This is the part of the story where anything can happen. 

Hoya and Sungyeol fall into a jacuzzi, which I bet all of you know where that leads to now. Dongwoo and Sungjong found out about Sungyeol and Myungsoo. Hoya still has no idea of Myungsoo's true identity. Myungsoo has no idea Dongwoo and Sungjong know. Dongwoo, Myungsoo, and Sungjong have no idea Hoya and Sungyeol disappeared into the hot tub abyss.

And lastly, after realizing they like each other, Sungyeol and Myungsoo get separated by the eras.

The story gets complicated, a little scientific. The cluster continues.

(((())))

"Hoya and Sungyeol aren't there anymore," Dongwoo announced, returning to the apartment after spending time searching around the apartment for the two of them.

Myungsoo and Sungjong sat anxiously on the couch. It was not the answer they wanted to hear. It was 2 o' clock in the morning, and Hoya and Sungyeol had been missing for five hours. The three of them have not received a single phone call or message from them since they separated to clean up. Sungjong twiddled his fingers and swayed back and forth, running worst-case scenarios through his mind. "Do you think Hoya and Sungyeol got... kidnapped or something?"

"Should we call the police now? We don't have to wait for anything."

"What if they went to the bar or something after?" Sungjong rubbed his forehead with the remote control, stretching his legs out onto the coffee table for comfort. "I don't think anything THAT bad happened to them... and this means we have to call my mom, and I don't want to deal with that."

"It's better to assume the worst and get proper help than assume the best and ignore all chances of finding them." Once again, Dongwoo became the voice of reason.

The Crown Prince sat quietly on the couch, his back straightened and a face filled concern. He did not know more than what was said in Dongwoo and Sungjong's conversations. Sungyeol had been apart from Myungsoo many times, but not in the context of him gone missing. He understood this was something to worry about, equivalent to the few times people like Naeun or his younger brother ran away from the court. "One time my younger brother ran away from home for a day. He escaped guards around him and spent time by the river. After he was finished, he returned home safely."

"You see, it can be like that. Maybe they went karaoke or drinking. 2 o' clock is still early for nightlife," Sungjong reasoned. "I know filing a missing person report would help, but we're dealing with two adults who know what they're doing."

"Exactly. If they knew what they're doing, they would have told us they were leaving or at least invite us. This doesn't seem normal," Dongwoo argued. "They wouldn't worry us."

It was a damper on everyone. Sungjong had never felt so stressed within the past few months. After a small argument with his brother, he goes missing. Sungjong believed the reason Sungyeol was missing was because he might still be upset, and went to talk to Hoya for advice. "I think they're fine, Dongwoo. Sungyeol probably needed space away from me after earlier. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still a little confused."

"What?" Myungsoo had no idea what was going on.

"Nothing." Sungjong continued rubbing his forehead with the remote control. "I think we can sleep for the night. They should be back by the time we wake up."

(((())))

The well water bubbled up.

It was all centered in the middle, the waves growing bigger and overflowing out of the well. More bubbles fizzled on the top, and the movement went all over the place. Two figures appeared from under the well, their shadows colliding together from underwater.

All of a sudden, two people emerged from the water, holding onto each other and gasping for air. These people were no other than Hoya and Sungyeol, who coughed up water and struggled to keep afloat. Sungyeol grabbed onto the edge of the well and pulled himself up with Hoya holding right onto his waist. Hoya helped push Sungyeol over the ledge, grabbing onto his and violating his parts. Sungyeol fell over the ledge and landed straight right on his face, Hoya hoisting himself up on his own and landing on his shoulder. 

The two landed in the same well Myungsoo travelled in, located in the middle of an eerie forest. At this time, the full moon was replaced by the sunrise, marking the beginning of the longest day of their lives. Hoya helped Sungyeol back up, brushing dirt and bark off his face.

"My face," Sungyeol groaned, rubbing his cheeks to heal the pain.

"My head hurts." Hoya rubbed his eyes after to adjust to the light, blinking multiple times to clear his vision. "Wait, what the..."

Hoya and Sungyeol looked up, realizing they were not sitting on the edge of the jacuzzi or anywhere remotely close to their apartment. 

"Where are we?" Hoya flicked his wrist and dug his nails into his arm, snapping out of his hallucination and dream-like sequence. The last thing Hoya remembered was falling into the jacuzzi with a chair on top of him.

