Doyeong suddenly stared at Camar and said…

 

“Salt.”

 

Camar handed him a can of salt. Doyeong stared at the can. After that, Camar asked.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Doyeong shook the can and added salt to his food.

 

After eating, Camar started making a pump drill (a friction ignition tool that uses the principle of a pump) to light a fire. Fortunately, she was not so primitive as to rub the woods together by hand.

 

(pump drill)

 

It would be much more convenient to make a fire piston (a tool for ignition using pressure), but Camar didn’t even have a knife to cut wood. She used a stone spear like a prehistoric man.

[A fire piston is a device of ancient Southeast Asian origin which is used to kindle fire. It uses the principle of the heating of a gas (in this case air) by rapid and adiabatic compression to ignite a piece of tinder, which is then used to set light to kindling. Basically easier to use than a pump drill which still requires you to rub the wood. You can read more on wikipedia.]

 

(wooden fire piston)

 

Even so, wouldn’t the Egyptians have already built the pyramids 3,000 years ago?

 

Guess it would be more accurate to call her a survival maniac who deliberately chooses and uses only primitive methods.

 

“By the way, where is my knife?”

 

Now that he thought about it, the knife he had used to attack Camar was also stolen from the Spetsnaz guy in the first place. ‘That guy must’ve been pissed off after knowing that it was my doing.’

 

“Dangerous. You can’t play with that.”

 

Camar spoke like a mother who scolded her children. Doyeong was surprised, but he reached out to Camar and said,

 

“Give it to me.”

 

And made a pump drill instead.

 

Camar looked at Doyeong, who was familiar with the making of a pump drill, while taking out some flowers, and asked,

 

“How does Lieutenant know all this?”

 

The people who came to this island before Doyeong were skilled in using their hands the older they were, but even then, they couldn’t do anything in the wild like this. However, Doyeong was just as skilled as a tribal warrior.

 

Doyeong did not stop what he was doing and answered casually,

 

“Since I was little, my father often took me with him to a forest or a mountain.”

 

He couldn’t say ‘because I’m a Special Forces member’, and that was not a total lie anyway.

 

Fortunately, Camar didn’t seem to know that the clothes Doyeong was wearing were military uniforms.

 

“What about your mother?”

 

Suddenly, Camar wanted to hear Doyeong’s family story.

 

“Ordinary office worker,” Doyeong replied.

 

Although said office is a famous cosmetics company that immediately comes to mind when you think of France, it is still in the category of ‘normal’ compared to Doyeong and his old father’s job. But how did she get married to his father, who was a special forces member…

 

“How did the two get married?”

 

Eventually, Camar asked.

 

“The two of them have lived in the same neighborhood since they were little. However, they weren’t really close friends because of the age difference. One day, my mother, who was a college student, started working part-time at McDonald’s, where my father often went.”

 

To be honest, the French didn’t like American fast food restaurants as they lived in a gourmet country, but…

 

“My father had an irregular commuting job. He said he used to be very busy and only had time to eat when all the stores were closed, so he frequented the fast food restaurants that were open 24 hours a day.”

 

‘Moreover, his brother just happened to work there, so he went to McDonald’s more often.’

 

“But one day, he suddenly wondered why Mother always ran shifts in the early morning or at late night despite her tiredness? So, he asked her ‘Why?’ when he went to the store one day.”

 

Then his mother said with an indifferent look across the counter…

 

“Why do you think I do so?”

 

Doyeong shrugged.

 

“It turns out to be like that.”

 

Camar also understood and gave a small exclamation.

 

“Cool… Very…”

 

Camar clenched her fists while trying to find an appropriate expression, but couldn’t think of a word.

 

“Romantic?”

 

Instead, Doyeong spoke as if it was the obvious answer, and Camar nodded her head.

 

“Umm.”

 

Doyeong smirked.

 

“My uncle, who heard the story from Father, said he was baffled when he first learned of it…”

 

“You have an uncle?”

 

Doyeong looked at Camar. A second passed, and when Camar started to feel the strange atmosphere, Doyeong said casually,

 

“There was. He died.”

 

In the hands of a vampire.

 

It happened when Doyeong was 10. His father tried to save his uncle at that time, but in the end, he was forced to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life instead. Unable to do his duty anymore, his father had to come out of the GIGN he was so proud of, and the family had a very difficult time for a while.

 

Nevertheless, because they were family, the remaining people stood firm and remained. His mother did not leave her husband, who lost his leg, and his father did not give up his life, even with frustration that he lost his dream, his leg, along with his brother.

 

So Doyeong also had no time to be engulfed in hatred for the things that had taken away his uncle.

 

He suddenly looked at Camar, who was concentrating on the story while still holding the flowers as if she had forgotten to eat it.

 

One day, vampires brought flowers as a symbol of peace.

 

At one point, he wondered why he had no hatred left of vampires. And now, after so many hours, he now has vampire friends, colleagues, and…

 

He began to feel sleepy, perhaps because he had eaten too much.

 

“I’m sleepy. Let’s sleep.”

