Through the Looking Glass (TXT x Itzy)

thirty-seven

Beomgyu was still sleeping soundly when Ryujin awoke, so she left him to rest and left at dawn. Taehyun was passed out in the living room, and Chaeryeong at the couch, a bottle of alcohol between them, drained empty.

Ryujin exhaled softly and scooped up the bottle and glasses to dump into the trashbin and sink respectively.

After her stroll to the well, she was about to take a leap into the well before she noticed the plaque attached to the wall had a new message inscribed upon its gleaming surface.

On the day of the first snow, the magic of the well shall run dry.

The portal shall be sealed, and the balance can once again return to its rightful place.

Regret and mourn not, for this cannot go on.

And after reading that, (and processing one of the worst attempts at a poem she had ever read) Ryujin's blood ran cold. This meant she had to choose between the crown, the thing she had been working for her entire life, or the world that turned her world upside down but gave her other pure reasons to survive.

Her hands turned icy cold, and she turned away from the well, sprinting to the nearest convenience store. When she found a newspaper, she tore the sheets open and scanned the pages.

The predicted date for the first snow was in two weeks.

"No way," She muttered, her heart sinking.

Why?

-

"You're really distracted today, are you alright?" Yeji asked Ryujin after the latter had successfully missed a spoonful of soup and splashed it over her. Lowering her eyes, Yeji added, "I know the last test didn't go as well as you wanted, but we've got to put that aside and move on."

"You must still think that other world I've talked about is a lie," Ryujin suddenly said, absently swirling her fork through her soup. Yeji's sigh deflated her energy as she sat back, looking exasperated, but before she could retort Ryujin stood sharply. "We're all free today, right?" Ryujin asked.

"Yes?"
"Good. Let's go now."

As Yeji scrambled to chase after Ryujin, she questioned, "What? Where are we going? I swear Ryujin, if you make me sneak you out of the castle-"
She stopped when she realised Ryujin was heading towards the castle garden. "You can't be serious-"

"I've never been more serious in my life," Ryujin promised, and dragged the captain to the well. Yeji planted her hand on the wall of the well and grabbed Ryujin with her free hand to hold her down, "Okay, hold on, you've-you've tried this before right? Will we plummet to our deaths if we jump down into a well-"

Ryujin's hand snaked over to grasp Yeji's arm, "We'll be okay. Promise."

After a moment of consideration, Yeji sighed and said, "If we survive this, I will slap you in the face."

"Aw why, don't you love me?"

"Just go."

-

Thankfully, Yeji totally forgot about her promise to slap Ryujin, since she was absolutely thunderstruck once they were spat out of the well on the other side. Ryujin stood with a proud, I-told-you-so grin on her face, while Yeji stared, baffled at a view fastly different from the castle garden.

There was indeed quite a big time difference between the two worlds, while it was around midday in their kingdom, it seemed to be a still, quiet morning, maybe 2 am, considering the empty streets and soft glowing streetlights.

Yeji still seemed too stunned to move or speak, so Ryujin hauled her up to her feet and yanked her off to go explore the foreign world.

Since it was so early in the morning, there wasn't much to do, and it was still pretty tough to see in the gloom and darkness. So Ryujin decided the best place to go was a convenience store, which stayed open twenty-four seven, apparently.

As far as Ryujin knew, Yeji had left the castle only once or twice in her life. The only people she got to interact with were all from the castle, she never bought anything, at least not with her own money. Well, not that Ryujin had her own money either. Taehyun gave her spare change every now and then since he suspects she might actually be homeless.

Once she had selected a few items, piping hot instant ramen, cans of soda and some small tidbits, Ryujin watched Yeji take a tentative bite of the food with the adoring gaze of a mother.

"Well?"

A little nose scrunch from the picky eater, "It's...fine."

"I've had it only a handful of times, but it's nice on a cold day, don't you think?"

Yeji was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that everything, this world, the diary, Ryujin's tales, were all real. "You must have been so lonely here in a world where you don't exist," Yeji said quietly, her eyes lowered and fixed on the worn table before them.

"With no one to lean on, no one you could trust, and no one to protect you."

Ryujin shrugged slightly, "I was lucky to find Beomgyu. He was a little silly to bring home a complete stranger, but without him I might actually have died here."

Her fingers tightening on her pair of chopsticks, Yeji then said, "Then...I suppose the boy you brought the last time lives here?"

A light chuckle from Ryujin, "Yep. Why, wanna see him?"

-

And that's how they ended up at Beomgyu's apartment, knocking at the door cheerfully at six am. A groggy Taehyun answered the door, his hair a mess of fuzzy cowlicks, but his eyes widened when he saw Ryujin and a guest.

"Do you live here now?" He asked, slightly exasperated.

"Brought a friend," Ryujin beamed, "And snacks."

"You can stay if you have chocolate," Taehyun grumbled, "I need sugar for my next shift."

An: sorry, this and the next chapter is kind of a filler