A Dark Fantasy Spy

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Camila Lowell is a university student from Britain. She attends Cambridge University, majoring in Conflict Studies.

It seems she grew up rather affluently, though I have no idea what her family does, and for some reason, she claims to have visited Africa from time to time.

Anyway.

Since Camila is majoring in a social science field similar to Political Diplomacy, her personality tends to lean more towards the humanities rather than the sciences. In other words, there’s a hint of naivety about her.

A university student from a prestigious British university.

She possesses the ability to manipulate fire, presumably based on elemental magic.

Maybe because she watched a lot of movies (like Harry Potter), she also enjoys adventures.

From this standpoint, she seemed like just another typical protagonist you’d find in a third-rate novel, movie, or drama.

Camila was indeed that kind of person and looked the part.

But there were two things I never expected. One is that Camila is surprisingly sharp-witted.

The other is—

“Why on earth are you still awake at this hour?”

“What’s the big deal about staying up all night? I worked late hours every day during my internship!”

“…Let’s just go inside.”

She turned out to be far more chatty than I had expected.

—

Episode 7 – Daily Life

Britain is an island nation in Europe. Geographically, it is located in Northwestern Europe, and historically, it has been the dominant power with numerous colonies, earning the nickname “the country where the sun never sets,” alongside Germany and France.

The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit). Discussions abound about whether the UK should still be viewed as a member and leader of the EU due to various reasons like disarmament in Western Europe, the redeployment of US troops stationed in Europe, political interests between the US and Europe, and the expansion of Russia and China’s influence.

Opinions vary greatly, but one thing is clear: the UK is undoubtedly one of the powerful countries in Europe.

Of course, for an average citizen from a non-European country like South Korea, when we think of “Britain,” we think of football, bland food, and the classic representative nation of world history, among other things. However, it’s an undeniable fact that Britain is a prominent power and a wealthy country in Western Europe, as well as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Well, I may talk eloquently about it, but the truth is I don’t know much about what Britain is like. I’ve never set foot in Western Europe, and frankly, I’m just not that interested in Europe.

I’ve only heard tales from a friend who lost their shirt betting on EPL matches (sports betting is legal in the UK), from a colleague who moved to a different job after leaving the military, or about a town where I collaborated with American friends, and I read novels by some authors in that genre that I found amusing.

This aside, what I really want to say is this: the “Britain” in my mind exists solely as an extremely abstract and conceptual image. How could I accurately know a place I’ve neither visited nor lived in?

Thus, it’s no surprise that the conversation with the first British person I encountered in 28 years was bound to be incredibly awkward.

“Have you been to the UK?”

“No.”

In the gray dawn, as a chilly autumn drizzle fell, as soon as I stepped out of the elevator, a British girl casually struck up a conversation with me.

It was Camila.

“Do you know where the UK is? Just checking in case you don’t.”

“Western Europe.”

Camila made her daily routine of talking to me again. With her red hair, she smiled at me, seemingly unaware of how tired I looked.

Maybe it’s because she’s a foreigner, but her reactions and gestures felt somewhat, I don’t know… a bit overwhelming.

Unfazed by my feelings, Camila kept smiling brightly.

“Have you ever traveled to Europe?”

“I’ve been to Eastern Europe, but not Western Europe… Oh, I did go to Germany once.”

“Germany? That’s nice. What were you doing there?”

It seemed today’s topic was Europe, particularly Western Europe.

“Meeting a friend.”

“You have a German friend?”

“She’s not German; she’s American. She just works in Germany.”

“Where in Germany?”

“Uh… Ramstein, perhaps…?”

“Oh, she must be in the military. That area has an airbase.”

Camila naturally made a guess while nodding her head. Although my friend was a former US serviceman stationed in South Korea, he wasn’t stationed in Germany, so her guess was half-right and half-wrong. But I didn’t bother to correct her.

I was too tired.

I had been exhausted from Veronica’s nagging in the morning, worked according to my schedule from noon, dealt with client complaints right before quitting time, and then had to jump from appointment to appointment. When I finally returned to the hotel, I was cornered by Camila.

This had been my daily routine lately. There wasn’t a single “h” of rest to be found, no matter how hard I looked.

I knew all too well that the Information Agency wasn’t concerned about work-life balance, and I chose to enter the Military Intelligence Agency knowing I could accept some level of discomfort, but this was too much.

Whether she knew my feelings or not, today Camila continued to beam and struck up yet another conversation.

“Oh, by the way, where are you from?”

“…What do you mean?”

“You’re not originally from here, right? I’m asking where you’re from.”

“I’m from South Korea. There’s a country situated between Japan and China.”

“Ah!”

The British girl smacked her forehead.

“The country with nuclear weapons that threatens the US, right?!”

“…….”

“I knew it was right!”

I wanted to give her a smack.

—

After coming out to Camila, the most dramatic change was communication.

I no longer had to tiptoe around her or hesitate to speak, and she now had someone to share her thoughts with, leading naturally to more open conversations.

Of course, that freedom didn’t always lead to productive dialogue.

“Are you sulking or something?”

“I am Groot.”

“Don’t dodge the question.”

“I am Groot.”

“You’re sulking….”

Camila, in no way remorseful, laughed and apologized.

“Sorry!”

“You shouldn’t do something that requires an apology then.”

“But when I think of Korea, all I can think of is nuclear weapons….”

Common sense says someone from the Conflict Studies department shouldn’t confuse nuclear-armed international thugs with the southern half of that nation, but my brain was too jumbled to care.

Maybe she was just trying to provoke me for fun. I let it slide and smiled at Camila, putting on a brave face.

“So, have you resolved all your curiosities for today?”

“Umm, a little?”

“How much more is there left?”

