Mingu walked forward without stopping. He continued to tread across the seemingly endless, vast field. Dry, brown grass bleakly covered the expansive nd. Low-hanging clouds in the gray sky exuded a somber aura.With each step, Mingu felt a profound sense of isotion, as if cut off from the world. There was no movement, no sound around him. Only the heavy thud of Mingu's footsteps echoed across the desote field. In this barren ndscape, Mingu had no idea where he was heading. Only the instinct to keep moving forward in one direction ceaselessly guided his steps.The fog grew thicker, obscuring Mingu's vision. The sound of a strong wind harshly rustling through the dry grass brushed past his ears. Mingu continued to move his feet relentlessly. Eventually, in the direction he was heading, roughly constructed shacks that looked as if they would colpse at any moment began to appear intermittently within the desote scenery.Walking carefully along the edge of the vilge, Mingu suddenly stopped, sensing a subtle presence behind him. He cautiously turned around, and his eyes fell upon a gaunt little boy. The child's thin limbs, contrasting with his bloated belly due to malnutrition, starkly revealed his pitiful condition. The boy looked up at Mingu with hollow eyes, a mixture of wariness and curiosity in his gaze."Hello, little one?"Mingu spoke in the gentlest voice he could muster, but the boy, of course, did not understand. Instead, Mingu offered a warm smile. The boy, looking awkward, scratched his belly and grinned, revealing his white teeth. The smile was as pure and bright as a small yellow flower blooming in the middle of the dry prairie.The boy turned away from Mingu and waddled off. Watching the boy's retreating figure, Mingu couldn't help but be astonished. The boy's gait was severely unsteady, and horrifying bruises were clearly visible all over his thin body. Filled with worry for the boy, Mingu decided to watch him from a distance.His unease was justified. Not long after heading home, the boy was surrounded by other vilge children. The boy desperately tried to escape the group, but the other children did not easily let him go. Instead, they roughly pushed the boy over. The children surrounding the fallen boy began to kick him mercilessly. The boy writhed in pain, groaning, but his resistance grew weaker with each passing moment. Finally, when the boy stopped moving altogether, the children left, wearing smug expressions.Once the children were completely out of sight, Mingu rushed to the boy. But the boy y limp, foam at his mouth, and was not breathing. In this desperate situation, Mingu tried to hold onto a st glimmer of hope and carefully lifted the boy. With a fervent heart, he began to heal the child. A moment ter, miraculously, the boy started gasping for breath with a rough cough. Mingu breathed a sigh of relief, clutching his chest. The boy, as if the earlier agony had never happened, walked towards his house with light steps. It was a peaceful departure, as if nothing had occurred.Mingu followed the boy to his house. Inside the old, dipidated shack lived two other emaciated children and a frail old woman besides the boy. The weakened old woman was in very poor condition, lying down and unable to move. She looked as if she might breathe her st at any moment. Feeling pity, Mingu approached the old woman and bestowed his healing power upon her. The old woman suddenly sat up and embraced the children, tears of emotion streaming down her face. Watching the happy family, Mingu smiled warmly and quietly left the house.For several days, Mingu wandered around the area. Noticing an ominous atmosphere emanating from afar, he returned to the boy's house. The area around the boy's house was filled with vilgers wearing grim expressions, and they held rge stones in their hands. A man at the forefront, seemingly rallying the crowd, shouted something fiercely, and the people all at once began throwing stones at the boy's house. The old shack could not withstand the merciless barrage of stones and colpsed helplessly. Screams and cries erupted from inside, but the people did not stop throwing stones. Finally, when the screams subsided, the people turned away with satisfied expressions, their eyes intoxicated with a cruel victory, like predators after a hunt.Mingu waited until the crowd had completely dispersed before rushing to the colpsed shack. Pushing through the scattered debris, he saw the bodies of the children and the old woman, crushed under the pile of stones. All four were still breathing, but their eyes were already unfocused, rolled back white, barely clinging to the fading embers of life. Mingu realized he was facing a hopeless reality. Even with his abilities, he could not save them all. Perhaps he could only save one person, a single life.Mingu coldly analyzed the situation. Who should he save? The old woman, rich in survival skills and experience but with little time left to live? Or one of the children, who had many years ahead of them but no immediate survival skills? In the current situation, saving the old woman seemed the most feasible. However, it was questionable whether anyone he saved could survive the vilgers' attacks.Darkness fell heavily, enveloping the vilge. The cold night air brushed against Mingu's cheek, further weighing down his heavy heart. With each step Mingu took, he felt a dull ache in his chest, as if a heavy stone was lodged there. He could no longer stay at this cruel scene.Where Mingu had stood, four small piles of stones y side by side. There was no name, no trace on the dust-covered graves. As if they had never existed in the world, their presence had been erased. Each gust of wind stirred up the dust, and the desote scene pained Mingu's heart even more.Loneliness and helplessness engulfed Mingu's entire being. He could do nothing. He had the power to heal everyone, but this time he couldn't save even a single life. He knew all too well that whoever he saved, their life afterward would be hell. The cruelty of the vilgers had left a deep wound in Mingu's heart. He felt as though he would never be able to forget this terrible memory.Mingu walked on silently. The vilge in the darkness behind him, like a gray tomb, was shrouded in silence. The silence was still, yet it felt like a violent scream.