 

Doyeong lay down out of nowhere. Camar also asked him eyes wide open,

 

“So suddenly?”

 

“Yes, sleepiness comes suddenly.”

 

Then, Doyeong closed his eyes.

 

After a while, he fell asleep. His breathing became regular.

 

Camar looked at Doyeong while chewing on the flower she had forgotten to eat. Lightly colored eyelashes sat neatly under his closed eyes.

 

It looked just like a sculpture she saw in Athens, Greece long ago.

 

Compared to the standards of the era in which she was born, when a man who was buff and manly was praised as a true man, Doyeong’s facial features were smooth and delicate enough to look feminine. Nevertheless, Doyeong’s masculinity was not disturbed in the slightest.

 

His shoulders were broad, and the stomach she touched last time was firm. He also had big hands…

 

For some reason, she felt like stroking his nose.

 

Badump. Badump. Badump.

 

A powerful beating was heard from within his ribs.

 

Sound of a heartbeat.

 

Sound of life.

 

Camar followed the sound a little closer. As the distance drew closer, she could feel his breath through his slightly gapped, textured lips.

 

Camar was unfamiliar with this feeling.

 

Doyeong said that his mother worked in a restaurant to see the man she likes, that she even chose a time when others were reluctant to work.

 

Did she feel this way?

 

‘Is it the same feeling?’

 

Camar threw a question mark at the end of her thought without realizing it.

 

So, does she like Doyeong the way Doyeong’s mother liked his father?

 

However, no matter how fierce he fought with her when they first met, Doyeong was only a human. Though he was definitely different from the humans who had come to the island so far…

 

Then, suddenly, Doyeong opened his eyes.

 

Camar flinched.

 

She thought he was going to frown on what she was doing, but perhaps because he was sleepy, he just stared at her with grayish-blue eyes that sank as low as the sea before the storm.

 

‘I guess it’s because I’m too close.’

 

Camar thought and tried to get her body up.

 

“Sorry…”

 

However, Doyeong grabbed Camar and pulled her closer. Camar was dragged in an awkward manner. Then Doyeong laid Camar next to him.

 

“You sleep too.”

 

Then he patted her shoulder as if to put a baby to sleep. He quickly removed his hands, but warmth remained where Doyeong patted her. Camar touched that part.

 

And a smile crept out.

 

***

 

Early in the morning, Doyeong opened his eyes. But Camar’s place was already empty. Seeing that even the blankets were arranged, it looked like she had gone out with a purpose.

 

A note was placed on top of the folded blanket.

 

<Je vei deor.>

 

I go roast.

 

It seemed like she had tried my best, but the spelling was still fantastic.

 

“It’s a mess.”

 

Doyeong grabbed the note and muttered.

 

But why the crooked writing, that you can feel the traces of hard work, so cute?

 

Like a mother who was about to go travelling but still managed to cook a pot of pasta, and left the breakfast on top of the brazier.

 

Doyeong got up after eating breakfast and went out limping. The beach was empty.

 

‘Where did she go?’

 

He thought about it, but she wasn’t a five-year-old kid, and he wasn’t particularly worried as he thought that the cat that went out would probably come back by sunset.

 

Doyeong took a light shower and sat under the shade of a tree where he always spends time, and opened the book he brought with him.

 

<Moby Dick>

 

It was a book he found among a pile of books in several languages, as if they all belonged to the guests who came and went. He first read it when he was a kid…

 

He was reading it for a while when he found something tucked between the back of the book and the cover.

 

‘What’s this?’

 

He turned the book and found inside was an old, faded envelope.

 

Doyeong opened the envelope, took out a letter, and unfolded it. The letters were written in old French and in a language that appeared to be German in terms of word and sentence structure. But it’s not German…

 

It was Dutch.

 

‘Johannes.’

 

For some reason, Doyeong could immediately recognize who wrote this.

 

Apparently, Johannes seemed to be a fairly educated intellectual belonging to the East India Company, and since French was an international language in the past, he must have spoken French quite well.

 

Doyeong didn’t know how to read Dutch, but he thought that Johannes might have written the same content twice because the length of the writing was similar.

 

Doyeong started reading the letter.

 

“I taught Camar about my mother tongue and the outside world.”

 

It was written in old French, so it was difficult to understand some parts, but as someone who had read all of Moliere’s works (French national playwright), it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t read it.

 

“I have lived here for exactly 22 years.”

 

Doyeong paused there for a while.

 

‘22 years?’

 

A strange feeling… There was a feeling of jealousy.

 

‘No, let’s not forget that Camar and I have nothing to do with each other and are never meant to be.’

 

Doyeong continued to read the letter.

 

<I missed my wife and children at home. I waited for the rescue team every day. I pleaded with Camar for help, and sometimes I even burst into anger, but she only said there was no way out of this island.

 

At one time, my relationship with Camar deteriorated. But in the end, it was just me and her in this place. We reconciled again.

 

I fell in love with Camar. She was beautiful and strong, and she cared for me with devotion.>

 

Doyeong, trying not to stop reading the letter, turned the letter over to the back page.