Codename Vestia

Chapter 26

Gamal rushed toward the village entrance, panting heavily. At first glance, everything seemed fine, but the eerie silence felt ominous. Her heart pounded as if it might shatter from the tension.

The moment she arrived at the village, her eyes widened. Everything lay in ruins. Frantic, Gamal sprinted to her home.

“Marti! Tawa!”

The house was half-burned and collapsed. Scattered everywhere were items—Marti’s treasured pottery, the box where she kept her clothes, her favorite accessories, a carpet, and even Tawa’s ceremonial mask.

But neither Marti nor Tawa was anywhere to be seen.

“Tawa! Marti!”

Gamal roamed the village, realizing for the first time what it truly felt like to lose one’s mind. There was no living soul left in the village.

As she ran, she tripped over some debris and fell. Normally, she would have scraped her knee from a fall that hard. But she felt no pain.

A wail burst from her.

Clutching at the grass, Gamal cried like an animal caught in a trap, wailing in helplessness.

She had killed Marti and Tawa. Her complacent choices had done this.

Rustle.

There was a sound. Even in the midst of her sobs, Gamal flinched. It could be Kunis, who had predicted where she might go and was following her.

She propped herself up with her hands. Her whole body shook, but she had to get up. She had to escape—from the hypocrite who claimed to love her yet murdered her.

From her twin.

* * *

“After wandering for a long time, I found this island. No one was here. I lived alone… until I met Tora and Rato.”

Gamal’s long story ended, yet Doyeong could not bring himself to react. Kneeling in front of him, Gamal watched him with quiet eyes and said,

“So I can’t leave the island.”

Tora, sitting beside her, looked at Gamal with sympathy and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“Marti.”

Gamal lightly held onto Tora’s arm, as if to reassure him. Watching this, a storm of emotions surged in Doyeong’s heart.

The compassion, anger, sadness, and frustration over this woman’s life—a life that, once she misstepped, only plunged her deeper into a pit of despair—all these feelings churned within him, so tangled he couldn’t tell them apart.

Doyeong pressed his forehead with one hand and lowered his head.

He didn’t know where to begin being astonished.

Should he be stunned that the woman before him was the daughter of a once-feared international terrorist network leader…?

Or at the twisted, narcissistic incestuous love the Grand Duke held toward his twin—a sentiment impossible for the modern mind to comprehend?

Or perhaps he should be astonished at this fool’s rock-like patience, the man who had secluded himself on a remote island for thousands of years, choosing to disappear from the world.

“Doyeong…?”

When Doyeong didn’t respond, Gamal called his name in an uneasy tone. Doyeong finally calmed himself, lowering his hand.

“But the Grand Duke is in prison now. Why is it that you still can’t leave?”

Gamal looked puzzled.

“In prison…?”

Her reaction made Doyeong frown in confusion.

“He was arrested and imprisoned three years ago,” he explained.

“What?”

Doyeong couldn’t believe it.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”

Gamal stared at him, speechless. Doyeong continued, wondering if she truly didn’t know.

“The Grand Duke was sentenced to 780 years without parole or pardon, and he’s serving that sentence.”

“So… that means…?”

“It means he won’t be leaving prison for at least 780 years.”

Gamal’s lips parted as she struggled to accept this unexpected news, then finally asked,

“Then Kunis… won’t come after me?”

Her tone revealed how deeply she’d dreaded that possibility. Doyeong was almost angry.

“Is that really why you haven’t left this island? All this time?”

Gamal nodded, while beside her, Tora frowned.

“Rato never mentioned any of this.”

“You two take turns going outside, don’t you?” Doyeong asked, but Tora shook his head.

“Lately, only Rato has been going out. I never cared much for leaving the island, and eventually, Rato volunteered to go instead.”

Tora’s voice dropped as he added,

“Marti, I think we need to find Rato. I have a bad feeling.”

* * *

Doyeong and Gamal stood on the beach. Off in the distance, Tora was swimming back swiftly, as though propelled by a motor. His freestyle strokes were so precise they could be textbook examples.

Not long after, Tora emerged from the water, shaking his head like a drenched dog to fling off the droplets.

“Tawa was right. The Grand Duke was captured by the MCTC Special Forces three years ago and sentenced to 780 years by the ICC.”

Gamal looked dazed.

“Then it’s true…?”

Tora nodded.

“Marti, your miserable twin is in prison. You can leave the island now.”

Gamal, feeling faint, grabbed onto Tora’s arm. Supporting her, Tora looked over at Doyeong.

“Tawa can leave as well.”

Doyeong uncrossed his arms.

“I don’t believe in religion, but I feel like I should offer thanks to some god.”

Then he turned to Gamal and asked,

“But they’re twins, right? Why aren’t they the same age? I would have figured it out sooner if it weren’t for that.”

The Grand Duke’s real name might have been a highly classified secret, but there was no mistaking his face; he had seen it in enough photos not to forget. However, Gamal and the Grand Duke had such different expressions and overall auras that he hadn’t suspected they might be related. Besides, he never imagined that the Grand Duke would have any living siblings.

Then Tora spoke up.

“Luas, who live on flowers, age over time.”

