When her alarm went off, Yong had to scramble about for a moment, knocking over a picture frame on her side of the bed in the rush to grab her phone and silence it. On the other side of the bed, her wife grunted once, rolled over, and promptly went back to sleep.

Yong sighed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up and stretched out the cricks in her neck. The sun was barely up but she had an early flight that day, which meant that she needed to start preparing. She passed by the bed where their dogs were still blessedly asleep on her way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her as softly as she could.

Done with her shower, and feeling a bit more human than she did when she first woke up, Yong chanced another glance at the sleeping form on their bed, her heart tugging pleasantly. She padded out of their bedroom and into the kitchen, where the bowl of greek yogurt, sliced apples, and honey she had prepped the night before was waiting for her in the fridge. She ate her breakfast in silence, checking her flight details and other updates about her trip on her phone while chewed. 

The soft clacking of paws on tiles alerted her attention to the dog peering curiously at her from the bedroom door. “Hello sweetie,” Yong cooed softly, motioning the dog over and picking him up when he whined at her. “I have to go to work but I’ll be back tonight.” The puppy tilted his head at her, one white ear flopping over his eyes. Yong laughed, cuddling him for a bit before carrying him back to the bedroom and laying him down on the floor near his sister.

There was a rustle on the bed behind her, followed by an unintelligible mumble. Yong turned and walked over to her wife’s side of the bed, gently brushing a few strands of hair from her forehead. Before she could be too embarrassed about it, she leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead, just the brief whisper of lips against skin.

“Too early,” her wife grumbled, reaching out a hand to grab Yong’s wrist,  halfheartedly tugging at it. Yong laughed but pulled away gently, “I’ll see you tonight,” she said, before walking out the door.

“Have a safe flight,” her wife said, although the sentiment was muffled by their sheets and pillows. Which wasn’t really a problem, Yong was already halfway out the apartment anyway.

The private flight to Jeju was uneventful, so was the fifteen minute ferry to Udo island. The hike however, Yong despised, especially with all the equipment she had to lug around. “No one said anything about this trek being practically vertical, Wheein-ah,” 

“I sent you all the topographical maps weeks ago, Unnie.” The other woman replied, her -eating grin was obvious even through an earpiece, “It’s not my fault you never spent that time actually preparing.”

“I’d like to see you keep up a cover story as a flight attendant while also sustaining a happily, devoted marriage, and being a full time assassin.” Yong grunted, clambering up over a particularly large boulder before reaching the outcropping that she’d planned as her outpost. 

“I guess the rest of us are just destined for a lazy hell then,” Wheein teased, referencing an old joke between them. Yong chuckled, setting down her bags and pulling out her rifle.

Yongsun couldn’t tell you how she went from entering training to become an actual flight attendant to being recruited by an underground agency that accepted hits on dangerous crime bosses and war criminals in Korea. She found she had a knack for it though, and it certainly paid better than a life as a stewardess ever would have. Which was why now, she was Kim Yongsun, codename “The Dragon”, the second best assassin and sniper in the industry.

“When is the target arriving?” She asked into her earpiece, laying down on her stomach on the grass of the cliff and peering through the scope. She had a clear view of a beach house balcony, where a single table with brunch was already set up and waiting.

“A sea plane from Japan should be docking along the mansion’s private port any minute now,” Wheein said. Yong could picture the younger girl on her desk back at the agency in Seoul, dutifully monitoring their target through her multiple screens. “Once he sits down for breakfast you’ll be good to go, Unnie!”

“Copy that,” Yong mumbled, entering the well-practiced stillness she’d perfected as a sniper. She relaxed her breathing, feeling her heartbeat slow with it. The surrounding area could have been on fire and she wouldn’t have moved a single muscle. It wasn’t long before she heard the tell-tale drone of the sea plane carrying a murderous Japanese crime boss overhead. Still she didn’t move.

“That’s him,” The static of Wheein’s voice confirmed in her ear. “It shouldn’t be--wait.”

Yong moved her cheek a hair’s width away from the scope, the muscles in her back tensing. “What is it?”

“The radar is picking up something approaching from the sea really fast. It should be within range of you.”

“This is supposed to be a secluded beach.” Yong growled, moving away from her rifle without disturbing it’s position and grabbing another scope from her bag. She scanned the surrounding waters near the beach house until she saw a fast moving speedboat with a single rider.

“It’s a speedboat,” she said, incredulously. “Extra security?” She asked, even as she heard Wheein typing furiously away at a keyboard. 

