The 100 Year Letter Exchange - Featuring: The Space Lion 

Ch.1

By: Kwuintessence and Eiryia

Jinwoo, I have something important to tell you. I’ve come to realize that the two of us are never fated to meet physically. The fact that there is some kind of ‘time gap or loop’ allowing us to send letters like this to each other is incredible -incredible yet cruel. After meeting you and getting to know you, I wish for nothing more than to see you with my own eyes.

We managed to figure out so much, except for the last and the biggest piece of the puzzle. How are these letters actually getting from one place in time to the other? Mine and yours. I’m starting to think that we will never be able to figure it out. - Seungyoon

Seunghoon read the letter with a frown. It had been a huge mistake when he had accidentally delivered the first letter (a new year’s greeting) a century too far, arriving in early 2015 instead of 1915.

In doing so, he felt the overwhelming responsibility that came with delivering the reply that the poor guy (Kang Seungyoon, a musician) actually had written down for the 100 year old letter – while inebriated. That had gotten the snowball rolling and here he was half a year later breaking every rule that ever existed in the intergalactic postman service, whose sole purpose is to deliver letters across time and space.

His reason for doing it? That was easy. The pair was simply too endearing and they put the spark back in his monotonous lifestyle. Though not originally intended, he had begun reading their (almost daily, thanks to him) letters as well, finding both to be quite interesting characters. He was already breaking all the other rules so he might as well break this one.

In the beginning there was a lot of confusion, enough to make both letter recipients’ heads spin. Things we’re not adding up, facts of the day they had shared were too different and they had quickly begun questioning just how such a thing could come to be.

Seunghoon watched over them silently, highly amused at how clever they had been. The two quickly uncovered, clarified and proved that they were actually living a hundred years apart! Kim Jinwoo was from 1915, born into an affluent noble family. Having donated numerous paintings to the city’s oldest and largest museum during his time, Seungyoon from 2015 was able to go there and have a glimpse at his way of life.

Since then, Seungyoon visited the museum frequently. His first reason was because it was his biggest proof of Jinwoo’s existence, and his second, because of how amazingly good looking Kim Jinwoo was.

That spring, a set of paintings was added to the museums already extensive collection. A grand exhibition was held and the main attraction was a bewitching painting dubbed ‘Maehwa Wang-ja’ (The Plum Blossom Prince). Things quickly became serious when Seungyoon laid eyes on that painting.

At first, his heart had jumped for joy. The Kim Jinwoo depicted in it had his gaze lowered, his thick lashes lining his beautiful eyes, his lips curved in a beatific smile. He wore a flowing light colored hanbok that closely resembled a Chinese robe. Overall, the portrait had an ethereal quality to it that mesmerized all those who have gazed upon it and Seungyoon was no exception.

After gazing at it for a while, he noticed tiny inscriptions on the bottom right of the portrait that included the painter’s name. And after reading it, his heart did a somersault and landed in his stomach. Seungyoon couldn’t breathe and couldn’t tear his gaze away.

Kim Jinwoo. 1891 – 1915

Seungyoon was currently exchanging letters with Kim Jinwoo from 1915, meaning to say that Kim Jinwoo’s days are numbered. Realizing that, Seungyoon wanted nothing more than to save him. Thus, he began searching for answers.

When Seungyoon had finally found the answer he was looking for in the old city archives a few days later had it been a huge relief. Even if he had been horrified by what he had originally found. At least, it was something that he could prevent from happening. All he had to do is relay the information to Jinwoo and pray that his letter reaches him quickly.

It turned out that Kim Jinwoo was murdered and the featured painting he saw at the exhibit was his memorial portrait. A young woman had done it, after he had repeatedly refused her advances. Investigators from a century ago dubbed Kim Jinwoo’s sensational murder case in the archives as ‘Maehwa Wang-ja’ (The Plum Blossom Prince) – same as the portrait.

Lured out by the scorned young woman who was feigning to be in distress, Kim Jinwoo unwittingly accompanied her one chilly spring night hoping to be of some sort of assistance. Under the branches of a splendid blooming plum tree, Kim Jinwoo perished in her hands. His body was found the next morning propped against the tree, covered in delicate white plum petals, looking like he was merely taking a short rest – making him the most beautiful corpse they’ve ever seen.

Having successfully managed to warn Jinwoo in time had not only saved his life, it also proved to Jinwoo, like the paintings had for Seungyoon that they were indeed in completely different times.

