The sound of combat boots grew closer. The distinct, nauseating stench of magic emitted by the Aran augmented soldiers stung my nostrils. I scanned the people inside the storehouse with cold eyes. The pleas for help, the crying of terrified children—all of it began to look like nothing more than 'tools' for our escape.
"Sang-chul, Yeon-woo. Grab your gear. We're slipping out the back."
My voice was dry, devoid of even a shred of emotion. Yeon-woo grabbed my arm, her voice frantic.
"Lieutenant, what about these people? We have to at least lure the enemy away..."
"No. These people are the lure."
I kicked a fuel can sitting in the corner of the storehouse. Yellow oil spread across the old floor. Yeon-woo's eyes widened in horror. With a trembling hand, I struck a match and tossed it into a pile of straw at the front of the building. Flames surged instantly, and thick smoke began billowing out of the storehouse.
"Aaaah! Fire! Save us!"
The people began screaming and charging toward the front door. Starving children and elderly folk poured out into the village square in a state of absolute chaos. Hearing the commotion, the Aran soldiers' attention shifted entirely toward them.
"Now. Run!"
I snatched the dazed Yeon-woo by the scruff of her neck and dove into the woods behind the back door. Gunshots rang out from behind us. Rat-tat-tat, bang! It wasn't the sound of a battle. It was the sound of a one-sided massacre of fleeing civilians.
"Lieutenant! That baby... the baby was shot! Please, let me go!"
Yeon-woo thrashed, trying to look back. But I didn't let go. Instead, I twisted her wrist even harder and sprinted through the mud.
"Shut the fuck up! What are you going to do if you go out there? Become a human shield with them? Those people were destined to die anyway. Even if we had stayed, the result would have been exactly the same!"
At my roar, Yeon-woo's sobbing faded into the darkness of the forest. In the distance, the sound of a child's scream was abruptly cut short. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
We lived. But the humanity we discarded had turned to ash along with that burning storehouse. I couldn't look at Yeon-woo's face. Because I already knew that in her eyes, I looked no different from the monsters of Aran.
When we were finally far enough from the village, Yeon-woo wrenched her hand away from mine. She sprawled into the mud, covered in filth, gasping for air in jagged, broken huffs. There was no longer fear in her eyes. In its place was a deep, searing loathing directed entirely at me.
"A beast... You're nothing but a beast."
With trembling hands, Yeon-woo began clawing at her uniform sleeves. As if the smell of oil and blood from the storehouse wouldn't wash away, she started raking her fingernails against her own arms. Red streaks rose up against her pale skin.
"Yeon-woo, get up. If we linger here—"
"Don't come near me! Don't you dare touch me!"
She shrieked as I tried to approach. She began to laugh hysterically, only for it to dissolve into a gut-wrenching wail. It was the sound of a mind completely shattering.
"That child... I saw that child's eyes. He was trying to smile at me. But you... you shoved those children into the flames! You drove them right into the muzzles of the Aran guns!"
"So we should have all died together? I told you, they were dead anyway!"
I roared back, but even my own voice trembled with a hollow echo. Yeon-woo slammed her face into a puddle of blood-mixed water on the ground. As if she wanted to wash herself clean, even in that filth.
"It would have been better to die. Like Min-seok, like Mr. Chul-soo... I should have just died there. Instead of surviving with a monster like you!"
Suddenly, Yeon-woo snatched a fallen bayonet from the ground and pressed it against her own throat. Her pupils were dilated, staring vacantly into the void. Her innocence, that beautiful soul of hers, was being chewed up and pulverized in the maw of this war.
"Put it down, Yeon-woo. Please..."
For the first time, my voice faltered. My hands, which hadn't shaken even when I was slitting an enemy's throat, were now trembling violently as I reached out to her. But Yeon-woo only gave a sickly smile and pressed the blade deeper. A thin line of fresh blood began to trickle down her neck.