December 10th, 2017 

"Madame President, I don't think a big campaign like this is wise when an election is going to be taking place soon. How do you expect the new president to go along with your plan?" I looked up from my journal of notes to Choi Youngjae, the newest NIS representative. Yi-Eun had moved to a mission a month before I had moved here. 

Park looked at Youngjae and shook her head. 

"Not if we cant get the National Assembly to approve it a week before the election." She was proposing an act to help with the terrorism and the border crossing of North Korea. It would be good for the defectors, but bad for me and the others here. Yet, I could not speak up, I was only a listener or suggested for any relations with China. That was my "job."

Stay undercover until further notice. 

I had gotten that message every month for over a year. I was here, I was staring at the president, but I was told not to. I was so close to Yi-Eun Tuan, that I coud kill him with ease, but I was told not to. All I was told was 5 words. I had no updates on Junhong, and nothing about North Korea. Nothing about our 7th Regmine and nothing about the others. Why give me 3 and 1/2 years to do something and limit me for a year? I had less than 11 months to do all that I was told I had to do. 

Trust our Regime. We know what is best and right. Trust the Great Leader. -Officer HWANG 

I was almost losing this trust. Maybe it was a test, to see how much I valued North Korea. How much I valued my brother. I would fight to the end for him. 

"Our meeting is adjourned for now. Please keep in mind the draft for the bill." Park was gestured out by her security officers and I saw how easy it would be to take the two down and break her neck. But I couldn't. I was getting frustrated. 

"Hye-In-ah. How are you today?" I bowed to the minister, hoping he was only going to ask me about my latest date with Mino. 

"I'm fine. How is Mrs. Song? Mino told me she was sick a few days ago." 

"She's doing fine now. A few bowls of soup and she was fine." We both laughed together and Cheif Lee came over. 

"Hello Minister." The bowed to each other before Lee turned to me. 

"We need to get back to the office. I have to finish some papers and look over CCTV footage." I nodded as he was my ride to these things. 

"Don't work Hye-In too hard, Lee. My son said it's seemingly all she does these days." Lee laughed nervously. The man was 58 and was looking at me for help because his job was in trouble. 

"I enjoy what I do. Cheif Lee isn't pushing me anymore than the next person." Song nodded and smiled at both of us, saying goodbye when one of his men called to him. I swore I heard Lee let out a breath of relief. 

"Does he scare you?" I asked and he started walking out.

"No, but his ability to fire me does. You have favor in him, I don't have anyone to date in his family."

"You're also married."

"That too. Speaking of his son, are you bringing him to the NIS New Years Eve party?" I shook my head. 

"No, they're going to somewhere warm for Christmas and New Years. I was invited to go with, but I said no. The heat gets to me too easily." Lee looked unimpressed. 

"You said no to a free vacation with one of the richest people in South Korean?" I shrugged and he opened my door, sighing. 

"I will never get you Kim-sshi. You seem like you have no social life, but I see you go on dates and your friend coming to pick you up to go places says otherwise." I shrugged and he laughed, driving back to the precinct. 

I have grown semi-fond of Chief Lee, him reminding me of Officer Im. I wondered if that was a good or bad thing. 

"You are going to the New Years Eve party right?" I nodded and he looked around. 

"This goes off record." I nodded, "I want you to meet Mark Tuan. To me, Song Minho's a little brat. I think that Tuan is a much better fit for you." I almost laughed out loud. 

"Are you trying to play match maker?" 

"A bit, but not that much. Just think about it. You're our top logistical and he's the top field. It makes sense."

"Are you sure you're trying to make a couple, or a partnership so I become a field agent?" He laughed nervously again. 

"I see your reactions to things. You'd probably make a good agent. Why'd you go for logistics? You did gymnastics and other stuff that would be in an agent's reseme. You never won any science or math awards. Hwang Ji-Won has over 6." 

"I like thinking and solving problems. I'm not good with blood or killing." How ironic was my answer?

"Not all agents kill." And how wrong was he? 

December 31st, 2017

If you are in hot water, you will run until you can't feel your legs. -Officer HWANG 

Himchan whistled as I came down the stairs and I glared at him. 

"Why are you all dressed up?" JB asked, typing something up on his computer, "Aren't you going to "ring in the New Year" by giving me a kiss?" I glared at him worse than I glared at Himchan. 

"I have a party at the precinct I have to go to. Tuan will be there, so I have to monitor and be careful." 

"Why can't you just not go? What if your covers blown?"JB popped up from his slumped over figure and leaned back in his chair. 

"I can pretend I'm someone's date and he won't do anything with a bunch of people around. I'm pretty sure there's a few more spies in the midst." 

"I hope you're going in there with some weapons..." I lifted the shorter side of my dress and showed him the revolver hidden and the knife on the inside of my thigh. 

