A New Home (1)
After more than twelve hours on a plane, I finally made it home.
Well, technically it was just a temporary place the CIA had arranged for me in Virginia.
Click.
The moment I opened the door, the dry, stale air of a place that hadn’t been lived in for a while rushed out to greet me.
When I switched on the lights, a small, ordinary studio apartment came into view at a glance.
A queen-size bed, a small desk, a one-person sofa, and a microwave sitting on top of the sink.
That was it. It felt exactly like a short-term business stay, nothing more.
Still, it’s not bad.
Right by the front door sat the suitcase I’d left at Camp Peary, which had arrived before I did.
I set the backpack I’d been carrying on top of it and crossed the room toward the window.
Swish.
When I pulled back the curtain, the view outside spread before me.
A straight four-lane road and sleek modern buildings lined up neatly beyond the glass.
The familiar green Starbucks sign, and colorful cars passing in front of it.
It was a completely different world from the Czech Republic or Germany I’d just come from—a textbook American downtown.
America, huh.
It felt like I’d been dropped into yet another new place.
Of course, strictly speaking, this wasn’t my first time living in Virginia, but…
Honestly, I figured the period I’d spent at Camp Peary should count as an exception. That place was a training base.
Whirrr—
For now, I opened the suitcase and started unpacking.
Then I sorted through everything I still needed to deal with in my head.
First, all the paperwork for staying in the United States had already been handled.
From the visa to setting up a limited liability company, to leasing a clinic for the opening of a Korean medicine practice.
All that was left was the licensing exam and finding a place to live in Virginia.
The CIA had said they could find housing for me if I wanted, but I’d turned them down.
I wanted to choose at least the place I’d come back to and rest in after work was done.
Especially after moving from place to place so much, I felt even stronger about that.
Whirring—
I was about to close the closet door when my phone in my pocket started ringing.
When I turned on the screen, a familiar name appeared.
Elena Burns.
[Hey, Dohyun! I heard you’re back in the U.S.?]
News travels fast.
Smiling faintly, I sent a reply.
[I just got into my place.]
As if she’d been waiting, the phone buzzed again a second later.
[Welcome home. :) You’ve been well, right?]
And so Elena and I spent a little while trading updates on this and that.
From how we’d each been doing, to the fact that I was going to look for a new house in Virginia.
[If you need help finding a place, let me know. I’ve lived around here a long time, so I know the area well.]
I looked down at my phone and thought it over for a moment.
Obviously, this was my first time looking for a house in the States.
I could probably muddle through if I just jumped in and started searching, but if Elena was willing to help, there was no reason to refuse.
[That’d be a huge help. I’ll take you up on it.]
I hit send and tossed the phone onto the bed.
The January sky outside the window was overcast, gray and heavy.
***
A few days later, the doorbell rang.
When I opened the door, Elena was standing there in a leather jacket and jeans, her blonde hair tied back in an easy ponytail.
By the time I met her deep blue eyes, the corners of her mouth had already lifted slightly.
“It’s been a while, Dohyun.”
Her voice sounded familiar and welcome.
Elena greeted me warmly and stepped inside.
No—she started to step in, then hesitated and glanced around before asking,
“Hm, should I take my shoes off?”
“No, just come on in.”
I shrugged and waved her through.
I appreciated the consideration, but since this was only a temporary place, it didn’t matter.
Though, if it were really my own home? No chance. Indoor slippers only.
“I’ll make coffee.”
After saying that, I hurried into the kitchenette and boiled some water.
A little later, I handed her a mug filled with instant coffee.
We sat side by side on the sofa.
After sipping her coffee for a moment, Elena spoke first.
“I’m working at headquarters these days. I sit at a desk, write reports, sit in meetings, write more reports…”
She let out a long sigh at that point.
“Office work definitely isn’t easy.”
“Haha, but it’s comfortable, at least. No getting chased through the desert, no fighting knife-wielding yakuza.”
Elena let out a quiet laugh at that.
“…That’s true. Instead, I get to listen to my supervisor nagging at me every single day.”
She said it lightly enough, but the frustration in her face was obvious.
She really did seem like the kind who belonged in the field.
“So, how’ve you been, Dohyun?”
Elena asked casually.
Not probing, just lightly asking.
“Well, more or less.”
I compressed seven months into those words.
Neither of us pressed any further. It was enough.
After a few more sips of coffee, Elena set her mug down and stood.
“Shall we get going? I made an appointment with a real estate agent.”
“Already?”
“It’s better to move quickly with these things.”
Elena answered with an easy grin and headed outside.
I followed her down to the parking lot, where a gray sedan was waiting.
As I looked at the car, she smirked and held up the keys.
“For the record, this one isn’t borrowed. It’s my car. Don’t worry.”
I couldn’t help laughing at that.
It reminded me of the time I’d fled Nevada with her after stealing a car together.
“So this time it’s not a stolen car, then?”
“I told you, it wasn’t stolen back then either. It was borrowed—just a little hastily borrowed.”
Oh, sure.
Even though the owner had been unconscious, and the situation had been so desperate that “borrowed” never even crossed our minds before we just took it.
Still, seeing her shameless as ever made me oddly glad.
Vroom—
The car pulled out. Arlington’s streets slid past outside the window.
Stopped at a red light, Elena glanced over and asked,
“What kind of place do you want? Any specific criteria?”
“Hmm. Quiet would be nice, and as long as it’s not too small, I don’t really care about the rest.”
“Simple enough.”
“I’m not a fan of complicated things.”
Elena nodded and turned the wheel.
“Then it should be easy to find something.”
***
The real estate agent was a middle-aged white woman.
She’d been waiting in front of a café on Main Street, and the moment she spotted us, she hurried over with a bright smile.
