“She’ll be okay.”

Planting a soft kiss on her forehead as Eunji peeked her head over, Chorong sighed in reply. Fingers halted at the keyboard and eyes finding its way to her wife, the past two weeks since Hayoung’s time-travelling mission has been tough.

Sending their own child onto a dangerous time-travelling mission that was never done before in the history of humanity and the worst of all, it had to be kept a secret from everyone. This was a lot to take in. But they had no other choice.

Eunji was sent home to recuperate from her injuries. Despite her protests, Lee Byung Hun issued an order to ensure that the scientist didn’t find her way back into Sanguine Tower. The General knew her from the back of his palm. He wanted Eunji to recover fully without any distractions.

And so, the past 14 days were piled with lots of searching, solving and anxiety. Eunji tried to connect the dots together as time travel was complicated. She needed to find a way to fix the plot hole now that someone from the future has disrupted the flow.

Her once small, neat office at home was now converted into a massive dumpsite for ideas. The walls were filled with scribbles, drawings, diagrams and mathematical calculations. Crumpled balls of paper scattered from one end to the other. An empty mug of coffee that has left lying for weeks.

But it was worth it. Today, Eunji finally found the answer.

“Eureka!”

At the hour of midnight, Eunji drew a circle around the board and quickly left her seat. Stumbling along the entrance due to the lack of sleep, she rushed into Chorong’s office just adjacent hers. But before she could open her excited mouth, she finds her wife fast asleep.

Head buried on the table, reading glasses folded and piles of documents lying around, honestly her office is in the same condition as hers. It seems that Chorong took out some old blueprints from the storage room. They were designs to construct a time machine.

Even though she’s told Chorong so many times that she doesn’t have to intervene in this, that this was her fault, Chorong never listened. Her wife wanted to help her. She did not want Eunji to carry the burden all by herself.

And that’s the reason why Eunji keeps falling in love with her all over again.

“Babe?” Eunji cooed softly as she kissed Chorong’s head. “Wake up.”

Her wife groaned in reply, “I haven’t had any sleep in the past few days. Can’t you let me rest for one second?”

“Sorry, I haven’t slept either. But I found how to fix this whole mess.”

Chorong raised her head up. “Are you sure?” The scientist nodded her head slowly in reply, “We must hurry.” She pointed her fingers at the blueprints scattered on Chorong’s table. “The answer is that.”

“Are you serious?” The engineer blinked once, thinking that it’s a crazy idea. But then again, when is Jung Eunji ever out with crazy ideas? “You do know that once we do that, there’s no turning back. They’re going to think that we’re dead.”

“Well, it’ll be nice if they think we were dead for once,” Eunji shrugged, “Besides, we can come back years later and poof! What’s up es? Miss me-ouch!”

Chorong threw a hard hit on her wife’s head. “Eunji.” It’s a flat, unconvinced tone.

“Okay, okay.” The scientist groaned, knowing it’s probably not the best to play around right now. She fumbled her hands around the blueprints and picked one of them up.

“Remember the teleportation device we built years ago? And then, when Hayoung was baby, she thought it was a toy and nearly smashed it into pieces? Well, we can fix it, use it and head back to my good, old’ hometown, Busan.”

It doesn’t take Chorong a second to understand what she meant by “leaving Solitude”. If anything, it seemed the only plausible solution left.

“I guess we’re going on a vacation.”

And just like that, the famed scientist and engineer of Solitude “mysteriously” vanished from Solitude that night. Not a single trace was left. Even their butler, Sojin was left dumbfounded and confused by the whole situation.

While it is true that the couple did keep a lot of secrets from the people around them like the various inventions such as the teleportation device and the time machine which is, already out of the box, it wasn’t because they had trust issues.

Chorong and Eunji both knew the consequences if someone else were to have their hands onto their powerful devices. It could even escalate into a war. What was supposed to be ideas breed out of love, was meant to be hidden forever.

And they plan to keep it that way.

So, here they were, spending every passing day in this secret vault underneath Busan. It was once owned by Eunji’s mentor, Dr. Huh Gak who unfortunately passed away during the Great War. But the man believed in Eunji’s capabilities and eventually gave it to her as a final gift.