Sungyeol was confused himself, unable to recognize anything around him. "What is going on..." he turned around to check out his surroundings. A brick well, many trees around him, and no civilization in sight. "Am I dreaming?"

"God, my back hurts from body slamming into that jacuzzi..."

Sungyeol's face froze.

"Wait..." Sungyeol's throat turned dry. "Did you say, jacuzzi?"

"Yeah. I fell in the jacuzzi."

Sungyeol finally remembered the last thing he did, which was going into the jacuzzi to help Hoya out of it.

A well, an infinite forest, an apartment nowhere in sight. This can only mean one thing.

"NO!" Sungyeol screamed, horrified by the situation. Pulling on his hair, Sungyeol closed his eyes and hoped by the time he opened them back up he would return back to his apartment. Or at least a Starbucks. "NO!" 

"Wait, what's going on?!" Hoya had never been so confused.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Sungyeol ferociously kicked a tree and attempted pulling all the hair out of his head, twirling kicks like a ballerina and cackling like a hyena. "NO! JUST, NO!"

"NO, WHAT?!" Hoya reached out to calm Sungyeol down and barely grazed his shoulder.

Sungyeol jolted and pushed his cousin's hand back. "NO!" Sungyeol cried, pointing at Hoya and shaking his head. Sungyeol's body grew weak, his rosy cheeks turned pale. He had to reverse the times, he had to go back. The only option he had was to go back into the well and pray to the heavens he would get back to 2014. Sungyeol collapsed towards the well, crawling back inside and leaped like a cannonball to get back into the water.

"Sungyeol, what the hell is wrong with you!"

Sungyeol resurfaced, gasping for air and splashing the water all around. We was still in the brick well. The ice cold water sent shivers down his spine, the discomforting feeling of frostbite and being in the Joseon Dynasty close to giving him a heart attack. Sungyeol opened his mouth, wailing without any audible words coming out. What else was there for Sungyeol to say? After two months and many failed attempts on shipping Myungsoo back home, all of a sudden Sungyeol left his own. 

He took on Kim Myungsoo's story in the 15th century.

Except instead of the Crown Prince of the House of Kim, he was the Mediocre Student Regular of Starbucks.

"NO!" was the only word Sungyeol knew. He climbed out of the well and kicked the bricks one more time for good measure, delirious and in desperate need of a cup of coffee. Sungyeol spun around in circles, reenacting the Sound of Music except in a much more sadder portrayal. Sungyeol continued crying as Hoya watched him with judgmental eyes and crossed arms. Hoya was puzzled himself, but Sungyeol's mental breakdown was enough to distract Hoya from trying to figure out why they were in a forest in the first place.

After one final twirl, Sungyeol grabbed onto his shirt and stumbled forward. "NO!" Sungyeol moaned, running away from Hoya.

"SUNGYEOL, WHAT THE HELL!"

Hoya chased after his cousin, who was slamming into trees back and forth like a pinball machine. The pain from branches and rough bark was not enough to mask Sungyeol's pain that he had no idea when he was getting back to the 21st century.

(((())))

Sunday afternoon, and Hoya and Sungyeol never returned home.

Dongwoo, Myungsoo, and Sungjong sat at the dining table in silence, debating how to handle the situation. A bucket of Wicked Chicken practically untouched, with Myungsoo taking single bites every ten minutes. Much time had passed, and the boys lost a lot of energy thinking about them.

Sungjong swirled his tongue in his mouth, poking his cheeks and on the verge of a mental breakdown. He knew his assumptions about Sungyeol's relationship could have hit an uncomfortable chord, but Sungjong expected him to be home by now.

Dongwoo blamed himself for not taking initiative to call the police when he suspected something. He stayed positive that maybe they were still out, even though everything was suspicious.

Myungsoo hoped for Sungyeol to return home safely. Sungyeol always told him where he would go and the estimated time he would come back, so Myungsoo worried that something happened to him along the way. He barely talked to him the day before, and now Sungyeol had gone missing.

"Let's call the police now," Sungjong finally decided, regretfully taking out his phone that it had to come to this.

Dongwoo nodded solemnly, gaining a little appetite to pick up a piece of popcorn chicken. "What are you going to tell them?"

