The next day.
The sun still hadn’t shaken off its morning drowsiness.
They stood between ice cliffs that soared as high as dozens of ships stacked atop one another.
The surface was covered with razor-sharp shards, as if tens of thousands of blades had been driven in.
Where sunlight touched, it gleamed and flashed like steel, stabbing the eyes of the Promotion Team.
From their now-distant starting point, a white mist rose up, looking for all the world like a dragon’s breath.
“Look over there!”
Mujae quickly set up the camera. Where he pointed, their destination, the Glacier Waterfall, unfolded in breathtaking splendor.
The waterfall poured from on high, freezing mid-fall into massive jade-colored ice pillars.
Around them, countless icicles hung like beards.
The Promotion Team filmed from every angle until they were satisfied. Mujae, in charge of the drone, muttered with regret.
“Should’ve asked the Facilities Team to lend me Chichi….”
“What’s Chichi? Wait, you mean that bird?”
Hallakgoong snorted in disbelief. Mujae stuck out his lips and grumbled.
“Shots from Chichi come out way cooler. Drones just don’t have the same feel!”
“Hey, that bird belongs to the Facilities Team. When did you even name it, anyway?”
Hallakgoong shook his head as he packed up the filming gear.
The heat-insulating suit the Facilities Team made worked fine as a cold-weather suit, but it still sent a chill through his core every time he breathed.
He couldn’t shake the constant restlessness inside him.
“Let’s go! We have to reach Black Tortoise Lake before sunset.”
They passed through Soritbal Gorge and headed toward the Perennial Snowfield. Crunch, crunch—their steps broke the world’s silence.
Giant snow dunes, sculpted by the cold wind, rose and fell like waves, painting a brilliant white world.
Beneath the blue sky, this silver-shining land was a grandeur entirely different from the nature of Seocheon Flower Garden.
“…But where are all the convicts?”
Mujae’s question vanished into the air with a puff of frosty breath.
They’d passed through quite a lot of territory, yet had seen no other living beings.
Not even the managers of Northern Ice Hell showed themselves.
Zack, hearing Mujae’s question, made a gesture.
‘Maybe nobody lives here?’
“But… this is still a Hell, isn’t it?”
Aside from Seolpyo and Songje Great King, Mujae had seen no one else in Northern Ice Hell. Compared to Boiling Hell, which was always noisy and hot, this place was truly empty.
Hallakgoong replied bluntly.
“Hmph, guess there aren’t any convicts around, so they don’t need Ice Prison Guards.”
“Hallakgoong, is your throat okay?”
Mujae tilted his head.
It had been six hours since they left the lodgings in the morning.
For lunch, the Promotion Team had thoroughly enjoyed hobbang, roasted sweet potato, and warm jade lake punch.
But a bluish hue tinged Hallakgoong’s already pale face. He kept clearing his throat, too—it was suspicious.
At Mujae’s question, Hallakgoong waved his hand.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Hm….”
“Let’s just hurry up and finish filming. Where are we going next?”
Northern Ice Hell required constant movement. From the start, the Promotion Team’s strategy was to follow the compass and the map, hitting the closest areas first. But when Mujae checked the map, he hesitated.
“Uh… about an hour and a half north by boat is Black Tortoise Lake.”
“…What about Aurora Terrace?”
For some reason, Hallakgoong seemed to avoid Black Tortoise Lake. But it was one of the locations recommended by Seolpyo.
“Two hours, maybe? Should we go to Aurora Terrace first?”
“No, cough… let’s go to the closest one.”
Hallakgoong sounded more deflated than ever, his words coming out like a sigh. Seeing this, Zack pulled out one of the dozen hot packs tucked inside his cold-weather suit.
‘Hallakgoong, want a hot pack? I have plenty.’
“No, it’s fine. I’m not cold.”
It would be rude to keep insisting when someone says they’re fine.
After glancing at Hallakgoong’s expression, Mujae grabbed the bronze compass and set off.
What they needed most now was speed.
“Let’s go! Let’s get there while it’s still as warm as it gets.”
Here, in a world of nothing but ice, the sun was their only hearth.
It was best to move while that hearth shone above their heads.
They hurried aboard Northern Ice Hell’s icebreaker ship, which was much larger than the rowboat from Boiling Hell.
-This is the ship Songje Great King himself rides!
The giant black steel vessel, shaped like an armored shark, had sharp wedge-like wings jutting from its prow and both sides.
Glaciers nearby were sliced apart as the ship plowed ahead, carving a path and allowing for a surprisingly stable voyage.
Still, the Promotion Team was silent onboard.
“…….”
Hallakgoong, wordlessly staring into the camera, looked so precarious.
Mujae felt a deep sense of dissonance from the usually lively Hallakgoong.
‘Hallakgoong… looks unstable?’
Those words never fit Hallakgoong before.
He was always the capable, confident Young Master of Seocheon Flower Garden.
But ever since the Northern Ice Hell assignment was decided, he’d changed.
‘He’s not acting like himself.’
Mujae’s gaze met Zack’s. Realizing he wasn’t the only one sensing the tension, Mujae was about to speak.
