Codename Vestia

Chapter 37

Elio asked with a smile.

“How do you know Julian?”

“Julian told me.”

Gamal answered without smiling. Elio found it puzzling.

“Julian?”

“Yeah.”

Gamal nodded.

“People who aren’t here talk to me. They whisper to me. Whatever they want to say.”

“So, like a medium…?”

Elio, who didn’t particularly believe in such things, found himself asking anyway. But this time, Gamal shook her head.

“It’s not like that. The reason most people can’t hear what the dead are saying is because they don’t want to listen. The dead don’t talk to people who don’t want to hear them.”

Suddenly, Gamal spoke fluently.

Even as her language skills improved, Gamal often used broken speech out of habit, like a child. However, there were moments when she spoke with perfect grammar, and during those times, she seemed like a completely different person.

Doyeong, who had been washing dishes, stopped and stared at Gamal. The running water from the faucet continued to flow, splashing noisily.

“But I want to talk to Julian.”

Elio, feeling an inexplicable urgency, spoke up. Gamal shook her head.

“But you don’t believe you can.”

“That’s…”

Elio was at a loss for words.

“Julian said he’s happy, right? Did he really say that?”

“Yeah.”

Without realizing it, Elio’s eyes became hot with emotion.

Julian is happy.

Just that thought made Elio feel as though the countless sleepless nights spent tormented by guilt over failing to save his brother, even at the cost of his leg, could finally be put to rest.

“Don’t cry. You’ll look stupid with my face.”

Gamal suddenly spoke. Elio’s eyes widened in surprise.

“That phrase…”

It was something Julian used to say often.

Gamal curved her eyes into a smile, just like the rare times when Julian would smile warmly.

“I told her to say that.”

Suddenly, Doyeong spoke up.

“Are you scamming people now?”

When Doyeong asked in an exasperated tone, Gamal flared up instead.

“Ah, Doyeong! If you hadn’t said anything, Elio would really think Julian was happy.”

“If my uncle knew, he’d ask what gives you the right to act like you know what’s in my heart. My uncle’s scary, you know. I’ve been watching because your antics are so ridiculous, but before you go too far insulting my dad’s memory, you should stop. Apologize, idiot.”

Elio’s tears dried up in an instant. Gamal, genuinely remorseful, spoke.

“Sorry, Elio. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t sad.”

“Bow and apologize.”

At Doyeong’s words, Gamal obediently complied. However, because she was still holding the box of jelly, the smaller jelly packets spilled out in a cascade as she bent over.
“Ah, you idiot. Of course, you should’ve expected it to spill, you fool.”

Doyeong scolded her as he crouched down to pick up the jelly packets. Gamal also squatted beside him to help and spoke.

“I heard Doyeong. It’s Doyeong’s fault.”

“Are you blaming others now too?”

Elio, who had been dumbfounded, ended up letting out a chuckle. For some reason, this strange scene didn’t feel so bad.

Suddenly, Gamal stood up and hugged Elio.

“Thank you.”

Doyeong felt as though she was silently thanking Elio for saving his brother, even at the cost of his own body, despite being murdered by her own twin’s hand. A heavy, aching sensation gripped his chest.

Elio placed his hand on Gamal’s back and asked.

“Gamal, want to be my daughter?”

“No way.”

Before Gamal could answer, Doyeong cut him off. Elio made a teasing face, as if he had expected Doyeong’s reaction.

“There are many kinds of daughters, you know.”

With his obvious intent to provoke, Doyeong felt a headache coming on.

“Father.”

Gamal, who didn’t seem to understand their conversation, smiled brightly and hugged Elio again.

“Elio is already my Tawa.”

***

Footsteps echoed through the space, bouncing off one wall and then another. A long shadow followed the steps down a desolate corridor.

The feet, clad in prison slippers, stopped in front of a particular cell. A piece of paper was slipped inside.

From the darkness, a hand emerged and took the paper. The message, rolled up tightly like a note tied to a messenger pigeon’s leg, was unwrapped slowly and deliberately.

The hand stopped abruptly after reading the content.

“They… found Gamal?”

A low voice muttered in disbelief from within the darkness.

Rustle.

The paper crumpled in a tight grip. A growling voice, almost like an animal’s snarl, followed.

“So that’s where you’ve been hiding. No wonder you couldn’t be found.”

***

Tora was sitting in a fast-food restaurant. From afar, Jain could be seen ordering at the kiosk.

Even though she could’ve ordered right from the table, she seemed to need a breather and had deliberately walked to the kiosk. Watching her, Tora rested his chin on his hand and murmured.

“Nice hips.”

The way her figure hugged tightly to her clothes, it seemed like she’d turn heads if she wore leather pants.

However, Jain didn’t seem to care at all about external appearances and would probably even have an allergic reaction to being called pretty.

Considering she was a soldier, it made sense that she’d rather be seen as a “person” than a “woman.” But Tora couldn’t help wondering if she’d act like this even in front of the man she liked.

“Jain Summer.”

The woman he’d spent the night with, what was her name again? Was it Thelma? Sitting across the table in the hotel room, she spoke.

