By Zephyria 
Dong-ja continued to gulp down the freshly served rice. Ho-eun could not take his eyes off her. No matter how long she had gone without eating, how could all that food possibly fit in her stomach? Dong-ja was not small in stature, but there had to be a limit to how much one could eat…
As Ho-eun watched Dong-ja like a scholar studying a specimen, Dong-ja chuckled and asked.
“What. Do I look like a pig?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked if I look like a pig. You’re wondering if I’m a human or a pig because I’m stuffing my face so much, right?”
At those words, Ho-eun’s eyes widened as if they might pop out. He quickly shook his head back and forth. He shook it so vigorously that his braided hair fluttered in the air.
“No, not at all. I only thought it was wonderful to see you eating so well. Was I staring too intently? If it made you uncomfortable, I shall leave.”
Ho-eun turned his body toward the edge of the wooden platform as if to vanish immediately. Then, Dong-ja pressed down on Ho-eun’s shoulder, saying, “Fine, fine. Sit.” The force was so strong that Ho-eun nearly got pinned to the platform.
Unable to bring himself to touch his throbbing shoulder, he merely shifted his body slightly. Dong-ja sucked on her spoon and then said something strange.
“Actually, I’m not eating because I’m hungry.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, it’s not that I’m hungry, but I have to eat it, or else I can’t.”
“…Excuse me?”
“If I don’t eat to overflowing, my stomach feels, like, empty and, uh, you know.”
“….”
Ho-eun tilted his head, unable to understand what she meant. He wondered if, just as Tae-muk gained pain by using his power, Dong-ja gained hunger by using hers. Then, she spoke again.
“I guess it’s because my mother and father always said eating a lot of rice is the best thing.”
At that, Ho-eun nodded with a smile, as if he finally understood.
“Ah, indeed. That is a very reasonable point. One must eat plenty of rice. Especially for someone who uses their strength like Dong-ja Noonim, ten bowls wouldn’t even be enough. Your parents would be glad to see you eating so well.”
Ho-eun spoke with his characteristic bright expression. The heart of parents worrying about their child’s meals was nothing short of beautiful. However, Dong-ja’s eyes dimmed.
“…Would they?”
“Of course. So please do not skip any meals in the future. If you starve, wouldn’t your parents be worried?”
Unaware of the sunken look in Dong-ja’s eyes, Ho-eun continued to speak in a clear voice. But Dong-ja began to mutter, scattering the rice with the tip of her spoon.
“You know, Young Master.”
“Yes, Noonim.”
“My mother and father starved to death.”
“…Pardon?”
At the sudden revelation, Ho-eun’s pupils shook violently. Starved to death. It was shocking. It wasn’t the fact that her parents had died that was surprising, but that they had died of ‘starvation.’ There were countless stories of parents passing away here—that is, in the Crimson Rain Brigade—but this was the first time he had heard of anyone starving to death.
In an instant, the image of Dong-ja being exceptionally sensitive about meals flashed before his eyes. He had thought she simply loved eating. To think there was such a heartbreaking story related to food.
Swallowing hard, Ho-eun asked cautiously.
“Was it… because of the Devouring Ghouls?”
“Should I say it was because of the Eater Bugs? Hmm… well, I guess you could say that.”
It was an ambiguous answer. If it was because of the Devouring Ghouls, she should have just said so; what did it mean to say “you could say that”? As Ho-eun tilted his head in complete confusion, Dong-ja pulled herself closer to the dining table. She leaned her upper body forward and whispered secretly.
“When I was young, Japanese devils invaded the town where I lived.”
“…Not Devouring Ghouls, but Japanese devils?”
Japanese devils all of a sudden? In another wave of bewilderment, Ho-eun tilted his head to the opposite side.
“Yeah. Japan collapsed, right?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“But just because the country collapsed doesn’t mean everyone living there died.”
“Ah….”
“So, many surviving Japanese devils crossed over into our country. It’s a short trip by boat.”
“I see.”
Ho-eun nodded slightly in understanding. The fall of Japan and the remaining Japanese people. It was a fact so far removed from his own life that it felt surreal and foreign.
“Usually, they came in through the coast far down south. Places like Yeosu or Busan. Ah, I didn’t know this myself, but Gil-sang told me.”
“Yes. Since the Lieutenant is from Busan, he would know well.”
“Yeah. It makes sense since that area is close to Japan. When you’re running away from Eater Bugs, where would you have the leisure to go far?”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“But occasionally, some bastards entered through a completely different sea and lived hidden in the mountains. Usually, it was the soldiers.”
“Soldiers…?”
