East

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Present Day | March 03 | 12:30

A Cat Cafe, Seoul, South Korea

Park Ye-Jin sat at a corner table, her back to the wall, looking out on to the street two floors below. Occasionally she would lift her drink and take a sip, giving the impression of a woman without a care in the world. The cat sitting on the adjacent table had the same air. The location had been chosen to give her the upper hand and she intended to use it.

She was actually a little nervous, as anyone would be, meeting with an agent from their national security service. 

There were a few other people in the cafe, sipping their drinks and playing with the cats. She would have liked to have a cat herself and she had the space, unlike a lot of other people in the city. But whilst the companionship would be nice, she wasn't ready for the responsibility of something or someone else relying on her. So, like the other customers, she  came to a cat cafe to satisfy that desire.

When the man wearing a black suit entered the otherwise empty cafe she pretended not to notice, keeping her eyes on his reflection in the window. His discomfort was obvious even from across the room, his look of disgust giving away his lack of field experience. Ye-Jin fought a smile and took another sip from her drink. He didn't seem to have changed since they had last met, still the same junior she had worked with at the National Intelligence Service. She hadn't been impressed then and didn't expect to be this time. In some ways it was almost an insult that he had been the one who was sent. Perhaps that was the intention?

He crossed to her table and sat down without a greeting or invitation. For someone who was her junior both in age and previously in the workplace, this was an insult, or at least very rude.

 "Ryu Ji-Mun, before you sit down ..." She tapped her drink container.

"You want another drink?" he asked, confused.

"No, but you are supposed to buy one," she reminded him. "It's the rule."

He paused for a moment, then got up. He returned, uncomfortably, with a pink drink, the cheapest drink they had. He sat down again.

Ye-Jin looked at the drink and couldn't hide her smile this time.

She needled him once more. "And don't forget to use the hand sanitizer before you touch the cats."

"I won't be touching the damned cats," he said irritably, "I'm allergic to them."

Ye-Jin smiled sympathetically, as if she didn't know. "Really? Then perhaps you should get to the point. Why did you want to meet?"

He kept his eyes on a large cat which was getting closer and said, "We would like you to do some work for us."

"Work?"

"Yes, we need an identity packet created."

"We?"

"The NIS. Your old employers. Who else?"

"Why not produce it internally?"

"Everyone is just so busy and we need these in a hurry. We'd like you to work away from our office and we will arrange delivery of any materials you need. It will be international items. A drivers license, passport, credit card. The usual." The cats were beginning to make his eyes water. "We thought you would appreciate the business and we're paying top dollar. How about it?"

"I'm flattered." She wasn't. "But I've retired." She was.

No response. 

Ye-Jin pointed to her camera. "I'm a photographer now."

 No response. 

"I don't do that any more." 

No response.

"They fired me, remember?" 

No response.

She tilted her head and raised her eye-brows. "Are you awake?"

He stood, still warily eying the large cat, and placed a business card on the table. He tapped the card twice. "I need you to confirm by tomorrow. Contact me at my new number."  

She watched his back as he left, and grinned as he sneezed twice while exiting the cafe. It had definitely been a calculated insult on their part, but she felt a little better about it. Perhaps because  she had never been a field agent, this had been a little exciting.

The large cat jumped on her lap. "Thank you," she said as she scratched his head, "we did well."

***

Rubbing his eyes, Ryu Ji-Mun left the cafe, paused for a break in the traffic, and crossed the street. When he had walked until he was out of sight of the building he pulled out his phone and dialed a number from memory. It was answered after two rings.

"Will she do this job for us?" No pleasantries, just straight to business.

"She hasn't agreed yet, but I'm confident that she will."

"I hope that your confidence is not misplaced." The voice paused. "I believe we were clear about our desire to have a positive outcome from this meeting?"

"Yes, sir, and if necessary I have prepared a little pressure to help persuade her." He paused. "But she was fired in disgrace, why would we use someone with her record ...?"

"You do not need to understand, just make sure it happens." The voice was slightly raised, enough for him to regret what he had just asked.

"Yes, sir. I will have her confirmation by tomorrow."

The call ended abruptly. He had been dismissed. As he returned the phone to his pocket the sudden recollection of the meeting made him realize that Ye-Jin had completely dominated him. 

He felt like he had just attended his own interrogation.