The girl bowed with what she deemed to be good enough as she thanked the loaders. The truck sped away and she turned to her house in time to see the mailbox door flapping about.

Her brows furrowed and a shiver ran down her spine, suddenly feeling rather cold under the scorching sun. Approaching the mailbox with tentative steps, she pulled the lid and found a single white envelope resting inside. Out of sheer curiosity, she took it out of the box, eyes immediately settled on the words written across the front. If she had read it right, the letter was, apparently, addressed to the next tenant. Shrugging, she pulled the flag down and walked into her still bare house while her hands fumbled on the envelope. The smell of fresh paint hit her nose the moment she stepped inside and her scrunched up.

She threw the envelope haphazardly among the stacks of unopened boxes upon boxes, demanding for her undivided attention. The girl sighed. The boxes were not going to empty themselves, she thought, might as well start unpacking.

It had long past noon; the sun had disappeared below the horizon, when the living room was finally emptied of boxes, stacks of neatly folded boxes resting at one corner of the room. The girl slumped on the two-seat couch and a sigh of contentment escaped her lips.

Just then her stomach groaned and Soojung moaned. As she searched for her bag, her eyes landed on that particular envelope that had been placed atop of the coffee table in between unboxing and unpacking her things.

Taking her bag from across the room and the envelope along the way, she settled back on the couch. Rummaging through the bag, she easily found her phone. With a swipe, it was unlock and Soojung opened a tab to search for a Chinese restaurant because black bean noodles sounded good all of a sudden. She opened one randomly and easily found the contact number. Putting in the numbers, she dialled and the line went through after the fourth ring. The girl cleared .

“Hello, how may I help you?” The words sounded foreign in her ears but she understood it as question that much she knew.

She cleared again. “Hello,” she greeted back, the word rolling out of her tongue strangely then proceed to recite the names of the food she desired, followed by her address. The call ended with a thank you and she sighed. The girl made a mental note to buy dictionaries and probably some other useful guidebooks.

Jung Soojung was twenty-seven but she felt like five all of a sudden.

As she waited for her food, her eyes settled on the unopened envelope again before deciding to just end her silly curiosity by tearing one side of the envelope, taking out the piece of paper. 15th May 2005, the date read.

Was it possible for a paper that was written ages ago to look brand new?

Nevertheless, she continued reading.

안녕하새요,

She pronounced the word slowly, practicing it over and over until the word rolled easily on her tongue. A triumphant smile graced her lips but it was short-lived as her eyes followed down to the words that followed, her brain shutting off instantly.

The sea of Hangul letters written neatly in blue had her eyes squinted, almost dizzy. Talking was one thing and reading Korean words was another. Every word was like some sort of code she needed to decipher. There were probably two or three words that she could understand but that were it.

Before she could strain her brain more, though, there was a buzzed sound coming from the front. The piece of paper was instantly freed from her hold and she was at the front door in record time. Handing the money, closing the door and settling in the dining table, she finally dig in.

She didn’t know what had gotten into her but after finishing her meal, stomach full, the girl tore a blank paper off her notepad and a pen in hand, she settled herself in front of the coffee table.

15th May 2015

Biting on her pen, she stared at the paper for a good ten minutes, still bare of ink saved for the date at the right corner. The tip of the pen finally touched the sheet, a moment of deliberation passed, and two words were finally added.

Dear you,

The two words hung loosely on her lips as she thought of how to begin. Closing her eyes and breathing out, she let her hand took control.

I don’t know why I am even writing this when clearly no one is going to read it, but I decided to humour myself. Anyway, something weird happened today. The mailbox door was flapping but it wasn’t windy and clearly, I’m not bored enough to play with it. So out of curiosity, I opened the box and found a letter that, from my rusty Korean understanding, addressed to the next tenant, which leads to me writing this letter right now as a reply. Silly, I know. I didn’t even understand what the letter says (I need to work on my Korean!). That sure was a weird welcoming on my first day here, huh?

Anyway, I better stop before I call myself crazy. Writing a letter to no one in particular isn’t exactly a normal thing to do, you know.

Love, Soojung Jung.

Soojung folded the paper in half and stepped outside, bursting out into a fit of laughter upon seeing the red box standing in the front of her lawn. She sauntered to the box and pulled the lid before throwing the letter inside, pulling the flag up as she closed the lid back.

Soojung walked back in.

-

Pulling down the boot of his car, he was about to hop into the driver seat when his eyes caught the mailbox door opening by itself, the hangar making a creaking sound, before it closed again. He had closed it tightly as far as he could remember, not even the whoosh of the wind would be able to pull it open. Walking up, he pulled open the mailbox and was surprised to see the envelope that he had left mere minutes ago had gone and was replaced by a piece of paper folded in half.

