-Chapter One Part I

Jessica looked around cluelessly, wondering where on earth is she now. One second, she’s searching for her camping club members in the forest and another second, she’s here, in a street where everyone is dressed up in ancient Joseon clothes and busy doing their own business.

Well to be honest, there was a blinding flash earlier at the forest that made her covered her eyes for a moment and bam, here she is.

“What the…“

It was as if she had just got into one of those ancient dramas on tv. There were no tall buildings around the area, only small vendors set up along the streets along with some houses and stores made from wood and stones.

Is these things even real?

“Hey you!”

A voice cut off snapped her out of her thoughts, making her turn her head to the source of it. Near a hut, stood a young woman who had a ponytail on, eyeing the brunette curiously.

“Where are you from?”

The 23 year old was a bit thrown off that she was using an old speaking dialect but nevertheless, she managed to reply her.“I-I’m from Seoul.”

“Seoul?” the stranger tilted her head to the side, as if she had never heard of the place before.  Within a blink of an eye, she hopped over to Jessica and sniffed around the latter. “Hmm, you have a weird speaking accent,” she paused for a moment before letting out a sheepish grin. “And smell good too.”

“T-Thank you?”

“Say, why don’t you come with me? You seem lost.”

“I-I’ll be fine thank you,” Jessica reluctantly rejected the young woman’s offer. One of the things that her mom taught her when she was a kid was not to go with any strangers, even though the stranger doesn’t seem to look like she’s any harm.

It’s best for her to be careful.

“Are you sure?” she raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, I’m not a bad person. There’s a lot of thugs around this area and I don’t want you to get hurt,” her eyebrows furrowed cutely, as she crossed her arms. “I’m Taeyeon by the way, Kim Taeyeon.”

“Taeyeon..” Jessica mumbled, looking at the ground as she registered the name into her head. Where have she heard that name before?

“Hey, Chief!”

A guy, a few inches taller than Taeyeon approached the two, playfully saluting the latter when he got her attention. “What are ya doing here?”

“I was visiting a friend earlier.”

“Oh i see,”  he nodded, averting his eyes to the unknown brunette standing to his chief captain. “And who might this be chief?”

“Uhm,” she took a glance of Jessica before replying non-chalantly. “A friend.”

“The one that you’re visiting? Never seen this gorgeous lady before,” he suggestively wriggled his eyebrows towards the shorter woman to which he got a smack on the head.

“To answer your question, no Kyungsoo and I know what you’re thinking when you’re doing that eyebrow thingy.”

“What? I’m just kidding alright…,”

“Tsk,” Taeyeon rolled her eyes, returning back her attention to Jessica who just stood there at the side, watching them. “Anyways stranger, I’m taking you to the palace whether you’ll like it or not,” she gently but firmly grabbed Jessica’s wrist and dragged her along the street.

Dumbfounded, Kyungsoo just trailed behind the two, having so many questions on his head after hearing what Taeyeon said to her.

It didn’t took them long to reach the palace and Jessica, stared in awe and confusion at the building in front of her.

Never once in her life had she seen a palace in real life, and all these are creeping her out.

Did she…got time wrapped into the past?

Nah, that couldn’t be. Those things only happens on tv. All these must’ve been a dream.

Yes, a dream that would go away soon.

“Hey, stranger,” Taeyeon waved her hands in front of Jessica, trying to make her snap out of her daydreaming. “You alright?”

“Can I..ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

“What year is it now?”

“Year? Oh. 1864.”

“…”

“Uhm hey, are you sure you’re okay? I could-“

Before she could even know it, the stranger collapsed right in front of her without a word.

----------

Inside the huge chamber, a beautiful young lady could be seen doing something on her working desk, her eyes focused on the paper she was holding at the moment. Something written on the paper pique her curiosity.

It was actually a report from one of the nation’s top scholars/researchers, Kwon Yuri a.k.a one of the royal family’s closest friends and the content really surprised her.

