Behind him, the little girl hugged herself.
"…did they have a Dad too?" she asked quietly.
Si Hon didn't answer right away.
Then, softly—
"ngl… I don't know."
But his hand tightened on the backpack strap.
And somewhere beneath Snowfall Mountain, something enormous continued to move.
Slow.
Patient.
Like waiting.
***(Recommendations of songs again; THE LESS I KNOW BETTER, ITS ONE OF THOSE ORV songs)
He crouched in front of the skeleton.
Slow. Careful. Like the skeleton might move suddenly.
Well luckily— It didn't.
The bones stayed exactly where they were, slumped against the stone as if the cave itself had decided this was where the story ended for whoever came before.
Si Hon reached for the backpack.
The strap was stiff with cold, but it didn't crumble. That alone was good.
"hmmm… alright," he murmured. "Let's see what you left behind."
He slid it off the skeleton's shoulder.
No System warning or dramatic windows or any curse.
"Nices."
───────
Boo!
───────
"ack!"
Nevermind.
────────────────────
Si Hon!!! I thought you would die again!
─────────────
Said by the Floating window above Si Hons head.
"Yea, Unfortunately I'm alive, now shoo I'm gonna take a look at this."
The window didn't appear this time.
"Good."
He then looked at the backpack. And noticed that it was… more Heavier than a normal backpack would have.
That made his brow lift slightly.
He unzipped it.
The sound felt loud in the cave, because it echoed.
Inside—
Blankets. Folded, rough, but clean enough. A lighter. Two of them, actually. One cracked, one intact. Cotton. Bandages. A half-used roll of tape. A metal cup with soot on the bottom. Dried food wrapped carefully in oilcloth, shriveled but preserved, and more that he cannot see somehow.
"…wow," Si Hon muttered.
Behind him, the little girl peeked over his shoulder, eyes wide.
"They had a lot," she said.
"They were smart," he replied quietly.
He reached deeper.
And then his fingers… didn't hit the bottom.
They kept going.
He paused. Slowly, deliberately, he pushed his arm further inside. The opening didn't stretch, the backpack didn't deform.
But the space inside it did.
His arm vanished up to the elbow.
"…hah," he exhaled, a tired smile tugging at his lips.
He pulled his arm out and looked inside again.
The interior was wrong.
Not dark— deep.
Like looking into a well that didn't reflect light properly. The edges of the opening stayed normal, still deep, but beyond that… Room. There was too much room.
Si Hon leaned back on his feet.
"…of course," he said. "A spatial bag."
The little girl blinked.
"…is that good?"
He glanced back at her.
Then nodded once.
"Yeah," he said. "That's… very good. Super duper good."
He looked down at the backpack again, something like relief settling into his shoulders for the first time since he'd woken up.
"Lucky," he added softly.
The cave seemed to agree.
The air felt less tight. Less hostile.
As if Snowfall Mountain had briefly acknowledged that something meant to help had slipped through its fingers.
Si Hon stood and swung the bag onto his back.
The weight redistributed immediately, settling in a way that didn't strain his spine.
"Well," he muttered, adjusting the strap. "Whoever you were… thanks."
He didn't bow, didn't pray.
Just gave the skeleton a quiet nod of acknowledgment.
Then he turned back to the girl.
"Alright," he said, voice steady again. "New rules."
She straightened instantly.
"Rule one, you stay close."
"I always does." she replied.
She still nodded.
"Rule two, if I fall again…" he hesitated, then sighed, "you must not drag me alone. We'll look for help. Or miracles. In that order."
She frowned.
"Help? To what… and what's a miracle?"
He smiled faintly.
"I'll let you know when we find one."
He reached into the backpack and pulled out the blanket, draping it around her shoulders before she could protest.
She froze.
"…for me?"
"Don't get used to it," he said. "I'm still freezing."
She clutched it anyway.
Outside, the gray light grew a little stronger.
Not warm.
But present.
Morning was coming slow, reluctant, and thin, but it was coming.
Si Hon then suddenly scoffed.
"…right."
The word barely carried sound.
