Hancheng: There is a door between me and the future

Chapter 270 Jessica: "Not enough~ Give me a reason I'm willing to do it" (Please subscribe and vote)

evening.

In Seoul in 2013, the sky was just beginning to take on a soft orange hue, like a watercolor painting that had been gently diffused, carrying a quiet warmth.

After a busy day, the Girls' Generation members finally finished their rehearsals and began packing up their things.

Today's rehearsal ended earlier than usual, mainly because Sunny had to attend a radio event later that day, and Kwon Yuri also had a filming schedule.

In addition, Jessica Jung left early, leaving a significant shortage of participants. Continuing to queue would not be efficient, so everyone finished work early.

In the practice room, the sound system had just stopped, and the last echoes lingered in the air, like the rhythm of a dance still reverberating on the walls and wooden floor.

The faint smell of sweat mingled with the aroma of the wooden floor, carrying a hint of youthful restlessness.

Jin Ruanruan was bending over, stuffing the water bottles, towels, and spare practice clothes scattered on the ground into her bag one by one.

Just as she bent down to tidy up, her arm was suddenly elbowed hard.

"Taeyeon~"

Sunny's familiar voice rang in my ears. She squatted down beside me, tilting her head and smiling gossipy, her eyes sparkling.

"What do you think happened to Xiuyan today?" She blinked and leaned closer. "After taking a phone call, she rushed off. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Ah~"

Jin Ruanruan, who was putting her things away with her head down, looked up at her, blinked, and gave a slightly helpless smile. "I don't know either. I guess it's something urgent."

Sunny immediately rolled her eyes, twirling the towel in her hand, her tone slightly annoyed, "Of course I know it's urgent! I'm asking you what it is!"

Amused by her expression, Jin Ruanruan shook her head gently, as if to say, "I really don't know."

But in reality, she already had some suspicions in her mind.

When Jessica Jung received the call, both she and Lin Xiaolu heard the other person blurt out the name "Xiuyuan".

Thinking of this, Jin Ruanruan's gaze unconsciously turned to Lin Xiaolu, who was packing her things on the other side.

Lin Xiaolu over there seemed to have thought of the same thing. She looked up and met her gaze. The two looked at each other for a moment in tacit understanding, and almost simultaneously nodded slightly, confirming each other's thoughts.

Sunny, who had been watching their reactions closely, felt even more itchy when she saw this little interaction between the two. She couldn't help but put her hands on her hips and snort in annoyance, "Hey hey hey!!! What's with these little actions between you two? Can't you include me in your gossip? I'm so itchy right now."

Lin Xiaolu just smiled faintly and didn't say anything, as if she was deliberately teasing her.

Jin Ruanruan shrugged, feigning seriousness, "There's no gossip. I just made plans with Yoona to go to the bar later."

"Tch, another tavern."

Sunny sighed and reached out to squeeze her shoulder, her expression exaggerated. "Fine, fine, I knew you two bastards would use this excuse to fob me off again."

After saying that, she grabbed her coat and bag and walked out briskly.

Before leaving, she turned back and waved to them, her voice tinged with a helpless smile, "But never mind, I have to go to work at the radio station. I don't even have time for gossip. Bye!"

After Sunny left, the other members also left one after another, and the practice room quickly became quieter.

Lin Xiaolu packed her things, tied her hair into a neat ponytail, and walked out of the building one after the other with Jin Ruanruan.

By this time, the sunset had bathed the entire parking lot in a warm orange hue, and the dim light cast long shadows on them.

Upon arriving at the parking lot, Lin Xiaolu plopped down in Jin Ruanruan's car, and with the roar of the engine, the car slowly drove away from the company.

Inside the car, Lin Xiaolu, who had just fastened her seatbelt, spoke up, "I already asked Shirley."

She frowned slightly as she spoke, her tone revealing unconcealed worry. "But she said it's not easy to explain over the phone, and we should talk about it when we meet."

Upon hearing this, Jin Ruanruan's brows furrowed slightly, and her premonition deepened.

Without saying much, he took a deep breath, unconsciously pressed the accelerator harder, and sped towards Lin Xiuyuan's apartment.

As the sun gradually sank below the horizon, the sky turned a dusky yellow, and the city lights began to illuminate the street corners one by one.

When the car slowly came to a stop in front of Lin Xiuyuan's apartment building, the sky had completely lost the brightness of daytime and was filled with a sense of tranquility.

Jin Ruanruan took a deep breath to calm herself down, then got out of the car with Lin Xiaolu and walked quickly into the apartment building.

