Chapter 341 - A great tragedy

Chapter 341: Chapter 341 - A great tragedy

The women and children were settled into a clean villa on the quieter side of the base.

It had been left untouched by the fighting, and although there was still dust on the furniture and the rooms had been empty for weeks, it was more than enough for people who had spent so long hiding in fear.

For the first time in what felt like forever, they could close a door behind them and know that nothing was going to come crashing through it.

They were all terribly hungry.

Shinju opened the storage compartment of one of the cars and brought out the rations they had carried with them.

They heated everything they could and divided it among the family.

The moment the food was placed on the table, the children began eating with such eagerness that one of the women immediately reached out and held a little boy’s hand.

"Slow down, sweetheart. You’re going to choke."

The boy shook his head and continued eating.

"Let him," another woman whispered, tears already gathering in her eyes. "Let him eat."

She looked down at the food in front of her as though she could hardly believe it was real. She picked up her spoon, took one bite, and suddenly stopped.

Her shoulders trembled.

She lowered her head, trying to hide it, but the tears began falling into her bowl.

They had been hungry for too long.

Not the kind of hunger that could be fixed by missing one meal, but the deep, painful hunger that came from never knowing when the next mouthful of food would come.

Watching their children eat freely seemed to break something inside them.

The youngest child made a small happy sound when one of the women gave him another spoonful, and that was enough to make the woman beside him cover her mouth and quietly cry.

Shinju looked away.

He had seen people die.

He had watched soldiers bleed out in front of him. He had carried wounded men back from battlefields and stood beside bodies that would never move again. He thought he had become accustomed to the things the apocalypse could take from people.

But seeing children become this happy over a simple warm meal still made his chest ache.

After dinner, the children were taken to one of the bedrooms to sleep. They were exhausted enough that several of them fell asleep almost immediately.

The three women remained in the dining room.

Shinju waited until the room was quiet before approaching one of them.

He had noticed her earlier.

There was something familiar about her face, even beneath the exhaustion and the weight of everything she had been through.

He stopped beside her. "I’m sorry to ask this now, but... were you Corporal Han’s wife?"

The woman’s fingers tightened around the edge of her sleeve as she looked up at him.

For a few seconds, she didn’t say anything.

Then she slowly nodded. "Yes."

The single word came out so softly that Shinju almost didn’t hear it.

"He was my husband."

Shinju’s throat tightened.

He had known Corporal Han. A good soldier. Quiet, dependable, the kind of man who never complained no matter how difficult things became.

Shinju pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. "Where is he?"

The woman stared at the table. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

"He..." Her voice broke.

She pressed her lips together and wiped her eyes, but the tears only came faster.

"He didn’t make it."

Shinju lowered his gaze. "I see. I’m.. I’m sorry,"

That was all he could manage.

The woman gave a small, broken laugh. "He kept saying you would come back."

Shinju’s eyes lifted.

"He said you wouldn’t leave us behind. He kept telling everyone that General Shinju would return with reinforcements, that you would find a way to save the base."

She swallowed hard. "I believed him."

Her voice trembled. "I really believed him."

Shinju bit the insides of his cheeks "I..I never should have left... I ."

"No."

She shook her head immediately.

"You had gone to find your son. He told me that was what you had done. He said you would never abandon your own family."

Her eyes dropped again. "He was proud of you for that."

Shinju’s lips pressed into a thin line holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

Then the woman took a shaky breath.

"After you left... things changed."

Shinju’s expression became serious.

"What happened?"

"At first, everyone was still trying to hold together. Your soldiers were doing everything they could. They rationed the food, guarded the gates, searched the surrounding area. Even when people were scared, there was still some order."

She paused, rubbing her fingers together.

"Then the fighting started."

"Between the soldiers?"

She nodded. "Between the ones with powers and the ones without them."

Her eyes filled again.

