Work Text:
Buried in a mountain of mind-numbing reports, Officer Park Moondae wished for a distraction that would save him from this boring task. Most of them weren’t even his duty to begin with, such as background checks for different kinds of permits, filling accident reports, traffic violation follow-up, noise complaints, and other administrative documents.
He could always say no to his colleagues, but alas, being the fresh meat in this department, he just can’t. As a result, dealing with these extra work had kept him up so late for so many nights that he might have built up an immunity to caffeine. His sweet nectar of salvation don’t seem to work anymore even after pouring several scoops of sugar in it.
A sudden heavy thud startled him out of his dull and sleepy rumination. Another batch of folders were dumped on the overflowing pile on his desk.
“It’s really nice having you here, rookie!” His senior said jovially, pounding Moondae’s back while roaring in mocking laughter. Then in a more quieter voice where others wouldn’t be able to hear, his senior leaned in and continued in a sharper tone. “Next time take them from my desk. I’m not your goddamn delivery man.”
Moondae managed to keep a polite smile as he responded at one of his targets with a subtle bow. “Yes sir.”
Smile still up, Moondae gently took the new batch of folders, glancing at the pages inside. His eyes gained a glimmer of satisfaction when he saw the monthly budget report for several public service programs included in the stash. He shortly took photos of the pages before proceeding normally with the rest of his boring work. The mountain of folders surrounding him provided an ample blind spot for the espionage.
His prime target, the intimidating senior officer, thought that Park Moondae was just a pushover rookie officer who stans K-Pop idols on the side. A hobby that seemed unsuitable for a police officer. Therefore, the man encouraged most of their colleagues in this department to bully Moondae into doing their paperwork. Which was a huge mistake, because, although tedious, it had made Moondae’s investigation much smoother.
The Internal Investigation Bureau had received a request from the Ministry of Interior and Safety to conduct an initial investigation. According to their sources, something fishy was going on in this place. So far, all the evidence he had gathered had already been passed onto the Corruption Investigation Bureau. Slow and steady, a case was already being made. But Moondae’s boss wanted him to be more thorough with the snooping. The tip was brought in by MOIS to them, and not CIB directly after all. That’s why he can’t be pulled out yet.
As for why he was the one assigned in gathering evidence in the first place? Well, his boss said Moondae’s face was perfect for it. People tend to drop their guard and underestimate him. Apparently, his gullible look was an asset.
He swallowed a groan when another colleague brought thick folders to his desk. His coworkers weren’t all that bad. At least the guy looked apologetic about it and gave him a couple of snack bars as a recompense. He sighed at the growing pile. All this endless hard work was part of his cover but it doesn’t make them any less real.
It was almost evening when his personal phone vibrated as he yawned and stretched out his arms for a bit. But soon enough, seeing the notification woke him up better than any energy drink could ever do.
Moondae hastened out of the busy office. By the time he arrived at a secluded hall, he couldn’t contain the wide smile on his lips. He happily opened the message with an attached photo from Cha Eugene.
[Little Hyung’s fine and back to normal.
He brought snacks.]
The photo was a chaotic group picture of Testar plus Chungwoo’s cousin, Ryu Gunwoo. They were all eating honey cookies in the dining area, except for the little kid who was grabbing for the cellphone being dangled by a smirking Lee Sejin.
Moondae chuckled at it and replied. [I’m glad.] He couldn’t wait to print the picture at home and add it to his photo album.
[It was delicious!
I’m on my way to bring you some.]
…Oh no.
Eugene tend to drop by his apartment whenever the Testar idol had free time, frequent enough that Moondae decided to give his friend a key. But because of his busy schedule with the internal investigation, he wasn’t able to clean his place recently. It’s probably full of molds, germs, and smelled of used old clothes. He’d be mortified if anyone, especially Cha Eugene, went inside his disgusting apartment!!
He typed a reply so fast that he almost drop his phone, grimacing at it. [I’m still at work.]
His friend replied.
[The hero that we always need!
Great job fighting criminals, officer-nim!]
Eugene added a saluting sticker.
