“Ugh….” A woman lying flat on her back in the snow let out a faint sound as she stirred. Soon after, she lifted her face again, now red from the snow stuck to her skin. Fearing she might actually die at this rate, the woman forced her slowly dampening body to move.
Swish... swish.
As she dragged herself across the ground, the pure white snowfield was marked with trails that resembled those of a giant worm.
The woman, who left these long trails, finally reached a large tree and used it to struggle onto her feet.
Leaning against the tree, she exhaled white breaths as she lanted. “How did it co to this…?” As the white breath faded, a youthful face appeared, younger than one might expect. It was a face closer to a girl’s than a woman’s.
Her appearance gave off the impression of soone just entering society. Although it was marred by snow and the traces of hardship, her face was rather pretty.
Kicking her legs in the snow as if trying to summon an angel to save her, the woman recalled the reason she had co here.
‘…Did I go too far?’
The reason for her journey to this godforsaken place was simple.
She wanted to et the blue figure that kept appearing in her dreams.
A strangely shaped girl, ford entirely of blue, wriggling movents.
The last ti she saw it, the figure wore what looked like a stainless steel bowl on its head, a mory that brought a faint smile to her lips despite her dire circumstances.
To be honest, the woman had no certainty that she would see the blue figure by coming here.
She had rely followed the afterimage of a dream, wandering aimlessly.
When she ca to her senses, she had already arrived here.
‘…Maybe I’ve been under too much stress.’
The woman exhaled a sigh from her blue lips. She tried to recall older mories.
None of them were particularly pleasant.
mories of writing resus and going to interviews to find a job—and tasting bitter rejection.
‘Would things have been different if I had succeeded in getting a job? If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have co this far. Maybe I wasn’t chasing the blue figure after all…. Maybe I just wanted to take a break. If not that, then….’
Sigh…
The woman shook her head vigorously. Instead of dwelling on such grim thoughts, she decided to think more positively.
Yes, I just needed a break. Now… It's ti to end this trip and return to everyday life.
Forget about the blue figure. It’s just stress making dream about strange things.
‘But… What was that compulsion, anyway?’
Shivering from the cold, the woman rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a smartphone.
The phone looked quite precarious, with cracks running across its screen.
She tried to check her location on the phone, but….
“What? Why isn’t it working?”
The frozen phone, already at its limit, seed to have succumbed to the cold.
Feeling a pang of bitterness over the demise of the device that had delivered her job rejections, she put the phone back into her pocket.
‘What do I do now? Am I screwed?’
Leaning against the tree, she scanned her surroundings.
Only now did she take in the stunning scenery she had missed earlier, caught up as she was in a blind daze.
Pristine white snow, untainted by any blemish, stretched out before her, unmarred except for the tracks she had left behind.
But…. There wasn’t a single clue to indicate where she was.
‘Does such a place even exist in our country?’
It was a ridiculous thought, considering she was the one who had co here. Still, her mory was hazy.
“This is really bad.”
Having lost her original purpose, the woman felt as if her life was draining out of her.
Like soone consud by revenge, only to lose their target.
‘Wow, that sounds kind of… cool?’
Perhaps the cold and hardship had already driven her to the brink of madness.
Whatever the case, her life seed to be burning its final embers.
Curled up, she felt her vision blur more and more.
I’m going to die. That sensation whispered in her ears.
‘I need to move…. But I’m so sleepy.’
‘If I take a nap, won’t I be able to move again when I wake up? They say sleep is the best redy, right?’
‘Ah, if I fall asleep… maybe I can et the blue figure again. The only thing that comforted when I was struggling… what was it again?’
Her body grew colder, her vision darker.
Feeling her mind go blank, she sank into the abyss.
And then.
“Hey! If you fall asleep like that, you’ll die!”
“…?”
A voice struck her ears, and she blinked drowsily.
She saw a man approaching her.
His face, stern and sharp, carried a certain masculine charm.
‘Could he be… the grim reaper here to take away?’
“Snap out of it!”
The man reached her and began pulling out a bunch of heat packs from his bag, thrusting them into her arms.
“Heat packs…?”
“Put them inside your clothes.”
Dazed, she followed his instructions, muttering absentmindedly.
“So… not a grim reaper?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Oh, nothing….”