The couple had only one goal in mind: to rebuild a new time machine that could change the context of time itself and amend mistakes from the past.

This process took them three long years of blood, sweat and tears. Just in time for Hayoung’s return, they could finally make things right.

“There she is.”

Eunji tried hard not to cry as she saw her dear daughter appearing on the CCTV screen. “Look at you. It must’ve been really tough out there, hasn’t it?” A tear eventually rolled down her cheeks as the scientist quickly wiped it away.

Crash!

A mug of coffee fell to the floor. Chorong stood there, stunned. At this point, it doesn’t even matter anymore about that broken mug. Right here, right now, she sees her dear daughter on the big screen.

“Oh my god.” She gasped and went over to hug Eunji. “That’s right. She’s back.” The scientist nodded, settling her head onto her shoulder. “I’m going to cry.” Chorong said, her voice slowly breaking apart. The scientist giggled and pulled back, cupping her wife’s cute face. “Yes, you are.”

When the vault door rotated and hissed, metal screws retracting backwards as it revealed the person on the other side. There she was. Their precious daughter, Oh Hayoung.

Even though it has been three years, she hasn’t changed at all because of the time vortex. But for the parents, they have aged significantly with more wrinkles on their skin and heavier eyebags.  

“You’ve got to be ing joking…”

Hayoung fell to her knees. Mind gone blank as she finds herself buried in Chorong’s chest. Her clothes wet by her tears. Then, she’s wrapped in Eunji’s warm arms. And Hayoung finally smiled. Snuggling her head between theirs, she’s finally home.

“…I missed you. So, so much.”

The runner held back her tears. She’s not going to cry here. Definitely not in front of her parents. They are going to for life.

“I have so much to tell you!” Hayoung grinned excitedly. “About meeting your past selves, the world that I saw back there, the monsters that I fought, the people I met along the way, I-“

“We’re so proud of you, Hayoung. We knew that you will return to us in one piece.” Eunji cut in, fingers brushing through her daughter’s hair, finding all the dust and grime from the Wasteland. Even though she’s always stopped her from heading out, looks like she should’ve just let her run free since the beginning.

“Of course. I’m your daughter. You raised me to be tough and strong. I won’t back down so easily like that.” Hayoung brimmed brightly with such confidence that it left Chorong crying harder.

The mother who protected her child from the smallest of dangers, was out here doing the most. Put in the most difficult mission possible with a small chance of coming back alive, it was the hardest decision to make and no parent would ever want to put their child through such trauma.

Chorong felt Eunji squeezing her hand as a means to tell her that it’s okay. There’s an influx of emotions going through her chest but all that matters right now is that, her family is back. And that she’s never going to let Hayoung go through the same thing again.

“Now, I know that we have a lot to catch up. But Hayoung, we are going to need your help.” Eunji’s warm expression turned stiff. “In these three years, we have been busy making a new time machine. I know you just went through hell but this is the last time. You have to make it right.”

Hayoung nodded slowly, understanding the situation. She was no longer the child who would complain and whine, nor the child who became scared of being alone again. She was an adult now.

 “Alright mom. Got it. Just tell me what to do and I’ll be on it. Let’s save all of this for a nice vacation later.”

“That’s my girl.”

The three headed into the vault as the doors began to close. As its metal screws slowly rotated back into its shape, a loud screech halted its movement. Something was preventing it from closing.

“Who’s there?!”

Hayoung shouted, hands already on her gun strap as she told her parents to head back into the laboratory first. But the two refused to leave, especially not when they were literally separated from her for three years only to reunite now.

Watching the masked figure slip through the small opening, Hayoung fired two bullets but alas, it missed.

“You.”

Hayoung growled, knowing who it was. She tightened her grip and continued to fire another shot. However, the masked figure caught the bullet and crushed it in her palms.

“I find it amazing how you’ve never noticed my presence. Oh, that’s right.” She chuckled, taking out a small device from her pocket. “It’s because of this.”

“Where did you get that?!” Eunji scowled. The small device was in fact, an invisibility spray, another one of the many inventions that she and Chorong built during their dating days. Just when the scientist thought she probably misplaced it somewhere, turns out it was stolen.

