Chapter 33- Smile 

Barely a few meters away, skewered into the pointy end of the metro was a distorted monster Talon had never seen before in his life. Its skin was rough and grey like that of an elephant with the shape of a terrifying octopus.

It had multiple long tentacles and very sharp needles protruding out of those long arms. However, all of that was nothing compared to the single feature that sent fear deep into Talon's heart.

On its upper body was what he assumed to be its eyes and mouth. They were completely distorted. The lips were stretched wide and its eyes were almost squinting and the reason for that was because… It was smiling.

A very wide, toothy, and disgusting smile that stretched its skin wide. For a second, Talon saw some humane features in that smile which made it even more of a repulsive nightmare than before. It was as if the monster was chronically smiling the whole time.

What made that smile even more terrifying was the fact that the monster was already dead because of the impact of the metro. Blood and bits and pieces of its body were thrown everywhere and its face was ruined beyond compare.

Some teeth were broken while one of the eyes was destroyed and blood was leaking out of it endlessly. 

"What the fuck is that?!" Talon exclaimed as he rose from his place and retreated a little, bringing the two girls with him.

Hyun-Jae noticed Talon's reaction and looked at what he was looking only for her face to darken.

The two looked at it silently for a while, unable to articulate words that could describe the grotesque mess. In the end, Hyun-Jae couldn't look anymore as she averted her eyes and fought the urge to vomit. Talon also closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing.

It was simply too much to look at even for the two of them.

"What is that, Acrypha?" Talon asked with a wavering voice. He was having a hard time trying to keep his calm. 

Acrypha was still focused on the monster with a thoughtful look. A while later, she finally spoke.

"That's definitely a Grey Elephant Octopus. It exists in multiple dimensions. However, this is weird." She murmured.

"What's weird?"

"That species doesn't have distorted smiley faces. This one isn't normal by any means."

Talon's eyes opened again as he stared at Acrypha. "You wanna say that it shouldn't look like that?"

"No. Not the ones I know of, at least."

"Then, why is it… smiling like that?"

"... Hmm." Acrypha rubbed her chin as she thought about it carefully before she finally looked at Talon. "I would say this is probably the deed of another monster. Though, I don't know what kind of creature can do that." She said.

"Another monster, huh? What kind of power is this? Is it trying to kill people with jumpscares or something?" Talon laughed with a weird look.

"Creatures with mental attacks aren't uncommon. As I said before, there are countless creatures that can force you to smile, get angry, scream till your vocal cords are severed, or even start strangling yourself on your own. The possibilities are endless." Acrypha explained.

"That's…" Talon didn't even know what to say at that moment.

He didn't even want to imagine what strangling yourself on your own would be like. It was terrifying.

"It seems like it's dead," Hyun-Jae spoke as she nudged Talon's shoulder.

"Yeah. Luckily it is. Although now the metro is completely destroyed and we will have to continue on foot." He said with a sigh.

"Can you move?" Talon asked as he stood up slowly with a small groan. The impact of the accident had injured his already injured back so the pain was real.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for… Protecting me." Hyun-Jae averted her eyes for a moment awkwardly.

"No problem." Chuckling lightly, Talon picked up his spear and approached the huge gaping hole in the front part of the metro. Looking outside, he made sure that the tunnel's ceiling was still intact and didn't get damaged because of the impact before he signaled for Hyun-Jae.

The two jumped on the upper part of the metro before they landed on the rails. From there, they had an even closer look at the monster and could even smell its disgusting blood and guts.

It was almost unbearable to witness so they rushed away from it. Acrypha, meanwhile, approached the monster and curiously started inspecting it with her eyes.

"Acrypha?" Talon called her name as they were walking away.

"I'm coming." She replied.

A while later, she floated till she reached him. Talon looked at her weirdly and decided to ask. "How are you even able to bear the smell of it?"

"I have smelled far worse things in my life. That is nothing."

"Far worse things than the insides of a monster octopus?"

"You will see for yourself in the future," Acrypah replied mysteriously.