Seungyoon had gotten all the confirmation he needed when he had visited the museum a week later after Jinwoo’s letter with the retelling of the capture of his ‘supposed’ murderer had arrived. There was no longer a year of death on the portrait present, just his name above the painter’s name.

Kim Jinwoo.

Seunghoon sighed and stretched his legs. This was where things had become tricky for him. All of that had happened a few months ago. His boss had only recently found out about his little…alright, MAJOR meddling with history on earth. Kim Jinwoo was supposed to have died. They had also captured his ‘supposed’ murderer. However, Kim Jinwoo had lived, changing history forever.

The meeting discussing his future was only a few days from now and it didn’t look good. He would definitely lose his job, not that he cared about it all that much. He had never liked this job in the first place. The only thing that bothered him was leaving Seungyoon and Jinwoo behind. No one else would deliver their letters to each other anymore. It would all suddenly come to a stop.

He read the letter from Seungyoon one last time stopping to laugh a little,

We managed to figure out so much, except for the last and the biggest piece of the puzzle.

After laughing for a while, he said out loud to no one in particular

"You are just about to find out, my friends!"

Winter has passed and so did spring, and now summer has finally come. Arriving in 1915 once more, Seunghoon hid his post vehicle in the woods. Donning on a neutral jacket, he started on the short trek towards Jinwoo’s family mansion. He knew where he would find Jinwoo as he had always paid attention to his whereabouts each time he had delivered the letters from Seungyoon, which was almost daily.

Having never shown himself to anyone before, he had to admit that he was rather nervous as he approached the garden. Particularly, because he had the biggest crush on Kim Jinwoo himself. He might just be having his own motivation for working so hard making this plan of his work.

Walking around the edge of the woods he saw Jinwoo sitting on a bench at the edge of the garden, reading a book. It was too perfect. The whole scene looked like something out of a painting. He quickened his pace, sneaking up closely and hiding in the bushes behind the bench Jinwoo was sitting on.

"Pst, Psssst!"

Seunghoon called out from his hiding spot, behind the biggest bush he could find. It was a smelly lilac covered in white and purple flowers that made his nose itch. As he laid there waiting for Jinwoo to spot him, he started internally cursing himself for choosing this particular bush as his hiding spot.

Jinwoo lifted his gaze from his book and looked around, wondering if he was hearing things. Seunghoon poked out a hand from under the lilac holding Seungyoon’s letter between his fingers having figured it would do as nice bait.

"Jinwoo fishing today. Come on, pretty boy. Take it! Take it!"

Seunghoon hummed repeatedly as Jinwoo got to his feet after having spotted the letter in his hand waving around on the ground. Jinwoo hunched down on the side of the bush trying to grab the letter, but Seunghoon had snatched it away.

"Seungyoon?"

Jinwoo asked, curiously moving around the bush to have a better look at who was hiding there.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

Seunghoon replied as Jinwoo crawled in under the bush and sat down across him. Seunghoon handed him the handwritten letter from Seungyoon and as their fingers touched, he felt a sudden electric current pass between them, making them both flinch and stare at each other. Jinwoo eventually got to reading the letter and when he finished it he looked up,

"Something tells me that you are the last part of the puzzle."

Jinwoo said calmly, examining Seunghoon with curious sparkling eyes.

"Congratulations! You got that part right."

Seunghoon replied with a grin. Having spent the last few minutes getting a proper and close-up look at Kim Jinwoo, he was even more sure of what he truly wanted.

"I’m the one who’s been delivering those letters almost every single day. It all went smoothly until a couple months ago..."

Jinwoo looked at him and then to the letter and then back at him again. He could see it as it dawned on Jinwoo right before his eyes.

"When I was supposed to have died? Did I cause you trouble?"

Jinwoo looked to be genuinely worried for his sake. Seunghoon’s heart couldn’t help but skip a bit.

"Nothing happened, yet, but I’m called in to a meeting in a few days and it doesn’t look good. That’s why I’m here - to tell you that this is the last letter."

They both stared at the letter in Jinwoo’s hand. Seunghoon had a plan, but he was hoping Jinwoo would suggest it himself so he kept quiet. Jinwoo didn’t speak for a long time, and when he did he said,

"I should have died. I’m supposed to be dead now. It’s all thanks to you that I’m still here. You and Seungyoon."

