Chapter 67 – Shot

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone

Being part of the offense was only half as dangerous as it sounded. It's not like they knew how many Chinese soldiers had broken through until they noticed the hole in their defense – how did that hole even occur in the first place? I got on the van for my group, Minhyuk and Changkyun following in another vehicle shortly behind, and we drove towards our assigned area. The closest we could be to where the brothel was located, not even ten minutes away.

I looked at the gun in my lap for a while, then our short ride was already over and we were ushered out of the van. I had no experience in this field, it was my first time being an obvious fighter at the front. I preferred staying hidden until I could attack but it wasn't possible here with my white uniform shining between ruins and dust. I took a look around before turning towards another soldier. “Where's group seven's van?”

“They stopped a couple streets earlier, they'll cover the area we already passed by while we go for everything lying beyond this crossroad.” He cocked his head to the side with a frown. “Your first time in the field?”

I swallowed and managed to form a slight smile. “You could say that, yes. Anything I need to look out for?”

“Wow, you're a complete newbie, aren't you?”, the guy snorted in disbelief and my forced smile turned into an amused one. “You just go there, take your earpiece with you. If you find anything or anybody, report. Civilians are to be brought to the van. Shoot if it's a Chinese. You know what their uniforms look like, right?”

Oh, he had no idea. “Yeah, I do. Thanks!”, I grinned, putting said earpiece in and walking into the direction he had pointed out. Luckily, it was exactly where I had wanted to go anyway. Just one street further and I'd be at the brothel. I could hear the guy mutter a quiet 'look at him smiling as he goes' and looked back, searching the street for other cars but there only was that of my group in sight.

I'll go ahead, Minhyuk, I sent a silent message as I kept going. He must have been scared, but I trusted Changkyun that he'd make sure Minhyuk stayed sane. It wasn't all that probable that there was a person from China over here but you could never be careful enough so I decided to hurry. If Wonho isn't here now I'm going to kill him once I see him again.

A few minutes of walking and my earpiece crackled to life with the first reports. Everything was clean, nobody found any other person and I sent my 'all clear' into the bunch just before I lay eye upon the big old house. It was fine. There was no extreme damage in this area anyway so it wasn't a big surprise but literally everything down to the last window was completely fine. I took another look around before breathing in, holding my breath for longer than necessary and then going in.

It was dark. The smell was somewhat disgusting. The walls were of a red color, the wooden counter left without anyone standing behind it anymore. I let my hand over the rough and dull material absentmindedly taking in the atmosphere. It was so quiet in that big house. My own steps echoed through the hallway, echoing on and on even after I had stopped for a moment. Wait, that's not normal. I listened more closely. Footsteps. Urgent and heavy followed by light and stumbling. My heart started beating when I paced up the dark stairs – all electricity must have been cut off.

First floor? No. Second floor? I halted again, hearing hushed voices. Bingo. I walked slowly, as slow and quiet as I could, until I was close to the door I had heard the voices in. “...not going to leave you here.” Definitely Wonho's voice. A woman talked back, her voice sounding rather mature. Was this the girl? It couldn't be.

“Everybody is long gone, I don't have anyone waiting for me. Just take her, I can't take care of her. If they find out what I've-”

I stepped on a squeaking deck board that had them stop right away followed by quick retreating steps but I hurried to clear my throat and raise my voice. “Wonho?”

“Wonho? Who is Won-”

“Shh”, Wonho interrupted the woman with a hiss and I pressed my lips together. So this was a brothel? Wow, the walls were thin. Made me wonder what it must have sounded like from the outside back when the general- stop. This was no time to be thinking about this. “Wonho, it's me, Hyungwon. You in there?”

Another short pause before the doorknob was turned and the door opened slowly to reveal a confused Wonho. “It's really you.”

“Surprised?”

“A-actually, yes.” He examined my white uniform. “How did you-”

“Not important.” I managed to smirk for a second before turning serious again. “I heard someone else, who's in there? I'm ordered to bring all civilians to the van so that they can be driven to the base without problems.” Wonho glanced into the room, finally opening the door completely and I stepped forward to meet gazes with a woman in her mid-twenties, her hair was dyed a bright orange color that fell over her shoulders like fire. “Hello, Miss...?”

“Kim.”

Wow. Harsh. “Okay, pleasure. I'm Chae Hyungwon, a friend of Wo- Hoseok?”, I corrected myself with a questioning glance at Wonho who nodded just enough for me to notice. “Let's go to the van. I guarantee you'll be safe. Safer than here for sure.”

Wonho shot her another look, that cheesy smile on his face that probably worked on every woman alive. “Look, everything's gonna be fine. Let's go.”

Miss Kim just chewed on her bottom lip lowering her eyes to the ground. “But what-”

“Don't worry about a thing. Everybody will start anew once they're out of here. I promise.”

She nodded again and I resisted the urge to frown at the two of them. Judging by the way her eyes were shaking as soon as she looked at me she must have been scared. But I didn't mean any harm?

I didn't get to think about it enough at that moment as Wonho caught my attention by walking up to a corner I hadn't paid any attention to yet, too focused on the unknown woman. “Little princess, have you finished packing your stuff?”

It was only then that I saw the little girl crouching in the corner with huge eyes, a backpack pressed to her chest as she stared at me in fear. Everybody here seemed to be scared. Traumatized. Same. So it was her; the little girl. Then who- I shook my head to stop thinking about the weird woman and crouched down with a friendly smile to reach out for the girl.

“Hi. I'm Hyungwon. You want to get out of here?” She glanced at Wonho who just blinked and she clawed at his shirt, hiding behind him as if he were her shield. Maybe he was. I nodded to myself in understanding. “I was the same four years ago. It's okay if you don't want to talk but let's get out of here. You've been waiting for Hoseok to come for such a long time, huh?”

She didn't give me any kind of reaction but her eyes had an interested glint to them that had me sigh in something like relief. She hadn't lost all of her childhood yet. She could get better. Someday. And she had Wonho, he would give his everything to make her heal again, so I didn't worry too much and made my way down the stairs. It was then that I noticed how the weird smell intensified when getting closer to the counter and I let my hand wander across the surface again, fingernails getting stuck on the rough texture. It looked as though the once even counter had gotten dirty. I scratched at it, took another breath and then finally registered what it was.

Dried blood. Dried blood and the smell of it. It wasn't as intense as that of a body but it was there, how come I hadn't noticed earlier? I looked at the crumbs in my hand in semi-concealed shock and the young lady that was just coming down the stairs stopped with her eyes widening, putting her hands behind her back as if she had something to hide. I glanced at the dried blood again but Wonho was quick to make an appearance, holding the hand of the girl and grabbing my shoulder with his free hand.

“You didn't see anything, okay? No matter what you're thinking, forget about it. I don't know anything in particular either.”

I clenched my hands into fists before burying them in my uniform's pockets with a shrug and a raised brow. “You know, nobody asks for the cause of a single death in war. It's dead or alive.”

“But for good measure you definitely don't know who did it, got it?”

Another look at the woman with shaking hands and anxious eyes had me snort. Why were these people so relatable? It hurt. “Don't know what you mean, I never saw anything? You coming or what?” I turned around and left the building with shivers running down my spine. “What's with...the other women?”

“All left long ago”, Wonho explained, heaving the little girl on his back when she had difficulties with keeping up with our fast pace. “But explain, how are you here? Disobeyed your orders?”

“Very funny. Other than you, I'm always sticking to the rules”, I snapped. “Because of you, Changkyun, Minhyuk and I-”

“Minhyuk? Changkyun? You mean they're all here? Where-”

“Like I said it's because of you, you damn blockhead!”, I shot back