Saving Grace.Jia walked out of the Incheon Airport in high spirits. Joon had turned out to be a great listener. And she had found herself telling him about how hard she had worked to get into The Seoul School of Computer Sciences.
She bade Joon goodbye near the Conveyor Belt, and walked out of the Airport to hire a taxi. Before she got in, she felt a shiver run up her spine. For good measure, she suddenly turned back and glanced suspiciously. Then she shook her head, thinking that she’s gone mad.
Why will anybody stalk a completely crazy high school grad, after all?
The taxi driver was staring at her from the rear-view mirror with a hilariously puzzled expression on his face.
She tried to act all formal and serious, as she stammered, “Pyeongchang-dong.”
When she finally pulled up in front of her new residence in Pyeongchang-dong, on whose letterbox was written ‘The Domicile’, she saw that the landlady was waiting for her.
The landlady was a healthy, middle-aged Ahjumma whose name was Regina.
Regina helped her with her luggage, and soon, she was in what is supposed to be her new home.
Hers was a huge studio apartment with a bedroom, a kitchen, a hall and a balcony. But everything was cozy. The most awesome part was that furniture and other electric stuff like T.V, refrigerator, heater came with the house.
The whole house had three studio apartments in a straight line. And the one in the middle was hers.
“You’re a lucky girl, you know,” sighed Regina.
Jia frowned. “Why?”
“Because both your neighbors are boys. Handsome hunks, if you ask me!” she replied, giggling.
Jia’s mouth was hanging open in shock, as Regina left the apartment. She gulped and hugged herself hard.
She knew that her mother would over-react. For some unknown reason, Jina had never been uncomfortable to see her daughter hanging around with boys. There was always an 8 O’clock curfew in her house. And after that, Jia shouldn’t even talk to boys.
So Jia was quite sure that her mom would completely freak out when she hears the news that her daughter will be living in with two boys in the same house divided only by two walls, for the next five years.
Jia had never been able to convincingly lie to her mother. But twisting the truth was another matter. And she knew that she’ll have to get there soon.
But for now, she had an important message to relay to her mother—the news that she survived her flight.
She fired up her Dell, and logged into her e-mail account.
To: Lee Jina
From: Lee Jia
Sub: Nothing much to say except that I already miss you…
Dear Mom,
Everything seems to be in black-and-white without you. I really miss our Spinster Pad. I’m settled in my own mini-Spinster Pad. And I can’t wait for these five years to end already. Well, I’ll get back to you again.
Love,
Jia.
The young man wearing the gray beguine coat stood outside the modest building in Pyeongchang-dong, watching the girl shuffle inside the building with the fat woman helping her with the luggage.
A few minutes later, the fat woman came out alone. When she saw him, her eyes widened and a bright red blush spread on her plump cheeks. She hurried over to him.
“Oh, sir!” she stuttered, “I didn’t see you here! I hope you haven’t been standing out here for long! I was just helping out one of my tenants…”
“I just came here, ma’am!” he cut in smoothly, “I trust that I am in the right place?”
“Of course, sir! Shall I show you into your apartment?”
“No, there will be no need of that. I will move in later. Just leave the keys to me”
“Oh! Here you go,” she said, fishing in her purse and pulling out a single key.
“Thank you, ma’am!” he said, politely.
“Oh please!” she said, laughing and throwing her hand on his arm, “Call me Regina!”
“Regina, if you please!” he corrected himself, smiling and yet moving out of her grasp.
“Your manners are lovely, my dear!” she complimented.
“Thank you, Regina!” he smiled back.
As soon as she tottered off, his face contorted nastily. “Silly woman!” he muttered to himself.
He walked over to the backside of the building. There were three balconies in a single line, separated only by a s.p.a.ce of a few inches. The middle one had to be Jia’s.
He leaned against a tree and stared at her balcony. His phone buzzed. He checked the number.
It was Master.
“Greetings, Master.”
“Greetings. Is everything going smoothly?”
“As smoothly as it can, Master.”
“And the girl—you are near the girl, aren’t you?”
He looked up at her balcony. “Yes, Master. As near as I can get now.”
“Good. Do whatever you have to. Choose any shade or character you want to. I give you carte blanche on your role in this mission. Just take care of both the people I asked you to and complete this mission successfully.”
“As you say, Master.” He looked up at her balcony one last time before he left for then.
It was true that he wasn’t moving in immediately. After all, he was a man on a mission.
And he had some very important things to take care of.
The sun setting over Seoul was a beautiful scene to watch. But Kim Joon had other things in his mind—moving into a new house and embracing a partly-new ident.i.ty. Everything about him was a lie, except his name.
He was standing in front of the door of his new apartment, while the landlady struggled with the lock. She was all over him like goo, and he couldn’t wait to get rid of her.