When the two of them took the elevator to the 7th floor and pushed open the apartment door to go inside...

I noticed that the lights in the living room were on, but the atmosphere was unusually quiet.

Just as they looked at each other and exchanged a glance, a familiar figure suddenly appeared at the bedroom door not far away.

"Unnie, you're here."

Shirley held a glass of water and a straw, a bright smile on her face, her tone relaxed yet cautious.

"Yeah, just got off work." Jin Ruanruan nodded and went straight to the point, "By the way, Xueqiu~ Xiuyan suddenly came over this afternoon, did something happen to Xiuyuan?"

"You just said it's hard to talk about this on the phone, what's going on?" Lin Xiaolu asked as well.

Shirley put the water glass back on the coffee table, glanced at the bedroom door behind her, scratched her hair, and gave a helpless yet subtle look. "Actually, the answer is inside... Why don't you go in and take a look yourselves?"

The two exchanged a glance and, almost without hesitation, pushed open the door and went inside one after the other.

The bedroom was dimly lit, and the air was filled with a faint woody scent and a hint of tension.

The two people who had just stepped into the room were stunned and stood there for a moment.

On that large bed, Jessica was lying there, tightly bound hand and foot.

Her hands were tied to her sides, making her look somewhat disheveled, but surprisingly she didn't struggle. Instead, her face showed an almost eerie calm, as if she had already accepted her situation.

At this point, she was no longer wearing a gag and had changed into a simple medical mask; Shirley had obviously just given her water.

The main reason is that Shirley and Jessica had already discussed it beforehand. The room was specially designed to be soundproof, so even if you really shouted, it wouldn't do any good. Instead, you would have to use props.

Jessica nodded, which was considered as her agreeing to Sulli's request.

Her gaze was complex at the time, showing surprise, relief, and a gentle recollection of the past as she looked at Shirley.

Back to the present, when Jin Ruanruan and Lin Xiaolu saw this scene in the room, they were completely stunned.

The main problem is that they had no idea about Krystal's plan and just thought Lin Xiuyuan had gone mad and had actually tied Jessica, who had been with them for 25 years, to this place.

The reason why the two recognized Jessica and not Jung Soo-yeon on the bed at a glance is quite simple.

Their clothes and hair color are different.

"What...what's going on?"

Lin Xiaolu stood frozen in place, turning back to look at Shirley with an incredulous expression, her voice rising a half-octave higher than usual.

Jin Ruanruan couldn't help but raise her voice, "Are you guys serious?!" Shirley shrugged, looking a little helpless, and had no choice but to tell the whole story of what happened that afternoon.

Lin Xiuyuan recounted how Jessica suddenly blocked the door and refused to leave, leaving him with no choice but to "invite" her there.

Jessica listened quietly from the bed, her frustration and annoyance deepening little by little, but she never interrupted.

She could feel that her current situation was utterly absurd, but for a moment she didn't know how to speak, so she could only stare at the ceiling, as if only silence could maintain her last bit of composure.

As Shirley's explanation became more complete, the shock of Kim Yuen-yuen and Kim Yuen-yuen gradually turned into a complex silence.

Soon, after hearing the answer, Jin Ruanruan walked to the bedside and couldn't help but lower her head to look at Jessica lying on the bed.

This was the first time she had seen Jessica twelve years later.

Her eyes and brows were sharper than I remembered, yet they held an elegance and restraint honed by time. Even bound, she retained that cold aura, like a piece of jade polished smooth by time yet still icy.

Their eyes met in the air.

Jessica quietly looked at Jin Ruanruan in front of her.

This younger version of Jin Ruanruan still has some baby fat on her face, and her eyes and brows are clear and straightforward, unburdened by the weight of responsibility.

This sudden reunion made Jessica feel a pang of sadness, as if she were seeing the stage she had desperately wanted to protect.

So, they were so radiant back then.

Her thoughts inevitably drifted back to the past decade, recalling those heavy and difficult times.

Jin Ruanruan stared at Jessica on the bed, her heart filled with complex emotions.

Before this, she had already learned about the other person's future from news reports in 2025 and had seen the name in various rumors. But when she actually met the future Jessica face to face, the heartache and regret truly settled in her heart.

"Long time no see, Taeyeon~"

At this moment, Jessica's voice escaped softly from beneath her mask, carrying a hint of barely perceptible longing within its cool tone.

The squad leader from twelve years ago... she really hadn't seen him in a long time.

……

……

at the same time.

