"Hm..! Now look at this! It's wonderful how our little dungeon knows how to make our jobs easier!" The grinning dokkaebi inhaled deeply as if the pungent smell of death was the most fragrant of roses, his eyes scanning across the trembling survivors, their fear bringing a smile to his face. The blood from his palm trickled down the sharp tips of his nails and splattered into the puddle of fresh redness beneath his feet, spilling from the woman's skull like ooze from a rotting tomato.
"Well, ants! Wait–no, I just said you were stronger than ants…hm, beetles then?" The dokkaebi mused to himself as he sauntered over to the biggest of the beetles, expecting the burly man to put up a fight of some sort.
"Are you a strong beetle, or…a weak beetle?" He tilted his head, looking up at the foreigner, who only vaguely understood the archaic dialect of the white haired youth.
"Wha–?! What are you..?? Monster..!!" The man hissed, stepping back hesitantly as his eyes flickered to the dead woman's face, or what was left of it.
"What am I? A dokkaebi! I told that auntie over there, but she wouldn't believe me!" His smile fell into a look of sadness for a moment as he glanced at her dead body.
"Do you see what happens to ants who don't believe me…?" His friendly tone fell suddenly, the air around him seeming to grow still and oppressive as he stared at the man start to heave for breath, blood trickling from his nose.
"Oh, so boring, so weak." He sighed, his breath heard but not seen, unlike the shuddering breaths that fogged the tram with signs of life. He followed those fog trails like a hound after a rabbit, stopping to lean into the face of a trembling woman, whose fingers fumbled with a silver lighter until a flame burst forth to illuminate her pretty face. That flame should have burnt him, which was her hope, but he did not even flinch as it caressed the skin of his chin.
"Do you believe me, noona?"
The woman's hazel eyes widened as she tried to stop herself from flinching away, her lip trembling before she managed a quick "Yes".
"Good! Then I'll teach you how to survive! That's a good deal isn't it?" He reached a hand to grip her shoulder. Hyejin froze in place, her heartbeat stopping for a moment as she felt the intense pressure of the monster's presence.
"Oh no no, please breathe big sis, I can't teach you how the system works if you don't!" He insisted, shaking her shoulder rather violently without a thought spared for her panicked expression.
"Get…away from her..!" The dokkaebi heard the hiss of an uncertain voice and looked up over the woman's shoulder, only to see the barrel of a gun greeting him. The brown haired man who held that gun felt a shudder of disgust run though him at the wide toothy grin that the monster gave in response.
"Move. Or I shoot." He gripped the pistol harder, stilling the shaking of his fingers through sheer force.
"Mr. Ando— Give that back right now..! A civilian isn't permitted to hold a–" The hiss of reprimand from Ivan Han was interrupted as Ando pushed out of his reach, using the low moonlight to find his footing in the darkness while his cursing pursuer stumbled into a row of seats behind him.
"If you won't use it, I will!!" Ando yelled, more so as a sign of conviction to himself, who had not held a firearm in over a year. His eyes were still as he stared out at the flickering flame in Hyejin's hand, the pistol's end aligned with the disgusting grin that was barely illuminated.
"I said. Move." He hissed, his uncertain fingers trembling over the trigger, fearing that the monster was too close to Lee Hyejin, that—if he pulled the trigger—the monster would push her into the way of the oncoming bullet.
The dokkaebi blinked, then his head tilted back as he let out a hysterical cackle, an uncomfortable sound that bounced off the walls of the metal grave and echoed in the ears of the cowering survivors.
"Good..! At least one of you has a backbone!" He exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around Hyejin's neck, tugging her into a chokehold. Ando stiffened, his finger twitching slightly over the trigger as he met the terrified eyes of his coworker.
"You want me to move, right? Well how about this? You do something for me, and I'll do what you say! That's how things work around here after all!" The dokkaebi smiled, inhaling before clear white smoke spilled from his lips like the breath of a dragon, dancing through the air to form a familiar rectangle within which words were inscribed like a curse.
