The ride on the limousine didn’t take too long, and the group was soon on the starting spot, the entrance to Wind Mountain at Seoul’s Outskirts. From here, they would all need to start moving to the top to reach their actual destination.
“Wake up, dude, we’re here.” Said Hajin as he tried to wake up Cristopher.
“Mm...? That soon? Damn. I hoped to sleep a little bit more.” Cristopher said, before letting out a long yawn. With a stretch, he opened up the door and went out. The rest of the members of this travel group also went outside of the vehicle from the door that the driver opened, as he went outside before the rest Cristopher didn’t wait for him though.
As they all went outside, they took a long breath of fresh air. Hajin even yawned as he stretched.
“Doesn’t it feel like we’re going on a picnic?” Chae Nayun, who was beside Hajin, asked as she hit his shoulder.
“...Yeah.” He looked at her and answered dryly. {Why does she have to hit me…?} While shaking his head, he scanned the mountain in front of him with decided, and slightly proud eyes. {They should be grateful that I came prepared for this event.} He nodded to himself while mentally patting his back.
“...Pfft.” Chae Nayun who was looking at his seemingly arrogant expression, couldn’t hold it and laughed at him. “What? Did you catch Shin Jonghak’s illness?”
“Huh?” Waking up from his self-appreciating moment, he turned towards her with a shocked face. “No, no way.”
As he retorted her comment, Jonghak’s secretary, who was speaking with him before, stood in front of the rest of the students. “There is a cabin prepared in the mountain. The master Jinsung Foundation invited will be coming later tonight.”
“Ooh~ A master? Who?” Chae Nayun, who was still teasing Hajin, turned her head to look at the secretary.
“You’ll be surprised when you meet him.” Shin Jonghak was the one to answer with a grin. “For now, let’s climb the mountain. We have to get to the peak at 3.” As he said that, they all started to climb the mountain, divided into small groups.
At the front was Yi Yeonghan, and beside him, asking some questions was Yoo Yeonha. Behind them, Shin Jonghak, Chae Nayun, and Kim Suho walked, the three of them bickering as usual. At the rear of the group walked Kim Hajin, Olivia, and Cristopher, who were making small talk.
The trip went smoothly, such a climb was, after all, not that difficult for a group of cadets. Their laughter and talk could be heard as they climbed, and even some embarrassing answers from Yi Yeonghan, who didn’t understand why was Yeonha so suddenly interested in what he did in his free time.
“Ah~! The air here is great!” Chae Nayun exclaimed. “This is why it’s nice to be in a high-mana-concentration area. It feels like magic power is being pumped into my lungs!”
“Yeah.” Cristopher nodded. “Is so sad that none of it goes to your brain, it might help you revive some of those dead neurons.”
“Pfft!” Olivia who was beside him, drinking water, couldn’t hold it in and ended up spitting all the water before laughing out loud.
“Tch! I didn’t ask for your opinion!” Nayun shouted back at him.
“Relax, Nayun.” Kim Suho tried to calm her.
“You don’t have to worry about what he says. He is just messing with you.” Jonghak also commented.
{Huh? Did this guy give useful advice!?} Cristopher thought, and as he looked at Hajin, he noticed that Hajin had the same thought in mind. Both of them couldn’t help but be shocked.
Time flew by, and soon, more than an hour and a half has passed.
“...The mountain is pretty tall, huh?” Suho commented. “Or did we take a wrong turn somewhere?”
“I don’t know. Let’s just keep walking.” Answered Yi Yeonghan.
As they continued to walk, the joyous atmosphere they had at the start started to fade, until it completely disappeared. Soon, another half an hour passed, and a strange sensation coiled around them.
“...Hey, doesn’t it feel eerie?” Chae Nayun muttered.
Hearing her, Yoo Yeonha, who was walking ahead, slowed down and joined the group. With a quivering voice, she asked. “Jo-Jonghak… does it normally… take this long?” She couldn’t help but have goosebumps all around her arms.
“I don’t know…” Jonghak said with a frown as he looked around. “But I don’t think we took the wrong path.”
A sudden cold wind blew, brushing against the leaves and making Yeonha tremble because of the sharp sound produced. All of them noticed that there was something weird, something strange that they could not pinpoint.
“...We’ve been walking on flat ground for the past 30 minutes.” Kim Suho finally deciphered what was the strange sensation they all had. At his words, everyone came to a stop, holding their breaths. The strange feeling finally turned into uneasiness that crept up their spine. How can they be walking on flat ground while climbing a mountain?
“...Don’t worry.” Shin Jonghak spoke. “Wind Mountain is a mana-rich mountain, so a natural spell might have-”.
“Wait.” Kim Suho interrupted Jonghak, who was trying to find a possible explanation. Suho was looking around. “We have three persons missing…”
“Huh?” Everyone asked back in confusion, looking around. Until it hit them. Hajin, Olivia, and Cristopher weren’t present anymore. No matter where they looked, there was no signal of them.
“...What?” Yoo Yeonha’s eyes opened wide. “T-T-They… They really… They really d-disappeared…”
“Hey!” Chae Nayun shouted while looking everywhere. “Stop messing with us and come out!” What weirded them even more, was that even while being on a mountain, her voice didn’t carry any echo. Soon, a heavy silence descended.