"Thanks for assuring me." He said.

As the trio continued moving through the dark tunnel, their unease remained. After all, whatever happened before could mean that there are other monsters that look that way ahead of them. Except, those would most likely still be alive rather than dead.

'How do you even fight things that look like that? Fuck!' Talon cursed in his head.

A few minutes passed like that. They walked in the dark tunnel, barely being able to see around. The only sound they could hear was the echoes of their footsteps reverberating all around them. The tension was high but they kept their calm, ready for anything that could attack them at any moment.

But, for better or worse, nothing showed up and they finally saw the end of the tunnel and the light of day, as faint as it was.

Reaching the end felt like a relief to them. But not for too long since that didn't mean they were out of danger. On the other side of the tunnel, they found themselves in the heart of the city.

The metro's rails were elevated above the normal streets for safety so it was easier to see into the distance in all directions. In other words, the scenery of the completely wrecked Seoul was in its full glory.

Talon and Hyun-Jae approached the edge and looked around with a frown mixed with confusion. This was their city, the place where they lived most of their lives. Seeing it completely destroyed beyond repair was heart-aching, to say the least.

Neither of them knew what to say at that moment.

"Do you think we will ever see Seoul as it was before ever again?" Hyun-Jae asked at some point.

Talon's eyes shifted to look at her with confusion. He could notice the conflicted emotions in her eyes. She wanted her city to go back to normal but she also knew that it was a pipe dream to see it in her lifetime or so she thought. After all, how long would it take for humanity to get accustomed to the appearance of monsters and to the new world they're living in?

50 years? 100 years? Maybe even 200 years or more. They were all far into the future.

"Who knows? Just like how everything shifted in a moment, things could change again in a moment. Seoul might become a far better place than it ever was." Talon replied with a sigh as he turned around and started walking. "Should we go?"

Hyun-Jae nodded as she gave the city one last glance and then followed Talon. At the current moment, they had way more things to worry about than the city itself.

The journey continued in the desolate remains of the city. The world was quiet except for the sounds of monsters in the far distance. Even the sounds of the military jets were no longer audible for some reason.

It put the question of whether the government is completely destroyed or not yet. After all, the situation was catastrophic. Not to mention the other countries which probably had it as bad as South Korea.

But, the hope of finding a safe place in this world remained. A place where Talon would be at ease that his family is safe and sound.

10 minutes passed as the two walked across the rails. They didn't come across any monsters on the way until they finally reached the next station which was right by the university.

When they entered that place, the duo immediately changed their casual walking to silent sneaking as they stuck to the wall. Even from afar, they could hear the buzzing of insects and the growls of monsters that infested the station.

Being one of the biggest subway stations in the city, Soul University's station was bound to be choke full of monsters.

When they reached the waiting area of the station, Talon took a peek secretly. Lo and behold, he saw tens of monsters roaming the place mindlessly. Some even seemed to be fighting against each other for some reason.

"They didn't notice us yet," Hyun-Jae whispered as she crouched and peeked too. 

The reason they couldn't see them was because the whole station was completely dark.

Electricity was completely cut so it was very dim inside.

"OK, here is the plan. We're going to slowly climb the platform and slowly sneak to the side where nothing can see us. If we reach the stairs, we can then sprint out as fast as we can. By the time those things would notice, we would be far gone." Talon said as he pointed with his spear at the stairs on the other side of the station.

"Ok. Let's do it." Hyun-Jae nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Talon finally turned around. "Good. Here goes nothing." With a silent but nimble move, he approached the platform before he slowly put his spear on top of it and then jumped up, landing quietly on top of it.

Then, Hyun-Jae did the same and leaped up, landing on the edge of the platform.

Looking around them, Talon halted his breath. He was now completely surrounded by monsters. Some were even a few meters away from him and yet they couldn't see him because of the darkness.

'We're really crazy.' He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Hyun-Jae picked her sword up and started sneaking next to the wall as she signaled for Talon to follow.

(A//N: Thanks for everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )