When Hwayoung was just a girl, she and her older sister Minji used to sit just outside the village barrier and pick long stems of grass to weave into crowns. It was their secret as to where the grass had come from, and none of the adults suspected a thing: there was plenty of grass that grew inside of the walls. But to Minji and Hwayoung, there was something special about sitting among the rocks where no one else would be. That place became their own spot just between the two of them.

       It lay a ways from the gate, but just outside the wall. That was where Hwayoung kept all of her exchanges with Taemin. In the center of the rocky patch was one round rock, and when lifted, there was a hollow that was protected from the snow. Inside, Hwayoung's letters were protected. If anyone, Minji included, found out about those letters, Hwayoung would be in deep trouble.

       So the commotion around Hwayoung's hiding place as Taemin and she approached the village sent her into a state of panic. However, Hwayoung felt a new sense of dread grip her when she saw the body lying in the snow a couple of meters from the hiding spot. Hwayoung forgot everything else as she emerged from the trees to approach the corpse.

       It was a gruesome sight. The poor soul was curled into a ball as though she was trying to hide from something. Her clothes were torn by giant claws, and innards and blood alike spilled onto the the snow. The red starkly contrasted with the white, and it made Hwayoung's stomach curl into knots. The girl in the snow was blue with cold, and despite her ravaged appearance, Hwayoung knew that figure anywhere, even as it lay cold and collecting frost as it began to fall from the sky.

       As Hwayoung drew closer, she felt her hands begin to shake, and it was almost like she was looking at what was in front of her through someone else's eyes, because surely what she was seeing in front of her could not be real. People noticed Hwayoung's arrival, and they grew quiet and parted to allow her better access to the scene. Taemin, a bit behind her, drew back to allow Hwayoung some space.

       The girl dropped to her knees in front of the body in the snow, and she saw her mother and father standing off to the side. Her father's face was cold and pale, and her mother's was streaked with tears. Hwayoung sent them a pleading look, as if begging them to tell her that what she was seeing was all a bad dream, but there was no such indication. It was a slap in the face. Someone began screaming, and it took Hwayoung a second to realize that the cries were coming from her own mouth. The sound echoed off of the mountain and wrapped the girl crouched in the snow in her own personal hell.

        It was Minji. The person lying so cold and still in front of her was her sist