But where could such peace come so easily?
You see, once an original direction gains inertia, it’s pretty hard to change it, right?
Unhappiness was no exception.
Indeed.
Truly unfortunate as it was, Odilia’s misfortune was far from over here.
Poor thing.
“Get up already.”
The last misfortune in America arrived in the form of a man with a rabbit-like expression.
As if determined to interrupt Odilia’s attempt to rest in her final sanctuary, a place commonly referred to as a bed, Jinseong suddenly declared this to her.
Get up now.
He meant there was no time to sleep here.
Without any pretense of stopping at words alone, he attempted to pull the blanket away.
Whoosh.
Odilia resisted that terrible decree, clenching her fists.
She tightened her grip on the blanket and pulled it even closer, wrapping herself up like a cocoon. Given that the blanket was white, perhaps the metaphor of a mummy might suit even better.
“….”
An unspoken act of reluctance to leave the bed.
Jinseong gripped the blanket once more in response to Odilia’s actions.
Then, with a hasty tug, he ripped it away and met the eyes of Odilia, who was huddled up tight.
“It would be prudent to escape America quickly. Unpleasant events lay ahead.”
Unpleasant things are on the way.
Even Odilia, who was reluctant to rise from the bed, found it hard to dismiss those words.
Slowly, she sat up, then slyly pulled the blanket that Jinseong had discarded over her lower body. It was an attempt to cover her short skirt.
And then, naturally, she looked at Jinseong and asked.
“What do you mean by unpleasant events…?”
Who exactly is Jinseong anyway?
Isn’t he someone who can see both past and future?
If someone like him is warning of bad things to come, what on earth could happen?
Odilia looked at Jinseong with a worried expression.
But Jinseong, as if he had no intention of answering her query, lightly shook his head.
Seeing this attitude from Jinseong, Odilia interpreted it in her own way.
‘A revelation of hidden knowledge?’
Not speaking has its own reasons.
Just because he didn’t express it out loud doesn’t mean there weren’t meanings behind that slight shake of his head.
Thus, Odilia attributed meaning to Jinseong’s actions.
And then she reached a conclusion.
If he expressed it that way, it’s likely because informing her would lead to something going awry.
To stop what’s called ‘leaking secrets’ in Korea, he must have shook his head like that.
As soon as Odilia made that interpretation, she quickly leaped off the bed.
She lightly adjusted her outfit, hastily packed her belongings, and then asked Jinseong.
“Can we leave America right now?”
“Indeed.”
“Which country should we go to?”
Which country would be good…?
Jinseong pondered for a moment in response to that question.
“For now, it may be best to avoid Europe. Do you have any country in mind?”
“Hmm. Ah, our Nes is in Russia for some business. Is that okay?”
“Russia, huh. That should be fine.”
“Yes. Then….”
Odilia paused for a moment and then glanced at Jinseong.
She twisted a few strands of her long hair with her finger and said.
“…I’ll contact you once we arrive.”
With that, she swiftly exited the room.
She urgently sought to escape America before Jinseong’s prophesied “unpleasant event” could transpire.
Thus, Jinseong remained alone in the hotel.
Odilia had just left the hotel, and Rise had given her passport and wallet after drinking her coffee to return to Japan.
And not long after, the two of them would escape America.
If so—
Only Jinseong would remain in America.
“Let’s see….”
Jinseong too would eventually leave America, following suit with them.
His destination would certainly be one of either Korea or Japan.
However, unlike the other two, Jinseong wouldn’t be rushing out of America as if he were fleeing.
He still had things to do, and only after finishing those could he leave America.
“I have received as much hospitality as I desired, and thus ought to extend the same in return as a virtue.”
Perhaps that task wouldn’t take long.
“The Golden Rule is most profound; any creation that sets foot on your land should act accordingly to bestow hospitality…”
Of course, whether that unfolds smoothly or not is another story.
Ah, but it is this splendid value derived from the Golden and Silver Rules that guides the way.
How could it not come to be?
It shall undoubtedly be performed.
