Without any solution, I stopped walking to the polic e station every day. Now it was time to find another way.
Following the words of the priest who recommende d this place with a benevolent face, saying it might be 'God's will', she took a picture of the flyer with a came ra and read it out through a voice app. That was the pl ace she came to.
"Then why don't you start by talking about your neighbors? "Everything I remember."
Seo-ryeong furrowed her eyebrows. It was definitel y a new approach.
"With that bastard, ah... So, have you ever thought that your husband and the neighbors might be part of a gang?"
Is he only in his early twenties? She cleared her throat and habitually corrected the ending of her sentenc es, and I could smell her cookies and cigarettes at the same time.
Does this child have short hair? Seo-ryeong narrow ed her eyes. Clearly, even at this moment, my vision was becoming clearer little by little.
"It seems like they received instructions and moved in an organized manner. Whether it's a multi-level organization, a branch organization, or something else, whether they're really trying to rip out customers to the bone, there must be someone who ordered all of this. Who on earth is that...
The sound of the keyboard rang cheerfully. All I rem ember about my neighbors were a few names, school s, and companies. She blurted out random things that came to mind.
Because visual information could not be obtained w ith the eyes, Seoryeong had to remember more caref ully in other ways. For example, things like footsteps, smells, and voices. And even small talk, which was in significant.
Seo-ryeong mobilized all her memory and passed o n trivial information to the staff.
"Then let's start by criticizing our neighbors...!"
Exactly a week later, I got a call from her.
-What kind of bastard are you living with?
It was a voice that turned me upside down. Hey...! Your dialect...! A loud shouting sound was heard over the receiver.
***
"sir...."
It was still a sofa with the worst cushioning.
The employee I saw after a week still smelled like sweet cookies and cigarettes.
Next to her, a man believed to be middle- aged was watching Seo -ryeong with his arms crossed with a serious expression.
Not only did the young employee appear to be having a particularly difficult time, but his bulky build and bald head gave an indication of his age.
It also looks better than before. Previously, all objects were blurry, as if they were made of clouds of fog, but now the vision has been restored to the level of a n unpolished glass window.
"Hello, Mr. Han Seo -ryeong."
The man uncrossed his arms and said hello.
"My name is Pil -gyu Jeong, head of the information analysis team at Blast."
Blast? Did this little errand center have a name like that? As Seo -ryeong furrowed her brows, he hit th e employee on the head with a hammer and said, as if he understood.
"It may be a little unfamiliar to the general public, but Blast is a private military company. "This is a company that provides military services to overseas conflict areas with government permission."
For Seo -ryeong, who had worked as a care worker since she was 20, it was just a story from a distant country.
"This errand center here is a small business run by our team, and we usually send a lot of employees her e when training them or especially when giving them disciplinary action."
The man gritted his teeth and glared at the employee, Heo Chan-na.
"This roughly suffices for the introduction - Mr. Han Seo- ryeong."
"yes."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think we can take on the task you requested."
Seo-ryeong remained silent for the time being in response to the polite but firm refusal. Rather, Channa, who was in charge of this request, became even mor e anxious. "You man!" she raised her voice sharply an d turned her head as if in defiance. She took a deep breath and looked at her soul with burning eyes.
"Most of the neighbors' names were fake...! Every one at school and work was frying! But it wasn't all fake. "Even that little bastard probably didn't know that I would delve into the personal details of my neighbors."
"Hey, hey, Heo Chan -na, you have a bit of dialect!"
Even though Jeong Pil -gyu punched her in the bac k, her fighting spirit did not diminish one bit.
"Is there a pigtail bachelor who lives raising that dog? Even if all the others were fake, the dog's name was real...!"
Seoryeong raised her eyebrows at the unexpected clue.
"I looked up the name of the dog registered at the animal hospital, and it turned out that it was located an hour and a half away from my South Korean sister's house. I can already smell it from here. The guardian's name was different in the medical record. Yeonmi Kim, 67 years old."
"....."
"So I pulled up five years' worth of Kim Yeon- mi' s credit card receipts and, wow, we were really naive!"
She shouted sarcastically, stopped talking, and then took a deep breath.
"This is what came out."
At the same time, Channa nudged the man with he relbow.
Then, when North Korean words began to come out of her mouth, the man who had been slapping her smooth scalp as if he was going crazy handed her a pad with a disapproving look on his face.
