White.
Endless, swallowing, suffocating white.
For a moment—maybe a second, maybe an eternity—Li Ran couldn't feel his body. He couldn't feel the floor beneath him, or the air in his lungs, or even the weight of Seo Jin in his arms.
There was nothing.
Nothing except the echo of a voice.
Seo Jin's.
"Ran…"
A whisper. A plea. A fading echo in a world without sound.
Li Ran forced his mind to anchor to that voice. He clung to it with everything he had, refusing the cold blankness that tried to swallow him whole.
"Jin," he whispered back into the void, "I'm right here."
His voice echoed into the white like a stone dropping into an endless sea.
No answer.
Panic twisted sharp and merciless in Li Ran's chest.
He tried to move, tried to reach out, tried to drag himself toward where Seo Jin should be—but the whiteness swallowed everything. He couldn't see his hands. He couldn't even see himself.
"Jin!" he shouted, louder this time. "Seo Jin!"
Still nothing.