Ugh!!! He needed to be direct. This was Eugene after all.
[My apartment’s a mess, just…
Please, can me meet at a cafe instead?]
It was taking too long for his friend to reply. Moondae went back to his desk, weighing on his options if he should go back to work or pack up for the day.
Almost half an hour later his phone vibrated. Eugene had replied.
[Cafe?
But how would I do your laundry in a cafe?]
His idol friend attached a picture where it showed Eugene had already started on Moondae’s laundry, complete with a huge grin and a finger heart sign.
Moondae blushed to the tips of his ears as he excused himself for the day and rushed home like some scary monster was after him.
...
...
“C-Cha Eugene! W-what—” Moondae tried to snatch the laundry basket but Eugene’s grip didn’t let him. He was too late anyway. The washing machine was already spinning.
“I’m hurt, hyung. We’ve had each other’s backs for decades and you still treat me differently,” Cha Eugene said in perfect Korean with a pout.
“Do-do-do-do- DO YOU KNOW how insane it is that a famous idol was handling my dirty laundry?!”
“Laundry is laundry. I wash my clothes too, you know. Like any other person.”
“B-but these are my clothes, Eugene!!!”
“And so? I separated the whites from the colors. I don’t make mistake in this area anymore.”
Seriously?
Moondae slumped on the ground and covered his reddening face. Cha Eugene’s messing with him, this idol knew how big of a fan Moondae was even to this day.
He felt a soft pat on his head.
“Keundal hyung’s so cute, hehe! C’mon.” Eugene pulled him up and dragged him towards the dining area. “Little Hyung’s snacks are so good! Seriously, I was honestly surprised! I thought the tiny Gunwoo in this world doesn’t know how to cook yet.”
His idol friend transferred the zip-locked cookies onto a ceramic plate and went on to prepare some tea. Looking around, Moondae belatedly realize that his friend had also cleaned the house a bit.
“I’m… so embarrassed. You didn’t have to clean up here.” He wanted to hide his face again. When he looked back at his friend, he was met with a very disappointed expression.
“Don’t get me wrong, hyung. I only cleaned because I can’t stand how messy it was. It’s just… Ew. I know that we’re men, but how could you live like this, hyung?”
An awkward silence passed between them. Was it too late to shut the door on Cha Eugene’s face?
Then his friend burst into fits of giggles. “You almost did Moondae hyung’s Tibetan fox expression, Keundal hyung!”
It was contagious, he giggled, remembering a fond memory, and the both of them cracked up into full on laughter.
But…
He was sure his friend felt a heavy pang in his heart. The same pain he always felt, coming from the gaping hole that could never be filled. He missed them. They both missed their friends dearly. Friends that faced the same hardship as them. Friends who were genuinely a part of their lives, and overcame every trials and tribulations until the bitter end. But even if they did something about it, even if they manage to get back to their own world by collecting the final piece in this place… would their lives still be the same?
They both settled down and sipped their tea.
Moondae took a cookie and said, “You know, we should be eating dinner first before desserts.” Then he bit on the yakgwa.
Eugene was eagerly watching him as he chewed, ignoring the comment about dinner. If this was the Cha Eugene from before, in the same timeline, his friend would be bemoaning for them to order pizza right now.
“Oh! It’s good.” The chewy texture plus the perfect combination of sweetness and the hint of sesame and ginger was truly magnificent.
“Right?! Our Moondae hyung never made cookies.” Eugene pouted again as he munched on the yakgwa. “So unfair!”
Moondae chuckled. His friend obviously still loves food, and he was glad to know that, given the eating disorder that Cha Eugene had went through a long time ago. Although, Moondae had a hunch that the memories and experiences associated with whatever food they were eating at the moment, was more substantial to his friend. They heal something deep that regular nutrients wouldn’t be able to reach.
They savored each bite in serene atmosphere. He smiled bitterly as he recalled the past. Or rather, their past in their original world, several years into the future of the current timeline.
… … …
… … …
After their own TeStar went into hiatus to serve in the military, the third world war happened. And it escalated so quickly.
