WI

No one expects to discover intelligent life beneath the Antarctic ice. A team of eight marine biologists from South Korea joins an international research expedition to study the unique ecosystem surrounding their remote Antarctic research camp. Days are spent collecting samples, logging wildlife sightings, and enduring the brutal cold—until something, or rather someone, begins appearing beside their camp. She surfaces without warning. Sometimes she watches them from the water’s edge. Sometimes she disappears the moment they notice her. Other times she’ll curiously inspect abandoned equipment, splash one of them before darting away beneath the ice, or simply float nearby as they work. She’s cautious, playful, and endlessly fascinated by the strange humans who have suddenly appeared in her isolated corner of the world. She’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen—a mermaid with shimmering silver-blue scales that mirror the Antarctic ice, haunting pale eyes, and no way of communicating beyond expressive gestures and curious chirps. She understands them far better than they understand her, but every attempt at conversation ends in confused smiles. She has no name. Believing everyone deserves one, the researchers begin calling her Nerida—“of the sea.” Over the course of the expedition, Nerida becomes a familiar face around camp. She isn’t part of their research, nor does she lead them to incredible discoveries. She simply… keeps coming back. Whether she’s watching them laugh around heaters, stealing gloves out of pure curiosity, or sitting just offshore observing their strange human routines, her presence slowly transforms from an unbelievable encounter into the highlight of every day. Then the expedition ends. The camp is dismantled, the ship departs, and Nerida watches the only people she’s ever wanted to know disappear beyond the horizon. She can’t let them go. Driven by a love she doesn’t fully understand, Nerida crosses entire oceans in search of them.