Now, the positions of those who are going and those who are welcoming will shift.
*
To the agents located at 4984-120-A, we inform you that a friction between former Professor D and Student K-B has been confirmed by neighboring agencies.
The concerned agency reported that they extracted Bravo Uniform Delta from the current M audio during incantation noise—
“Asshole. What do you mean confirm? It’s obvious they’ve been monitoring us and shared this late!”
The agency has sent a message to the agents at 4984-120-A indicating that some surveillance systems have been neutralized due to a kind of magical contamination, and hence…
“Looks like they couldn’t handle it alone, so they’re only now letting it out. Typical.”
Many agencies exist in America.
Including both ordinary governmental bodies and intelligence agencies.
From long-standing agencies like the infamous or renowned CIA and FBI to relatively recent organizations, secretive entities that have recently come into the light and traditional bodies that have remained completely hidden from view until now, intelligence agencies known only to the President, and so forth…
America, this vast land, houses an astounding number of intelligence agencies.
It was unavoidable and, in a sense, inevitable.
This country, America—formed by merging several states the size of modest countries—needed more than just a few intelligence organizations to manage it all.
Furthermore, some states required their own separate intelligence agencies to operate—
Thus, the proliferation of so many intelligence groups seems utterly inevitable.
However, the existence of so many agencies can be bound to create side effects.
And that side effect is exactly this.
Problems arising from failure to share information adequately.
“While lacking capability, they’re obsessed with results… tsk.”
A recurring theme among those affiliated with various organizations.
Results and budgets.
Unless some blessing falls upon them, all organizations struggle under the weight of results and budgets.
Yearning for a bigger piece of the limited budget pie, they desperately seek to secure funding and grow the organization.
And intelligence agencies are no different.
No, perhaps it’s even more intense than at regular organizations.
For intelligence agencies, results equate to their very existence.
Thus, this is why things like this happen.
They refrain from sharing information with other agencies in their quest for results on their own, even when they know it’s too large to handle alone, instead forcing open their mouths wide and attempting to swallow it whole, only to find themselves having to request aid from other agencies after things go south, or undertaking irrational operations that exacerbate the situation—all of these are such ridiculous antics.
“This is why talk of agency mergers comes up. Damn it.”
Especially considering that talk circulated recently about merging intelligence agencies in a meeting of high-ranking officials.
In such a situation, while it’s more understandable why they cling tightly to achieving results…
Still.
When problems arise, shouldn’t they have shared the information if they thought they couldn’t cope?
“If only they had shared immediately after they only obtained a few clips from the incantation noise. That would have prevented any surveillance gaps… tsk.”
Thanks to delaying information sharing for the sake of achieving results, surveillance gaps have indeed emerged.
Of course, there are countless surveillance devices and facilities, so they can fill that gap if they look hard enough…
But even so, the thought of having to rummage through records is an utterly unnecessary act, and it’s pretty much like sabotaging the overall efficiency of the entire organization.
“Didn’t they say spies sent in by the CIA behave so ineptly to ruin an organization? So that agency is probably full of damn enemy spies. Damn it.”
Well, as long as it’s just lowering efficiency, that’s a relief.
Sometimes, they give rise to chaos.
[Wait a second. I inquire within that agency. Did you say there was a clash with Student K-B?]
[Yes, that has been reported. Please double-check if the information received was incorrect. Is it indeed Student K-B?]
[Correct. What’s the issue?]
[Ah, I’ll confirm it from where the Yankees are. Student K-B is at M point. I repeat, Student K-B is confirmed to be performing a ritual at M point.]
[…M point?]
[That’s right. I’m informing you it’s located at the M point of the Yankees. Do you have access to that information?]
[…Confirmed. Is Student K-B currently still at M point?]
[Confirmed to be on the third floor of M point. We scanned and created a 3D map for verification, confirming it’s not a dummy with thermal imaging cameras. Though we couldn’t do a close-up, we managed to identify the face with high-magnification cameras.]
[Oh, Fuu-uuuu…]
This is the kind of confusion I’m talking about.
