” S.Coups started, his voice suddenly timid and flustered. “I mean—I don’t know, but—" He stumbled over his words, pathetically, not knowing what to say.

“What he’s trying to say is,” Jeonghan cut in, saving his friend from further embarrassment, “we’re hoping you’d kindly help us out until we figure out what’s really going on and how to get back to our time,” he finished smoothly, a charming smile on his face.

“And why should I?” you challenged, disliking the idea of having to share your place with 13 guys.

“Hm, out of the goodness of your heart, I suppose?” he laughed playfully. “But, if you were to kick us out, we’d have no where to go and we’d only cause trouble. I assume the “police” you mentioned earlier will come question us, but seeing we don’t know anyone but you, we’ll just end up coming right back here, won’t we?” he smiled, all too brightly for the sharpness of his words.

“You don’t even know what the police is!” you shot back, flustered at the accuracy of his words. Was he a scholar or something in the past?

“I assume that is something or someone you call or report to when you feel threatened, just like earlier? Something that protects its people…” he hummed, smirking when your mouth popped open. “I guess I hit the bullseye?”

“Jeonghan-hyung sure can be scary when he chooses to be,” Woozi nodded his head in approval. “As expected.”

Jeonghan laughed lightly, giving you a smile.

“So, what do you say? We’ll be sure to stay in line and make sure we don’t cause you any problems!” he cheerfully asked.

You were silent, your head slowly aching.

“Your presence is already a problem,” you muttered under your breath. Finally, you sighed, rubbing your temples.

“Fine, but you all follow my rules, and tomorrow morning, we’re going to a damn shaman,”

…because I swear to god, I think I may be cursed.

 

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