Chapter Text
Amid my long and wearisome existence in the space time continuum, I once saw someone light a candle from a distance.
The first time I saw you, I felt my heart beat.
∮
Huh, something went wrong.
Perplexed, Sung Hanbin stood awkwardly on the unfamiliar street, his normally calm and intelligent eyes revealing a rare sense of helplessness.
Familiar-looking but unreadable characters filled his sight, and lively yet incomprehensible words floated by him. Because of his outstanding appearance passersby would subconsciously steal a glance at him. Hanbin didn’t expect to run into a complication right away on his first time travel ever, so all he could do was look around and blink his eyes in a daze. After checking his watch, he realized in despair that he still had a lot of time left in this intersection.
Clearly, the time and place I set was Jeju Island in 2028. How did I miss it by an entire ocean?
At that moment, Hanbin was only carrying Korean won in his pocket, and he could only speak Korean and English proficiently, which he thought would be enough for where he was going. Facing this huge unknown city, along with the fact that it also happened to start drizzling just then, Hanbin began to feel lightheaded all of a sudden.
For an experienced traveler, this kind of time travel deviation would have been no big deal. After all, as long as the time setting was correct, then the rest could be solved with a short plane ride, which was infinitesimally more convenient than traveling to the right place but hundreds of years into the distant, archaic past.
Unfortunately, Hanbin was anything but experienced. Having just reached adulthood, this was his first trip, so naturally he didn’t think to prepare any precautions against such errors.
"Huh? Sung Hanbin?"
However, the universe seemed to favor this novice with an excellent appearance. Before he could faint from confusion, a voice from behind called out to him in a familiar language.
It was 8:50 in the evening, and the streets of Fujian were brightly lit with neon lights. The light rain didn't seem to affect people's walking paces, so the pitter patter of the rain drops combined with the sound of hurried footsteps gave this street a cold and empty feeling.
On such a night, someone crossed the street full of people with an umbrella in his hands and walked right up to Hanbin.
"What, did you land in the wrong place again? How many times does it make it now?"
The stranger pulled Hanbin under his umbrella, teasing him in fluent Korean with a twinkle in his eyes. Noticing his wet hair, he very naturally reached out his hand to wipe the rain from his forehead.
Ah, what a beautiful man.
This was Hanbin's first thought.
It seems like I’ll become very good friends with him in the future, but it also sounds like I’ll make a lot of mistakes.
This was his second thought.
As if finally noticing Hanbin’s strangeness, the stranger tilted his head in confusion: "What’s wrong, did you accidentally bang your head on a mast during a storm while you were in the Age of Exploration and lose your memory? Is that why you look like you don’t recognize me?”
Hanbin took a deep breath, and with the shyness and awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time, he explained, "Hello, I am actually the Sung Hanbin who has just time traveled for the first time."
Oh?
Upon hearing these words, the eyes of the man holding the umbrella slowly widened. The hand that had been stroking Hanbin’s hair froze for a second, as if he couldn’t accept that he just made such an intimate action to someone who didn't know him.
Noticing the growing embarrassment of the other man, Hanbin quickly added: "But, but you seem to know me, so I must have told you about my identity which means we’re very good friends."
Although that hasn’t happened yet for Hanbin.
The hand holding onto the umbrella tightened imperceptibly as the other man listened to those words, but he let out a shaky breath and seemed to have recovered quickly in the next second. His tone was jovial, as if he really was a close friend or relative: “Yeah, I didn’t expect you to be so unskilled during your first time traveling. From the way you described it to me before, I was under the impression that it went pretty well.
"Remember, my name is Zhang Hao, and I am the person you will meet many, many times in the future."
A time traveler, as the name suggests, is a person who must travel to the past and the future without stopping. Their timelines are different from everyone else’s: if the time of ordinary people moves forward indefinitely along a straight time axis, then the time of time travelers jumps around to various random points and lines along that axis. The small chunk of time they spend at each point they travel to is what is called a time intersection.