-BEEP!
“!!”
Mujae’s radio buzzed at his waist. In this land where the extreme cold killed off all normal comms, only Seolpyo’s radio worked.
Instinctively, Mujae stepped away from Hallakgoong.
Suddenly, he felt certain Hallakgoong must not hear this call.
Slipping into a secluded corner, Mujae picked up.
“This is the Promotion Team.”
-Mujae-nim! All’s well? Where are you now?
“We’ve passed Soritbal Gorge and the Perennial Snowfield. We’re on our way to Black Tortoise Lake.”
-Good, good! Everything’s going smoothly!
“Uh, Seolpyo-nim. Hallakgoong’s condition is odd. Can you send help?”
-Odd, you say?
A note of concern entered Seolpyo’s always-cheerful voice. Mujae recalled Hallakgoong’s strange state since morning.
“I thought he was just cold, but his face keeps getting bluer, and he’s barely talking… I don’t know, something’s off.”
Now that he put Hallakgoong’s symptoms into words, they sounded trivial, and Mujae felt even more uneasy.
Isn’t that normal when trekking through glaciers? Afraid Seolpyo might brush him off, Mujae grew frustrated at his own lack of eloquence.
-…You said Hallakgoong, right?
For the first time, Seolpyo’s voice dropped low. There was a darkness the usual adorable monk had never shown before.
-Um… Is that person, by chance, originally human?
“Huh? Uh….”
Mujae recalled a conversation with Hallakgoong in the Facilities Team greenhouse.
Back then, too, Hallakgoong seemed different—tinged with a deep loneliness.
‘My father and I, even my mother, we’re all human. We’re not The Dead, we came here alive—just like you.’
Mujae still didn’t quite understand what that meant.
“He said he’s human. Not The Dead, but came here alive….”
-Ah… as I thought.
A silence as heavy as gold settled between them. Seolpyo must have recognized the crisis, too.
-Listen carefully, Mujae-nim.
“Yes!”
-You must reach Black Tortoise Lake before sunset.
“Yes.”
-As soon as you arrive, find the cave near the lake that glows purple, and get inside.
“Yes!”
-And do not come out until after sunrise. Especially Hallakgoong.
“What?”
-Everything we just discussed must remain a secret from Hallakgoong. Understood?
Click. The transmission ended abruptly. Mujae tried the radio again, but only static came through. The vague sense of danger he’d been feeling now pressed in hard.
“What did they say? Was that Seolpyo?”
Hallakgoong’s sudden voice gave Mujae a jolt he hadn’t felt in ages. He turned with a forced smile, acting casual.
“Uh, just asking where we are, if we’re on track….”
“Then why’d you come over here to answer?”
Hallakgoong’s narrow eyes sharpened. The unexpected chill in the air made Mujae feel like he should confess to some crime he hadn’t committed.
“Oh, just… the sun was too hot, so I came over to the shade….”
“The sun’s hot, you say?”
Hallakgoong snorted. For a moment, he seemed like his old self, and Mujae was relieved—but only for a moment.
“You weren’t having a secret conversation about me, were you?”
“What?”
“Don’t try anything foolish.”
As Hallakgoong turned away, Mujae felt the chill of Northern Ice Hell—not biting his skin, but slicing into his very core.
Returning quietly to the deck, Mujae clammed up.
‘What just happened?’
Clueless, Zack tried to signal Mujae, but with Hallakgoong’s gaze darting around, Mujae couldn’t respond.
He could only force an awkward smile, pretending nothing was wrong.
Even meeting someone’s eyes felt like too much.
‘If I talk to either of them, I feel like I’ll give myself away.’
Mujae turned instead to the map.
According to Seolpyo’s warning, they had to reach Black Tortoise Lake quickly.
The lake’s mark on the map seemed to slip further away with every glance, but thankfully, the Promotion Team’s ship was faster.
Despite the nerves, the Glacier Labyrinth of Northern Ice Hell—which Hallakgoong had feared—was drawing closer.
If they could just make it to Black Tortoise Lake, maybe the Glacier Labyrinth wouldn’t get any closer. Mujae tried to stay optimistic.
“Should we go to the labyrinth first?”
“What?”
When had he gotten so close? Hallakgoong was suddenly right beside Mujae, looking down at the map. \
Their eyes met, and Mujae sensed something uncannily unfamiliar in Hallakgoong’s gaze.
“I mean, we’re getting close. Since we’re here, why not shoot everything at once?”
Are you crazy? Mujae nearly blurted out. Whoever this was, it might not be his friend at all. Whatever the east wind of Northern Ice Hell had done, he couldn’t let any emotions show.
“…Our destination’s Black Tortoise Lake. We’re almost there—why go anywhere else?”
You’re the one who was afraid of the Glacier Labyrinth.
But he couldn’t let on that he suspected anything.
Mujae instead brushed off the suggestion as if it were nothing.
Hallakgoong snorted in response.
“Tch.”
…He no longer coughed, nor did his face look blue.
Instead, both his eyes stared straight at Mujae, gleaming an icy blue.