Chapter 123: Ha Eun-young (Seo Eun-mi)
Im Sua deliberately piled a ton of work on Ha Eun-young. She needed her buried in tasks so she wouldn't notice what was really going on—and so the operation could proceed smoothly. No need to invent busywork, though; the land acquisitions had her swamped already. Hell, even Ha Eun-young jumped right in without a hint of suspicion.
Meanwhile, Im Sua dug deep into Ha Eun-young's past, pouring every effort into linking NIS agent Ha Eun-young with Prestige secretary Seo Eun-mi.
Name: Ha Eun-young
Age: 23
Origin: Incheon
Parents: Unknown. Discovered abandoned in a trash bin at Wonin-jae Station women's restroom by the orphanage director at the time... bounced between institutions until age 13, then all traces vanish. Processed as missing/presumed dead.
Name: Seo Eun-mi
Age: 23
Origin: Pyongyang
Father: Deep-sea fishing vessel captain
Mother: Runs a sashimi restaurant at Nampo Port Fishery Market...
Early graduation from Pyongyang First High at 17, top admission to Pyongyang First University. Early grad at 19. Studied abroad in Switzerland from age 20 for two years, joined Prestige early this year.
That was all she could scrape together on Ha Eun-young. Completely different people. No outsider would ever connect Seo Eun-mi = Ha Eun-young. They'd call it bullshit if you even suggested it.
How the hell did Master figure it out?
No evidence, no clues linking them as the same person. How did Ko Mu-yeol know? Did he have some kind of clairvoyance?
He finds all sorts of weird shit too.
The basement on the day they first met, the Burning Rose, the haunted Go board—stuff straight out of legends, and he sniffed them out like nothing. Hell, he even nailed stock trends...
From the future or something? Haha. No way.
"Anyway, they're the same bitch."
She'd go with it. His words just had that ring of truth.
"Seo Eun-mi's file is way too detailed. How much effort did she put into this?"
Seo Eun-mi's records were meticulous: resident ID, high school photos, graduation pics, classroom shots from Pyongyang First University, lecture requests, assignments, grades—everything poured out once you started digging. Active SNS too, plenty of photos.
Ha Eun-young—the presumed real identity? Barely anything. Orphan handed off to facilities, bounced around until 13, then gone. No photos, nothing. Vanished without a trace, declared missing and dead.
By the book: scooped up by NIS at 13, reborn as Seo Eun-mi, new life. So she was on missions since she was a kid?
At that age? Seemed insane, but the world was full of wild, unbelievable shit. Reality beat fiction every time—you couldn't forget that.
Makes Seo Eun-mi's parents super suspicious. Where'd they pop from?
If Ha Eun-young = Seo Eun-mi was certain, then Seo Eun-mi should've been an orphan too. But the papers listed clear parents.
'Mom runs a sashimi joint at Nampo Port Fishery Market, Dad sails deep-sea fishing boats...'
Dad could vanish anytime without raising eyebrows. Mom stayed put in one spot.
'Safe bet they're NIS agents too.'
Time to make contact. Sua dialed.