His gaze drifted back toward the darker end of the cave, where the shadows pressed closer together, thicker than they should've been.
"The rat bitch." He muttered under his breath.
The memory surfaced uninvited, its ugly bulk, the way it had burst from the snow like the mountain itself had spat it out. He had hunted it out of desperation. Out of anger. Out of hunger.
Food must not be wasted here.
Not on this Weird World called snowfall mountain.
He turned without another word.
The little girl noticed him immediately.
"…where are you going dad?"
"Back," he said. "Don't move."
She nodded, clutching the blanket tighter as he slipped away.
Si Hon's steps were careful. Barely disturbing the stone as he retraced his path deeper into the cave. His hand brushed the hilt of his katana cus why not? That sounds cool. His senses were sharp but the corpse was exactly where he saw it when he woke up earlier.
The disgusting looking rat lay stiff and grotesque, half frozen, its tunneling claws still caked with snow and blood.
"…thank god that little girl dragged you here," he muttered.
He crouched, grabbed it by the neck.
Then—
He opened the backpack.
The mouth of the spatial bag accepted the creature without resistance. No smell. No blood spill. No struggle.
Gone.
Si Hon zipped it shut and exhaled.
"Good."
He returned to the cave entrance.
The gray light had strengthened just a fraction more. Enough to tell time was still moving. That the world hadn't frozen entirely out of spite.
The little girl looked up the moment she saw him.
"…did you forget something dad?"
He extended his hand instead of answering.
She stared at him for half a second then immediately took his hand.
Her fingers were cold. Smaller than they should be. Light.
"Let's go," he said. His gaze lifted, fixing on the distant horizon. "Back to the tower."
They stepped out together.
Snow crunched beneath their feet as they began the long descent along the mountain, the Tower still far still impossibly far but no longer hidden.
As they walked, Si Hon bent occasionally, scooping up fallen branches hardened by frost. Flat stones. Things with weight. Things with purpose… everything that's useful for him, he took it like there's no tomorrow, somehow whenever he sees something useful in the ground like branches for fire he takes it happily with a smile.
The little girl watched him quietly, learning without asking.
Then—
The sound reached him.
A faint rush beneath the wind.
He stopped.
"…wait."
They approached the edge of a shallow slope, and there it was—
A river…
"the RIVER!"
Cutting through the snow like a vein, its surface glazed with ice but still moving underneath. Slow. Persistent. Alive.
Si Hon stared.
For longer than necessary.
"…wow," he murmured. "I genuinely miss this river."
She tilted her head.
"Isn't this where we meet the weird looking fur monster? And got attacked by them too?"
"…something like that."
He slipped the backpack off his shoulders and opened it again, eyes scanning the dark deep depth.
"…come on," he muttered. "There has to be—"
His fingers brushed glass, then plastics.
He froze.
Pulled.
One bottle.
Then another.
Then a third.
"…hah."
He stared at them for a second, then shook his head in disbelief.
"Of course."
He knelt by the river's edge, struck the ice with a stone beside him until it cracked, then carefully dipped each bottle beneath the surface. The water was painfully cold, numbing his fingers instantly, but clear.
Clean.
He sealed them and placed them back into the bag.
"Aigooo, we're so lucky right now."
Then suddenly—
"Crack!"
The sound was sharp. Too deliberate.
Not ice, not anything… but a branch.
Si Hon froze.
That wasn't the wind.
That wasn't anything or idk.
Someone— or something— had stepped on it.
He stood up and straightened, breath shallow, hand already on the hilt.
Si Hon raised the katana and pointed it toward the bushes, blade steady, eyes locked on the bush.
———
Guys sorry... I have a broken wrist + fever + I even got a 41° fever I genuinely feel like I'm dying but... Atleast I wrote a chapter today...
Oh no... 1410 words.
(Just skip this now.)
OH MY BRO... It GENUINELY HURTS SO BAD I don't even know why I'm writing but yk. My readers first before me, I'm just writing this rn to reach 1500 words lol, cus why not? It's for y'all
I a m s o r r y I r e a l l y a m I m s o r r y r e a l l y s o I w I l l s p o I l y o u a l l n e x t c h