“None of our intel says Takeuchi planned anything to support his arrival by sea. All his security should have been on the plane with him and there in the manor. You don’t think it’s--”

Wheein didn’t even have to finish her sentence. Yong watched as the speedboat driver parked a fair distance away from the beach house and began setting up a rifle stand of their own.

“. It is, Wheein-ah. It’s The Shadow Corps.” Yong said, she heard Wheein swear at the name of their rival agency. Dropping her scope, she took position back at the rifle, impatiently waiting for the target to come within sight of her crosshairs.

“Damn them! This is the fifth time this year we’ve crossed targets with them!” Wheein said, Yong could hear a thud on the other line, which meant that Wheein had slammed her small fist on her large desk. “They’re getting bigger clients.”

“Or the crime world is getting smaller,” Yong muttered. Her target was already at the balcony but he hadn’t taken a seat yet, still talking to one of his armed guards about something.

“Rifle shot from the sea is ten times as hard,” Wheein said, “That must mean--”

“It’s The Dark Star,” Yong said under her breath. 

“They certainly live up to the rumors,” Wheein replied, and it was true. Feats like shooting a target from a boat in open waters that spanned at least a two kilometer distance away was just a few of the reasons why codename “Dark Star” was rumored to be the best assassin and sniper in the industry. Yong ground her teeth in frustration.

“Unnie, should we call it off?” Even Wheein sounded hesitant. Yong didn’t move, watching the target move just slightly off range of where she wanted him.

“The Dark Star is probably still setting up and adjusting their own scopes,” Yong said, the words coming out fast as she tried to regain focus, “I just need to get the shot in first.”

“But--”

“There!” The moment Takeuchi took a seat and reached for his coffee, Yong shot him right between the eyes. She didn’t bother watching her victim slump dead on the table, already scrambling for her other scope and looking for The Dark Star’s speedboat. Once she caught sight of them, it was just in time to see them with their binoculars trained on her now. 

Yong felt her blood run cold.

“I’ve been spotted.” She said disassembling her rifle as fast as she could. In her ear, Wheein was already screaming at her to get out of there. The other woman was saying something else, but Yong could barely make it out through the blood rushing past her ears.

“Wheein-ah I can’t--”

“The computers picked up heat seeking technology by the sea!”

Before she could help herself, Yong grabbed at her scope again to check, just in time to see the other assassin waving cheerily at her; a rocket launcher aimed at her general direction.

“!” Yong dropped her scope and made a break for it, running down the cliff as fast as she could. In her ear, Wheein was still yelling frantically until the words were drowned out in the resulting explosion. Fire, smoke, and bits of earth and rock went flying everywhere, the rocket hitting the exact spot Yong had been lying in not one minute ago. The force of it practically propelled her the rest of the way down the cliff, tumbling and rolling as she went. 

When she came to, she was all the way at the base of incline, near the shore. It took a while for the ringing in her ears to subside, around the same time it took for Yong to confirm that she was alive and none too worse for wear. In her ear, Wheein was practically sobbing. “Unnie, please, please say something. Don’t be dead, oh god you better not be dead. Unnie!”

Yong groaned and Wheein’s resulting cry of relief rang in her ears too. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” she grunted, sitting up and feeling around for any blood or fractures. There was already a throbbing pain at her right shoulder, probably dislocated, and she could feel what would be an impressive bruise beginning on her right side. “Just my shoulder.”

“If I ever find out who The Dark Star is, I’ll blow up their whole house. See how they like it.” The thought had Yong smiling, Wheein was as gentle as they came, which was why she always opted to assist Yong from the desk instead of out on the field.

“They’ll rue the day, I’m sure.” Yong said, scrubbing away at some of the dirt on her face. “You confirmed that the killshot came from me, right?”

“Yeah, our satellites confirmed the hit. The Dark Star isn’t fast enough for The Dragon.” The last part she said playfully and Yong smiled, hobbling to her feet and making her way back to the island’s main port.

***

On any given day, Byul could easily say that there wasn’t a part of her job she didn’t like. This, however, was proving her otherwise.

“How did this happen?” The disembodied voice on the screen asked. Even devoid of all emotion, it still managed to send a jolt of fear through her. Byul stood her ground. 

“The Dark Angels got there first.” She said, none too impressed that she managed to keep her voice steady. “That wasn’t in our intel.”