However, Seo- ryeong did not react at all, and Chan -na, who felt sorry for her, read the receipt details her self.
"National Intelligence Service level 9 past question s, National Intelligence Service NIAT basic section, ap plication section, advanced section, preparation for the National Intelligence Service written test."
"....!"
Seo- ryeong froze. It was a completely unexpected story. Jeong Pil-gyu, who was washing his face and rubbing it, began to speak as if he was exhausted.
"Kim Yeon -mi has a son. "It says she is an employe e of a publishing company, but field agents are usually good at pretending to be from that branch."
"By the way, if the son actually passed the National Intelligence Service exam and was working around Han Seo- ryeong as a low- level field worker, then this is not fraud or a multi -level organization...."
Seo- ryeong soothed her dry mouth a little.
"He might be a National Intelligence Service agent. "For now, I have no choice but to doubt that possibility."
"Then my husband..." ... "
Her hands were shaking slightly. At this moment, t he shock was no longer important.
At the end of a long tunnel, it seemed like there wa s finally light. After weeks of hearing vague things lik e, "You can't find it," "Go back," "You've been scammed," it felt like something tangible was finally within reach.
She grabbed the hem of her shirt tightly. It was a definite step forward. She was getting closer to the rea I Kim Hyun little by little. Now if you only know who he is...!
"Anyway, what on earth is Han Seo- ryeong doing?"
Jeong Pil- gyu suddenly asked coldly. She stiffened her dull face at her somewhat aggressive aura.
"He made a woman look like she was completely cr azy and then completely lost her mind. They purchase d an entire villa, controlled the surrounding 200m are a, and made sure there were no witnesses. "At this size, it's not an ordinary agent or an ordinary operation."
"..."
"What's more, you've been in a relationship for 6 months and married for 2 years. This is absolutely not normal. It's as if Han Seo-ryeong has been living on an elaborately designed set. Her controlling style is unreasonable. I don't know if it was a government agency t hat decided to do something...."
"..."
"Do you have any idea now?"
Jeong Pil- gyu seemed to be thirsty so he gulped down the water on the table.
But Seo -ryeong really didn't know the meaning. She grew up in an orphanage her whole life, and because she was thrown into society at an early age, she only became independent earlier than others.
During my school days, I was kicked out of the gymnastics team, which I was good at, failed the entrance exam, and now I have even failed to get married. She just lived because she had to live, and just repeated one boring day.
Is there something special in a life like this?. She used to fight with her friends often when she was you ng, but it was just a personality issue.
She really wanted to ask. After making it so that I couldn't live a day without her husband, is it okay form to destroy my world and disappear like this? Do I really have a justifiable reason for that?.
"Agent Black has been assigned to the lady."
Black, agent?"
My heart dropped as if it had plummeted. Her fingertips grew cold at her bad premonition.
"ha... After working in the National Intelligence Service for a long time, there were many times when I had to rely on my intuition. And this... "It's a feelin g of discomfort that I've only experienced once during my time at work."
"....."
"That's why I can't handle this. "Honestly, I don't think so."
Jeong Pil -gyu said with a heavy sigh.
"I will never find it."
"....."
It felt like a death sentence had been handed dow n. I can never find it.... My jaw clenched shut at that firm affirmation.
In my temper, I wanted to throw the glass, but I didn't have the strength to lift a finger.
My knees were already giving out, and my eyelids were fluttering out of control.
"Except for the top executives of the National Intelligence Service, no one knows Agent Black's identity. Those people are literally spies when they go abroad. Even if your identity is revealed, the government will not recognize you. Then, even if you are caught overs eas, you will face imprisonment or even the death penalty."
"You will never find it."
There was silence and my ears were deafening. She felt like time was slowing down and she couldn't tell how long she had been frozen.
It seemed like I was just listening to the man's one - sided words. The words went round and round in my head, making me dizzy.
I also tried to track down Kim Yeon -mi' s son, but the traces were already lost... Since she has been worki ng with Seo- ryeong Han for a long time, I wonder if s he received a reward or something....
As the words continued, my heart began to pound more and more. I had a violent urge to cover that mouth and crush it.
"Just think you were bitten by a bastard, forget about it and live on. "It's better for you to give up."