on the second night of being brought back to life, yongmin and harin were quick to try whatever they could to get the locked up lovers out of their boxes. unfortunately for them, the boxes were some weird reinforced glass, probably made to make sure nobody could randomly break them and steal the figurines or destroy them.
even gumiho had attempted to break the glass by staying in her statue form, trying to knock the boxes over. it didn't work, though, because they were nailed into the ground.
sighing, yongmin pulls away and slumps against gumiho's pedestal. "this is pointless. without the keys, we can't do shit."
"maybe we could find a different exhibit to help us out?" his sister suggests, making all their eyes widen as they stare at her. she shrinks back slightly under their gazes, asking, "what? it's just an idea."
"you're brilliant," the nine-tailed fox states, shifting into her eerily beautiful human form. harin flushes, turning her head away to avoid looking at her and instead at her brother. the younger researcher was just smirking at her, an eyebrow raised, before he looks back at the other three.
"rin and i can go out and try to enlist help from the other exhibits. i doubt the guards will come by, seeing as they think you're a regular statue and that we can't leave our photo, so it makes this room easy to dismiss. we'll be back soon."
nodding, gumiho moves back to her pedestal and shifts into a statue again, watching the siblings as they leave the korean exhibit hall.
"good luck!" siwoo calls out, having been quiet a majority of the night, and daehyun echoes it with a worried grin.
on soft feet - seeing as they'd taken off their shoes to make sure they wouldn't get caught, and were now in their socks, or tights in harin's case - the pair of researchers made their way down the huge halls of the museum, eyes wide with wonder as they stare at the world of history around them. seeing the physical renditions of the two men they had researched for years was one thing, but seeing an entire museum full of history about many different cultures they hadn't known about when they were truly alive?
it was truly glorious, to them, to experience all this history coming to life.
it was confusing, though, when they didn't see any other exhibits wandering around. chatter wasn't bouncing off the high walls of the museum, there were no footsteps other than their barely detectable ones. it was almost eerily silent. it was disturbing that there was barely any noise, up until they came across the "safari" exhibit, as said by the plaque on the wall. there were many animals being as loud as they could be, and some lions were even clawing at the gates the guards had put up.
sighing sadly, harin takes her brother's hand and leads him away from the yowling animals, making him pout sadly. he'd always had a fascination with exotic animals, and seeing them locked up and sad just made him sad as well.
"we need to find someone that's not locked up," she whispers, dragging him by the hand down the hall. nodding, yongmin removes his hand from hers and speeds up to match her pace. the two scurry down the halls, avoiding where the three night guards could be heard taunting different exhibits, but they stopped when they came upon a large statue of a weird head.
"you new, dum dums?" the huge head booms, shocking them. the female looks at the plaque, murmuring to her brother about the huge statue was an "easter head." whatever that meant.
being the more fluent in english of the two, yongmin coughs slightly and approaches the weird head.
"uh, yes, we are. may i ask you some questions?"
"i ask first. what dum dums names?"
looking between each other, the siblings shrug. "i'm yongmin, and this is my sister, harin. you're an easter head, yes?"
"yep. nice to meet min min and rin rin," it booms once more, and they both give it weird looks.
"ok, then..." the female mumbles, and she takes her brother's hand to tell him to get on with their questions.
"oh, right. uh, why are none of the other exhibits walking around?" he asks, and the head lets out a loud sigh.
"dum dums lock us up. never give me gum gum," it complains, and harin gives it a sad smile.
"i'm sorry, that must be upsetting."
"very! i want gum gum!" its booming voice echoes in the halls, and after the words leave its lips, the three hear voices coming closer from down the hall.
"shit!" she curses in korean, grabbing yongmin's wrist and making to leave.
"please don't tell them about us, easter head!"
"don't worry. me like min min and rin rin," it says, somehow actually being quiet as the siblings rush off, trying to be as quiet as possible. they greedily breathe in air as they come to a stop around a few other halls, clutching onto each other with worry in their eyes.
"that was kind of scary."
"you think?"
"maybe we should head back. i mean, we can keep exploring some other night?" the woman tries to reason, but yongmin just shakes his head.
"the others expect us to at least find out something about this place that might help, while we're out here. we haven't found it yet, so unless we have to, i'm not going back to the exhibit hall," he states firmly, and harin stares at him for a few moments before sighing and rolling her eyes.
"you're such a stubborn ass sometimes."
"that's very hypocritical of you, dearest sister."
harin scoffs quietly at him, but heeds his words and goes in the direction opposite of the hall where their exhibit lay. they come across a giant circular thing practically floating in the middle of the room, and there was a giant skeleton dinosaur on some podium thing. it had the ahn siblings staring in awe for a few moments as it wagged its tail like a dog, but their attention was diverted by a voice calling to their left.
