[2] Otherworldy Ice Cubes

January 4, 2023, 8:27pm, Daegu, South Korea.

It was a peaceful and cold night--- approximately five days after he arrived in South Korea for a long vacation--- when Zeke looked at his vacation plan. Zeke's next itinerary the following day was Seoul. He knew that it was a huge, modern city, home of most celebrities, musicians, artists, and groups. Of course, he also knew TWICE was there, and there was a small chance he'll meet them. He smiled as he started packing up the needed items for the trip.

While he did, he saw some of the stuff his sister, Aria, sent him to be signed--- some posters, photo cards, and albums of TWICE---which she have gathered in the past seven years.

Zeke then remembered her, wondering how she has been in the past few days. Her classes started just yesterday, and he wanted to check on her.

He decided to give Aria a call. The phone rang for quite sometime before Aria answered.

"Hello? Zeke! Zeke, you bastard! I'm so glad you called." She exclaimed.

"Hey, Aria. It's been a few days! Sorry I haven't called since. How's college for my really cranky sister?" Zeke asked.

"Bummer. Second semester already sucks, Zeke. Way worse than my first semester. You said it was fun, but it wasn't. The first few days were filled with a shit load of assignments and recitations. I thought it was all chill! You lied to me, I shouldn't have taken your advice. I want my trust back." She said in a grumpy tone.

"I DID tell you second semester was filled with rainbows and good stuff. I was right in that. Just not.. well, y'know.. All the time." Zeke responded, laughing. "And besides, you were the one who said you can handle second semester AND that South Korea can wait. Don't blame it on me."

"Grrr... Gago ka talagang kapatid!" she cursed and whined. "Huhu.. you should swap places with me, idiot! I deserve to be in South Korea having a long-ass vacation, not you! I should've been with TWICE right now..." Aria said as she faked a sob.

"You're not going to fool me with your fake tears, Aria. I've seen that a hundred times." Zeke chuckled.

"...It didn't hurt trying," Aria said, laughing. "Besides, I wouldn't probably last a day in South Korea alone, anyway. You know me, I really get lost easily."

"At least your TWICE merch is here. In essence, you're here because these things are a part of you." Zeke said.

"Shut up already! No need to rub it into my face that I wasn't able to go there. Essences don't give the same feelings as being actually there. Tanga." Aria said.

Zeke chuckled. "Look, I promise I'll get those autographs for you. And, if you graduate, I might just take all of us here for a good stay."

"You're kidding," Aria said. "You can't be real."

"Yeah... I'll need to be devoted to saving up though. But I promise, as soon as you graduate, I'll take you here."

"Well, it's settled then! I'll beat your clumsy college records, watch and see." Aria said, her voice filled with determination.

"There we go! That's the spirit. Now, I gotta eat dinner soon. I'll talk to you before I go to the concert festival in four days. Sound good?" Zeke said.

"That would be nice. And hey, Zeke. Take care, make it back in one piece. I need my merch." Aria said.

Zeke chuckled at her remark. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Goodnight, Aria!"

As she dropped the call, Zeke went out for a takeout dinner and ate it inside the hotel. Then, he spent his hours looking at the window, playing games, and listening to music, before finally lying down onto the bed to try and sleep. He was excited about tomorrow.

January 5, 2023, 5:39am Daegu, South Korea.

Zeke only had 3 hours of sleep, thinking about his next trip, which was to Seoul. He moved around his bed for a while before finally getting up. As he stood, his feet took him to the frosted window in his room. He wipes it as he sees the skies slowly turn brighter as the sun slowly rose from its slumber, with the skies still pouring snow. Contented with the view, he prepared for a morning walk as he wore his brown hoodie, strapped in his running shoes, and a backpack containing a few essentials. He slapped on his earphones and played some good songs suited for his small adventure. Within a few minutes, he was out of the building, as he began taking a good stroll on the snowy Daegu streets.

An hour passed and Zeke was already tired from all the strolling he had done. His location was a bit far from his hotel, so he decided to head back, but not before stopping at a nearby food stall to rest for a while. As he sat near the stall, he gazed at the rising sun as the cold wind and snow blew gently on his face. He hears the faint rumbling of cars passing by, people chatting around him, some children running to and fro while their parents chase them.

