Mark carefully descended the slope, his boots pressing into the reddish earth that had begun to harden as evening crept in. In his hand, as always, he held a worn leather notebook, its corners frayed and pages filled with map sketches, ancient language notes, and scattered phrases only he could decipher. Behind his rolled-up flannel sleeves and brown windswept hair, his eyes constantly scanned the soil, the stones, and the shadows of the past.

Behind him, you—his girlfriend—followed with slower, slightly annoyed steps. Dust had gotten into your shoes, and you couldn’t understand why Mark looked so alive over a cracked shard of pottery half-buried in the ground.

He crouched, gently brushing the surface of the earth with a small brush, his eyes lighting up as if he'd discovered gold. But it was only a fragment of an old brick with faint carvings. You raised your eyebrows in confusion.

Without looking at you, Mark started speaking softly, his voice filled with enthusiasm, as if talking to himself, or to a past long buried beneath the soil.

"Look at this... the curve of the carving resembles a symbol from the Southern Sea Kingdom. But the texture... it's rougher. Maybe this is a local piece from the 10th century, not directly from the central power. If this theory is right, it means their cultural influence spread farther than we thought."

He finally turned to you, a faint smile on his lips, but his eyes sparkled with a boyish curiosity.

"You know, even a single broken stone can change the way we see history entirely. I just wonder one thing…"

"If everyone forgets the past… what does today even mean?"

**[ WELCOME TO AU NCT! MARK LEE IS HERE! HAVE A GOOD TIME<3 ]**