Vows and Bullets
Chapter 97: Tension and Revelation (Part 2)

Chapter 97: Tension and Revelation (Part 2)

A moment of silence filled the place.

As the client of this mission, Agent Helios had the right to request a meeting with Chief Zeus. But what’s more shocking was how Assistant Chief Athena wasn’t even filtering that information to me, which means that she knew that I already knew Agent Helios was the client for the mission. She really wasn’t the head of the Mythos Intelligence Department for nothing.

A deep sigh could be heard from the other line.

"Very well," Assistant Chief Athena agreed. "I shall arrange a meeting for you two. Chief Zeus is a very busy person so it will take time."

"I understand. Though I hope it follows the agreed timeline for accepting meetings—two weeks at max. If it goes longer than that, I will think that ’someone’ intervened or specifically delayed it, right?"

"Ha-ha. I believe that ’someone’ is not childish enough to do such a thing."

"That’s good—if that’s the case. I shall expect the audience with him in two weeks’ time then."

"As you wish, dear client," she replied in a teasing way. "As for your actions last night... You won’t get a punishment except for a demerit of a hundred points each. It shall be applied within today. Good thing for you both, you will still remain as Top 1 and 2 agents in the running rankings since the gap to the 3rd placer is quite big. Even so, I suggest you stop breaking protocols from now on."

"We can do that, but how about your future plans of making us a bait to test your other theories?" Agent Helios asked, obviously mocking her way of doing things.

"You do not need to worry about that, Agent Helios. If you don’t do it, then another set of agents will. They will be the bait, but we can consider that as punishment for them breaking protocols, right?"

"Ha-ha. I see. So that is our punishment, huh?"

"Ah, did I make it sound like that?"

Uggh... they’re fighting—obviously fighting. When will they stop?

After a few more threatening words to each other, the call with Assistant Chief Athena finally ended.

"Phew!" I sighed in relief. "That was so intense." Turning to Agent Helios, I exclaimed, "I can’t believe you said all those things to Assistant Chief Athena! But it totally makes sense, too. And now, you will have a private audience with Chief Zeus himself!"

I said all that in a single breath, amazed and mindblown about everything. What a battle of brains that was.

"Woaaah... I’ll admit, you’re really cunning and very smart. You manipulated the situation and managed to turn it around while questioning Assistant Chief Athena about her ways, and getting her to reveal the truth to us. That is something I can’t do yet. No wonder you’re Top 1. Haah... I really need to improve more if I ever want to beat you."

"It’s alright, my dear wife," he said, patting my head and immediately switching to his Eun-Woo persona. "No need to beat yourself up and compare to me. I have been trained in the field of wits since young, so I have several years of experience ahead of you. Talking like that is a normal occurrence for me. Besides, if you were to deliver the same things I said, it won’t have the same effect. It only worked because I am the client of this mission and have my own rights to demand."

"I see. That’s true. If a normal agent like me were to question those things you said, we would only get the usual response like ’it is needed in the mission,’ ’it is normal to be bait,’ and all that stuff."

"Indeed," Agent Helios nodded. "Being a bait is truly normal during missions—just like how I acted as bait for Ms. Choi when we tried to gather intel from her. The only problem this time and the reason why I disagreed with Assistant Chief Athena’s way is simply because... we didn’t consent to it."

My eyes widened when he said that.

"You’re right... I didn’t even think of it that way. Being bait when you’re aware that you are a bait is completely different than being one without knowing."

"Exactly! Just imagine all the risks that could have happened because we didn’t know. We played as her pawn, and I didn’t like that. Consent is a very important thing, don’t you think?"

"It is," I replied solemnly. "Now, I understand a little why you said before that you didn’t trust Mythos completely."

"I’m glad you do," Agent Helios smiled at me. "Mythos is a great company, I’ll admit, but it’s far from perfect. No company is perfect, as a matter of fact. And it’s because of people like Assistant Chief Athena who does things that she thinks is right. Yes, it produces results, but at what cost? There are a lot more factors that come into play, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Everything is more complicated than that."

"Yeah..." I sighed, "I really hate dealing with these kinds of brainy stuff. It’s not that I’m stupid, but it gives me a lot of headaches. I would rather punch or kick, destroy an enemy’s lair, or kill a criminal than deal with this."

"Haaah... If only everything were as simple as that," Agent Helios sighed. "Anyway, the invitation should arrive today, and the secret letter from Chief Zeus will be sent to us tomorrow."

