Time is relative. Its only worth depends upon what we do as it is passing.

-Albert Einstein

 

2069. Seoul, Korea.

 

 

“Holy crap, this place is huge!”

 

Three women entered the lobby of the Korean Space Agency, also known as the KSA, with their mouths gaping in awe. It was their first time entering the government building renowned for its design as much as it is respected as a haven of scientists and engineers interested in researching what happens outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

 

“I never thought we would actually be invited here,” said the shortest woman of the three. “If you told my previous self from five years ago that the KSA sent me a letter inviting me to work on a project with them, I would call BS! But here we are.” She ran her hands through her own long brown locks and flipped it intentionally to hit the woman beside her.

 

“Yah Nako! The letter was addressed to all of us,” said the woman with the short black hair beautifully styled to match her suit outfit. The woman shot a playful glare at the short brunette who was trying her hardest not to jump up and down in excitement. “If anyone should be proud about KSA getting them, it should be her. Speaking of, where is she?”

 

The third woman answered nonchalantly, “She’s parking the car right now, Yuri. I still can’t believe you let the youngest person in our group drive us here when she’s the most important person in this meeting.” The woman did not lift her head to look at Yuri as she spoke; she remained focused on reading a book titled “How Do You Explain Relativity To Your Dog?” but it was not the only reason why she stood out in the lobby. Her short purple hair and her short, hot pink cocktail dress was enough to get anyone’s attention.

 

“Because I can’t drive? You’re one to talk, Hitomi. You’re older than me by two weeks,” Yuri snapped back at the purple-haired girl.

 

“I’m licensed to drive in Japan, but not here in Korea. Nako can’t even reach the pedals and see the road at the same time so that leaves you, Yuri,” Hitomi replied, her eyes still engrossed in her book.

 

Yuri let out a short whine, which the two Japanese women ignored, and glanced at her watch, “She should hurry. We still need to find the conference room that we’re supposed to meet in. Oh, there she is! Yujin!”

 

She called out to a tall woman who was running at full speed, or at least trying to. Her long black hair with silver highlights flowed with the wind as she struggled to run in her pantsuit and high heels. She stopped a couple of steps away from the three women, her hands on her knees to catch her breath from all the running she had done.

 

“What are you all still doing here? Let’s go! We can’t be late! We only have five minutes before we’re scheduled to meet them!” said Yujin, a sense of panic laced in her deep voice..

 

Before the three women could take another step towards the elevators, Hitomi closed her book and calmly said, “Let’s wait here. They texted me ten minutes ago that they were going to meet us here in the lobby.”

 

Yujin walked up to her with an expressionless face and asked, “So you’re telling me that you knew they would meet us here and you didn’t tell us?”

 

Hitomi curtly nodded and said, “Yeah.”

 

“I literally ran to get here thinking I was going to be late and you think that’s okay?”

 

“At least you weren’t late.”

 

The cold short responses were enough to annoy Yujin, much to the amusement of the other two who were not part of the conversation.

 

“How dare you do this to your CEO,” Yujin was about to raise her arm to threaten to (playfully) hit the Japanese girl when she heard a familiar voice.

 

“Dr. Honda Hitomi! You made it! It’s good to see you!”

 

A familiar black-haired woman walked towards their group and the sight of the said woman rendered Yujin speechless. It had been almost six years since she had last seen the beautiful woman in front of her, but she remembered her like it was yesterday. She was doubtful if the woman could still remember her after all these years, though.

 

After all, Kim Minju was her physics professor back in undergrad.

 

 

“Minju-- Dr. Kim! It’s been a while. I am here with the representatives of A01Z Corp to help you with your next aerospace project. I believe we were all your students in the special relativity course you taught five or six years ago in SNU.” Hitomi then turned to the group and said, “You guys remember Dr. Kim Minju from one of our classes, right?”

 

“Oh really?” Minju knitted her eyebrows while she looked at each member of the group, racking her brain trying to recognize her supposed former students. “I’m glad to see you here. It feels like my work as an instructor didn’t go to waste. I’m afraid it’s been a long time and I’ve handled a lot of students so I’m sorry if I can’t remember your names. I didn’t even recognize Hitomi who worked with me for her dissertation in atomic physics when we met in Japan a couple of months ago in a conference. Could you please introduce yourselves to me again?”

 

Nako was the first one to step up to shake Minju’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you again, Dr. Kim. I’m Yabuki Nako, a Materials Engineer.”