At the villa 25 years ago, Lin Xiuyuan and the others, who had been called down by Krystal after their conversation, sat down on the sofa again.

Looking at herself and Jung Soo-jung, two pairs of almost identical twins, Park Ji-yeon couldn't help but become interested. She turned her head and asked curiously, "Soo-jung, what should we call you two? We can't just call you Soo-jung, can we?"

Jung Soo-jung paused for a moment, then subconsciously looked at Krystal.

The latter simply shrugged and calmly replied, "Didn't we already separate them? My name is Krystal, and hers is Jung Soo-jung. We each have a different name, so how could we not tell them apart?"

The tense atmosphere was easily dissolved by her words.

Park Jiyeon immediately pursed her lips in response, her gaze instantly shifting to herself... well, her little dragon cub.

His gaze held a hint of disdain, a touch of helplessness, and a subtle provocation. "Did you hear that? Names are for young people, but I'm the one using 'Park Jiyeon'."

Da Longzai couldn't help but laugh out loud, and lazily replied, "What you're saying is... According to your logic, what about Yoona unnie, and Taeyeon unnie too?"

Just as the two were about to start arguing again, Jessica Jung stepped in and clapped her hands to interrupt them, "Alright, alright, you can argue later. Now that we've sorted things out here, shouldn't we go back to the apartment and check on Jessica?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Lin Xiuyuan.

Lin Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow, glanced at everyone, and seeing that they all nodded, he got up and led the way toward the time portal.

In just the time it takes to open the door, the group was back in the 2013 apartment.

Having experienced this terrifying situation again, Krystal Jung was still a little dazed and confused.

Is something as big as time travel really that simple?
Lin Xiuyuan, who had just entered the room, immediately saw Jin Ruanruan and Lin Xiaolu sitting on the sofa in the living room, obviously having just finished chatting with Shirley next to them.

The others also found a place to sit down, and the space, which was neither too big nor too small, was filled with people in the blink of an eye.

Then Lin Xiuyuan looked at Lin Xiaolu and the other person with some curiosity, "Why are you here?"

"Yeah, it happened this afternoon. You called Unnie away in such a hurry, how could we not be anxious?" Lin Xiaolu replied.

His gaze swept across the bedroom door, tinged with a hint of inquiry.

Krystal glanced at the increasingly crowded living room, thought for a moment, and then invited everyone to the small hall next door, leaving the living room and bedroom space for herself and Jessica.

As the bedroom door closed gently and the people outside left, the air fell silent, leaving only the sound of their breathing as they looked at each other.

Jessica was still lying on the bed as before, her hands and feet still bound, but her expression had regained some composure and aloofness.

She looked at Krystal, remained silent for a long time, and then spoke, "Krystal, what are you really thinking?"

Krystal pursed her lips, carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, and awkwardly avoided her older sister's gaze, feeling a little embarrassed to admit her plan.

"Are you really planning to let that guy...fill me up?" Jessica asked again, her tone laced with dry humor.

Krystal's expression was somewhat complicated; she frowned, unsure how to begin.

Clearly, all the arguments he had prepared beforehand became useless when facing Jessica.

Jessica narrowed her eyes, a half-smile playing on her lips. "Looks like you have other ideas? Could you tell me, the 'victim,' about it so I can understand how I was tricked?"

Faced with this barbed teasing, Krystal remained silent for a moment this time. Instead of dodging the question, she took a deep breath and pointed to her face.

"Unnie, didn't you want to know why I look like this? Actually, this is Xiuyuan's masterpiece. Not only me, but also Yoona unnie, Taeyeon unnie, and Jiyeon and Qri unnie."

Jessica paused for a moment, her gaze lingering on Krystal's face for a long time, her brows furrowing slightly.

Next, Krystal patiently explained Lin Xiuyuan's concept of "time portal," the connection between the past and the future, and the situation of the Anywhere Door to Jessica, bit by bit.

Compared to the brief and incomplete account Lin Xiuyuan had given Jessica before, this was a completely different story.

Krystal spoke in greater detail and with more patience, leaving out almost no detail.

As the story unfolded, Jessica's expression shifted from doubt and seriousness to a surge of emotions welling up in her eyes, as if she had weathered a silent storm.

After Krystal finished speaking, Jessica had almost digested the information. She looked up at her younger sister and asked, "So this is why you plan to send me to Lin Xiuyuan's bed?"

Seeing that Krystal did not answer him.

Jessica slowly shook her head again and added softly, "Not enough. Give me another reason that I'd be willing to do it."

(End of this chapter)