TL: EKID
I am a junior staff employee of the National Intelligence Service.
Compared to today’s young people who are having a hard time getting jobs, I am on the lucky side.
That’s because I became a government employee of the South Korea without going through years of hardship as a civil service exam takers.
I passed the special recruitment process of the National Intelligence Service while serving in the Army as a Sergeant of the Special Warfare Command. It was thanks to the recommendation of Master sergeant Kim from the Special Warfare Command’s personnel division, who had always seen me in a favorable light.
Thanks to Master sergeant Kim’s recommendation, I passed the interview and physical fitness test and was accepted as a field agent of the National Intelligence Service.
That was exactly two years ago.
And now, the place where I work is Dandong City, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China.
To describe the workplace a bit more specifically, the top floor of a shabby four-story commercial-residential building in Dandong City is precisely my workplace.
Within the National Intelligence Service, there are Black Agents who travel around the world and operate actively, and decorated field agents who move around various parts of the China performing special missions, but in my case, I am far from such veteran agents.
I was just a junior dtaff agent constantly going up and down between the 4th floor and the rooftop of the commercial-residential building.
And that for a year and six months without missing a single day.
Someone who doesn’t know the reality might say I’m living the good life after joining the National Intelligence Service, but in truth, this life was no different from prison. The mission I was assigned to was simple, but the problem was that I couldn’t leave my post like a lighthouse keeper on an uninhabited island. For a 20-something-year-old agent, not an old man, living only within the confines of a commercial building made every day feel far too long.
Luckily, I have a homebody temperament, so I was able to endure this lifestyle. And the monthly salary deposited into my account was another source of motivation that helped me withstand this life.
2,467,200 won (TL Note: $1800)
That’s the monthly salary I receive, excluding allowances. In addition to my salary, I also receive a monthly activity expense of 2 million won.
4,467,200 won (TL Note: $3259)
This is the amount deposited into my account on the 21st, which is the pay day for government employees in the South Korea. It’s pretty decent. The amount I receive is twice what I earned as a Sergeant in the Special Warfare Command.
‘Master sergeant Kim, thank you.’
I endured my monotonous life by enjoying the fun of watching the money in my account increase every month.
Out of the salary and activity expenses, I never touched 4 million won. My monthly spending allowance was 467,200 won.
The bank account was merely a transit stop. Every time my salary was deposited, I always transferred 4 million won to my CMA account at Future△△Securities. That’s because I couldn’t bear to leave my hard-earned money even for a day in a regular bank account with low interest. (TL Note: CMA=Cash Management Account)
Even though the CMA account’s return rate was only in the low 3% range, I preferred safety. I didn’t invest in stocks, nor did I subscribe to bonds or funds. I wasn’t a fan of term deposits longer than a year either. The idea of not being able to freely access my money just to earn a meager amount of extra interest made no sense to me. How could money that I can’t freely withdraw be considered my own?
Anyway, the money I saved over the past two years had already reached 99,260,000 won. (TL Note: $72200)
My only joy while sleeping in that cramped fourth-floor room in Dandong was looking into my CMA account. Lying on my bed and checking the balance on my phone screen allowed me to end the day with satisfaction.
My assigned duty was to monitor the bridge over the Yalu River.
Called the Korea-China Friendship Bridge in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the China-North Korea Friendship Bridge in the China, the Yalu River bridge connects Sinuiju City in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, and Dandong City, Liaoning Province, China. It is an important bridge through which goods and people travel between North Korea and China.
As the USA imposed sanctions against North Korea, the Yalu River bridge became like a lifeline for the country. Through this bridge, North Korea receives the minimum supplies provided by China.
Since 2006, the UN Security Council has imposed trade sanctions in response to North Korea’s nuclear tests, and in 2016, the USA added its own sanctions including a ban on mineral exports and financial institution restrictions aimed at cutting off North Korea’s funding. In 2017, following North Korea’s ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) launch and its sixth nuclear test, the USA further imposed oil export restrictions and shipping sanctions under the “maximum pressure” strategy.
Under these high-intensity sanctions by the USA, without China’s support, the North Korean regime would have already collapsed.
Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese pharmaceuticals were brought into North Korea through the Yalu River bridge. Without even that, many more North Korean residents would have lost their lives.
Just like this, the Yalu River bridge that I monitor has become the bare minimum lifeline keeping the North Korean regime afloat under the sanctions imposed by the USA. Like an IV line stuck into the arm of a critically ill patient.
For this reason, the intelligence agencies of the South Korea and the USA monitor the Yalu River bridge 24 hours a day.
The USA uses reconnaissance satellites, and the South Korea uses rookie employees like me…
On the fourth floor where I work, a Panasonic ENG camera equipped with a telephoto lens is installed, and on the rooftop, a TiCAM 1000C thermal imaging surveillance device is set up. My mission is to film the trains and vehicles crossing the Yalu River bridge all day long using these devices.
The ENG camera is installed in one corner of the window, and the thermal imaging device is placed inside a concealed box on the rooftop, so from the outside, it is impossible to know that there are cameras here.
The footage filmed by the two cameras stores all the trains and vehicles that travel across the Yalu River bridge. My job is to edit only the trains and vehicles crossing the bridge and save them as digital files.
The Yalu River bridge has a unique structure with a one-way road alongside the railway tracks, where vehicles can also pass. On one side, trains travel, and on the other, vehicles pass.
Usually, I watch trucks with North Korean license plates driving across the bridge.
Recently, vehicles entering North Korea are loaded with goods, but vehicles coming out from North Korea are always empty trucks.
I compile a record file detailing the time of crossing, license plate numbers, and whether or not the trains and trucks were carrying cargo, along with the video footage, into a USB file and report it to my superior.