"They started arguing over food first. Then medicine. Then weapons. Everyone was afraid. Everyone was tired. The people with abilities started saying that they were the reason the rest of us were still alive, so they deserved more."

Shinju’s jaw tightened.

"And the others?"

"They tried to object."

She looked at him.

"They were killed."

The words were quiet, but they landed heavily.

Shinju’s hand slowly curled against his knee.

"They didn’t even care about rank anymore," she continued. "Your officers tried to stop them, but the stronger soldiers stopped listening. They gathered together and started doing whatever they wanted."

She looked toward the bedroom where her children were sleeping.

"They took the food."

Her voice became smaller.

"All of it."

Shinju didn’t interrupt.

"They would walk into the storage rooms, take the rations, and leave the rest of us with nothing. Sometimes we begged. Sometimes people cried. Sometimes mothers stood there holding their children and begged them to spare just one packet of food."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

"They didn’t care."

She wiped it away.

"I remember one little boy... he hadn’t eaten for two days. His mother begged them for something. Anything. They laughed at her."

Shinju’s breathing became heavier.

The woman lowered her head.

"We started hiding food whenever we could. A little here, a little there. We learned how to make one packet last an entire day. We stopped letting the children cry because we were afraid someone would hear them."

She took a shaky breath.

"And then they started coming into the houses."

Shinju’s eyes hardened.

The woman went silent.

He didn’t rush her.

He could see that she was struggling even to breathe.

Finally, she whispered, "They started taking the women."

Shinju’s entire body went still.

The woman covered her face. "We tried to stop them."

Her voice cracked.

"We did. We fought. We screamed. We begged them to leave us alone."

Her shoulders began shaking as she hugged herself. "But they knew exactly how to hurt us."

Shinju said nothing.

"They threatened our children."

A sob escaped her.

"They would stand there and tell us that if we refused, our children wouldn’t get food anymore. They said they could throw them outside whenever they wanted. They knew we would do anything to keep our children alive."

She was crying openly now.

"So we..."

She couldn’t finish.

Shinju looked down.

His fingers were trembling.

The woman struggled to speak through her tears.

"We had no choice."

She pressed both hands over her face.

"I hated myself every time. I hated that I couldn’t protect them. I hated that I had to smile at my children afterward and pretend everything was fine. They would ask me why I was crying, and I would tell them I was tired."

Her voice broke into a sob. "I told them I was only tired."

Shinju shut his eyes.

A tear escaped from the corner and ran down his cheek.

He wiped it away immediately.

He was a soldier. He had spent years learning how to keep his emotions under control, how to stand straight while everything around him collapsed. He could mourn his dead comrades later. He could cry when nobody was watching.

But hearing this from one of his own soldiers’ wives made it impossible to pretend that he wasn’t hurting.

His voice came out low. "I’m sorry."

The woman looked up at him. "You don’t have to apologize, General."

"I do."

Shinju stared at her with red eyes. "I left this place in your hands. I trusted my people to be safe here."

His voice tightened. "I should have been here."

"You couldn’t have known."

"I should have."

The woman shook her head desperately.

"If you had stayed, you would have been hurt too..."

Shinju looked toward the bedroom.

He could hear the faint breathing of the sleeping children.

His eyes teared up instantly.

The woman lowered her head again. "Your son is lucky."

"He has a father who came back for him."

For a moment, Shinju couldn’t answer.

He finally stood and walked toward the door. His hand rested on the handle, but he didn’t open it immediately.

Behind him, the woman spoke quietly.

"General..."

Shinju turned. She looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

"Thank you for coming back."

"I...I wish I had come sooner." He nodded and stepped outside.

The door closed behind him.

He quickly wiped his face with the back of his hand, took a deep breath, and straightened his back.

He was still a soldier.

He would grieve later.

Right now, there were people to protect, a base to rebuild, and a family waiting for him outside.

And somewhere among them was his son.

Shinju looked toward the road and started walking.