Chapter 67
I stood up to catch the crazy person honking their horn. The sound came from near the outpost.
In the distance, several black sedans lined up in front of the outpost, and a crowd of executives gathered to see what was happening. I pushed my way through them and slowly advanced.
Then I encountered the suit man I had met just a few days ago.
“It’s nice to see you again,” he said.
“……”
I couldn’t find the words. It wasn’t because I was flustered. I was just curious why these guys had come all the way here to cause a ruckus. The suit man strode forward and said,
“Could you come over here for a moment? We need to talk.”
The soldiers guarding the outpost tried to stop the suit man, but the younger executives stepped in to block them and cleared a path for him.
However, I did not move forward. I stood there, staring at the suit man.
“Why should I? You should send an official document or make a formal contact instead. What are you trying to pull here?”
The Royal Intelligence Department was a competing organization to ours. Although I had no allegiance and felt no patriotism toward Abas, just a few days ago, they tried to hijack the business I was in charge of. Naturally, I wasn’t about to go easy on him.
But the suit man stood tall, looking at me as if asking what the problem was.
“……”
“……”
As our gazes tangled in the air, a strange tension surrounded us.
“Cut it out.”
A figure stepped out from the black van parked at the back. It was a middle-aged woman.
She waved off the approaching suit men as she walked forward.
“What are you doing among family?”
“I’m sorry, Director.”
“Tsk….”
The middle-aged woman clicked her tongue and scolded the suit man. Then she looked at me and said,
“Nice to see you again.”
Former Head of Overseas Operations for the Military Intelligence Agency in the Kien Empire.
Former Branch Chief of the Military Intelligence Agency in the Lushan Federation.
And current Chief of the Royal Intelligence Department.
She was the person who had once been my superior.
“Stop standing outside and sit down to talk.”
“……”
Leoni Risha.
She had come to find me.
—
Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Soldier, Spy
In the intelligence community, there are those known as “namesake” individuals.
They are either people with accomplishments and abilities built over a long time or those who gain fame by quickly achieving results in a short period. Such individuals become objects of admiration, respect, envy, and sometimes even recruitment targets.
A prime example is Clevenz.
Clevenz was an agent who darted around the field since his rank officer days, and after rising in rank, he became an outstanding investigator who sent hundreds of spies to prison as a case officer.
His skills were so exceptional that he became a leading candidate for the next Director, even bypassing his senior military superiors, the Security Chief and Information Chief. He was even offered a position to shift from the Cabinet Security Office and Special Investigation Bureau during his captain days, so it’s no exaggeration to say that Clevenz’s capabilities and status had reached a remarkable level.
However.
Where there is the sun, there is also the moon. If Clevenz was in the domestic part of the Military Intelligence Agency, then in contrast, Leoni was in the overseas part.
Leoni Risha.
The top operative of the Military Intelligence Agency. She started at the department notorious as a graveyard for agents in charge of the Kien Empire and rose to the position of the chief in the empire’s branch.
She swept various awards and medals since her rank officer days, but ironically, no one knew what she was awarded for.
The details of her career and the missions she served were shrouded in mystery.
There were many rumors, but no way to verify them.
However, due to the fact that countless senior operatives who worked with her kept their mouths shut, and many agents who were close to her faced casualties and retirements, it became accepted wisdom that she dealt with incredibly dirty and dangerous tasks that were hard to mention within the agency.
But what was certain was that she was an extraordinarily skilled operative. And the Military Intelligence Agency continued to assign her secretive tasks that acknowledged her abilities.
If Leoni had smoothly completed her term as the Branch Chief of the Lushan Federation, she would have returned to the empire to take her place as the Chief. Scanning the scene, no one could match her as an excellent operative or a capable expert on the empire.
Had she passed through the influential position of the Kien Empire’s Branch Chief, she could have aimed for not only the head of the overseas operations department but also for the next director of the Military Intelligence Agency.
“……”
I thought she had quietly retired after experiencing an accident and stepping on a star.
To my surprise, she was still as sharp as ever, remaining in the industry just as she had been back then.
“What are you staring at so intently? It’s rather embarrassing.”
“…It’s been a while. Director.”
“Director my foot. I’m just a chief now.”
Leoni was dressed in civilian attire instead of a military uniform.
She belonged to the Royal Intelligence Department, and her title was Chief. What kind of chief, I had no idea.
Formerly an elite operative of the Military Intelligence Agency, now turned Chief of the Royal Intelligence Department, her demeanor lacked an air of military and rather appeared relaxed like a civilian.
Perhaps it was due to her retirement.
“I thought you had retired. However, I never dreamed you would transfer to the Royal Intelligence Department.”
In a room at a makeshift camp, slightly removed from the barren operation zone, I spoke to her with a smile on my face. We weren’t particularly close, nor were we distant, but after all, she used to be my superior once.
To this, my former superior leaned back in her chair and replied.
“It’s not a retirement; it’s a dispatch.”
Perhaps it was because she was my superior, her tone in private remained the same as it had always been.
