She walked through the doors of the main military headquarters in Pyongyang. She is a captain originally stationed in one of the military bases in Hamgyeong. However, she was sent back to Pyongyang three months ago to prepare for a top-secret mission. Now she is on her way to meet the general about the developments of the said mission.

She stops at a restroom to check whether she looked presentable in front of the general.

She is special, a prodigy most would say. She became a captain at a very young age, and nobody questioned her promotion due to her skills and intelligence. However, one thing that made her stand out of everybody is her looks.

If looks could kill, anyone who saw her would be dead in an instant. She had long black hair neatly tied in a pony tail. Her double eyelids making her eyes seem bigger in proportion to her small face. Her slim athletic body was built by years of combat training and was hidden by her neatly ironed uniform. She exudes an aura of innocence, which was ironic given her actual job as a killing machine. She nods to herself as she took one last glance at the mirror. She looks good and she knows it.

She doesn't bother acknowledging her subordinates who saluted to her as she passed. Her mind was trying to think about why she got called by the general.

Did she do anything wrong? She doubted it. She was doing good progress on her current mission, in fact she was ready to go onto the next phase in two weeks.

Her thoughts stopped as she reached the general's office.

"He's expecting you, Captain. Follow me," the secretary says with an expressionless look on her face. The secretary proceeds to lead the captain to a door with a sign that said "CONFERENCE ROOM". As the door opens, the captain sees the general in a serious conversation with two of his lieutenants. They notice her presence as she introduced herself with a salute to the higher-ranked officers.

"At ease, Captain. Come in and take a seat," the general said in a calm tone. Looks like I’m not in trouble, she thought as she sat down on the seat on the opposite side of the table.

"I assume you were wondering why we asked you to come here today. I heard from Lieutenant Lee here that you have been making good progress on your current mission.

However, there have been some developments that has led to changes in your mission. You can read the updated mission plan here," the general continues as he pushes a thick folder to her direction. The captain opened the folder and she couldn't hide her shock as she read its contents.

The man referred to as Lieutenant Lee stood up and started to explain.

"Like the general said, a new opportunity has presented itself to us. Recall that our mission before was to infiltrate the top Japanese girl group AKB48 who will perform at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Recent developments have led to the decline in popularity of the 48G in Japan, so they might not be as likely to perform at the Olympics. Needless to say, this impacts our mission a lot," Lieutenant Lee explained as he took over the meeting.

"However, we're fortunate that AKB48 has agreed to collaborate with a South Korean TV Network to create a project girl group that will promote until 2021.  The girl group would be formed through a survival show called Produce 48. The show will showcase representative members of 48G and South Korean trainees and the final lineup of the girl group will be decided by popular vote. With all the publicity that they expect the show will get, the resulting project girl group will be well-known around the world just like their predecessors IOI and Wanna One. If we can get someone in that girl group, we might be able to accomplish two missions in one."

“We can get the chance to kill the leaders of Japan and South Korea in one go.”

The captain shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she turned the next page in her report. She was not concerned about the assassination since that’s her forte, but the next slide confirmed her suspicions about what her mission would be.

The lieutenant does not notice this and continues on, "Your new mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become part of this project girl group. You will be one of the trainees who will participate in Produce 48. The trainee selection for the show will happen in two months and the filming is set to begin a month after the selection. We have reached out to our agents in South Korea to establish your cover as an idol trainee in an agency. You can read about the specific details of the show in the file. Yes, Captain?" The captain acknowledges the captain who was raising her hand to ask a question.

"Lieutenant, I have spent the past three months training to be a Japanese idol. Although I can confidently say that I have prepared enough to audition as a Japanese idol, going against South Korean trainees is a completely different ballgame. Japanese idol groups prioritize performance skills and fan service while South Korean idol groups are well known for their technical skills in singing and dancing, which I lack. How will I train for this? I am sure that there is no one in North Korea qualified to train me," the Captain asked with a noticeable hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"I'm getting to that, Captain," Lieutenant Lee answered. "You will be going to South Korea two days from now to train with our agent in South Korea who has experience working and training as an idol. Her name is Lee Kaeun.” The display showed a picture of a beautiful woman with shoulder length hair. “She debuted as an idol five years ago, but complications with her agency put her mission to a stall. She will be joining you in the show and you should work together to win. Is that all?"

The captain gave an affirmative reply and soon, the meeting was adjourned. She saluted to the officers as she took her leave and went to her training room at the headquarters.

She opens the envelope that includes all the documents regarding her identity for this mission. She skimmed through her background data. Apparently, she graduated high school in one of the high schools specializing in the arts in Korea. I can read this on the plane.

When she saw her passport and citizen ID, she was pleasantly surprised that they used the same name she used for her first undercover mission.

It’s been a while,

Kang Hyewon.

Captain Kang looked uncomfortable as she was waiting for her ride at the airport. Her flight from China arrived earlier than expected and the welcoming team were still on their way to pick her up. She was wearing a checkered button-down shirt partnered with denim skinny jeans and black boots, an outfit completely different from what she was used to. Her eyes couldn’t help but scan for potential threats around her. She was unarmed and exposed, and she didn’t like that one bit.

She was saved when a heavily tinted black sedan rolled up in front of her after a couple of minutes. She quickly got in and saw a familiar woman on the wheel.

The driver greeted her, “Salute! I am Sergeant Lee Gaeun, callsign Kirin. I will be in your care.”

Hyewon looked at the driver and thought her file photo did not do her justice. She looked nothing like her file photo. She was beautiful, even without makeup. She had reddish-brown hair, a color you wouldn’t see a North Korean wearing. She was wearing an oversized white shirt, which hid her muscular frame. She really looked like a South Korean idol, until you notice her gun holster around her waist.

The captain greeted her back, “Salute! I am Captain Kang Hyewon, call sign Kwangbae. I will be in your care. You still have a thick accent, Sergeant.”

 The sergeant laughed and said with a perfect Seoul accent, “I did not want to seem like I forgot my roots. I barely look like a North Korean right now, it comes with the job. Call me Kaeun, Captain.”

It was Hyewon’s turn to speak with a perfect Seoul accent. “I would have been fooled if I didn’t notice you were packing. Call me Hyewon from now on, Kaeun. It helps that we drop the titles so we wouldn’t feel awkward if we were put in the same teams in the show.”

“In that case, will you call me Kaeun-unnie, Hyewon-ssi?”