“You must be Dohyun, right? You came from Korea? You’re really going to love this neighborhood!”
After a short introduction, we switched to the agent’s car and began touring the area.
Mostly, the agent explained things while Elena added little bits of neighborhood knowledge here and there.
Outside the window, restaurants, bars, and cafés lined Main Street one after another.
“This is the center of Clarendon. It gets pretty lively in the evenings,” Elena cut in.
“That Thai place over there is pretty good. You should try it later.”
I nodded and looked out the window.
Only two or three blocks off Main Street, the mood changed completely.
A quiet townhouse district, with trees lined up along the street.
“This area is nice because commuting is easy and the neighborhood stays quiet,” the agent said.
As I listened, I also ran my eyes over everything by habit.
The width of the alley. The position of the cameras mounted on the building corners. The routes leading to the back streets.
So now I’m doing this here too.
It was the kind of habit that had settled into my bones after passing through Hong Kong, Japan, and the Czech Republic.
Mapping out the terrain like this always made me feel a little more at ease.
“Here we are.”
The car stopped, and we went in to look at the first house. It was a condo-style place.
It was clean enough, but a little cramped. Standing in the living room, I felt like the walls on both sides were pressing in on my shoulders.
The windows were small too, so even though it was daytime, we had to turn on the fluorescent lights.
“It’s a bit small, but the good thing is the storage,” the agent said, opening a closet door to show us.
But I didn’t have much of a reaction, and we moved on.
In the car on the way to the second place, the agent asked casually,
“What do you both do?”
“Ah, I’m a Korean medicine doctor. I’m planning to open an acupuncture clinic around here.”
At my answer, the agent brightened.
“Oh, acupuncture? It’s really popular these days! My friend swears by it—said her back got so much better after getting treated.”
She went on to talk about how there was a large Korean community in Virginia, and a number of Korean medicine clinics too.
She also told us that there had been a kind of boom for a while, with Korean medicine clinics—acupuncture clinics, really—popping up all over the place.
Then she glanced at Elena in the rearview mirror and asked,
“So you two live together?”
“Ah, no, we’re…”
Before I could correct her, Elena lightly grabbed my arm and cut in first.
“Yes, we will be living together. So it needs at least two rooms, right?”
She said it while stealing a sidelong look at me.
There seemed to be just the faintest hint of mischief in those deep blue eyes.
It was an awkward time to deny it in front of the agent.
“…Yes, that’s right. Two.”
While the agent made a phone call from the front seat, I lowered my voice and asked Elena,
“What are you doing?”
“When a couple comes to look at houses, the agent shows them better listings. It’s standard.”
“That’s standard?”
Elena shrugged.
“In the United States.”
Was that how it worked? I couldn’t tell whether she was telling the truth or not.
Still, since she said so, I decided to go along with it.
The second house was a two-story townhouse.
The moment we opened the door, it felt different from the first place.
It wasn’t especially large, either, but the layout was much cleaner.
Living room and kitchen on the first floor, two bedrooms on the second. There was even a small terrace off the living room.
Best of all, afternoon sunlight poured in through the windows and stretched long across the floorboards.
While the agent explained the appliances and storage in the kitchen, Elena came up beside me and looked outside, speaking in a low voice.
“This block is good. It’s a five-minute walk to Main Street, and if you go the other way, it stays quiet. The clinic would be about ten minutes by car.”
Her explanation was concise, almost like a tactical briefing.
For a second it was hard to tell whether she was introducing a neighborhood or describing an operation area.
I let out a small laugh and asked jokingly,
“And the approach routes?”
Elena glanced at me for a moment, then lifted one corner of her mouth.
“Two exits, front and back. The parking lot side and the alley behind. It’s a pretty good layout if you need to get out fast in an emergency.”
“Hmm. Not bad.”
We went upstairs.
Inside the bedroom, I could see the roofs of the houses across the way through the trees.
Snow on the roofs was half-melted, glittering in the afternoon sun.
It was quiet.
The sounds of cars and people were only faintly audible from far away.
I stood there for a moment, looking out.
This might be good.
That was the thought that came to me.
Back downstairs, I said simply, “Let’s take this one.”
“A wise choice.”
We shook hands with the smiling agent and said goodbye.
The contract paperwork would be finished at the office next week.
***
By then, the sun was starting to go down. Streetlights had begun to flicker on one by one.
By evening, the streets were fairly busy. People getting off work, couples out for a walk.
We strolled down toward Main Street side by side, partly to look around the neighborhood.
Now and then Elena pointed out shops or restaurants she knew.
That was when we passed a bar.
Three or four men were standing outside the entrance, holding beers and talking loudly.
They looked to be white men in their twenties or thirties, already well on their way to drunk.
One of them spotted us and started saying something.
I couldn’t hear exactly what it was, but the tone was obnoxious. The guy beside him snickered.
I deliberately kept my head straight and walked past them without looking over.
I had no interest in getting tangled up with idiots like that and causing a scene—or drawing attention to myself.
I felt Elena’s pace slow just a little. Her gaze seemed to drift toward them.
“I’m fine,” I said shortly.
Elena hesitated for a moment, then looked away.
A few steps later, a man in his forties wearing an apron came out of a small deli.
“Don’t mind them. Those guys are always like that. They’re a nuisance to the neighborhood.”
I gave a light nod.
“It’s fine.”
“By the way, is this your first time around here?”
“Yeah. But I think I’ll be moving here soon. We just looked at a house today.”
At that, the man smiled faintly.
“It’s a good neighborhood. Welcome.”
I shook his hand briefly.
We chatted a little longer and he told me more about the area.
Elena watched from the side, and when we started walking again, she said,
“…You adapt fast.”
“To what?”
“To anything.”
She gave a small laugh.
—