Red Flag

***

[Agent Selene POV]

I'm gonna kill him. I'm really gonna kill him.

"Oh my! That's so big! Are you a half Westerner? I assume you are since your eyes are bluish-gray."

"Yes, I am. It's on my mother's side."

"Woah. No wonder you're so handsome. The gene combination is really great, huh? I'm sure my grandchild will turn out the same. I look forward to it," she replied, smiling and patting his back. "And don't believe Ye-Ji'ya. She doesn't know what big and small are when it comes to that. How would she know when she has nothing to compare it to? So don't take it to heart, my dear, okay?"

"Really? That's great then."

Ugh. Look at him acting so pitiful. Disgusting. Eight inches? As if he's really eight inches. I didn't even… well, I did think it was his arm or something beneath my leg before looking at it—wait, no! His arms were bigger! Besides, how could I tell? I wasn't f-focused on "that" even after he pointed it out. And most of all, why in the world were we having this kind of conversation in front of my mother?!

As I was busy freaking out in my mind—just in my mind since I couldn't show it in my face, could I?—he walked towards me and lifted me from bed.

"What the—put me down!" I snapped at him.

"It's okay, babe. Don't be shy."

"I said I'm fine. I can walk."

"Aigoo, these two. Being so sweet in the morning. You're making me feel single and miserable," mom teased. "Come now, or the food will get cold."

And so, we went to the dining area while I was being carried in his arms. We squabbled a bit more on the way, whispering threats to each other though not loud enough since my mother might hear us. She just assumed we were flirting when she noticed the murmurs.

After that, we prepared to head out once more. Mom said she wanted to see my wedding gown, the venue, and all wedding-related stuff. If the wedding was around a month from now, then we should have prepared everything already. If not, she wanted to help.

When she asked that, I was shocked and didn't know how to respond. We just received the mission, and it was stated that other people would be taking care of the details of the wedding, but… did the preparation start at the same time when we got called? If so, there won't be enough time, right?

To my surprise, Eun-Woo answered so confidently. Or was he just so good at acting?

"Sure, mother. Actually, I wanted to get your opinion, too," he said, smiling politely as usual. "Why don't we start with her wedding gown? I was worried she just picked anything from the catalog when we checked before, but your input will definitely be helpful. They should be done making the gown by now, but we can still make alterations."

Woah, would you look at that? He had already created a story in his mind. I apparently picked something from the catalog, which I presume would be months ago? Making clothes, especially custom wedding gowns, takes months to do, if I'm not mistaken. Okay, let's go with that story.

Since our partnership started, I noticed he was quick to resolve unexpected issues, and I'm pretty good at picking up his logic and supporting his alibi. The chiefs really thought this plan through, huh? That's why Assistant Chief Athena said we'd be the best partners even if I hated him. I wonder how they came up with that conclusion?

***

[At a luxurious bridal boutique…]

"Welcome back, Mr. Eun-Woo, Ms. Ye-Ji," the staff greeted us the moment we came inside the sparkly white boutique. "And to you as well, madam."

It's incredible how they know my name, too. For Eun-Woo, I would understand since he's a chaebol, and he seemed to frequent luxurious areas like these, but I'm not the same. How did he inform them? Don't tell me they own this boutique, too? Or was it arranged by Mythos? If so, how come it wasn't detailed out in the plan? It just said that other people were organizing it and more details would follow, but how did he know it beforehand?

'Wait a minute… something doesn't add up.'

First and foremost, his identity and background were too perfect for this mission—a chaebol, son of the richest man in Korea, could easily access the Elites and might as well be known in their circle, and has every means to infiltrate their group without being seen as suspicious.

Second, he knew a lot of details that weren't in the plan given to us—and maybe a little too much. How did he end up learning those things? Where did he manage to get that information when Mythos has an unhackable system?

Third, on the day the mission was given to us, he was already prepared to take it on. If I didn't stall trying to review the whole plan, we would have started our lessons on the same day. He already had the "New Money Couple Bait" act planned out in his head. And when he was training me, wasn't it weird that he knew too much despite not having experience in dating? If that were me, I would need to do my research in every possible situation, and that would take days or weeks of research.

Last but not the least, the way he acts and thinks… it's as if he already had everything figured out. Wasn't that suspicious? What's more, I shouldn't forget one of his strengths—manipulating people.

'Tsk. This guy is a walking red flag.'

[Music Recommendation: "Darkside" by Neoni]

With all those things running in my head, I decided to confront him.

The staff ushered me to the dressing room, where I could fit my wedding gown. I didn't even notice how beautiful the gown was since my mind was preoccupied. When I finished putting it on, I asked the staff to call Eun-Woo for me—just him.

And so, I waited for him to come. My eyes glared at the huge mirror in front of me, waiting for the reflection of the door behind me to open. When it did, Eun-Woo walked inside, and our eyes met.

I turned around and walked towards him, smiling, while I held tight to the portable but deadly knife I always had ready in my pants' pocket or tied up to my legs in case of emergencies.

"What is it?" he asked, unaware of what was going on in my head. "Why did you call for me alone instead of your mom? Or are you gonna ask me how I prepared all this?"

"That's right. I wanted us to have a little sync before we resume our great act."

"Ugh. I knew you were going to ask. Can we talk about this later? This is not the best place to—"

"NO," I said firmly as I swiftly pointed the knife to his throat. "Answer me now. Who are you really? Aren't you a little too knowledgeable of the mission we just received two weeks ago? Aren't you too perfect for this mission? And aren't there a lot of things you're not telling me?"

My eyes burned with killing intent as I asked those questions, but he remained calm as if he expected me to react that way. Not even an inch of fear could be seen in his eyes.

"Agent Selene, you make the worst interrogator," he said so nonchalantly as if he didn't hear a single thing I asked.

"What?"

"You shouldn't let your suspect know what you're thinking and what your suspicions are. Just tell them to spill the beans or explain everything without saying anything else. That way, you'd know better if they're lying or not, and they are bound to say things not limited by your questions."

"Huh? What?—Wait, answer me first!"

He sighed and grabbed my wrist, forcing me to put the knife down.

"To put it simply, I am both the client and the agent for this mission, so of course, I would know a lot of things you don't know."

"… What?! You're the client?"