Sungjong shrugged, grabbing the piece of chicken out of Dongwoo's hand before he could eat it and placing it on his tongue. "I don't know," he muffled.

Dongwoo grunted, grabbing another piece for himself.

"How does this work?" Myungsoo asked.

"I'm gonna call the police, and we tell them everything that happened leading up to now," Sungjong explained, gulping down his piece. "Dongwoo, can you repeat to me everything that happened?"

"Let's see, it was 11 o' clock in the evening when we realized Hoya and Sungyeol were gone for a while. Tell them we split up to clean the apartment, and they went down to the pool," Dongwoo started.

"Ok."

"After being gone for some time, I went downstairs first to check up on them. They were gone."

"Alright."

"All the chairs looked fine and the grill was cleaned. There were no traces of their clothing or personal items anywhere. One chair was knocked over and hanging on the side of the jacuzzi, but other than that everything was ok. After, I went upstairs and that was when we figured they went to-"

"Wait." A lightbulb over Sungjong's head as he tried putting something together. "Repeat the last thing you said."

"I went back upstairs after I didn't find them and-"

"No, before that."

"I didn't see any of their belongings-"

"After that."

Dongwoo had trouble pinpointing what Sungjong wanted. "A chair was by the side of the jacuzzi-"

"There, say that again."

"One of the chairs was hanging on the side of the jacuzzi."

"And you said it was knocked over?"

"Yes."

An uneasy feeling hovered over Sungjong. "Please repeat that one more time."

"A lounge chair was hanging on its side."

Sungjong cracked his knuckles, his eye twitching as he connected the story together. Myungsoo noticed Sungjong acting strangely. "Are you ok?" the prince asked.

"No, I'm not... Dongwoo, the first time you saw the jacuzzi area, was the area really wet?"

"Kind of. The chair was wet as well..." Dongwoo stopped talking, his hands shaking upon understanding where Sungjong was taking him. "The chair was wet, the chair was hanging off the jacuzzi, everything was out of place but the jacuzzi..." Dongwoo covered his mouth. "Oh ."

Dongwoo pushed his chair backwards and stormed off straight towards the door. Sungjong followed suit, pulling on Myungsoo's arm to drag him along.

(((())))

"No, no, no, no, no, no..."

Sungyeol continued denying reality as he stomped his way out of the forest. Sungyeol swung his hands, punching every tree in his way in hopes of knocking them completely over.

Hoya followed closely behind without saying a word. After an hour long walk of complaining and trying to stop his cousin, Hoya instead kept to himself and contemplated what this all meant. "Man, stupid phone..." Hoya's phone drowned during their travel into the well, and he stared at the thing wishing it could magically dry up and turn on. "I need some rice for this... ok seriously Sungyeol, I'm probably as confused as you are .Where are we and where are you going right now? Am I unconscious right now? Did that chair hit me in the head really hard? Am I dreaming?!"

Still no response from Sungyeol.

"Sungyeol! Talk to me!"

Sungyeol moved one final branch away and reached the end of the forest, pushing through to an open, dirt path. The road was rugged, naturally paved from footsteps, animal steps, and skinny wheels. Tall grass and wildflowers grew along the path, varying in size and color. Patches of feathery blue could be seen through overcast skies, but even with clouds the air was hot. Sungyeol wiped the sweat off his forehead, dripping down from walking and frustration. He turned to Hoya biting his lip, continuing to keep his cousin out of the dark.

"How did we get here?" Hoya's eyes widened, scanning the area for Sungyeol's apartment in the distance, or at least a Lotte. The back of Hoya's head started pulsing. His dream was more than exhausting. "Why aren't I waking up..."

Sungyeol strayed off before Hoya could even notice, walking along the pathway. Hoya tripped forward to catch up to Sungyeol, who dragged on like a zombie. It was a new journey, and Hoya hoped Sungyeol's antics were coming to an end. Sungyeol showed no signs of stopping even though he was exhausted. Coming up from behind them was a single person riding a horse, sporting a blue hanbok over a white undergarment. The person wore a black headress to shield his eyes from the daylight. Hoya and Sungyeol watched as the rider looked back at them as he passed, the person raising his eyebrow like he had never seen outfits like theirs before.

Which was true.

Sungyeol wore cut-off jeans with a white button-up shirt, and Hoya wore a black tanktop with blue jeans. 

