Chapter 4: On the Move

"Mr.Doyun! It's headed your way!" a young voice yelled out as he chased after the blurry form of a monster that they were hunting.

 "Got it!" Second, an older voice answered and just as the monster rounded the corner, it stopped moving. The monster's limbs were bent at an unnatural angle, struggling to move and get out of the invisible trap that it had fallen into.

 'Well, not so invisible…'Doyun thought. He had realized a while past that only he could see the strings that he utilized. Even if they manifested into the physical world, they remained unseen by anyone but him. 

 An advantage that only he had due to his new pair of eyes but he also knew that was only because they had yet to bump into any other human being in the past week.

  "Sorry, Mr.Doyun. I let it get away…" came the tired voice of Sung-Jin. The 11 years old looked out of breath, better than when they had first started hunting a few days ago.

  By hunting, they were able to gather exp and improve their stats, gaining far better physical and mental state compared to normal human beings. 

  

 If Doyun calculated right, Sung-Jin now could take down an adult twice his size without much difficulty. Though, the older man was sure some of the credit for the boy's improvement had to be given to the miniature golden man who had taken to following the kid.

  Iseul and Ah-In couldn't see him, so the man was probably part of Sung-Jin's ability and the only reason Doyun could see him was due to the blasted eyes. 'Speaking of abilities-'

  he gazed at the spider monkey, still struggling in his net of strings.

 "Sung-Jin, you should kill him quickly. We need to get back soon."  The younger boy nodded.

 "Okay, sir." 

  The 11 year old took a stance a few steps away from the monkey and readied himself.

  Doyun watched as the golden man guided Sung-Jin along.

 "Mul" at that simple command, a small handgun appeared in the boy's hand. It was a pretty thing with gold linings containing and shaping the stars that swam along the surface. 'Mul' as he called it was probably one of the most terrifying guns Doyun had ever seen one.

 "Star cluster" Sung-Jin gave another command and following it, several miniature stars appeared behind the boy, ready for his next command. Currently, there were only 5 of them and if he had heard it right, the golden man said there would be more when Sung-Jin grew properly into his powers.

 Just before Doyun could slip into another inner Mongolia, the younger boy pulled the trigger and the stars shot forward at incredible speed, hitting the monkey right in the chest in the blink of an eye. They left a gaping hole behind, that smoked and smelt of burnt flesh. No matter how many times he had seen it, the smell still left Doyun quite queasy.

 Unwilling to fester the bad thoughts more than necessary, Doyun let the monkey down and instead praised the 11 years old while the younger put the monkey into his [Inventory].

 "That was a good one Sung-Jin, you didn't miss this time." He smiled, knowing how much better the boy had gotten since the first few times he had used 'Mul'.

 

 "Thanks, Mr.Doyun! Now come on! Let's go back! Ah-In and big sister Iseul are waiting!" the boy's half gold eyes sparkled as he smiled at his guardian brightly. Doyun huffed a laugh and trotted after the child while the invisible man simply floated along after them.

 

 It has been a week and a half since the destruction of the world. The time was only moving forward and sooner or later, the small group of four will have to move along.

  So caught up in their thoughts, no one paid attention to the distant roars that made the very air tremble echoed much closer than before.

 Yes, the world was moving and with that, the quiet lull that blanketed the whole world was coming to its end.

                                      ...

Head full of bouncy scarlet hair bobbed up and down as the owner hit their head against the table repeatedly. It had been a week and a half already, yet they still had no stable source of information. 

  They had no way where was safe and where wasn't. The internet had long since died and was no longer of any use after the first 3 days. Even the tv news stations did not work due to getting razed to the ground by the animals.

 Iseul held back a groan, instead opting to bite the insides of her cheeks in pure frustration. There was no information, no contact and certainly no place they could consider safe. It honestly worried the teenager to be tizzy.

 "I'll! Pray!' Ah-In grinned, throwing one of the toy blocks laid in front of her at the red head. Isuel wished she could be like her and play without any worries.

