A Dark Fantasy Spy

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“Have you heard the news?”

My colleague’s question snapped me out of my moment as I was tearing open a pack of Maxim White Gold coffee mix. I shot back at him.

“What news?”

“About senior Kim, who left a few years ago. Our executive just came back from the headquarters and said he met him there.”

“Captain Kim? What would someone who’s already moved on be doing there?”

He leaned in with a sly grin, tilting his upper body slightly.

“He switched jobs.”

“Switched jobs?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he’s doing well over there. In London.”

“Wasn’t he originally in charge of Eurasia? And now he’s in London?”

“Yep. According to the executive, he’s dating the youngest member of that team. What was her name… something like Sejin, I think.”

Under the hot summer sun, at the smoking area behind the barracks, I flicked the ashes off my cigarette into the ashtray while my colleague was trying to recall her name.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, he’s not one of us anymore.”

“Hey, still. He was a military senior and a colleague at one point. Shouldn’t we care about how he’s doing?”

“That’s not what we’re talking about, you idiot. Stop blabbering on about other people and just chat about games like usual. Don’t you remember how exhausting it was to get involved with them?”

“Seriously, you are such a dense jerk…”

My colleague snickered, tipping his paper cup over. Just then, the window in the hallway suddenly swung open.

The stern voice of our executive rang in my ears.

“Hey, you guys! If you’re done with the coffee, could you please come inside and sit? And why are you walking around without your hats? Did you forget the regulations? Should I remind you?”

“Sorry!”

“I’ll correct it.”

My colleague tossed the cigarette butt into the paper cup and hurriedly adjusted his beret, rushing into the building.

The executive turned to me and said, “You should get inside too. Executive Jeong is looking for you.”

“Yes, understood.”

I straightened my beret and stepped into the building. My vision blurred gradually. The hallway. The stairs. Everything flipped rapidly.

Then came darkness.

It was pitch black.

—

As I was about to doze off in the duty room, I was approached by employees of the Royal Intelligence Department requesting my accompaniment.

I wasn’t particularly curious about why they were looking for me from a competing agency.

From experience, getting tangled with folks from other intelligence agencies always led to exhausting situations. Whether it was joint operations or information sharing, I had never had a good time involving ourselves with the competition. The truth was as clear as a mathematical formula, one my decade-long career had sufficiently proved.

And I was already tired, had been tired, and would presumably continue to be tired, so I politely declined the Royal Intelligence Department’s invitation to accompany them.

However, the Royal Intelligence Department employees were more persistent and tenacious than I expected, as they barged into the duty room, trying to convince me to go with them.

They didn’t disclose any reasons, purpose, or destination.

They didn’t answer any questions I asked, and the endless emotional draining disguised as conversation continued, until I finally reluctantly agreed to join them on the condition it would be over in an hour.

Now, an hour later.

“You said an hour would be enough. Why are you still dragging me along? Huh?”

“We’re not dragging you; we’re escorting you.”

I was blindsided. The promise of finishing within an hour was obviously a lie.

I had anticipated it, but it felt nauseating to actually experience it.

The procession of black cars, with their tinted windows, navigated the winding road at speed.

Right now, I was somewhere on an unmarked mountain road. I could tell by looking at the stars that we were headed east, but that was as far as my knowledge went. There were no maps, no signs. It was a totally unfamiliar place. Hence, of course, I had no idea where we were.

All I was sure of was that we were heading east and that the driving skills of the people behind the wheel were not ordinary.

“Where are we going?”

I asked the Royal Intelligence Department employee sitting in the passenger seat, the suit guy who had handed me his business card.

“…….”

“Not going to answer me?”

However, the suit guy stayed silent, not responding to my question and taking no action whatsoever. I had never encountered someone this obstinate in my life. Even my egotistical necktie crew from Neunggok-dong wouldn’t treat industry professionals this rudely.

“…sigh.”

I knew that getting worked up over it would only tire me out even more.

So, exhaling a deep sigh, I leaned back in my seat. I couldn’t just jump out of a moving car, so I had no choice but to try and catch some sleep instead.

During my brief rest, I suddenly heard snippets of radio chatter from the passenger seat.

“…Time, three minutes. Open the main gate.”

On a moonlit night obscured by clouds, our vehicle convoy arrived at our destination along the mountain road.