"Why is he wearing that?" Hoya's upper lip quivered, confused why someone would be wearing a holiday dress and be riding a horse on the sidewalk. "Is this still a dream? What the hell is going on?"

Hoya walked until he went into Sungyeol's shoulders, who finally stopped after all this time. Hoya looked up to his cousin, who was looking straight ahead of him. Hoya did the same, and his jaw dropped.

In front of him was a town center unlike they had ever seen before. The buildings were all one-story and painted white, accented with wood and protected by traditional roofing. Up ahead were several children returning to their hanoks, their mothers waiting for their arrival. Other people went about their way walking around the town, carrying fruits, vegetables, and crafted items. Everyone wore a hanbok in the same style as the previous person with his horse, ranging in different colors like black, white, red, and purple.

Hoya's eyes widened, as if he had a major blast from the past. He pinched his wrist, hoping that any moment now he would wake up from his unconscious state. "Sungyeol, why does everyone look like they came out of my 9th grade textbook?"

Sungyeol took one big gulp, the truth hitting him harder than he had ever imagined. After two hours of silences and drowned out "no"s, Sungyeol finally spoke. "Hoya, I need to tell you something."

"Wait, what?"

"Hoya, I'm gonna pull you over to the side, and you have to promise me that whatever I tell you, you will not scream or freak out."

(((())))

"Now let me get this straight. We're in the 15th century Joseon period, and that roommate of yours Myungsoo was a prince from this era, who escaped execution through that same well we came from, which is a wormhole to your hot tub, and you've been housing him for all this time because you don't know how to return him back, so you thought, 'Hey since I can't bring Myungsoo back, I might as well go back to his home MYSELF', prance around, pip pip cheerio, and you decide to TAKE ME WITH YOU, AND NOW I'M IN THE 1400s?!"

Hoya's hands wrapped against Sungyeol's neck, pushing him against a stone wall. 

"...NOT EXACTLY," Sungyeol coughed.

"I have to go back to school! You have to go back to school! What the hell are people gonna do when we're missing? What will our parents say?! HOW ARE WE GONNA GET BACK?!" 

"I DON'T KNOW YET!" Sungyeol held onto Hoya's shoulders to try and bargain back his breathing. "This is what I've been trying to figure out this entire time. The questions, the wormhole, the research. Remember that one night we talked? It was all for this!"

"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

"Do you expect me to tell every person I meet that the Crown Prince of the House of Kim is living in my goddamn apartment?!"

"Punch me right now."

"What!"

"I'm tired of this dream! Ok, can I wake up now?" Hoya let go of Sungyeol's neck and crossed his arms, pacing back and forth.

Sungyeol held his neck, gasping for air and trying to explain himself more. "Hoya, please calm down."

"DON'T YOU GO TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN! My life is ruined! Your life is ruined! Sungjong will have no idea what the hell happened to us! Everything will think we're dead!"

"I know, but we just have to stop yelling at each other and WORK TOGETHER!" Sungyeol pulled his hair once again and slid down the wall, covering his face as he let out a scream. 

Hoya saw Sungyeol's face and quieted down for a second, looking down at his younger cousin crying in agony. It was his time to listen.

"I've been trying to figure this out for two straight months, and it's a much more difficult task than I imagined. At first I thought there was no hope for Myungsoo returning back home, but the fact that I'm here proves it can happen. I just haven't figured out that missing piece, whatever it is, where the planes align and we can travel through this quantum universe. Whatever you told me last time. I don't know yet, but I think we can figure this out together and time travel back home."

Sungyeol continued covering his face as Hoya took a seat on the dirt ground next to him. Sungyeol had never been so distressed, crying harder than his first break-up. The last thing he needed was a hard time. "What do we do now?" Hoya asked.

Sungyeol wiped his nose. "We... we need to lay low. We should buy new clothes or something... maybe find an inn to stay. Rest up and eat, and tomorrow we start solving this mystery."

"Ok." Hoya was obedient, cautious around Sungyeol's tempermental self. "We'll do that. We'll be fine."

(((())))

"No..." Dongwoo slapped his forehead in disbelief. "Would they really-"

Dongwoo, Myungsoo, and Sungjong hovered over the jacuzzi, where the lounge chair was still out of place and now floating on top of the water. Any other person would consider Hoya and Sungyeol missing, but the three of them knew exactly what happened.

