Yongsun can’t say that she hates having the other woman pressed up against her, knife to .

“Are you here to kill me?” chokes out Yongsun, hands slowly clenching and unclenching.  The other woman’s smile twists upward a little and Yongsun’s side is warm as Malone presses against her, adjusting the knife’s edge to rest against the underside of her jaw.

“Are you scared?” is whispered softly into her ear, the words twisting into the dialect of someone from the far north.  At the NIS they’d given everyone complimentary classes taught by North Korean defectors on the different dialects and common mistakes spies could make.  Little lilts in their inflection or strange phrases that normal South Koreans never used.

But the assassin teasingly whispering into her ear had fully embraced her true accent, not bothering to hide like she had earlier in the interview.  Pretending to be some rich college girl with nothing in her brain but the next boy she’d be meeting for a blind date.

How had Yongsun been so stupid?

“I think even if I said no, you’d know I was lying.”

Yongsun’s eyes dart to the other woman’s grinning face and then she flinches as she feels warm lips brush against the curve of her jaw, just above the knife’s blade.

“I’ve been watching you for awhile now.  It’s... amazing to feel you finally this close.  I am quite the fan, Yongsun-ssi.”

There is something childish in the grin she receives, eyes crinkling like they’re at a book signing and not at the tail end of a struggle that’d broken two chairs and left Yongsun bleeding from her temple.

“You might have to go to the hospital later,” Malone whispers as her free hand drags against the drying blood that’s trickled down her cheek.  “Wouldn’t want you to get too hurt.”

“You’re not here to kill me?”

The assassin’s face twists like she’s been insulted.

“Why on earth would I want to kill you?”

“But I’ve seen your face! I have your portfolio on my hard drive at work!”

Malone hums like she’s heard something boring and suddenly the pressure on the knife is back and Yongsun tips her head to not nick her skin on the blade.

“Should I punish you then? For being such a bad girl?”

“I think our ideas of punishment are very different.”

Malone’s mouth twitches and suddenly the knife is gone and she takes a large step back.  She rests on the edge of the rickety kitchen table, smile now wide on her face.

“I think we’d both enjoy it though.  Regardless of what kind of punishment is ah... inflicted.”

Yongsun can’t stop the blush that heats her face at the words, shamelessly worming their way into her ears.  She clenches her jaw, getting her resolve as she glares at Malone’s playful face.

“I don’t know what on earth you’re apart of.  But I will stop you... Byulyi.”

It’s almost instantaneous how the other woman’s face shutters, eyes hardening at the name.

“My name is Malone.”

“No it isn’t.  Moon Byulyi.  Daughter of the former North Korean diplomat to Poland.  Presumably dead after being transferred to Camp 12 in Chongori.  Operates under the alias Malone.”

Byulyi tilts her head as her eyes narrow, like she’s thinking of where to start dismembering Yongsun.

“So you know me, then.”

“Not really.  They’re just... facts.  They don’t paint a picture.”

“A picture? Of what?”

Yongsun swallows as she stares at Byulyi whose face is drawn as she plays with the knife in her hand, fingers skimming the side of the blade.

“Of what makes you tick.  What you think about.  What drives you.”

“I didn’t know profiles were supposed to go into such detail in the NIS.  Is this for an official report or a profile on a dating app?”

Yongsun ignores the way she flushes as she stubbornly stares at Byulyi until she meets her eyes, for once wiped clean of that infuriating smirk.

“Why are you here?”

“To play with you,” Byulyi easily answers, leaning back into her hands as she lets the knife clatter to the floor.

“Play? Is this,” Yongsun gestures angrily to her bleeding temple and the state of her ransacked apartment,” how you play?”

“You loved it.”

“I-I... I did not!”

Byulyi simply chuckles at the protest before rising and turning toward the door.

“This was quite fun but I really need to go.  Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

“I will find you and make you pay for what you did to Dail.”

Byulyi cast a lazy smile over her shoulder.

“I look forward to it, Yongsun-ssi.”