[ A Guide's Contract
Condition: Shoot another person here, anyone that the Guide requests.
Reward: The Guide will leave this woman alone. ]
"I remembered that ants–uh, beatles learn best from example! I'm such a great guide!" The dokkaebi laughed as he waited for the angry and perplexed expression of the brown haired Ashiharan to change to understanding and desperation, but it didn't.
"What are you laughing about monster..?! I said move. Let her go. Now. " Ando gritted out, his eyes dark and still as his arms poised the pistol, phasing through the floating words that had brought an oppressive silence to his surroundings.
"Come on, do it, would you? You care for this woman, right?" The dokkaebi's grin twitched, his grip on Hyejin tightening.
"Do what?!"
"You can't…see it…?" His eyes narrowed, his grin falling as he stared at the pistol, then the black eyes of the wielder. "Then why are you alive…? That's not how this works…"
"I said I'll shoot..!" Ando repeated, taking a step forward, the unacknowledged screen of words following him.
"Uh? Go ahead, then. I'll just kill her" The dokkaebi blinked, then grabbed Hyejin's neck, the tips of his nails pressing into the skin beneath her neckerchief.
The scent of her blood, it was rotten. So he leaned away.
He grumbled before glancing behind him at the beetles that scuttled their way to the open door, then backed up to block that exit, dragging Hyejin along with him.
"Where'dya think yer going?" He frowned at them as they froze in place. They were pathetic, the lot of them, shaking like dried leaves. He knew they'd crumble the same, but the satisfaction would only come if he stepped on them just right.
"N-no..! Let me through..! My Woojin is calling…he's in pain and he wants to see me..!" The hysterical woman begged, but was pulled back from clawing at the monster blindly by the burly man who hissed out a string of foreign swears.
"Shut up auntie. He's dead."
"No he isn't..!" She snapped back at the dokkaebi, who now looked dejected, his incessant grin gone from his face.
"Why does no one listen to me…? Do I look stupid? Hah…I'd quit this job if I could." He muttered to himself, tapping his sharp nails against Hyejin's neck as if fidgeting.
"I said I'll shoot!!"
The dokkaebi cringed as he was reminded of the nuisance pointing a metal toy to his face.
"Then I'll kill her..? I told ya already..! Are ya a mimic?? Got nothing else to say?! Just– accept my contract damn you..! Let me do my job..!!"
"What contract..?? What job..?!" Ando yelled, something in his eyes snapping as his eyes darted between the shadows that flitted about; short and tall, cowering and angry, blending and separating as the small flame in Hyejin's hand flickered.
Was he aiming right? What if he hit Hyejin? What if the monster killed her before he could kill it?
Those thoughts, as loud as they were, were drowned out easily by a simple command.
Kill it.
Kill it before it kills you.
A gunshot rang out, sharp and deafening.
Did someone scream? He didn't know.
You hesitated, private.
His head throbbed as the shadows frowned at him, shifting into faces he used to know.
Collateral damage.
It's necessary. It's honorable.
Kill monsters, at any cost.
Broken fragments of words, of voices, dug into his skull.
When Ando blinked free from the haze, he saw the monster standing there, unharmed. He tried to aim, to shoot again, but he couldn't.
"Stop.Now. Mr. Ando. Do you want Ms. Lee to die..?!" The blue-eyed man gripped Ando's wrist tighter, struggling against the man to keep the pistol's muzzle pointed away from the monster and his hostage.
"You…made me miss. Let go. Mr. Han."
"No. It is my pistol, I have the right to stop you."
"And I have the right to use it if you cops are useless..!!" Ando snarled, trying and failing to rip his arm free of Han's grip.
"What…are you trying to achieve then, Mr. Ando?"
"Kill it. I'm going to kill it."