“Age 28. Enlisted as a non-commissioned officer right after graduating high school, took the exam, and became an officer. So, she’s got a fair amount of experience for her age. Served with Delta Force and is now…”

No, her name was Emma, he thought. Emma paused mid-sentence, lowered her tablet, and continued.

“An operative of the infamous Directorate of Intelligence’s SAU (Special Activity Unit).”

“As expected, not just a regular soldier.”

Tora ran a hand through his hair and leaned his head back against the sofa’s backrest.

He hadn’t thought they would send just an ordinary soldier to deal with him, but a Directorate operative capable of uncovering even the secret proclivities of Legion officers?

Wasn’t this basically confirmation that MCTC was suspicious of him?

Emma—or was it Elma? Thinking again, he was certain it was Elma. Not that it mattered; it probably wasn’t her real name anyway. Regardless, Elma set the tablet aside and shrugged.

“Scary enough to make you afraid you’ll end up running into someone like her someday. She’s even been deployed to the front lines in the Sahara and Yemen for two years each. Volunteered for it, too.”

Tora, staring at the ceiling in thought, straightened up and looked at Elma.

“So, what’s the price for the information you brought me?”

Elma got up and sat on Tora’s lap, grinning in a way that was both alluring and unbecoming of a notorious backstreet information dealer.

“You.”

Tora smirked.

“That’s cheap.”

Elma snorted.

“Hardly. Do you think digging into the Directorate is easy?”

She leaned closer, biting the corner of her lip, and whispered.

“So, make it worth my while, Tora Satadi.”

Just then, Jain returned, having finished placing her order, and sat down across from them. Tora asked her,

“Do you have a reason for becoming a soldier?”

Jain, wondering about the sudden question, simply answered.

“Would there be any other reason? To protect those who need protection.”

“Still, isn’t 17 a bit young for such a decision?”

Jain shot Tora a look, curious as to how he knew her enlistment age. Tora rested his chin on his hand and shrugged.

“Captain Tao told me.”

It wasn’t a lie; Captain Tao had mentioned it.

Jain lowered her gaze without much reaction and said,

“Some kids just have to grow up faster.”

“Like you, Jain?”

Jain sighed.

“If you can’t call me by my rank out here, at least address me by my last name.”

She wasn’t too fond of the casual familiarity of calling her by her first name when they hadn’t known each other long.

But before Jain had said those words, she should have thought more deeply about what her surname meant or learned more about the man named Tora Satadi.

“Summer.”

A slow smile spread across Tora’s face, one that carried the fresh scent of summer.

“I’ve been thinking about it, and it’s such a bright name. Feels like I’d get butterflies every time I call it.”

After a moment, Tora’s expression turned awkward.

This was because Jain’s reaction was like someone who had just looked into Medusa’s eyes—frozen stiff. Then, all of a sudden, she stood up and started walking away. Tora turned and asked,

“Where are you going?”

Jain glanced back briefly and replied,

“Bathroom.”

“At this timing?”

“Is there a specific timing for that?”

Unable to argue with her logic, Tora shrugged. She was a woman who’d run headlong into a stone pillar and complain about the pillar being in pain.

Tora directed his gaze at nothing in particular and thought,

But she probably doesn’t know how to betray someone.

Meanwhile, Jain walked briskly toward the bathroom. As she passed by a table near the restroom, she suddenly slammed a man onto the table with a loud thud and pressed a gun against his temple.

“Who are you? Why are you following us?”

She had been aware of the men tailing them for a while.

「You got taken down already?」

Another man sitting across from the first spoke in disbelief—not to Jain, but to his own comrade. The man pinned to the table protested indignantly.

「How was I supposed to know she’d attack out of nowhere?」

「She’s not even Shiraka!」

「She was almost like Shiraka!」

Jain furrowed her brow. She grabbed the man she had pinned by the back of his neck and slammed him against the nearby wall, pressing her gun firmly between his brows.

“Does this look like a toy to you?”

The man finally began to show signs of nervousness. At that moment, Jain got a proper look at him—or more precisely, his face.

“You guys…”

She began, but her words were cut off by a sudden crashing sound. Startled, Jain briefly turned her eyes in the direction of the noise.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry!”

A waitress passing by Tora seemed to have spilled a drink. She had tripped over her own feet, nearly falling, and spilled most of the drink on the floor rather than on Tora. Still, she was apologizing profusely to him for some reason.

“It’s fine,” Tora reassured her with a pleasant expression, looking like he was genuinely trying to put her at ease.

Meanwhile, Jain found herself completely baffled by what had just happened. Just moments ago, the man she had pinned by the neck with her elbow, unable to move, was now standing upright. Worse, she was the one lying in the chair where he had been seated.

No, Jain’s exceptional reflexes meant she knew exactly what had happened. The man had grabbed her and flipped her sideways, slipping away with movements as fluid as a snake while simultaneously throwing her into the chair.

She wasn’t just anyone—she was a highly trained special forces operative. And these men, at least, weren’t Homo bibens like the Luas.

Yet despite pulling off such inhumanly swift maneuvers, the men were now fleeing in a panic. They even slipped on the floor in their haste, one of them tumbling over dramatically.

Jain, utterly dumbfounded, lay sprawled in the chair, watching as the men scrambled to help their fallen comrade before vanishing from sight.

“You okay?”

Tora approached, extending his hand as he asked.