The figure turned to Eunji. “Oh.” Instead of answering the question, she took out her mask and tossed it to the ground, finally revealing her identity. “Remember the house warming party that you invited me to Eunji? I got it from there.”

Bomi cackled away at their shocked expressions. She pointed her gun at Eunji, ready to pull the trigger. In that split second, Hayoung knew what was coming. Running across as she pushed Eunji away, the bullet echoed loudly in the vault. This was followed by Chorong’s horrified screams and the hissing of a nozzle.

“Hayoung!”

Blood dripped to the floor. Happy tears turned to sad tears. splattered the floor. All it took was one bullet to ruin a family’s reunion.

“Why? Why are you doing this?!” Eunji screamed.

Something crashed to the ground.

Probably a rotting piece of metal from one of the apartment complexes. But for some reason, it gave off this weird, ominous feeling.

Walking around in hazmat suits as they followed closely behind Sooyoung and Yerin, Eunji held tightly onto Chorong’s hand. Not because she’s scared of losing her, but because she wants to make sure that she’s within arms’ reach.

From time to time, she would peek and steal a glance, wondering if Chorong was tired from all the walking or feeling scared from the eerie environment they were entering into. Eunji would then try to think of lame jokes to make her laugh and smile so that she’d forget about her fears.

“I’m not getting anything. Not a single beep from the radar.” Sooyoung sighed, growing impatient and tired. “Let me check in with those two, see if they found it.” Yerin replied, tapping onto the wristband as it connected them to the radio signal.

“Hey, what’s your status?”

Buzz.

No reply. Nothing but static noise. That’s odd. Usually, Naeun would reply immediately.

“Everything okay? You guys hearing this?” Yerin repeated as she tapped onto the wristband again, making sure that it was connected. It takes a long three seconds until Naeun picks up.

“I lost her.”

“What?”

“Hayoung’s missing. I suggest regrouping to my location immediately. Just sent the coordinates.”

The second after, Yerin’s wristband beeped with the information. They were about 12km away. As always, the efficient number four. Other runners can’t beat her to that.

“I guess that’s where we are going then.” Sooyoung said as she turned behind to Chorong and Eunji, only to find her eyes on them holding hands. “Uh…change of plans.”

Number three cleared , wondering if she was interrupting something because the two of them seemed way ‘too’ clingy for a second.

“O-oh? Where are we going?” Eunji asked as Chorong quickly moved away, trying to hide the sudden strike of blush on her face. She was just about to pull her senior into a hug until they were interrupted.

“Hayoung’s missing.”

---

In order to become a better person, I thought it was good to learn from you. By sticking close, I aspired to be up there. Respected. Loved. And given plenty of opportunities.

But in the end, you took everything from me.

My dreams, my family, and even the love of my life.

You used me. You lied to me. You played me.

Jung Eunji. I hope that from now, you witness and experience nothing but pain.

Hot, angry tears rolled down Eunji’s cheeks. As Chorong clutched tightly onto Hayoung who was bleeding heavily from her chest, the scientist grabbed onto her wife. “Put her in the pod. I’ll handle this.” She let go and pushed the engineer, forcing her to leave.

“Just go!” Eunji shouted, seeing that Chorong was hesitant on leaving her. But she listened and ran off into the laboratory, shutting the door tight.

“What a sweet, heroic act you did there. Here’s clap for you.” Bomi chuckled, pretending to slap her two hands together as she slowly approached her former friend. This is the moment that she has been waiting forever.

To see that face on Eunji. That pride and happiness wiped off her face and left with nothing but desperation, hatred and anger.

“Of all people, I should’ve known that it was you. How could I be this dumb?” The scientist touched her shirt that concealed an ugly scar. “You were supposed to be dead.”

“I am dead, Eunji. The Yoon Bomi you knew is dead.” She raised her arms widely, “The Renegades gave me a second chance to live again! And this time, I will make sure it will be done right. And that is…” She clicked her laser pistol. “To kill every last one that smells of you.”

“We were supposed to make the world a better place!”

Eunji and Bomi grew up together, attended the same high school and won the National Science competitions every year. They were a team. A pair that were always together.

Whether it was at conferences, meetings, discussions and even when the Great War struck, they had each other’s backs. They shared their deepest secrets, greatest worries and supported their dreams.

Just…what went wrong?

