Against Time | k.th. ✔

二 : absurd splendor

CIRCA ???? AD

Taehyung winced while caressing the slight bump on his head that had mushroomed the moment he collided into the unanticipated wooden board. Swearing under his breath as he dabbed onto the surface simultaneously, a spherical object— possibly made of metal— captivated his senses. Taehyung began attempting at just pulling it out at once, and hence putan end to the suffocation that he had been undergoing for a considerably long time now.

If only he knew that the welding technology used here was not as primitive as of his period.

After quite a while had passed and he could not yet get over to the other side of the board— from where the fascinating hazy light was coming— Taehyung grasped the object as tightly as ever in frustration, following with a disgruntled groan that ultimately led him into slumping down against the door, right onto the floor.

Click.

Taehyung could not comprehend the implication of that ephemeral sound, and by the time he was able to come up with an inference, he had fallen down on his back— the world appearing upside-down to him as a result. Few humans were in sight too now, who shot disgusted glances at him. Taehyung continued to lay down on the cemented ground despite those riling stares, his eyes roaming around— trying to register what all was happening at that particular moment.

Taehyung's respite was soon objected to though, by an approaching man who had been relentlessly whistling at him. The former did lift himself up and settled on his feet, though his furrowed eyebrows, puckered lips, and hands resting on the waist did not exactly portray him as an amicable felon. The nearer that man got to Taehyung as time progressed, more complex of a mess he had started to appear as.

"Laying down on the floor is prohibited, can't you read?" The man hurled his query at Taehyung, accompanying it with his index finger that aimed at a specific display screen— which perhaps was also backing up his point.

Taehyung whipped his head in the same direction, only for his eyes to grow widened at the device. Never in his life had he watched a glass with moving pictures inside it.

"What's that..." Calling Taehyung mesmerized at a mere view of it would be belittling of his emotion.

"So you really can't read..." The man paused as he alternately glanced at the television screen, and then the gaping man in front of him, before resuming, "Alright then, I'm letting you go this time. You better not repeat your act."

The man switched his front and back profiles without wasting a single minute, only for Taehyung to murmur to his back apprehensively, "I never said I don't know how to read."

Before Taehyung could trace the safest way for himself on his own, a colossal metallic capsule halted abruptly before him, barfing incessant lines of people from its insides. Taehyung's curiosity was gradually forgetting its bounds, the man was immensely into seeking out all the mysteries now.  An astonished grin crept onto his face at the sight of such unbelievable phenomena occurring one after the other.

Was he dreaming?

Or had he accidentally traveled to the capital city through that tunnel he discovered?

If the capital of Korea was really a ride full of unimaginable incidences, then he was oh-so-ready to move out from his rusty, dull village to this absurdly splendid city. Convincing his mother had never been a difficult task for him anyway.

Flailing his arms out in an extremely awkward posture— with his hands overtly stiff— Taehyung began to proceed along with the bustling flock, strutting on the same course as them. However, he got a tad puzzled when the people before him placed something on yet another metallic structure—and there were dozens of them, in all four directions. Overlapping beeps sprinted through his ears, and he could not help but elicit a weary sigh at that.

Taehyung strode towards those barriers—which came across to him as an exit from the noisy commotion that was troubling him— after a very thorough contemplation. But when he attached his hand to those block fences, nothing audible came out of it. He even tried to get past it without bothering about that approving sound, only to get obstructed by two black colored blade panels afterwards.

Irritated because of the clueless man who was barring his way to his workplace, a passerby shoved him aside with his elbow, crossing the otherwise stubborn gateway— though only for Taehyung— in a blink of an eye. He turned around to face Taehyung before vanishing completely, and purposefully irked the lad by shrugging his shoulders along with bearing an unpleasant expression on his face.

He succeeded, unequivocally.

And there charged Taehyung raising his clenched palm— as he growled like an angry bear— towards his alleged archenemy. He did not realize when he wound up springing across the barrier that he was having such a hard time with, in the heat of the moment. Another thing that he quite could not figure out was a couple of uniformed men chasing after him instead of that explicit offender. It was just a matter of time that Taehyung's arms were gripped on firmly by the two males, as they escorted him to their probable senior who stood just a few treads away.

"What did you just try to do, sir?" The officer asked politely, making Taehyung doubtful of his intentions.

"He stuck out his tongue at me! Not literally, though... but we barely knew each other!" Taehyung yelled, his behavior proving to be contrary to the officer's taste.

"We see the problem here, alright. But why did you jump across the gate? Why didn't you use your subway card? Where's your card, anyway? Do you have one?"

Taehyung had zero idea about everything that the man said. Moreover, he had happened to use words from a foreign language which only triggered Taehyung's nausea even more.

"S—seobway cadeu?" At this point, all Taehyung could do was repeat whatever he had managed to conceive, in a broken pronunciation sadly.

"So you don't have one. What about a token? Did you purchase a token from where you boarded your train?" Another unfathomable question was darted at Taehyung, to which he responded involuntarily by gulping down the big lump that was forming in his throat because of perturbation. He was turning antsier by the second, with all the paths to his freedom getting blockaded by those comparatively taller and stronger men surrounding him.

It was this very moment of desperation that subsequently allowed him to observe the world with a new perspective.

🔹

a/n

lol this chapter was so fun to write i swearrr i think this book's gonna grow on me eventually. thanks a lot for y'alls support too! it's overwhelming💜