Zeke couldn't believe his eyes.
"What is it...?" The woman asked. She looked worried about Zeke's expression.
Zeke continued to stutter. "Are you... Ji... Jih.."
The woman gave a confused look but soon gets what's going on.
She chuckled. "Hey, relax. If you're wondering, yes, I am TWICE's Park Jihyo. The one and only." She said, dusting off her torn coat. "Let me guess, you're a ONCE?" She looked tired and afraid, but she gave off a small smile.
"Well, yes?" His face was flustered. "I.." He was left speechless.
Standing before him is Park Jihyo. the Park Jihyo. The leader of TWICE. An actual celebrity, right in front of him.
Sure, he was about to meet her anyway in four days at the Incheon Festival, but he didn't expect it to be this soon, let alone in a situation like this.
And he just saved her.
Meanwhile, Jihyo was observing the the guy who just saved her life.
He was standing a little bit taller than her. He had a ruffled black hair, a fair skin complexion that was similar to hers, and dark hazelnut eyes that were filled with a mix of both worry and embarrassment.
Before Zeke could even continue his sentence, a deep, deafening howl echoed through the other building. Jihyo froze in fear and fell to the ground. Zeke flinched.
"Huh?! What was that?" Zeke asked.
"I... It's the one that has been following me.." She trembled. "It's some sort of huge snow golem. They call them Scrapers."
"Scrapers...?" Zeke replied.
"Yeah.. I barely made it... because I took the risk of jumping to this building. I don't--"
Jihyo stops talking and notices Zeke turn from being shy and embarrassed, to serious in a matter of seconds. He looks at her.
"There is no time to explain. Do you trust me?" Zeke interrupted her. Jihyo looked at Zeke. He looked more tired than she was, and she felt they both wouldn't stand a chance against the creature in this state if it gets them.
But then again, she knew they'd have a better chance of survival if they stuck together. "The more and more, the merrier", she thought.
And besides, he looked like he could be trusted.
"Yeah. I do." She replied.
"We'll talk later. Let's get the hell out of here. If I may...?" He said, reaching out his hand.
Jihyo hesitates, but then finally grabs his hand as Zeke pulls her up.
They then begin to run as they hear the walls of the other building coming apart. Jihyo goes to the second-floor stairs as she sees it blocked with desks, chairs, and a photocopying machine.
"Curses! It's blocked. How?!" Jihyo said in frustration.
"I'm sorry. That's my fault... I battled some snowmen on the way here and I had to block the path.." Zeke frantically explained.
"Snowmen? Like... Literal snowmen?" Jihyo said, visibly confused.
"They're these disfigured humanoid figures forming out of small gems that look like scary snowmen," Zeke said, trying to explain himself to the frustrated Jihyo. "Look, I'm sorry, I--"
"It's fine. At this point, everything's possible. And I've seen worse. Much, much worse..." Jihyo replied in an exasperated tone. Both Zeke and Jihyo then set their eyes on the stairs to the fourth floor.
There was no way but up.
The two climb the stairs and eventually reach the fourth floor, only to find themselves at a dead end. They can't go forward or backward. They face each other as they tried to catch their breath.
"Anything... I should know.. about this Scraper..?" Zeke asks.
"Like I said earlier, it primarily looks like a large snow golem... It's probably impervious to most injuries because.. while it was chasing me, it didn't get injured by falling concrete, and heavy metal.." Jihyo replies. "Oh, and it's resistant to electricity."
Zeke gave a worried look.
"So, uh.." Jihyo muttered, still a bit trembling both from cold and fear.
"Zeke... Call me Zeke." Zeke replied, panting heavily.
"Alright, nice meeting you, Zeke.. what should we do? We are trapped." Jihyo said.
Zeke scouts the area. This final floor consists of two spacious rooms: the conference room, with an emergency box inside, containing a hose, a hatchet, and fire safety gear. Adjacent to the conference room is a small room with a working generator, along with a long, thick cable connected to it. In the middle of the two rooms is a sliding glass door that leads to a small, open balcony.