Throughout the next couple of years, an estimate of a hundred million people died throughout the entire world. In their country, it was mandatory for the men to get drafted. Most of them, and who they knew, were sent at the frontlines.
Unfortunately, in their group of friends, only three of them were left alive. Him, Keundal, who had lived as Ryu Gunwoo, had somehow landed an administrative support staff role in the military with the help of Park Moondae hyung. He doesn’t even know what their hyung did, but he remembered how desperate and frustrated the man was for not being able to usher all of them to safety.
The other one was Cha Eugene, who wasn’t a soldier like the rest of them, but had volunteered in assisting with the feeding program. Tragically, Eugene was caught in a blast when the venue exploded. Eugene lost a leg and his left eye that day and he had became inconsolable, almost catatonic at times. His recovery looked bleak, considering that they had just received news about Kim Raebin’s confirmed death on the field back then. Afterwards, Eugene’s family took him back to America. Both Keundal and Moondae hyung thought they would never see their energetic friend again.
And the last was hyung.
Their very own Park Moondae hyung managed to rise above the rest and had served as a military intelligence agent. Mostly, hyung dealt with cyberwarfare but Keundal should’ve noticed the signs that hyung’s goal was far beyond what any of them could ever imagine.
Hyung was obsessively looking for the System.
The man didn’t really care about the rest of the world, what he wanted, what hyung needed, was to bring back their long lost friends. Friends that hyung considered as family. Moondae hyung believed that with the System’s involvement, he could save or prevent the other members from dying.
As the war heightened, technology from different countries advanced. It took several years to find any kind of lead. But like obscure puzzle pieces, Moondae hyung had been able to find and broaden his perception, fitting pieces of different theories and technological advancements from different fields altogether, in the depths of his mind. Keundal could only imagine that it would result in a horrifying possibility.
It was very hard to listen to hyung’s delusions. He was sure that Moondae hyung had gone insane.
Keundal begged his hyung to stop but the man wouldn’t listen. He wrote letters and several petitions to the higher-ups, just to dismiss Agent Park Moondae from his job, but nothing worked. What he did just angered hyung and spurned the man to work harder on even more satisfying results for the military, hacking and stealing military secrets left and right from their enemies. Of course, nobody would want to let the eccentric agent go.
At the very least, Keundal somehow managed to convince hyung to attend Eugene’s wedding.
Sporting a prosthetic leg and an eyepatch, a very somber and a much quieter Cha Eugene met them at the airport. Their friend, who would be marrying the nurse who took care of him while undergoing treatment, had lost a lot of weight. Still, Eugene’s condition was way better than when they had last seen him.
But Moondae hyung took it badly. The miserable man saw their friend’s disabilities and eating disorder as his own fault.
A day before the wedding, Park Moondae hyung had gone missing. Again. Keundal should’ve known better. The only reason hyung agreed to come was because the man was insidiously after something that was hidden in the US.
Cha Eugene’s wedding was very private but simple and sweet. A few relatives of the deceased TeStar members and fellow colleagues from the entertainment industry had attended. Bittersweet tears were shed during the joyous occasion. Keundal could tell that they needed this too, to witness something positive that could hopefully help them move on from the tragedy.
The bride was both euphoric and empathetic enough to everybody’s pain. Later on, Keundal found out during the reception that she was a schoolmate and a fan of Cha Eugene. She narrated to the audience how she had jokingly proposed to the injured K-Pop idol one time in physical therapy with a twisted band of aluminum foil, and to her surprise, Eugene accepted.
The party continued well past midnight. The last guest had just left for their room in the hotel when hyung finally showed up bloody and broken. But that wasn’t all. The only way Keundal could describe how hyung was at that time, was like looking at a shattered mirror. The man looked surreal, a distorted reality, a fractured entity that seemed to belong in another dimension.
And because Moondae hyung had successfully crashed into a military base, armed soldiers had followed.
At a distance, hyung gleefully shouted at them, almost incomprehensibly that it was done, and all would be well, when bullets pierced through his body. There was no spray of blood or viscera. Instead, hyung’s body crumbled further and further. Each piece disintegrating into tiny fading lights.
