"Okay, Dad."
Si Hon winced.
"…we'll talk about that later."
But he stood up anyway, careful, slow, adjusting his grip so she wouldn't slip.
Snowfall Mountain watched.
And for once…
It didn't laugh.
"AIGOOOOO… IF ONLY SOMEONE LIKE SOMEONE WHO CAN READ THIS NOVEL I'M GONNA SURVIVE… AND YK ME AND THIS GIRL IS KINDA HOMELESS…"
The little girl then looked at Si Hon with a baffled face. "What?"
"Nothing…"
Si Hon then approached the tent and ducked inside.
The warmth inside felt wrong now, too quiet and too calm like the mountain was holding its breath. He glanced once at the girl outside, then at the katana resting near the bedding.
"…I said I wouldn't touch you," he muttered.
"But, you know." He reached for it anyway.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the hilt, his arm dipped, not crushing or impossible but heavy enough to make his shoulder tense.
"…oh."
He adjusted his grip.
The weight settled.
Not like before.
"…wow," he breathed. "You're cooperating?"
The blade didn't answer. It only THROBS once, faint, restrained, like a heart choosing not to beat too fast.
Si Hon tried, briefly, to slide it into his jacket.
The jacket immediately sagged.
"nevermind."
He sighed, hoisted the katana properly, and tucked it against his right arm instead, holding it like he owns it.
Then he stepped outside.
The girl was waiting. Standing, hands clasped together. She looked up when he came out.
Then Si Hon stopped. He hadn't noticed it before. But her eyes. Is not mirrored anymore. No distant reflection of something else watching through her.
Just eyes.
She now has clear blue pupils, soft, almost too vivid against her white hair and pale skin.
"…huh," Si Hon murmured.
She blinked at him.
Then smiled.
Not wide or uncanny.
Just a cute warm small smile.
She walked over and reached for his hand, fingers curling around his without hesitation. Her hand was warm and light.
"Let's go, Dad."
Si Hon's grip tightened instinctively.
"…you're really not letting that go, huh."
She tilted her head, looking genuinely confused.
"…why would I?"
He had no answer for that.
He glanced once toward the east, where the faint suggestion of land dipping where a frozen stream sleep beneath the snow.
Then back down at her.
"…alright," he said quietly. "Stay close. And if anything moves—"
"I will hide behind you," she said immediately.
"Heh… good. Because I'm very breakable."
She squeezed his hand.
They took their first step together.
The katana shifted slightly against his arm, responding but not resisting.
Then— the second step, the red circle around the tower flickered then disappeared.
"Oho… this always surprised me."
Behind them, the Tower stood the same silent, enormous, pretending it wasn't watching him walk away with something it had just noticed.
The girl tightened her grip on his hand just a little.
"…are we in trouble?" she asked.
Si Hon glanced down at her.
Her blue eyes were clear. Focused. No reflections hiding behind them. Just a kid asking a genuine question in the middle of a cold forest.
"…always," he said honestly. Then added, "But not the immediate screaming kind. Yet."
She nodded, accepting that far too easily, and stayed close to his side.
They walked east.
The snow grew thinner the farther they went, not warmer just… disturbed. Then some trees began to appear. Not living ones. Not fully dead either.
Gray trunks twisted upward like a frozen veins. Branches bare, brittle, clawing at the sky. The kind of trees that had once known leaves.
Si Hon stopped beside one.
"…yep," he said quietly. "These look… good heh.."
He shifted the katana against his arm, then crouched, reaching down to gather the broad, stiff leaves scattered near the base of the tree. They were leathery, pale, edged with frost.
The girl knelt beside him, watching closely.
"You're making another bowl," she said.
"Look at you," Si Hon replied, folding the leaves with practiced motions. "remeber you rewound the time, so the bowl I made last time disappeared."
The leaves bent. Cracked a little. Held.
Soon enough, he had a shallow bowl again. It was rough, ugly, but atleast functional.
He stood, brushing snow off his knees, and glanced toward the trees, then the slope beyond them.
"…alright," he murmured. "Water's doable. Firewood's… not yet… now foo—"
He paused. Then a smirk slowly formed.
