They are afraid of my light.

                  I realized it the first time they found me. There were two of them, their faces hidden in masks and coats as dark as the night enveloped their true form. These are my hunters, the shadows who will never stop from reminding me who I really am.

                 For a brief moment, I wanted to flee like I always do. But I’m tired of it and I can’t. Though it seemed like I’ve given up altogether, running away from the ones who protect me, the reality is that I just made a choice like everyone else. What I decided on however, doesn’t include my eight companions.

                Seven, my subconscious corrected me, but I’m not going to dwell on that right now, because the fact is I’m alone, and I intend to keep it that way. My duire had been spent for days trying to keep D.O. out of my head until it I was able to completely shut him out. I have no idea if they were looking for me, but I know I won’t be looking for them.

                As I stare at the form of my killers, the sounds in the background became less noticeable as though I wore earmuffs around my head. Curious, really,  how there’s fear in silence, and so much hate for the dark.

                The streets of Seoul looked so beautiful in the distant as it cries for my blood. It thirsts for it, but not tonight.

                I walked forward rather bravely, hearing their raspy breaths. It’s the first time I noticed the large scaly hands protruding underneath their cloaks. I never really paid attention to them, but now that I do, I’m hoping I could see what lies behind the covers.

                Seijira had remained quiet ever since my escape, but when I took the initiative to fight, my body glowed an intense red, surprising my attackers, making them fear me when I should fear them. Inside, I felt rather amused, but mostly, I felt reckless. I haven’t tried to improve myself since I found out I could control other's duires,  but maybe…just maybe, I could find out something more about myself before they could cast my soul downwards. It’s been so long since I have felt alive and felt the heat being emitted by my body. Seijira’s thoughts never came in the seconds that passed, and I thought I must abuse this little piece of tranquility.

                The wind blew, shaking the cloaks of the shadows madly like there couldn’t have been any body underneath. Before anything more could happen, I took my recklessness up the next step. I ran.

                I’ve never been a fighter nor someone who’s good at sports, but adrenaline was rushing through me like never before. I didn’t think much of what I’m doing, but it just felt right.

                As I was about to pass the space between them, I took out the knife from my back pocket, the same knife that Ji Hye used to kill all those people. It’s time to use them against her monsters. 

                It happened so fast. I jumped and stuck the knife hard where the shadow's face should be, rendering it incapable to move, but the other grabbed my arm and flipped me to the ground where my back received the full impact. In an instant, I felt my blood stopped flowing from the place it touched. So that was the effect of being in contact with them, I thought, as the same shadow was about to swoop down on me. On instinct, I rolled on the ground, ending up in a crouching position, and then jumped back at it. I put my arm around its neck as the glow around me became brighter. The shadow started trashing around and held my thigh that was around it. I was so sure my head would hit the ground badly if I let it do what it wanted, so before there could even be an impact, I held out my hand, not thinking too much of what I was about to do. But like a miracle,  a large cargo box immediately went flying towards us and following my hand movements, it hit the shadow with much force, sending me flying along with it.  I let go of my hold of the shadow, feeling the pain on my ribs, and rolled to the ground. I saw the one I hit disintegrate in theair and immediately roamed my eyes for the other one I struck with the knife.

                To no surprise, it was still standing there, though still as a statue. Brushing the dirt on my wounded knee, I walked towards it, unfeeling and unafraid. I could see the feet was starting to disintegrate and that made me even have more courage.  Finally in front of it, I watched as its body slowly turned into invisible dust. However, before its face followed suit, the mask broke down and I found myself staring into a face I would probably never forget in my entire life.

                From where the knife split the skin open, there wasn’t any blood coming out. The face didn’t have any eyebrows, both its eyes were closed but that is where you can see the blood. It was crying it, in thick quantities. That’s when I stumbled backward. I felt like throwing up. I have never seen anything so revolting and nauseating in my whole life. I have never felt so disgusted with Seo Ji Hye for creating such abominable creatures.

                And as the face started to disintegrate too, I felt the urge to look behind.  When I did, I saw another shadow standing in the distant. However, it didn’t seem like it was planning to attack. It was merely watching. Before I could even think, it flew high in the air and disappeared without a trace.

                That was two weeks ago.

                And I never had a peaceful night since then.

                The attack always comes once dark has fallen, and they come in groups of two or three. I stopped bothering where to live or hide, because they always find me. The only thing I can do is to stumble on empty streets and make sure to keep away from mortals in the night. I've long understood these shadows don’t care whether there are people who shouldn’t see or notice them. It's probably because mortals wouldn’t even live to tell them to somebody else.  It’s either they’d be so knocked out or murdered, but it’s mostly the latter. I couldn’t risk people’s lives that way, particularly those who remain ignorant of how the world really is.

Some nights,  I get lucky and hit the hay with only a few scrapes from the fight. That's as good as it can get eversince the first attack. However, more often than usual, shadows become more aggressive and it ends up with me getting thrown in the air or perhaps, finding myself wiping blood off of my mouth. Everything was painful and tiring, but it's not like I have any other choice but to accept the fact that this is the life I’ve been drawn for. Giving up is just not in the options if I wanted to live. At times however, when it gets too hard, I think of my mom, and seeing that I never went to a hospital to get fixed nor used any of the medicines in my bag,  it must have been working for me. After all, it's the physical pai