Serin recalled the warning Hoonbi had first given her months ago. The same one he’d repeated over and over every time he left the apartment. “Don’t touch my stuff.” It had seemed innocent enough. Just a guy worried that a girl might dig through his things and find his collection of adult magazines and videos she had always assumed. Not a big deal. Nothing she’d have gone poking around for. But oh how wrong she’d been.

Hoon had told her to go into Hoonbi’s room and get his laundry.  Serin had been unsure about it. “Hoonbi told me to never touch his stuff,” Serin protested.

“Ah… he tells everyone that. It’s no big deal. Just go in, grab his clothes, and come back. No big deal.”

“He made it sound like a big deal,” she said uncertainly. Though she wasn’t afraid of whatever it was he was hiding, she didn’t want to disregard his request. “I’d feel better if you came with me,” she told Hoon then.

With a sigh, Hoon agreed. “It’s not like he’s got anything dangerous in here,” Hoon told her. It was only minutes later that she, Hoon, and Soohyun would find out how wrong he’d been. As soon as they opened the door to retrieve laundry, Soohyun had appeared from seemingly nowhere with his own dirty clothes in his arms.

“I have always wondered about the deeply held secrets in this room,” Soohyun admitted then, expectantly.

“It’s really… normal,” Serin stated, eyeing the averagely messy room with an assortment of odds and ends on a shelf.

Soohyun, overcome with curiousity, went to check out the contents of the shelf more closely. “Some of this stuff seems really old,” he remarked, readjusting his clothes in his arms so he could reach out to grab a snow globe that looked extremely aged.

“Maybe you shouldn’t, Soohyun,” Serin said nervously. “Hoonbi doesn’t want his stuff touched.”

That was the last thing she was able to say before Soohyun touched the glass, and a blinding white light encompassed them. The next thing they knew, it was cold. Bitterly cold. Way below freezing cold. And none of them had shoes on. Or coats. Or anything they needed for wherever in the world they had suddenly been transported to.

Serin squeeled as the bitter air hit her bare arms. “Eeeeeeeee, it’s so cold,” she exclaimed, teech chattering.

Hoon, who was shivering beside her, nodded, and wrapped his arms around her. “Where are we? We were just inside the apartment.”

“Somewhere cold,” Soohyun stated. “But hey,” he said, using his head to gesture to the clothes in his arms, “I’ve at least got some extra layers here.”

“Not enough extra layers,” Hoon said cynically.

“Something is better than nothing,” Serin admitted, though her tone didn’t relay much hope.

“How are we going to get out of this?” Soohyun asked then.

“More importantly,” Serin said, “how did we get in this?”

“You touched a snow globe, right Soohyun?” Hoon asked.

“Yeah. And as soon as I touched it, we seem to have been transported.”

Hoon sighed, obviously distraught. "That’s why you don’t touch Hoonbi’s stuff.”

“You know about why we’re here, Hoon?” Serin questioned seriously.

“I don’t know the exact reason,” Hoon admitted holding her as close as possible, “but Hoonbi is a collector. I’ve known for a while that he’s hired to collect magical items for customers. It pays well, but he sometimes stores the items in his room until his customers arrange to pick them up. It’s why he’s so worried about people touching his stuff. So the snow globe must have the power to transport us to somewhere cold.”

“Awesome,” Serin said sarcastically. “Know how to get us back?”

“Unfortunately not,” Hoon expressed, defeated.

“And why is Hoonbi holding dangerous magical items in his room, anyway?” Serin questioned further.

“It’s most convenient, I guess.”

Soohyun had been silent while they discussed, arms crossed, shivering while he tried to think of a way out of the predicament. Serin was obviously not happy with their polar experience, and Soohyun wanted to propose something reasonable before Serin turned her displeasure onto him, displeasure he knew he deserved.

“So before we die,” she started scathingly, “how do either of you propose we get out of this mess?”

“Check cell phone service,” Hoon suggested. “If we can get service, we can call Hoonbi. He should know the way out.”

“We should probably try to find something for a fire,” Soohyun suggested.

“Let’s try Hoonbi first,” Serin said.

A call to Hoonbi was ineffective as they had no cell phone signal, and a feeling of despair settled over Serin and Hoon’s hearts. Soohyun still remained hopeful and encouraged them to seek shelter and try to find some warmth. A brief search yielded a cave not far away that was miraculously stocked with firewood. In fact, it seemed as though someone had been there not long before their arrival as the ashes in the fire pit looked relatively fresh.

They warmed themselves by the fire, contemplating what their next move was. There was no cell phone signal, and they would never be able to get in contact with Hoonbi. Soohyun had long forgotten the dirty clothes he’d been carrying, though all of them had put as many of them on as they could stand. The fire was warming them some, but it was still cold. Hoon had Serin wrapped in his arms, and Soohyun huddled close to both of them.  All three were glad for whatever extra warmth they could get from each other.

“We shouldn’t sleep,” Serin said quietly. The cold had sapped a lot of her strength. She no longer even had the will to fight, and Hoon desperately whispered encouraging phrases to her, but even he didn’t see much point in hoping. If things stayed as they were, all three of them would freeze to death before the night was over.

Soohyun stood up then, going to get more wood to put on the fire they’d started.  As he bent down, he noticed an unnatural crack through the wall of the cave. Upon closer inspection, he pressed on a rock, and the wall rolled back. All three looked at each other dubiously as it moved, creaking as it went, revealing a suddenly lit chamber within the cave. “What’s in there, I wonder?” Soohyun asked.

Hoon dragged Serin to her feet, and stated, “There’s only one way to find out.”

