"Will this really work?" Asked the young lady, Wonkyung to her uncle, Seungcheol. What was she asking about? She's asking about the time travel machine. That's right, a time travel machine.

Seungcheol isn't actually her biological uncle but he've been treating her like his own niece.

"I've been working on it for almost 7 years now. Safe to say, it's gonna work. I've tested it a few times by myself, it really worked." Seungcheol said with a proud smile, he's proud of himself for inventing the time machine.

Wonkyung stared at the time machine in amazement. Growing up, she knew her uncle Seungcheol had always wanted to invent a time machine, she would sometimes be in his laboratory just to watch him prepare stuffs to invent one.

It's still fascinating to her, who knows after 7 years of hard work and never giving up, her uncle finally made one time machine that worked efficiently.

"Have you packed your stuffs?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Wonkyung turned around and pointed her luggage filled with clothes and any other stuffs that she might need for survival. Her uncle chuckled as he nodded his head.

"Alright, Wonkyung. Listen to me carefully, okay? This smartwatch is connected to the time machine, you can only use it once, all you have to do is to press the button and you'll be back to 2024. Only press it when you receive a signal. Don't worry, this smartwatch is waterproof." Explained Seungcheol as he holds his niece's hands firmly.

"Yes, I understand." She smiled.

"But if I didn't press the button when I received the signal?" She frowned, tilting her head.

"You should, that's your one and only chance to return. When you receive the signal, it'll vibrate for five minutes. So you have five minutes to press the button to return back here. You need to be careful." He explained.

"Now, this is your identification card as well as money from the 1980s." Seungcheol handed her a wallet filled with old money and her ID card which obviously is a fake ID but for the sake of her survival.

"I hope you could find the answer as soon as possible. Remember that your uncle will always be here waiting for your return." He flashed her his warm smile as he convinces her.

"Thank you so much, uncle." Wonkyung hugged her uncle for quite a long time, this opportunity to time travel means a lot to her and she's very grateful that her uncle is making this opportunity possible for her.

Opening the door of the machine, Wonkyung took a seat while holding her luggage.

Seungcheol proceeds to click some buttons, activating the machine. Wonkyung could feel her heart beating very fast as she's very nervous, but this is what she've always wanted, so she shoved the thought of being nervous away.

Wonkyung closed her eyes.

Opening them again only to see herself in an unfamiliar place.

"1984." She whispered.

Wonkyung took a small piece of paper out of her pocket, it's a direction to a guesthouse which her uncle recommended her, for her to stay at the time being. Wonkyung followed the directions as what her uncle had explained to her prior to her arrival here in 1984.

Arriving at the guesthouse, she was greeted by an old lady.

"I haven't seen your face here before. You must be new here?" Asked the halmeoni.

"Yes.. I'm looking for a guesthouse. Is there any available room?" She smiled.

"Aigoo.. Of course there is. What's your name?"

"It's Jeon Wonkyung."

"Aigoo, even her name sounds beautiful. Come in, I'll lead you to your room." The halmeoni signaled Wonkyung to follow her, she lead Wonkyung the way to her guesthouse.

After settling down with the payment, tidying her now room and talking with Mrs. Jang for a few while, Wonkyung decided to take a walk around the town. Summer just ended so the weather is starting to get colder day by day, this chilly weather really calms her.

"Yah! Kwon Soonyoung, you wish to die today?!" Yelled a lady.

Wonkyung gasped.

"Kwon Soonyoung?" She asked herself.

Wonkyung turned around and saw this Soonyoung guy running away with a violin, her eyes turned wide opened when she saw a girl chasing him, who looks very enraged right now.

"M-mom." She stuttered.

"KWON SOONYOUNG!!" She shrieked

"Woah, that's clearly my mom. Choi Eunjung. I can't believe my mom went chasing for a guy when she's my age." She uttered still in disbelief.

"And that's how Kwon Soonyoung looks like? He looks better than I've imagined before." She chuckled soon after.

"Seeing my mom in her youth, now I missed her. She was very beautiful back then, she wasn't joking when she said that a lot of guys confessed to her." She said all to herself, in disbelief.

"I'm serious! A lot of guys wanted to date me!"

