It was chilly, mostly because it had rained not too long ago. Ito walked home quietly while listening to music, one earphone in. He had noticed that traffic was practically nonexistent in his neighborhood unlike normal but he didn't put too much thought into it.
Afterall, as creepy as it may seem, there's been a few times where the streets have been empty and quiet like this.
Halfway home, Ito heard what sounded like sniffling. He stopped and looked around for the source only to find a child hunched over, crying.
They were crouched at the entrance of an alleyway between two buildings. Slowly and carefully, Ito approached the child and crouched down.
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you hurt or lost?" Despite his appearance that practically screamed 'Leave me alone' he spoke kindly to the child and even gently pat the child on their head to calm them.
He was a bit awkward due to the fact that he wasn't used to dealing with people let alone children, but it seemed to work as the child soon stopped crying and looked up at him.
It was a young boy with short black hair and dark brown eyes that nearly looked black. Pale skin and plump cheeks. His eyes were red from crying as well which made Ito think that the child looked like a small animal and instinctively ruffled the boy's hair.
"I'm lost Ajusshi.. Please help me." The boy then held his hand and squeezed it softly yet firmly as he looked at Ito with pleading eyes and sniffled.
'A-Ajusshi? Me?'
Baffled and slightly caught off guard he sighed. Then he stood up and nodded.
"I'll help you, were you with your parents or did you get lost going home? Do you live nearby?"
As Ito spoke calmly and politely to the boy and walked, the boy shook his head and spoke.
"I don't know.. Please take me Ajusshi.."
With that, the boy buried his face into Ito's chest and sniffled, leaving Ito to curse inwardly as he realised that he'd have to likely search the entire neighborhood to find the boy's parents.
He began walking and decided to go door to door knocking and asking residents of the building if they knew or even recognised the boy.
However, after an hour and no luck, Ito began to worry that the boy wasn't even from the neighborhood and had walked quite far from home, and with no help from the boy he began to worry that he'd never be able to find his parents.
That was when the boy finally looked up over Ito's shoulder and spoke.
"There, Ajusshi, that's where I live!" His voice sounded notably more lively and urgent than before. He pointed at a building that was small and had a small gate around it.
The house was in an area next to two larger buildings that used to be businesses years ago but has been vacant for a while.
Ito thought that he had never even seen the small house or anyone coming or going from inside, however he shook his head and told himself that he didn't know everyone in the neighborhood since he often didn't pay much attention to others.
"So you didn't live far afterall, I'm glad." He said with a light sigh as he hugged the child closer to him and approached the house.
After approaching the gate in front of the house Ito put the child down carefully, the child grabbed his wrist as he opened the gate and approached the door knocking on it.
After a few moments of waiting and getting no response, the feeling of dread returned to Ito as he thought that the parents might be at work still or perhaps they noticed their son missing and went to look for him. Ito turned to the boy and crouched down to speak to him at eye level.
"Hey.. what's your name?"
He wanted to know the child's name because it would make speaking to him a lot easier, but also because he would need to know the boy's name if he wanted to file a report to help the boy find his parents.
"Han…" The boy spoke hesitantly, his voice quiet and trailing off briefly for a moment before he responded a second time.
"My name is Han Sanchul.."
Ito thought that the name was a bit strange, he nodded and patted the kid's head, taking out his phone to call 112. However, his phone refused to turn on.
He sighed deeply. ' I could have sworn it was charged.. ' he shook his head and then looked around the area, the feeling of dread slowly building into his stomach like a knot.
He had felt a faint feeling of unsettlement since he started walking home and noticed the lack of traffic. However, it was beginning to get dark and he had still yet to see a single person, or even a single car or bus or bike-cycle.
It made him worry, since this was extremely unusual even for a slow and quiet day. Sighing and looking down at the child he decided to walk with the child to the police station.
"Hey Sanchul, we're going to take a quick trip to the station so that we can get you reunited with your family. Do you want me to carry you like before?" He spoke calmly and with a gentle smile to keep the child from feeling anxious.
"No..
The boy muttered something softly to himself as his grip tightened around Ito's wrist enough to make Ito wince in pain.
"No no no no no no no nononononononononono-" The boy, his expression clouded as he began his barrage of "no's" Ito could feel his instincts screaming at him to get away from the boy as a feeling of dread turned into pure fear.
He could feel cold sweat forming over his body as his wrist burned with a searing pain from the tight grip.
He struggled to get free for what felt like forever before he could finally escape. Immediately distancing himself, he stared at the boy as he continued muttering before finally stopping and then going completely silent.
"Sanchul…?"
He wanted to reach out to the boy but his instincts were still standing on high alert and he couldn't move.
Tak, Tak
Ito saw small drops of water fall to the ground, but unlike before his heart didn't beat with sympathy or concerns for the boy. Instead, his heart raced, and just as Ito began to open his mouth which felt sticky with dry saliva, the boy moved first.
SCREEEEECHH–
Sanchul let out a loud bellow as his bones began breaking and twisting unnaturally with loud cracks and pops until his appearance changed to something horrifyingly grotesque and mangled.
Urgh-
It gagged as he looked at the monster in front of him, a cold sweat trickled down his back as he forced himself to move.
The monster watched in silence as Ito began to run away but only for a moment before it began its pursuit. Almost as if it were a hunter watching its prey try to escape only to enjoy the thrill of the chase afterwards.
"H- help… M-me!"
Ito could hear the monster behind it mimicking human speech but its voice was distorted and deep, sounding gurgled as if under water.
He didn't dare to look behind him and kept running. He wanted to call for help, but he knew that even if one of the very few people in the area did try to help, he'd only be putting them in harm's way.
Instead, he ran as fast as he could, as close as possible to the nearest police station while dodging through alleyways and tight corners to slow down the monster that had doubled in size and taken on a more spider-like appearance.
With its arms and legs bent and popped in an unnatural way and the bones forming several long and sharp appendages.
Another cry escaped the monster as it followed suit and closed the distance with a frightening speed.
"Shit.. I didn't plan on becoming someone's meal tonight."
Ito joked grimly as he turned to face the monster, he had nowhere left to run after all. He was backed into a dead-end alleyway and the monster was creeping towards him while snickering.
"H-heheheheheheheheheheh c-caught you…"
Ito looked at his surroundings and inhaled deeply. Regretting his choices leading up to this moment.
After all, despite his appearance, he had a soft spot in him for children and elders. He cursed himself for his impulsive need to help any child that looked to be in a tight spot.
"You look really proud of yourself… for someone who could only barely get a meal from an unsuspecting man."
His heart raced as the monster's face began to twitch as it stopped moving for a second before grinning from ear to ear unnaturally and tilting its head almost completely upside down.
"Y-our.. w-weak.. we ak.. Di-di-die"
The monster spoke with broken sentences and a voice that sounded as though it was speaking while deeply inhaling a growl.
"The weak die huh? Well… I suppose that's true."
The monster lifted a large grotesque bony limb and swing. Once its swing connected and cut into something soft and bony, it celebrated with loud gargled laughter and chattering.
That was until it looked down and saw that replacing Ito was a torn trash bag. Full and dripping liquid, it was covered in the black leather jacket that Ito had been wearing.
Furious and confused, the monster looked around and immediately got hit with something cold and hard.
CRACK
A metal pipe had hit the creature in one of the long bony limbs, causing it to break. The monster fell awkwardly and hissed viscerally as it looked at the source.
Ito was grinning awkwardly as he wiped a cold sweat from his forehead with his forearm and looked at the metal pipe in his hand that had been completely destroyed by the impact, ripped open and twisted like a stepped on tin can.
"Shit…."