“Yeah. Those bastards couldn’t accept that their country had fallen. Even while fleeing, they did so many terrible things that our people hated them immensely. Ah, the old man told me this part.”
“….”
“Anyway, one of those fleeing units came to the town where I lived.”
“So, did you let them in?”
“Fuck no, do you think we let them in? Those bastards invaded.”
Dong-ja snapped, stabbing the air with her spoon.
“They invaded?”
“Yeah. Those bastards took over our town.”
“Took over, meaning…”
Ho-eun trailed off. He couldn’t understand. Taking over a town made no sense. This place—the place where Dong-ja had lived—was clearly territory of the Korean Empire, so how could people from another country ‘take it over’ and live there?
It was impossible, and it should never have happened. No matter how much they had lost their own country, how could they commit such beastly acts?
“Those bastards insisted the town was theirs, just as they pleased.”
“….”
Ho-eun frowned deeply. He knew that Japan had coveted their country for a long time; he had studied history. But to think such a thing had happened recently. If Japan had not collapsed, that tyranny might have continued until now.
As Ho-eun clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white from surging anger and humiliation—
“Those bastards were just like… Devouring Ghouls.”
For the first time in a while, Dong-ja didn’t call them Eater Bugs and used the proper term. Her expression was firmer and more rigid than ever before.
“They didn’t actually tear off flesh or suck blood, but they devoured us in other ways.”
“….”
“As soon as they arrived, they killed every God of War in sight, forbade us from leaving the town, and if someone tried to escape, they killed that person and their entire family. They stole our houses, took everything we grew on our own land, gave us nothing to eat, and beat us whenever they felt like it…”
Dong-ja’s eyes clouded and distorted repeatedly as she recalled the distant past. Ho-eun’s expression distorted in sympathy.
“Then, perhaps your parents, because of those Japanese devils…”
“Yeah. That’s right. Those bastards gave us a tiny amount of food, like a rat’s dropping, but my parents gave all of it to me. They said when I was little, I’d get sickly if I didn’t eat properly.”
“….”
Ho-eun felt his breath hitch. He didn’t know what to say. This was the several-th time he had heard of another’s misfortune, yet he still found it hard to adjust. No, it seemed to be getting harder. As Ho-eun sat there gloomily with his eyes cast down, unable to do anything, Dong-ja laughed heartily and comforted him instead.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s all in the past. Now I can’t even remember my parents’ faces.”
“Still…”
Their deaths must still be etched in her heart. While Ho-eun let out a deep sigh, Dong-ja began gulping down her rice again, as if she had never been depressed. Watching her, Ho-eun leaned toward the table and asked.
“Then, how did you drive the Japanese devils out? Is that when you became a God of War of that rank, Noonim?”
“No. The Eater Bugs did.”
“Pardon?”
“The Eater Bugs ate them all up.”
“Wh-what?”
At Ho-eun’s shocked reaction, Dong-ja picked a grain of rice off the side of her spoon with her front teeth and said.
“Those bastards stayed in our town for, hmm, let’s see… how many years… maybe about three or four years. Then, the Eater Bugs invaded.”
“How?”
“They had been throwing the corpses of the people they killed outside the town haphazardly. I think they followed the scent.”
“But then, wouldn’t the people living in the town have suffered the same fate? Devouring Ghouls don’t exactly pick and choose who they eat…”
“Not many of us died. It was ‘our’ town. ‘Our’ town. I could navigate it with my eyes closed; do you think we wouldn’t know where to hide? We went there and hid.”
“Ah…”
Ho-eun slumped his shoulders in relief. He brushed his palm down his chest. Only the wicked ones died. It was truly poetic justice. Why on earth do people invade others’ lands… As Ho-eun subtly wrinkled and then smoothed his nose, Dong-ja rested her elbow on the table and let out a long sigh.
“So the Japanese devils all died, but the state of the town was… a mess. The Japanese had ransacked everything, many people were dead, and the walls had collapsed because of the Eater Bugs…”
“….”
“It didn’t seem like we could keep living there. So, before the Eater Bugs came back, we hurriedly packed our things and went to another town.”
“To another town? Didn’t you say the Japanese devils killed all the Gods of War? Then you mean ordinary people left the town on their own? That must have been dangerous…”
“Right. We hadn’t even gone two days before we ran into Eater Bugs again.”
“My goodness…”
How could the heavens be so cruel. Ho-eun’s eyes drooped in dismay at such a disaster. Then, his lips parted to speak.
“Then, was that when you became a God of War—”
“That’s when I met the Captain,” Dong-ja said at the same time.