"No buts. You're just gonna mess things up!" Cheol snapped, raising his hand as if to stop Seungcheol from arguing.
"Come on! I'm your dad! Just a little peek? A few minutes, please?" Seungcheol pleaded, his voice soft and whiny, like a child begging for candy.
Cheol smirked, shaking his head. "Dad, you're way too embarrassing. No way in hell you're coming along."
Seungcheol's eyes flickered with a mischievous gleam. "Then what if I just... sneak in with you?"
Cheol spun around, glaring. "Dad, no! Don't even think about it!"
"I'm serious! I'll just hide in the corner, and you won't even know I'm there. Just a peek at your timeline-just a little sneak peak." Seungcheol was now pleading, his tone almost whiny but with a hopeful undertone.
Cheol groaned loudly. "No! Why do you even want to see the future so badly? You're literally a teenager. You've got your whole life ahead of you!"
Seungcheol grinned slyly, completely ignoring the logic. "But... the future has to have something important, right? Like maybe-oh, I don't know-someone I like? Someone I can't stop thinking about?"
Cheol froze, realizing that Seungcheol was clearly talking about Joshua.
"Don't you dare-" Cheol started, but Seungcheol's puppy-dog eyes were too much to resist.
"You don't have to take me, just... you know... I'll be like a shadow." Seungcheol batted his eyelashes dramatically, his voice pure mischief now.
Cheol scowled, his hands on his hips. "You're impossible, Dad."
Seungcheol smirked. "I know. So, come on, let me in. I'll be super quiet, I promise!"
Cheol sighed, knowing he was losing the battle. "Fine, fine. You're lucky I'm even agreeing to this. But you better not make a sound. You really want to sneak peek the future, huh?"
Seungcheol grinned widely, ecstatic that he'd won.
Cheol turned toward the time machine, muttering to himself, "This is so not how I imagined my day going."
Seungcheol, giddy with excitement, jumped into the machine right behind him.
The time machine's console lit up, the hum of charged energy vibrating under their feet. Cheol sighed as he pressed a few buttons with practiced ease, while Seungcheol hovered behind him like an excited puppy.
"Don't. Touch. Anything." Cheol warned, not even looking back.
"I won't! I'm not stupid," Seungcheol mumbled, eyes darting across the glowing buttons, clearly fighting the urge to press at least five of them.
Cheol glanced back with a deadpan look. "You literally electrocuted yourself three times this week building your version of this machine."
"That's called trial and error," Seungcheol said with a proud grin.
"How do you know that?And it's called being reckless." Cheol rolled his eyes. "I am literally from the future and now stay still."
The machine rumbled louder, lights flashing as the countdown began. Seungcheol's heart raced-not just from the time-travel excitement, but from one thought swirling in his brain like wildfire.
Joshua. Joshua. Joshua.
The machine finally let out a loud whoosh, and the world blurred-colors bending and swirling, gravity distorting for just a second-until with a loud thunk, everything stopped.
T.A.P. - Temporal Access Prototype - 2
Start from the beginning