Camila silently rummaged through her pockets and pulled out something to show me. It was a neatly folded piece of paper with a list of questions that looked like a checklist.

That list looked as intense as a cult’s membership survey and almost made me faint.

“I’m feeling dizzy….”

“I’ll just ask a few questions, so don’t you dare pass out.”

“Couldn’t you just ask me in the morning?”

Desperately thrown out, my retort didn’t even phase her as she unfolded the question list. It made me lament that I couldn’t invoke diplomatic immunity in such moments.

“Anyway, first question. Where are you originally from? Like….”

“Earth. Yes, that’s correct. But why would you ask such a thing? Just say Earth.”

“Multiverse!”

Camila suddenly shouted a strange word.

“…….”

“You don’t know about the multiverse? Haven’t you seen Endgame?”

“…What’s that?”

“Avengers.”

So it was Marvel.

“I saw the one where the purple alien flicks his fingers and wipes out everyone, but I didn’t catch the sequel since I was busy working.”

“Oh, no!”

Camila gasped while covering her mouth, her long eyelashes fluttering. It was as if she couldn’t fathom how someone hadn’t seen such an amazing movie, making me feel a bit embarrassed.

I had no strength left to respond; I just hoped she would quickly move on to the next question.

“Anyway, what were you doing when you were originally on Earth?”

“I was a soldier. A career soldier.”

“Army? Navy? Or Air Force?”

“I guess it would technically be the Army, but honestly, it doesn’t carry much significance, as the treatment varies depending on the deployment.”

“Deployment? Were you in Special Forces or something?”

“Something like that.”

Suddenly, Camila’s eyes sparkled as she asked, “Where did you get deployed?”

“Quite a few places. Afghanistan, South Sudan, Lebanon, Syria… But why do you want to know so much?”

“I guess my dad was in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“Oh, really…?”

Camila’s father was an officer in the British Army.

The UK frequently sends troops abroad. Similar to France and the US, the British Special Forces conduct anti-terror operations and covert operations (commonly known as black ops) in the Middle East and Africa. They sometimes even deploy brigade-sized units to conflict areas. So, it was quite plausible for Camila’s father to have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The UK follows only the US in terms of overseas deployments.

“Iraq is a rough place. Speaking of which, didn’t the UK prime minister get impeached after deploying troops to the Iraq War?”

“Tony Blair? It wasn’t an impeachment per se, but he faced a lot of criticism for his military interventions since the Kosovo War. The situation exploded during the Iraq War, leading to him being ousted by the Labour Party.”

“Uh-huh.”

I didn’t understand a single word.

Although I had picked up some bits and pieces about British politics, it wasn’t my field of study, making it slightly difficult to fully grasp.

“I can’t even remember if Tony Blair was a Labour Party or Conservative Party prime minister, but I know he was around during President Bush’s time. Bush followed by Obama, then Trump.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The reason I specifically recalled Obama was that I had seen on Cuban TV the moment when the CIA got caught torturing prisoners in Guantanamo in order to bypass the anti-torture act, with Vice President Biden making clarifications alongside him—how could I forget that?

Camila and I chatted the night away in my hotel room.

It mainly involved her asking questions and me answering, and judging by the way she was inquiring, it seemed she was both satisfying her curiosity and conducting a bit of an interrogation on me.

I earnestly tried to answer her questions as best as I could.

“What took you to South Sudan?”

“Our troops were conducting PKO activities there.”

“Peacekeeping Force?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been to Sudan but not South Sudan; it was just next door.”

“Why did you go to Sudan?”

“I went for medical volunteering! To be honest, I got tricked into going.”

“You got tricked? That’s a conflict area!”

“When I was in high school, my sister said she wanted to travel abroad, so I tagged along, and when we arrived, it turned out to be Sudan.”

“…Oh dear.”

“So, what was your final rank? You’re a Major now, right?”

“Cpt. I can recall that I was close to the first evaluation for Major, but I can’t remember the details about my paygrade.”

“I’m not too familiar with military ranks.”

“Oh, right. You’ve never served.”

“So you were in Special Forces before, and now what do you do?”

“I’m a Resident Officer. Military diplomacy, military liaison, attending events, information collection.”

“And you put something so sinister in a plastic bottle?”

“…….”

“So you haven’t been to the UK and don’t really know what kind of country it is, huh?”

“Not exactly that. I have some tidbits I picked up from my friend who is in the UK. I watched football, movies, and dramas, and read some novels while I was stationed.”

“Which one stood out the most?”

“Le Carré’s novels.”

“Ah! The Spy Who Came in from the Cold! That one is so intriguing! What about Sherlock Holmes?”

“I only watched that as a drama. The one where Doctor Strange is the main actor.”

Our conversation flowed easily. It was quite unexpected.

I couldn’t help but worry if significant time had passed and everything I knew had completely changed, but as we tried to piece together some common knowledge, it became clear we had lived in a similar time frame.

Granted, I did find myself fumbling a bit while retracing my memories from 28 years ago, but thankfully, I was able to understand and respond to what Camila was saying without too much difficulty.

Our conversation was not bad at all; it was even more enjoyable than I had anticipated, and most importantly, the overlap between her interests and my experiences gave us plenty to talk about.

It felt somewhat like that weight I had been carrying on my chest was lifting, or at least it felt lighter. Overall, I was doing just fine. Well, except for being slightly tired.

Of course, it was not entirely without issues.

“Oh, could you teach me that thing?”

“Teach you what? That’s quite concerning.”

“Tradecraft? I’m not sure if that’s the right term.”

“…You’re not asking me to teach you espionage, are you?”

“Yes!”

My response was simple.

“I wouldn’t know how to do that.”

Not gonna share that info.