 

“I’m Jo Yuri, Electronics Engineer. Director of Research and Development at A01Z Corp. I enjoyed your class back in the day.”

 

The other three looked to the remaining person in their group, who looked like she was frozen at the sight of the renowned physicist. A slight nudge to the rib from Hitomi seemed to do the trick as it caused Yujin to break out of her trance and bow down to introduce herself.

 

“Hello Dr. Kim. I am Ahn Yujin, Aerospace Engineer.”

 

Yujin shook Minju’s hand and tried to stay as professional as she possibly could. What surprised her was when she tried to let go of the doctor’s hand, the doctor did not let go. She raised her head to meet Minju’s eyes and was surprised that she was looking at her with a hint of recognition.

 

With one of her eyebrows raised, Minju said, “Your hair isn’t blue anymore. That’s a bummer.”

 

While everyone was shocked that THE Dr. Kim Minju remembered Yujin, Yujin herself knew that she shouldn’t be surprised.

 

After all, Minju was not just a physics professor to her in undergrad.

 

 

2064. Seoul National University (SNU).

 

Yujin ambled through the corridors of the physics department at SNU looking for the lecture hall of her physics class this semester. She normally had her classes at the other wing of the building, but now she was taking a more advanced class, she had to go to the creepy wing where the physics majors were located. There were a lot of rumors that the said wing was haunted, although Yujin did not witness any of the supposedly supernatural activity. Students reported hearing crying noises and screams during the night and at some random times of the day. Some students even reported seeing zombies walk around and disappear as they turn the corner. It got so bad that the department had to release a statement explaining the “supernatural” occurrences: the crying and shouting came from (frustrated) graduating students working on their experiments, while the zombies were just researchers in search of their daily (sometimes hourly) caffeine fix.

 

“Room 2021…” Yujin muttered before sipping on her iced americano. Eventually, she could hear familiar voices coming from one of the rooms at the end of the hall. She was greeted by a loud shouting voice as she entered the room.

 

“Yujin! I thought you said you weren’t going to take this special relativity course?” Nako asked as she pointed to a seat beside Yuri’s that they reserved just in case. Yujin, Nako, and Yuri were engineering students who went through the introductory physics courses together during their first couple of semesters in the university. There, they met Hitomi, the physics major who suffered with them in the library to study for their exams. The four students found themselves getting close to each other and they came out of the courses as the best of friends.

 

“There were no other exciting electives aside from this course and introduction to environmental engineering, but there was no way I’m attending an elective scheduled at 7:30 AM so now I’m here,” Yujin answered as she took a seat beside the two girls.

 

“Yeah, that’s my reason too,” Yuri said while nodding her head. “Why should I go to a 7:30 AM class if I’m going to fail because of attendance anyway? I’d rather fail on my own merit.”

 

“How do you know you’re going to fail?” Yujin asked as she lazily brought out her laptop.

 

“Because I don’t even know what the relativity is.”

 

The girl sitting beside Nako then piped out, “People say that when you’re standing beside a trash can for 10 minutes, it will feel like an hour but if you were standing beside your crush for 10 minutes, it feels like a second. That’s relativity from an internet novel perspective.” The girl was busy reading her book titled “How To Teach Relativity To Your Dog” and did not even spare Yuri a glance.

 

“I don’t appreciate the judging tone in that internet novel perspective, Hitomi.” Yuri, a known closeted internet novel writer, answered while glaring at the girl who just spoke.

 

Yujin then stepped in and said, “She has a point, though. If the professor is trash then this hour will pass like eternity, but if the professor is pretty and smart then this hour will pass by in a flash.” Yujin snapped her fingers to emphasize her point.

 

Hitomi uncharacteristically lifted her head to face her friends, “Speaking of the professor, I heard from some of the seniors that she’s---”

 

The Japanese girl was interrupted by the lecture hall door opening, revealing a young woman in a white blouse and black pencil skirt. Although her outfit was expected out of a science professor, her face was so beautiful that she actually looked good that it made the entire look go from average to model-like and the walk from the door to the podium seemed to be a runway walk with all the students serving as the audience.

 

If only they could clap, they would.

 

The professor spoke as soon as she dropped her things on the table at the podium, “Hello. I am

Kim Minju and I will be your professor this semester.”

 

“... Really pretty.” Hitomi continued as she and the others were rendered speechless by the professor, especially Yujin who could not take her eyes off the young professor.

 

Yujin had never seen such a beautiful face in her life, let alone a lecture hall in one of the creepiest buildings ever.

