Codename Vestia

Chapter 9: Joonie

The humans Gamal had met so far never looked her straight in the eye like this. Even if they did, they were either scared or uncomfortable.

To humans, she was one of two things:

A god or a monster.

But to this man, she was…

Well, not quite a person, but more like a dog.

Doyeong would be surprised if he knew, but Gamal was unexpectedly sharp.

“Are you done?”

Doyeong asked.

“Yes.”

Gamal tied the final knot and reached out her hand to help Doyeong up. Already becoming quite accustomed to this, Doyeong took her hand and stood up.

However, the surface of the rock he was standing on was uneven, causing him to wobble slightly. Gamal quickly steadied him. In doing so, Gamal’s shoulder and Doyeong’s armpit fit together like interlocking ridges.

Their eyes met at the sudden close distance.

Gamal’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Doyeong lifted his arm off Gamal’s shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

He had to remind himself. This was a survival situation, not a romantic comic.

***

When he woke up in the morning, he found himself once again pressed up against Gamal’s back. Doyeong looked at Gamal.

‘Why does she have to look like this, making people all confused?’

Statistically, those with good physical conditions had a higher chance of surviving the infection and becoming Luas, so many Luas were considered attractive. Even among them, Gamal would rank in the top 1%.

If she lived outside, she might have had a harem. Even if she didn’t want it, men wouldn’t have been able to leave her alone.

Gamal slowly opened her eyes. Her eyelashes lifted, revealing her red eyes, and the sight felt almost miraculous.

Gamal just stared at Doyeong without saying anything. The two of them silently looked at each other. The light streaming through the gaps between the trees shimmered across them.

And faintly, the sound of waves could be heard.

The sound of waves rolling in and out felt as if it was making the blood in their bodies ripple.

“Major….”

Gamal spoke in a low, husky voice. And with that same voice, which sent a faint chill down his spine, she asked,

“Are you hungry?”

***

While watching Gamal organize the earthenware, Doyeong asked something he had been curious about for a while.

“Who taught you French?”

She could handle basic communication, but sometimes she used words that sounded old-fashioned, like something out of a textbook, and her pronunciation was a bit off. It didn’t seem like she had learned from a native French speaker.

“Johannes.”

“Johannes?”

She said the name out of nowhere.

Gamal nodded.

“He washed ashore. His boat went *glug glug*.”

It seemed she meant that his boat had sunk, leading to him being shipwrecked. Doyeong asked,

“When?”

“A long time ago.”

“I mean, how long ago?”

Gamal stared blankly at Doyeong.

“No.” “Major, you ask a lot of questions.”

“Look, I ended up shipwrecked and drifted to this island.”

Technically, it was more like, “I jumped out of a plane and swam to this island,” but Gamal didn’t need to know that much detail.

“My family doesn’t know if I’m dead or alive, and I have no idea where I am. You should at least understand that I need to ask questions to figure out whether my situation is somewhere between ‘the worst’ and ‘manageable,’ right?”

Only then did Gamal reply, with a reluctant yet resigned tone.

“I don’t know exactly. I don’t keep track of dates. It’s been a very long time.”

If his name was Johannes…

“Was he German?”

“No, Dutch.”

Then he might have been with the Dutch East India Company on a voyage. That would mean it was no later than about two hundred years ago.

“Johannes knew a little French. He taught me.”

Then Gamal’s face brightened, as if she had suddenly thought of a good idea.

“Oh, I’m good at Dutch. Talked a lot with Johannes.”

“I don’t speak it.”

Doyeong, being of mixed French and Korean heritage, was proficient in his two native languages, French and Korean, and also had a decent grasp of English, intermediate-level Spanish, and basic Russian. But Dutch was beyond him.

If they had a translator, it would’ve been possible, but unfortunately, such conveniences from the civilized world were a luxury they couldn’t afford here.

It seemed she had learned her French from a foreigner long ago, which explained why her speech was so awkward.

At least his curiosity was satisfied. Doyeong moved on to his next question.

“What happened to Mr. Johannes?”

“He died.”

Doyeong hesitated. Gamal’s face looked so innocent, it was hard to believe she was sharing such a story.

“How?”

“He got old. Passed away in his sleep.”

It was almost amusing, but at that moment, Doyeong realized, once again, that this beautiful being before him was something other than himself, something like a stone—unchanged and unyielding to time.

Even after the shipwrecked human who had drifted here grew old and died, Gamal remained.

Doyeong couldn’t shake the inexplicable unease creeping down his spine, but he forced it away. He would find a way back, no matter what.

“Were there any others who drifted here?”

He needed to gather as much information as possible.

“That’s it.”

But then Gamal stood up, carrying a basket filled with earthenware. She didn’t seem interested in continuing the conversation. As she turned her back, Doyeong asked her directly.

“Have you ever thought about living outside?”

Gamal turned around, as if hearing the word for the first time.

“Outside?”

“Yeah. Outside the island.”

In truth, if Gamal helped him escape, leaving the island wouldn’t be a major issue even now. With the stamina and strength of a vampire, she could swim or build a raft—whatever it took, she could manage. But Gamal shook her head.

Doyeong held back the urge to demand, “Why on earth?” and instead asked calmly.

“Why?”

“I like it here.”

“There are things outside—there’s Flos, and plenty of things that make life easier. When you were born, it wasn’t the kind of era where people lived by firing pottery and cutting food with stone knives. Don’t you find it inconvenient to live like this?”

“I don’t.”

Gamal started to walk away again, but Doyeong didn’t give up.

