Chapter 8. What a Guy

"His name is Lt. Yoon Heeseung," said the boy while pointing at the older policeman, "My name is Han Wonseok."

"Phineas Shi," I introduced myself. Well, they should've known it from my passport.

"Mister Shi, you should stay here today and rest. Tomorrow everything will be ok. You can go home then," said Lt. Yoon Heeseung.

I nodded politely. It was afternoon already and it was quite a day for me and everyone. In one day I changed from being an ordinary office worker to killer of monsters. And in truth I was a bit tired too. Not physically, it was more mentally.

The people here looked happy when I nodded. They had been worried and frightened all this while, I could see they now changed to somewhat better expressions.

I told Lt. Yoon Heeseung that I want to get some rest. He instructed me to sleep on the nap room inside and I wouldn't be disturbed. Following his suggestion I went there, lied down on the small bedding.

After about three hours I woke up, feeling refreshed.

I washed my face on the sink and went out of the nap room. I found them gathering at the front area. There were many seats there so that was where everyone be.

"Mister Shi, you should eat this," one of the elderly came and said to me with the help of Little Han Wonseok. She handed over a bread to me. The bread was inside a very nice plastic cover, looking downtrodden but still somewhat delectable. To be honest, to me anything looked delicious now that I was hungry.

I said my thanks and took the bread. When I was about to eat it I saw Han Wonseok gulping down. The boy looked hungry so I offered the bread to him.

"No.. no.. mister Shi, you eat," the boy shook his head.

I laughed. The boy was obviously hungry, so why the refusal? I put the bread in his hand. He looked at it with doubt.

"You haven't eat anything since morning right?" I was guessing.

He nodded.

"Then eat it."

The elder took the bread from the boy and gave it back to me. She was giving Han Wonseok a stern look. I had to be blind not to see it. I glanced a look and immediately understood the reason.

"Lt. Yoon, may I talk to you for a second?" I asked to the older policeman. He went over with Han Wonseok. I brought them to the small office.

"What is it, Mr. Shi?" asked Lt. Yoon Heeseung.

"I need to borrow your police knife," I told him.

"My knife? Well, sure, but... what do you need them for?"

"I need to go out and find some provisions for my journey tomorrow," I honestly told him.

"Provision? Where? Mr. Shi are planning to steal?" he looked at me with a troubled look. Woah, his police radar was good. Or was I too obvious?

I faked an honest smile, "Of course not. I'm going to buy them. Is there any place selling food near here?"

This Lt. Yoon, what a guy. His world ended but the man was still morally upright. I could not blame him though. He was, after all, a police officer. He really seemed to believe that his country military will be able to solve this massive problem. That's probably why he still maintained his conduct properly.

"There's a 7-Eleven nearby. Just near the corner of this street. But it's dangerous outside now. We should wait for tomorrow when things get better," he told me.

"It's going to be alright. I like to get ready ahead of time," I told him. "And I'm going alone."

"Alone? Are you sure?" there was relieved in his tone. He thought I asked him to go with me.

"Yes. You need to be here to protect everyone," I bullshitted him.

He nodded in agreement, my reason was solid. There were only two cops here and one of them was hurt. He was indeed needed here. He took a key from his desk and open a locked cabinet. When he opened it, I got to see what was inside. It was a weapon and ammunition storage. There were a few guns there. He took out a spare knife with its scabbard and gave them to me. While receiving it, I also pointed to a baton.

"Can I borrow that too?" I asked.

"Sure," Lt. Yoon replied. He handed me the baton. "I don't think it's good enough against the monster though."

He's right. Blunt weapons weren't good enough against such monster. The reason for it was our disproportional difference in strength level. I wouldn't use the baton to beat the monster though, it's just an extra protection.

"I'm set. I'll set off now," I grabbed my backpack, took out my clothes and stuff, and then carried the empty backpack with me. The other people were looking with bewilderement at my sudden departure. One of the young girl even grab my hand and said something in Korean so fast that I totally didn't understand.

I didn't wait for little Han to translate. My reply to her was, "I'll be right back."

Then I added, telling Lt. Yoon, "If I don't come back, don't try to find me."

Having said that I left the police station and headed to the direction I was given. It was not a long distance, only several hundred meters. However, only after walking a while I saw movements from the corner of my eyes. I hurriedly found a little secluded space and hid myself there.

Was I discovered? Were they paying attention to the police station?

I didn't know the answer, however it was a fact that right at this moment three monsters came out of shadows and directly looking at my direction. They knew my hiding place and went after me.

'No kidding', I thought to myself. 'This isn't good.'

This noon, when I defeated previous two monsters, it's because there were distractions. Those two monsters were paying full attention to the two police officers who looked more attention grabbing than the inconspicuous me. But now, I was alone. I was the star of their attention, their early dinner.

Knowing full well that I had been spotted, I left the secluded space. I ran toward a small alley, testing to open several doors. They followed me, as expected. On the alley, I kept running until I found a door I could open. I entered it without a second thought. Right now, my only chance would be to force them to face me one on one and a door would help me achieve that.

"Rarrrr!" since I didn't close the door, the monsters could see me inside.

The first monster got in and I directly stabbed my knife into his heart, or so I thought where its heart would be in using our physiology as reference.

"Just as I thought, not so smart, huh!"

My speed was faster and I was ready, that monster didn't get the chance to block it. It did try but failed miserably. It wailed in pain and tried to catch my arm. But I already pulled back. The monster was getting pulled as well. I kicked it away. It fell to the side, still wailing.

The second monster lunged at me but I was already prepared. My baton met with its claws.

