Imagine you have discovered an astonishing secret about a man in town who is not liked. Would you feel a need to:
a) Write an article about it
b) Talk to your friends about it
c) Talk only to your family about it
d) Keep it in your own head
He remembered sitting in the room and looking around at the other cadets. The majority had selected (c). Some of the other cadets marked (b). 2135 remembers thinking for an extra moment, and then filling in (d).
He remembered one other question:
Imagine you live in a large town. One day you save a young boy from drowning in the nearby lake. Which of the following do you feel would be the most appropriate?
a) You should be given an award by the mayor in a ceremony in front of the entire town
b) You don’t need an award but an article should be written in the newspaper about you
c) You don’t need a newspaper article about you but the boy’s parents should come and thank you
d) You don’t feel there should be any external recognition of your actions
After some thought, 2135 remembers circling (d). It felt the most correct to him, although he did not know why.
Several weeks later he was called into the commanding officer’s office. As he walked in he remembered immediately noticing two men in suits who were sitting on a couch. One had a dark blue suit, and the other had a grey suit. Officer 2135 remembered looking at them and seeing their unblinking gazes as they carefully observed his movements. The commanding officer told him that these two men wanted to talk to him and ask him a few questions. 2135 walked into another room with the two men. When they started asking questions, 2135 felt like he was being interrogated:
“Do you think there is a purpose to life?”
“Do you have any regrets in life?”
“We just learned that you failed your marksmanship test last week. How does that make you feel?”
“Your commanding officer says you are not one of the intelligent cadets. What do you think about that?”
“I heard you cheated on your university entrance exam. Is that true?”
“How would you approach a girl at a bar?”
“If I pointed out a mechanic working at a factory and told you to go make friends with him, what would you do?”
Officer 2135 always smiled when he thought about that meeting. He felt like a fencer trying to parry multiple swords attacking him. He had never been asked such probing and personal questions one after another. He still was not sure how he responded. He just threw out what was on his mind at the time.
2135 did not hear anything for two months. He in fact had forgotten about the incident altogether. Then came the day he finished his training. That day he found himself alone in the locker room, cleaning his gear. His unit had been given a few days to go home and rest, having just graduated. Some had already left and 2135 was planning to leave the next day. But as he was putting his gear away, a man in a suit walked into the locker room. 2135 remembers thinking nothing of it at first. There were civilian employees at the base who came and went occasionally. But this man was staring at him. 2135 remembered the next few minutes clearly.
“Hi.” 2135 had said.
“Hello. Congratulations on finishing your training.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you have a minute?”
“Me? Yes.”
“Do you want any tea or coffee?”
“No thank you.”
“I’m from the National Intelligence Service. Have you heard of what we do?”
“The NIS? I’m generally familiar.”
“What would you think if you were offered to join?”
“Me?” 2135 had said, almost unsure if the conversation was meant for him. “What would I do?”
“We have been watching you. You are unique. We think you will be a successful officer.”
“You mean you’re asking me to become a spy?”
“That’s correct. We think you have the right profile to be a deep cover officer, or illegal, in North Korea.”
“Illegal? What’s that?”
“We will train you and send you into North Korea. You will live and work as a citizen there. Your task will be to recruit contacts, or assets, and get information for us.”
“How do you just send someone in there? I heard you can’t live in that society unless you and your family have a verified ideological history.”
“We have ways to get people into that system. That will be part of your training.”
“How long would I spend there?”
“A long time. You need to establish an identity, get a job, rise within your job, recruit assets, and start getting information. That all takes years. We will tell you more in training.”
“What kind of training will I get?”
“We will supplement your military training with traditional intelligence, psychological, and social training so you can be effective. This type of work can only be done by people like you.”
After a pause, 2135 had made his decision.
“I accept.”
“Great. You may go home as planned. But instead of coming back here like you were told, report to the place on this piece of paper. This is the compound where you will be trained. Your commanding officers know and will not expect you back here.”
The man had handed him a piece of paper with a location.
“How long will I get trained for? Before I go in?”
“Two years. Have a good break. Enjoy your training. You will learn skills few know. By the way, no one, not even your parents can know what we discussed, OK?”
The man had left as suddenly as he came. That locker room conversation was what started all this, 2135 sometimes thought.
He now was sitting on his bed, holding his Samsung phone, which was out of its plastic bag and powered up. He was required to check it once a day for messages that Command might send him. The messages might be purely informational. Or they could be instructions. He could also send messages back whenever he wanted to. He sometimes sent mission updates but usually he was sending through information he had collected. This evening, he saw a new message from Command:
2135: Determine whether nuclear materials are going in or out of the port in your city.
Officer 2135 stopped to think. This was an odd mission. His broad objective for the last fifteen years had nothing to do with nuclear weapons. He worked as the manager of the railway station in the city. He had access to the information on where regime members were traveling to and from, since rail was an important mode of transport for them. He sent back information on the movements of the regime insiders. But finding out if there were nuclear materials? This seemed like a sudden change in direction. He had never even heard of nuclear materials mentioned by any of his contacts, ever. But 2135 had a contact, an asset, who he thought he could even meet with tonight. He could try to get some information from this man, he thought.