infinity + you: hour hand // a soogyu sci-fi au

Prologue: the world of zero

Daegu, SK -- November 21, 2075

"And done!"

The electricity buzzed and the bulbs cackled. In this world of zero, his hope of infinity shone brightly in his brown eyes. This was it. This was his escape.

"Don't tamper with the timeline," they said. But he wasn't ever the one to listen, always too curious to know and learn more. Maybe his profession was a fit for him, after all.

His mistakes would finally be resolved, his past would finally be rewritten by his own hands and the ink of his choices. Five years of hard work, and he was finally at that climax. Was it worth it, or was it all a stupid idea all along.

As what he'd say, a scientist is like a child-- they play around with ideas, ask bizarre questions, come up with even bizarre answers and are curious about everything. And he imagined himself no different.

This madness of finding and learning brought him here, standing in his lab while holding onto what others may think of as scrap, but really was the most precious thing of his. The madness was still there, mixed with glee and hope yet again.

He kept the contraption down and hopped over to the camera fixed over a monopod*. His finger scrolled through the settings for the last time and, as he took a deep breath, the recording started.

"This is the second test trial of the Hour Hand version 3.0. I am Choi Beomgyu, and I will be supervising and volunteering for the trial as the test subject."

It was the beauty of Beomgyu's work so far. Unlike his other friends, he'd never use any other living being as the test subject except for himself. He loved to rely on the idea that he would understand the defect better if he were the one on the receiving end rather than a stranger who may not even know half the things he'd use in the making of his projects.

And just like other times, he sat on the place that he liked to call his lucky chair, holding the Hour Hand which looks no different than a watch, but instead of one or two dials, it had five. To make it look better, he had to especially ask a friend of his, Jeongin, to design him something, and the work of art that was presented to him the next day was just mesmerising.

With bated breath and a pounding heart, he turned the dials as slowly as possible, making sure they pointed to the right settings. Even the finest of mistakes would cost him a fortune, so Beomgyu wanted it to be as perfect as he can humanly manage to make it.

Once he was sure that all the settings were right, his eyes moved up to gape at the camera's lens.

It was finally time.

"Five." His toes curled in anticipation.

"Four." His throat felt dry, but he chose to ignore it.

"Three."

"Two."

He takes in a long breath, his eyelids screwing shut.

"One!"

And he pressed the button present in the middle, its click echoing through the small lab. Beomgyu waited, gulping down his nervousness. A few seconds passed but nothing happened. He abstained from moving even an inch, however. And just like that, a whole minute passed away.

Did he fail even on his third try?

Hit with a wave of disappointment and frustration, Beomgyu's head fell into his hands, his fingers clutching onto his long hair. This was his third failure on a single project. The hope that had played with mirth had been banished and the man found himself at a loss.

This was a sign enough for him to give up. Time travel was a very childish idea of his, anyway. The world had advanced so much over the years and yet no one was able to make anything which could tamper with time. No one could understand the phenomenon of time. Time, in itself, was a very complex concept to define.

Beomgyu sighed out loud, drowning further in his misery. Of course, he had a reason for making such a thing, he must have. Otherwise, why would he waste so many years and resources over an absurd idea?

It wasn't exactly a question which was unheard of, not for him. But he would never as much comply to answer, which irked everyone. The reason must be very personal for him to act the way he did, but no one really cared enough to take a deep dive into his life and search for it.

So, not a single soul to that day knew the reason, and Beomgyu liked to keep it that way.

And he failed again.

"Fuck this."

At once was he on his feet, storming his way to the monopod and kicking out of his way. He was too enraged to care.

But just as he did it, his wrist started to tingle. Again, he was too enraged to care.

"A stupid fucking decision this was. I knew it and yet--" He kicked away what he called his lucky chair, which he was very much determined to rename.

"Worst day of my fucking life."

Indeed was it the worst day. But oh, dear Beomgyu, only if you knew what was to come your way. Only if you knew this small failure was going to be the start of a new story of your life.

Only if you knew.

~• infinity •~