Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Junni
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‘This is me.’
Do-young realized.
He lifted one corner of his lips. His fangs were sharp. His eyes were their original color, but there was a unfamiliar flicker deep within his pupils.
“Luaus….”
Do-young murmured. There was no other way to explain this change.
He had truly become a Luaus.
That was when he noticed the bandages wrapped around his neck. As if the doctor had been waiting for that moment, he asked,
“Mind if I take a look?”
Do-young obediently sat back down on the bed. The doctor pulled a light from his coat pocket, shone it into Do-young’s eyes, and unwrapped the bandages from his neck. Then he examined the scar.
“The scar doesn’t look like it’ll fade.”
Do-young turned to the mirror, and his reflection stared back. More than the sharp fangs or the strangely gleaming pupils, it was this that made him truly feel he had become a Luaus.
A scar like a necklace coiled around the center of his throat. It was hideous enough to make a child burst into tears just looking at it.
The boundary between life and death that would remain on his neck forever.
But a scar like that didn’t matter. The moment Do-young opened his mouth to ask something—
Zzzt.
The automatic door slid open, and Yeon-ha walked in.
“Major.”
Then she looked at Do-young sitting on the bed with eyes full of disbelief.
“You really became a Luaus.”
But the woman in a suit entering behind Yeon-ha looked familiar. She was the ISLE representative for the TASIL Project, whom he’d seen since the initial briefing.
Her coming to see Do-young could only mean one thing.
The TASIL Project representative stared at Do-young and murmured, almost in rapture,
“I can hardly believe it even seeing it with my own eyes. That TASIL succeeded.”
In truth, Gamal had been too far gone to infect Do-young, so the only explanation for him reviving as a Luaus was the success of the TASIL Project.
Do-young glanced at the IV connected to him.
It was the name written on the blood pack.
Ivanov type.
Vampire clans each had nearly unique blood types, so the bloodline name was essentially the blood type name.
He’d heard that right after overcoming infection, the hunger was immense enough to devour a whole person. But he didn’t feel anything like that. Probably because he’d been receiving transfusions the whole time.
Yeon-ha extended her hand.
“Congratulations. On joining our clan.”
Do-young looked at Yeon-ha’s hand, then clasped it. The moment he tried to let go, she gripped it tightly and pulled him close.
“TASIL was basically a failed project.”
Her voice was angry.
“Why’d you take such a reckless risk?”
Do-young stared at Yeon-ha.
“I believed my desperation would pay off.”
“You’re not the type to bet your life on such slim odds.”
“Who said it was slim? Do you have any idea how desperate I was?”
Yeon-ha was dumbfounded. She knew he was the type to grab other officers by the collar with sheer guts alone, but still….
“Creepy. Let go.”
With that, Do-young shook off Yeon-ha’s hand. And finally, he asked the question he’d wanted to since opening his eyes.
“Where’s Gamal?”
“At the base.”
Yeon-ha answered, turning to watch Do-young pass by her. As he opened the closet, she added,
“I prepared a new uniform. Your old clothes won’t fit anymore.”
Sure enough, the clothes in the closet were a size larger than before. Do-young grabbed something at random and headed into the bathroom.
“What happened after I turned like this?”
Do-young’s back was reflected in the mirror as he changed.
“The team carried your near-dead body out of the field.”
Yeon-ha began to recount what had happened.
***
After hearing the story, Do-young’s face was speechless. He was holding a half-on T-shirt draped over both arms.
Yeon-ha looked at him.
“If I had to say who saved you, it’d be Gamal. Or else you’d have gone brain-dead….”
Do-young didn’t need to hear more. He pulled the T-shirt over his head and stormed out of the room. He hurried down the corridor. People stared at him in confusion.
He spotted the mess hall and went in. It was lunchtime, so Gamal might be there.
The mess hall was bustling. Familiar faces stood out among the crowd—the team members.
The team members eating their meals felt the stares and looked up. At first their faces showed no recognition of who was watching them, but one by one, realization dawned.
“Major!”
Finally grasping that it was Do-young, the team members jumped from their seats.
“You’re awake!”
They tossed their utensils aside and rushed over, surrounding him. Do-young scanned around, but Gamal wasn’t there.
“Where’s Gamal?”
Do-young asked, then turned around.
Tap tap tap tap.
He heard footsteps running toward them from outside the mess hall.
And there was Gamal, panting at the entrance.
But he stopped short of reaching Do-young. His face was pale. He’d heard the news of Do-young waking and was shocked, but it was also the face of someone who hadn’t slept or eaten properly for days.
“Gamal.”
Do-young strode up to him. Even so, Gamal couldn’t move, just looked up at Do-young.
Do-young pulled him into a tight embrace. Gamal stopped breathing. His body trembled uncontrollably.
Finally, Gamal burst into tears.
“I’m sorry. You died because of me.”
Do-young wrapped a hand around the back of Gamal’s head, pressing his face to his shoulder, and whispered,
“I didn’t die. And it wasn’t because of you. It was that bastard.”
Gamal didn’t seem to hear. He shook his head frantically and sobbed out words.
