The sunlight shone on Moonbyul’s eyelids, waking her from her slumber. The blinding rays forced her eyes shut when she tried to open them. She sat up slowly, feeling weak and dizzy, a high-pitched ringing deafening her right ear. She placed her hand over it, hoping it would stop. Her vision became blurry every few seconds. She tapped and shook her head, trying to clear it.

Wh—where am I? She looked at her surroundings and found the metal walls rusted. Solar! Whee-In! Hwasa! They were nowhere in sight.

“SOLAR! WHEE-IN! HWASA!” she quickly stood up and screamed. “WHERE ARE YOU!?” she continued as she moved towards the exit, which was only a hole cut into the wall. “CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!?”

Outside she found the ground covered in sand, while the area was blocked off by hundreds of rusty shipping containers, stacked atop each other. Spray-painted graffiti decorated their metal bodies, ranging from gang symbols to curses and threats. A piece of paper was stuck to one directly in front of her. She hurried towards it and yanked it off. She silently read the note.

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Two friends you have; one hanging by a thread, the other ticking with time. If you can only save one, whom will you choose? First, you need to find them. Where could they be?

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“Two?” She furrowed her brow, feeling frustrated. “There should be three! What did she do to one of them!?” She bit her lip and clenched her fists, crumpling the paper in the process. The thought of something bad happening to any one of them made her anxious and angry. Just then she heard a faint voice calling.

“Is anyone there!? Hello?”

“Hwasa? HWASA!”

“MOONBYUL!? MOONBYUL, IS THAT YOU!?”

She ran up to the adjacent containers as she replied, “YES! IT’S ME! ARE YOU OKAY?”

“I’M FINE! YOU!?”

“I’M OKAY! LET’S TRY TO MEET UP!”

“GOOD IDEA!”

They followed the path in front of them, using each other’s voice as a guide just in case it diverged. After a few minutes, they were finally able to see each other. However, a steel door, not dissimilar to those used in prisons, kept them apart.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Moonbyul breathed a sigh of relief. They tried to get the door open, but it wasn’t budging without the key.

“Me too. When I saw this note, I thought something bad had happened to one of you.” Hwasa and Moonbyul exchanged their notes, noticing the similar handwriting on each.

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Two friends you have; look up and you might find one, the other look inside and she might be there. I wonder, why are they hiding from you? Did you do something to make them angry?

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“I’ve been looking up and opening the containers that I’m able to, but I haven’t found Whee-In or Solar,” Hwasa said worriedly, tearing up. “What should we do?”

“Let’s not panic,” she was crying herself. “You continue searching on your side. I’ll do the same over here. I’m sure they’re okay.”

“You’re right.” She dried her tears. “We’ll find them.”

“Let’s try to meet back here when we do. We can figure out how to open this door then.”

“Alright,” Hwasa nodded. “Be careful out there.”

“You too. Stay safe.”

They parted ways to search for Solar and Whee-In. Moonbyul opened all the containers nearby before looking up and turning in a circle to see her surroundings. Are they in one of those up there? How am I supposed to get up there? As she was searching the sky, she saw a bit of smoke coming from the distance. She followed it to the source and found it coming out from a makeshift building, surrounded by a small broken fence, all created by using cargo containers.

She ran around trying to find a way in, but all of the paths led to a dead end. How am I supposed to get in there? She glanced up, but it was too high. As she was looking for another way, she noticed something blue slightly hidden beneath the sand. It was most likely uncovered when she ran past earlier.

After brushing the sand off, she found an arrow painted on the concrete ground. What is this? She followed the direction the arrow pointed, clearing aside the sand as she walked and found more arrows going in the same direction. It lead to a yellow container, one she had yet to open since she found the smoke. Is this a trap? she pondered for a moment. I can’t waste too much time thinking about it. What if Solar or Whee-In is trapped in there?

She unlocked the door and went inside. To her surprise, the other end of the container was wide open. She followed it and found herself on the side with the smoky building. The smoke was escaping from a few cracks on the side of the makeshift building. Solar! Whee-In! She ran up to the small window in front of her to check inside. A pair of legs was hanging out from an average looking sedan that was missing its doors. However, the person’s face was not in view, so she couldn’t determine who it was.

She tried the door but it was sealed shut. A crowbar was leaning against the wall next to it, as if it were on display. When she picked it up, she heard something akin to a pin dropping onto the metal floor; followed by a sort of hissing noise. There was also a thin wire, similar to a fishing line, attached to the crowbar. She retrieved the wire and found a pull ring tied to the other end. Looking through the hole where the wire had come from, she saw smoke gushing from a small metal container, taped to the floor.

! A smoke bomb! She got up quickly and tried to force the door open using the crowbar, but it wouldn’t budge. Instead, she smashed the nearby window, but it was too small for her to fit through. At least this will air out the room quicker! As she went around the building to break the rest of the windows, she found a hole dug beneath the wall on the right side. It was big enough for a husky to crawl through.

She took her chance, wading through the smoke, coughing as she went, and indeed it did lead inside. She rushed up to the car and found Solar lying unconscious in the back seat.