A Dark Fantasy Spy

---

I was ordered to stay here and was denied return.

I felt a bit irritated, but since I was on the payroll funded by taxes, there was nothing I could do.

I understood the situation, but honestly, my pride was hurt. Everyone else was out having fun while I was stuck working.

Whether he knew this or not, Colonel Clevenz kept rambling on about his agenda.

-“Since a few days ago, we’ve been jamming all communications within a 5km radius of the Research Institute. Access is restricted, and since external communication is impossible, you don’t need to worry about information leaks for the time being.”

He meant that they had prevented any industrial spies from getting through.

With the shutters down and electronic warfare in full swing, there’s no way information regarding Camila Lowell’s health and abilities would leak out.

-“The problem is that during her examination, the Hero’s security will be compromised. I’ll be reallocating a few people for security duty, so don’t fret.”

It seemed Camila Lowell’s safety was at least somewhat secured.

I was a bit uneasy since I didn’t know how the inspection would proceed. However, since Colonel Clevenz said he would handle most issues, I felt a bit more at ease.

As he handled everything so well, I suddenly found myself with little to do. His words of encouragement to take it easy suddenly crossed my mind. Surely, if he was sending me to a place with nothing to do, something must be going on, right?

In a small fit of hope, I asked him, “So, do I just need to be a conversation partner?”

-“What nonsense are you blabbering? Have you gone nuts from the poison?”

He told me to stop with the foolishness.

“But you told me to be a conversation partner.”

-“Were you planning on having a date at the Research Institute? What good is it for a salaried worker to be slacking off during duty hours?”

Colonel Clevenz clicked his tongue in disapproval. I really wanted to get out of here.

-“For now, just pay some attention to the investigation over there, and if necessary, I’ll throw in a few pieces of advice.”

“You mean you want me to support the investigation?”

-“Since there’s hardly a difference between industrial spies and information agents, I believe you know better than desk jockeys, don’t you?”

That was a fair point. Colonel Clevenz seemed to hope I could provide some support for the investigation based on my experience.

I had thought I was finally going to get a break, but what a bait-and-switch this turned out to be.

-“Well, it’s alright if the Hero gets bored and wants to chat. Just don’t play around too much.”

“Okay.”

-“Then go and get to work.”

The call ended.

Just then, the dawn began to break, pushing away the darkness beyond the mountains.

After staring at the sun for a bit, I turned on my heels.

“…I guess I should prepare for overtime.”

It was already set that I would be working late again today.

—

Episode 3 – Fantastical Vacation

I dragged my exhausted body to the Research Institute.

I submitted my identification, went through a body search, and boarded the tram heading towards headquarters, as guided by an employee.

It was something somewhat akin to a maglev train using magical energy. I wasn’t in the sciences, so I had no clue how it worked.

Anyway, I dozed off for about two minutes when suddenly the announcement rang out that we had arrived at our destination.

I got off, scanned the entry pass I received at the entrance, and asked an employee to summon someone before entering the conference room.

After waiting for about five minutes…

“I apologize for being late.”

The Suit Man and the Soldier strode in. The Research Institute Internal Affairs Officer and the Information Agency Dispatch Team Leader.

“It’s nice to see you. It’s been two hours.”

“Colonel? Didn’t you say you were returning?”

“Haha….”

I awkwardly laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed to admit I had been sent back empty-handed, and gestured for them to take a seat.

“The reason I’m here is that I’ve been ordered by the higher-ups to cooperate with the investigation.”

“What sort of cooperation are we talking about…?”

“Just some advice, you see. I’m not in charge of leading the investigation or anything complicated like that.”

At the news that an outsider would be inserting themselves into the proceedings, both of their expressions grew subtly contentious. The investigation had barely begun, so what sort of advice would we need? They were already overwhelmed with the work they had.

I understood all too well how rough it was for the people on the front lines. It’s always the same complaints.

However, since it was an order from above, whether we liked it or not, both sides would have to cooperate.

There was no point in wasting energy over who had control of the investigation since all of us knew what needed to be done; so we began the meeting with some concessions.

“First of all, the Hero is scheduled for her examination here the day after tomorrow… no, tomorrow, actually. You all know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. The complex issues of information leaks and safety have already been dealt with by the higher-ups, so we should focus on capturing the industrial spies.”

“Sounds good. So, where do we start?”

Once the room was organized, the conversation progressed smoothly.

The first to speak was the Research Institute Internal Affairs Officer.

“We’re currently in the process of investigating all research personnel, so it’s uncertain how thorough the inspection will be.”

“I believe the inspection is to be conducted using equipment. Is there a problem with that?”

“It’s possible to conduct the inspection, but the analysis of the data falls to the researchers….”

I took that to mean they had the equipment for CT or MRI scans but no doctors available to interpret the findings.