"Hm? How did you know?"

At my question, Agent Helios grinned.

"I had my dogs do a little sniffing around the Young’s residence."

"What? You planted spies there? Why did you—"

"I wanted a layout of the house, some more intel about Mr. Young, and a lot of other reasons. It always helps to be prepared and have more knowledge, right?"

"... Ugh. Unbelievable."

Just as Agent Helios said, the invitation did arrive that day, in the afternoon. Along with the invitation was my new stylist—I can’t believe he really fired the last one. I should be careful in getting upset. He literally fires anyone who upsets me. It’s kinda sweet, but people make mistakes, and somehow, I feel sorry for them.

"Here are the dresses I prepared for you, madam," my new stylist said.

Her voice was so meek and her face looks so kind—even the way she dressed looked so humble yet classy. Agent Helios seemed to have picked a wholesome person this time.

I checked the dresses she brought, plus those on her tablet—I had to waste time doing this again because the last one got fired. Ugh. In a way, it’s good, too, since I didn’t really like those dresses. Looking at my new stylist’s portfolio, I prefer her style instead.

"Hm, these are really nice. I think I’ll go with this one for the masquerade ball, then this and this as a reserve."

"Yes, madam," she politely nodded and bowed. "I also prepared these to replace the current clothes in your wardrobe. Mr. Eun-Woo said you prefer comfortability in your clothing, so I chose these for your casual and daily activities attire, then these for more formal meetings..."

And so on, we talked. Soon enough, night came, and my whole walk-in closet had been replaced with new clothes, bags, accessories, and shoes—all of which were designer items. I slumped my body on the bed as my mind ached from the possible cost of my whole wardrobe now—probably billions of won already. Oh well, at least it’s not my money being wasted here. It was Agent Helios’ idea, so he should rightly pay.

While the rest of the day transpired, I couldn’t help but worry about the truth that the head of Kraken already knew us. He could attack us anytime. Our facade might work with his subordinates but definitely not with him. What I wonder, though, was... if he already knew us, why wasn’t he attacking yet and instead, sent us a warning? Wouldn’t it be easier for him just to send people to kill us from the start? Why bother to warn us when he should know that there’s no way we’re backing down in a mission, right?

Unless...

He’s using us to do his own "house cleaning"...

Just like with Mr. Choi.

"Ha-ha-ha. How evil... To think of using us—his enemies—as his own pawn to clean his organization of people he doesn’t need anymore."

I laughed sarcastically at the sudden realization.

I should really start to up my game. Kraken truly wasn’t just a normal syndicate. That battle of wits and brains... I need to learn more of that skill and execute it flawlessly. Luckily, I have Agent Helios right now, who explains everything I don’t understand. But in the future, there would come a time when I would need to think for myself and figure them out without his help.

’It’s alright, Kim Ye-Ji. You can do this. After all, you are Agent Selene. There is nothing you can’t do if you set your mind to it.’

________________

Announcement:

Hi Beloved Agents!

As special thanks for helping me achieve 1,000 privilege Chapters unlocked this month of July, I will put 99% discount on ALL privilege tiers for August! YAAAAY!!!

What does this mean? Once you purchase a privilege tier, be it Tier 1 to Tier 5, the cost for unlocking all the Chapters that will be released for that month will just be 1 coin each instead of 5 to 8 coins which is the normal rate!

I will be releasing 2 Chapters DAILY for August which would normally total to 60 (Chapters) x 5 coins each = 300 coins at the normal rate. With the 99% discount, it will only be 60 coins (1 coin per Chapter). Here are each tier’s details:

Tier 1 - 1 coin for 2 advanced Chapters (no discount per Chapter unlock)

Tier 2 - 2 coins for 5 advanced Chapters (99% discount per Chapter unlock)

Tier 3 - 599 coins for 10 advanced Chapters (99% discount per Chapter unlock)

Tier 4 - 999 coins for 15 advanced Chapters (99% discount per Chapter unlock)

Tier 5 - 1599 coins for 20 advanced Chapters (99% discount per Chapter unlock)

My next goal is to reach 10,000 privilege Chapters unlock so if you can all help me in unlocking, I would greatly appreciate it and do another Mass Release for you! Or you can also put in the comments any suggestion you want as a reward for helping me reach my goal. Let’s work on it together!

Thank you all so much for all the support!

Lots of Love,

Macy Bae