 

And that was how the fastest hour of Yujin’s life began.

 

 

2069. Seoul, Korea. Korean Space Agency (KSA) Headquarters

 

The group was then guided into one of the meeting rooms in the Headquarters. It seemed underwhelming compared to the lobby where all of the state-of-the-art aerospace equipment and inventions were displayed, but that was expected of a meeting room anyway.

 

That was until Kim Minju a holographic display in the middle of the table, showing what seemed to be a blueprint of a spaceship.

 

“When I watched the presentation that Hitomi gave at the conference in Japan about your new energy source, the Ahn Reactor, I was quite impressed. As the head of the research and development of the space program here in the KSA, I’m always on the lookout for innovations that we can use to advance our adventures into space.”

 

Minju pointed to the spaceship displayed in front of them, “One of these advancements is the ‘Sea Gun’, a spaceship that we’re developing to test a key concept of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Its design is now complete, but we are still lacking a stable and efficient power source that can power the spaceship to really high relativistic speeds.”

 

“And that’s where the Ahn Reactor comes in,” Yujin stated. “You need us to install the reactor to your spaceship.”

 

Minju nodded and tapped her fingers on the table top, “But that’s not all.”

 

The director heaved a huge sigh and continued, “We need someone familiar with the Ahn Reactor to pilot the ship.”

 

Yuri was the first one to react, “What are you saying? Are you telling us to send one of our employees to space?”

 

“Yes, I know it’s difficult but we need someone who is familiar with the power source. The Ahn reactor has not been tested on this scale and I do not think that any of our specialists will be able to diagnose any problems with it if ever they arise.”

 

Nako was the next to stand up, “With all due respect, Dr. Kim, but I do not think we can allow any of our employees to go through with this potentially suicidal mission. I am not even sure if there is anyone qualified for space travel in our company.”

 

“There is one,” Yujin interrupted, her voice low and serious. The tall woman stood up and walked towards Minju, her stare not leaving the director of KSA.

 

“Can you all give Dr. Kim and I a moment, please?”

 

“But Yujin,” Nako tried to plead.

 

“As the CEO of A01Z Corp, can I talk to Dr. Kim privately, please?” Yujin asserted, her stare not leaving Minju which surprised the other members of the A01Z delegation.

 

The other three members just looked at each other and eventually left the room to leave the two executives alone. The room was completely silent until Yujin spoke up again.

 

“Did you know that I designed the reactor?”

 

“You weren’t really subtle with the name, so yes. Hitomi told me about it too.”

 

“How did you know about me passing the astronaut training program?”

 

Minju smirked as she answered, “We monitor all our trainees very closely.”

 

Yujin shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that after all this time, she could not escape the net that is Kim Minju. She knew that the director was smart, but she did not think about the fact that the fox-like lady also was cunning as a fox.

 

“Then why didn’t you approach me directly?” Yujin asked.

 

“I was not sure if you would want to talk to me after everything that happened.”

 

“You’re right Dr. Kim. I wouldn’t be talking to you if I had the choice. What makes you think that you’re going to make me say yes to this outrageous mission?”

 

Minju leaned over to Yujin leaving only a couple of inches between their faces, “Because I know I had that special effect on you when you were in undergrad and seeing you stammer today when you met me in the lobby convinced me that I still have that same effect on you…

 

You still can’t say no to me, Yujinie.”

 

Yujin gulped as she felt trapped in the situation she was in. Maybe it was a wrong move to send Nako, Yuri, and Hitomi outside the room since she would not be in this situation if she did not do it, but there was a small part of Yujin that wanted this alone time with Minju. This was the greed that she once felt during her days as Kim Minju’s student. Now she was on the verge of saying yes to an outrageously dangerous mission because the person asking her to do it was Kim Minju.

 

The Kim Minju she once loved.

 

No, maybe she still loved Kim Minju.

 

Minju was right, Yujin thought. She still had that effect on her. Even though she tried her best to say no, what she managed to utter was,

 

“What concept are we testing?”

 

The smirk on Minju’s face returned as she leaned in further to whisper in the younger woman’s ear, “Your favorite concept. Time dilation.”

 

Yujin leaned back and met Minju’s eyes again. The two of them know that the damage has been done; that Yujin was still wrapped around Kim Minju’s finger. No matter how Yujin tried to fight it, she simply could not. Not that she tried really hard anyway, neither did she want to.