“I was nothing but your shadow.”

Bomi clenched tightly onto her gun as she remembered those days. Even though they were a team, Eunji was always a step ahead.

The people saw her as the spotlight, recognized her talent but not hers. She was promoted as a mere assistant in the Solitude science department. Her ideas were never given consideration and when she took part in a project, she was never given the recognition.

“Oh Bomi, why can’t you be more like Eunji?”

“But mom…”

“Sometimes, I wish Eunji was my daughter.”

It was always just her sitting in the audience, clapping with the rest. It was always just her watching Eunji going up the podium and delivering the speeches, receiving a loud applause from the whole world.

“Hey, Bomi. Thanks for the help. You’re really the best.”

“…Yeah. Sure. Whatever. Enjoy the party. You’re the only one invited anyway.”

“C’mon, why the long face? I’ll make sure to send you pictures okay?”

Even in love, she was no match for her. It was unfair. When Bomi confessed that she had feelings for Chorong, Eunji was supportive. But in the end, it was Bomi watching afar as Chorong walked down the aisle with Eunji. She was smiling but inside, she was breaking apart.

“Congratulations on your marriage you two.”

“Hey, Bomi! Thank you so much for coming! Come here, let’s take a photo!”

“1,2…cheese!”

That was supposed to be her. But in the end, she lost to her best friend for again. Even in life, even in love, it was unfair.

If she just pulled that trigger, she can finally end all of that suffering.

“Bomi. It doesn’t have to end this way.” Eunji said calmly despite having a pistol pointed directly at her forehead. Eyes focused directly into hers, the scientist slowly moved her arms upwards and grabbed hold of Bomi’s arm.

“If you want to shoot me then go ahead. I won’t hate you for it.” Eunji closed her eyes. “I know you wanted that position. You wanted the recognition, the acknowledgement. And I understand why you have channeled all of that anger onto me, because I am the cause of your very own pain. That’s why you want to kill me and my family.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

Bomi gritted her teeth, hating that she suddenly can’t pull the trigger. The fact that her former best friend is this close, eyes not having a single inch of fear yet being very willing to die for her, it’s making her hesitate.

It’s making her remember why Eunji was her friend since the very beginning.

“We can start new. Just like you said, a new life. A new world. This time, you get to be the main character.” Eunji said, “You should’ve known by now that I’m building a time machine. I can change the past. I can make your dreams come true.”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not.” Eunji tightened her grip and pushed the pistol harder onto her forehead. “If you think I’m lying, then shoot me right now and end this.” She took a deep breath. “Come on Bomi. You know that I’m a terrible liar. I stutter when I lie. Does it look like I’m lying to you?”

Bomi took a step back. But pistol still pointed at her head. “I won’t believe till I see it.” Eunji got back to her feet slowly as she raised her hands up in surrender. “Alright. Let’s start with something simple okay?”

The scientist stared carefully at Bomi taking another step back. There’s only one chance to make this work. And the time is now. The moment she lost her focus, Eunji suddenly grabbed onto Bomi’s arm and stuck her leg between hers. Twisting her body around as she pushed the arm away from her head, Bomi pulled the trigger out of instinct.

Bang! It went, followed by her screams of pain. Luck was on Eunji’s side. The bullet went to its owner. Hitting directly at the shoulder, the scientist did not take another second to step onto Bomi’s hand, snatch the gun away and fire another shot at her leg.

“I do not want to do this. But you gave me no other choice.” Eunji sighed, seeing her friend bleed on the ground as she gasped helplessly. “I know what I did. And I’m sorry. This isn’t just my fault. There was a reason why they chose me, Bomi. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t good. You had so many talents that you did not realise. Yet, you chose to be blind.”

“You’re wrong.” Bomi groaned weakly.

“No. You’re wrong.” Eunji corrected, “And I will prove that to you with the time machine. Let me fix your past and then you will see what you’ve been missing. You’ll see that you have extraordinary talents that even I do not have.” The scientist sighed, heart hurting that her friend is lying here in a pool of blood. “This is what I can do as your friend.”

“…You still consider me your friend? Even after…everything that I’ve done to you?”