“I don’t know when you last left this island, but even ten years would have made a huge difference. I promise you, it’s a completely different world now. Don’t you want to see it?”

Gamal turned back and spoke in a tone like a teenager annoyed by adults.

“Major, you’re annoying. I’m staying here.”

And then she really did walk away. Doyeong let out a sigh.

“That rock-headed girl. Why is it so hard to communicate with her?”

Gamal walked a few more steps before glancing back. Doyeong was still standing there, not moving, as if he had given up.

The shade of the trees stretched out at his feet. When he looked up at the treetops, the sunlight glinting beyond them made his eyes squint.

***

Night fell, but there was no sign of Gamal coming back in. Doyeong, after waiting for a while, looked outside. Gamal was sitting on the wooden steps at the entrance, looking very much like a runaway teenager. Doyeong asked,

“What are you doing out here?”

“Do you want to go outside, Major?”

But instead of answering, Gamal abruptly asked him.

“Home.”

Doyeong corrected what Gamal had said.

“I want to go back home.”

Gamal sat there, holding her knees, lost in thought. Doyeong felt a glimmer of hope. It seemed like the kind of moment when she might say, “Then let’s go see the outside.”

Gamal looked far off into the sky.

“I had a home, too. With Marti, and Tawa.”

He didn’t recognize the names, but he guessed from context that they probably meant her parents—mother and father.

“And Adawi.”

Gamal added.

“Adawi?”

It was an unfamiliar name, so Doyeong asked. Gamal answered calmly.

“I was married. To Adawi.”

Doyeong fell silent. Considering that child marriages were common in the past, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Gamal, back when she was human, had a husband, or even children. At twenty-five, she could have easily had three children by then.

Yet, for some reason, it felt like someone had punched him hard in the gut, and he couldn’t quite understand why.

*Rustle.*

At the sound, Gamal turned to see Doyeong sitting down beside her. He asked in a casual tone,

“Did you have kids, too?”

Gamal shook her head.

“Adawi died. On our wedding day.”

Doyeong furrowed his brow.

“How did that happen?”

“An accident.”

Gamal didn’t elaborate further and changed the topic.

“There were trees that bloomed in my hometown. A lot of them. I liked them because the fruit was tasty. I still remember.”

“What kind of trees were they?”

To keep the conversation going, Doyeong asked. But Gamal shook her head.

“They’re gone. I haven’t seen them anywhere for a long time.”

“You mean they’re extinct?”

“Extinct?”

“They’ve all disappeared.”

Gamal nodded.

“Yes, they’ve all disappeared.”

Even without human interference, the vast majority of species that once existed on Earth had vanished for various reasons—food shortages, climate changes, the emergence of predators, and so on. It was the natural order, an unstoppable flow.

So, the tree Gamal spoke of was simply another thing that followed the course of nature.

Yet, for some reason, her calm tone made it sound even sadder. Perhaps it was because, whether she liked it or not, Gamal had become a being that had escaped that natural order. Everything else was slowly disappearing, leaving only her behind.

“Not just the trees; I doubt there’s anything left in my hometown now.”

Suddenly, Gamal spoke in a grammatically perfect sentence.

“Marti, Tawa, even Adawi’s grave.”

A cold breeze blew, causing the strands of hair that had fallen across Gamal’s forehead to flutter, revealing her brow. It was bathed in a faint, ethereal light.

Doyeong asked quietly,

“So, that’s why you live alone here?”

“I…”

Gamal started to say something but swallowed her words, then spoke again.

“People came, from time to time. Their boats went *glug glug*.”

“Johannes?”

Doyeong was curious about what Gamal had left unsaid, but he refrained from asking further, worried that she might stop talking.

Gamal nodded.

“There were others before, too. Rodriguez sprained his ankle. We thought it was just a small wound, but it swelled up. He died a few days later. Bill also died because of an injury. I couldn’t save them.”

Even though she was a vampire, without medical knowledge, her ability to heal wounds was no different from a human’s. Judging by how she treated Doyeong’s injured leg, Gamal had a decent amount of medical knowledge, but it was still at the level of folk remedies.

“Mila couldn’t accept that she was here alone. She threw herself off a cliff when I looked away for just a moment.”

Gamal looked genuinely sad as she recounted this story.

“Soya…”

Gamal went on to talk about the people who had come to the island. More had drifted here than Doyeong expected, but those who made it to the island alive were only about ten or so. Or more precisely, those whom Gamal had encountered.

Perhaps people had drifted here even while Gamal was asleep. But during those times, she wasn’t there, and some, like Rodriguez or Bill, might have died from injuries, while others committed suicide. A lucky few might have been rescued.

However, this area was full of islands, making navigation difficult. Even with modern technology, flying over and scanning from above, it would still be hard to pick out a single specific island among so many. The likelihood of being rescued was low.

Thinking about it that way, this was a sad island.

“There’s a grave. Over there.”

Gamal pointed toward the mountain.

“I buried them all. I didn’t want to meet anyone else anymore.”

The moisture in Gamal’s eyes shimmered, looking like it might spill over at any moment.

It became clear that, despite being a vampire, Gamal had a gentle and soft nature that made it hard to believe she was one. There was a part of her humanity that her vampire instincts hadn’t been able to erase, and it would occasionally emerge.

At first, Doyeong thought it was just an act, or maybe some kind of facade. But no matter how cunning a vampire might be—or perhaps, precisely because they were so cunning—there were always aspects they failed to hide, trusting too much in their own cleverness.

“Humans are weak. They die so quickly.”

Gamal muttered, her voice full of sadness.

“No.”

But Doyeong responded.