 

Yujin lets out a cough to clear and unsuccessfully clear the air of the tension that they created. She then met Minju’s gaze again and said,

 

“I hate you so much right now…”

 

The younger woman walked over to the hologram of the spaceship and without turning back, she asked,

 

“So what’s the plan, Minmin?”

 

 

2064. Seoul National University (SNU).

 

Yujin was a self-proclaimed nerd. She liked numbers and formulas spoke to her better than words from any work of literature. She also liked tinkering with gadgets and everyday things; once she modified her shower so that she did not need to get that perfect mix of hot and cold water for her morning bath using a discarded but working temperature sensor she found in the discard pile of her high school electronics laboratory. She also modified her dog Azzo’s collar so that it turns red when Azzo needs to go potty. This was why she went into Engineering for her undergraduate degree: she enjoyed making and innovating things. Her natural knack for these things also made her enter university two years earlier than her friends Nako, Yuri, and Hitomi.

 

This was also the reason why she hated relativity with a passion. She hated how everything was based on assumptions and theories without being able to visually see its proof aside. Sure, one can cite different research papers that say the theory makes sense, but it frustrates her to no end that she could not test it on her own.

 

But there was something about how Kim Minju explained concepts of relativity that made the abstract concept so understandable. Maybe it was her clever use of analogies, or maybe it was her broad knowledge of the subject, even if according to Hitomi, the professor is the same age as them. Maybe it was her beautiful face that always looked so fresh whenever she went through her slides and kept Yujin attentive in class.

 

Everything just seemed to make sense. Everything fell into place perfectly, and with the way things are going, Yujin is going to be the next one falling for Kim Minju.

 

“The main lesson for today is that two events that are simultaneous in one frame of reference may not be simultaneous in a frame of reference that moves relative to the original frame of reference. That sounds confusing right?” Minju asked the class, which was met with unsure nods and grunts from her students.

 

“I know. It doesn’t make any sense. But think about it this way: A person standing on the train station fiddling with her phone while waiting for the train has her own sense of position and time, which we call her frame of reference. According to this person, let’s call her Minju, she is in the center of her world and she could point everyone out based on their position and what time she saw them,

 

Now, imagine that a train moving at a speed close to the speed of light passed by and there was a person inside it who was looking out the window. Let’s call her…” The professor looked around the room looking for someone to volunteer their name, to which the students averted their gaze from except for one very entranced blue-haired student sitting at the back of the room.

 

“You with the blue-hair, what’s your name?” Minju asked.

 

Yujin was surprised by the sudden call-out by her professor. It wasn’t everyday that she got called upon by professors in class. She usually avoided eye-contact with her professors during lectures perfectly, but it was harder to do when all she did was to stare at her the whole session.

 

“A--Ahn Yujin.”

 

Minju smiled at the blue-haired girl before continuing, “Let’s say Yujin was inside the train holding two flashlights and she turned them on at the same time. According to the theory of relativity, Minju will see one of the flashlights get first before the other! That’s weird, right?” The professor then made a face that was supposed to be awestruck, but all Yujin saw was a frog caught by the headlights which she thought was the cutest sight she had seen.

 

“Similarly, if Minju the flashlights while she was standing on the platform, Yujin would see one of the lights turning on before the other. This is called the Relativity of Simultaneity: simultaneous events are different depending on who you ask. This brings up other concepts as a consequence, one of them is time dilation.”

 

The sound of an alarm rang through the lecture hall signifying that the class was over. “We will continue this lecture next week. Homework is due online before this weekend. Have a great day, everyone!”

 

As the other students packed up their bags and crowded to the exits, one student walked towards the podium with hands behind her back, cautiously approaching the professor in the middle of packing up her things like the others.

 

“Professor Kim, I have a question,” Yujin uttered out, trying to enunciate as well as she could while her whole body was shaking due to nerves.

 

“Oh, Yujin right? Did you enjoy the lecture today?”

 

“Yes, it was pretty informative. I just wanted to know if…”

 

The professor tilted her head as if urging her student to complete her thoughts, “If?”

 

“If there is a frame of reference where the two of us were the same age so I can ask you out…” Yujin added softly, trying not to stutter.

 

Minju leaned a little closer to Yujin and asked, “Pardon? I couldn’t hear you.”

 

The student was flustered by the sudden closeness between the two that she jumped back, “I’m sorry, Professor. Don’t mind me, it was a stupid question!” Yujin wore her bag on her shoulder and ran for the exits, not minding that she bumped into some of her classmates on the way.

