merry go round || nomin ✔

- one -

plugging his earphones to his ears, the sophomore student trotted down the hallway of the school, humming into the song that played at his choice. he entered the classroom only to see his best friend tidying and wrapping up for the day.

"oh hyuck, are you going straight home?" the boy asked and the latter nodded with a smile plastered on his face. jaemin nodded in understanding and starts to clean up his area as well.

"i'll get going now, don't forget to turn off the lights, hm?" donghyuck waved his goodbye as he swung his backpack over his shoulders and plugged his own earphones to his own ears. jaemin smiled and waved back before the boy vanished before his eyes. he quickly placed the paint brushes and canvases back to its place, not forgetting to flip the chairs up on the table and zipping his backpack up before leaving. he turned off the lights as told, and closed the door, checking everything back before trotting to the exit of the campus.

his apartment isn't located too far away, just a few blocks down and to the right. he was glad that when he moved to seoul, he immediately found an apartment with cheap rent and great facilities. the people who stayed there were also very friendly and sociable, just enough friendliness that jaemin was comfortable with.

the old man who owned the building was also very kind and cheerful, which made jaemin happy and comfortable around him. a few steps down and he took out his book that he was reading. it was a book about korea's ancient times, where people lived in a very old fashioned way. manually cleaning their clothes, manually making fire, sleeping under the stars, houses made of wood and soft cement, and many more. he really loved history and literature which made him want to try living like the people during times where kingdoms still exist.

not far from the campus, he found a newly opened antique store which he found very stylish and gorgeous. he took quick steps forwards only to find himself arriving at the aimed store, peeking into it and saw a man picking up and placing things such as boxes, plastic bags, bubble wraps, as well as small pockets and leather pouches. assuming that the store was already open, he closed his book and placed it back inside his backpack, opening the door to the store as a ringing bell rang when he did so.

"oh! welcome, welcome." the old man looked back at him and smiled widely, followed by a friendly chuckle afterwards.
"what brings you here, young man?"

"good afternoon, i saw your store while i was walking down the streets and it was very eye-catching." jaemin smiled widely as the old man did so too, nodding in the process.

"ah, i know some people might think so. this store is mostly filled with old stuff that you can't even find nowadays, especially in this era." he winked at the student who giggled as he looked around.

"feel free to check things out! ask me if you need anything or if you happen to want to take one of these things home."

indeed the man was right. this store is full of stuff from the ancient times, where the tv is still in a cube shape and the telephone's dial is still the one where you spon the turning handle which you can't make a mistake in the process of dialing the numbers. jaemin loved it, he loved how precious and rare it looked in his eyes and how it would be great to own one of those precious things. but out of all things that were there, one caught his eye the most.

"sir, if i may ask, what is this?" jaemin pointed at a small merry-go-round that was placed right in the middle of a small table set that's also placed in the middle of the store.

"ah that! it's a small antique toy from ages ago. pretty sweet if you ask me. when you spin the small knob at the side it spins and produces a soft melody from long ago." the man smiled and approached jaemin as the boy just looked at it curiously. the latter chuckled.

"you can touch it, you know."

"ah, yes. i'm afraid it will break when i lay my hands on it." jaemin rubbed his nape as he giggled awkwardly. though it seemed as if the man didn't mind, jaemin didn't want to destroy something rare, especially if it's from the old times.

the toy was very beautiful, carved beautifully probably by the ancient people that lived ages ago, or even by the artists that lived centuries before he was born.

jaemin tried turning the small knob and saw the horses on the merry go round move in a round motion, with it producing a relaxing lullaby. he smiled as it reminded him of what he used to love to sleep with back in his toddler days where his mother would still stay by his side while sleeping. as the music gradually came to a stop, jaemin stood straight up again.

"i'll get this one, sir."

-

on his way back to the apartment, he got a call from donghyuck, asking him if he'd like to have lunch together tomorrow. and of course, jaemin said yes, not that he had another schedule for tomorrow. he trotted home happily, holding onto the precious object close to him so as to not let it fall.

arriving at his unit, he unlocked the door with his key and entered it, taking off his shoes and placing his backpack on the small sofa inside the mini living room. he went to his room and grabbed some fresh clean clothes as well as a towel. hopping in the shower, he didn't forget to turn on some music so that he could have his own mini karaoke in the shower.

after finishing his cleaning session that afternoon, he decided to cook himself some ramen for dinner. he went to his living room and sat on the floor in front of the coffee table where he placed his newly bought toy from the ancient store. he slurped his ramen while staring at the object from some time.

there must be a reason why it seemed so special to the man earlier.

then it clicked into him when he saw a small section right in the center between two of the small sculpted horses. there was a piece of brown scrambled paper which he took and opened it carefully so as to not rip it apart. it read:

turn back time as you wish

the place in your mind

the place you will be.

however once he read that out loud, he started to feel everything turning white. whiter and whiter it became, until he couldn't see anything in front of him, just the merry-go-round, the letter disappearing into ashes right before his eyes. then all of a sudden, he was able to open his eyes again. but in his own apartment he woke up to rather an old looking house made out of wood, the smell of fresh linen wrapped around his arms and chest.

"where am i?"

-

hey luvs!! ;)) i'm back with this book^^ i've been going around publishing and unpublishing my books because im such an indecisive person and can't stick with one thing :'' anyways i hope u all will enjoy this book and pls give any comments or suggestions since it helpe me a lottt <33 love u all and stay safe alwaysss !!