His shoulders relaxed just a bit, posture shifting into something pretty familiar.
"…now," he said aloud, voice light, thoughtful. "I wonder how I'm supposed to get food out here."
The girl looked up at him.
"…are you asking me?"
"Nah."
He tilted his head slightly toward the empty air, expression innocent to the point of he's like a criminal.
"I'm just… thinking out loud~" he continued. "You know. If only my glorious, kind, possibly very handsome or very beautiful System happened to overhear."
Silence.
Wind brushed snow off the dead branches.
The girl blinked.
"…Dad," she whispered. "You're doing the voice."
"…shh," Si Hon said softly. "This is diplomacy."
A second passed.
Then the System flickered into existence, not bright, not bold, just a thin, restrained presence, like it was trying very hard not to be seen helping.
[Stop that.]
Si Hon's grin widened.
"Stop what?"
[Talking like you're petting me.]
"…Is it working?"
A pause.
Longer this time.
[You already know the answer.]
"Sometimes you're so cute."
[Stop!]
"Sure."
The girl leaned closer to read the text, eyes curious.
"…it talks a lot,"
Si Hon snorted. "You should hear it when it's stressed."
The System ignored that completely.
「Food sources detected.
Probability of hostile encounter: moderate.
Probability of you doing something stupid: high」
"Hey."
────────────────────────
East-northeast. Under the snowline.
Burrowing fauna.
Edible if cooked properly. ────────────────────────
Si Hon raised a brow.
"… I need to hunt?! And edible if cooked properly?"
[If it stops moving and doesn't poison you.]
"…wow. Incredible, Amazing."
The System hesitated.
Then, quieter.
[I will warn you before anything large reaches striking distance.]
The words lingered.
Not a joke or prolly an order, just a promise.
Si Hon's expression softened for half a second before he masked it.
"…yeah," he said. "That'll do."
The girl squeezed his hand again.
"…are we hunting?" she asked.
He looked down at her.
"…more like foraging," he replied. "I'm bad at chasing things that bite back."
She nodded seriously.
"I can watch," she asked. "And hide. Like I said."
He smiled faintly.
"…good plan."
He adjusted his grip on the katana, tested its weight once more. Still heavy.
Still there.
They moved forward together, snow crunching softly beneath their steps, dead trees whispering overhead.
***
(Read it with Every living breathing moment in Spotify… just recommendations yk?)
They walked for hours.
Not the dramatic kind of hours. The quiet, grinding kind, where the snow never changes, the sky never shifts, and your legs slowly forget what warmth feels like.
The dead trees thinned out.
The slope dipped.
Snow grew uneven here, disturbed in long, shallow ripples like something had been breathing underneath it.
Si Hon stopped.
His hand tightened around the katana.
"…wait," he murmured.
The girl stop instantly, stepping behind him without being told.
The snow ahead of them twitched.
Once. Then again.
Something pushed up from beneath the surface.
Not bursting out or dramatic. Just… emerging.
A shape rose from the snow like a dih growing when you wake up at morning, too slowly.
It was long. Too long. Its body pale and hairless, skin translucent enough that dark veins pulsed beneath it. No fur. No scales. Just soft, sagging flesh like it had never decided what it wanted to be.
Its head lifted. It was too small for its body.
Its mouth hung open slightly, revealing uneven, human like teeth too flat to be fangs, too many to be right. Its eyes were milky and unfocused, blinking independently like they weren't connected to the same thought.
───────────────
New species discovered: Mole-rat
───────────────
"That doesn't look like a mole rat…"
Then itt made a sound. Not a growl nor a roar. It was a wet, nasal whine.
"…ugh," Si Hon muttered, shoulders stiff. "You're… creepy."
The creature tilted its head.
Then smiled. It reflexivity smiled.
Like something that had learned smiling made things hesitate.
It wiggled in place, half buried, half exposed, as if unsure whether to flee or stay.
The girl peeked around Si Hon's side.
"…it looks sad," she whispered.
"It looks like it crawled out of shit and turned itself into shit and ate shit and turned shit again, then turned into that nightmare," Si Hon replied.