Seunghoon nodded without saying anything, simply watching the pretty boy in front of him connect the dots in his mind. It wasn’t a small decision to make and although abrupt, he wanted it to be Jinwoo’s.

"Are you going there now? With my letter?"

 Jinwoo asked after a while. Seunghoon smiled.

"Yes, that’s the plan. Remember though, this is the last one."

Jinwoo stared intently at a few lilac blooms a few inches above his head while biting his lip. He was obviously thinking hard now.

"Can you take me with you?"

He finally quietly asked after what must have been minutes, staring straight into Seunghoon’s eyes. In his mind, he was rejoicing and screaming Bingo! Yes! Right on! Let’s go! But on the outside he just smiled calmly.

"Well, I’m not supposed to bring anyone with me through a time like this, BUT since I already broke all the rules AND you should be dead, I don’t really see the harm in it."

Seunghoon was grinning now, not managing to hide his excitement anymore.

"Just remember this is a one way trip, you can’t come back to your own time anymore."

Jinwoo straightened up a bit, his pretty lips breaking into a wide smile before simply asking,

"When do we leave?"

Seunghoon got to his feet, hitting his head on one of the more sturdy lilac branches, announcing that they were leaving at once. Jinwoo gave a cute small cheer and crawled out of the bush, shortly followed by Seunghoon who was patting himself on the head both for his hard work and because it literally hurt.

When they got to where he parked his vehicle, Jinwoo hesitated for a moment, eyes growing wide. Seunghoon figured it didn’t look like anything Jinwoo could possibly had seen before and so he opened the door to his humble spaceship/post vehicle and helped Jinwoo get in and buckled fast into his seat.

Humming to himself he couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear as he walked around to the driver’s side. Kim Jinwoo even smelled nice! He wasn’t surprised, but he loved how everything he found out about Kim Jinwoo made him like him more. 

He watched as Jinwoo leaned forward in his seat inspecting all the buttons and screens that was spread out before him. Seunghoon warned him not to touch anything and so he had quickly leaned back again in his seat, probably to easier resist temptation.

"This might feel a little uncomfortable…"

He warned the pretty boy as he started the engine. We are going to travel across a century in a couple of minutes after all. Jinwoo only smiled and gripped the armrests of his seat as if to say he was ready. Seunghoon gave him the thumbs up before doing the last preparations for takeoff.

((**POP**))

They appeared in a small clearing 30 minutes later, Seunghoon peeked over at Jinwoo who looked slightly cross-eyed but still very very adorable.

"Holding up okay over there?"

He asked as he got out of his seat. Jinwoo’s only reply was,

"Air, I think I could do well with some fresh air…" 

But he didn’t move as his hands were too shaky to be able to loosen his seatbelt on his own. Seunghoon quickly made his way over to help him. Hunching down to eye level with Jinwoo, he helped him out of his seatbelt.

"Remember this is 100 years after your time. Seungyoon might have told you about a lot of things over the past year, but there are still a lot of strange things that you have no idea about. Stay close to me, okay?"

To be completely honest, there were a lot of things he had no idea about either, but wanting to show Jinwoo his best side, Seunghoon decided to keep that to himself for now. They both got out of the vehicle and Seunghoon chuckled as he watched Jinwoo cutely sway a little on the spot before charging ahead at a steady pace.

"I guess I should tell you… That’s the wrong way!"

He said after Jinwoo had almost left the clearing and almost tripped over his own feet. Someone was sure eager to meet Kang Seungyoon, that’s for sure. He watched as Jinwoo blushed bright red then turned and leaned casually up against a tree waiting for him to point him in the right direction.

"It’s a bit of a walk this time because our friend lives on the outskirts of the city and there is no place around there we could have landed."

He told Jinwoo as they headed down the trail leading towards the city. Another half an hour later, they were standing in front of a huge structure at the edge of the city. Jinwoo looked curiously over at Seunghoon.   

"It’s a converted warehouse. Modern day artist like living in them because of all the space. He lives at the top. See the open window?"

Seunghoon pointed to an open window far at the top of the vast structure. A white curtain was moving slightly with the wind, almost as if greeting them. Or Seunghoon thought, Seungyoon was waving the white flag of surrender. He chuckled.

It took them a while to figure out their way up there, but in the end they arrived at the right door. Seunghoon had always just dropped the letter in the letterbox never really having been as curious about Seungyoon as he was about Jinwoo.

