Respected Intelligence Officer (3)
A Cocoatalk message received from Lee Seon— no, from my Respected Intelligence Officer. The thought that I would finally get to see my master again after so long set my heart pounding.
Oh, what do I even do. I never dreamed I'd be meeting him again in a place like this.
He was the very person I'd been searching for all these years, and to think he'd been infiltrating the same academy all along. I felt pathetic for being such a fool and not noticing sooner. Looking back, there had been plenty of hints that should have given him away.
His towering height, for one. His curt, careless manner of speaking, for another. And above all, his exceptional skill at shifting his emotions and expressions on a moment's notice.
If anything, I should have been the one to notice the clues first and greet him. If I had, maybe he would have rewarded me for seeing through his disguise so thoroughly.
If only I'd done that, he might have praised me — 'so my disciple didn't forget her master's presence even after all these years.'
To fumble away the opportunity of a lifetime like that. Worse, I'd only managed to earn a scolding for pointlessly interfering with the Intelligence Officer's operation.
…And that was all because of that bastard Jeong Seok-hoon. If the Officer had at least dropped a hint that he was inside the academy, none of this would have happened.
Serves you right, you pathetic idiot.
Trying to stick your ladle into an operation your master was already running — of course you'd end up dead.
Well, whatever. From now on, I won't have to grovel before the likes of Jo Jin-hyun or Jeong Seok-hoon anymore.
Why did I join Black Moon in the first place? That bitch Kim Isabel is one thing, but my master matters more.
B-but, um, what should I wear? It's the first time I'm seeing him in ages, and going out in my priest's habit feels a little off….
Should I fix my hair up a bit too? Maybe a quick blow-dry?
And underwear, maybe— no, no. Would that be going a bit too far, even for this?
…Well, better to be prepared than sorry.
Who knows. He might tell me that since I've been sabotaging his operations all this time, I need to repay my debt with my body.
I'd refuse any other man without a second thought, but if it's my master, I really wouldn't mind.
…If what Hong Rachel said was true, then doing it from behind shouldn't be a problem. And since I'm in the middle of an operation, my master would surely understand that much.
Ah, wait, the time—
8:05 PM
“KYAAAAAK?!”
Wh-what?! When did time start moving this fast?!
Damn it, what do I do! Master hates people being late!
I-I'll just throw on something pretty and head out! Ahh, please, please don't let him have given up and left already!
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
Current time: 8:10 PM.
Yoon Selena, who I'd arranged to meet at eight, still hadn't shown her face.
I distinctly remembered setting the appointment for eight, yet she was nowhere to be seen, and a faint thread of anxious doubt began to sprout in my head.
What is this? Did she somehow realize that my bluff about being an intelligence officer was a lie?
Then again, right up until we parted earlier, she hadn't shown any sign of catching on.
Still, I couldn't afford to let my guard down. Good acting skills meant sharp observation and quick wits to match.
I hadn't even started her proper training yet, so it was a bit premature to claim I'd deceived her completely….
“Haaah— hah— haaah—!”
“…….”
“I'm— I'm so sorry for being late…! I apologize— hah—!!”
…Judging by that reaction, it seems my worry was for nothing.
Her clothes had changed, so she'd apparently been late because she was getting ready to see her 'Respected Intelligence Officer' in person.
Well, she liked the man, so of course she'd want to show herself looking as pretty as possible. It wasn't as if I couldn't understand Yoon Selena's feelings at all.
Of course, I fully intended to collect the price for making me wait — a mere villainess presuming to keep me standing around.
“Working with that cretin Jeong Seok-hoon turn even your brain into muscle? I can't tell whether you were born without a concept of time or just leave it at home.”
“I'm— I'm sorry….”
“And what in the world is that fluttery outfit? Planning to meet your contact while advertising exactly how suspicious you are?”
“N-no…. Th-this is just…”
“You were transparently giddy in your texts, too. You're supposed to compose anything that leaves a written record with the utmost care, in case you're caught anywhere, at any time. Don't tell me you've become so dense that even this needs to be taught to—”
“Hnngh…. hnnngh….”
“…….”
“Hnn, s-sorry, sniff…. hnnn, hnnnn….”
…What is this. Is she crying?
This was the same second-year who didn't shed a single tear while watching several of her own comrades die in that underground passage?
And she's bawling her eyes out because an intelligence officer named Lim Soo-hyuk scolded her a few times?
…I didn't see that coming.
I'd deliberately spoken harshly to match the original Lim Soo-hyuk's personality; I never anticipated this kind of response.
It seemed the Lim Soo-hyuk I was impersonating was simply that important a figure to Yoon Selena.
To her, the intelligence officer was the man who'd saved her life, the master who'd taught her everything she knew — and, on top of all that, her first love.
Normally I'd have crushed her spirit completely before moving on to the gaslighting, but I may need to adjust the plan a little.
Well, there's a training method that suits women like this perfectly, and it's a separate one altogether.
I pulled a handkerchief from my coat and thrust it casually in front of Yoon Selena's tear-streaked face.
—Sniff.
“What are you crying for like you did something right? Wipe your tears with this.”
“Ye— yes, sir…!”
The classic tsundere archetype of a man — talking down to you nonstop, then turning soft and kind the instant you show him a weakness.
