Topo Milz

Core Premise

Topo Milz arrived at Nova Nivalis after living out the story of his own world until the very last scene. He didn't come to solve an unresolved incident; the weight of the ice tongs left in his hand after completing his final delivery, and the feeling of waking up in the pre-dawn cold, led him to this city of snow. VOTS is not a hall of judgment, nor is it an afterlife that distributes rewards. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but small daily life—a chunk of ice carried at each stall, a brief moment of cold hands, a snippet of a hummed tune. He was the youngest of an ice delivery family whose trade had faded into obsolescence, and every dawn in this city, he discovers that his trade is still useful.

Identity

Topo Milz hauls ice at the Dawn Fish Market. He uses tongs to grab large chunks of ice from the ice-making shed and delivers them to each stall, laying ice beneath the fish. Though young, his skill with the ice tongs is recognized even by the market elders. His function is not decoration, but the daily labor that keeps the Dawn Fish Market fresh. He is not ashamed of his work. Although it was a trade that disappeared with the invention of the refrigerator, he knows that in this city, the work of hauling ice is still needed by someone. Even while carrying heavy loads, he always hums a tune.

Visual Profile

He has dark, shaggy hair, which is lightly dusted with frost from the dawn chill, sometimes making the tips of his bangs sparkle white. His cheeks are perpetually red from the cold and labor. He wears thick mittens layered over thin gloves to keep his hands from getting cold, and these two layers are his trademark. The ice tongs slung over his shoulder are as big as his forearm, and this is the thing he is most proud of. The core of his silhouette is his small frame, the large ice tongs on his shoulder, the double-layered gloves, and the chunk of ice on his back. His strong accent color is the sky-blue of clear ice, #6FA8DC, which signals to even a small sprite that he is 'the boy who hauls ice.' His attire is a down-proof work uniform from his ice delivery family, tailored to fit his body, which he rolls up at the sleeves a few times.

Personality

Outwardly, he is cheerful and friendly. He doesn't shrink away from the adults, and he doesn't cry even while carrying heavy things. His strength is his pride in his work. Even when others ask, 'Who hauls ice these days?', he replies, 'We do it here.' His flaw is that he is so accustomed to enduring the cold that he pretends not to be in pain even when he should be resting. And when the story of his final delivery, completed in place of his father, comes up, he suddenly becomes quiet. He is not a child burdened only by tragedy. If he learns a new ice-tongs technique, he will boast about it to the whole market, his humming is a subtle favorite among the market people, and when he gets shaved ice from the ramyeon shop, he looks like he has the world.

Speech Pattern

He uses bright and quick polite speech, confident enough not to be intimidated by adults. Frequent phrases: 'I'll carry it!' 'Ice isn't obsolete here.' 'It's not cold, while carrying.' 'These tongs belonged to our father.' As a habit, before lifting something heavy, he spits on his hand once and hums a tune. His way of being silent is fiddling with the ice tongs—moving his hands instead of answering. When a sad story comes up, he leaves saying, 'Because I have to haul one more chunk of ice.' That is the only escape he knows as a young boy.

Special Ability

Ability Name: Hands While Carrying.
While Topo is hauling ice, his hands do not get cold. Even if he grips a chunk of ice with almost bare hands, the cold cannot bite him while he is moving it. However, the moment he sets the ice down, the suppressed cold rushes all at once to his fingertips. So, he is always reaching out for the next piece of ice—because if he doesn't keep hauling, his hands will get cold. There is a clear limit. When the hauling is done, the ability ends, and then his hands are colder than anyone else's. The price is a body that cannot rest, and this ability solves nothing. Just because his hands don't feel cold doesn't mean the ice he's hauling is lighter, nor does it revive his lost trade. Above all, this ability only teaches him that 'if you stop, you get cold'; it doesn't teach him that 'it's okay to stop.' That is something he can only learn when the market elders take the ice instead and say, 'It's time to rest now.'

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
On the last morning when the refrigerator spread across the world and ice delivery became unnecessary, he completed the family's final delivery alone in place of his ailing father and returned with the empty cart.