"Sorry for not trusting you mom." Wonkyung made a guilty face as she stared up at the sky, giving a peace sign.

For those who had no idea why Wonkyung would want to travel back in time. It's easy. She just wanted to know the truth of something she've been dying to know the answer. Back in 2024, no matter how hard she tried, it just seemed impossible to find the answer.

So maybe travelling back in time to 1984 would help her find the answer.

The answer to what?

Only Wonkyung knows.

"Kwon Soonyoung, mom's first love." Wonkyung chuckled before she shook her head.

She remembered how her mother always talked about her first love, Soonyoung. Wonkyung often thought about how cute they were from her mom's stories but witnessing them in real life is just something else. So wholesome, yet cute.

Whilst walking around, Wonkyung saw a guy sitting on a bench drinking a water from a bottle. He stopped when he noticed that she's staring at him.

'Good looking.' She thought, still staring at the man.

This man definitely knew this girl is not from here as he've never seen her in this neighborhood all these times. The look he's giving her right now is very obvious, the judgy look. Wonkyung knew they're strangers and realized that she've been staring at him for too long, admiring his visual.

Wonkyung bowed and ran away, trying to catch up with her mom and Soonyoung.

"Yah! Give me my violin back!" Yelled Eunjung.

"Stop playing violin, Eunjung! I don't want you to study abroad! Just stay here!" Now Soonyoung's the one who yelled, he pouted after that.

"Huh? Mom used to play violin?" She asked herself.

"Yah, who are you to tell me what to do?" Eunjung put her hands on her waist, raising an eyebrow.

"I am your future husband." He put his hands on his waist as he tiptoed, side eyeing her.

"Yah! I would rather marry an old man than marrying you!" She ferociously rebuked.

"Aww, they're so cute for what?" Wonkyung chuckled to herself.

"Please, just stay here." He said above whisper, but both Eunjung and Wonkyung could barely heard him.

"Do you really don't want me to go?" She asked, quirking her eyebrows. Without hesitation, Soonyoung nodded his head as an answer whilst smiling.

"Fine, I won't go." She smiled.

Soonyoung beamed.

"Really?!"

"Yes."

"You promise me that! You can't just suddenly disappear and went to study abroad, breaking your promise!" He berated, pointing his finger to her face and it's only making Eunjung to giggle.

"Oh my, Soonyoung. What would I do without you?" She shook her head.

"Either you stay single forever or your future husband's not gonna be better than me." He smirked in a very teasing way.

"Slay." Murmured Wonkyung.

Wonkyung decided to go take a walk somewhere else. Now that she've found her mother and Soonyoung, her next mission is to find something that she've been dying to know.

"Woah~ 1984 is so awesome. I love the scenery and everything about it!" She exclaimed, opening her arms wide, lifting her head and closing her eyes as she spinned around, enjoying the calm breeze.

But it was when she spinned around that her hand accidentally hit someone. Shocked and panicked, Wonkyung turned around to see the guy who she saw earlier is currently giving her a poker face. She saw him sitting earlier but now that he's standing, Wonkyung gulped noticing how tall this guy is.

"Wow." Her eyes widened.

"A whole damn meal." She uttered before gulping.

Of course, the guy stared at her blankly. This is 1984 and she's using such words? Who would even understand and know what it means?

"Sorry. I'm new here so that's why I was behaving like a kid." She said before bowing, but he isn't even saying anything which makes it even more awkward.

"You dropped this." His deep voice said, handing her the fake ID making her gasp.

"Thank you so much! I didn't even realized that I dropped it." She said before smiling sheepishly.

"Well, seems like we're gonna see each other often. I'm Jeon Wonkyung, 18 years old." She introduced herself with a smile, offering him her hand.

"I actually prefer we don't see each other often." Is the only thing he said before he left her standing there dumbfounded, still waiting for the handshake. Him leaving her like that really does annoyed her.

"Tch, you're obviously out of the list of the person I'm looking for." She mumbled all to herself before she rolled her eyes out of irritation.

-

hi! finally, my first book in 2024. hope you guys will enjoy this book <3

started: may 09, 2024
ended: aug 01, 2024