pointed teeth || iz*one

11.5

Night was dark blue with thick grey clouds and no stars. In the midst of an unknown place, a young man in a coat strolled briskly to a large structure hidden by rows and rows of forest and fog.

Korea's one and only Hunter bureau.

He mopped cold sweat from his brow and held a tag to a tiny, almost hidden red light.

"Hunter 103," the sensor droned robotically, "access granted."

The gates parted with a metallic clang and a mechanical whirring noise.

He was going to make it in time; he had to. The timing was precise, and if everything went his way, all would be fine and another innocent would escape alive.

Only the back gate guards would be active at this hour.

He unsheated the decorated spear from his side as he made a beeline rushing towards what seemed like a metal wall, until he jammed the point of his weapon into a patterned crevice in the middle of it.

A hidden door opened to exactly where he wanted to be. He squeezed through right before the metal doors slammed together again.

"Hunter 103," he spat, shoving his tag upwards into the guard's face, "Choi Sungmin! Let me through!"

The guard's expression remained unfazed and stoic as he forcefully bat the man away with his palm, sending him to the ground.

His head banged against the tarmac of the side road. Through blurry vision, he saw the men lifting her struggling body and active truck ready, a rectangular coffin-like object sitting in the back under a cloth.

His heartbeat quickened.

"Leave me alone!" the small monster gasped, twisting and struggling until four clothed pairs of arms grabbed hold of her limbs and lifted her. A fifth man lifted the velvet cloth.

Roughly, they forced her into a glass case. Bang and kick against the glass as she might, the Hunter knew that glass was expensive and anything-proof.

He cried out in a strained, guttural voice, "No!"

He struck out with his weapon and knew he hit flesh, a strike that would disable but thankfully not be hard enough to kill.

A stout man in a white coat lifted her upper lip with a pair of tweezers, inspecting her sharp incisor as a tear rolled into her mouth, a leering expression spread across his twisted features.

She would not cease her struggling, so two men were ordered to tie her up with brute force and beating.

Painful restraints bound her limbs together, letting her black blood seep though the rope burns in her ankles.

A man brushed back his hair with a hand in frustration. "Knock her out."

A shorter man uncapped a bottle with a twist and soaked a rag with its contents. She felt large hand wrestle her head into the wet cloth. She knew what it might be, so she held her breath as best as she could.

As he ran, the Hunter stripped off his coat and slung it over his shoulder as he fumbled for a tiny button-sized capsule in the lining of his waistband.

He squeezed it and threw it in the direction of the truck, praying the monster would be able to hold her breath when it took effect.

In a moment, it did. Vibrant blue smoke smelling of sulfur exploded in a large cloud around the vehicle and its men.

He grinned to himself and held his own breath as he dived into the cloud. His eyes stung and turned pink and watered, but he emerged successfully with the monster over his shoulder.

He ran and ran to his next location without stopping for breath. When he arrived, he set her down.

He removed a small rectangle of plastic from a slit in the sole of his shoe. A secret knife. He cut away her restraints with the blade, then folded it safely back and inserted it back into his sole.

The monster was human despite her teeth, eyes, and tongue, with more morals and compassion than any other person the Hunter had ever met.

He was assigned her guard for a week before she was meant to be shipped off to an American lab, but he made the mistake of talking to her, knowing her.

It hurt him to know she'd ultimately end up being cut open and tested on.

Unless he did something.

So he did, looking for a safe place to shelter her after he helped her escape. He planned it all quickly, yet the seams of his plans were so well sewn they were invisible. He made sure they were untraceable by the bureau.

The van drove up the hill soon enough.

"Miyawaki," he whispered to the dazed, faint girl. "You have to go now."

The door opened. He opened his wallet with shaky hands and handed 200KKRW to the driver.

"Be a good girl and take care of yourself."

He watched the van disappear with a tired, satisfied smile before trudging back to the bureau.

...

He was greeted by rows of his former fellow Hunters when he returned back to the building and arrested by two seniors.

They brought him to the main room, where the head Hunter conducted a trial.

"Hunter 103, Choi Sungmin, you are banished from the Korean Monster Hunter Bureau for the crimes of aiding in the escape of a specimen meant for the American Laboratory of Paranormal Study, injuring a guard, and using your weapons for your personal advantage.

"You are not permitted to reveal any information about the Bureau once you leave. If you do, you and your next of kin will be killed immediately.

"Return your weapon and tag by sunrise and never return here."

Sungmin took all of it with silence, knowing he'd won. He removed his belt and sheathed weapon from his side and tugged on the chain around his neck.

He looked at the Hunter ID for the last time, grinned, and placed the objects inside a small elevator-like mechanism in the wall.

In a second, a scanner ran a green light across the weapon and tag before ascending them to the highest floor of the building where he knew they'd be destroyed.

He bowed respectfully to the head and his seniors before turning on his heel to leave.

"Wait."

He turned around.

A small glass bottle was held under his nose.

...

When he woke, he was lying on his couch at home.

He sat up and groaned a little, feeling a slight ache in his side, and fell back.

After a while, he got up and bought himself a carton of milk, thinking of the little monster.