Doyeong furrowed his brow.

“But no side effects like that have ever been reported…”

Tora shook his head.

“Is there any other Luas who has consumed flowers as long as Marti has? Even for me, I’ve been living off the flowers for ages, but I’m just the same as when I was first infected. Aging simply happens at a very slow pace.”

Doyeong kept his brow furrowed, unsure how to process this new information.

“How could you call it being a vampire if you age, don’t drink blood, and walk in the sunlight?”

Tora shrugged.

“Maybe it’s not. Perhaps we’re just evolving into a different kind of human. Species do go through evolution. Who’s to say this isn’t part of the evolution of our kind, the drinking people, or ‘Homo bibens’ as they’re called in your civilized world?”

“But evolving from eternal life to aging sounds absurd. That’s closer to degeneration than evolution.”

“Maybe we’ve realized that living forever isn’t the ultimate evolution after all. After all, immortality has been granted, but very few of us actually live forever.”

With that, Tora looked at Gamal. Doyeong glanced at her as well.

Gamal seemed to struggle to keep up with the conversation, as if the words were too fast and the terms too complex. It made sense; she had only ever lived on the island, so she wouldn’t have needed to learn the nuances of the modern language.

As if to reassure her, Tora gently placed his hand on Gamal’s head.

“Marti and that miserable twin of hers—don’t they qualify as exceptionally long-lived Luas? Perhaps the alien entity ‘X’ failed to account for the fact that humans are inherently lonely beings.”

Tora looked at Doyeong, a gust of wind blowing his hair.

“X wouldn’t have known, would they? For a being who was once human, immortality is like pearls on a pig’s neck.”

Doyeong said nothing, so Tora turned to Gamal and asked,

“Marti, are you ready?”

Gamal hesitated but finally nodded. Then, from the folds of his belt, Tora produced a mysterious old radio—exactly the sort of device no one would expect him to have. Doyeong accepted the radio from him, as Gamal looked on.

“Doyeong….”

* * *

The helicopter’s blades whipped the sand into the air, scattering it in all directions. Standing on the beach, Doyeong squinted against the swirling dust.

Finally, the helicopter landed on the beach. With a metallic clang, the door opened, and armed soldiers disembarked. One of the soldiers raised his voice and asked,

“Are you Major Doyeong Deper?”

“That’s correct.”

When Doyeong answered, the soldier lowered his weapon and approached.

“We’re lucky you’re alive, sir. Everything was upturned when we received your signal.”

Imagining everyone’s reaction, he could tell they’d assumed he’d been dead.

Doyeong asked, “What about the other team members?”

“They’ve all been rescued. You’re the last DUSTWUN (Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown) case, Major.”

Relief washed over Doyeong. After the explosion and losing consciousness, he’d lost track of his team members, but thankfully, it seemed no one had perished.

Gamal watched the scene from beyond the thicket. Seeing Doyeong conversing with the armed men felt unfamiliar; he seemed so distinctly like a person of the “civilized world” that she felt a strange distance between them.

Then Doyeong turned in her direction.

“Gamal.”

She flinched.

“It’s alright. Come out.”

Gamal looked at Tora beside her.

Tora nodded. Only then did Gamal rise and slowly step out from behind the bushes, with Tora following close behind. However, the soldiers showed no sign of surprise.

They already knew about Gamal.

Doyeong waited patiently, not rushing her. Gamal approached him hesitantly. He extended a hand, taking her hand in his and guiding her toward the helicopter.

A crew member helped Gamal aboard, with Doyeong following close behind. Finally, Tora climbed into the helicopter.

As their gazes met, Tora nodded.

“I need to go find Rato,” he said.

Doyeong looked out the window. The island of Satadi, where gods once dwelled, was quickly disappearing in the distance.

* * *

The enormous military vessel looked like an oil rig floating in the middle of the sea, and soon it loomed close.

“Landing,” the pilot announced.

As the transport landed on the ship, the ramp door lowered with a clank, and light poured in through the gradually widening gap.

Doyeong stepped down through the ramp door.

It was the same ocean he’d seen from the deserted island, but the scent here was different. The smells of oil, metal, and the steam from the engines assured him that he had indeed returned to the civilized world.

“Major!”

A shout echoed from afar. Led by a sergeant, Team 1 members came running, practically out of breath.

The team members surrounded him the instant they arrived, talking over each other without giving him a chance to speak.

“Major, are you really alive?”

“We thought you were truly dead this time!”

Then, a voice called out.

“Doyeong Deper!”

Pushing through the team members, Nicola appeared. Doyeong was taken aback.

“How did you…?”

Though also part of the MCTC, Nicola belonged to a different unit and had no reason to be on this vessel.

Nicola embraced him tightly.

“You bastard!”
As the initial shock faded, Doyeong finally felt the reality of his return sink in.

“I thought you were dead for sure,” Nicola muttered. Doyeong replied with a slight smile.

“I don’t die that easily.”

Nicola abruptly shoved him.

“Captured by terrorists and lost in the middle of the Pacific? What are you, some kind of Luas…?”

But suddenly, Nicola stopped speaking, his gaze shifting to something behind Doyeong.