Against Time | k.th. ✔

四 : the trespasser

Yeseul spent no time in concluding what would be the best for that typically arcane lad who was continually spewing nonsense here and there. Clutching his wrist, she instantly schlepped him away from the sight of the curious throng of passersby that encircled them— the latter being strangely interested in the man's following actions— as some of them pursued their bilking figures until they were no longer in their visual range. The female gasped dramatically upon realizing that, consequently reaching for her knees whilst taking in deep drags of air.

Taehyung had no inkling regarding whatsoever the unacquainted female was planning to pull off. He just stood with his feet planted there, fists awkwardly attached to his pants' seams as he stared down at the girl with a ridiculously dead expression. Yeseul's palms were still fixed on her knees, and Taehyung's unamused stance about it was giving it away much more than he must have expected it to.

He was not precisely over the moon anymore, the quintessence was long gone. The abrupt change had provoked Yeseul pretty well into surmising that her hauling had something to do with it, but she rather preferred not to pay much attention at that moment. An even more crucial inference was at stake, after all.

"Where exactly are you from?" Yeseul narrowed her gaze at the man, stepping closer to him in an intimidating manner.

"I-uh... Could you stay on your spot? I'd answer more comfortably, then," Taehyung frantically lifted his hands in the air, gesticulating her to halt herself on her tracks, "better now. I'm from Kaesong, why do you ask?" He completed, eyes glistening with an unanticipated geniality.

The name resonated in Yeseul's ear, emitting a wonted vibe. She would have already figured out its relevancy had it not been for her fish-like memory. Girl never really bothered to recall what she had had for lunch, having city-names on her fingertips was therefore like an unwinnable dream for Yeseul.

"By the way, I have to say... Hansung is truly a beautiful place. Although some things still don't make sense to me, I'd like to move in here. I'll then have easier access to more people like me to—"

"Oh boy," Yeseul scoffed, amazed at the monologue that the man had just had with himself and picked up, "slow down. What are you saying? What is Hansung? What archaic words are you even using?" Moving her arms erratically, Yeseul thought she would look more dominant. Sadly for the overtly confident girl, she was not.

"Are you in your right mind? Hansung is the capital of Korea! How could you not know such a basic fact? Moreover, no other place in Korea could be this advanced, I'm quite sure of my belief. Wait a second, are you perhaps..." Taehyung trailed off, and Yeseul subconsciously prepared herself in the meanwhile, for a response that would in turn cripple her from attacking any further.

Lesson from the rendezvous— people with anachronistic fashion and vocabulary are petrifying, they must not be messed with in any case.

"Are you unable to understand what I'm saying? Oh my, does that mean my fear was valid all along?"

There. He finally came to the point.

"Doesn't surprise me. You can speak and comprehend Korean very well for an American. Keep up the great work." Taehyung commented, and Yeseul's brows flew up at the shocker.

"American? What in the hell? Listen up, mister," Yeseul brandished her open palm before Taehyung's eyes, her other hand resting on her waist as she resumed, "first of all, our capital is Seoul. Second—also being the most important point— your words are prehistoric. No one here would lend you an ear if you went about talking to people like that. Stop acting like a boomer, you're too young for that."

Taehyung's eyes were now goggly. His face was paling into insignificance as he gradually absorbed Yeseul's words. His heartbeat began to throb against his eardrums, and his mouth, stayed hanging like an open window.

Yeseul, herself, was baffled to have witnessed such a reaction. She had looked forward to some drama— in case the man's original intent was to prank her— but not this. The male had grown awfully silent, it was like as if cat got his tongue.

"What country is this, then? Where in the world have I reached through that stupid tunnel? How will I go back home now?" Taehyung started to yelp, landing his knees on the asphalt surface of the road, stirring Yeseul to scrunch up her nose imagining the ache that the impact must have caused.

Taehyung's weeping was making it harder for Yeseul to just give him a cold shoulder and move on with her life. She should not have taken the peculiar man into account in the first place. But now that she had, she felt like as if it was her responsibility to set things straight as well. Quickly drawing her phone out from the pocket of her jeans, she smashed onto the keyboard the name of the place that the male had uttered a couple of minutes ago.

Yeseul trusted her hunch. She was certain about herself encountering the name at least once in her lifetime. Albeit the means she did come to have an idea about it became clear for her only when the search engine brought before her a list of all the industrial endeavors that were currently being carried out in Kaesong.

She remembered everything now.

"What did you say again? The place you're from?" Yeseul asked, gravity lacing her voice.

"Kaesong." Taehyung replied amidst the sobs, which were pacifying relatively speedily than before.

"Yeah, right. It's a business hub, isn't it?" Yeseul quizzed absentmindedly, all her focus solemnly pointed at the matter written beneath her phone's screen.

"No... it's a village. People are farmers there." Taehyung answered with an underlying confusion, scratching the back of his head simultaneously.

"You're sure about not playing a trick over here, right? Because this is the last time I'll be asking you this politely." Gritting her teeth, Yeseul shoved her phone onto Taehyung's face—blinding him for a handful amount of seconds as the sudden light from the screen hit his retina.

Taehyung blinked his eyes a few times, a sense of deja vu surfacing in his thoughts as he held the device in his hands, flipping it in his grip over and over again until his awe had damped down. Yeseul's glower caught his attention afterwards, making him submit under her tyrannical demeanor for he looked up at her with wavering eyes— his helplessness turning more evident than usual. Him awaiting Yeseul's eventual response ultimately bore, not quite a sweet fruit though.

Yeseul bent down to Taehyung's level, whispering, "I hope you know that you're in a big trouble, trespasser."

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a/n

i had an internal assessment test today but guess who still stayed awake till late at night just to write this chapter?😀✌🏻 y'all better reward me for my hardwork or else i'll be sad-sad 😔 moreover, if you're confused about tae calling yeseul american, it's cuz of her hair. remember when he made a fuss out of it at the subway? it's definitely new for him to see koreans with blonde hair.