“Because of me, Kunis… to you….”
Do-young cupped Gamal’s face, pulled him away, and kissed him. The people around gasped in surprise.
“Do….”
Gamal tried to speak, but Do-young shifted the angle and kissed him deeper.
Do-young held Gamal close. Feeling this body in his arms again felt like a lie.
“Do-young… I can’t… can’t breathe.”
Gamal stammered, gasping for air. Do-young had never heard him say that no matter how tightly he held him, so he was puzzled. Then he realized his own strength had increased.
But he didn’t want to loosen his grip. He wanted to feel Gamal more.
The moment Do-young released him, he grabbed his wrist and yanked him along. Cheers erupted behind them, followed by whistles and applause.
“Manly!”
“Awesome!”
The team members made a huge racket like something big had happened.
Gamal, being dragged by Do-young, looked confused at their reaction, then at Do-young. Realization hit, and his face flushed bright red.
***
The door opened, and Do-young shoved Gamal inside almost roughly. The moment Gamal turned, Do-young pulled him back into a kiss.
“Do… mmph….”
Do-young didn’t give him a chance to speak, overlapping their lips and pushing him back step by step. Gamal stumbled backward.
When his legs hit the bed, Gamal pushed against Do-young’s chest with his palms.
“Do-young… you need to rest more….”
Do-young, still cupping Gamal’s face, said,
“Do I look like someone who needs rest right now?”
His eyes were drenched in heat.
While Gamal stared, speechless, Do-young kissed him again.
Gamal’s panting breaths, the sound of his heart pumping hot blood, the brush of skin against skin….
Every sensation was amplified. It was like the world viewed through a microscope.
Even the texture of tongues brushing was incomparable to when he was human.
Gamal grabbed Do-young’s arms around his face and pushed him down onto the bed a bit forcefully.
“You just woke up. You need rest.”
Do-young caught Gamal’s arm as he tried to pull away. He kissed him again, drawing him on top. Reflexively, Gamal braced his hands and knees on the bed, leaning over him.
With Gamal feeling this sensitive, there was no way he could hold back.
“Do-young, rest….”
Gamal flinched. A large hand was sliding up his thigh.
Do-young rolled them over, pinning Gamal beneath him, and propped himself up. He grabbed his T-shirt.
“The first thought I had when I woke up, looked in the mirror, and realized I’d become a Luaus was,”
He yanked the T-shirt off over his head.
“That I could finally do this with you.”
Facing the man’s face gleaming sharply with desire, Gamal flinched. Do-young planted a hand beside him and leaned in.
“I know it’s ridiculous coming back from near death, but anyone who knows how much I held back would have some sympathy.”
Gamal averted his gaze.
Gamal kept pulling back. Something was making him retreat.
Wondering if it was because of that grand duke bastard, Do-young grew angry.
“You don’t seem like yourself, Do-young.”
But Gamal said. Then, unable to help himself, he glanced at Do-young’s bare body, then dropped his eyes as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t, murmuring,
“It feels like you’re doing this with someone else….”
“Gamal.”
Do-young called, but Gamal didn’t answer. He just kept looking away.
“Look at me.”
Gamal hesitated, then met Do-young’s eyes. Do-young stared straight into them.
“Who am I?”
Gamal slowly moved his eyes, scanning the man before him.
The base was the same, but he felt even more ‘manly.’ He hadn’t lacked that as a human—quite the opposite, it had seemed impossible to become more so—yet here it was.
But the eyes staring straight at him were the ones she knew well.
Gamal cupped Do-young’s face and kissed him.
“Do-young.”
***
Sunlight filtering through the blinds scattered over Gamal in rainbow hues, like passing through a prism. Her submerged body writhed in the river of colors, lost in hot ecstasy.
“Gamal.”
Do-young called to his lover, unleashing the flames surging inside him.
“Do-young.”
The body like a blazing white inferno rippled.
“Do-young….”
Amid the ringing in her ears, Gamal cried out.
“It’s hot, Do-young. Too….”
Gamal gasped roughly. It was as if she’d forgotten to breathe until now. Her chest heaved wildly.
Do-young asked Gamal, who seemed to have returned from another world,
“You okay?”
Gamal didn’t respond for a long moment, then finally nodded.
“Does it hurt anywhere?”
Gamal shook her head.
It was incomparable to anything they’d done before.
Do-young collapsed beside her. They lay there for a while, feeling each other. The sweat on their bodies acted like glue, fitting together perfectly without a single gap.
Do-young stroked Gamal’s hair. As she quietly savored the touch, she wondered if she’d ever felt lonely.
Then her gaze fell on the scar. Do-young didn’t see, but Gamal’s eyes wavered.
It was a horrific scar. One that wouldn’t vanish while Do-young lived—truly forever.
Impulsively, Gamal licked the scar. Do-young flinched.
But Gamal kept licking it, meticulously, like a mother bird tending her chick’s wound, as if it might make it disappear.
At first he flinched, but as she continued, Do-young stayed still. Then he said,
“You….”
A hoarse voice rose from deep in his throat.
“Didn’t I say I held back a ton?”