Seconds later, Zeke's stomach started to grumble. Sure, he can't wait for his trip, but his stomach couldn't wait for a hearty breakfast, either. He decided to buy something from the food stall. He then gazed at the rising sun once more before doing so.

It was less visible than it was a few minutes ago.

As he was waiting for his meal, he hears what seemed to be like a loud smashing of metal parts, followed by a loud blaring of a car alarm. He looked behind and saw a car nearby, crashed into a wall on someone's store. Next to it was some sort of a cube the size of a safe, glowing faintly in a blue hue.

"...this cube thing came out of the sky, what the hell is it..?!" A bystander said. People started flocking toward the mysterious cube out of curiosity.

Suddenly, the cube made a beeping noise.

People started backing from the cube as it continued beeping faster and faster. Zeke was curious to know what the cube was, but he hesitated.

Before he could even think of another thought, the cube suddenly clicks, then explodes.

Zeke was immediately thrown back a few feet, as a chilling shockwave from the blast shattering windows around him. He quickly regains his footing, and watches as the blast from the cube completely destroyed the walls of a few buildings, and froze everything and everyone around it.

"What the hell are these...?!" Zeke thought.

As he tried to process what was going on, the sky suddenly grew darker. The sun faded from sight and then was followed by a massive roar that sends shivers down Zeke's spine. As he looked above to where the noise was coming from, and he was absolutely mortified by the sight he saw.

It was an enormous blue cube-like structure, seemingly made out of high-technology material and ice, faintly glowing as it whizzed past Daegu at an incredible speed. It drops more of the cube-shaped bombs, and they were now headed to his location.

Zeke couldn't move at first, but he wasn't taking any chances of staying there. He immediately makes a run for it as he tries to find shelter. He knew that he needed to be in a safe place, and regardless of what's going to happen, he had to survive.

People around him were panicking and screaming as well, hiding in the shops and buildings in an attempt to protect themselves from the icy onslaught. The cube shaped bombs started crashing onto the streets and sidewalks, destroying cars and other buildings nearby. Zeke watches in horror as they explode soon after, destroying the ground where they landed and freezing the damaged cars and buildings around it. He didn't have time to think about it, as Zeke kept on running, avoiding the bits and pieces left by the icy nightmare that he just saw.

The drivers were losing their grip on the road, crashing into buildings and other cars. One car even barely missed Zeke as it continued to zoom forward until it crashed.

As if the cars crashing around weren't problem enough for Zeke, he has to also be cautious about the debris falling out of from roofs of the buildings around him.

Zeke was agile enough to be able to dodge them all: from chunks of rocks, scaffolding, and even whole sections of walls. But it wasn't without a lot of effort---Zeke had to no time to take a breather.

The whole city was growing colder and more of the cube bombs rain down on the city. Zeke's legs were getting tired after all that jumping and vaulting. He figured he has no time to get back to his hotel at this rate--- he needed to crash into a place, hide there, and prepare for the worst. The closest thing he found was a small grocery store. He barged into the place and looked around. Some aisles were a full mess, chairs were toppled, and a lot of food and toiletries were scattered on the ground.

"This place... it's eerily empty. They must've evacuated out of fear..." Zeke thought.

Just then, a man comes out of the stockroom. He looks like one of the store cashiers, and he looks clueless about what's going on.

"Hey... where's everyone...? Ill-soon, if you're playing a prank on me again, I swear..." He then notices Zeke standing there.

"Oh, sir, welcome to our small grocery store! Oh, god this place is a mess... I do apologize. What do you need?" He rushes to the counter. Zeke goes immediately to him.

"Do you know what's happening?" Zeke asks.

"Come again?" He asks.

"I said, do you know what's going on right at this very moment here? In this place?" Zeke asked in reply.

"I... I don't know sir. I went to the stockroom for a good hour to do some inventory, and the next thing I knew, everyone was gone and this place is an absolute mess.." The cashier explained.