We were supposed to be catching industrial spies, but right now, we were keeping all the employees in the basement and investigating them. How could we trust those people to conduct the examination?

Since the individuals gathered here were not researchers, we decided to push that discussion to the back for now.

“Conducting investigations to flush out industrial spies at this stage is quite a burden. You all know that espionage investigations take considerable time and manpower. If we combine internal affairs and dispatched personnel, we’re barely over fifty.”

That’s what it meant to be short on personnel. I nodded along as I scribbled down the Dispatch Team Leader’s concerns on a notepad.

“Are you suggesting we should request additional personnel?”

“Yes, but since most of the Information Agency’s capabilities are already devoted to intelligence collection and analysis, I anticipate it would be difficult to secure additional manpower.”

Why was he bringing up the topic of intelligence collection and analysis here? He must have seen the confusion on my face because the Dispatch Team Leader explained it for me.

“We’ve received an overwhelming amount of intelligence over the past month….”

Not too long ago, Colonel Clevenz had opened a cabinet supposedly laying down smoke bombs, swinging tools around everywhere.

Naturally, the entire continent started going haywire, power structures shifted in various countries, and national projects went off the rails.

All the information we had painstakingly gathered was now worthless scraps of paper.

So, what should the intelligence agency do now? I wasn’t exactly certain what needed to be done, but I did know the agents were going to have to work late into the night.

Think about how things were when Kim Jong-il died. The military, the police, everyone went on high alert, and the Blue House, which had been throwing a birthday party for the president that morning, turned upside down, while the intelligence personnel had to run about to answer phone calls. It was a similar situation now.

Though it was Colonel Clevenz who started this mess, it had technically been because of me, so I felt a twinge of guilt for the agents involved.

Anyway, it sounded like bringing in additional manpower was out of the question.

“How many researchers do we currently have?”

“There are a total of 917 research personnel.”

“So we’ll have to investigate all 900 of them with barely over 100 people.”

I understood that to mean things were looking pretty grim.

Considering that during the Cold War, the Defense Science Research Institute expelled 839 people, in this context of a similar Cold War, that number didn’t seem all that unusual.

“Just doing some rough math means we’d need one person to investigate 18 others….”

“Additionally, we need to search for leaked research data and inspect employee accommodations.”

“Wow.”

With a breath of disbelief, I could feel the conference room descending into silence.

It was already chaos with the investigation having only recently begun. The investigation teams were drastically short compared to the size of the Research Institute. It was clear that if things continued like this, we wouldn’t be able to conduct inspections or anything else.

“Damn….”

A curse slipped out between the fingers of my hands buried in my face. I could feel the pitiful gazes of the Suit Man and the Soldier.

“Colonel, have you perhaps not slept for several days…?”

“I’ve had four hours of sleep a night for the past two months.”

Five hours? Four hours? I couldn’t say for sure. I’d been pushing myself late into the nights for quite some time.

I pressed my head down, trying to regain my usual rhythm.

“Is the Hero definitely coming tomorrow?”

“She’s scheduled to arrive at 10 AM.”

Looking at my watch, I saw it was now 7:38 AM. That meant just a little over 24 hours remained.

Alright. If I start working now, I should be able to wrap things up around the time she arrives.

“Everyone. The investigation has only just begun, and we’re already in a state of confusion, right? The scope we need to cover is just too wide for the issues we face.”

“Well, we haven’t been investigating for even a week.”

Right now, it was the situation where one investigator was responsible for nine suspects. If we maintained this status quo, someone was likely to drop dead from overwork.

I tapped my fingers on the desk and began speaking out.

“This isn’t an issue of capability; it’s an issue of scale and scope.”

“That’s correct.”

“Then we should narrow the scope of the investigation.”

The questioning gazes of the two individuals turned toward me.

“I have a good plan; would you care to hear it?”

—

My plan was simple.

Pruning.

Since there were too many subjects we needed to investigate, let’s drastically reduce the number of suspects.

“Is that really possible…?”

“Just hear me out.”

I pushed aside the Internal Affairs Officer’s skepticism and jabbed at the notepad with a pen.

“There are over 900 people on the suspect list, right? 917? That’s a lot. More than we can handle.”

I wrote down the number 917.

At the same time, I worked my mind, pulling up the information I knew.

“Let’s narrow it down to important personnel.”

“Important personnel?”

“Hey, what are the ranks of the researchers in this institute?”

“The ranks? Well, they go chief, responsible, senior, subordinate, in order. It gets more detailed, but that’s what I know.”

Chief. Responsible. Senior. Subordinate.

I jotted down those four words on my notepad and added a single term: Confidential.

Now it was time to spill the beans.

“I think everyone here knows where I belong, right?”

“We’re only speculating.”

“You’re correct in your assumptions. Anyway, I’ve had a lot of dealings with institutions like this from that location.”

No one here was unaware that this meant foreign operations.

