A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 54: Meeting The Family

The meeting room was a wrecked office with plastic sheets stretched across the broken ceiling, and stale heat filled the space. Four people leaned over stacked crates and ration sheets, staring at numbers none of them wanted to read out loud.

"We’re running dry," the man at the head said, tapping a clipboard full of crossed-out names. "Water is down to two liters per tent, and medical stock is gone."

"How gone?" the woman across from him asked, already sounding tired.

"Fully gone," he said, flipping one page and pressing it flat with his thumb. "The inner circle took the last batch last week, so the outer tents have been getting nothing."

No one argued, because this wasn’t new and all of them had accepted it days ago. The bearded man scratched his jaw, then leaned in and pointed at the lower half of the list.

"What about overflow? We still have thirty-something unassigned."

"Thirty-eight," the man with the clipboard corrected, frowning at the column. "Most are elderly or sick, not awakened, and not useful for labor."

"Then we cut them off," the bearded man said in a flat voice.

The woman clicked her tongue and folded her arms. "Cut them off how? We already reduced outer-tent food twice a week."

"Move them south," he replied, sliding the paper toward her. "Let the other overflow shelters take them."

"They won’t survive the trip."

"Then that’s not our problem."

Silence settled over the table while the man at the head kept tapping his pen against the clipboard.

After a bit, he finally stopped and rubbed his temple.

"If we had resources, we’d keep them, food, medicine, anything. We don’t, so something has to give."

The woman leaned back and rubbed her eyes before asking the question she already knew the answer to.

"Any update on guild shipments?"

"Denied," he said flatly. "All of them said their priority is their own hunters."

’Useless,’ she thought, her jaw tightening. ’They have power and still do nothing.’

A knock came from the door.

Somewhere else, Shu stood outside a building with his arms crossed while Nari held his hand beside him, and the corridor around them was barely holding together. Cracked concrete, water stains, and dust covered every wall.

’How long is this taking?’ he thought, scanning both ends of the hall. ’I don’t have all day.’

Nari leaned against his leg and looked toward a woman down the corridor rocking a baby wrapped in dirty cloth, then tugged his sleeve when she realized she had been staring too long.

"Mister Shu," she whispered.

"Don’t stare, some people see that as rude," he said quietly.

She lowered her eyes to her shoes and stayed close.

A minute later, the door opened and Jin stepped out, still tense but calmer than before. He looked from Shu to Nari, then stepped aside and nodded.

"They said you can come in now."

He led them inside, and the room was smaller than Shu expected, with one table, three old chairs, and a thin mattress pushed against the wall.

The air smelled like herbs, probably because that was the only thing keeping them alive.

A woman sat at the table with both hands wrapped around a cup, but her shoulders kept swaying a little even when she tried to sit straight. Shu watched her for one second, then his brows pulled together.

’Why is she here in this condition?’ he thought, stepping in quietly. ’Did she force herself to sit at the table just to greet us?’

Another girl sat beside her, and she looked younger than Jin by a lot. Her long hair fell over her shoulders in messy waves, with streaks of cyan and pink mixed through it, and she wore an oversized shirt with loose shorts.

Her eyes were swollen from crying and lack of sleep, and she looked like she was using the table edge just to stay upright, even breathing seemed to take effort.

Nari stopped near Shu’s side and held his sleeve, then looked at the girl and lowered her gaze. She didn’t say anything, but Shu could feel her fingers tighten.

Jin stepped forward first and spoke softly, trying to sound calm even while his voice shook a little.

"Mom, Sua, I brought them."

The woman looked up at him and tried to smile, though the movement made her wobble again. She reached for the table to steady herself before her eyes shifted toward Shu and Nari.

"These are the people I told you about," Jin said, turning toward them. "Mom, this is Shu, and this little one is Nari."

Shu gave a small nod first, then bowed from the waist with clear respect before speaking, "good afternoon, ma’am," he said in a steady voice. "Thank you for letting us in."

The woman gave him a weak smile and nodded back, then looked at Nari with softer eyes.

"She’s very cute," she said, voice thin but warm. "Such a sweet little girl."

Nari held Shu’s sleeve tighter and hid half behind him, while he glanced down at her and then back at the woman.

"Yeah," he said with a small nod. "She is."

He shifted his gaze to the girl beside her and kept his tone gentle, "hi, Sua."

She didn’t answer.

Her swollen eyes stayed on the table, her fingers gripping the edge, and even when he waited a second, she still said nothing.

Jin’s face tightened a little before he leaned toward her, "Sua, this is the man I told you about," he said softly. "He came to help us, so don’t be rude."

Shu raised one hand and stopped him before he could push more, "it’s fine," he said. "Don’t force her, trusting a random stranger is not easy."

Jin looked at him, gave a small nod and stepped back. Shu looked at the table, then at the empty chair beside it.

"Can I sit down?" he asked.

"Of course," the woman said at once, adjusting herself as if she wanted to sit straighter.

He pulled the chair out quietly and sat, placing the bat near his leg where it wouldn’t scare them more than necessary. His eyes moved to the mother’s hands first, then to her face, then to the slight sway in her shoulders.

"Ma’am," he said, voice calm. "What’s wrong with you?"

The woman tried to answer right away, but a dry cough cut her off and made her shoulder dip harder. She pressed one hand to her chest and waited for it to pass, then looked embarrassed for even taking that long.

"I’m fine," she said, forcing a small smile that didn’t convince anyone. "Just weak these days."

He didn’t react to the smile, because her fingers were shaking around the cup and her breathing kept missing rhythm. He leaned forward a little and kept his tone respectful.

"No offense, ma’am, but that doesn’t look fine," he said, keeping his voice even. "Jin told me about your cancer, so don’t downplay it for my sake, tell me honestly how bad it is right now."

Her eyes shifted to Jin, then she lowered her gaze to the table and answered after a slow breath. "It was manageable before all this, I had regular checkups and medicine, but once hospitals collapsed and supply lines died, everything started getting worse little by little."

"These days, if I stand for two minutes my head starts spinning, my chest burns when I breathe too hard, and some mornings I can’t even walk to the wash area without sitting down twice," she continued, forcing herself to stay straight while saying it.

Jin looked away with his jaw locked, and Sua stayed silent beside her with both hands gripping the table edge until her knuckles went pale. Shu didn’t interrupt, though his eyes had already moved back to the girl.

’Damn,’ he thought, watching both of them. ’One family, two critical cases, and they still had to keep moving through this camp.’

He tapped one finger on his knee and shifted the focus. "How long has Sua been like this, and don’t shorten it, I need the full timeline."

Jin answered first, voice tight but steadier than before. "It got worse over the last month, then this week it started escalating hard, and yesterday she had two seizures, one in the morning and one at night."

The mother closed her eyes for a second, then added what he clearly didn’t want to say out loud. "The second one almost took her," she said, voice shaking as she pressed a hand to her chest. "She went still in my arms and I thought my daughter was gone, then she pulled one breath and came back to me."

Nari’s grip tightened on Shu’s sleeve, and he tapped her hand once without looking so she knew he noticed. He then looked at Sua and softened his tone.

"Sua, can you look at me for a second, I need to ask you directly because your body’s the one giving us the real answers."

She hesitated, lifted her eyes halfway, then dropped them again while her shoulders swayed. The movement alone told him how weak she was. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Before the seizures hit, do your bones hurt and your back tighten up, then your head gets hot while your hands go cold?" he asked, leaning in just a little. "Do you also hear ringing right before everything starts shaking?"

Her lips parted, and she gave a weak nod before forcing the words out.

"I see," he rubbed his chin and looked back at the mother, "do you both want me to help you out?"