When we met in the conference room of the Royal Intelligence Department, I wondered if she had changed due to her tone, but meeting her in private, she hadn’t fundamentally changed from her Military Intelligence days. If her temperament was still the same, I could imagine she might even curse like a sailor.
Anyway.
“Is that so?”
Dispatch. I pondered over her response.
Like the National Intelligence Service, the Chief of the Royal Intelligence Department can request the dispatch of active-duty military personnel and civil servants at any time. This isn’t an abuse of power but a unique authority of the Royal Intelligence Department Chief exercised within established laws. In the ROK, it works through agency heads consulting with the President’s approval.
Therefore, dispatched military personnel or civil servants maintain their original status while concurrently working as Royal Intelligence Department employees.
To clarify, it’s not a transfer but a concurrent position. Concurrent employees do not fall under the direct orders and supervision of their original agencies during their dispatched period.
In other words, Leoni is currently both a Military Intelligence Agency agent and a Chief of the Royal Intelligence Department.
I nodded as I responded.
“I see. I wasn’t aware of that.”
I had no idea how this works. I wasn’t a legal expert, nor did I want to know. It wasn’t unusual for intelligence agencies to bend the rules. It was easier to go along with things than to feel troubled by it.
“So what work does the Royal Intelligence Department handle now…?”
“Deputy Chief of Operations Division 2. Think of it as a position similar to that of Chief of Operations.”
The National Operations Division of the Royal Intelligence Department.
The epicenter of all intelligence gathering and covert operations conducted by the Royal Intelligence Department. I had no idea what exactly a Deputy Chief of Operations did, but I could instinctively tell that it was a high-ranking position.
That made sense, considering they brought in someone with experience as a branch chief overseas. That position couldn’t possibly be low-ranking. At least, it would be higher than a branch chief.
“You’ve been promoted. Congratulations.”
“After three years, you’re the first I’ve heard congratulations from.”
“Ah… I was just an advisor back then…”
“Tsk.”
Leoni clicked her tongue as she leaned back deeper into her chair. It wasn’t that she was particularly unlucky; it was just her nature.
Anyway, I wondered why she had come to find me.
“……”
I racked my brain. Surely, she didn’t come for a congratulatory visit after three years, and knowing her personality, she wouldn’t come here just to chat casually.
So the answer could only be one.
“…Were you here to discuss the overseas project?”
“What?”
“Are you here to tell me to hand over the task to the Royal Intelligence Department?”
It was highly likely she had come to discuss transferring the mission of tracking down the spies’ supporting organization to the Royal Intelligence Department.
First of all, she was a military person. A lifetime spent in the Military Intelligence Agency’s Overseas Operations Department, in charge of the Kien Empire. And I was an information agent of the Overseas Operations Department of the Military Intelligence Agency, with my first worksite in the Kien Empire.
In a word, it was akin to a former superior asking a junior for a favor. Something like that.
It was common in the intelligence community. Frankly, that was the only thought that came to mind. However, Leoni and I weren’t particularly on bad terms, so I wondered why she specifically had to come find me. I couldn’t think of a good reason, but it probably wasn’t that important.
Leoni grinned as she replied.
“Do you think I came here to say something as trivial as that?”
“……”
Her eyes were filled with a chilling intensity. An emotion that could not merely be described as fierce; it felt like a dagger penetrating my heart with its intense gaze.
Leoni straightened her body as she continued.
“I didn’t come here to request a transfer or anything like that.”
Her gaze was sharp, but I held my ground and smiled casually.
“…Is that so? Then please let me know soon. I need to eat lunch.”
“……”
“Oh, by the way, have you had your meal?”
“What a way to say it…”
Leoni softened her expression, muttering “What kind of strange thing did that Clevenz fellow teach you?” as she leaned back into her chair once again. Even if she was a senior officer above Clevenz, it felt a bit much to expect too much of a colonel.
As I was lost in thought, she adjusted her glasses and began to speak.
“Right. Since we’re not that close, let’s skip the tedious formalities and get straight to the point.”
“I’m listening.”
“Now, about you…”
A deal was being proposed.
“Are you considering a job change?”
—
The Royal Intelligence Department is a competitor to the Military Intelligence Agency.
To be precise, as an external intelligence agency, they engage in mutual checks and surveillance to achieve better operational efficiency in a symbiotic relationship.
Information gathering.
Information analysis.
Counter-terrorism.
Protection of advanced technology.
Support for overseas enterprises.
Advising decision-makers.
Covert operations, etc.
The Royal Intelligence Department and Military Intelligence Agency, along with each other, monitor and check each other across various fields.
Such relationships exist in every country.
CIA and DIA, FSB and SVR, DGSE and DST, SIS and GCHQ, Mossad and Aman, CIRO and DIH, National Security Ministry and Military General Staff Headquarters’ Information Unit, Cultural Exchange Bureau and Reconnaissance Bureau, National Intelligence Service and Information Command, etc.
National intelligence agencies and various information agencies, domestic and foreign entities engage in fierce information warfare against one another. This is due to the need to secure a larger budget and initiative. This leads them to sometimes overstep their bounds and make mistakes.