"Ready?"

Seunghoon asked but knocked before Jinwoo could give his answer. It took a short while before someone opened the door. Having absentmindedly taken a step back he watched with a cheesy grin the scene that was unfolding in front of his eyes.

Letting Jinwoo explain everything himself seemed to have been the right decision. Seungyoon had recognized him at once, eyes getting watery in disbelief from what he was seeing. Jinwoo had explained how he had turned up in his garden, how this would have been the last letter and how he had decided to come along.

Seungyoon had been listening closely the whole time, but Seunghoon couldn’t help but notice the way Seungyoon watched Jinwoo and how he had grabbed hold of Jinwoo’s hand while he was explaining. When Jinwoo finally ended his re-telling of the afternoon had Seungyoon smiled this huge crooked smile - telling Jinwoo how much he appreciated his sacrifice and that he would do his best to take care of him and teach him about this new modern world from now on.

Seunghoon himself felt moved, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes. All of this was because of his efforts to deliver their letters. His hard work had finally brought them together. They were united at last and all thanks to him. The one and only SPACE LION!

It was while he was silently praising himself for his own efforts when he saw it. Seungyoon slowly moving in for what could only be a kiss, and Kim Jinwoo was not moving away.

"Hey hey! Wait a second here!"

He shot up making them jump apart. He wasn’t going to give up on Jinwoo so easily! They owed him! The least they could do was pay him some attention! He was the hero of the hour after all!

"You know, I lost my job because of all this. I got nothing now."

He said, playing the guilt game on purpose. He still had his plan and so far so good. If you looked away from the almost kiss anyway.

Seungyoon invited them both in then as they had remained standing by his front door. Both he and Jinwoo looked around the place in awe. It was cozy, yet huge. Messy yet organized. Musical instruments and books covering the walls and the huge room ended with the big windows they had spotted from the outside.

The sun was setting, bathing the huge room in a warm light making the place even cozier. Both of them looked around for a bit while Seungyoon made them tea before settling down around a small round kitchen table next to the open window.

   (p.via x)

Seunghoon was the one to speak now, explaining how he had accidentally delivered the first letter and how it all had spiraled from there. Ending his story with how he now was about to lose his job.

"I think I understand the whole situation now, but there is one thing I don’t get."

Seungyoon said after taking a sip of his tea.

"Why do you have to stay here? With us? Don’t you have an entire universe to choose from?"

Seunghoon knew this question would come up sooner or later and he had no reason for hiding it. He was prepared to fight fair. Or as close to fair as possible for being him anyway.

"I need to lay low for a while, but you are right. There are many places I could go. I have a very specific reason for wanting to stay here with you two though"

He took a big sip of his tea as well, enjoying having their full attention. They were both staring at him; Jinwoo all pretty with his big doe eyes and Seungyoon with this suspecting squinting eyes. After slowly putting down his tea, he pointed to Jinwoo and grinned. 

"Me?"

Jinwoo asked hesitating to even meet his gaze, probably out of fear of having misunderstood something.

"I’m in love with you. It’s as simple as that"

He explained before taking another sip of his tea. Jinwoo’s eyes grew wide, his mouth forming a cute O before growing quiet and turning bright red.

"I think you owe me a chance."

He said looking more at Seungyoon then Jinwoo.

"I could have whisked Jinwoo away with me to outer space, instead I’m here - ready to fight fair and square. To prove my feelings."

Jinwoo nodded even if he looked as confused as ever. Guys declaring their love for other guys weren’t exactly an everyday thing in the time he came from. Seungyoon didn’t look too happy, but in the end he agreed as well.

"I’ve got space."

Seungyoon had said after a while.

"And I have access to space."

Seunghoon had added, laughing, having emphasized way too much on the space part not being able to hold his somewhat lame pun to himself. Jinwoo finally laughed too, but Seungyoon stared at Seunghoon, not amused.  

And so had their battle for Kim Jinwoo’s heart begun. Starting the same evening with an argument about beds and their sleeping arrangements - BUT that would be for another day, another story. Until then~

Authors note: We plotted, wrote and edited the whole thing in less than 48 hours having a blast while making it. We have decided to make this a oneshot collection, but it's all revolving around this spesific plot so expect a lot of fun in the future with this precious trio. Thanks a lot for reading! We hope you enjoyed it and will be back here soon!