Still, Moondae smiled at the both of them serenely as he fell.
Keundal broke free from Eugene’s grasp and ran. And as he made contact with those strange pieces of lights, he too vanished with them.
He woke up in a different world, in another time and space, and in his original birth given body. It also seemed that this Park Moondae was in the middle of his college entrance exam when he suddenly became aware. Naturally, he descended into panic and shock. His parents—they were alive?!—took him back home and cared for him. Said that it’s alright if he took a break from college applications and rest instead.
There were no TeStar in this world but searching through social media, Keundal found out that the members were alive and well, prosperous in their respective careers. Then Cha Eugene suddenly decided to barge into his life one day while he was out in the streets. It was crazy that his friend had followed him here.
His friend was an F1 mechanic and was much older than him. Another detail that differed, their ages seemed to had been shuffled randomly across the board. For example, even though Chungwoo hyung still turned out to be an idol after retiring from being an athlete, the previously Testar leader became an official member of VTIC, who were seniors of T-Holic in this world. Seon Ahyeon, shockingly, had became a spokesperson in student rallies in France.
Bae Sejin hyung, who retained his birth name as Lee Sejin, became the youngest prosecutor in recorded history. Then the other member who had the same legal name as Lee Sejin, was… well… Keun Sejin started out as a top earner host in a club, before becoming a very famous porn star both locally and abroad. Honestly, it was overwhelming to see the sexy giant billboards and thirst driven advertisements. Kim Raebin on the other hand had lived a quiet life, focusing more on developing his grandparent’s strawberry farm while working as a music teacher in the province.
Keundal wasn’t able to find Ryu Gunwoo yet, but it turns out Cha Eugene did. And on the day that Cha Eugene dropped by at his parent’s house, he led Keundal to a lonely unmarked grave near the ocean, near the place where Keundal got lost a long time ago. Then Cha Eugene showed him a glowing fragment.
Somberly, Cha Eugene said that he had met Ryu Gunwoo months before Keundal. But the man was chronically depressed. Eugene tried everything to help hyung, but the man only saw him as an irritating nosy stranger. The next time Eugene visited hyung, it was already too late. Ryu Gunwoo had given up and ended his life. That’s the time when the glowing fragment showed up.
When Keundal touched the piece, the fragment was swallowed by his hand. There were no screen or status window that appeared, but in his mind, Keundal was suddenly aware of new information that wasn’t there before. Almost instinctual, he knew that the fragment they collected had yielded seventeen percent of the whole. Moreover, a gate to the next world had become available.
Eugene and Keundal did not have any attachment in this world and they didn’t exactly have any plans on what they should be doing. They only followed what was in front of them. So they jumped from one world after another, collecting fragments that made them feel jaded and morose the more they progressed.
Because, so far, in every iteration of the world they traveled to, the Gunwoo hyung they met was… wrong. Very wrong. If hyung wasn’t harming himself, then he was a danger to other people instead. And it always ended up in destruction and death.
Eugene once told him that it felt like they were the grim reaper, here to collect hyung and to bring peace to a disturbed and troubled soul.
… … …
… … …
There was only one cookie left. Moondae gestured for Eugene to go ahead and take it. Instead of munching on it like usual, his friend nibbled the sweet dessert.
“It was good that you found little hyung and brought him back to his relatives,” Eugene said softly. “If not… I think he’ll end up like the other bad versions of hyung.” Eugene placed the partially nibbled yakgwa back on the plate, then clasped his hands together and grimaced.
Moondae noticed that his friend’s hands were shaking. He understood why. They were so done seeing their friend at his worst.
Though, there was a question in Moondae’s mind that had been lingering for quite some time. He felt like it was a little bit too personal to ask before, but… he might have to. It could affect their decision going forward.
“We stopped at ninety-seven percent,” Moondae said quietly. “Our theory was that… hyung was trying to turn back time, somehow. And if we made him whole again with these fragments, he’ll get to finish what he started and lead us back to our own world.” He breathe in deeply and sighed. “Chungwoo’s adopted brother would probably be the last. Eugene, do you… Don’t you miss Hannah?”
