「Free But Cold 」

《A Guy Who's Bright Red》

❝ Damn, It's finally the end of the world.❞

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

— Darkness masked the narrowed room, leaving only an insignificant gleam coming from a night light, barely even working. Nevertheless, the absence of light didn't hinder Minseo. He was used to it as he lived through it.

Wiping the bloodstained knife onto a piece of dark fabric, bringing it back to its clean and former state. Letting us get a glimpse of how it was just before Minseo ran it through the man's neck.

"Tsk... it got dirty, again." Dragging the body to the bathtub, he proceeded to clean the vexatious bloody red mess playing across the room. Displaying a macabre picture of a murder scene with horrid tools scattered on the dusty floor and obvious signs of struggle from the turned over table, broken chair, and a kitchen knife laying just right below the couch. He should visit the tennant from above the floor. Their loud music did a very good job in masking the muffled screams of that man.

While scrubbing the floor clean, a loud banging sound resonated from outside, like a hard surface colliding with another. "I told you to open the door! Open it! Open the door! You asshole!" A distorted voice of a woman roared. Wiping the bloody fountain from his nose, he proceeded to ignore the ringing sound of the womans cries.

Throwing the cloth drenched in blood on the sink, he turned his body to face the dark curtain hanging above the window. Pondering how he should get himself out of this place, his things were still in the apartment across this room. Running his hands through his dark locks, he picked up his knife and left the room, locking it.

It is very rare to see Minseo off guard, being well trained in terms of alertness, this moment became one of those rare occurrences. Standing bare in the hallway, he was stunned in place, too shocked to move a muscle. Eyes wide and cold sweat starting to caress his pale face, the air temperature suddenly falling. The floor at his feet was red, seemingly coloured by a child that was trying to draw a rose. But it irritated him, his heart pumping as his blood boiled, his body heat colliding with cold water vapour. His reflection from the bright colour stared right back at him, like it was mocking him of what he had just done beyond that door.

Snapping out of his train of empty thoughts, he quickly entered his room. Finally letting out the breath he didn't even notice he held. His disturbed state of calmness was far too obvious for his liking. Sitting down, he let himself regain composure. His work is done, and he needs to leave here, fast. Racing his eyes around his room, he began to work, feeling a sense of unsatisfactory as he couldn't take everything here with him in one trip. He decided to pack first the most important ones. His sniper rifle.

Reassuring himself that he will come back to retrieve what's left of his armory, he sets out. And as if deja vu is playing with the strings of his fate, he was again left speechless at the sight of an open door with a boy laying unconscious inside. “What the fuck…?”

Entering without hesitation, he pulled out a gun, just in case. He approached the body, dipping his fingers on the boy's pulse to make sure that he's still alive. There were faint beats, assuring Minseo that the boy was still alive, letting out a breath, and he turned to leave.

Walking out the hallway, he saw a girl run down and turn to enter the boy's room. She was carrying a metal bat, her hair half tied up. He faced the elevator, and adding to his irritation, it was out of service. He was left with no other choice than to use the stairs.

When he got down, there was already a crowd in front of the blocked entrance. Based on their behaviors, the reason it's locked is unknown. Some of the residents were trying to call out the guard that was working here, but the security room was locked, and nobody was answering.

A woman decided to step up and attempted to break the lock with her foot, stupid idea, really. Luckily, a guy who's wearing glasses stopped her before she went and broke her foot. The corner of his mouth spreads when he saw the old man's
wig fell off his head. Minseo then laid his bag and his snipers case on the floor and sat down while he waited for them to finally open the entrance.

As he heard the metal gate rattle open, he fixed his things, getting ready to leave. But he stopped on his tracks, chills running up his spine as if telling him not to move. There was a silhouette of a tall person by the entrance. Everyone was at a standoff, waiting as the silhouettes slowly approached.

And within a blink of an eye, a long tentacle like appendage emerged from it and attacked a person from the crowd. It lifted up the body up to the ceiling, bashing the persons head. Immediately, it started drinking what looked like the mans blood, leaving it dried up on the floor.

Everyone was far too scared to move while Minseo quickly took his gun and aimed it at the unknown creature. As it draws closer to the dim light, it proves to be one hell of a monster. With a large head and terrifying blank eyes, it only grew scarier as it opened its mouth as wide as a basketball and showed its long tongue that formerly attacked the man.

Before it could attack again, Minseo fired his gun. Hitting it straight to its mouth. Everyone turned their heads towards where the gunshot came from, only to see the man not there, but already in front of the monster. He fired it multiple times, making the monster fall back, when it's outside the metal gate, Minseo shot it to its head and kicked it away from the entrance before forcefully pulling down the metal gate to close it.

Going back to the staircase to retrieve his belongings, ignoring the gasps when he heard the gate rattle. It's better to go back in his room, he don't know what other creatures are outside. “Damn, it's finally the end of the world.”