The Black Agent

Time passed and the seasons changed.

I, too, have changed a lot since entering this body.
I have built new relationships with new people, and things I would not have done as my original self are now familiar.
Ultimately, that meant I wasn’t the only one who had changed.

‘Is this the aftermath of the recent change in government?’

When a government changes, many things disappear and new things emerge.
People who had been in the same positions for years disappeared, and different faces filled their spots.
It seemed that this was exactly that kind of situation now.

[They’re transferring all the agents overseas right now. They say it’s for an overseas operation, but I didn’t expect it to be this sudden. There was no sign at all.]

Im Suho’s flustered voice continued over the phone.

[That’s not the only problem… They’re saying they’ll tentatively suspend most of the domestic operations that are deemed to have no prospect of success. The K case is the same. I’ll look into the external pressure.]
“…Thanks for the call. I’ll call you back.”

I ended the call with Im Suho and gestured to Lee Ilwoo, who was still standing by the door.

“Welcome back. Let’s sit down and talk first. Have a seat here, Mr. Lee Ilwoo.”
“…Yes, Attorney.”
“I’ll go get some tea.”

Lee Ilwoo sat down, and Jeong Donghyeok stood up.
Lee Ilwoo didn’t speak until Jeong Donghyeok returned to his seat, and only after accepting the cup Jeong Donghyeok offered did he begin to speak.
With a very subdued atmosphere and voice.

“To get straight to the point, the situation is not good. Earlier at the company…”

“Oh, you’re here.”
“…Yes, I heard you summoned me.”

The moment Lee Ilwoo saw the First Deputy Director scanning the documents, he couldn’t suppress a sense of foreboding.
It was because he had received news that the NIS Director had been replaced on his way to the NIS after being summoned.

“The Director? What do you mean, so suddenly?”
[A notice just flew in from the VIP secretariat. So just get here quickly for now. There must be a reason the Deputy Director is looking for you.]

Lee Ilwoo had spent a long time abroad due to his special forces background.
When he first returned to his home country after three years of wandering through various countries solving numerous operations, Lee Ilwoo had made a decision.

“I don’t think this job is for me. I will step down after this final operation.”

When he entered the Deputy Director’s office to report on the operation and deliver those words, a woman he had never seen before was sitting with them.
She was a woman with an impressive short black bob cut and exceptionally clear eyes.
The woman put down her teacup without a sound and asked.

“Then how about domestic?”
“…Domestic, do you mean you want me to change my affiliation?”
“Well, yes. The department is scheduled for a major reorganization soon. And I like you, Agent Lee Ilwoo.”

The woman looked at him with clear eyes that were hard to forget once you met them.
Her tone was gentle, but her expression did not change.

“That’s why I’m here today. I heard Agent Lee was coming to report, so I wanted to see you in person and talk.”
“…I’ll think about it.”
“It won’t be a bad offer for you either, Agent Lee.”

The person who had made him that offer back then was the First Deputy Director right before his eyes, Bae Seungju.
Bae Seungju’s gaze, unlike her bobbed hair which was similar to a few years ago, had grown even sharper in the meantime.

‘Well, a lot must have happened.’

Bae Seungju opened her mouth without taking her eyes off the pile of documents.

“It’s time to come back. You’ve rested long enough. I believe your leave of absence is also up.”

After a moment of silence, Lee Ilwoo replied politely.

“I will return. However, even after returning, I would like to continue the operation regarding K.”

Tap.

Bae Seungju put down the pen she had been diligently checking the documents with and raised her head for the first time.

“Lee Ilwoo, do you not know what ‘return’ means?”
“…I do. That is why I am making this request. Isn’t it more efficient to reorganize the existing personnel rather than form a new team? Please put me there.”
“Haa…”

Bae Seungju let out a deep sigh and rubbed her throbbing temples hard.

“The situation has changed.”

Bae Seungju frowned as if it was painful to admit that fact.

“Since I started this job, there have only been two moments when I’ve felt a sense of doubt.”

She took a lighter out of her jacket’s inner pocket and flicked it open with her fingertips.
The clear sound was completely out of place in the gray Deputy Director’s office, but Lee Ilwoo knew it was her habit.
He also remembered her saying that even though she had quit smoking long ago, she couldn’t break this habit.

“When an agent sent on an operation dies, and the other is when a few guys at the top change, and all the operations that were being carried out before he came are scrapped.”

Bang!

Bae Seungju slammed her hand, still holding the lighter, on the desk.
The person who had been the Second Deputy Director of the overseas department until recently had sat in the NIS Director’s seat this morning.

“I knew he wandered around outside the company more than inside. But I didn’t know he’d even earn the title of ‘Kingmaker’.”

Lee Ilwoo could only watch as Bae Seungju smiled bitterly.
The Second Deputy Director was a person who had greatly influenced the current president’s election.
When that fact secretly spread, everyone naturally assumed he had his sights set on entering the National Assembly.
Bae Seungju was no different.

“I didn’t know that sly snake would end up backstabbing me like this.”

The reason for her extreme anger was clear.
The NIS is largely divided into two branches.
The overseas department and the domestic department.
Literally, their duties differed depending on their location.
The tacit convention so far had been not to invade each other’s territory but to willingly cooperate on areas of overlap.

“Wasn’t the company a bit empty when you came in? The Second Deputy Director took all of our kids overseas. The only ones left are the real core. You’re one of them.”