But no matter how much they looked around and waited, there was no signal of the missing members coming back. And this was just the start of an even more eerie situation.
***
“Huh?” Meanwhile, Kim Hajin was looking around. He could see several magic power explosions happening somewhere away from his position. “It shouldn’t be this bad…” He whispered to himself.
“W-W-W-Where a-are we!?” Behind him, a panicking Olivia was shouting while looking around in shock. One moment she was walking while arguing with Cristopher, and the next moment, everything around them started to rewind as if reality was a movie.
“Could you relax?” Cristopher, drinking from his usual bottle, brought Olivia back from her stupor.
“Relax? RELAX!? HOW CAN YOU ASK ME TO RELAX!?” Or at least he tried. “WE’RE LOST IN THE MIDDLE OF WHO KNOWS WHERE!” She shouted back at him, visibly irritated, and scared, of their current situation.
“Damn… Just shut up. Screaming won’t solve anything.” He said as he picked his ear with an annoyed face, he then turned to Hajin. “Have you figured something out?” He asked. Both of them knew what was happening, but given that Olivia was here, they had to at least feign some ignorance.
Hajin shook his head. “Not yet. But it’s weird. I can see multiple magic power explosions happening far from here. They’re sporadic, but still, they’re happening too close to each other for it to be a simple coincidence.”
“Could it be a Tower attempt that went bad?”
“No.” Hajin immediately shook his head at Cristopher's question. “There was no planned attack on a Tower.” He then looked around as he rubbed his chin. “Besides, this is different… It’s like we’re not back at where we were before.”
“Yeah.” Cristopher nodded and closed his eyes. “The magic power is too erratic and unstable. It’s trying to fight for dominance against the Natural Energy present all around. It’s no surprise that so many magic power explosions are going on around here.”
“Huh?” Olivia who had calmed down looked at both of them. “What do you guys mean?”
“Magic power explosions.” Hajin said as he looked around. “Don’t you remember the class we had about it?”
“Yes, I remember.” She said while rolling her eyes. “But it was in History class, wasn’t that what happened during the first years after the Outcall?”
“Mm…” Cristopher thought for a moment before nodding. “Right. Wasn’t there a Time Tower or something on Wind Mountain?”
“Time Tower?” Hajin tilted his head and then nodded. “Yes. It was conquered by Shin Myungchul. Why?”
“Just wondering.” Cristopher shrugged. “I’m thinking that maybe that Tower had something to do with this.”
“You mean like turning back time?” Hajin tilted his head.
“Is that even possible?” Olivia asked with a dumbfounded face.
“I don’t think so.” Cristopher shook his head.
“Then?”
“I wouldn’t say we go sent back, but…” He then looked around. “We got dragged into a recorded past.”
“Recorded past?” Olivia tilted her head in confusion.
“You mean…” Hajin said with a frown.
“You know what he’s talking about? Because I got totally lost.” Olivia said while turning to Hajin.
“Somewhat.” Hajin nodded. “A recorded past is somewhat like a place separated from our normal reality where time is stuck at a specific time… They’re extremely weird, and I’ve barely heard of a couple of cases, caused by Heroes powers, but these are extremely limited, nothing like this.”
“Yes. Those are normally limited indeed.” Cristopher nodded with a frown. “But it might have something to do with the Tower of Time. I’ve heard that some Tower leave remnants when their crystals are condensed.”
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“Ha… This is troublesome.” Hajin sighed as he scratched the back of his head.
“I still don’t understand.” Olivia sighed and looked around. “Anyways, where are the others? Why were we the only ones to be dragged here?”
“Luck?” Hajin shrugged.
“With my luck, I don’t doubt that.” Cristopher nodded. “Anyways, if my theory is right, then don’t worry, we’ll end up meeting them.”
“Well…” Hajin said as he looked around. “Leaving that aside, what are we going to do?”
“Mm?” Both Olivia and Cristopher looked at him.
“We’ll, we’re technically trapped here until we find a way out. We need a plan.”
“Right…” Olivia nodded, looking around as if trying to find something. “By the way, you said that there are a lot of magic power explosions going on around, but I’ve not seen any. I do hear them though.”
“Mm? Well, they’re pretty far aw- huh?” Hajin stopped for a moment and looked around. “They’re far away… Why is there no explosion close to here? It’s as if they’re surrounding us.”
“It’s obvious that I was not going to allow those things close to us.” Cristopher shrugged.
“Huh? But how?” Hajin frowned. {He shouldn’t have any magic power in him right now…}
“He’ll surely say something ridiculous…” Muttered Olivia while rolling her eyes.
“Why the fuck would I allow the mana around me to be unstable? Shit better get under control around me.” Cristopher said while clicking his tongue. “Besides. I might not have enough magic power inside me, but I still have natural energy. No matter what, I won’t just allow unstable mana to explode around me.”
“...” Hajin looked at him with a baffled face, before sighing.
“Told ya… He’ll just say something ridiculous…” Olivia shook her head. “By the way, what do you mean with not having enough magic power inside you?”
