Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Junny
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The warning that had shaken heaven and earth soon faded away.
“Marti’s gotten a lot more proactive.”
Tora muttered pleasantly to himself.
“Huh?”
Captain Tao, who had been guiding him to his room and was startled by the sudden warning tone beside him, asked.
“Nothing.”
Tora looked around the room that Captain Tao had just shown him. Then he offered a short, definitive assessment.
“Like a chicken coop.”
Thud...
At the sound of footsteps, Tora turned around. A woman entered from outside the door. Short, neat black cropped hair, indifferent black eyes, and a military uniform that looked as rigid as armor.
“This is Lieutenant Zain Summer.”
Captain Tao introduced the woman. Zain gave a silent bow with an expressionless face.
“Pleased to meet you.”
Her bright surname “Summer” was utterly wasted on her—the woman’s gaze was indifferent, her face devoid of expression.
Captain Tao said,
“Lieutenant Summer will assist you during your stay here.”
More like a surveillance officer, Tora realized. They didn’t yet know his intentions, so they’d assigned someone to watch him closely.
He understood, but they’d chosen the wrong person for the job.
Tora flashed an alluring smile.
“You’re pretty.”
She wore no makeup and had hair as short as a man’s, but her beauty couldn’t be hidden. Moreover, her features, mixed with East Asian blood, were exactly Tora’s type.
Men instinctively gravitated toward women who resembled their mothers, after all.
Captain Tao flinched. He knew how much Zain hated comments about her looks. But Zain’s expressionless face didn’t change as she said,
“I’d appreciate it if you refrained from remarks about my appearance.”
Tora, genuinely puzzled, asked,
“Why? I’m just saying a pretty woman is pretty.”
“Comments on appearance are rude to a soldier.”
Captain Tao was surprised. He’d never seen Zain bother explaining herself to anyone like this.
But given the man’s lack of common sense about the civilized world, it seemed she was at least spelling it out before drawing her gun.
Tora crossed his arms and asked in a tone full of interest.
“But isn’t a soldier still a woman?”
Zain’s face grew even more impassive.
“I’d appreciate it if you considered me otherwise.”
“How can you not see a woman as a woman? Especially one as beautiful as this.”
Captain Tao paled.
“Lieutenant Summer...”
He tried to intervene quickly, but Zain didn’t budge and said,
“I don’t want to be rude to our guest.”
Sure, there were women who grumbled and bristled when he came onto them out of wounded pride. But none had ever truly rejected him.
Tora extended his hand.
“A handshake?”
Zain merely stared at the offered hand without moving. Tora grinned.
“As a gesture of goodwill.”
Zain didn’t move—and didn’t seem like she would. But even after the point where most would withdraw in embarrassment, Tora kept his hand out. Finally, Zain uncrossed her arms from behind her back and clasped his hand.
Tora gripped it firmly. A muscle above one of Zain’s eyebrows twitched faintly—something only someone like Luas might miss, but Tora noticed it clearly.
‘Of course.’
He released her hand and said,
“Your hands are small.”
Zain was tall, so her hands weren’t particularly tiny. In fact, they were on the larger side for a woman. But compared to Tora’s, they were small, so it wasn’t wrong.
He knew women secretly melted for points like that.
But Zain replied coolly,
“No issue pulling a trigger.”
Tora just laughed.
“Oh dear.”
***
Captain Tao and Zain walked down the corridor. After a stretch of silence, Zain suddenly spoke.
“If I request a mission change, will it actually get changed?”
“No.”
Zain stopped and looked at Captain Tao, her brow slightly furrowed. The captain glanced back with a what’s-that-supposed-to-mean expression and said in a tone of pure innocence,
“You didn’t ask expecting a yes, did you, Lieutenant?”
Zain let out a sigh.
“This is the first mission that’s ever sat this poorly with me.”
The moment she’d stepped into the room, the quiet way he’d looked at her had made her understand what it truly meant to be at a loss for words.
She’d heard he was born to a white father and a mother from the Satadi tribe.
Even among mixed-race people, it wasn’t a common blend like white-black or white-Asian—something she’d never seen before. It felt strangely alien at first glance, but that very rarity unleashed an overwhelming beauty.
The familiar aura inherited from his white father blended with an exotic allure that inspired awe, like a masterpiece from an avant-garde artist with prophetic insight into a new artistic movement.
And this muse of a Gauguin also possessed the icy beauty unique to vampires, as if God Himself were boasting, “Think it can get any more uniquely stunning?”
“We assigned you because you’re so damn capable.”
Captain Tao said, trying to console her.
“Not much consolation.”
Her tone was skeptical.
“It wasn’t meant as consolation. Means it’s that important—a job that needs someone as capable as you.”
Captain Tao glanced back down the corridor they’d just passed.