It was the Royal Intelligence Department headquarters.

—

Unlike the Military Intelligence Agency Headquarters, the Royal Intelligence Department headquarters is located far from the bustling center of the capital.

With skyrocketing land prices and booming urban populations, they had decided to ignore the aggressive criticisms from the Ministry of Land and the Ministry of Finance, who were tightly intertwined with the construction tycoons, by quietly selling their real estate and relocating to a larger, more comfortable site.

Due to accessibility issues, many complaint voices from the suits residing in the capital echoed to the heavens, but being civil servants, they couldn’t go against government policies. Ultimately, those suits ended up becoming weekend fathers or endured long commutes to the headquarters….

That’s the rumor I’d heard when I was the advisor to the Military Intelligence Agency Counterintelligence Chief.

And now, on my very first visit to the Royal Intelligence Department, I found out that the rumor was indeed true.

“Please, come in.”

The Royal Intelligence Department employee guided me inside the building.

After leaving my belongings at the reception desk, passing through security, and undergoing a simple identity verification process, I finally got clearance to enter.

I followed the suited guy down a straight hallway while questioning.

“So, why am I here? I believe it’s about time to tell me.”

“We don’t know either. We’re just acting on orders.”

So they don’t even know why they brought me here? I couldn’t tell if they genuinely didn’t know or if they were hiding something, but it was clear that the higher-ups had sent these suits here.

The leading employee walked in silence, and I kept my mouth shut, going along. We walked in silence for a while.

Suddenly, he spoke to me.

“Do you know what this place is for?”

“I’ve heard it’s where they pull out toenails.”

I didn’t actually say that because I genuinely didn’t know.

The Royal Intelligence Department is a national intelligence agency. To compare, it would be like the National Intelligence Service in South Korea, or the CIA in the U.S. Given that the Royal Intelligence Department itself is both a national intelligence agency and external intelligence agency, it would lean more towards being a structure akin to the CIA rather than the National Intelligence Service.

Saying it’s a toenail-pulling place was half-joking. Still, given the situation, I couldn’t keep my remarks polite.

But on the flip side, a half-joke means there’s half-truth hidden in it.

“You seem to know well.”

The Royal Intelligence Department employee responded with a self-deprecating laugh, accepting the joke.

The conversation chain broke, and uncomfortable silence returned to our stroll. We quickened our pace, and soon arrived at our destination. The Royal Intelligence Department employee politely held the door open and gestured for me to enter.

“Please go in.”

I nodded towards him and stepped inside.

It was a meeting room.

—

The meeting room of the Royal Intelligence Department was more modest than I expected. While the conference room in the Military Intelligence Agency Headquarters felt akin to a military command center or a basement bunker, the Royal Intelligence Department’s meeting room resembled something you’d see in a government department or a private enterprise.

In other words, it had a more free-spirited atmosphere.

However, the national flags and insignias of the Royal Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Agency displayed at the back gave away that this was a national agency, and the attendees in suits and military uniforms confirmed it was not an ordinary place.

I stood at the entrance of the meeting room, scanning the seated attendees.

“…….”

The honored seat was empty.

On the left side, closer to the entrance, sat military personnel. They were familiar faces, so I didn’t have to figure out who was who.

They were command officers from the Military Intelligence Agency.

The suits sitting opposite them were likely from the Royal Intelligence Department.

“…Why are you here?”

“What are you pulling this little stunt for, buddy?”

All the key personnel from the Military Intelligence Agency, including the Director and Staff Officer, were present in the Royal Intelligence Department meeting room. Even Clevenz, who had been dodging calls, was there.

I started to get a sense of what was happening. It looked like everyone had gathered for a joint meeting of relevant agencies. Given that department heads were present, it was clear that this was a practical meeting, not a political one.

It felt strange that commanders from domestic departments (Security, Intelligence, Counterintelligence) were all gathered together.

I saluted the Military Intelligence Agency commanders.

“Thank you for your hard work late at night.”

The Director acknowledged my salute on behalf of all the commanders, and Cabelez, representing all the decision-makers at the Military Intelligence Agency, asked me.

He was slated for promotion to Brigadier General and was a strong candidate for the next Director, so it made sense that he’d be the one asking.

“Frederick, why are you coming out from there?”

“I’m not sure.”