"Skreeee!" it shouted something, angrily. The monster was angry because it could not finish me in one move. My hand was shaking. Even with my upgraded strength and the help of the police baton I still felt pain by direct clash like this.

The monster sent its claws to my head. With the baton on my left hand I blocked it again. *Dang*

"Zeeee!" the third monster were by the door now. I knew I should get rid of the second monster as soon as possible. My knife slashed at the second monster's neck when it was still staggering. Blood was pouring from the neck wound but that second monster still stood, admittably wobbly. I kicked it toward the third monster. This made the third monster's advance halted.

When the second monster was trying to cover its wound, it was my turn to lunge at it. The knife went through its chest and then I dragged the knife down, trying to cut more of its flesh. It only sliced through slightly more than the kitchen knife did.

"ZEEE!" the second monster was screaming in pain. Its life force dwindled rapidly.

The third monster was mad that it was blocked. It didn't care whether the second monster died or live. By itself the third monster swiped the second monster away, with my knife still lodged in.

"Damn!" before that third and only monster jumped at me I immediately ran toward the now dead second monster. As I started to move to retrieve the police knife the monster swung it's arm in my direction, forcing me to dodge.

The monster swung its arm again, and again. Three consecutive times but they all missed. I dodged them all. Now I found having better agility really helped. Even though it wasn't thoroughly effortless for me to do all that, but still, it's far better than my normal body before the changes.

I calmed down a lot after realizing this. On the contrary, the last monster was enraged. It kept swinging its arm endlessly. It was like raining of claws. I didn't want to drag time and had a stamina contest with the monster.

Truthfully speaking I didn't feel I could win in terms of stamina. What I had was my strength and agility. I was still weaker than the monster, judging from the last clash with the second monster, but I was definitely faster.

I never like fighting but now I really appreciate the time I spent with my grandfather accompanying him practice. Despite not having experience in real fights before the Doom, I could fully utilizing my agility to dodge and get close to the monster.

Whack! My baton hit the beast on its chin. I didn't stop and waste the momentum. My second and third hits landed flat on its wretched face. My fourth and fifth hits landed on the each side of the monster's temple.

That last monster lost balance and landed on its back, growling. It wouldn't stay there for long so I swiftly took that chance to grab my knife from the dead second monster.

"Zeeeee!" just as I pulled my knife, that third monster roared.

"Noisy!" with the knife on my hand I leapt on the third monster and stabbed its neck mercilessly. The monster stared at me with so much rage. I stared back.

'Darn you! I was the one who should be in rage. You monster trespassed our world! You were like a robber coming into my house to murder and yet you dared give me that look?'

The look that monster gave me evoked my fury. I sliced further, grinding my knife till it met with bone. I gritted my teeth and forcefully slicing it. The monster made a gurgling sound as its throat was filled by its own blood. It didn't stay like that for long, it died soon enough.

I looked at the three dead monsters and sighed. Good thing I had borrowed the police knife and baton. Real weapons really made the difference. And of course, limiting the fight to one on one was the correct strategy to go with.

I took those three tiny translucent marbles and ate them right away. The energy swirling in my body felt wonderful. I decided to improve my strength this time. With improved strength, I could deliver more powerful strikes and ensured my attack goes through the monster's thick skin.

After taking the knife and the baton, I headed outside. After checking the surrounding for some time, I decided to run this time, forgoing half of my earlier prudence. The store was already close within my sight so I reached it in a short time.

Inside the store I found no one at the cashier. I checked the back room, it was also empty. I hurriedly grabbed some food on the display and on the cooler before putting them on a paper bag and then stuff it on my backpack. The bag was full in no time, it was only a small backpack, not capable of holding much.

When I was about to leave, I remembered Lt. Yoon face. What a guy. I sighed and then took out some cash from my wallet and left them on the counter.

"This should covered it."

Before I went out again, I checked the situation on the road from the windows. Right away, I saw monsters on the street.

'Great!' fortunately, I managed to hide myself before they saw me. The door to this store was see-through glass after all. At a glance, there were more than ten of them. I crouched down lower than the upper threshold of the displayed merchandise. There were a few narrow openings through which I could see the outside.

There were exactly twelve monsters roaming. At least those were what I could see. I didn't know how many that were hidden from my line of sight. There's no way I could survive from this many monsters in a fight.

That was not what startled me though. It was a presence among the monsters that made me pay special attention. This particular monster wasn't dissimilar to the others. Its physical build was still the same but the attitude of the others was obviously either fear or reverence to this one.

One thing was different to the other monster from what I could notice, though. It was the eyes of this special one. They were yellow.

Were they contact lenses? I meant I knew that there were colored contact lenses out there. The thought only passed my mind for a second and it already felt silly.

I felt it was lucky for me not getting caught by their sight. Without mentioning the yellow-eyed monster, I couldn't even survive the onslaught of the other eleven.

The monsters were attacking every store and offices, in a pack of two or three. On one of the building they found a couple of humans. The human, from the look of their uniforms, were probably nightwatchmen of a building. They were thrown out into the street by the monster. I didn't have to guess what they were going to do with them.

The yellow-eyed monster stood in front of them. I could see how frightened they look. The other monsters were encircling them, shouting words I didn't understand. It didn't last long. The monsters suddenly stop when the yellow-eyed one made a motion to them.

One of the human suddenly moved forward. On his hand was knife. I praised the timing of this guy. 'Good!'. There was no way I could have done it better. It's obvious that he was more experienced in fighting than me. The knife met directly on the body of the yellow-eyed monster.

'What the hell?' I was shocked. The knife didn't penetrate the yellow-eyed's belly.