In one month a time traveler may find themselves walking down the streets of some Victorian alleyway struggling to find a toilet, and in the next they might be drinking motor oil in some cyberpunk future society.
Travelers are exempt from the confines of time, but they are also not allowed to stay in a certain time intersection for too long. They are destined to spend their lifespans wandering alone, but they are also guaranteed to live a colorful life.
You may have even walked past them at different times in your short life without knowing it.
"That’s right, but how do you know so many details?"
Hanbin, who had just been taken back to Zhang Hao’s apartment, asked in amazement. Right now, he was nestled comfortably on the sofa with a cup of freshly made hot chocolate in his hands.
After leading him in, Zhang Hao looked a lot calmer than earlier. He skillfully hung the wet umbrella on his balcony before taking out a clean towel from a cabinet and handing it to a wide-eyed Hanbin: "Of course, you were the one to tell me."
Sifting through his memories, he then added: "You were afraid I wouldn’t believe you, so you even told me the winning lottery numbers that were announced the day after."
...Is my future self so wayward?
Hanbin dazedly wiped his hair with a towel, apparently in shock at his future self’s behavior.
As if amused by his reaction, Zhang Hao crinkled his eyes: "Don't worry, I didn't buy that lottery ticket. Because you can't change the established future, right?"
You cannot change the established future. This is an ironclad rule. The time axis is fragile and extremely malleable, so if there were even the slightest differences in actions from the preexisting future, it may cause huge changes that could lead to the collapse of an entire axis.
Which was another reason why Hanbin was so surprised: the person in front of him seemed to know almost everything about time travelers.
The familiar smell of hot chocolate in his hands created a stark juxtaposition with the unfamiliar space in front of his eyes. Yet Hanbin somehow didn’t feel uneasy. On the contrary, he was more impressed by the fact the person beside him accepted these inconceivable concepts so easily, and even more surprised at how captivated he was with this man.
"So, how much longer can you stay in this intersection?"
Before Hanbin even opened his mouth, the other man already began pulling the sofa outwards to form a pullout bed and taking out an extra set of quilts. He even replaced the thick pillows on the sofa with lower ones made for sleeping. With how smoothly Zhang Hao completed this series of actions, clearly this wasn’t the first time Hanbin had stayed over during one of his travels.
Subconsciously, Hanbin replied, "One month...wait, does that mean I trouble you very often?”
After patting the quilt he just laid down, Zhang Hao turned to the kitchen, took out a bottle of Coke Zero from the refrigerator, and took a sip, his expression calm as ever: "I already told you, you will meet me many, many times in the future. As a traveler, where did you think you stayed every time?”
Unexpectedly, in the future, I would become a soft, unreliable man who habitually lives off of others…
As if peering into the future, the version of Hanbin who had just come of age had a speechless expression on his face, obviously falling into self-doubt and self-criticism over his future self.
As expected, this version of my boyfriend is the easiest to tease. I’ve already made it this obvious and he still hasn’t figured it out yet, Zhang Hao thought.
Setting down the coke, Zhang Hao hid the smile in his eyes, and finally coughed a few times before correcting his tone to that of a close friend: "You can just live here for the month you have left. Since I don’t have any summer classes to teach this year, I can help familiarize you with this area.”
"After all, in the future, you will appear here many times, but I won’t be able to come save you every time."
The hour hand was ticking slowly towards zero. It has been three hours since Hanbin was picked up on the streets of Fujian, and a new day would be approaching soon.
In the small living room of Zhang Hao’s apartment, Sung Hanbin's eyes were crystal-like and full of naivety. Under the light, he studied the person in front of him who was looking back at him with a sincere gaze, and at that point in time he couldn’t predict what kind of future he would have.
But even if he didn't know, the thunderous sound of his heartbeat, which was even more deafening than the echoing chime of the clock as it struck twelve, forced him to come to some kind of realization. Obviously his journey had just begun, but at the moment his eyes met Zhang Hao’s, it seemed that something was already set in destiny.
...
[In the future, I will appear in this place many times, so please come find me every time. 】
[Because at every point of intersection, I want to meet with you. 】