“Even if it wasn’t, I would expect that my best operative could secure a target even with competition present.” Byul had never actually met her boss in person. Ever since she joined The Shadow Corps, it had always just been a disembodied voice from a speaker, or a screen. Sometimes male, sometimes female. She shrugged, not sure if her boss could even see her.

“We got to Chang Seokmin before them two months ago.” Byul said, not for any reason other than it was the truth.

“But they got the drop on you before that, with Kim Mal-chin.” The screen stayed silent, then-- “Was it The Dragon who got the shot before you today?”

Byul glared at a blank spot in the wall. “Unconfirmed. But whoever it was couldn’t have gotten away fast enough or survived a blast from a rocket launcher at that magnitude.”

“You say this even though you didn’t bother to check for a body.”

“Hyejin-ah confirmed the hit, and there was no time to make it up that cliff before the local enforcers and the Takeuchi security made it up there themselves.” Byul said, focusing on her shoes now. There was a discolored spot on the right side of her left shoe that was from the sea water earlier. She would have to throw the pair out. 

“Careful, Dark Star, that you aren’t becoming too complacent.” Her boss said. Byul tilted her chin up, just a bit defiant to combat how small she felt in the face of this faceless entity.

“I’m not, and this won’t happen again,” She said, determined. The screen was silent again before blacking out entirely. She was dismissed. Byul sighed and left the conference room. Outside, in the hallway, Hyejin was waiting for her.

“Are you fired?” The younger woman said, impressively keeping up with Byul’s long strides despite her ridiculously heeled shoes. As assassins go, there was none that could match Hyejin for close-range kills. She had played the honeypot while Byul took out a room full of crime bosses more than once, which made her an asset on the field just as she was behind the desk, monitoring Byul during out of town assignments. 

“Corps Leader would never fire me, I’m the best, remember?” Byul said, only half meaning it. Debriefs like this were never easy.

“Yeah, but this is the third time this year that we’ve lost a target to the Dark Angels.” Hyejin countered, voice serious, “I’m pretty sure Corps Leader isn’t going to let something like that slide.”

Byul sighed, already frustrated and--after a cursory glance at her watch--running late. “You confirmed the hit, right?”

Hyejin nodded, pulling up something on the tablet she had tucked under her arm, “Our satellites couldn’t pick up any heat signatures in the radius of the crash site. Even if the Dark Angels agent tried to make a run for it, once the rocket crashed into the cliff, there was no other sign of life.” 

Byul nodded, letting the last of her worries die. “Well, the Corps Leader can stick me to a desk job for all I care. But until then, I’m going to keep doing what I’m best at.”

Hyejin nodded, then smiled, squeezing Byul’s arm affectionately. “Hey, there’ll be other clients right?”

She knew her smile was tired, and didn’t quite reach her eyes, but Byul grinned at the younger woman anyway. The sentiment was something Hyejin started saying soon after they first started crossing paths and sharing targets with the assassins from the Dark Angels, to which Byul was meant to reply--

“Better paying ones, I hope.”

They laughed together, the stress of the debrief already fading away. Byul checked her watch again. “Sorry Hyejin-ah I have to go--”

“Yeah, yeah.” The other girl waved her off, long manicured fingers, fluttering in the space between them, “Off to your better half.”

Byul smiled and said nothing else, already turning to leave. As she walked away, she heard Hyejin call her whipped, to which she responded by lovingly flipping her friend off just as she turned the corner. 

The moment she opened the door to their apartment, the dogs were on her. Barking and wagging their tails as they pawed at her knees. Byul laughed. “Hey you two!” She crouched down, letting them at her face before a familiar voice called out from the kitchen.

“Byul-ah?”

“I’m home,” She called out in response, side-stepping their pets before making her way to the kitchen, where she was greeted by the sight of her wife cooking kimchi fried rice. As if in response, Byul’s stomach grumbled. Her wife laughed, “I guess I don’t have to ask if you have an appetite for dinner.” She said, still laughing, the sound of it lifting Byul’s spirits.

Byul hugged her wife from behind, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder. She could feel the brace underneath her wife’s clothes. Byul was close enough that she heard her wife take an audible sniff before feeling her cheeks move into a wince.

“You smell like gunpowder, Moon Byulyi,” Yong chided. Byul smirked at her, pinching at her side which had Yong whining and trying to swat her away with a spatula. Byul laughed, dodging the flecks of hot rice being flung at her. Her smiles were coming with more ease now.