The Second Deputy Director issued an order, pretending to be generous.

‘All personnel, excluding those deployed in key operations, will accompany the state visit.’

As Bae Seungju’s words continued, Lee Ilwoo’s face turned even grayer.
He chewed the inside of his mouth raw so it wouldn’t show, and finally opened his mouth.

“How could he do that? Even with Changil-dong, this kind of treatment doesn’t make sense. The public is exposed to the threat of terror.”

Bae Seungju ran a hand through her hair roughly and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re right. I find that regrettable too. But we’ve done what we could for that lawyer, Cha Yohan. We have to think about the national interest. Not private interest.”
“…Did you say private interest?”

Lee Ilwoo could feel his emotions stirring, a rare occurrence.
Instead of suppressing it as usual, he questioned the thought that came to his mind.
He had a premonition that he had to.

“That operation is not just about protecting Cha Yohan, it’s ultimately about protecting the people, Deputy Director. How is that a private interest?”
“Agent Lee Ilwoo, you’re talking too much.”

Bae Seungju’s gaze grew another layer sharper.
Lee Ilwoo had never met anyone with sharper eyes than hers.
It was close to impossible for an agent to question and talk back to a deputy director about an operation.
He knew it even now.
That Bae Seungju was being very patient with him.
And he also knew that it was an action stemming from a kind of ‘guilt’.
But Lee Ilwoo was disappointed by that part. Ever since the robbery incident until now.

Swoosh.

She put the lighter back in her inner pocket and offered a compromise.
She had already learned over the years that Lee Ilwoo was as stubborn as she was.

“Hoo… Instead, I’ll request cooperation from the police. I’ll ask them to strengthen patrols as well.”

Instead of answering, Lee Ilwoo looked down at the tips of his feet.
His moderately worn-out sneakers came into view.
At that moment, the phrase ‘breaking in shoes’ came to mind.

‘…Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve ever questioned things like this. Both as a soldier and now.’

When told to fire, he pulled the trigger, and when told to capture, he naturally threw his body into it.
He had never questioned the ‘impossibility’ that his superiors talked about.
To him, their ‘opinions’ were always absolute.
What was it that made him, who had been conditioned by orders for so long, have doubts?
Now Lee Ilwoo knew.
Thinking his silence was an affirmation, Bae Seungju added.

“That’s as far as I, and the company, can go. The order has already been given, and it won’t be reversed. It’s an agent’s duty to follow orders.”

Lee Ilwoo slowly raised his head and met Bae Seungju’s eyes.

“Lee Ilwoo, you’re a Black agent. Do you not know what that means?”

It was carved into his skin, so much so that there were countless moments he would have rather not known.
They moved in the darkness, and the darkness was all that was permitted to them.
They couldn’t interact with other people and only fulfilled their purpose as agents during operations.
Solely out of a sense of duty to the country and its people.

“You must not be revealed, and you must not reveal yourself. You’ve already been exposed too much. So it’s time to wrap it up.”
“…I will wrap it up.”
“Yes, good thinking.”

But now, Lee Ilwoo knew a world that was not dark.

“I will no longer live as an agent.”

When a person changes their profession, all the people around them often try to dissuade them.
Because a new beginning is always accompanied by recklessness.
But I was always one to respect that newness.
Because I didn’t think a person could live their whole life doing just one thing.

‘But in a case like this…’

I couldn’t easily add my own words.
It was safe to say that the majority of the elements that made up Lee Ilwoo’s profession was a sense of duty.
That’s why I could also understand the reason he had rebelled.
Even after Lee Ilwoo’s story ended, I couldn’t say anything.
But it seemed Jeong Donghyeok was different.

“Mr. Ilwoo, will you be okay?”
“Yes. Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot while doing this job. About, well, my case. The case where I first met the Attorney.”
“Yes.”
“Even back then, the company did not respond, citing that it did not happen during an operation.”

Lee Ilwoo nodded once to dismiss a bitter smile.

“Of course, I knew too. That my identity being revealed meant I had failed to fulfill my purpose as an agent. That’s why my family still doesn’t know.”

He continued calmly.
We listened to him quietly.

“Even when I got injured sometimes, I couldn’t tell them the reason. I just bought time with numerous excuses. But it was okay.”

‘He must have been lonely.’

Arrogantly, that’s what I thought.
Perhaps because it was a loneliness I had experienced myself.

“I thought it was okay, but in truth, I just didn’t know. Because there was no one who understood. But now, I know.”

The people Lee Ilwoo was talking about now were Jeong Donghyeok, me, and Won Youngoh.

“I wondered who it was that had taken over a state agency for their own private interests. That’s not a just thing to do, is it?”

‘The head of state is the representative of the nation, but they cannot become the nation itself.’

But it seemed ‘this’ NIS had a slightly different idea.

“I’ve watched from the side how both attorneys protect that. So I want to continue helping from the side in the future.”

While Lee Ilwoo was opening up, Jeong Donghyeok, who had been listening silently, asked him another question.

“Then have you made any plans for how you’ll live from now on? Will there be any financial problems with your family? You’re the de facto head of the household, Mr. Ilwoo.”

They were questions that somewhat broke the mood, but they were necessary questions.
I was curious as well.

“Ah…”

While Lee Ilwoo was looking troubled, a question was thrown from the direction of the door.

“Why are you worrying about such things?”

It was the quiet entrance of the building’s owner.