"Myungsoo, go ahead and try," Sungjong ordered.

Myungsoo nodded, stepping down into the jacuzzi wearing Sungyeol's basketball shorts and his Korea University t-shirt. Sungjong wanted Myungsoo to attempt going back to the Joseon, especially after discovering Hoya and Sungyeol did so themselves. Myungsoo held his breath and pinched his nose, dipping his head right under the water. After submerging his head for about ten seconds, Myungsoo floated back up and gasped for air. Dongwoo and Sungjong were still standing right on the edge. 

"It didn't work," Sungjong grumbled, developing a headache from this whole nightmare.

"Hoya and Sungyeol actually returned to my home?" Myungsoo interrupted. His whole jaw dropped, because after multiple attempts getting back, it was Sungyeol who would be the one to travel back in time. Everything became much more complicated.

Sungjong had enough of everything. No person had ever given him more anxiety than Kim Myungsoo and his unintentional everything. "What are we going to do? I don't have any ing clue. I can't exactly tell my mom that my brother is missing because he time travelled to a different dimension."

Dongwoo cleared his throat. "But what if he doesn't come-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Sungjong demanded, pointing a finger at Dongwoo's chest. "We need to make due for now. What's good about this is Sungyeol's not alone. He has Hoya, so at least he's not a lonely idiot."

"Do you think the three of us can figure out on our own how the hot tub time machine works?"

"I sure hope so."

"Hoya and Sungyeol have school. Are they just gonna be gone until further notice without explanation?"

"I have Hoya's roommate's number. I can call him and say Hoya broke his leg or something, which buys us a week."

"Sungyeol has a midterm," Myungsoo announced.

Dongwoo and Sungjong looked at the prince, who voiced a different kind of concern to the group.

"Sungyeol has a test about myself, and he needs to pass this test to bring up his History 31 grade. I think he also has an essay due in one month and a quiz next week."

"If they don't come back soon, their grades are done for," Dongwoo realized, sliding his hand down his face with his fingers flicking his lips. The situation was hairy, and it seemed to be getting worse for both sides. "Sungyeol we can deal with, but Hoya is from Busan. Are we just gonna call his roommate and tell him his injury makes him physically incapable of returning to university for a while?"

Dongwoo and Myungsoo turned to Sungjong, as if he was the decider for everything. Sungjong's upper lip quivered, almost repulsed by the idea that he had to be the hero because he was the one related to Hoya and Sungyeol. Sungjong needed to take responsibility, to create a game plan.

Sungjong didn't want to do that.

"Oh my ."

((((())))

Blending into the Joseon era was a much more difficult plan than Hoya and Sungyeol expected.

To blend in, the two needed to buy clothes and shoes to fit the year. The buy clothes and shoes, the two needed money. 

Hoya and Sungyeol had won and credit cards in their wallets, which were both nonexistent during the period.

"I don't think people here like us," Hoya whispered into Sungyeol's ear.

Merchants, artisans, and villagers alike observed Hoya and Sungyeol's outfits as well as their mannerisms. The two wore wrinkled and half-wet clothing that exposed different body parts, as well as different haircuts they had never seen before. On top of that, Hoya and Sungyeol spread their legs apart during their standing posture, prone to slouching while leaning against walls and tables. It was everything Myungsoo forbade when he first arrived in 2014, and Sungyeol is seeing firsthand that Myungsoo's judgement did not just come out of his .

"Tell me about it," Sungyeol lamented.

Hoya and Sungyeol approached a stand offering free fruit. It was a small but necessary step to getting their reigns together in the 1400s. Sungyeol led the conversation with the merchant, an older male who looked like he farmed the fruits himself.

"Hello, can I have this?" Sungyeol pointed to a yellow fruit on the table that looked like a mix of a pear and a melon. Everything was quite foreign to him, even though he was in his own country.

The merchant gave him a dirty look for his improper speech and his clothing, assuming Sungyeol was a burglar. He kept quiet, and more people gathered around to watch Hoya and Sungyeol order fruit.

"Is this fruit available? Can I have this? It is free, correct?"

The merchant continued keeping silent, shaking his head at Sungyeol.