 

Little did she know that Minju heard each word that Yujin said.

 

“You are very interesting… Ahn Yujin.”

 

 

2069. KSA Headquarters.

 

“You what now?” Nako exclaimed as Yujin told her the decision she made after talking to Minju regarding the project.

 

“I accepted her offer. We’re going to assemble the reactor and connect it to the spaceship. I think we can finish that in a month or two since they already designed where it’s going to go inside the spaceship,” Yujin said, walking down the hallway without care for the shocked faces beside her.

 

Yuri then asked, “And who’s going to pilot the ship. Don’t tell me---”

 

Yujin turned to face them and excitedly said, “I will. I’m qualified for space travel. Imagine how much positive publicity we can get if the CEO of an emerging tech company is going on a space trip to test out their invention and do an experiment while she’s there? What do you say, Hitomi, as the director for public relations of A01Z?”

 

To Yujin’s surprise, Hitomi’s expression was not the usual stoic expression she usually had. Rather, there was a sense of apprehension and uncertainty on how she looked at the younger. Hitomi then said, “Can you guys give us a minute?”

 

Nako shrugged and looked at Yuri who gave a shrug of her own, “What is with people telling us to scram today?” The two friends agreed to Hitomi’s rare request and left the other two alone in the hallway to talk.

 

Hitomi crossed her arms in front of her chest and asked, “How can you be so reckless, Yujin? You know that this mission is really dangerous. Hell, you might not even be able to come back.”

 

“They told me that all I need to do is to follow the flight plan and if everything goes smoothly, I’ll be back here in one piece. I don’t think there’s anything to be worried ab---”

 

“Was it because she was the one who asked you to do it?” Hitomi interjected, her eyes showing a glint of anger and frustration.

 

Yujin picked up on the sudden unexpected display in emotion from the Japanese woman and replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hitomi unnie.”

 

“Cut the crap, Yujin. I know what happened between you two five years ago. Nako and Yuri might be clueless, but I’m from the same department as Minju and that department is as small as it can get. Now, tell me. Did you say yes because she personally asked you to go on this space trip?”

 

Yujin could only nod in response due to the truth bomb Hitomi just dropped on her.

 

“You ing simp.”

 

 

2064. Seoul National University (SNU).

“If you recall from our discussion last week, two observers that are moving with respect to each other have a different idea about which events are simultaneous. In our example, Yujin is riding a train moving at a speed close to the speed of light while Minju is standing on a platform, stationary. Now imagine that these two people were wearing wristwatches. The theory of relativity suggests that the two watches will measure two different times; one clock is slower than the other.”

 

A collection of “oohs” and “aahs” could be heard from the class, but Minju was aware that the reaction did not mean that the students actually understood the concept.

 

She then asked, “Who do you think has the slower clock, Minju or Yujin?”

 

Murmurs and soft shouts could be heard from the students who were actively trying to discuss with their classmates about their answers. Minju could hear a variety of answers from her students from “It’s Minju because she isn’t doing anything.” and “Yujin, because she’s fast.” but no one was actually sure. She was about to say the answer when a hand shot up from the back of the classroom.

 

“Yes, Yujin?”

 

“It depends on whom you ask. Based on our readings, the one who is moving has the slower watch. If you ask Minju, Yujin is the one who’s moving so her answer would be that Yujin’s clock is slower. If you ask Yujin, then it’s Minju because to her, everything outside the train is moving.” Yujin answered with all confidence. She had read ahead by one chapter just to prepare for the moment her professor called out someone to answer a question and she was happy that it paid off.

 

Minju smiled upon hearing Yujin’s answer and started clapping, “Impressive, Yujin. Since the two people are moving relative to each other, then they would have a different sense of time. This is why understanding which events are simultaneous and which events are not. If Yujin and Minju were twins, it would beg the question ‘Who ages faster?’. If Yujin was two years younger than Minju, there might be a frame of reference that measures Yujin and Minju to be of the same age and be friends or maybe...”

 

Yujin was stunned upon hearing the off-hand comment her professor just said that alluded to what she asked the past week. She could feel her cheeks blush like all the blood in her body wanted to turn her into a tomato. She was sure that Minju told her that she did not hear anything, but the reference to ages and being friends or maybe more…

 

Stop, Yujin thought. Stop your delusions. She didn’t hear you.

 

It was a good thing that the end-of-class alarm sounded before Yujin fell into the pit of overthinking. Sh