Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Juni
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Tora turned around in front of the waiting helicopter. It was finally time to head out to find Rato, and this was the send-off.
Gamal said worriedly,
“Be careful, Tora.”
“Don’t worry, Matty.”
Gamal stood there silently for a moment, then, as if he couldn’t bear it any longer, spoke up like he was about to grab his bags right then and there.
“I can’t. I’m coming with you.”
Tora shook her head.
“You stand out too much, Matty. It’d actually make it harder to find Rato.”
Besides, the early end to the observation period had been a condition of Gamal staying behind, so both of them going was impossible anyway. And the Archduke’s minions might remember Gamal.
“Have you forgotten I’ve always gone around alone just fine?”
“But right now…”
Tora gripped Gamal’s hand tightly.
“I’ll be fine.”
The two of them looked less like mother and child—even if not blood-related—and more like lovers parting.
“If it feels even a little dangerous…”
Gamal still didn’t seem reassured. Tora pointed at Jain.
“Jain’s coming with me.”
Jain nearly let the words “Call me by rank” slip out, but she didn’t interrupt their mother-son moment. Then suddenly Gamal approached her and took her hand.
Jain, for whom such contact with others wasn’t natural, almost pulled away on instinct but held back since it was Gamal. Even for her, that visually pretty, harmless vibe carried quite a bit of weight.
Gamal whispered earnestly, her eyes nearly glistening with tears.
“Protect Tora, Jain.”
Jain nodded.
“I’ll do my best.”
She thought to herself that no one could do anything to a vampire like a towering eel anyway, so she didn’t need to protect her, but she kept that to herself. Tora watched them with delighted eyes.
“I’ll be back.”
Tora said and turned away.
As they walked off, Jain said,
“You’re affectionate with Patroness.”
“Because it’s Matty.”
Tora replied with a sly grin.
“Would you like me to be affectionate with you too, Jain?”
“Please address me by rank.”
Jain said without a smile. Tora chuckled.
“You’re so cold.”
Jain couldn’t pin down whether this man was serious or not.
***
The music thumped loudly. It was Friday night, so that was understandable, but the club inside was packed to bursting.
Across the flashing colored lights, Tora was practically entwined with a woman she’d never met before. Jain watched from her seat at the bar.
She claimed she was gathering leads, but it looked more like she was using that as an excuse to have fun.
That guy seemed to have some kind of magnetic field around him. Women flocked to him in droves as he passed by. A few guys were mixed in, but they didn’t dare approach under the women’s fierce glare.
If Tora seemed uninterested in women, she might’ve made a move herself, but Tora exuded thick heterosexual vibes from every pore.
Just like her father.
Her father didn’t give off that inhuman aura quite so much, but he was sick of women fawning over him.
“Alone?”
Then a man asked Jain. She lifted her downcast eyes.
From afar, Tora saw it. Jain sat still even as the man slyly pressed close and wrapped an arm around her waist. Tora wondered if that was her type.
‘Bad taste.’
If that was her preference, it made sense why she showed no reaction to him.
But then the man flinched, sensing something at her waist. As if she’d been waiting, Jain curled one corner of her mouth in a deadly smile that said she’d draw whatever was there any second.
“Don’t make me pull it out.”
Then she went right back to expressionless, ignoring whether the man was there or not. He hesitated and vanished. Tora couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You’d have Nika steaming on a plate.”
“What?”
The woman next to her hadn’t caught the mutter and asked back.
“Nothing. Hang on.”
Tora peeled off the woman clinging like she didn’t want him to go and approached Jain.
“You don’t seem to enjoy places like this much?”
“I’m working.”
Jain replied indifferently.
“Then come with friends?”
“I know how to blend in.”
Even so, Jain couldn’t imagine her dressed like those women, dancing.
“It’d be nice if you blended in a bit now. You’re either intensely heartbroken or an undercover cop right now.”
Jain replied without smiling.
“Let’s go with heartbroken.”
But suddenly Tora leaned in close. Jain flinched and nearly pulled back but barely held her ground. She didn’t want this man exerting any kind of influence over her.
“So I’m the guy comforting the heartbroken girl?”
Jain raised one eyebrow. Tora watched her reaction with an intrigued look.
This man seemed to instinctively seduce women. More precisely, just a lingering gaze was enough to make them drop their panties and come running, but it was clear he enjoyed it too.
Suddenly Jain stood up. So abruptly that Tora took a step back.
“Why?”
“Bathroom.”
She spat out the word and headed to the bathroom. Watching her go, Tora chuckled.
“Fortress walls.”
Jain passed the bathroom entrance where two drunks were locked in a kiss, scanned the restroom. She pushed on every stall door to check if anyone was inside and entered the last one. Then she pulled a slim case from her inner pocket and opened it.
