Skate stoppers
This guy only learned about these circular metal objects after painfully colliding his knee into one of them. He had no idea what they were for other than bruising unsuspecting pedestrians’ limbs. The thing hurt the OP so badly that he had to find out what they were in order to discover their weakness and take them out once and for all.
Someone helpfully pointed out that these metal discs are called skate stoppers and do exactly what their name implies. They’re supposed to stop skaters from shredding up public places, which is a bigger nuisance than some people realize. Unfortunately, the only thing it stopped was this guy from having a good day.