Unless there was a ghost that he wasn’t aware of living in the house – replacing the paper he had left with something else as a prank – then he was certain there was no way it had been swapped. The house was, after all, located in an isolated area with about two or three other houses but each was scattered about. And as far as he knew, there were no teenagers around. The theory of invisible man too wouldn’t make any sense in this day and era.

He took the paper, the beating in his chest increasing in speed, and unfolded it. His face contorted in confusion and shocked upon seeing ABCs instead of Hangul letters. When he saw the date written at the corner, his brows furrowed. Someone must be playing a prank on him, otherwise it would be nonsense.

“It’s not funny,” he declared loudly, hoping whoever it was that had swapped the papers would show themselves.

Silence.

Eyebrows arched, Sehun stomped to his car with the paper still in hand. He threw the paper haphazardly into the passenger seat and drove away.

The car came to a halt half an hour later, in front of a semi-decent looking restaurant. Turning off the engine, his eyes landed on the piece of paper lying idle on the seat beside him. His nose flared. He still couldn’t let go of what had happened. Why people would do such a thing was beyond his understanding. Angrily, he took the paper and pocketed it before walking out.

He entered the restaurant, looking around before spotting a vacant table few feet away. After taking his seat and called out his order, he took the paper out and flipped it open. The same 15th May 2015 still blared at the corner, written in eye-blinding red. His eyes travelled down then, the wheel of his brain rotating in full force as he read. The amount of work he put back in school learning English finally paid off, he thought in triumph.

“A new tenant?” he frowned. From the looks of it, the person who wrote this letter – she – wasn’t playing a prank on him; if the similar event she wrote was anything to go by. But even if his mind wanted to trust her words, there was no logical explanation as to how a letter written ten years from the future would appear out of nowhere.

His mind was still occupied with the events that occurred that the buzzing of his phone jolted him on his seat, almost losing his grip on the wheel. Calming his erratic heart, he took his phone and flipped as he answered, “Hello?”

“Are you out? I’m outside your apartment,” the person on the other end asked.

“I am,” he answered. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

“I bought you something to eat. Have you eaten?”

One corner of his lips pulled up guiltily, his eyes instinctively moved down his shirt before looking back up.  “I—“

The expression on his face was quickly replaced with that of shock as his car jerked to a halt, merely inches away from hitting whoever it was. He leapt out the car, head wheezed in fear. A girl with long black hair stood up, dusting off her shorts and shirt.

“I’m so so sorry. Are you ok, Miss? Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked worriedly.

The girl looked up then. There was irritation marring her face but he also noticed the bloodshot eyes. “Would I be standing like this if I’m not?” yelled the girl

Sehun frowned. “I just wanted to make sure you’re fine, don’t have to be harsh.”

The annoyance on her face intensified. “I was almost killed and that’s all you got to say?”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Sorry wouldn’t bring back the dead would it? Forget it!”

The girl stomped past him. There was scrap on her elbow but the girl didn’t even look back when he called out.

He had concluded that this was merely the aftereffect of exhaustion but In the dead of the night, after finally settling in his new home, Sehun found himself seated in front of his study desk, a paper and pen placed on the table. As he sipped on his coffee, his mind whirred in protest but his heart wanted the opposite. If he was fully conscious the man would, in no way, be doing what he was doing but as his hand moved to write the date, he decided that—yes, he’s crazy.

-

The alarm blared annoyingly, the sound bouncing off the walls and her eyes snapped open. Hitting the clock into silence, she groaned into the pillow but moved her tired limbs to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and splashed water to her face before climbing down the stairs. Opening the fridge, there was only a bottle of water and she groaned. She hadn’t gone out to buy food supplies; too tired from unboxing and unpacking.

Throwing on a fresh pair of tee and jeans, Soojung drove her Jeep down the road and conveniently found a restaurant after a ten minute drive. Going to the supermarket would be half an hour spent on driving, then another hour and a half spent buying foods and other necessities and by then she’d be dead exhausted. Just the thought of it made her want to lie down and curled up. Thus, she went to the restaurant to refill her energy before starting another long day.

 The supermarket was buzzing, packs of people bustling about as she entered, pushing a trolley. Taking out her phone, Soojung skimmed through the list she had made in between her meal. It was a long list but she was determined to finish buying everything by the day. Taking a deep breath, Soojung pushed the trolley to the nearest aisle.

Filled to the brim, she pushed the trolley to the nearest check-out. She came to a halt behind a man. A sigh escaped her lips.

“Please stop crying,” she heard a few moments later (or that was what she understood). The girl looked up and saw the man in front of her, his profile facing her as he patted the small child in his arm. Then she heard the man whispered something about sandwich. The little one nodded in response then looked up at her, eyes teary and snots all over. Her face twisted funnily in instinct, earning a giggle from the child. The man looked at the little girl in surprise before turning to look at her.

