“It’s cold in here”, Yerin’s jaw was shaking.

“Yeah, it is”, Sinb responded.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to feel anything when we travel through dimensions… this is not our physical bodies right?”

“I don’t know”

The two girls continued their dialogue, while everyone was walking on the thick sheet of white blankets spread all over the place. 

They were in immense coldness, but weirdly enough, they could still walk and go on searching for their unnie. In their normal winter days, layers of clothes and pads may not be enough sometimes, but now even with a not-so-thick pajama combination, they feel the coldness but not its penetrating powers. 

Minutes later, they found themselves still wandering around the vast white fields. It was as if they were lost, but they probably weren’t. A constant atmosphere was clouding over them, ‘til they saw a seemingly human body from across the distance. The body was lying on the snow, flat and nothing else. 

When they came closer, they grew terrified of checking out who the body is, especially because the clothes were the same clothes Sowon wore when she left. 

“Damn… don’t tell me this is unnie”, Sinb’s fingers were getting bluish, signs of extreme coldness, but after being put at such event, she could feel her sweat escaping through her pores. 

“No, this can’t be…”, Yuju shook her head in disagreement. “It can’t be Sowon-unnie, she can’t be dead”

As Yuju tried to turn the body around in hopes of revealing her face, everyone had the same thought in their heads, “May the corpse be not their eldest”.

However, the moment she touched the body, it started to disintegrate. As if a flame suddenly lit it up, it became black ashes to the air. 

“What- what the”, Sinb stuttered, as everyone became frozen before everything that happened. 

“What was that?”, Eunha’s fingers were getting numb.

They looked around, and saw nothing but still whiteness of the fields. Sure, it could happen, a corpse randomnly disappearing… especially since they are in a bizarre world after all. But it bothered them, what if that was really their unnie? Is it the end for their search? They were still floating on their thoughts when suddenly...

“Why are you here?!” 

… a loud voice projection was heard, and it was a familiar voice. 

“Unnie?!”, Yerin knew that was Sowon’s voice. 

“Unnie, is that you?!” 

“Unnie, come out and let’s talk”

“Unnie!”

Their helpless shouting got trapped in the sudden gush of strong chilly wind. Their voices broke like glass shards in the midst of the white fields. They kept on holding on to each other, until the winds stopped. 

“Go home! It’s dangerous here”

Another voice projection was heard, not sure whether it’s from behind or within or beneath… but it’s still Sowon. 

“Unnie, what do you mean by dangerous? Let’s all go home”, Yewon was shivering in coldness and fear. 

“Unnie, we can’t live without you! Please come back to us”, Yerin was pleading her heart out, tears falling from her eyes uncontrollably.

Before the chastity and cleanliness of the fields are the revelations of their desires. A weakness, a mere vulnerability for some, but they were unafraid to be and declare their interdependence. 

It’s a wonderful sight, but not like it opposed the inevitability. In the blink of an eye, they fell onto their knees. Danger was something they hadn’t fully understood earlier, but now they could. 

Fear was accumulating in their hearts, and soon they were consumed by it. Illogical and absurd as it seems, it didn’t follow the norm of determinism. But they were patterned to a former event nonetheless. 

Voices were shouting, spouting words they do not want to hear. Words that etched anxiety and insecurity in their systems, that no matter how hard they cover their ears, they still heard ‘em. 

It seemed like they couldn’t escape, but Yerin struggled to her ability. She concentrated her strength on her limbs, enough for her to start crawling. The others followed her with all their might, until they gradually rose. And with their feet back on the ground, they ran. 

With a full grasp on their chests, they tried to run from something, someone they were afraid of. Their hearts were heavy and so are their laboured breathing - their exhales became rapid and close in distance, white from the coldness brought about by the ongoing winter. Their heavy steps left marks on the vast field of whiteness. 

Sooner than what they had expected, their legs began to fail. Pain was creeping through their muscles and joints and they knew they could no longer run in the next few minutes. But they persevered and kept on running, not looking back and not minding the voices they could hear. However, tears began to fill the corners of their eyes as they could no longer feel their legs. 

“Damn! Why are you like this now?”, Sinb was cursing her limbs for being in pain as the others chose to cry the pain instead. 

“Endure it! Just a little bit!”

They were shouting in despair, but hope seemed to be far away. Eunha, who was experiencing the consequences of her illness, had it worse. Her mind was going haywire, and her consciousness was drifting away. The moment it did, she fell onto the ground. She sunk further as if the snow was eating her; it did. 

The other girls gasped in horror as they saw how Eunha vanish, but little did they realize that they were next. As their limbs lost strength, they simultaneously fell onto the same fate of their lead vocal.  

Peculiar as it was, they witnessed themselves in that situation. They didn’t enjoy it, who on earth would? But probably, they had to thank the snow for eating them up, at least they weren’t trapped in the snow desert, instead they landed on an sparkly, icy temple. 

Their limbs were still frail, and Eunha was still unconscious, but the remaining members relied on each other even more. Although fear was present, hope was returning especially when they see a large frozen glass bead from a short distance. And in that glass bead was the one they were all looking for, it was Sowon — trapped inside the cold globe, frozen yet beautiful.