It held a single syringe.
This was something that could kill a vampire in one shot.
“Do you know much about vampires?”
Jain’s superior had asked. Jain replied,
“Enough to say I work for MCTC.”
“Then you know vampires can’t accept any infection source other than the one that infected them.”
“Yes. That’s why they can’t drink from their own kind, from what I’ve heard.”
“Right. Drink the wrong one, and the other infection source attacks, leading to death.”
Then the superior slid a black case the size of a palm across the desk. When Jain opened it, inside the shock-absorbing padding was a metal syringe.
“It’s based on the principle that vampires can’t drink their own kind’s blood. We tampered with vampire serum to make it. In simple terms, vampire-specific poison. It’s a ‘new model’ fresh from the military lab, so the effect is guaranteed.”
The superior looked at Jain quietly.
“You’ll know when to use it, Lieutenant.”
Tora might feel safe with a human watcher, but this dose would drop even a vampire Tora’s size in seconds.
Jain carefully stowed the poison back in her inner pocket. When she came out, Tora was entwined with a different woman. All the women were beauties.
Jain suppressed the selfish urge to use the thing in her pocket right then.
***
After Tora left, Doyoung saw Gamal lost in worry and asked,
“Feeling empty?”
Gamal didn’t even turn to her, murmuring gravely,
“I’m worried.”
She should be more worried about that guy beating others up than getting beaten, but it wasn’t incomprehensible that her client, whom she cherished so fiercely, had gone off alone. So Doyoung was about to offer some uncharacteristic comfort when Gamal said,
“Tora’s too naive.”
Doyoung was floored.
“We’re talking about the same Tora, right?”
“Tora’s kind.”
“Yeah, sure. Hedgehogs feel soft as down to their own moms.”
Gamal seemed lost in thought, barely registering the words. Doyoung watched her for a moment, then spoke up.
“If I were your client…”
Only then did Gamal turn with a “Huh?”
“I’d… damn, what am I even saying.”
Doyoung grumbled roughly and turned away. Gamal blinked in confusion.
“Doyoung?”
Gamal hurried after her.
“Tora really is kind. That’s the problem.”
***
Tora checked the sign.
As they entered, a waiter greeting other customers bowed.
“Welcome.”
They sat at an outdoor table. The waiter soon approached with a smile.
“You’re back again.”
For a split second, Tora and Jain glanced at each other.
There was no way Tora, who’d been at base yesterday, had come here. Someone with Tora’s face had been here.
“Hard to find a place with this kind of flavor.”
Tora’s expression shifted instantly as she smiled and bantered. She glanced at the chalkboard menu on the wall, ordered coffee, and said,
“I’ve been so busy lately, things are blurring together. When did I come here? Feels recent-ish.”
“It’s been a while. About a month, I’d say.”
“And you remember.”
“Hard to forget a customer like you.”
The waiter left. Tora and Jain didn’t converse rashly. Someone might be listening.
But then, Tora’s ears—far sharper than a human’s—caught the waiters whispering in the distance.
“He’s switched women again.”
“Wonder what it’s like living with a face like that.”
Tora looked at Jain.
‘He’s switched women again.’
So Rato had been here with a woman? Which one?
Jain, seeing Tora staring blatantly, asked in a displeased tone,
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Tora stood up. Jain asked,
“Where to?”
Tora jerked a thumb toward the bathroom beyond the counter.
“Wanna come?”
Jain turned away without answering. As Tora passed the counter where staff stood, she shook her head and said,
“Controlling women is exhausting, I tell you.”
The waiter glanced at Jain, who was looking outside.
“She’s a catch, though.”
It sounded genuine. Jain was quite the beauty anyway, her body toned from training enough to draw plenty of male eyes.
Tora leaned on the counter like she’d been waiting and launched into it.
“I fell for that charisma at first, but then it’s ‘put the cup here, toothbrush there, wipe the water, you know?’ Women and their nagging.”
She waved a hand as if to say no need to speak.
“And on top of that control freak thing, in bed she’s all ‘do this, do that,’ so even when she’s responding, she just dies on me.”
As he said it, Tora subtly eyed his crotch like “You get it?” He sighed deeply, muttering loud enough for anyone nearby to hear—practically comedic if you knew the context.
“The previous one was way better.”
Meanwhile, Jain watched Tora banter extra flirty with the waiter than usual.
‘Why’s he acting like that?’
Having no idea what they were talking about, she was a bit annoyed, but since Tora annoyed her anyway, she turned away without caring more.
Then a man stood from a nearby table. Jain sensed it but didn’t turn, instead watching his reflection in the shelf glass.
One man got up and headed to the bathroom, while the remaining one sat casually on his phone. But for some reason, the sight stuck with her.