His friend looked back at him guiltily with drooping shoulders.
“Hyung, you might think I’m selfish… No. I. Am selfish!” Eugene steeled his resolve and squared his shoulders. “I didn’t meant to marry Hannah. I… I was going to dump her, actually.”
Moondae quirked his eyebrows. “Dump her?”
“Yeah…” Then Eugene took the yakgwa and split it in half, handing out the portion that was not bitten to Moondae. Eugene continued with a contemplative tone. “Then I remembered that because of the war, practically everyone was dead. My best friend was gone. Dance was taken away from me. I don’t have any reasons left to sing… And here was this nurse, who was also my fan, asking me to marry her. I thought back then… Why the hell not?”
“And that made you say yes for real?”
Eugene nodded. “I also don’t want to make a loviewer cry, I’m a gentleman!”
Moondae chuckled while he shook his head at the absurdity of it. “You didn’t answer me though.” He ate the rest of the yakgwa and sipped his drink.
He was met with a bittersweet smile. “I miss her but I miss my family even more.” Eugene sighed as if exhaling his troubles away. “There were talks about family in the dorm because of the incident, so it made me think of the family I left behind… You’re the only person that I could talk to about it.”
Moondae avoided looking at Eugene and gazed at his cup instead. His heart was heavy as he asked his final question. “Do you want to go back?”
A moment passed, before Cha Eugene slammed his hand on the table as the idol stood up.
“What kind of question is that, hyung? Of course not!”
Moondae leaned back in befuddlement.
Eugene continued to shout. “This is our home now! Look, even though hyung’s small, he’s happy, isn’t he?”
“But what about your wife?”
“What about her?”
“That’s… so cold, Eugene.”
His friend glared with a scrunched up nose, clearly not happy with him. Moondae could not understand what made Eugene so upset.
Eugene sighed and sat back down again with a shrug, as if in defeat. “I guess Keundal hyung just missed Park Moondae hyung so bad then.”
He was taken aback. “What?” Of course he missed hyung, but what was Cha Eugene trying to imply?
Eugene leaned so close to his face with an intense aura, “Officer Park Moondae, let me ask you this. Do you see Ryu Gunwoo as the three percent missing fragment, or as a small version of hyung?”
He blinked in confusion. “I see him as… a child, as Ryu Chungwoo’s cousin.”
His friend raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Of-of course!”
“...Huh.” His energetic friend finally settled back on his seat. “That’s… good then. I could accept that answer.”
Moondae angled his head as Eugene patted his back with a grin. “You’re expecting another kind of response?” Moondae asked.
“What?” Eugene’s tone was definitely asking if Moondae was an idiot or something. “We’ve managed to take a fragment before even though that version of bad Gunwoo hyung wasn’t dead. For a second, I assumed you were thinking about taking little hyung away from his family. I thought I have to punch you, Keundal hyung, so that you would stop being so confused.”
He doesn’t know how to answer. Did he really insinuate that? Moondae groaned. He couldn’t believe that his friend was willing to assault an officer.
“I’m not going to do that.”
“Promise?”
“Yes!”
“Okay… time for pizza then!!!”
Then the washing machine buzzed, indicating that the washing cycle had ended. The two raced to get there.
...
...
The truth was out.
“This is bullshit!” The senior police officer bellowed at the enforcers who came from the internal affairs department, boxing him in.
It was supposed to be a quiet arrest but the senior police was causing a racket. Meanwhile, Officer Park Moondae was subtly watching it all unfold while sorting out the documents on his desk. He was barely paying attention to what he was doing, and the papers probably needed to be resorted again later.
“Tell me who’s the bastard that did this!” The man’s face was contorted with rage and disbelief.
“Sir, you’ll have to come with us so we could sort it all out if it’s just a misunderstanding,” one of the agents said in an unguarded tone. Moondae’s colleague was trying to save the man’s dwindling reputation, if there were any left.
“It’s all lies. None of these are true!” The senior officer was still resisting and refusing to cooperate, digging an even deeper grave.
