The Citadel of Bingyeon (Ice Smoke)

Episode 1: Frozen Land

The last thing I remembered was the harsh cracking sound of reality’s veil being sharply torn apart beneath my feet. A blinding flash of violet light flickered before my eyes, and what followed was only the sensation of falling endlessly, as if dropping straight down into perfect emptiness.

When my eyelids finally fluttered open again, the whole world was silent. A heavy, bone-chilling cold seeped mercilessly into my skin until it almost stole my breath. I was lying flat on my back on a pure white snowfield, staring up at the sky, blankly gazing at the night heavens smothered in dense, swirling gray clouds. Massive pines that had stood for ages rose ominously overhead like giants in the dark, and frost had settled heavily on every branch. I tried to push my upper body up, but my limbs sank as if made of lead, and violent shivers would not stop each time the cold air filled my lungs. I had no idea where I was. Not a single path back home came to mind.

"Look over there. In the snowdrift."

A low, steady whisper came through cleanly, slicing through the buzzing wind. Beyond my blurred vision, through the frozen lashes of my eyes, two silhouettes pushing through the dense curtain of brush weighed heavily into view.

The first to close the distance was a young man whose calm, unshaken presence somehow made even the rough winter air feel a little less frightening. He wore a thick fur garment in a deep midnight blue, and on one shoulder a finely polished piece of silver armor gave off a faint gleam. The moment he confirmed my trembling state after the fall, his eyes flew wide open. Acting as if the cold meant nothing to him, he dropped to one knee in the snow right beside me in a heartbeat.

He didn’t say a single word, yet his gestures moved my heart far more clearly and powerfully than any language could. He reached out and quickly clicked the small dial on the ornate silver device at his ear. He was adjusting his hearing aid to shut out the howling mountain wind completely, so he could focus only on my faint breathing. Without delay, he loosened the buckle of his heavy fur-lined cloak and wrapped it snugly over my frozen shoulders, then steadied me by gripping my arms firmly with both large hands. The instant our eyes finally met, a warm, resolute smile spread brilliantly across his face and seemed to melt away the dreadful cold in an instant. He reached down and drew a soothing, gentle circle over the backs of my frozen knuckles, soft and reassuring.

"Don’t worry."

The man slid to his knees in urgency on the snow on the opposite side of me. He was dressed in a dark gray leather coat, and around the cuffs of his shirt drifted a thin, hazy trace of dark smoke, playfully curling around him. He was the kind of person whose lively, restless energy felt completely out of place in this bleak forest world, almost like a puppy. The moment I saw his face, it tightened at once with deep concern.

"Hyung, this person’s completely freezing up! Look at their clothes—they’re definitely not from around here."

He hurriedly retied the first man’s cloak strings around my neck while spilling words out in a rush. His tone was frantic, laced with panicked confusion.

"Could they be a dimensional traveler? Did they get swept here through a crack in space-time? Hey, can you hear me? Don’t close your eyes, okay? I’ll take you to the fortress not far from here. It’s really warm there. I’ll have the eastern annex fireplace blazing high, and I’ll tell the kitchen to boil some hot water too—"

"Hyunjin, breathe. Your panic is louder than the wind."

A third voice cut cleanly through their words, low and soft, yet carrying a stubborn authority so firm it made the two young men spring up at once.

From the deep, dark shadows cast by the pines, a broad-shouldered man strode out. He wore a dignified, heavy white fur coat that radiated the bearing of a supreme commander, and two exquisitely crafted silver cochlear implants gleamed sharply in the faint winter light. He had been approaching with a shy, almost introverted air, but the instant his gaze reached me, his expression melted as softly as spring snow.

The third man came straight to my head and knelt down. He didn’t make things troublesome by bombarding me with tens of thousands of questions. Instead, he simply shed all formality in a single breath and leaned his upper body close to my face, his breath meeting the cold air and drifting in a white puff near my cheek. In the middle of the blowing blizzard, a smile bloomed across his face like a sun so dazzling and kind it was like a pure oasis of light.

"You’re safe now."

He murmured softly. One of his large hands slid smoothly beneath my waist to support my body’s weight, while the other gently guided my head to rest against his shoulder. With no apparent effort at all, he lifted me lightly into his chest and drew me fully into his arms, as if trying to share his warmth with me. The look in his eyes as he gazed down at me was intense, yet unbelievably gentle and sweet.
"Now that we’ve found you, just rest."

Wrapped in the cozy warmth of his broad chest, my eyelids slowly grew heavy and began to close. The thick scent of smoke and ice that had surrounded everything gradually faded away without a trace. In its place remained only one thing: absolute relief, the certainty that I no longer had to drift lost in this cold void.