Eunji hummed in thought and later shrugged. “Yeah. You tried to kill me. And then tried to hunt my family. Yeah, I probably hate you for that. But you’re still my friend Bomi. Do you think that I would just throw away all of those years that we’ve spent together? No. You are my friend. It won’t change. Even if you still want to kill me later on.”

Hearing Eunji’s statement left Bomi speechless and even more, left a tear escaping her eye. This wasn’t supposed to end like this. She was going to take revenge because life was unfair to her.

But what if she was wrong? What if Eunji was right? What if she was just looking in the wrong place? What if her dreams were right in front of her, but she failed to see it?

“W-What are you doing?!” Bomi shouted as Eunji grunted, carrying her friend with all of her remaining strength on her back.

“Damn, you’re heavy with all that annoying armor you’re wearing!” The scientist heaved, “Well, I’m not letting you die here. I have another extra healing pod so I’m putting you in there. We’re done talking and I better not see you coming out to kill me again.”

“…I’m going to kill you.” Bomi mumbled.

“Yeah, okay. Sure. Go ahead. Please surprise me with what you’re going to kill me with.” Eunji rolled her eyes sarcastically as she took a careful step forward and returned to the laboratory.

---

Upon regrouping with Naeun, the team found themselves stumbling into the Gowon Grace Hospital. It was hard to find the entrance at first, the building buried in piles of debris and soil, only a portion was left intact and that was the entrance to the basement carpark.

They were able to track Hayoung’s last movements from the fresh mud footprints left behind. Going deeper underground as they passed each level, it didn’t take long for them to find the massive vault door tucked between the walls and cars.

“Was this here in the first place? This thing is big.” Sooyoung asked, head looking up as she’s finding a way. Yerin analyzed the door and wondered if it was possible to break it down. Naeun on the other hand, noticed the keypad and realized that the only method was to put in the correct password.

“Either you guys go full destructive or you can push random buttons until it works.” Eunji suggested, hands still intertwined with Chorong. “I’d suggest the second option.” Chorong said, going up to the keypad as she tapped onto the buttons. First round, beep! Second round, beep! Third round, beeeep!

“Did you just lock us out?” Eunji asked, seeing the light suddenly blinking in bright red.

“N-No, I did not…okay maybe I did. Sorry.” Chorong mumbled, deciding to quietly taking a step back and lower her head in embarrassment.

“It’s fine. We can try the first option then. Who wants to take the motorcycle and shove it up this door’s ?” Eunji grinned, staring at the three runners. “What? Don’t look at me like that.”

Naeun sighed. “Did you carry any explosives with you?” Yerin and Sooyoung checked their bags and shook their head in reply. “Didn’t think we need it anyway so we didn’t bring.”

“Well, that’s great-“

Screeeeech!

The vault door suddenly rotated. Its screws making a loud noise as it lifted the cover, rolling across the side. A quick waft of air busted through the compound, causing everyone to cough.

“Hi. You must be the runners that Lee Byung Hun sent, right?”

Yerin and Sooyoung grew wide-eyed at the appearance of the female engineer whom they have not seen in years. But Chorong and Eunji in particular, were even more wide-eyed.

“Professor Park! You’re alive!” Sooyoung gasped, rushing to hug her to which Yerin followed as well. The engineer smiled and returned the hug. She also greeted Naeun who introduced herself as the fourth runner. But what caught her eye, was her younger self.

“And you must be Chorong.” The enginner walked towards the two, reaching her hand out for a shake. “I’m Park Chorong. Engineer of Solitude.”

“I’m…also Chorong, student from Seoul University…” She mumbled awkwardly, unsure how to process everything about meeting her older self.

There’s definitely a difference. Her older self is a lot more mature, more elegant, skin has more wrinkles, bigger eyebags and a different hairstyle for sure. It’s just unreal to meet her in such a place.

“And you are Eunji.” The engineer smiled brightly, “Please take good care of her.” That’s all she says as she returned to the runners. “We had a bit of an issue when Hayoung arrived. But do not worry, it’s settled for now. All that’s left is one final part.”

“Final part?” The runners looked at each other confused.

“You’ll know when you come in. Follow me please.” Chorong said as she returned back to the vault, making sure to close the doors properly before leading the team into the laboratory where the healing pods were.