The case for embezzlement against the senior police officer and his cohorts was solid. There’s also an angle for fraud and official misconduct, but the biggest gem that Moondae uncovered, however, was the drug money funneling in through some of the charity account names. They exploited a typo to misdirect the so called ‘grant funds’ that did not exist before. What’s more, even though the charity names had gotten used, these organizations did not receive anything, not even a single won.
Just as the enforcers closed in, readying to cuff the man, the senior officer managed to twist away from their grasp by whipping his arm free then made a run for it. Moondae abandoned the mountain of paperwork, accidentally toppling it all to the floor as he followed the other officers in pursuit by using a different hallway.
The runaway senior had almost reached the reception when the man suddenly tumbled over.
Moondae noticed the rolling Pepsi on the floor. Comically, it seemed that their criminal tripped on a can of softdrink.
“Sorry, ahjussi. I dropped my drink.” A familiar looking kid had voiced out.
“You careless fuck!” In fury, the downed senior officer grabbed the kid’s jacket and was about to strike him.
Moondae lunged forward and tackled the accused senior officer while pushing the boy back. They grappled and struggled for a bit on the floor, leaving their uniforms in disarray, but in the end, Moondae managed to snap the handcuffs shut on the senior officer’s wrist.
The other officers finally arrived and dragged the heaving senior officer away, who was then clamoring for his innocence.
Moondae eyed the kid tucked in a corner who was wearing a large hoodie. It was Ryu Gunwoo.
He picked up the soda can on the floor and presented it to the kid. “I hope you weren’t hurt. What are you doing here at the station anyway, Gunwoo?” He grinned, trying to appear casual. But inside, his heart hammered against his ribs. Geez. He winced internally. What if that turned into a shootout?
The child looked unhurt, though, Gunwoo was just staring blankly at him and didn’t move to take the offered drink back.
“Is there something wrong?” He asked softly.
“They recruit undergraduates as police officers?” The child innocently asked.
“Ahaha… do I still look like a student to you?” He laughed nervously.
Gunwoo nodded. “You should change jobs. You were amazing at doing the puppet theater at the library.”
Moondae rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. “Thanks, I guess.” He led the kid to sit down on the bench. Gunwoo refused to take the soda back and Moondae was left awkwardly wondering what to do with it instead. From what he can remember, none of them like drinking Pepsi. Anyway.
“Don’t you have school today?”
“I don’t have classes.”
“But it’s a weekday…?”
Gunwoo bit his lip in contemplation before continuing, “I got suspended.”
Moondae blinked incredulously. “Whu-why?”
“Blame Minecraft. Oh. And I probably saved a kid or something. I don’t know.” Gunwoo said nonchalantly.
Moondae fought the urge to hold his forehead. He mentally noted to ask Cha Eugene if his friend could inquire Ryu Chungwoo about what really happened later.
“So… What can I help you with?”
Gunwoo returned to staring. Moondae felt like he was being judged unfairly inside the kid’s head. Finally, the kid sighed and pulled out an external drive from a bag. Gunwoo contemplated some more before handing it over to him.
“What’s in this?” He handled it carefully while looking it over.
“It contains something disgusting. If you cannot handle such things, you should give it to your boss instead.”
Moondae doesn’t know if he should feel hurt by that statement. “Uh… Thanks for looking out for me…?”
The kid nodded and stood, hesitating for a bit. “I should go. Thank you for your time... officer-nim.” The child then bowed and started to walk away.
“Wait! Let me drive you back home.” He secured the external hard drive inside his coat pocket.
Gunwoo tensed up. “I can go by myself.”
“Oh? And you’ll surely be going back home and not wander around anywhere else then?” Like, for example, Testar’s dorm?
If the child was suspended, then Moondae could hazard a guess that Gunwoo wasn’t allowed to go out of the Ryu household. The guardians must be worried sick. Though it was possible that they didn’t know that the kid had snuck out.
With extreme calmness, the kid said, “And where would I go but home, officer-nim?”
Moondae chuckled. No matter the age, hyung was always terrible at lying.