I was conscious of the security risks, but with everyone here knowing well that if they said too much, they could be dragged off at any moment, there was no need for me to worry about keeping quiet. If I gave Colonel Clevenz a quick call, he’d send me a few confidentiality agreements in no time.

“Fact is, whether it’s an industrial spy or an information agent, it’s all the same thing. The commonality is that they bring information. The only difference is whether that information is confidential or research-related. Thus, the first thing we check when vetting is always intelligence access.”

I wrote down the term Intelligence Access.

“That’s about whether or not I can access the information I want. There are a few other important matters to consider as well.”

The word Colleague appeared on the notepad.

“The next thing to determine is the colleague.”

The Dispatch Team Leader caught on.

“You’re talking about recruitment motives.”

“Exactly.”

Recruitment motives.

“There are various criteria for judging recruitment motives: money, ideology, religion, self-esteem, a desire for revenge, growth background, living environment, ambition, etc.”

That’s a method commonly used in modern intelligence agencies.

It’s sometimes referred to as the MICE/RC categories, with independent guidelines existing within intelligence agencies.

Someone might need urgent funds for a family member’s illness.

They might want recognition from their group.

They might have a peculiar ideology.

They might hold a strong grudge against someone.

They could possess some unusual penchant that they can’t discuss openly.

Once the intelligence access assessments are completed, the analysts can identify these factors, and the operatives can approach them for recruitment.

Generally, the ones asking for intel are referred to as information agents or informants, while those managing them are called intelligence officers, controllers, or supervisors.

After managing an informant for a certain period, if they become useless or draw suspicion, the contract is “terminated.”

“All requirements relate to desires. Once we ascertain a person’s ability to bring in the desired information, we can gauge their motivations, and then we can proceed with recruitment.”

“How do we do that?”

“Usually, building rapport and persuading them is standard, but if it doesn’t pan out, one might resort to blackmailing with weaknesses or threatening family members.”

The Dispatch Team Leader nodded, maintaining a neutral expression, while the Internal Affairs Officer’s complexion shifted slightly.

Whether he was upset or not didn’t concern me.

“Anyway, if we’re aware of these factors, we can identify who the infiltrator might be.”

We’d know who had access to sensitive information and who had motivations for recruitment.

If we sort that out, we could reduce the number of suspects drastically.

It’s unlikely that the youngest employee in the lab would be capable of absconding with crucial research material.

I set the pen down, finishing my explanation. The Dispatch Team Leader fixed me with a piercing gaze.

“So what do we need to do?”

“You have access to the personnel records and personal cards of the researchers, right?”

For reference, the information about the institute’s staff or background is all classified.

This means that if you’re with the intelligence agency, you can view it whenever necessary.

“Let’s identify the researchers who have access to important materials and start with them.”

“…I’m not so sure if we’ll gather personal preferences.”

“Anyway, the higher-ranking personnel aren’t likely to have ever received covert clearance, so if we filter those out and do some background checks, we should find something.”

“Understood. We’ll start with categorizing by authority.”

“Yes, I’d appreciate that.”

I shook myself off, plucked some papers from the notepad, and pocketed them.

“Let’s get to work.”

—

-‘…Using intelligence access and tendencies is a good call.’

“Can we proceed like this?”

-‘That’s for those people to figure out. Right now isn’t a time to be concerned about them; I’ll allow most things for now.’

Colonel Clevenz’s voice had a hint of fatigue.

“I’ll take that as your agreement and proceed.”

-‘Alright. Only 25 hours left until the Hero arrives.’

As of now, it was 8:46 AM. Just one day remained until Camila Lowell’s arrival here.

Whether it was by radio waves or magical frequencies, the underground must’ve been blocking communications, so I had come out to report.

Equipped with my communication device, I strolled along the walking paths as I thought about my plans when Colonel Clevenz unexpectedly spoke.

-‘It’s fascinating to see how you operate.’

“Excuse me?”

-‘You’ve probably not been on this side for very long, yet you seem to know a lot. Did you have any relatives working in intelligence?’

In my past life, my grandfather and father both worked in intelligence.

While my father kept quiet, I’d heard many stories from my grandfather, who was a former investigator.

“No, I don’t have any relatives in the intelligence field.”

-‘I see. Then you must have studied diligently.’

There are times when I remember people I’ll never see again, leaving me with a feeling in my chest. I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand and opened my mouth.

“Since you’ve taken care of most of the issues, I’ll do my best to capture the industrial spies alongside the people here.”

-‘You’re oozing confidence. As long as it doesn’t involve torture, I’ll allow it all.’

“Thank you.”

-‘Once you’re done, I’ll treat you to a meal.’

After some light conversation, I wrapped up the call with Colonel Clevenz.

The pleasant sunlight bathed the walking path.

Feeling the gentle warmth pouring through the leaves, I turned my steps toward the Research Institute.

Now it was time to welcome Camila Lowell.