I couldn’t exactly say I’d been dragged by the Royal Intelligence Department employees in front of key figures from the Royal Intelligence Department, so I just evaded the question.

Honestly, I didn’t know the reason either, so I had nothing to say. What could I say about being pulled from my sleep?

Cabelez wanted to know what that meant. But the answer came not from me, but from the opposite side.

“Oh, our employees brought him here.”

A Royal Intelligence Department representative I didn’t recognize answered that. He pointed toward a chair positioned at the back of the meeting room.

“Please, have a seat. It must be tiring to come all the way here so late.”

If you knew that, then why did you drag me here?

Of course, I couldn’t speak disrespectfully to someone old enough to be my father, so I kept my mouth shut.

And besides, I couldn’t even sit down.

“What authority does your department have to summon our staff like this?”

“Our staff requested companionship.”

“Voluntary companionship? Why is a department without investigative power exercising an authority that doesn’t even exist in the law?”

“We merely asked politely to have tea. What’s this business about voluntary companionship…”

The personnel from the Military Intelligence Agency and the Royal Intelligence Department began to clash.

“So, what’s the reason you called him here?”

“Do we need a reason just to drink tea?”

“This person…”

“Come on, calm down. We have a young guest here, let’s not make a scene.”

“Are we joking right now? Who’s the one making a fuss here?”

The atmosphere was getting tense. The warm exchange of words felt like it had already turned into a fierce war before I even entered.

I quietly considered retreating through the door, but upon seeing the Royal Intelligence Department employees waiting outside, I closed it again.

The air in the conference room was as cold as flames, showing no signs of settling.

Eventually, someone had to step in like a superhero and tie this chaos up. That hero emerged from the seat closest to the top table.

It was the Royal Intelligence Department.

“That’s enough.”

A gray-haired old man stepped in to mediate. His voice wasn’t commanding enough to captivate the room, yet it managed to cool down the heated air.

After scanning the now-silent crowd, the old man leaned in with his wrinkled eyes and continued speaking.

“I have summoned the Major.”

An unfamiliar grandfather called for me.

And there was no need to ask who he was. He was seated right across from the Director of the Military Intelligence Agency at the top table.

Only one person had the right to sit in that seat.

The Chief of the Royal Intelligence Department.

He addresses me.

“You must be tired from the long journey; please take a seat.”

“…….”

But I didn’t sit and instead looked at the military intelligence agency commanders. My affiliation lay with the Military Intelligence Agency, not the Royal Intelligence Department.

Finally, I could only sit in the folding chair placed at the back of the table after receiving a nod from the Director. It was only natural for a soldier.

However, that displeased the Royal Intelligence Department personnel (as their head was sitting there), and the atmosphere in the meeting room plummeted like the price of Bitcoin after a regulatory hit.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

In the awkward silence, while dozens of personnel from both the Royal Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Agency held their breaths and stared at each other…

“Haha!”

The Chief of the Royal Intelligence Department burst into a laugh typical of elderly men.

“It’s just like seeing our Division Chief for the first time when I look at the Major. Isn’t that right, Director Leoni?”

The middle-aged woman sitting with the Royal Intelligence Department replied.

“Did I say that?”

The middle-aged woman cast her gaze at the Chief and then slowly turned to look at me. Only then did I notice her appearance.

Untrimmed hair, more of a disheveled bob than a stylish cut.

A slender frame thinner than average.

Sunken eye sockets, gaunt cheeks, and protruding cheekbones.

Yet those flaws were overshadowed by eyes gleaming with fierce determination.

“Yes, it’s a perfect match. Do they teach that at Kelsir?”

“I’m not sure. Regardless, I’ll take it as a compliment, Chief.”

She was the top student of the Kelsir Royal Military Academy’s 145th class.

The first-ever female intelligence officer in military history.

The youngest intelligence agent in the Military Intelligence Agency.

The first female operative to pass the selection process.

An elite who served as the head of overseas operations for the Military Intelligence Agency in the Kien Empire, and as the branch chief in the Lushan Federation.

An experienced handler who controlled hundreds of operatives at the frontlines of intense espionage.

A legend living in the era of covert operations.

A true 007.

And….

“It’s been a while. Team Leader.”

My former superior.

“No, it’s not team leader anymore; now you’re Major, right?”

“…….”

“It’s quite nice to see you again.”

A reunion with an old superior.