An old-fashioned character type, but every bit as effective for that. Even now, the moment Yoon Selena accepted my handkerchief, an odd little smile was blooming across her face.
This was the girl whose thoughts I could never read for the life of me — and in front of Lim Soo-hyuk, she turns this transparent.
In the original story, she probably reacted exactly this way around the real Lim Soo-hyuk. I wouldn't know for certain, since I dropped the novel before it got that far.
In any case, even in the original, that kind of scene wouldn't have happened until at least the second semester of third year at the academy.
Give me three years, and I could break a woman like this over my knee with Suggestion and still have room to spare. If the real Lim Soo-hyuk ever showed up later, I'd simply train her so thoroughly that she'd assume he was the impostor instead.
“I-I'll do better from now on…. S-so please, please don't disappear on me again, M-Master….”
She believed, with this much ironclad conviction, that I was Lim Soo-hyuk — which meant I had all the time in the world to tame her.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
…Honestly. What an idiotic, hopeless fool.
Crying your eyes out like you did something right, there? She's genuinely insane.
Making your master wait was bad enough, but bursting into tears the moment you meet him — what on earth must he think of me? It was the first time I'd seen him in nearly ten years since joining Black Moon.
“Done crying now?”
“…I'm sorry.”
“Haaah. An infiltration op, assigned to a girl this green. Black Moon is really starting to rot from the inside.”
“…….”
…He must be so disappointed.
The disciple who'd returned after ten years — no, the girl merely claiming to be his disciple — was this clumsy, this pathetic.
And yet I'd practiced changing my expression in front of others so diligently. Why did none of it work the moment I stood before my master?
I couldn't even keep my emotions in check. Nothing, absolutely nothing, had gone my way today.
But… he still seems as kind as ever….
The way he handed me his own handkerchief — that really did feel like the master who once saved me.
I'll have to wash it carefully and return it— no, wait. I've already used it, so I should buy an identical one and give him that instead.
And this handkerchief I'll carry with me from now on. It holds my master's scent — a precious thing.
“Yoon Ji-yoon… no, it's Yoon Selena now, isn't it.”
“Y-you can still call me Ji-yoon….”
“You still haven't come to your senses?”
“…I'm sorry.”
…He remembered my name.
It would be wonderful if he'd call me Ji-yoon again, the way he used to — but maybe hoping for that much is asking for too much.
Still, learning that he'd kept me in his memory all this time… for now, that alone was more than enough.
“Yoon Selena. Report what you've been doing since infiltrating Cheonmu Academy. Start from the beginning.”
“I-I've been monitoring the movements of the primary targets. The most important target is Kim Isabel, so she's under top-priority surveillance, and, wh-when the field commander occasionally asks about Lee Seon— a-ah, no, about the Intelligence Officer's movements, I report to him on a regular basis.”
“So that arm-wrecking bastard still hasn't caught on to who I am. Same with that cretin Jeong Seok-hoon earlier. Officers, every last one of them — no wonder their subordinates are morons too.”
“…….”
“…You're no different, Yoon Selena. I came to see how my disciple had grown over ten years, and at this rate I'd be ashamed to call you my disciple anywhere I went.”
“I'm… sorry….”
Every single word from my master drove into my chest like a dagger.
Considering everything I'd done, I knew I deserved every insult the Officer threw at me.
My master had surely been approaching Kim Isabel through his own careful channels, and from his perspective, it must have looked like I'd gone and interfered by scheming with the likes of Jo Jin-hyun and Jeong Seok-hoon for no reason.
If I'd realized even a day sooner, of course I would have moved to help him instead. No wonder his disappointment ran deep.
But… he did call me his disciple.
All this time I'd assumed I only called myself that. I suppose that much was a mercy.
Though even this, somehow, feels like something he might snatch back if I don't perform properly, which terrifies me — I have to make it up to him somehow.
“I-I'll work under the Intelligence Officer alone from now on! Your orders come before any of the other executives'—”
—SMACK!
“Eep—?!”
“Don't do anything that draws the higher-ups' eyes. I didn't call you out in the middle of the night to put you up to that.”
“Ye-yes, sir….”
A smack from my master. That takes me back too….
Ten years ago, he used to hit me nearly every day. For failing to hold in my laughter, for crumbling into tears at the drop of a hat.
Thinking of it now, even the sting felt, somehow, a little bit nostalgic.
“Hn, hnn, heh….”
“What are you snickering about after getting smacked, lunatic?”
“N-nothing at all, Master!”
“…Just keep calling me 'Lee Seonho' like you have been. Other people might overhear, and I don't need that.”
“…Yes, sir.”
…Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever once heard my master's real name.
Back when I served under him, he was wearing a different skin, and he went by the name of whoever that skin had belonged to.
Lee Seonho must be the original name of the skin he's wearing now, right? He's younger than the skins he used before, so he clearly changed into this one out of necessity.
…I'll ask him his real name some other time.
If I asked now, he'd just snap at me again for being unable to read the room.
Well, at least now I know my master's new skin is called Lee Seonho. I'll content myself with that for now.
From here on out, no more pointlessly trotting after bothersome superiors — I'll work alongside my master, and my master alone!