"Is something wrong?" Hoya asked Sungyeol. "Maybe you have to say the fruit by its name instead of pointing to it. Can't you recognize it?"

"Not really," Sungyeol shrugged. "I slept through my history class about native fruits and vegetables of Korea."

"The two of you, leave my stall!" the merchant demanded, having enough of Hoya and Sungyeol's improper speech and pointing for them to move way away from him.

"I don't mean to cause any harm!" Sungyeol fought back, his exhaustion and hunger getting to him. "I don't have money, and your stall said you had free fruit!"

"Get out of here! You rebels, you dirty mongers. You have no respect."

"Excuse me, I didn't mean to do anything but order some damn fruit!" Sungyeol's cheeks turned red as he raised his voice.

"Sungyeol, we're not blending in anymore!" Hoya pointed out to the crowd around him, curious why these two Koreans were dressed in this manner and speaking to an elder informally. All eyes were on them, and it made Hoya uncomfortable. "Let's just leave, we'll find food another way."

"We might as well," Sungyeol gave up and rolled his eyes. "Nevermind this guy."

At this moment, two royal guards ran over to check out the commotion, grabbing onto Hoya and Sungyeol's arms on suspicion of foreign invasion. Especially with their outfits, the royal guards assumed the two of them as terrorists.

"Excuse me, let go of me!" Hoya was startled, trying to resist arrest.

"The two of you are under arrest for harrassment," one of the guards announced, pulling on Sungyeol's shirt.

"No, there is a misunderstanding. All we wanted was some fruit!" Sungyeol begged, shoving the guard right into his stomach.

It was clearly not the best way to blend into the Joseon dynasty. 

"Tell that to the king," the guards declared.

(((())))

Professor Lee arrived 10 minutes before the start of class to pass out exams for History 31. All students walked to the front of the desk to pick up a test before taking their places at their seats. Students who had never attended class before were finally present for this momentous occasion of standardized multiple choice questions and unreasonably long essays.

Some people were prepared. Woohyun kept a single capsule of lead for his pencils right in front of him, as well as a newly bought eraser. The test was right in front of him, flipped over until the appropriate time.

The class was nearly settled, and the clock almost struck the top of the hour to begin the midterm.

The doors flung open for one final student.

Heads turned in curiosity who it could be.

A tall, skinny student runs down the stairs gripping the straps of his blue backpack. The student dressed in brown shorts, a gray hooded sweatshirt, and a baseball cap with the name "Korea" in red placed low enough to shield his eyes. Professor Lee picked up a test for the final student and passed it to him. With a respectful 90 degree bow, the student retreated to the back of the classroom.

"Some people can't be punctual," Woohyun rolled his eyes.

The student took the second-to-last seat in the last row, cramped up by his neighbors taking the test. He dropped his backpack to the floor and took out a pencil on the side pocket.

"You may begin."

Papers folded over as students took their test.

The capped student held his head high and began to write. His hand was shaky. He had never used a pencil before, only watching people around him write in class or back at the apartment. The sharp, uneven piece of lead made writing difficult, and his grip adjusted in each . He was slow to adjusting to the hand posture, but kept his hand as steady as possible to write down his name:

Lee Sungyeol.

(((())))

Eight guards escorted Hoya and Sungyeol to the middle of the town center.

After the market altercation, more guards surrounded Hoya and Sungyeol for their arrest. Four people carried one person each and dropped them right into a courtyard where the whole village can view the spectacle. Hoya and Sungyeol struggled to escape, wanting to abide by the royal guards' rules but fearing their death before they could even make it back to 2014.

The guards dropped Hoya and Sungyeol right next to a wooden post, creating a large dust cloud over them. Sungyeol coughed profusely, hacking out spit and struggling to maintain composure. The two of them had no idea what would happen next, but they felt disrespected after all they wanted was fruit.

The crowd surrounded the scene, curious what these two hoodlums were up to. The sea of people separated to create a walkway for someone to step forward. This person bore an ornate, red and gold hanbok, accented with a black, threaded emblem crest on the front. Each step was like he was stepping on a soft pillow, not a single footstep heard and made no sound upon his arrival. He wore a tall black hat, curved on the top.

"Who is this guy?" Hoya asked.

Sungyeol's eyes widened, recognizing the type of pattern on his hanbok and the type of crown he wore. This is the king. "This... this... this..." Sungyeol stammered.