"Okay, I have a plan.." Zeke said as he goes to the generator room. He extends the thick cable towards the conference room and ties it around a metal pipe next to the conference room's door. He then positions himself behind the cable, effectively making a tripwire trap.
"Uhm, Ms. Jihyo, here's the plan. I'll act as bait. Position yourself in the generator room and hold the cable. When that Scraper comes to charge at me, please pull the cable so that it trips and crashes through the balcony! The fall should kill it." He exclaimed.
It seemed dangerous, but it looks like it could work.
Jihyo nods and frantically grabs the cable. "Are you sure about this..?"
"Not quite, honestly." Zeke sighed. "But if this plan won't kill the creature, at least, it could give us time to escape." He said. "I got this, though!" He slightly smiled, reassuring Jihyo that everything will be in accordance to the plan.
For some reason, Jihyo felt a bit relieved by his kind aura---for it was the only thing that felt familiar in a land of cold uncertainty.
The floor near the stairs started quaking, and soon enough, the Scraper manages to barge in, destroying the stairs and its adjacent wall as they all crumble under it's sheer strength.
"What the hell..." Zeke muttered as he looks at the creature.
The Scraper looks like a hulking, muscular humanoid golem that was twice their size. It's skin looked as pale as it can be, seemingly made of sturdy snow. It had a similar face like a snowman, and it's teeth looked like they were made of diamonds. It's body is riddled with tough, icy crystals, seemingly acting as an external protection. It had huge arms, with three-fingered hands tipped with icy claws. It also has two clear domes protecting both of its eyes.
The Scraper roars and sets its sights at Zeke.
"Alright, big boy. Come to papa." Zeke muttered as he took a taunting stance.
The Scraper roars in response, movinh toward Zeke as the floor shakes with it's every step.
Jihyo keeps a keen eye on the towering creature as it slowly charges at Zeke. As soon as it closed in on the cable, Jihyo pulls it with all her strength. Zeke leaps out of the way, causing the Scraper to trip.
The Scraper roars as it desperately attempts to get back on it's feet. The struggle was so wild and tremedously heavy that Jihyo was almost carried away. Luckily fot her, Zeke immediately arrives and supports her by helping her pull the cable. The thick cable then finally breaks, and the Scraper finally looses it's balance, smashes headfirst into the sliding door, and gets flung out the balcony. The creature then seemingly falls to its doom.
"Gotcha!" Zeke said. He helps Jihyo up her feet.
"I can't believe that honestly worked.." Jihyo said, chuckling.
"It was a good gamble," Zeke said. "Now let's go, Ms. Jihyo! We've got to get out of here!"
Before they could even start running, however, the floor quakes and the towering Scraper is back again. Zeke and Jihyo gasp in horror as it swings one of its long arms at the two.
"Aw, seriously?! You son of a bi-" Zeke said.
"Zeke!" Jihyo screamed.
Zeke pushes Jihyo in time for her to dodge the attack, but he wasn't so lucky. The creature's arm slams Zeke, sending him flying to the generator room.
"GAH...!" Zeke screams in pain as he crashes into the generator, back first. He tried getting up quickly, but all he can do is wince in pain, and he remains seated on the floor.
As the Scraper finally climbs up, Jihyo froze in fear. There isn't any place where she can strike it, and even if she did, it wouldn't be enough to take it down. Jihyo notices, however, that one of the domes that protect its eyes is broken, due to the glass shards from the sliding door it hit earlier. It exposed the creature's bleeding eye.
There was now an opening where she could hit it.
An idea goes to Jihyo's mind. She runs to the emergency box and smashes it, grabbing an iron hatchet. The creature roars at her as she picks up the cables while dodging a few of its swings.
It then manages to grab her moments later, moving Jihyo near its eyes. It's seemingly observing her. It's cold touch now begins to freeze Jihyo over.
Zeke sees all of this unfold and couldn't do a thing.
"Ms. Jihyo! No!" Zeke screams.
Jihyo was silent for a few seconds, then turns to Zeke and smirks.