Soojung bowed. The man bowed back in appreciation, mouthing a silent thank you and Soojung gave him a polite smile in return. When the man started moving away, she gave the child a small wave and she returned just as enthusiastic.

Looking at the retreating back of the man and the now happy looking girl reminded her of the reason why she came back to South Korea in the first place and she grimaced. Her first day would be in a week and she was not near ready yet. Being an English teacher in some college wasn’t exactly what she had pictured herself to be but somehow it just happened. Sure the students weren’t going to be that much younger than her and probably a lot mature than the high school ones but they were still students and majority probably enjoy giving their lecture a headache. She was once a university student herself so she’d know.

Shaking off the thought, she gave the cashier a small smile as she started emptying her trolley.

The car came to a stop and Soojung hopped out. Her head involuntarily snapped to the mailbox in time for the little door to flap again. She should be feeling terrified over this incomprehensible nonsense and run away but instead her legs had moved against her will and before she knew it, she was already pulling it open.

Her letter had disappeared and was replaced by yet another envelope. There was nothing written across the front this time but she already knew it was the letter. She found herself smiling with a newfound excitement as she dumped it into her bag.

Few trips from the car to her house later, she was seated on one of the stools of kitchen island, groceries untouched on the table.

Tearing one side of the envelope like she had done before, she took out the letter before shutting her eyes as she unfolded it. Cracking an eye, she frowned. For a moment she had thought it wasn’t the letter but when her eyes caught the year written at that one corner, she sighed.

Dear Miss/Misses Jung,

Firstly, I can confidently assure you that you are in no way crazy. I too experienced similar event. But even if we’re on the same page, the fact that you are from the future is hard to believe. Are you really writing this letter from 2015? Can you in some way prove it?

I still can’t make sense of why and how this is happening. If there is a reason, any at all, as to why this happens – to the both of us—then we should find it, no matter what it takes. Who knows what the consequences may be if this is to go on longer. We might even be involving ourselves in something dangerous by doing this.

In all honesty, I have no idea why I even bother myself to write this letter. I just feel like I should. My heart tells me to.

Just out of curiosity, do you understand Hangul? I kind of figured you probably have no idea what I’ve written on my first letter.

P.S please don’t write in red ink the next time you reply. It’s blinding my eyes.

Sincerely, Sehun Oh.

Soojung couldn’t help the laugh emanating from as she read the last question. “Oh if only you knew how much I had to strain my brain just to understand a word you’d written. The struggle is real.”

When her eyes trailed back to the first paragraph, she stopped and hummed in thought. “Proof huh? What could make a good proof?”

There were plenty of things that existed in her time that hadn’t been invented in 2005 but would it be fine to tell? Wouldn’t that affect the future if the man knew though? She couldn’t afford to be the cause of a disaster if something bad were to happen. She frowned.

Dear Mr. Oh,

It’s good to know that we’re not crazy because, well, if I am then the college I go to might have to reconsider hiring a new tutor. Did I mention I’m an English teacher? I teach English in college – will start in about a week. I should probably introduce myself. My name’s Jung Soojung, I’m turning 27 in a few months and I lived in the U.S pretty much all my life and came back to Korea after I was offered a position as an English teacher to one of the best universities.

I just moved in to the house yesterday. I haven’t been to Korea for about 10 years, but I distinctly remember going back once about ten years ago – exactly the day you wrote your first letter. What a coincidence! It was not a good memory to reminisce though so I won’t go into further detail.

Anyway, you asked me about proof. I thought about it and had come to the conclusion that wouldn’t it be better if I don’t disclose anything from my time? As you said, we might be involving ourselves into something dangerous. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t believe I’m from the future, or if you won’t reply this letter. I’d understand it perfectly.

To your last question, I can’t understand Hangul well yet and yes I have no idea what you’ve written. I swear it was like I was reading alien language. I probably learn to talk in Korean faster than reading words, although right now my knowledge on Hangul is pretty much close to 1%.

P.S Tell me something about yourself too, that is if you decide to reply this letter. May I ask why you moved out of this house? Where do you live now?

P.P.S it’s Miss Jung (I’m not yet married.)

Love, Soojung Jung.

-

Dear Miss Jung

Sehun looked at the three written words, contemplating, before he crumpled the paper and threw it to the trash bin.

Dear Soojung, he started again on a new piece of paper.

Hello again. I can call you by your first name right? If my calculation is right then you are only 17 in my time and I am currently 23 years old, thus that makes me older than you by six years. I am currently working as a freelance photographer in a magazine company. Which university are you teaching at? I graduated from Yonsei University last summer. I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet. Whether I’ll continue being a photographer or maybe find a different path. (I’m actu