“Your majesty.”

A knock could be heard on the door, snapping her out of her work. Miyoung turned her head upon hearing the familiar voice and gave her permission to enter the chamber. As soon as the figure entered, Miyoung flashed a light smile towards her.

“What brings you here Chief?”

“There’s something that you should know your majesty.”

The young queen blankly stared at the short woman, urging her to continue. “Go on.”

“I love you.”

There was an awkward silence for a while before Taeyeon broke it off with her signature laughter. “I’m just kidding, but really though, I came here to tell you something.”

“Very funny Chief Kim,” she cast a glare, averting her eyes to the paper she was holding once again. “What is it?”

“I stumbled upon a weird woman earlier.”

“So?”

“She’s not just some whacko your majesty, she dressed up very differently and her accent was different too.”

“Did she say where she came from?”

“Well in fact she did, if I’m not mistaken she’s from Seoul? Don’t know where that is though,” she shrugged. “And she also asked me what year is it earlier before fainting, I wonder what was that about.”

Miyoung’s ears picked up upon hearing the last sentence. “What year is it? Could it be..?” she silently thought, widening her eyes. “Where did she say she came from again?”

“Uhm, Seoul?”

“Huh, take me to see this woman then. I need to see her.”

“Sure but she’s not talking though, she’s currently knocked out.”

“Please don’t tell me that you did something to her Chief Kim,” Miyoung slightly raised an eyebrow as she stood up from her seat, heading to the door with Taeyeon closely following behind her.

“Of course not your majesty, what do you think I am?”

“Some ert that goes to the red light district quite often. As I heard from your subordinates,” she rolled her eyes.

“W-What? Who told you that?”

“That’s confidential Chief Kim.”

----------

“Can you get Kwon Yuri for me? Tell her that her majesty is summoning her to the palace,” Choi Sooyoung, one of the officers in charge ordered the innocent looking guy standing right before her, while chewing on some buns that she bought at the market earlier.

It really is a surprise on how such a glutinous young lady like she is could stay in shape. Everyone who has ever visited or moreover, work at the palace would never fail to see her holding something to eat in her hands.

“Yes ma’a-“

“There’s no need for that Choi, I’m already here,”

A woman wearing spectacles while dressed up all casually, tapped on the tall girl’s shoulder, surprising the heck out of her.

“Oh my god Kwon, you should really stop appearing out of nowhere like that,” Sooyoung exaggeratedly clutched on her chest. “This is the 10^th time that you almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I’m pretty sure that Soonkyu will like that,” the Kwon, or preferably known as Yuri let out a small grin.

“Oh that midget will surely love seeing me die,” Sooyoung replied, having a hint of annoyance in her tone. She and General Lee had never gotten along that well, especially after the little ‘incident’ that happened between the two. “Enough talking about her, her majesty wanted to see you.”

“What for?”

“Don’t know, she’s with Taeyeon right now, I think they’re seeing someone in one of the guest rooms.”

“Alright then, see ya around Choi,” Yuri cooly saluted towards her before taking off, heading to the guest rooms area. She never fail to greet the courtmaids with a smile, looking as friendly as always.

It’s not a wonder on why everyone in the palace is fond of her, including the queen herself.

Yuri finally reached the room at the end of the hall, knocking on the door before entering. “What do you need me for your majesty?”

Both pair of eyes in the room turned to look at the nicely tanned woman standing near the door. “Seems like you’re right after all Yuri,” Miyoung pointed towards the sleeping beauty who’s passed out on the bed. “She’s the evidence.”

Catching on almost immediately on what the queen was trying to say, Yuri lifted her eyebrows in amusement. “Ah, really?”

“…Now what are you two talking about?” Taeyeon, feeling a bit left out pouted cutely.

Such an uncommon sight of the short captain to be honest but her question soon got answered by Yuri, who seem unfazed by anything.

“Time travel Tae.”

-TBC-