“I’m Kim Minjoo,” she extended her hand.

 

 

Hardly a few seconds passed and Chaewon already formed three conclusions in her head.

 

 

One: The woman’s carefully chosen attire and strained over-excitement branded her as a typical try-hard striving to be the agency’s underdog of the year. Chaewon pressed down the sneer that was attacking her lips and with a curt smile, shook the other’s hand.

 

 

“Chaewon is what I’m called here. You must be the scouted recruit.”

 

 

“Yes, that’s right. I’m pleased to meet you.”

 

 

Two: She could be a newly arrived foreigner who had spent no more than a year in Korea by the way she spoke in a fast but rehearsed tone. But it’s possible she was born that way since there was no sign of an American accent. Nervousness maybe? Of course these observations hadn’t always come naturally to Chaewon; she was trained to make quick judgments by a single glance. The OTR Intelligence & Security recruiters make no mistakes when hiring new agents— everyone has to be the best and those who weren’t got filtered out and shipped to a fake study abroad program in France.

 

 

However, despite a good three years of training, Chaewon remembered being cuffed behind a desk and a screen as an analyst. That is, before Director Kwon Eunbi finally set her free on her first project “in the wild” as she put it.

 

 

 

“I’m looking forward to working with you. You must be from the States?”

 

 

“Yes, I am En—I know English very well,” while her thick Korean accent said otherwise. Either she had spent her entire life in a Korean-American community and never cared to fully learn English, or maybe, she’s an incredibly slow learner.

 

 

“I consider myself a very hard worker. I also enjoy long walks on the beach.”

 

 

Chaewon didn’t ask for a 30-second interview spiel and muzzling the resistance to cringe was getting difficult. “Ah… w–”

 

 

“It’s my... favorite.” Minjoo gestured to her chest speaking as if nothing else in the world was more invigorating than her most cherished hobby.

 

 

 

Three: Kim Minjoo will quickly be responsible for Chaewon’s early retirement.

 

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

It didn’t take another minute for Chaewon to come crashing through Eunbi’s door and demanding an explanation for Minjoo’s presence.

 

 

“Come on, give her a chance, Chaewon!” Eunbi pleaded for the third time since Chaewon entered her office.

 

 

“I am not accepting her as my partner. This is my first assignment and I said I could do it alone.”

 

 

“It took a long time for me to find her. I know she might seem a little strange but after seeing her skills…” Eunbi nodded towards the office’s window where Minjoo was standing at a distance. “…Minjoo could be the best thing that’s happened to this agency.”

 

 

Chaewon followed Eunbi’s nod and saw Minjoo holding her phone in the air, snapping pictures of herself with a V-sign only to get immediately scolded by an employee hissing something about “photography” and “forbidden.” Chaewon turned back to face an amused Eunbi who quickly hid her bias back under her skin.

 

After glowering at Eunbi curiously and another minute of consideration, Chaewon delivered a response that she’ll regret for the rest of her life, “Fine.”

 

 

The grossly cheerful squeals that followed traveled into a defeated Chaewon’s one ear and out the other. She didn’t even push away as Eunbi threw her arms around her shoulder and gave her a tight squeeze. Maybe Eunbi could see right through Chaewon’s tough shell and maybe she knew exactly what was best for Chaewon. Eunbi had known her for years and she must have certainly had enough reasons to put her on a case that would be most disturbing to Chaewon. Maybe it was to test her strength, and Chaewon would never turn down such a challenge, not after so long. Adding a partner would do nothing more than help, but with this Kim Minjoo she was starting to second-guess herself.

 

 

“Don’t worry, Chaewon, you’ll still get to take the lead,” Eunbi patted Chaewon’s shoulder reassuringly. “You’ve had more experience after all. Matter of fact that’s your first task this week, run her through the basics, make sure she’s fit to be on the field.”

 

 

“Wasn’t that your job?” Chaewon wanted to say, but kept it to herself.

 

 

Eunbi turned around to pick up something off her desk. “Oh and give her identity card and the files next time you meet her. It’ll give you an excuse to get closer to her,” Eunbi’s pressed smile did little to soften Chaewon’s annoyance but she compliantly accepted both the card and her crumpling fate.

 

 

Day one and Chaewon was ready to hop aboard the next land missile and propel to the ends of space.

 

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

“Well Kim Minjoo, from now on you’re my partner now. I guess...”

 

 

Minjoo— now Chaewon’s some sort of “secret service agent partner”— gratefully received the identity card and the giant stack of files Chaewon apathetically threw onto Minjoo’s arms. “I’m excited to work with you, Chaewon.”

 

 

Chaewon shot her a glare which only widened Minjoo’s grin. Chaewon huffed, “Look, if you’re going to treat this like it’s a game–”

 

“Are you mad at me?” Minjoo pouted her lips.

 

 

Chaewon swallowed a retort and ignored everything about Minjoo at the moment (including the soft ‘sorry’ Minjoo barely managed to add), “There’s been six murders in the past month and they’re all coming from around the same area,” she motioned to the projected map on the screen in the meeting room they had borrowed for the time being. “But there are no tracks or prints near the murder sites nor were there any recognizable wound marks on the victims, but autopsy reports are guessing some kind of animal.”

 

 

“Oh my, scary stuff,” Minjoo’s eyes were wide with her lips pursed in the strangest way.

 

Chaewon sent her a brief sideways glance, and continued, “But we think it’s something different, so we’re going to go check out the site. We’ve gotten a word that it’s in a dense wooded area and we have to be prepared for anything. The plan is to leave in two months.”

 

 

“The woods? Are we going hunting?”

 

 

Chaewon nodded. “In a sense, yes. I’ll be helping you get prepared. Training you with the weapons we use, and giving you all the advice on how not to die,” Chaewon paused. “But seeing that you were scouted, you should have no problem with any of that.”