The King appeared right in front of Hoya and Sungyeol, who were still sitting on the ground. The King raised his head, his eyes glinting from the daylight. The crowds stared in awe at their King standing right before the rebels, waiting to see what happens next. "Please stand before me," the King ordered.

Hoya and Sungyeol pushed themslves off the floor, respectfully standing up with a straightened back and proper posture for royalty. Hoya worried for his life, praying that everything goes well and he is not thrown into a dungeon for simply wanting fruit.

Sungyeol felt the same way, but was awestruck by standing in front of a real royal figure of the Joseon era. As much as Sungyeol slacked on school, he was still fully aware of the country's previous rulers. He knew exactly who he was standing before as his insides melted. 

King Bang Sok.

"King Bang Sok requests cooperation for the incident of the fruit stall that occurred recently," one of the guards announced. "Please state your business kindly in our nation."

Hoya and Sungyeol were both Korean, but it was interesting to see themselves treated like scum in their own country because of their appearance and attitudes. 600 years make a difference.

The two kept silent.

"I order the both of you to speak right now."

Sweat dripped the back of Hoya's neck as he panicked, his heart racing and beating out of his chest for something to happen. "Can't you like, I don't know, throw some history jargon out there?" he mumbled.

"Wh... What?" Sungyeol stammered.

"You're the history major. You should know how to act..."

Never did Sungyeol think he would ever be bestowed in the presence of a ruling king of the Joseon dynasty. Sungeol was almost starstruck, having forgotten everything about the well and knowing he doesn't belong there. Even in the middle of the town center, right in front of the crowd, this was a chance for him to make his own little piece of history. He had one moment to impress. No one in this town knew who Hoya and Sungyeol were, and now was the time Sungyeol could make a name for himself that he never thought he could back in 2014.

Sungyeol took a step forward and lifted his chin high. Seize the day.

"Jusang, his Majesty, King Bang Sok. My name is Lee Sungyeol, born of the House of Lee family and son of Lee... Chanhoo, descendant of Lee Changmin."

The crowed gasped upon finding out the two were descendants of the House of Lee.

"Lee Changmin! I believed he only had daughters." King Bang Sok was shocked by the revelation.

"This is Lee Howon, my brother and also the son of Lee Chanhoo. The reason you do not know about us is because Lee Chanhoo, our father, was conceived out of wedlock. We are bastard children who accept our fate and know our place. We do not belong here, but we arrive in Seoul for a reason. We come from the farthest edge of Korea to spread the good news of our most recent journey across the waters, discovering new lands to grow our nation."

It was one of the most elaborate lies Sungyeol could think of.

"Across the waters, to Japan?" King Bang Sok clarified. "My late brother made a trip some time ago."

"Not to Japan, Jusang." Sungyeol coughed, thinking up another lie. "Lee Chanhoo's relation to Lee Changmin was kept in secret for many years, and you only discover this now because we are present. We do not dress like the commoners here because we have visited a new nation and have taken some of their culture with us. After..."

"Years..." Hoya started playing along.

"Years... we finish our journey from the most beautiful land we had ever seen..."

"We have this!" Hoya reached into his pocket to display his fried up cell phone in front of the crowds.

Everyone took a step back, frightened by what that was.

"Do not be afraid, your Majesty," Sungyeol reassured. "This invention will help improve communication with other nations. It is not meant to harm physically."

King Bang Sok was enamored by the contraption, never seeing anything like it in its life.

"We will not harm you! We come here because we want to unite our nation from every corner of Korea. These inventions will help the state of our nation as we rise together, the Lee brothers. For after many years, we present these gifts from the wonderful nation of... uhh..."

Hoya took one step forward and spoke with much grandeur. "Sweden."

"Swee-dong?" King Bang Sok pronounced.

"Sweden?!" Sungyeol exclaimed, scratching his head at how historically inaccurate this escalated. You could've said China, the Philippines, Russia, even Australia, but you chose Sweden!

"Yes, his Majesty," Hoya lowered his head and bowed with his forehead touching the floor for respect. "Sweden."

"Uhh... what..." Sungyeol saw that the whole royal court was buying this gag, so Sungyeol followed suit and bowed in the same manner. "We come with gifts from the most gracious land of Sweden."