Field agents like me are positioned at the bottom of a cell structure. I only know the person directly above me and do not know who is above that.
Old-man Choi is the only person from the National Intelligence Service I know in Dandong.
Due to the cell structure of the National Intelligence Service’s overseas operations, Old-man Choi is the only person from the agency I meet in Dandong.
Old-man Choi is also the owner of the old commercial-residential building I live in.
He is a fixed agent of the National Intelligence Service who has been working in Dandong for 20 years.
According to him, my predecessor worked for three years and returned to Korea. In other words, while the agent monitoring the Yalu River bridge changes every three years, Old-man Choi stays in Dandong without change.
A red alert light lit up on the monitor above the desk in my room, and the alarm went off.
– Woof woof
The alarm sound was a dog barking. I had set the alarm sound to dog barking.
On the CCTV monitor, I saw Old-man Choi coming up the stairs to the second floor. I turned off the alarm.
The door to the fourth floor where I stay has three locks. I unlocked the locks installed at the top and bottom of the door and opened it for Old-man Choi to enter.
“Climbing the stairs is too hard. I can’t keep doing this crap.”
Old-man Choi in his sixties said while panting heavily.
In his hand was a shopping basket containing my daily provisions.
I took the basket and checked the contents. Except for the milk, most of it was instant food.
“What about the cigarettes I asked for?”
“You should start getting used to Chinese cigarettes.”
This old coot must’ve forgotten again today.
I asked him to get me a pack of Korean Raison cigarettes, but in the basket was a pack of Zhongnanhai, the kind young Chinese people smoke.
“Has Pyeongbuk 90-330 not shown up today either?”
“Haven’t seen it for a week. It’s such a piece of junk, it probably broke down somewhere.”
“Due to the economic sanctions against North Korea, the Yalu River bridge is their only throat. Even if it’s a junk vehicle, it can’t be out of service for a week…”
“My throat is you, Old-man Choi. Next time, please buy Korean cigarettes. Chinese ones are too strong.”
I spoke as I stocked the food items from the basket into the cupboard.
Thinking about having to endure a few more days with strong Chinese cigarettes, I responded to Old-man Choi with a grumbling tone.
“So it’s already been a year and a half since you came here? Has your Chinese gotten any better?”
“Of course not. The USB is on the shelf.”
I immediately opened the milk cap and took a sip. Chinese milk is thick because they add less water. Chinese milk tasted more savory than Korean milk to my taste.
“Would you be interested in doing a part-time job?”
I looked at Old-man Choi.
This was an unexpected proposal.
Until now, Old-man Choi had never once suggested a mission that involved leaving the commercial building.
But suddenly, a part-time job?
“Seems like one of the field agents ran into a problem. My superior appears to be in quite a bind.”
Old-man Choi said while picking up the USB from the shelf.
“What kind of part-time job is it?”
“It’s filming a Chinese drug dealing scene.”
“The Company handles things like that too?”
“Did you forget the rule? Don’t question what the Company does.”
We never say the word NIS. Instead, we call it ‘The Company’.
“All I have to do is film it?”
Old-man Choi nodded.
“That’s right. Just film the scene from a distance.”
I kept my mouth shut and didn’t answer.
Even if it’s just filming, anything can happen on the scene. As someone who prioritizes safety above all, I saw no reason to volunteer for something that wasn’t even my job.
“The part-time pay is pretty high.”
Old-man Choi, seeing my hesitation, dangled the bait.
At the word pay, I glanced at him. But I didn’t ask how much.
‘Come on, say it already, you old coot. How much is the pay?’
I took another sip of milk, waiting for him to speak.
Old-man Choi smiled faintly, as if he could read my mind, and said,
“5 million won for one day’s work”
‘Gasp! 5 million won for a day?’
That’s more than two months of my salary.
“All I really have to do is film from a distance, right?”
I took the bait right away.
“That’s what I’m telling you. Would I introduce dangerous work to you who’s in charge of this place?”
“It’ll be over in a day, right?”
“Go in the afternoon, come back early next morning. We can’t let this post go unmanned either.”
Old-man Choi looked at me and asked,
“Will you do it?”
“Well, since it’s you asking, I’ll give it a try.”
I decided to take the part-time job.
***
“Can we trust that guy?”
“I think so, yes. Not like we’ve got another option, do we?”
Old-man Choi was having dinner with a middle-aged man in a shabby hot pot restaurant in a Dandong back alley.
The man was younger than Old-man Choi, but outranked him.
“He’s still a rookie, isn’t he…”
“I’ve watched him for over a year. He’s a sharp one. And we don’t have any other agents, right?”
“If he’s ex-Special Warfare Command Sergeant, he should be able to take care of himself?”
“That much you don’t need to worry about. He used to be an ace in the Special Warfare Command.”
“We don’t have a choice then. The operation is scheduled for tomorrow night.”
After downing a shot of kaoliang liquor, Old-man Choi asked with a worried look,
“Still no word from Number 8?”
“This has never happened before. He suddenly disappeared right before the operation.”
“Could he have been exposed?”
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be sitting here either.”
“You be careful too. Dandong is crawling with Black Agents from China, Russia, USA, North Korea, and Japan.”
Just as Old-man Choi said. Despite being a rural city in China, Dandong was swarming with intelligence agents due to its geographical location on the border with North Korea.
The middle-aged man stood up first.
“Send that guy to the Suit Shop by 5 p.m. tomorrow.”
“You pay the bill here before you go.”
After the man left first, Old-man Choi, now alone, poured the remaining kaoliang into his glass.
He emptied the glass in one gulp and, grimacing from the strong liquor, muttered to himself,
“Kuh… Dandong’s atmosphere isn’t like it used to be these days. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
He reached to pour another drink but realized the kaoliang bottle was empty and smacked his lips.