He raised the katana.
The blade hummed faintly, responding to his intent.
"…alright," he said. "its still food."
He lunged.
Snow exploded beneath his feet as he jumped forward, bringing the katana down.
The creature immediately sank.
Straight down. No resistance, struggle. Just slipped into the snow like it had never been there.
The blade struck nothing.
Si Hon stumbled forward, nearly faceplanting.
"…what?"
The snow behind him bulged.
He spun—
The creature popped back up a few steps away, half emerged, head cocked, mouth still hanging open.
It let out another whine.
Then… it wiggled.
Mocking.
"Oh you, Fucker."
Si Hon jumped again.
Missed. Again. And again. Jumped and again missed.
But each time, the creature sank just before the blade could touch it, popping up somewhere else like it was playing a game it couldn't lose.
Not fast not strong too.
Just… untouchable.
The girl clutched Si Hon's jacket.
"…Dad?"
"I know," he muttered, breath fogging. "I know. It's doing it on purpose."
The creature stopped moving.
Just sat there.
Waiting.
Si Hon laughed under his breath and swung hard.
The blade came down—
And the creature sank at the last possible moment, so close the katana shaved snow off its back but never touched its flesh.
It didn't even flinch.
It didn't need to.
It had made its point.
"You can't hit me."
Si Hon froze, chest heaving.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
"…wait."
He straightened.
"…I have that thing."
The girl blinked. "Thing?"
"That skill," he said. "The… all direction whatever something."
Silence.
Then the System appeared.
Not bright. Not dramatic. Just there.
────────────────────────
You are referring to: All-Directional Movement (Incomplete) ────────────────────────
Si Hon grinned. "Yeah, that one."
[You have never used it correctly, or maybe you never used it once.]
"…thanks."
The creature watched them, eyes unfocused, mouth slack, body half buried like it was waiting for the punchline.
[You are attempting linear movement. ]
[This creature is adapted to predict that.]
Si Hon swallowed.
"…then what do I do?!"
A pause.
Then.
[Stop thinking of movement as running. ]
[Think of it as falling in a direction that doesn't exist.]
Si Hon stared.
"…you're doing that on purpose."
[Yes. ]
He exhaled sharply and rolled his shoulders.
"Alright. One more time."
The creature tilted its head again.
Still smiling.
Si Hon stepped forward.
Not charging, or trying to jump.
He closed his eyes for half a second and let go.
Of balance, direction and of the ground beneath his feet.
Something twisted.
The world lurched sideways.
His stomach dropped like he'd stepped off a cliff that wasn't there.
And suddenly he was there. Not where he was standing or where he was aiming.
But above the creature, angled wrong, falling sideways through the air like gravity had blinked.
The creature's eyes widened.
For the first time.
Its body tried to sink..
Too late.
Si Hon swung.
The katana hit.
The blade bit deep.
The creature shrieked, not loud, not powerful, just panicked, as its body thrashed, half in, half out of the snow.
Dark fluid spilled across the white.
It convulsed once.
Then went still.
Silence returned.
Si Hon landed hard, knees buckling as he caught himself with one hand.
"…holy shit!?"
The girl ran over immediately.
"You hit it!" she said, eyes bright.
Si Hon stared at the corpse.
The creature looked… small now.
"Pathetic." he muttered under his breath.
Just a burrower that thought it was clever.
"…yeah," he breathed. "Barely."
The System flickered one last time.
[Skill feedback recorded.]
[You survived. ]
Then—
[What the fuck… Si Hon.]
「That's… not how you are supposed to use all-directional-movement, it's supposed to be like…when you swung Straight it's supposed to be Straight, but when you use All-directional-movement you can change your swing direction…!!!」
Si Hon laughed weakly.
"…yessir~"
Then—
「Si Hon… its gonna take toll on your body.」
"Wha—"
Suddenly Si Hon eyes blurred and he fall toward the snowy ground, face first.
"Dad!" The little girl screamed.
And everything Turned black for Si Hon.
Snowfall Mountain shifted.
Not angry.
Not amused.
Just… aware.
And somewhere beneath the snow—
Something else moved.
TBC.
***