Luhan blinked. “You mean I’ll become a time god, too?”

          “No, you stupid human. I’m saying that you can request to me to stop or resume time whenever you need. It comes in handy. See, the first thing you need to do is find out how Haerin died. How do you find that out? Restricted documents. Confidential files. Do you think a mere 18 year old boy could get access to those files? No. Not unless time stops and the people don’t know. Make sense? Well,” the Timekeeper chuckled dryly, “your time will be stopped for the one week straight. That way, Haerin’s time will overlap with yours within one week. It’s stopped right now. But if you need to resume time…for a reason I can’t think of now, then I’ll do it for you.”

          “Yeah…okay…now explain the pen and address thingy. And the week – why one week?”

          The Timekeeper sighed as he rubbed his forehead. “You really are dumb, aren’t you?”

          Luhan scowled at him. “You know, for your information, I’m one of the top three students at –”

          “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” the Timekeeper waved a hand at Luhan in annoyance. “The pen will be what you will write with when writing letters to Haemin.”

          “Haerin,” Luhan corrected.

          “Do I look like I care? You see, if you write your letters with a normal pen, and you send them to the address – the place where Hyeri –”

          “Haerin,” Luhan said through gritted teeth.

          “– lives at, the ink won’t show up,” the Timekeeper continued, as if he had never been interrupted. “But with this pen,” the Timekeeper pulled out an old-fashioned, golden ballpoint pen, “the ink will remain on the pages, no matter when you send it to. 1900s, 1400s, 3000s, any time. Lastly, one week. Do you really not get why I’m giving you one week?”

          Luhan rethought about it, but couldn’t find an answer, so he shook his head cautiously.

          The Timekeeper sighed. “Humans are so dense. You imbecile, how much is the past Haerin’s time behind?”

          Then it clicked. Luhan came to realization. “One week!” he exclaimed joyously.

          “Exactly, you unintelligent sloth! While you perform your mission, your time will be on pause, while Haerin’s continues. In a week, Haerin’s time will overlap with yours. That’s when you’ll be able to interact with Haerin – in person.”

          Luhan grinned foolishly at that. Just one week, and he’ll be able to meet Haerin again. He couldn’t be any happier. But then something struck him. “Wait, why are you helping me?”

          “I owe you a favor. I told you, remember?” the Timekeeper said, playing it cool. “For making that mistake, I’m giving you this one chance to recompense.”

          “Oh. Oh yeah. Okay.”

          “To make this all work, we need a few rules,” the Timekeeper said. “First, you will call me ‘Tao’. Just in case we have to resume time. You should get used to calling me with my – human name. Speaking of names, what’s yours?”

          “Luhan.”

          “Lulu. Okay, great –”

          “No, it’s Luhan.”

          Tao frowned. “Exactly. Lulu. Anyways, Lulu” – Luhan rolled his eyes here – “you need to find out about how Haerin died in order to save her. And, I’m telling you, it wasn’t a natural death. She didn’t die by age.”

          Luhan’s eyes widened. “Was she murdered?!”

          Tao shrugged, despite knowing the answer. “I don’t know. That’s for you to find out. When your time and Haerin’s time overlaps, you’ll have your chance to save her.”

          “Wait a minute,” Luhan said, putting up his hands as if that would stop Tao’s words from flowing, and it did. “Can’t I just go over to her house and save her?”

          “We’re at her house now, you dumb cowbell.”

          Luhan clenched his fists as the insult, and Tao smirked amusedly. Luhan just sighed and let it go. Cooperate, cooperate… “Why can’t I see her?”

          “Different times. The people from the future aren’t allowed to see the people from the past. Speaking of which, if you coincidentally meet Haerin in the streets or something, you won’t be able to approach her, and she won’t be able to see her. There will be a barrier that keeps you from doing so. It isn’t tangible, so give up on trying to break it. It’s impossible. The force itself that creates the barrier cannot be broken, as it is supernatural and untouchable. Make sense?”

          “Not really. You’re talking fantasy and bull but yeah, sort of.”

          Tao chose to ignore that. They had to get a move on. He was excited to see everything unfold and happen. He couldn’t wait for the fascinating ending he had in mind. He controlled this story, their fate. The power he had was so great, he couldn’t help but toy around with it. Not for long, though. No. Their story ends in one week. “The third thing is, you’re going to have an assistant. Well, I’ll be sharing my assistant.”

          “Who?”

          Tao snapped his fingers and instantly, a boy with brown hair appeared out of nowhere and landed on the ground, lying on his stomach. Luhan instantly backed up and immediately went into a standard defense position, with his hands up, but realized that the boy was harmless. That is, until the boy stood up, and Luhan saw how tall he was.

          The boy rubbed the back of his neck. “Keeper, did you really have to do that? Geez…”

          “Chanyeol, meet Lulu.”

          Chanyeol glanced at Luhan and cheerfully brightened, and smiled, showing about twenty teeth. He greeted him, “Hi, I’m Chanyeol! Nice to meet you, Lulu.”

          “It’s Luhan,” Luhan corrected, shooting a glare at Tao.

          “Oh, okay. Well, I’m a really cool delivery person. I can go travel through time to transport materials such as letters or boxes of goods, to someone in another time. Oh, and, I can move around, just like you and the Timekeeper whether time is playing or has stopped. Yeah?”

          “Sure. Okay. Great.”

          Chanyeol scowled a bit. “Well someone’s not in a good mood.”

          “Shut up, you big-eyed, million-teethed freak.”

          “Okay, blonde shorty,” Chanyeol said, keeping his cool. But Luhan’s eyes widened as he glared at Chanyeol, who burst out laughing. “Your expression’s priceless, blonde shorty!”

          “You –”

          “Rest up, Luhan. Write your letter tomorrow. Get to sleep and we’ll start our work tomorrow,” Tao said, stopping their pointless, childish argument. He had a feeling he was going to be hearing a lot more from the two kids. “You too, Chanyeol.”

          “Wait, where?” Luhan queried. “Where, where – hey, I’m talking to you, don’t walk away from me! Oi, teeth freak! Hey!”

          Tao and Chanyeol vanished on the spot and all that was left was a faint wisp of gray smoke, and Luhan was left alone again. He let his outstretched arm drop to his side, feeling numb. Time stopped. I can do whatever I want. I’ll sleep in Haerin’s house…that’s not too bad, is it? I won’t go through her closet or anything, just…get to know her more… Determined to meet her in one week with a better face and a more direct approach, Luhan quietly enters the house with the broken door. He wondered why it was broken. Putting that question aside, he walked into the little house and begins his exploration.

          Elsewhere, Tao and Chanyeol arrived at their own specific destination. The Timekeeper sent Chanyeol away to get the copies of Haerin’s death files first, just so he had the upper hand. He wanted to predict Luhan’s reaction to it. The Timekeeper, now known as Tao, smirked in fretful anticipation. His sinister thoughts crawled forward and dominated his mind. Let the game begin.

A/N: A whole lot of explaining! I hope you liked it nonetheless ^^;; Do you guys like the new poster? I think it's super fitting! Check the foreword for the link to the shop if you want one. It's awesome, isn't it? Anyways, that's Tao's role. And..well, Chanyeol's too amazing to not be put as the "really cool delivery person". LOOL

-deardeerhan