He sat on the ground, his clothes dirty, his face smudged with ash, and the tears had long since dried on his cheeks.
He didn't speak. He didn't lift his head. He just sat there, motionless.
Around him… people began to emerge from their hiding places from behind rocks, from the edges of the forest.
The survivors.
They stood at a distance, looking at him, whispering.
Their whispers were faint, yet they reached him.
As if they pierced his ears and settled deep in his heart.
"He's the only one who survived from his family…"
"He couldn't save a single person."
"He was running through the forest… while his parents were burning."
"Even his little sister… she burned alone."
Min Jun didn't respond.
He didn't say a single word.
But he heard everything.
Every word.
Every sentence.
Every accusation.
His body was still… but his eyes were open in silence.
No tears now. Only emptiness.
He didn't ask for pity. He wasn't waiting to be defended.
But their cruelty… was more than he could bear.
He remained seated there, in the middle of the scorched earth,
surrounded by the remains of homes, by people's gazes and their words,
as if they were talking about some stranger…
not him.
And in his heart, there was only one question:
"Was I weak? Or was this my fate?"
Min Jun sat on the ground, his hands clasped over his knees, his face buried in the ashes of the past days.
Around him, people whispered words that stung like fire.
A long silence, then he bit down hard on his lips, until the silence in his heart turned to flame.
He slowly lifted his head and looked at those around him with eyes that could no longer hide the pain.
He tried to speak, to respond, to defend himself.
But the words were heavy on his tongue, as if trapped in his throat.
He took a step forward and raised his voice:
"I… didn't choose this fate! I was running because I was trying to save them…"
Before he could finish his words, a woman stepped out from the crowd.
She approached quickly and shoved Min Jun back forcefully.
She stared at him with sharp eyes and said harshly:
"Stay away from me, monster of fate!"
The crowd gathered around him, echoing the words like a curse:
"Monster of fate…"
Min Jun felt numbness spread through his body,
as if their words were killing a piece of him each time.
He stepped back, standing there shattered, torn between his own guilt and their mercilessness.
After the woman pushed him, the whispers turned into loud voices, rising like a storm.
"You're the reason for all this!"
"You brought destruction to our village!"
"If you hadn't left your house, none of this would've happened!"
The looks on their faces changed from pity to anger.
The crowd surrounded him, yelling and scolding him without mercy.
"Get out of here! We don't want to see you again!"
"You're cursed! Leave!"
Min Jun tried to explain, to speak… but their voices drowned him out.
"Leave now before we make you!"
They started throwing small stones at first, then more.
One hit him hard in the head.
A sharp pain pierced his skin.
He began to bleed.
He stumbled back against a burnt wall, his head dripping with blood.
Blood covered his face, and his tears mixed with it.
The crowd's screaming didn't stop.
"This is what he deserves! This is the price!"
He was forced to stand up, staggering, pushed to leave the village.
His exhausted steps crossed its borders, behind him the sounds of fury and curses.
He left his home, his family, and all his memories in flames,
alone in a world that showed no mercy.
After being cast out, Min Jun began running away from the village,
his steps quick but clumsy, unable to make sense of what was happening.
A voice echoed in his mind, whispering:
"Yes… it's happening again."
He remembered his childhood,
playing with his friends in the fields.
"One day, a monster came…"
"Swallowed them all."
He clutched his chest, as if an old pain had returned to life.
He remembered another day,
playing with a little girl, who laughed so brightly.
"A bandit killed her… in the blink of an eye."
He sighed and kept running.
"Why is all this happening to me? Why does pain chase me?"
The sky above him was dark, the wind whispering ancient tales,
and he ran fleeing from the past, from fate… from himself.
The sun began to set.
The sky turned red, the light fading slowly.
Min Jun ran beyond the village, behind him the people's voices followed.
"Get out, cursed monster!"
"Don't come back! We don't want you here!"
But he didn't look back.
His face was soaked in blood, his eyes blind to everything.
He squeezed them shut, as if trying to shut out the entire world.
He ran without direction, without purpose.
He just ran.
He reached the edge of the forest.
The trees were tall, shadows stretching everywhere.
But he didn't stop.
He ran into the forest,
not looking around, not knowing the path, not knowing what awaited him.
"Where do I go?"
"Who can I turn to?"
"Why do all the people I love… die?"
He stumbled, but he didn't stop.
His voice was broken inside him,
but his legs still carried him forward.
Away from the people.
From their words.
From the village.
From the memories.
And from himself.
Night fell.
The trees turned black, and the air grew heavier.
Min Jun ran… then stopped suddenly.
In front of him, a dark cave.
Wide open, like a silent mouth waiting.
He stepped toward it slowly, his breathing heavy, his wound still bleeding.
He entered the cave without thinking.
He hadn't planned anything he just needed a place to hide from everything.
He sat near the inner wall, pulled his knees to his chest,
and remained silent.
From afar… he heard sounds.
A wolf's howl.
Soft footsteps among the trees.
Faint screams unclear if they were human… or not.
He knew.
This forest was known.
People always said wolves and goblins came out at night,
and that anyone who entered… never returned.
He whispered to himself in a low voice:
"I just hope… the wolves don't see me."
"I just don't want to be eaten alive…"
Then he went quiet.
He stayed there, unmoving.
He didn't know if he'd live to see morning,
but he simply didn't care anymore.
In the night… everything was silent.
Min Jun sat inside the cave, watching the darkness around him.
He didn't sleep. He didn't move much… just kept staring toward the cave's entrance.
Then… he heard it.
A wolf's howl.
From far away… but getting closer.
Then the sound of rustling…
Something moving through the trees, walking slowly, then stopping.
Min Jun didn't breathe.
He kept watching… then squeezed his eyes shut.
His heart pounded violently, but he didn't scream, didn't run.
"Don't see me… please, don't see me."
He stayed like that until exhaustion overtook him… and he fell asleep.
…
At dawn, on the edge of the forest near the burned village…
Two figures appeared, walking along an old dirt path.
The first… an old man, wearing a dark mage's cloak.
He wore a tall hat, his hair black,
but his beard mostly gray.
His eyes were black, his gaze sharp.
Wrinkles lined his face, but he walked with steady steps.
Beside him, a young woman in her early twenties.
Her hair was long and black, her skin pale,
and her eyes green filled with intelligence and calm.
She wore the uniform of a witch, bearing the emblem of a well-known magic academy.
She looked around with her green eyes.
At the ash, the charred wood, the collapsed homes, the marks of the fire that consumed everything.
She spoke in a low voice, wrapping her cloak around herself:
"It looks like… everything burned."
The old man stepped closer, his eyes scanning the destruction.
He slowly nodded, then said:
"Yes…"
He paused for a moment, then added:
"Let's just hope… there are survivors."