Together the three walked into the chamber. A gasp left Hoon’s mouth. “Guess we found where he stores the rest of the stuff,” Hoon said as he marveled at the collection of items before them.

Serin, who had perked up considerably over the discovery, remarked, “We probably shouldn’t touch anything though.”

“But Hoonbi comes here,” Hoon said, hope restored. “We just have to stay alive long enough for him to come back.”

“I don’t think we can last that long,” Serin admitted.

“There’s three snow globes here,” Soohyun noted then. “Wonder where they might lead.”

They all looked at each other meaningfully then. If these had the same magical ability as the one they’d touched before, it would transport them somewhere else. And anywhere seemed like a better option than where they were currently. Without saying a word, they all agreed it was the way to go. “So which one?” Hoon asked.

“If it looks warm and like there is cell phone service, any one of them is good.”

Soohyun pointed at the one in the middle. “This one has a beach,” he announced.

Without a second thought, Soohyun reached out and touched in. Another blinding light encompassed them; only this time it was light blue. When their eyes focused, they were, indeed, standing on a beach, clear blue seas in front of them. “This is much better,” Serin said, reveling in the sunshine as it warmed her nearly frozen solid body.

“I agree,” Hoon said. “Way better than subzero tundra.”

“Yeah, but we can’t stay forever,” Soohyun argued. “We still need food and water. Definitely water with it being so warm.”

“It’s only been a few hours,” Hoon defended. “Though I guess I better try to contact Hoonbi. It was rather late when we disappeared. He may be worried about us.”

Hoon looked at his phone then and was grateful to have service. He wasn’t sure where they were, though he supposed he could use the map on his phone to figure it out now. He sort of preferred to leave it a mystery though now that the temperature was bearable.

When Hoonbi answered the phone, he was pissed. “Where the hell did you go? What did you touch?”

Hoonbi’s aura of anger was tangible through the telephone. Hoon tried to calm him as he said, “Serin and I went in for your laundry. Soohyun snuck in after us, and touched a snow globe on your shelf.”

“Oh God, you went to Antarctica. Are you still there? Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Hoon explained, trying to reassure his brother that they were fine for the moment. “We found your… vault, I guess, and touched a different snow globe. We’re at a beach now.”

“Oh…” Hoonbi said, sounding a bit relieved, though he was obviously still irritated. “You didn’t break anything in the vault did you? That collection is worth more than all three of you combined.”

Hoon, who wanted to give his brother a rebuttal about being of lesser value than magical items, decided against arguing, and said, “We touched nothing besides the globe. We just want to get home and called for help.”

Serin piped up from where she was laying a short distance from him on the sand. “He doesn’t have to hurry. I’m good with staying a few more hours.”

Hoon ignored her input. He wanted home. ASAP. “Just please come get us. It was an accident, we’re safe for now, but we need your help.”

“You should have touched the snow globe with the house,” Hoonbi said. “That one brings you here.”

“Next time,” Hoon said, downtrodden.

“There won’t be a next time, Hoonmin. You will never go into my room again.”

“You’re right,” Hoon admitted. “I won’t.”

“I’ll come get you guys,” Hoonbi finally announced. "Just hang out until I get there.”

--

Having safely arrived home, Serin, who was now warm and immensely irritated at Soohyun, threw him under the bus to receive the full wrath of Hoonbi. “I didn’t want to go into your room. Hoonmin convinced me to come in with him. And then Soohyun touched your things and got all of us into this giant mess.” The accusation, as well as what Hoon had told his brother earlier, and Hoonbi’s understanding of Soohyun’s nature, led to Soohyun getting lectured, while Hoon and Serin made their way to Hoon’s bedroom.

“So… tell me again,” she said as she cuddled against him, “what does Hoonbi do?”

“He collects magical items for very rich people. He buys, sells, and trades. It’s pretty dangerous.”

“So I can tell. Why did you never mention it?”

Hoon sighed. “It’s Hoonbi’s thing. And it’s secret. No one is supposed to know. Not even me. As far as anyone is concerned, he collects and sells antiques.”

“Buys and sells antiques. Okay,” Serin acknowledged with a nod. “And how did you find this out? If you weren’t supposed to know…”

“I, as you just did, found out through a personal experience. I touched something in his room accidentally and was turned into a frog.”

“Awww… that must have been traumatic.” Serin knew how terrified Hoon was of frogs.

“It was. Knowing that I was a frog… I just had the creeps the whole time. I will never go near a frog ever again after that.”

“Poor Hoonie,” Serin said sympathetically, reaching up to touch his face reassuringly.

“I was lucky it was here in the apartment and that Hoonbi found me almost immediately. He turned me back. I got an explanation and a lecture. I no longer touch his stuff unless it’s in his laundry hamper or in the common areas.”

“I’ll be following that guideline from now on too, I think.”

“That’s a good idea,” Hoon agreed. “And remember, Hoonbi buys and sells antiques.”

“I got it. I got it. You’ll hear nothing else from me. And you won’t catch me in Hoonbi’s room again. You can get his laundry. I’m steering clear. I almost died.”

Hoon thought she was being a little dramatic, though she had been very lethargic, so he couldn’t exactly gauge how close she may have been from dying of hypothermia.  “I’m sorry about that.”

“Thank you for keeping me as warm as you could though,” she said then. “I’m really grateful for you. Your warmth kept me going.”

“Are you feeling okay now?” he asked.

“My bones still feel cold. The beach helped, but I’m like… chilled to my core.”

“Yeah,” Hoon said then, kissing her forehead. “We’ll stay out of Hoonbi’s room from now on. Let’s go to sleep and try to forget our traumatic evening.”

And so, the two did just that.