Realizing her absurdity, her face turned red, and she lowered her head in embarrassnt.
She scolded herself for her foolishness now that reality was setting in.
‘What was I thinking, coming here? I don’t even clearly rember how I got here. It must be all the stress from job hunting.’
“I just want to win the lottery….”
“…What?”
The man, rummaging through his bag for more supplies, gave her a baffled look.
Feeling his gaze, her face flushed even redder as she buried her face in her knees.
“So, you’re saying you ca all the way here because you wanted to see sothing from your dreams?”
When Kim Cheonsu asked with a dumbfounded expression, the woman scratched her head sheepishly.
“Haha… maybe? Honestly, I don’t even clearly rember how I got here.”
“…You don’t rember?”
“No. Well, I do recall being vaguely aware of moving from place to place, but… it felt like I was in a trance?”
“Hmm.”
The woman seed delighted that Kim Cheonsu was taking her words seriously, and she eagerly began sharing more of her story.
Listening to her—or rather, Yang Hana—Kim Cheonsu felt his mind growing more and more tangled.
Not only was it surprising that this woman, who seed on the verge of death, had managed to hold herself together, but….
She was entirely different from any of the possibilities he and Han Seori had anticipated.
It would be laughable to take everything Yang Hana said at face value, but assuming it was true… she appeared to be more of a victim.
‘What was 7496-KR thinking…?’
What kind of person would co all the way here?
While it couldn’t be confird, it seed highly likely.
Perhaps her ntal state had been weakened by stress, making her vulnerable to such bizarre impulses.
Pondering this, Kim Cheonsu nodded slightly to himself.
Listening to Yang Hana’s rambling, he could empathize with the stress she must have endured.
After all, before he had managed to barely secure his current position, his situation hadn’t been much different from hers.
Still, setting aside his empathy for her sob story….
He was now stuck wondering what to do with her.
If she had been openly malicious, his decision might have been easier.
The problem was that she seed harmless—an ordinary civilian, at least on the surface.
In the research facility where Han Seori and Kim Cheonsu were staying, there weren’t many “humane” options to resolve a situation like this.
Letting her go wasn’t a viable solution either.
If they sent her back without any precautions, who knew what kind of trouble might follow?
As he mulled over the complexities of the situation, he concluded that this wasn’t sothing he could handle on his own.
“By the way, this is my first ti seeing a place like this. I didn’t know such places existed in our country!”
“…I see.”
Even so, listening to her wasn’t unpleasant.
Her boundless positive energy, like the sun, made him appreciate the vitality of youth.
‘Not that I’m old,’ he thought, clearing his throat with a quiet cough.
Standing up, he announced, “I… I need to take care of sothing briefly.”
“Ah! Okay, take your ti! By the way, I heard that it's likely to freeze if soone stayed out in a place like this….”
“Here. Have so of this to drink while you wait.”
Pulling a water bottle from his bag, Kim Cheonsu handed it to Yang Hana, who had been chattering nonstop, before moving to a spot out of her earshot and sightline.
As if he were genuinely going to… “take care of sothing.”
Strictly speaking, he really was taking care of sothing.
Once he confird Yang Hana was out of earshot, he activated a communication device and spoke.
“Doctor, are you listening?”
[Yes. It seems we have a bit of a problem, don’t we?]
“Indeed.”
As Kim Cheonsu let out a sigh, white steam billowed out in the cold air. Just as his sigh dispersed into frost, Han Seori chuckled.
[So, did you enjoy chatting with the young lady?]
“What kind of nonsense are you saying? I’m young, too.”
[If you’re defensive, it ans you’re an old man.]
“….”
[I was just teasing.]
With a more serious tone, Han Seori contemplated for a mont before making her decision.
Considering Yang Hana appeared to be an ordinary civilian, the options to “deal” with her were limited.
Her choice seed unavoidable.
“Are you sure about this?”
[There’s no other option. You’ll have to endure it a bit longer.]
“Understood.”
Ending the communication, Kim Cheonsu turned to look at Yang Hana, who was still sitting in the distance.
When their eyes t, she waved at him. He let out a soft sigh and waved back faintly.
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Is this really the right thing to do?
With a slightly grim expression, he slowly approached Yang Hana.
Although his mind was filled with doubts, he had no choice in the matter.
He moved to carry out Han Seori’s instructions.
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