 

 

 

“As long as I have Chaewon by my side I don’t have a problem at all!” Minjoo chirped.

 

 

Chaewon looked up at the ceiling hoping some higher power would extract her soul and leave her to rest in peace.

 

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

“You just have to aim, and shoot.”

 

 

Minjoo’s hesitation was pulling at Chaewon’s temper. She had made sure to demonstrate, to avoid any extra conversation and bad jokes. It had already been a long day and so far Minjoo was barely passable in every subject she’s been tested on. In fact she was starting to notice a strange sense of discomfort in Minjoo at the moment. She had the right grip on the Glock but kept unwrapping and rewrapping her fingers around the trigger.

 

 

“It’s just cardboard.”

 

 

“I know.”

 

 

“Then shoot.”

 

 

“I’m trying.”

 

 

“It doesn’t look like it.”

 

 

“I said I’m trying,” Minjoo’s voice rose louder, a pitch higher as well. It was as if another being had suddenly taken over her. Her eyes grew dark and for a moment, Chaewon thought she saw them flicker red, but then again she thought she saw Minjoo and one of the trainees, Ahn Yujin, in an alcove rubbing noses and cooing nonsensical nicknames to each other only an hour ago. In any case, this was the first time Chaewon had seen her being this serious about anything. Maybe Eunbi was right and Chaewon should give her a chance.

 

 

A minute passed and Chaewon reached to massage the back of her own neck, when five consecutive shots fired. Chaewon looked up.

 

 

All five shots missed the target.

 

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

“Chaewon, over here!” Eunbi waved her arm, mouth full of food, signaling Chaewon to join her at her table. Chaewon took one quick sweep across the two occupants of the other seats and it took everything in her to walk in the other direction. One was an analyst she used to work who had a great sense of fashion but was a bit eccentric. Much to Chaewon’s disinterest, she’d ramble on about a certain trainer who possessed “the most powerful, angelic voice that she could listen to for the rest of her life if she could” and she’d use almost every break to skip off to the training rooms to hear her berate the trainees. To this day Chaewon had never seen or heard this woman and wondered if it was just the analyst’s way of coping with stress.

 

 

She had her arm wrapped around Minjoo, who was sitting next to her and also gave her a short wave. Chaewon couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she hated about Minjoo anymore. Either there were too many things to count or she was getting used to her.

 

 

 

Getting used to her?

 

 

 

 

 That sounded more unlikely put into words.

 

 

 

 

“Kang Hyewon, that’s enough with the pictures,” Chaewon sighed, covering the lens with her hand and gave the camera a light push as she took her seat next to Eunbi. “Isn’t it not allowed here anyway?”

 

 

“Since when has that ever stopped me?”

 

 

“She takes good pictures,” Eunbi approvingly wagged a finger at the camera. “And I like the idea of keeping a record of all our memories here.”

 

 

Chaewon ignored Eunbi. “I’m telling you to stop now. Please.”

 

 

 

Hyewon frowned as her eyes drooped. “Hmph, well you’re no fun.” Hyewon raised her camera again but this time leaned back and pointed it at Minjoo, who proceeded to make an electrocuted frog impression.

 

 

The whole table fell apart as an explosion of laughter ensued, particularly from Hyewon who almost fell off her seat and surprisingly also from Chaewon who almost sprayed her food all over the table. She quickly pressed a hand over and buried her head in her arm on the table.

 

 

 

Even after a good minute of wheezing and near-death choking, Hyewon and Eunbi finally simmered down to giggles. But Chaewon was still clutching her stomach and barely caught Eunbi’s comment about how this was the first she had seen Chaewon this amused. And maybe it was the first time Chaewon felt this way for several lunatic impressions later, she found her emotions dancing and weaving together like of paint on a dull canvas.

 

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

Over the next couple of days Chaewon noticed a change in Minjoo’s behavior, not only while Minjoo was doing drills but also in the way she spoke and acted around Chaewon. There was a growing sense of confidence that governed her every move and word. While it may have been because of the daily lunches with Hyewon and Eunbi that sometimes left Chaewon close to tears from laughter, Minjoo seemed to judge herself on Chaewon’s reactions and Chaewon welcomed this with open arms. Sometimes literally. Chaewon would take advantage of Hyewon’s absences during lunch to sit next to Minjoo and rest a hand on Minjoo’s shoulder while she acted out her various animal impersonations (frogs, llamas, monkeys, you name it) because those are what Chaewon liked the most. Eunbi would always sit on the other side, applauding and approving whenever Minjoo said anything clever and would often add in on Minjoo’s stories.

 

 

Minjoo was no longer a nerdy, failure of a secret service agent to Chaewon. Minjoo was hilarious, albeit still painfully embarrassing at times. But no matter how ridiculous she got with her jokes, she would never fail to lighten the mood.

 

 

 

 

During the firearm drills, Minjoo’s posture was becoming close to perfect, but Chaewon would always find herself slightly adjusting her outstretched arms, claiming “it’d be better like this,” and “you’ll have more control this way.” But it was really all just an excuse to have those few seconds of rare physical contact. And Minjoo would never argue or shrug Chaewon off, but would let herself be guided. Whenever the shot went right through the ‘X’ on the target board, she would grin and turn her head to Chaewon who would respond with short but sincere approval.

 

 

There was a time when Chaewon and Minjoo had switched places with Minjoo as the observer, and it was a new but comforting feeling that someone was watching her. “Looks good!” Minjoo commented as she studied Chaewon’s stance, following her aim to the target board, then back to Chaewon.

 

 

“You know, I’ve been wondering…” Minjoo began as Chaewon fired a shot, hitting straight on the target. “Why did you take up this case?”

 

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