Morning sunlight touched Yurim's face as she stepped out of the house, still carrying the heaviness from the night before.
"I don't feel like going anywhere," she whispered.
But the moment she reached the station and saw Siya and Nami waiting with sleepy, half-dead expressions, something inside her softened.
"Finally, you're here," Siya yawned.
"If the toy train is this early every day, I'm never coming again," Nami complained, rubbing her eyes.
Then she side-eyed Siya's male friend, who was awkwardly standing a little away from them, pretending to check something on his phone.
Yurim quietly smiled.
And they headed toward the ticket line.
---
"Thank God you brought him," Nami whispered loudly to Siya while standing to the side of the line. "Otherwise we'd still be dying in that long ticket queue."
"Yes, yes…" Yurim teased.
Siya glared at both of them as Haon returned with the tickets, confused about why they were laughing.
---
After a while…
They squeezed into the slow, colourful toy train that rattled like it was older than all four of them combined.
"Look how tiny the seats are," Siya laughed.
"But the windows are wide… it looks old, but it seems like it's going to be fun," Haon replied.
But after the train started—
---
"Even a snail is faster than this train," Nami complained.
"Seems like we're going to reach the hill station in our next life," Yurim sighed looking out of the window.
But the moment the train started moving through the mountains, everything changed.
Cold morning air brushed against their faces.
Trees blurred past in soft waves of green. The sky was pale blue, the sun still shy behind the hills.
"Take a video of me," Yurim said, leaning toward Nami. "I'll put my head out. Take a good angle!"
They laughed, took videos, and screamed when the wind slapped them.
But slowly, as the train went deeper into the mountains, boredom returned.
"Don't you think this train is moving in the same direction again and again…?" Siya asked.
"Yes. It's like a circle," Nami replied, concerned.
"What if we're in a survival movie?" Yurim whispered. "And this train never stops. Like an unending loop. A curse."
"What—NO. Stop it," Nami said, instantly scared.
"I miss my room…"
Haon just sighed and stared out of the window like he regretted coming.
Yurim laughed for the first time that morning—truly laughed.
For a few minutes, everything was peaceful.
---
By late morning, they reached the hill station. And like every group of friends ever, they walked wherever the road pulled them.
They saw donkeys carrying heavy loads up steep paths. Horses were tied under the sun, waiting for tourists. The sight made the girls slow down.
"That's sad," Siya murmured.
"Yes, but don't worry. Maybe they're used to this," Haon replied.
"They look exhausted," Yurim whispered.
"I feel guilty for existing," Nami added, clicking a picture for no reason.
They roamed everywhere—viewpoints, markets, random turns that led nowhere—and got tired faster than expected.
Their legs were crying long before they realised they had stopped paying attention to the roads.
At some point, even the noise of tourists thinned out.
"I swear we already passed this place," Nami muttered, wiping sweat from her forehead.
Siya slowed down. "I don't even know where we are anymore."
Yurim felt it too—
Then suddenly, Haon stopped walking.