"it looks like you two are new here. my name is theodore roosevelt, 26th president of these united states of america at your service," a man states, approaching them after climbing off an actual horse. they stare at him and his mustache in surprise, not having expected someone to just leave their little podium so freely.
they'd come across a metal man speaking what was likely spanish atop a pedestal, looking at a map and yelling at them about something. neither of them had ever learned spanish, but both were thinking about doing so, now.
clearing her throat, harin greets, "uh, hi. it's nice to meet you, i guess. you were related to franklin roosevelt, weren't you?"
theodore had noticed their foreign features, older looking clothes, and he definitely picked up on the accent with which the female spoke.
"ah, yes! franklin was a cousin of mine, a dear one to be exact. are you two from around the same time period as him?"
"yes, we are. during the second world war, he was president for the majority of it. i'm ahn yongmin, and this is my sister, harin. it's a pleasure to meet you, sir," yongmin states, smiling politely, but the president just laughs and slaps his arm playfully.
"no need to be so formal, my boy. i'm assuming you two are not japanese, judging by your names?"
harin gives a small sigh of relief, glad this man didn't just immediately assume they were japanese. the one time that the two of them had ever met american researchers, they had assumed the two of them were japanese and refused to work with them.
"right. we're actually korean," she responds, smiling at the slightly taller man. he was shorter than her brother, but still taller than her.
"ah, interesting! you two are from that new exhibit, aren't you? the one that took some time being constructed?" he questions, and the siblings nod. the man leads them around the entrance hall, assuring them that the tyrannosaurus rex wouldn't do anything to hurt them, but then he explained some more about the guards.
"the night guards are some very cruel men. they keep all the exhibits locked up tight at night so as to not cause inconveniences for themselves. i am mostly free, considering my own area is in the front and has no restrictions, but i remain docile so as to not fool with them. they are cunning and very strong despite their age, so be careful when walking around. what i am wondering, though, is how you two are not locked up."
they smile sheepishly before yongmin opens his mouth to answer.
"well, you see, we're not floor exhibits. we actually came out of a picture frame, from a picture we took during our research. we became somewhat infamous for what we researched," he explains, and the american man nods in understanding.
"ah, of course. well, let me inform you of some ground rules, if you'd like."
"of course," harin chimes in, smiling politely which earns a kind smile from the president exhibit.
"do not leave the museum. when the sun rises and you are outside, you will turn to dust. i've seen it happen in our earliest years, and there was nothing more horrifying to learn it that way. do not provoke the night guards, as i believe i've already warned you. oh, and do not cause trouble on your adventures outside of your exhibit. it may cause trouble for the both of you and the others you share your hall with. i will have to come by and see it some time, though, since i have not been in that wing since the hall was being constructed," roosevelt states firmly, but then smiles towards the end.
"it was a pleasure meeting you, president roosevelt," the woman says, smiling once more, but he just gives a small glare before laughing.
"again, no need to be so formal. just call me teddy, it's much simpler." footsteps and loud, taunting voices were heard echoing through the halls, and the three knew to retreat back to their own exhibits.
after the two said their goodbyes to the man with assurances that they wouldn't cause trouble, they retreat back down the wings of the museum to their exhibit hall. small giggles were passing through their lips at the antics they'd seen the cavemen performing, but they calmed down once re-entering and seeing the other three waiting for them.
"well? did you find anything? meet anyone that could help?" siwoo asks, desperation in his face and tone as he stares at them. all he had wanted in life was to be with his lover, and even in their new lives he wasn't allowed something as simple as that. it was frustrating to no end for the korean prince, so he would look for any opportunity he could to be physically reunited with daehyun.
"we didn't find much, but we did see others. they were all locked up by those men, howling to be let out," yongmin says, a sad look in his dark eyes. "we did meet someone who wasn't locked up, though. his name is theodore roosevelt, he was the relative of the president of the country we're currently in from when harin and i were still alive."
"yes, he's got a horse and a pedestal in the entrance hall. hopefully, he could help us."
a singular flame of hope burned in their hearts, making the group smile. but upon the warning feeling that rose in them once again, the ahn siblings retreat to their photo as gumiho returned to her pedestal and transformed.
"until tomorrow."
edit: when you have to rewrite and republish this chapter bc you got the roosevelt cousins mixed up and only realized because you were going over ww2 in your history class lmao
sorry for the inaccuracies before, and the lousy rewriting i did to fix it