“What do I tell your parents when they ask about your shoulder?” Byul said, grabbing a large jar of kimchi from their refrigerator and scooping some of it into a shallow bowl.

“Pole dance injury,” Yong replied, not even missing a beat, “I’ve been taking lessons for a while now, it just makes sense that I would’ve gotten hurt eventually.” Byul nodded, not saying anything. 

“Do they suspect anything?” She asked, with the tone of someone asking about the weather. They both knew she wasn't talking about Yong’s family anymore. Her wife shrugged, successfully flipping an egg on one pan before moving on to stirring rice with the same arm. When everything was cooked, Byul helped her transfer their meal into individual plates before carrying everything to the kitchen island where they ate.

“Pretty sure they stopped suspecting anything after you fired a rocket at me this morning.” Yong teased. “Wheein-ah said she’d blow up your house if she ever found out who you were.” 

“It’d be awkward when she finds out she’ll be blowing up your house too,” Byul chuckled, but let her eyes really roam around the damage she’d caused. Yong's shoulder was definitely dislocated, and there were a few scrapes along her cheeks and her neck, and the way she was tilting a bit to her left meant that she probably had a lot of bruises on her right side from tumbling down a cliff.

Even though they’d spent weeks planning for today, it still hurt to know that this was the cost they both had to pay for being together.

“I can hear you thinking from over here,” Yong said, picking at some extra kimchi between them and popping it into . Byul reached out a careful hand, fingers lightly brushing against the angry red scratches on her wife’s face before letting her hand drop with a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “if there was another way--”

“There isn’t,” Yong said, looking up at her, determined. “We’ve talked about this Byul-ah. This is the only way. Even if we came clean, neither of our agencies would let us live after finding out how long we’ve known about each other.”

“That day was definitely our worst anniversary ever,” Byul muttered, eliciting a laugh from the woman in front of her. She smiled into her bowl of kimchi rice. “I know you’re right. But it hurts me to see you in pain knowing I caused it.”

Yong cringed, “Aigoo, your grease is making a mess in my kitchen.”

“Our kitchen,” Byul corrected, laughing again at the sight of Yong rolling her eyes with a dejected smile on her face. 

Once their giggles died down Yong sighed, reaching out to take Byul’s hand. “This is still worth it to you right?”

Byul gripped her wife’s hand tightly. She had figured out long ago that if it came down to choosing between Yong or The Shadow Corps, she would pick Yong every time. “Definitely still worth it.”

“Good!” Yong said, “Because it’s still worth it to me too. We can work through the rest together.”

Byul smiled, softly this time, a smile she only used in the safety of their own home, with her wife and their two dogs. She let Yong pull her fingers away so they could eat the rest of their dinner in companionable silence.

Later, much later, when they were curled up on the couch together mindlessly surfing through channels with a dog on each lap. Both their phones lit up and rang at the same time. They stared at each other warily and Byul could feel her heart hammering in .

Reaching behind her, she pulled out her phone and opened her newest mission assignment. She knew Yong was doing the same. Byul let herself scan through the details before setting her phone aside and looking Yong in the eyes.

“We say it at the same time.” Yong said, a determined set to her lips. Byul nodded. They both held their breaths, heartbeats filling in the silence until--

“Crime boss in Peru in two weeks.”

“Serial killer in New York a month from now.”

They were quiet for a beat before they both burst out laughing. Byul punched her fist in the air in relief. Beside her, Yong was still shaking in laughter, her breath coming out in high-pitched gasps. Things were definitely easier when they didn’t have to worry about being assigned the same target. Their dogs caught on to their mood, happy barks mingling in with the sound of their laughter.

“Wait, yours is next month?” Yong asked, eyes widening. Byul nodded, already snuggling back into the warmth of her wife’s side. “Do you think it will coincide with our annual trip for your birthday?”

Byul paused, opening the mission brief again to check the dates. “I should be back with a few days to spare, I think.”

Yong hummed, Byul could feel the vibrations of it against her cheek. She felt her eyelids grow heavy.

“We could always reschedule.” Yong said, voice thoughtful now, the way it usually did when she really got into the groove of planning. “Or I could fly out to you in New York instead and we can spend your birthday there?”

Byul hummed, already half asleep. “We can talk about it more in the morning,” She felt Yong press a kiss to the top of her head.

“In the morning.” Her wife agreed.

The last thing Byul thought of before she drifted off was that their life together was definitely worth all the risk. Yong was worth all of it.

end.