“Don’t take your eyes off him for a second. There’s still way too much we can’t trust.”
***
The next morning, Zain stared at the door to Tora’s room. This mission really felt off, for reasons she couldn’t quite pin down.
She swallowed a sigh and pressed the bell. The door opened.
“Breakfast...”
As she stepped inside, Zain’s eyes flew wide open before she could stop herself.
“You’re here?”
Tora had emerged from the bathroom stark naked—not a thread on him.
Water droplets trailed down his clean bronze skin, save for the tattoos linking his arms to his back.
“Hard to keep track of time in a place like this.”
Oblivious to his state, he stood there towel-drying his hair. Zain forced her voice steady and said,
“Could you please put on some clothes?”
“Ah, right—civilized world folks are so touchy about nudity. Been off the island long enough to forget. It’s all the same equipment, yet you lot make such a fuss.”
With that, Tora walked right past her, acting like it was no big deal.
Heat bubbled up inside her, but Zain tamped it down.
Any other man, and she’d have shot him on the spot. But she couldn’t just kill her surveillance target willy-nilly—and gunning down a primitive islander for strolling around naked would paint her as some intolerant redneck who couldn’t handle cultural differences, no matter how you spun it.
‘He’s not from our world.’
Zain clung to that thought to steady herself.
But she couldn’t just accept it blindly either—Tora seemed far too aware of what he called the “civilized world” beyond the island.
“Are you familiar with the term ‘sexual harassment’?”
She asked without turning around. Rustling sounds came as he rummaged for clothes. Through it, Tora’s voice replied,
“Didn’t you just say you weren’t a woman?”
“Sexual harassment applies between same sexes too.”
Tora turned to eye Zain, who was staring straight ahead, and scanned her up and down.
“You don’t look like a man to me.”
“...Just get dressed.”
Zain gave up on talking. She’d sensed it since yesterday—he wasn’t the type you could reason with. More rummaging ensued, then Tora grumbled,
“These clothes don’t suit me.”
Coming from a guy who’d lived half-naked on an island.
“You must be quite the fashion expert around here.”
“I get out sometimes.”
“So you do have some grasp of local customs.”
“That’s right.”
“Then when exactly are you getting dressed?”
She could hardly believe she was calmly conversing in the same room with a naked man, but screaming and bolting now would be pointless.
“Guess I’ll head out and buy new ones.”
Tora said it, then came the sound of him pulling on pants. She glanced over—now he was tugging on a t-shirt. The inhumanly sculpted back, with its exquisitely fine-lined tattoo, vanished beneath the fabric.
That tattoo, at least, she had to admit was beautiful.
Catching herself, Zain shook her head and looked away.
***
On the screen, his father Elio asked with worry.
[Are you really okay?]
“I’m fine. As you can see, perfectly healthy. The operation just dragged on a bit.”
Doyoung replied.
Fortunately, the news of his disappearance hadn’t reached his parents yet.
Given the special circumstances of being taken prisoner, his superiors hadn’t rushed to declare him dead or notify his family. So Doyoung figured they’d assume the lack of contact was just the mission running long.
No point in telling them he’d washed up on some island and made it back alive—it’d only worry them needlessly.
But Elio’s frown didn’t ease. Fooling a father from the same line of work was never easy.
[This isn’t some doctored feed, is it?]
Doyoung barely held back a laugh and said,
“Fine. Ask me something only I’d know.”
[When we vacationed on Saint Helena, what did Julian gripe about?]
“‘If cannibals show up here, I’ll tell ’em to eat you first.’”
Only then did Elio’s face relax.
[That’s my boy.]
Doyoung smirked and said,
“I’ve got work piling up—can’t leave base just yet.”
[They’re putting a guy back after a month and a half straight into more jobs?]
“There are some things that need handling.”
He couldn’t say more, so he just smiled. Elio didn’t love it, but as a former man in the same line, he seemed to get it.
That’s when Doyoung’s mother, Sarang, couldn’t hold back any longer and cut in.
[Every time Elio went out on a job, I worried—but not like this. At least back then, the enemies were human.]
Doyoung had no reply for that.
“I’ll come home soon.”
[Promise?]
“Promise.”
Doyoung ended the call and stepped out. Gamal, sitting by the door, jumped to his feet at the sight of him.
“Going?”
Doyoung sighed.
“I told you no.”
Gamal sulked.
“I go too.”
“You think this is a joyride?”
Doyoung’s voice rose despite himself. But Gamal brushed it off like a breeze—words slid right off him. With the same sullen look, he repeated,
“I go.”
Doyoung sighed.
That was right. Last night, they’d disembarked the ship and come to base, and Doyoung had a mountain of backlog to tackle starting today.
And Gamal was stubbornly insisting on tagging along.