"You think I'm a beginner?" He laughed and pushed himself off the wall, walking over to me. 

"Now, young lady, do not stay out past your curfew. Don't do anything illegal-ish, and don't die." I huffed in laughter at him and shook my head. 

"Really, you'd be a great dad, I'm sure." He ruffled my hair and stuck his tounge out at me. 

"Nevermind. You're horrible. JB look at this old man." 

"Yah!" I put my jacket on over my small frame and grabbed the clutch that was laid out on the table. 

"You know the drill. If I'm in trouble, I'll call you twice and hang up. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."  

"We're the people who need to be told that." JB muttered with sarcasm and I rolled my eyes before walking out the door into the cold night. The party started and hour and a half ago, but I wanted to come in when the heat of things were happening. It was 9:30 now and I would get there at 10. That leaves me two hours to do things before it's a "polite" time to go home. That leaves me 2 hours to avoid Yi-Eun Tuan as much as I could. 

When I parked near the ballroom, there were lots of cars. I spotted Tuan's parked near the front of the building. He came early, that's expected. He also parked like he's never been driving in Seoul before, which is what he does always. He backs up and gives himself space that other cars can fill in easily. He's also too far from the curb for the 6th time in a row. 

When they said monitor Tuan, I took it very seriously. 

I waited till a group of people were walking in so I wouldn't make a grand entrance and reveil myself right then. Everyone seemed to already be half-drunk and dancing to some sort of Trap music. My eyes went right to the dance floor, looking for the one man that was still looking for me. He was no where on the mutli-colored floor as I walked down the steps. Maybe I should've brought Mino.

"Kim-sshi, come here for a second!" I looked to my left as Cheif Lee was beckoning me. There was no Tuan near him either. 

Lee was drunk already, a beer in his hand. It couldn't have been his first; he was exerting most of his energy so he could stand properly. The man next to him was a taller man with black hair. I could bet my money that he wasn't Korean. His face was strong and intimidating, yet it had no harsh features on it. 

"Wang-sshi, this is Kim Hye-In, Hye-In, this is Jackson Wang. He is from Hong Kong, and he's one of the lead guys at Seoul Police HQ. I was just telling him about your expert Mandarin and Cantonese." 

"Hello." He bowed to me and I bowed back. I waited for a signal, to see if he was one of us, but none came. He looked like the strong type we recruited.

"She helped us crack a case with her skills last week. We had a paper that was written in traditional Chinese and our people couldn't get the code hidden in it." Jackson's features seemed impressed and I added a light smile to my emotions. If you actually checked the fluency of the people you bring in, Cheif, then they would've gotten it a lot quicker. 

"If you find your job at NIS boring, I'm sure I can find a place on our leading squad for you." I smiled and shook my head. 

"I'm not a field agent, I'm logistics. I just help with cases when I can." Jackson looked me up and down. 

"You seem like someone who knows their way around operations." I fought the feeling to narrow my eyes at him. Somehow the vibe of this guy changed with that one sentence. 

"She looks like she'd be good, but she couldn't kill a spider for us. Maybe we should have Mark toughen her up." My ears perked up at the sound of Yi-Eun's nickname. I was interested in how he got that name. It might have been his English name seeing he grew up in America. 

"Oh, no. I don't think I could keep up with mister 100 percent arrest record." We all three laughed and I corrected myself in my mind. 98.8. 

"Speaking of Tuan, I want Hye-In to formally meet him. I'd think they'd be a great team."

"Hye-In's achievements seem to mirror Mark's." Strike number 2. How does he know about my achievements? I just met the guy...Jackson Wang: Suspicious. 

"Excuse me, gentleman," I cut into their conversation about our pairing, "but, I'm going to get something to drink and a snack. We have 2 hours to wait still." Lee and Jackson nodded and I turned to walk, not missing the lingering glance Wang gave me. 

I walked around more, trying to spot Tuan and get a good idea of where he was. I was very surprised to find him talking to one of the Forensics girls. 

Tuan had a good record, which was caused by him having limited distractions. He had no partner on duty, and no partner off. He had only had one relationship the whole time I was here, and it was very, very short of a functional one. It ended in 3 months, making me have to give 30 dollars to Himchan for being longer than I expected. It seemed off that someone with looks like him had stopped after college. He stopped all together with the "sleeping around" after I had escaped the first time. He seemed to only do it with a reason. The 2nd relationship probably being that her apartment was near a criminal he was scoping out. 

Yi-Eun Tuan has never had long lasting relationships. I do not know if it's because he's afraid of losing the trust, or the person. I could understand if it was the latter. 

My phone suddenly vibrated in my purse and I went to pull it out, but a hand stopped me. I looked up with a glare at Jackson Wang's face. 