 

 At first Ah-In hadn't wanted to separate from Doyun and Sung-Jin but over time the toddler had gotten used to the idea of being away from them and even started speaking once they settled down. 

  It eased a lot of their worries and certainly took away some of the worries the two males had. Iseul didn't know what really happened but she was glad to see Ah-In recovering from whatever was keeping her quiet.

 

  Another block was thrown, interrupting the red head's line of thought. The toddler was looking at her with a rather impressive disappointed face.

"I'ul! Pway!!!"the little lady demanded. This time, the older girl really groaned.

 "Fine! Fine, I'll play" she conceded and was just about to slip out of her seat, where she had been moping for the past two hours when the boys returned, signaled by the opening of their front door.

 "We're back!" Soft yet still cheerful voice of Sung-Jin filled the apartment causing the toddler to squeal loudly in happiness. 

 "Jin! Jin!!!" 

"Ah-in!!" The older brother squealed right back. He hurriedly took off his shoes and picked up his baby sister while the older two watched them fondly.

"Were you good for big sister Iseul?" Sung-Jin asked as he lifted Ah-in up like she didn't weigh anything. He supposed all his training was paying up on that front.

  The little girl nodded, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"Ah-In good for I'ul!" 

"Good girl!" Sung-jin praised patting her head. 

 "So how did it go? Did you find anything?"Iseul asked Doyun. The older man shook his head, answering her invisible question.

 "No, we didn't see anyone else. We did catch some spider monkeys. But- no, nevermind. How about you?"

"Same as before, we got nothing." There was no connection, no internet, no way to contact other people. Sure, for some bizarre reason the system provided them with running water and electricity as long as there were more than 2 people together. 

  The more of them were together the stronger this strange phenomenon became and if there were only a few then it was weak and provided just enough for a normal person to get by. That was as far as the group of 4 had been able to figure out anyway.

 "We need to leave soon don't we?" The redhead couldn't help but ask, even if she knew the answer already. Iseul watched the oldest of them nod. She knew Doyun didn't want to worry them but they all knew leaving was inevitable. They needed to continue along if they wanted to survive. 

 Staying in one place when they had no idea what was going on was just asking for death.

"So when are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. It is best to move in daylight."  He answered and Iseul thought. 'Especially when they had no way of knowing what roamed in the night.'

 "So one more night of comfort huh?" The teen tried to crack a joke and was relieved to see the older man smile.

 

"Yeah just one more night of comfort." He nodded along before moving from her side to tell the kids. If the kids had gotten more open, Doyun had become more relaxed yet withdrawn at the same time. It concerned Iseul.

 She wasn't an expert on physiology but even someone like her knew Doyun bottling up his feelings were bad. She just hoped his eventual fall won't drag all of them down with him.

  For now though, Lee Iseul was content with watching. And that's all that mattered until then.

                                    .....

That night, they ( with the expectation of Ah-in) all laid awake, unable to sleep. There was no need to pack and nothing else to do yet they felt jittery at the thought of leaving. 

  

Maybe it was because this apartment had been a safe haven for them for the past few days and while they knew they had to leave sooner or later,  it didn't make it any easier for them. Yeah, that must have been it.

 Still, it turned out to be a good thing, when the danger came knocking.

 It started when the high pitched cries of animals filled the sky, followed by a monstrous roar of an enormous beast.

 By the first roar, everyone was up and out of the building. Ah-In was slung over Doyun's back in the baby carrier and Sung-Jin was close behind them with Iseul.

  Trying not to get killed under the feet of fleeing creatures, Doyun could not make out much. But what he could see was lava.

  So much lava rushing towards them with no mercy for anything in its way.

"WHAT DO WE DO!?" Iseul cried in panic. Without looking back to the fast coming death, Doyun turned towards the group and yelled.

"FOLLOW THE ANIMALS AND RUN!!!!"