🦋 NABI 🦋
"This doesn't look like a bear Woobin… whatever attacked those men wasn't a bear." I retorted, facing my colleague who was covered in sweat in an attempt to solve a case.
He rolled his eyes in frustration, "Nabi, what else could it be? A unicorn?"
"I was there," I snapped, "I was the victim, I reported the case. I saw that thing tear those men alive… and it wasn't a bear. It has claws and hands and feet and a lot of veins. It was an extremely handsome man with claws."
"Are you calling a bear handsome? It's a bear Nabi," he snapped back, "You are hallucinating because of shock."
"Woobin it was a man, a grown-ass man," I screamed, "Why does no one believe me?"
"Because you don't make any sense." He yelled back, "You want us to say this to the commander? Do you have proof of whatever you saw?"
I walked closer to him, "The proof is right in front of you. Me! I am the proof. I saw what attacked that night… look at the bodies of the victims, can't you see claw marks? That night I was being attacked by six men that were released from jail, and then I was overpowered, and then…"
"A beast came rushing out to protect you and he snapped those men in half and left you to tell the world about him," he interrupted, "Listen to yourself Nabi – don't you sound crazy?"
I inhaled sharply, "I'm not crazy. And I'll prove you wrong."
"Great! I'll be waiting," he responded calmly, "Just please don't tell the commander about your crazy hallucinations. Don't give us more jobs to do."
I rolled my eyes in disappointment, speaking to myself, "A bear in the woods where families go for picnics every weekend, doesn't that sound even more crazy? 99% of the population in our country would be dead by now if there's actually a fucking bear in the woods."
Jia, our other colleague jumped into the room, "Commander Ethan asked to see us, emergency meeting," she announced.
We stormed out of the room, into the meeting room and sat down respectfully. Commander Ethan turned towards us, pinning a picture on the board, "This is Lee Gon," he declared, pointing at the picture. "A South Korean Army who died in a war, he died a hero."
"He looks familiar," I blurted out.
"Nabi…" Commander Ethan snarled.
I threw my hands up in the air in defence, "I'm saying he's cute."
"And I'm saying you should respect the dead," he retorted.
I paused my lips in surrender, "Okay. Why are we going after a dead soul?"
"We are not going after him," Commander Ethan responded calmly, "We are going after those going after him."
I pouted in confusion, "Why are people going after a dead person? Are they after his bones or something? This just doesn't make any sense."
Commander Ethan gawked at me in frustration, "Must you ask questions?" he snapped. "This mission came from a very high place; we can't question it."
"These are the list of people going after him," he muttered, passing each of us a piece of paper. "Kill on sight."
"You mean arrest?" I corrected.
"Kill! It's exactly what I said," he muttered, "Your mission starts now… dismissed."
We stood up to leave, but I turned around ignoring Woobin's facial warnings to shut up, "Commander I have something to clarify," I blurted out.
He turned towards me and nodded, "Go ahead, Nabi."
"Those deaths aren't caused by a bear," I announced. "I'm going to uncover the truth about it, but it's definitely not a big-ass bear."
"And who gave you the go-ahead to do that?" Commander Ethan barked.
I stepped back in defence and Jia rushed in, alarming us.
"News just came in from Seoul. Eight men were discovered dead this morning, in front of a church. A deep claw mark was visible on their chest and back. All eight victims are missing a leg or an arm, some are missing all fours."
I jumped in front confidently and was convinced that my theory was indeed true, "You still think this is a bear? Not one person has called to report a bear being seen."
"NABI!" Commander Ethan yelled, "It's nothing but a bear. We are simply going to say we saw the bear. That's what we put down on paper and that's what we release to the press."
I shook my head in disappointment, "Perhaps you have something to hide or you are just being foolish. If there's something this dangerous roaming around freely and we are doing nothing about it, then I don't understand why we are the elite squad. I'm sorry in advance commander; because I'm going to fuck you up."
I stormed out of the office in determination, calling the mechanic in charge of repairing my car, "Hi, I'll be there in 40 minutes."
I got to the mechanic workshop, but no matter how many times I replayed what my dash cam captured that night I wasn't able to pick anything. The strange creature was either not there at all or too fast to be captured.
The only thing I picked was the men being torn apart, but whatever tore them apart, was not captured. It was captured, but couldn't be picked out, paused repeatedly but still nothing, "What in the crazy fucking flash trick is this?" I exclaimed.
I got out of the car in frustration, and just then, a call came in, "Nabi you are close to one of our targets right now, Woobin has gone after the other one," Jia's voice sounded from behind the computer, "Turn to your right. Remember to kill on sight."
"You can see me?" I asked, waving at the CCTV camera that was facing me.
"I can see everything," she boasted happily, "You are standing in front of your car with a sad face. That's not the point, we don't have much time, hurry before he changes position."
Following Jia's description, I stormed towards the said criminal, when I got to him, I pointed my gun at him with my index finger on the trigger, "Stop right there."
He fell to his knees and yelled, "Don't kill me, even if you want to – listen to me first."
"We are not going after him, we are trying to pass him a message." He announced.
"Who?" I roared.
"Nabi, what are you doing? We were commanded to kill on sight." Jia's voice echoed out.
I snatched the ear tune radio from my ear and disconnected it, pointing my gun towards the CCTV camera close by, I shot it and whispered, "Nobody tells me what to do."
Looking at the criminal, I nodded at him to go on.
"Lee Gon," he declared.
"Lee Gon is dead," I argued, at least that's what I know.
"Lee Gon is not dead, but there are a lot of people after his blood. If you find him… ask him to hide and never get found; we are protecting him from evil people."
At that moment I had only one question left, "How do I find him… This Lee Gon."