"I got it where I want it to, Zeke!" Jihyo said, valiantly raising the iron hatchet. Zeke sees that Jihyo tied the broken cable to the hatchet, with the cords inside touching it's sharp, metal edge.
His eyes then follow the path of the cable, and it lead to the working generator. Zeke's eyes widen as he realizes Jihyo is going to try to jam the hatchet on the creature's vulnerable eye and electrocute it.
"This is another gamble, Zeke, but this time, it's mine! Turn on the generator now!" Jihyo shouted.
Zeke was hesitant. "Hey, you said it's resistant to electricity! And you'll get shocked, too!" he said in worry.
"Do you trust me?!" Jihyo said.
Zeke sees her face filled with determination. He nods.
"Then come on, then! Let's send this one a real shocker!"
Zeke turns on the generator as a high voltage electric current crackled and began to course towards the hatchet.
"FALL!" Jihyo declares as she swings the iron hatchet into its eye with all her might.
The iron hatchet buries into its eye socket just in time for the electric current to pass through the hatchet, then to its eye. The creature is now being electrocuted and fried from the inside as Jihyo sees blue blood spurting from its eye. Cracks started forming on its skin as more blue blood ruptures from it.
The creature lets go of Jihyo in pain as it backs. It trips through some of the equipment lying around until it finally crashes to a wall, falling to its death.. for real, this time.
Jihyo limps to Zeke. They both sit down in exhaustion and agony.
"How.. did you manage that..? That was cool..!" Zeke said, holding his side, letting out heavy, pained breaths.
"I.. kinda figured that Scraper can't be all indestructible," Jihyo said, also panting. "I thought maybe it's insides weren't so blessed with electric resistance, and knowing I won't get fried because of its tough skin, I took a gamble.."
"And.. you won," Zeke replied.
"You.. took a gamble too. WE won." Jihyo smiled. "Now.. let's get out of here, for real."
Jihyo feels her body hurt all over, every inch of skin feels like it's been beaten with a baseball bat, and she felt like putting her head through a meat grinder. Zeke's expression says the same thought.
Jihyo looks at the wall where the creature fell. There's a huge patch of snow down below not too far from the dead Scraper's location. Jihyo supports Zeke as they both take a leap on the snow, landing safely without any problem.
They walked away from the place slowly and with caution, avoiding any more contact with the creatures. One encounter is enough. Luckily for them, there were no snowmen or any more of the giant Scrapers in sight.
They both limp into a nearby two-story convenience store, with the second floor possibly being the stockroom. The place is slightly damaged, with glass walls filled with huge cracks and a lot of destroyed products on the ground. Jihyo and Zeke enter the store premises and immediately went straight for the stockroom. Jihyo then barricaded the entrance of the stockroom with metal stalls. Surprisingly, the stockroom was intact and warmer than the weather outside.
Jihyo aided Zeke in sitting on the floor. He yelps in pain as soon as he sat down. He sustained a lot of injuries from that fight more than Jihyo did, after all.
Jihyo assesses the injuries Zeke has sustained, and immediately scours the boxes in the stockroom for some bandages and alcohol. She finds a few and sits in front of Zeke. She hands him some of the bandages.
"Thanks.." Zeke says, not looking at her as he took the bandages.
"Do you need he--" Jihyo asks, but was interrupted by Zeke.
"No... No, I'm fine... Please, attend to yourself, first.." Zeke said. He opens up the bandages silently.
A little yelp here and there as the two pour alcohol on their wounds and patched them up with bandages. Jihyo finishes first, and when she saw Zeke struggling to patch his wounds, she helped him. Zeke only blushed at the sight of one of his favorite idols treating his wounds.
Jihyo finishes helping Zeke as she looks at him, smiles, and gives him a thumbs up. They both chuckle as Zeke gave a thumbs-up as well.
"Thanks, Ms. Jihyo..." Zeke said, still wincing due to his wounds.
"Oh, please." Jihyo chuckled. "Just Jihyo would be fine. We aren't in a fan meet. We're in a freaking apocalypse."