He had wontedly arrived hours after Jia had arrived, so that she won’t smell anything fishy. He had spent all the time until then, in the Airport’s lounge.
Tired with standing outside the door, he tried to take the key from the landlady. But she put her hand on his arm, saying, “No, no, dear, it’s alright! I will do it.”
He gave her a cold stare, before wrenching his arm back. She shrank under his withering gaze. He couldn’t bear being touched since last year, since her.
She stammered a nervous apology and immediately left after opening the door, without a backward glance.
He walked in alone and locked the door behind him. He gave a cursory glance at all the appliances provided in the apartment. He could see some of the hi-tech gadgets which NIS Agents use undercover, already in place. Somebody must have taken care of all of it even before he arrived.
Then he collapsed on the couch, and turned on the T.V, mindlessly flipping through channels. He finally stopped at old re-runs of City Hunter starring Lee Min-ho and Park Min-young. His fingers played with the chain around his neck.
The phone in the room rang. He ignored it, absorbed in the show.
The alarm clock suddenly rang shrilly, and X’s mechanical voice floated from the speaker attached to it, “Agent Kim, I advise you to answer your phone. The Director is on the other end of the line.”
Joon smirked, as he challenged, “What if I don’t?”
He turned back to the T.V. Seconds later, the T.V went blank. This time, X’s voice came from the T.V’s speakers, and his polite tone felt like insult to the injury, as he said, “Agent Kim, as you have already seen the minor part of the repercussions of not answering the Director’s calls, I hope you’ve cultivated enough sense to choose the right path.”
He cursed and turned to answer when the phone rang again.
“Since when have you used your resources to hack into innocent Agents’ T.Vs?” he demanded, indignantly, as soon as he answered.
“From the time they ignored the Call of Duty,” answered his father.
“Isn’t it unlawful or something like that?”
“Not when it comes to Duty.”
“You and your Duty. You should have married Duty instead of my mom. At least I wouldn’t have to suffer calling you my father.”
“Some of us care more about our country than others,” snapped his father.
“Sure, you do. But at the expense of the countrymen,” he answered back, equally cutting.
“This again?” asked his father, finally sounding tired, “Why are you so keen on rehashing that incident? Can’t you just forget it as a freak mishap and leave it?”
“Nope! And don’t you dare pa.s.s it off as a mishap.”
“Fine, then. Back to work,” his father said, curtly, “Are you safely installed at your location?”
“Yup, I am. And what is my charade this time?”
“You are a first year student pursuing a Bachelor’s in Ethical Hacking in Seoul School of Computer Sciences.”
Joon coughed and spluttered, “Are you kidding me? I would do better as Jia’s Professor than as her cla.s.smate!”
“Perhaps, yes. But then, a Professor can’t always be as close to a student as much a cla.s.smate can.”
He made a face, as his father continued, “Don’t worry! I have thought through it all. I have talked to the School’s Director, and he has agreed to help us in our mission. Your cover story is that you lost your entire family sans your kid brother in an accident as a soph.o.m.ore. And you were busy all these years, working hard to feed yourself and your hapless brother. Now that the boy has found a job, you feel that you ought to catch up on your education. So, boom! You’re now studying with kids who are almost seven years junior to you!”
“Yeah, it all sounds so convincing!” he said, sarcastically, “I can feel tears in my eyes.”
“If you have a better cover story, please feel free to disclose it to me.”
“I am still inclined to the Professor-student relationship.”
“That won’t take you very far.”
“I can’t pull this off. I haven’t been to a normal school in almost eight years!”
“You’re working undercover. If the situation demands it, you ought to adapt yourself to any role. Or have you forgotten your training?”
“I am a G.o.dd.a.m.ned NIS Agent. Not an actor.”
“Jia’s life is in danger.”
“You’re hardly worthy to even utter her name.”
“This isn’t about who is worth to do what. This is about her life.”
Joon sighed in defeat. What else could he do, after all? His father was using his one weakness to punch him in the gut and to use him like a puppet.
“Alright. I’m a student then.”
He could almost hear his father’s sphinx-like smile, as he said, “I knew that you would accept.”
“I know.” Only because you stripped me off my choices.
As soon as the call ended, the T.V show resumed exactly where it disappeared. But he was not in a mood to watch it, anymore. He threw the phone on the couch angrily. Then he walked over and opened the refrigerator, to find a can of Red Bull.
He walked outside to the balcony, and stood there sipping the drink from the can and watching the sun dip below the horizon.
As another day came to an end, he could feel his weariness catching up to him. Every single day seemed like a desert through which he had to wade. His fingers involuntarily tightened on the chain.
And he knew that the only saving grace in his life is the girl called Lee Jia.