Both Hayoung and Bomi were recuperating from their injuries. Chorong explained the whole situation to the team while Eunji was in a separate room, preparing the time machine. It was a lot of information to take in, but they understood the consequences of time travel and the reasons why they left Solitude.

“So, we just wait for Hayoung to recover?” Naeun asked.

“That is correct.” Chorong replied, “She is the only one who can enter the time vortex and fix the timeline. We will be there to guide her through a special radio transmission that is connected through a signal of this world and that.”

“Wow, the you in the future seems pretty smart as hell.” Eunji whispered to which the younger Chorong nudged an elbow at her. “It’s kinda hot.”

“Shut up.” Chorong grumbled as the two began to bicker again.

The engineer noticed it and somehow remembered their past times together when they were young. It was indeed the exact splitting image. Chorong was sure that if she ever had the chance again, she will still choose and marry Eunji. No matter what.

“Alright, the time machine is ready- oh! You guys!...Hi?” Eunji popped out of the room, awkwardly turning to the new faces and waving at them. “Sorry, it’s been three years. I kind of forgot your name. Please don’t be offended. Yebin? Yeseul?”

“It’s Yerin, ma’am.”

“Right, right! And you are Sojung? No…Soojin?”

“Sooyoung, ma’am.”

Eunji clapped her hands as she finally recalled the runners’ names. “Right! Yerin and Sooyoung. My daughter talks about you guys a lot, somewhere between the lines of you guys bullying her for the age discrimination factor and what not. Anyways, I see a new face around.”

The scientist eyed carefully on Naeun, scanning from top to bottom. While she does have to admit that she is quite pretty for a runner, but she’s far too old to be chasing anyone else anyway. Although Eunji isn’t sure if this “Naeun” could be her daughter’s type…considering if she likes girls too.

“The name’s Son Naeun, ma’am. It’s an honour to meet you, Dr. Jung. I am the fourth runner.” Naeun bowed politely.

“Wow, nobody’s ever called me that name in a long time!” Eunji laughed shyly. “Fourth runner huh? So, Lee Byung Hun finally went and dug up my old files to breed a new kind of runner.” She mumbled, crossing her arms in thought. “Nice to meet you.”

Eunji walked past and stopped in front of her younger self. It takes a long second of silence as she’s going back and forth between the young her and the young Chorong.

“I look really old and tired.” Her younger self replied first, leaving the scientist to laugh away.

“Well, that’s what happens when you dedicate your whole life to passion.” Eunji grinned, rustling her younger’s self’s hair.

It was definitely giving her good, pleasant throwbacks of her youth. Boy, those were really the days. She had no idea that she looked like that.

“Take care of her, Eunji.” The scientist said, smiling at the young Chorong. She’s instantly reminded how she fell so hard for her in the beginning.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll take really good care of her!” The young Eunji said with confidence, holding tightly onto Chorong’s hand, leaving the latter to blush. It leaves the scientist laughing, “Ah, you guys are cute. We were like that too, huh?”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Their conversations went to a halt as everyone’s eyes turned to the healing pods. Hayoung’s pod slowly raised upwards as it let out a loud hiss, followed by a spray of smoke and the whirring sounds of metal.

“How are you feeling?” The engineer asked, quickly heading to her daughter’s side. She rubbed her hands over the gun wound which is already healed.

“Hungry but otherwise good.” Hayoung joked, turning heads as she notices that the whole team is here. It makes her smile, even more when she finds her eyes on Naeun.

“I’m sorry but we have to cut short the reunion.” The scientist cut in, preventing Hayoung from going back to her team. “We still have unfinished business to do.”

“…Right.” Hayoung nodded, taking a look at the healing pod on her right where Bomi was. As much as she had a lot of questions to ask, that will have to wait. For now, she must prepare for another time travel.

A time travel that should fix everything that went wrong since the beginning.

“But I’m afraid you’re going to have to take them with you.” Eunji pointed at the younger versions of herself and her wife.

“Them too?”

Hayoung stared at her mother as she finally understood it. Her mission was to fix the broken timeline and the only way to do it, was to bring those two home. It’s an odd feeling. Even though it was only a short while, but number one grew attached to her parents’ younger selves.

And now, she has to bid goodbye to them.