"Yes?" I slipped my phone in quickly, making sure that if it was a text from Himchan or JB, he couldn't see it. 

"You're dating Song Mino, correct." He had asked quickly in Cantonese. I nodded. I could tell he was a native speaker, so that cleared up some uncertainty. But, why the hell do you want to know that?

"I was friends with him in high school. How is he doing?" What are you doing, Jackson Wang?

"He's fine. They left a few days ago to go to an island home of theirs."

"Didn't he invite his girlfriend?"

"He did, but I don't like hot weather. I would begin to miss the snow."  He laughed short-like, almost as if he was making this conversation for nothing. He was making this conversation for nothing. 

"I've never seen a girl who denied a trip with Song Mino before." I shrugged and hoped he would leave and let me look at my phone. 

"His mother says lots of things like that. She also says that he should get married before I lose interest in him." We both laughed and I looked past him, finding the Forensics agent alone. Well, thanks Jackson. 

"His mother was always like that. Tell the Songs that Jackson Wang says hi, will you?" I nodded and he bowed before walking back where he came from. He just tested me. I opened my clutch again and looked at the text. 

From: Himchan

Coodeeffe12 

What the hell? Did they get drunk already too? 

I checked the time on my phone. 10:58. 

Code 12? Code 1? Code2? All of those were ones that would be irrelevant. So why- 

"Would you like to dance?" My body froze up at the voice behind me. Cheif Lee had probably pointed him out to me. 

I answered without turning; "I'm not the best at dancing." 

"That should be a problem. I'm a very good lead." I turned, daringly, meeting eyes with him. He had gotten taller, and more muscular. I didn't get time to assess him when we ran into each other the last time. 

Without breaking our eye contact, he took my hand and lead me to the dance floor. This time the song had gone to a slower beat. The music didn't get to me, but the tension did. We both knew. 

"How are you tonight?" His voice was short and hard. He couldn't do anything in front of these people except talk to me. 

"Fine. How are you?" I answered in the same tone, his hands grabbing hard at my waist and my other hand. It would've looked normal to the people looking in, but this was probably the meeting for both of us. 

"Fine, until I noticed your face here." He had broken the dam, his tone becoming more hushed. 

"How is my favorite officer doing?" I snarled, and his mouth hovered centimeters from my ear. 

"I would be careful, Kim Hye-In. I wouldn't want to expose you in front of your date tonight." I smirked. He was still misinformed. He didn't know I worked in the NIS. I should clear up that for him.

"What date? He's on an island in the Bahamas at the moment." 

"I've got you surrounded. Two other agents are here, but they're just monitoring you. As soon as the clock strikes twelve, Cinderella will turn back to her original self." I looked at the clock, a few minutes past 11. 

"What will you do in the meantime?" I hissed and burried one of my nails in a pressure point on his neck. He tensed up, making his grip on my harder. No doubt he could feel some of the hidden items I had on me. 

"It's not what I will do, but what you will. What did your friend text you just now? Code 3? Or did JB already finish what he was doing?" It was my turn to tense up at his words. 

JB was a cop. JB was a traitor. 

"You underestimate my skills." 

"You underestimate me, Agent Kim. You seem to have some infatuation with me, logging in on my records so many times. If you have a confession of love, I would like to hear it." My hand went to the back of his neck making sure there was a wire, making sure I had something to pull. He was certainly wired to the other two agents he had said were here. 

"Let me tell you something, Yi-Eun Tuan, and the others listening." 

"Speak quick, your end is coming." His breath hit my neck, bringing back memories of our last meeting. I made sure mine did the same. 

"I will end you." I pulled the wire, making sure it broke off, before pushing myself off of him and going through the crowd. 

I headed up the stairs, my adreneline kicking in after I had spoken to him. I didn't want any of my emotions to play, but now thinking about our little traitor back home, they came out. I had to get back quick, kill JB, and move on.

"Kim where are you going?" Lee had stopped me; Jackson next to him. I had not noticed the flash of a gun coming from Wang's jacket. I found the other one, why is this not surprising?

"I'm not feeling too well." I held my stomach and made eye contact with Jackson, who let out a smirk.

"Get home safely." He said to me, and I nodded.

"Don't worry I will, agent." I ran quickly up the stairs turning back to see Yi-En, not moving, at the center of the dance floor. 

It was all a bit like Cinderella, but when I got to my car, I was racing as fast as I could, calling Himchan. No answer. He always answers. 

His text made sense now. The code was the first, and he had missed the three. He was in a hurry, rushed. JB had started no doubt at 11 exacally. They had planned this, all because I was stupid and hadn't seen the signs. 

He would hover, he would ask where we were going. I found him once, sneaking around my bedroom. He was a ing inside agent. That made me angry, that he had us for over 2 years. It made me furious. 

The blood lust has now filled my mind.