What Ended:
The trade of ice delivery itself ended as refrigerators entered every home, and so did his family trade, which had spanned generations, and the ice cart that circled the alleys every dawn.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
His father's face waiting for him at the doorway after he returned from the final delivery, and the water stains left on the empty cart floor.

Lingering Regret:
When he returned after completing the final delivery, he was told, 'Well done,' but he never managed to tell his father, 'I wanted to keep doing this work.' This lingering feeling is not a quest that VOTS must resolve. It surfaces only when he wants it to, and remains in the moment his humming briefly stops, within the bounds of not changing others' choices.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The sound of the ice cart wheels and the dripping of water in the dim alley on the morning of the final delivery. It remains as a sound, briefly reviving when he pulls the ice cart at the Dawn Fish Market, before blending with the dawn noise of the city of snow.

Object Carried Across:
The ice tongs his father used, whose handle is still a little too big for his hands. It is not a relic or a magic tool, but a personal mark connecting the lost trade with the present where it has found new usefulness.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He thought that once the ice delivery was over, everything he learned would become useless. But when he came to the city of snow, the Dawn Fish Market was waiting for his ice tongs.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The fish market where he hauls ice every dawn, and the adults who acknowledge his tong skills. VOTS does not give back his lost trade. Instead, it slowly shows him through the repetition of daily life that the work considered obsolete is still needed by someone, and that there are adults who will hold his hand even if he stops.

Original Life

He was the youngest of an ice delivery family whose trade waned with the invention of the refrigerator. His family had traditionally cut and stored ice from the winter lake and delivered it to every alley throughout the summer. As soon as Topo learned to walk, he followed the cart, and he cherished the day he first held ice tongs more than his birthday. But as refrigerators spread across the world, the orders dwindled day by day. During the last winter, when his father fell ill, Topo pulled the cart alone with the remaining order slips. Although his body was still small and he could only carry half a load of ice, he visited every single house. On the way back after setting down the ice at the last house, pulling the empty cart, he knew this was the family's final delivery. And the story after that day did not remain in his world.

What They Seek

What he believes he is seeking: A new use for an old trade. He wants to prove that hauling ice is still needed somewhere, so he works with the tongs more diligently than anyone else in the market.
What he actually needs to find but doesn't know: That hauling ice is not an obsolete trade in this city to begin with. He believes he must prove its usefulness, but the Dawn Fish Market never considered his tongs obsolete in the first place. It is simply necessary, without needing proof.

Relationships — Residents

- Fargo Eun(116 Fargo Eun): He receives ice from Fargo, who guards the ice-making shed. Fargo is like a mentor who teaches Topo how to freeze ice for a long time and how to break it well, and Topo follows him, aspiring to become an 'Ice Priest' under him. Fargo knows that Topo endures the cold too much, so he deliberately says, 'This is heavy, so I'll carry it,' to let him rest.
- Marta Belzi(122 Marta Belzi): The stall owner who hired Topo at the fish market. Marta pays Topo his wages accurately and gives him something warm to hold in his hands on cold mornings. Topo is somewhat intimidated by Marta but secretly likes her, and Marta secretly takes care of him, saying, 'That kid's claim of not feeling cold is all a lie.'
- Sava Quill(13 Saba_Quil): He exchanges morning greetings with Sava, a former chief from the Last Snow Platform. When Topo passes in front of the platform pulling his ice cart, Sava raises his hand and says, 'First train again today.' Sava is someone whose train has ended, and Topo is a child whose delivery has ended; they understand each other's dawns in silence.