Ivan Han's stormy eyes narrowed as he looked at Ando's lightless ones; they were the eyes of a man too far gone to listen, but they were not cruel. He could make him see sense.
Ivan glanced up at Lee Hyejin, who shook her head.
"Did you not notice…?" He whispered to Ando, gesturing with his eyes to the flickering flame that Lee Hyejin pressed against the monster's neck. The pale lifeless skin should have burned, peeled away, scarred, but none of that happened. It was as though the white haired monster wasn't there at all.
"Ms. Lee has been telling us that…it can't die. If it won't burn, a bullet will do nothing."
"That's right, ant. You can't hurt me, but I can kill you all!" The dokkaebi declared, glancing down at the flame before snapping his teeth around it, snuffing it out with a smirk.
"But, you won't..."
"Heh?" The dokkaebi's smirk twitched as he glanced at the woman he held hostage, not expecting her terrified eyes to show the kind of fire that spoke against him.
"You are a guide, and a guide can't do their job if you have no one to guide…isn't that right?"
"...There is a quota, yes, but that's none of yer business, noona." He huffed, tightening his hold on her neck until beads of blood gathered into a waterfall of red.
"Ahk–…so that…request, you said that that's how things work here…? It's…a contract?" Lee Hyejin gritted out, biting back the stabbing pain.
"...I guess so. Do you want to listen…to my explanation..?" The dokkaebi paused, before he suddenly let go of her, wiping his hands on his shirt as if he had just been handling something dirty. He didn't bother to stop Hyejin as she stumbled to the side of a tall man, who silently shrugged away from her.
"Ms. Lee..! Are you alright..?" Han asked in a hushed voice, afraid to break the sudden peace; his grip remaining on the arm of the dark eyed Ando who continued to glare at the monster he could not kill.
"...Yes, just a scratch." She muttered, frowning at her silent coworkers who seemed so preoccupied by the dokkaebi that they didn't even glance her way.
"Hajoon-ssi..? Hey. Hey, Park Hajoon–" She paused as she noticed the uncharacteristic grin that stretched across his face as he stared at the monster.
She took an uncertain step away from him.
"Attention please..!!" The voice that ran out made everyone's heads snap to face the source, which was the grinning dokkaebi.
"Ahem..! Well, let me introduce myself again! I'm a Cham dokkaebi, and I've been assigned as yer guide to surviving this beautiful new dungeon!" The dokkaebi gave another bow, not minding that the crowd was anything but enthused.
"First up, is the contract system! You see, demons prefer to communicate through this system! Makin a contract with them is your only hope of survival! How lucky you lot are to be able to see the contracts! Haha!" He cackled, stepping forward to grab the floating screen by Ando's side, then ripping it away from him. The sudden action caused Ando to cough and clutch at his chest.
Ivan Han used that moment of weakness to rip the pistol from Ando's hand, holding it against his side in a death grip.
"See this? It's a contract! It can grant you skills and information, long as you can get a demon to agree to your terms! Of course, demons don care for the opinions of ants! Hahaha..!"
The dokkaebi inhaled once again, the screen dissipating into smoke and being absorbed. He exhaled shortly after, an edited string of words taking form for all to see.
[ A Guide's Contract
Condition: Kill Ando Natsuki
Reward: The skill Iron Grip ]
"That ant is cheating! So kill him for me and I'll teach ya the skill that I used to open these doors for you!" He gestured grandly at the mangled metal doors behind him.
"Ando Natsuki…? Who…?" The desperate woman muttered, her eyes darting between the faces she saw in the shadows, rising from their fear driven stupor to step towards the moonlight.
"If I kill him…I'll get strength like that?" A spindly man spoke up, his battered fists clenching as he stepped towards the man he assumed to be his target without a second thought. It was a mindless decision on all accounts.
"Hm? Now what is this?" The silver eyed man glanced back at the pathetic man who had approached him from behind, gripping a small switchblade in one fist—the type of flimsy blade one would use to peel an apple.