However, they do not always compete. They interact through training, information sharing, personnel exchanges, joint operations, dispatches, and business trips. After all, they belong to the same home country. Even if they disdain each other, they are family.
However, this area is a little different.
Due to the deeply entrenched systems like the caste system, pride and sense of belonging run high. Thus, in their efforts to suppress each other, they engage in fiercer intelligence warfare internally than among intelligence agencies worldwide.
In other words, they do whatever’s allowed as long as they don’t cross the line.
Just like now.
“…What did you just say?”
A deal came from the Royal Intelligence Department.
A job transfer proposal. In other words, the suggestion to change jobs.
The intelligence community has a habit of frequently rotating personnel. It’s an inevitable phenomenon due to the scarcity of skilled manpower encompassing both experience and knowledge.
Thus, intelligence agencies sometimes recruit external experts as special hires. It’s not unlike the National Intelligence Service announcing special recruitments for professionals in military intelligence, North Korea, foreign investigations, IT, etc.
Of course,
“I asked if you’d consider transferring to the Royal Intelligence Department after your retirement.”
Even in cases where someone personally comes to propose a transfer, just like now.
I asked Leoni.
“Why would I move to the Royal Intelligence Department?”
“How many years have you served?”
“…It’s been 6 years.”
“Really?”
She closed her eyes, lost in thought. Then she verbalized the numbers.
“3 years until commissioned. You went over right when you were about to become a second lieutenant, so one year in the field as a squad leader, 6 months of training, 3 years of practical work, 3 years as an advisor….”
“……”
“A 6-year officer in the Military Intelligence Agency. When a short-term officer from 3 to 5 years gets hired as a special recruit, they come in as a grade 7 rookie, so if you come over now, you’d at least become a team leader. A major is grade 6, so if you change jobs, it generally raises your rank by two….”
“……”
“Up to grade 4. A managerial position. What do you think?”
Her offer was essentially to let me come into the Royal Intelligence Department as a higher rank.
It was a rather generous proposal. A grade 4 position in an intelligence agency at the end of my twenties. Even a middle management position is quite high.
“They’re not just offering you a grade 4 status. They’ll grant you all the authority, allocated personnel, equipment, and support scale of a grade 4. If necessary, I can also cut you a blank check.”
“……”
A blank check issued by a national intelligence agency means essentially granting you the ability to do whatever you want. It’s a very clear abuse of power that surpasses laws and regulations.
For a 28-year-old newly appointed operative, it was an excessive offer. It could be a risky gamble. But still, it was a proposal worth taking that risk for.
I kept silent to weigh my words, and Leoni adjusted her posture, ready to further persuade me. More than trying to recruit me, it felt like she was asking if I had any further questions.
“Are you still not going to do it? The transfer?”
“That doesn’t give me a reason to leave the Military Intelligence Agency.”
“Reason?”
She laughed.
“If you make a living off this work, then you know. The operational personnel at the Royal Intelligence Department far exceed those in the overseas section of the Military Intelligence Agency.”
“The number of personnel and scale is confidential information.”
“Do you think I wouldn’t know that? Look. I don’t know the exact scale either. It’s confidential. Only agency heads or the Prime Minister would know that. I only have a rough idea from looking at things.”
Indeed, even an intelligence agency person cannot open sealed confidential matters. Confidential information that doesn’t relate to your rank or role should not be accessed recklessly. Especially the accurate organization scale is sensitive.
However, there is a sense of intuition. An experienced person can have a rough idea about the scale or capabilities of the organization they are in. And she was an industry veteran.
Leoni boldly held up one finger.
“But this is certain. Whether in terms of the organization’s status or scale, the Military Intelligence Agency cannot hold a candle to the Royal Intelligence Department.”
That was true.
The Military Intelligence Agency was a departmental intelligence agency, while the Royal Intelligence Department was a national intelligence agency. There was a difference in organizational scale right from the start.
Overall numbers might show the Military Intelligence Agency surpassing the Royal Intelligence Department, but the Military Intelligence Agency is an integrated intelligence agency that combines both domestic and foreign operations. Compared to the Royal Intelligence Department, which specializes solely in overseas affairs, the overseas section of the Military Intelligence Agency was much smaller.
“And you know. Working at the Royal Intelligence Department, you could work in a far more pleasant environment than what you have now at the Military Intelligence Agency.”
“……”
“Even if it’s not the Intelligence Agency, if you truly don’t want to give over the business, wouldn’t it be better to work under better conditions than now?”
She only assessed the situation from an operative’s perspective, avoiding any mention of belonging or loyalty.
In a nutshell, she emphasized practicality over justification, efficiency over sentiment.
“……”
“Think it over well. Serving your country isn’t just about wielding a gun and defending your nation, you know?”
Of course, she didn’t forget a hint of nationalistic marketing.
Having spewed her thoughts like a machine gun, Leoni gathered her things and rose from her chair.
Before leaving the room, she told me,
“I trust you aren’t foolish enough to waste your talents.”
“…….”
“I can’t give you too long. So make a decision. As soon as you can.”