“Haven’t you noticed yet?” Cristopher asked while tilting his head, before clicking his tongue the next second. “I’m disappointed.”
“Noticed what?” Olivia frowned.
“Your magic power, you dumbass.” Cristopher said while flicking her forehead.
“Don’t do that!” She said exasperated, before focusing on her magic power. “Huh? I don’t have magic power…”
“No shit.” Cristopher rolled his eyes. “Anyways, don’t worry. It’s something temporal, probably caused by moving into the recorded past, which gives more credibility to my theory.”
“A-Are y-you sure…?” Olivia asked with a slight tremble in her voice.
“Yes.” Cristopher nodded and then turned towards Hajin. “Have you seen something interesting?”
Hajin nodded before pointing in some random direction. “Over there, there’s like some kind of establishment. There are people there.”
“People, huh…” Cristopher nodded.
“People? Should we go talk to them?” Olivia asked.
“I guess?” Hajin said while giving a furtive glance at Cristopher, who understood his meaning.
“We should wait. If we’re in a recorded past of the early years of the Outcall, people will probably be on their toes with everything that’s been happening.” Cristopher said as he rubbed his chin. “Any other interesting place?”
“There’s a city not that far from that place. It looks deserted enough, with a lot of ruins we could use for cover.” Hajin said.
“Alright, I suggest we get a place to camp, before trying to contact the locals.” Cristopher said, and the other two just nodded as they made their way towards the ruined city.
On their way to the city ruins, everything they could see was devastated land, whether that was because of the frequent magic power explosions, or because of signs of combat. Another noticeable thing was the tall grass, a lot taller than anything you could find back in their time, even some of the trees they got to see were quite high, followed by a few big animals.
The only thing they couldn’t see was monsters, which should also be present at this time after the Outcall. Soon they made their way to the ruined city, where they looked for a building that could be used as a refuge. It didn’t take them long, considering that the place was completely abandoned. They managed to find a three-story building that was almost intact and was covered by other higher, albeit destroyed, buildings, making it a perfect place to hide.
“Mm?” As she looked inside the first floor, Olivia noticed a newspaper on the ground. Looking at it, it didn’t look that old, so she took it and started reading it, only to frown the next moment. “...What?” She soon went towards the second floor where Hajin and Cristopher were. “Hey, I think I figured out where we are; or well... when we are…” She said with a sigh as she gave the newspaper to Cristopher.
“Mm?” He looked at it and frowned. “Fuck, what’s this? This is almost from the time where the Outcall started…”
“Huh?” Hajin grabbed it and also read it. “Shit… 1971?”
“Yeah…” Cristopher nodded with a frown. “If anything, we’re arrived months after the Outcall, I would say at least four or five… It can’t be more than seven considering how unstable the magic power is all around us…”
{This is not right… How could we get so far back in time!?} Hajin thought with a deep frown.
“Well… We need to find a way to get out of here anyways, so does it matter when we came here? I just brought it because it was interesting. Not many can get back in time to when everything started.”
“Right.” Cristopher nodded as he glanced at Hajin.
“Ha… Whatever.” Hajin shook his head. “She’s right. We just need to wait for a way to go back.”
“Exactly.” Olivia nodded.
“Though…” Cristopher rubbed his chin. “We still need to wait for the others to come here…”
“Huh?” Hearing him, Olivia turned towards him. “Why?”
“When we were pulled here, the fragment was already activated. Meaning that the same thing that brought us here also affected the rest. The problem is, we don’t know how long it will take them to get to this recorded past.”
“Well, if we get out of here, it won’t matter right?” Olivia asked with a frown.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Hajin said while shaking his head, giving another furtive glance towards Cristopher. “If we get out without waiting for them, we don’t know what could happen. They were already affected, it’s just that the time they got dragged into the recorded past changed, but their time should be already distorting, and soon they should arrive here.”
“You mean…” Olivia’s eyes widened.
“That we can’t get out before they arrive.” Cristopher said with a shrug.
“But… when will that be?”
“Who knows… maybe days, maybe weeks, or maybe months…” Cristopher said, causing Olivia to pale.
“Fuck…” Was all she said.
“Well, see the bright side.” Cristopher smirked.
“What bright side!? We’re stuck here until the others come!” She shouted, desperation clear in her voice.
“With so much magic power around, this place is a perfect haven for training! You won’t find a better place to increase your power by leaps and bounds than this one.” Cristopher smirked.
“Huh?” Hearing him, Olivia calmed down. “Is that true?” As if not believing him, she turned to Hajin.
“Well, yeah…” Hajin nodded. “You’ve heard how our teachers always said to train while magic power is abundant… You won’t find another place with so much magic power other than this time, where magic power raged through our atmosphere.”
“Excellent!” Olivia shouted as her eyes shined.
“Look at that…” Cristopher looked at her with a deadpanned face. “Such a training freak…”
“I don’t want to hear that from you!” She retorted back at him.
{Ha… Why am I the only one that’s trapped with these two…? Poor me…} Thought Hajin as he looked at the bickering duo. It was certainly going to be a few long months for him.