"Die scum..!" The man hissed out as he lunged forward, his vision swimming as he plunged that blade into his target's back. He could smell it, the fresh blood that spilled by his hand, but he felt no remorse killing a roach if he could live in exchange.
"Hrk..!!" He clutched at his stomach, stumbling back in a pained and confused stupor as he looked down at the knife hilt embedded in his own flesh and blood. Long and tan fingers gripped that hilt as it was twisted further into his abdomen, causing him to scream from the searing pain of his intestines being punctured.
"Haha..! You just gave me reason to retaliate, do you know that?" The silver eyed man chuckled, grinning as he raised his foot and kicked the bleeding man nonchalantly, using the momentum to rip the knife free from his stomach.
"Hm…it is not the polished blade I deserve, but it shall do." He said, eyeing the flimsy knife.
"H-Hajoon?!" Lee Hyejin shrieked, jolting away from him.
"Hm? Is that his name? I've forgotten…" He tilted his head at her, taking a moment to wipe the blood on his sleeve before he stepped towards her. "This Ando Natsuki…I presume it is not you? Although naming conventions could have changed over the centuries…"
"Wha…what's wrong with you Hajoon..?!" She took a staggering step back, her eyes narrowing on the knife in his hand, then staring past him at the salaryman who was clutching his wound as he dragged himself away, gasping out the words "Monster" over and over again. Ivan Han was soon at his side, putting pressure on the wound with one hand while the other refused to loosen its vice grip on his pistol, his finger at the trigger and ready to shoot at a second's notice.
"...Jun. Hey, stop that, you're scaring her…" A low voice made Hajoon crane his head back, staring at the hand that gripped his wrist. The owner of that hand wore a deluded smile, his dark eyes dead set on rationalizing the irrational.
"It…was just self defence right..? That's okay…let's all calm down yeah? I…got a bit carried away as well…"
"Oh..!" His eyes squinted into a smile as he turned around with uncharacteristic fluidity, leaning down to be eye to eye with Ando. "An Ashiharan! You really were quite stupid to threaten a 'guide' as he calls himself. Did you know that, Ando Natsuki-san?"
Ando's eyebrows darted upwards at the familiar language, one that he had never heard his coworker speak before.
"E-eh..? You speak Jodai-go..?"
"Yes? He can as well, to some extent, or forcing the skill would be more taxing."
"He..? Who? What are you talking abou–"
His words deteriorated into a yelp as Hajoon's arm swung, the blade cutting an arc through where Ando's head had been, a few strands of brown hair fluttering to the ground.
"...Dude what the hell?!?" Ando gasped out as he straightened himself out of the dodge, darting a few steps back down the aisle, the narrow space limiting his mobility.
"Haha..! Finally something fun to watch!" The dokkaebi cackled from his perch in front of the exit, only emboldening the man who followed after Ando, grinning and tapped the tip of the knife against his cheek as he watched his prey retreat.
"Don't…don't just do what a monster says..!! Why are you doing this..?? Is it because it said something to you..? W-why would you even trust it??" Ando yelled out into the darkness as he was cornered further and further away from the reach of the faint moonlight, his eyes steadfast on the approaching shadow of his coworker and friend.
A friend that was suddenly out to kill him. A friend who only smiled, those familiar kind eyes devoid of empathy as he approached.
It was a look he was familiar with, and yet it was disorienting to see it from that face.
"You seem to know him, so I'll make this quick." That face grinned, the visible canines making Ando flinch back, his foot snagging on a seat as he stumbled in the darkness.
"Aghk..!" He clawed at the plush headrest of a seat to catch himself, but when his eyes darted back to the approaching threat, all he saw was a trail of mist. He only had the chance to inhale before a hand appeared around his throat, shoving him to the floor with a thud that rang through his skull.
Ando clawed at that hand, his vision flashing white for a moment as he saw the flash of the knife being raised.
Then it came down, and Ando closed his eyes.