“Are you ready?” Eunji asked, glancing over at her wife and telling her to get the time machine running.

Hayoung took a long breath and clutched tightly onto her mother’s hand. “I have to be honest that I am scared of going back there again. But this is the only way to fix everything. Plus, I can’t disappoint you, can I?”

Eunji smiled warmly at her daughter. “Now, that’s my girl.”

“Wait, we’re leaving? Like going home?” The younger Eunji asked, realizing the whole situation. “Does that mean we’ll never get to see you again?” She looked at the other runners, somehow feeling sad.

“I’m afraid that is how it is.” The scientist sighed. “I hope that you understand that this was my fault in the beginning. The two of you do not belong in this world. You must return to yours.” She gently squeezed her younger self’s shoulder, taking one last look at herself. “Don’t worry. I know that you will do good. Because you are me. You are Jung Eunji.”

“Baby, the time machine is ready.” Chorong peeked her head out from the room. “Oh? Why are their faces red?” The engineer giggled, realizing that she might’ve slipped her tongue and caused her younger selves to be flustered at that statement.

“W-Wha- did my older self just call you…baby?!” The younger Chorong stuttered, “W-Why the hell would I call you such a d-disgusting nickname?!”

“I-I don’t know! Why don’t you ask h-her?!” The younger Eunji too was surprised and had no idea how to handle the situation.

This left everyone laughing. A rather bittersweet farewell for the two who had to leave after spending a short time in the future.

At the room where the time machine was, Eunji and Chorong were strapped onto a special suit that was said to protect them from the travel. Hayoung did not required any equipment due to her qualities as a runner. Instead, she wore a heavy backpack that contained important devices to help her in the travel. 

“Not going to lie but this feels like an astronaut suit.” Eunji said, waddling her arms around as she found much difficulty walking around.

“Stop moving. Stay in position.” Chorong scolded, dragging Eunji back to the chalk-drawn circle on the floor.

“Stay close and never let go, okay? Get ready to head home, you two.” Hayoung smiled, clutching her two arms between both of her young parents.

She took one look above the wall where there was a small window. Her mothers gave her the signal and at the count of ten, they were ready to transport back to the year 2016.

Ten, nine, eight.

The time machine began to light up. The propellers started to spin and make a loud noise.

Seven, six, five.

Hayoung, Chorong and Eunji each glanced at each other, tightening their grip. This was going to be the last trip. Home, here they come.

Four, three, two.

A bright light appeared at the centre of the time machine, expanded itself into a gigantic swirling portal that did not have any particular colour.

One. Zero.

The three were into the time machine as their bodies disappeared in a flash. The bright light eventually died down and they were gone, into the realm of time.

--

A/N: And our three musketeers are off into the time realm once more, as they revisit the world of 2016! Here's a rundown of this chapter:

- During those 3 years of Hayoung's time travelling, her parents did not want to sit around and wait. They worked hard to find a solution in fixing the time hole and believed that the only way was to do everything in secrecy. Their disappearence is explained by their usage of the teleportation device which Solitude has no idea it exists. 

- Bomi may be a villian but she too, had her own personal problems. Her revenge was made out of unfairness in life, her hatred for Eunji was made due to the fact that she was always second place, and Eunji first place. But looks like, she still has a chance to make her dream realised. Eunji's plans to make minor changes in the past so that the current Bomi would not suffer, is rather smart but the question here is, would it be possible? Is the scientist aware that this can still disrupt the flow of time? What consequences will occur as a result?

- The whole team is back together! Present Eunrong and Past Eunrong cutely meeting each other, runners realising that the great scientist and engineer aren't dead and Eunji kind of checking out Naeun as a potential date for Hayoung lol.

- New mission! Hayoung has to go back to the year 2016 and fix everything back with the "devices" that her parents gave her. The young Chorong and Eunji bid farewell to the new friends they have made in this short time, and are finally returning home. 

The next chapter will be the grand finale :) Thank you for waiting patiently and enjoying the story! Time travel AUs can get pretty complicated but hey, anything happens in a fictional world haha~ I hope you guys don't have to crack your head too much about how they are going to "fix" the world with a time machine & some "devices". It just- works sksksk >< 

Looking forward to read your thoughts! See you in the final chapter! ^^