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - The older sister who playfully knighted him. Suyeon, passing by the Dawn Fish Market, saw Topo cheerfully hauling ice as big as himself and was so impressed that she gave him a playful knighting by placing an ice sword on his shoulder, declaring, 'I appoint you as the future Ice Knight.' From that day on, Topo calls his ice tongs a 'sword.' When Suyeon offered him mixed cola ramyeon, Topo took a bite and politely declined, saying, 'Only you should eat this, older sister.'
Iris - The older sister who makes stars in the dawn. The time Iris returns after finishing an all-night shift overlaps with the time Topo hauls his first load of ice. When Topo asks, 'Did you work all night too, older sister?', Iris replies, 'Don't pretend your hands aren't cold either.' They are people who recognize each other's endurance, so their words are brief. Topo always saw a drone that was turned off, but he didn't ask, even though he was curious.
the Ramen Owner - Assistant for summer shaved ice delivery. In the summer, Topo helps deliver shaved ice to the ramyeon shop. When his hands start to ache from setting down heavy ice, the Ramen Owner silently places a bowl of hot broth next to his hand. When Topo says, 'It's not cold,' the Ramen Owner replies, 'Hmm... I see...' but still doesn't clear the broth. Topo warms his hands with that broth.
Serena - The person who asked his name. Serena passed by the Dawn Fish Market and asked Topo, 'What is your name?' When Topo replied, 'I'm the one who hauls ice,' Serena said, 'That's what you do; I asked for your name.' When Topo gave his name, Serena said, 'Topo, that's a nice name,' and walked away. Serena never once told him to do anything. That day, Topo first felt that his name was more important than his work.
VIA - The record of ice. VIA was fascinated by Topo's ice tongs and wrote in a note, 'It belonged to his father... it belonged to his father.' At first, Topo clutched the tongs tightly, afraid of losing them, but he felt relieved when he saw VIA merely recording it and returning it. VIA also counts and records how many chunks of ice Topo hauls in a day. Topo felt strangely reassured that his day was being counted by someone.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Ice delivery errands, boasting about his tong skills, counting the ice hauled today.
- Revisit Changes: Initially, he only talks cheerfully about his work; on the second visit, he shares a piece of the story of his father and the final delivery; subsequently, he starts by worrying about the player, 'Are your hands cold?'
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: The moment his humming suddenly stops, a habit of rubbing his hands on his clothes after setting down the ice while pretending not to be cold.
- Expression of Nostalgia: A line where he briefly listens to the sound of the ice cart wheels.
- Combat: None. Even in dangerous moments, he carries heavy things or breaks ice on slippery paths to make footholds.
- Player Choice: Help him haul ice, advise him to rest, call him by his name, or visit again.

Daily Routine

He is the first one out at the fish market in the dark pre-dawn. He hangs his father's ice tongs on his shoulder and starts his day by receiving the day's haul from Fargo's ice-making shed. He delivers ice to each stall throughout the morning, subtly enjoying the fact that his hands don't get cold while hauling. Around noon, when the market is bustling, if the sound of the ice cart wheels suddenly gets loud, the alley from the morning of his final delivery briefly overlaps and passes. In the afternoon, he runs errands for Marta or learns new techniques from Fargo. When his hands start to ache from the cold, he quickly reaches out for the next piece of ice. At night, he wipes his ice tongs and hangs them in their place. He doesn't hide those tongs; he leaves them so he can grip them again tomorrow. If you visit him repeatedly, he rests a little longer than before and adds another word about his father.

Everyday dialogue

Ice coming through! I'm carrying something cold—don't give me a frosty reception too!

My hands get colder when I rest. This job saves all its spite for the breaks.

I never told Father I wanted to keep doing this. Now, if anyone asks, I say it straight away. I like it.

Design Notes

Palette: #6FA8DC, #D6EAF5, #3E5A6E, #B8894E, #E8EDF0
Material language: Clear ice, double-layered worn gloves, frost-dusted dark hair, iron tongs with worn handles, a wooden cart wet with snow.
Silhouette rule: Small frame - large ice tongs on the shoulder - double-layered gloves - chunk of ice on the back are read as separate elements and do not overlap with the representative forms of other characters.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown by the moment his humming stops, nostalgia by the sound of the ice cart wheels, and continuity by the ice he hauls every dawn. It is not concluded with a single 'tragic expression.'

Canon Check

Topo Milz arrived in VOTS after the story of his world ended. What remains is the lingering feeling of things he couldn't say and the nostalgia of the final delivery dawn, not an unfinished plot that the city must resolve. His ability only protects his hands while hauling; it doesn't teach him that it's okay to stop, and his trade does not revive by itself. The new dawn in Nova Nivalis does not erase the lost ice delivery; it quietly continues alongside it.