52
A Man Who Can’t Stand That Sight
I had never met the Director this close or in such a private atmosphere before. Andrea Dill, no less. Isn’t she the one rumored to be the next or the one after next president? The fact that someone like Andrea Dill, with so many handicaps, is being discussed as a presidential candidate in a conservative society like Rotman, shows how overwhelming her abilities are.
Black, female, and unmarried. Now one more has been added, a homosexual. She was almost certain to enter politics, but is this kind of outing okay? I became a bit worried.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at the Director’s face in detail and only kept looking at Volkari, and in doing so, I could tell how much Volkari adored the Director.
While the Director was talking with Sebastian, Volkari was setting the table for the Director with precise movements. How should I put it, it was at the level of serving. If a director and a department chief are lovers, but the chief is serving with such a subservient attitude, one might suspect it’s closer to sexual bribery than a relationship. Volkari’s service was beyond the level of what lovers would do for each other. However, Volkari’s eyes sparkled too much to suspect such a dry and calculated relationship. Her gaze towards the Director was ecstatic, as if dipped in honey or wrapped in starlight.
“Don’t eat that. You won’t like the taste.”
When Volkari was about to eat the steamed shellfish dish, the Director took away Volkari’s spoon, ate it herself, and then scooped some soup and placed it in front of Volkari. Only then did I realize that the ceviche the Director had tried to take away wasn’t food she liked, but food Volkari liked.
Looking at the two sitting side by side, they seemed both matching and mismatched. Although I’m in that kind of relationship with Sebastian, who is of the same sex, I’m still not used to seeing same-sex couples. And above all, the two looked too similar. The cold expression that seemed like not a drop of blood would come out if pricked with a needle, beauty that would make passersby turn their heads, and the impeccable suit attire.
Ah.
I suddenly realized. It’s not that they look alike. One side has come to resemble the other out of too much love. Nina Volkari is following the Director. Her style, her gestures, her gaze, and her choices.
Wow, she’s almost like a disciple.
Why didn’t I notice this before? It was something I hadn’t thought about at all, but once I recognized it, it was so obvious that I couldn’t not see it. Nina Volkari loved the Director. Yes, that ring. The ring on Nina Volkari’s finger. I thought I’d seen it somewhere before, it was similar in design to the Director’s ring. It was difficult to confirm now as the Director wasn’t wearing her ring at the moment.
“Why?”
The Director suddenly asked. I realized a bit late that the question was directed at me.
“Pardon?”
“Why are you staring so intently at another woman’s finger?”
Wow, now she’s going all out. ‘Another woman,’ she says.
As I blinked slowly like a toad, Sebastian spoke from beside me.
“I was curious about that too. Why are you staring at another woman’s finger like that?”
I had an intuition. A premonition that if I said the wrong thing, I’d step on a landmine.
“No, I just thought I’d seen the Director wearing a similar ring before.”
The Director smirked at my words.
“This is my ring.”
The Director extended her hand. Slender fingers on glossy black skin. Volkari took off her own ring and carefully put it on the Director’s perfect, flawless hand.
The diamond ring sparkled on the Director’s ring finger.
Sebastian’s outing of the Director was probably a performance to show that he could pose a real threat. He kept asking where he was being dragged into, what was at the end of this, what this operation meant. He also interrogated about Lea Parke. What mission she had been performing in Canaris.
The Director and Volkari wanted to appease Sebastian with words of confidentiality, but it was a futile attempt. He called me his ‘fiancé’ and declared that he couldn’t throw his fiancé into an unknown hell. Words like patriotism or citizen safety didn’t have any effect on Sebastian either. Finally, the Director sighed and pulled her chair back a bit.
The Director put a cigarette in her mouth. Volkari quickly lit it for her. The Director crossed her legs and rested her elbow on the table. She exhaled the cigarette smoke.
I had quit smoking a while ago, and Sebastian never smoked in the first place. As if knowing this, she turned her head and blew out the smoke, and since it was in the opposite direction from Volkari, it seemed Volkari didn’t smoke either.
“If you learn the details of this operation, Mr. Riegel, you’ll have to participate as well. With so many lives at stake, we can’t disclose this to someone without that level of commitment.”
Volkari was startled by the Director’s low voice and turned to look at her. She seemed surprised at the idea of revealing operation details to a civilian. But soon, she erased all expression from her face.
There are groups where the leader’s influence is strong, and others where it’s weak. The Security Bureau was a group where the leader’s influence was tremendously strong. It had always been that way traditionally, and it reached its peak with the current Director. There might be different factions vying for the next Director’s position, but there was no opposition to the current Director. That’s how powerful the Director’s authority was.
In fact, all the people sitting in this bar were participants in that operation, but no one could say a word against the Director. Even the guy who had pointed at the Director earlier could barely breathe now.
“Not just Mr. Riegel, but Mr. Kouri, and…”
The Director recited names one by one that even I didn’t know yet. Kouri and the other bodyguards didn’t change their expressions much. Even though the Security Bureau Director had revealed that she knew their personal information, they showed no agitation. They were truly professional.
After calling all the names, the Director continued.
“All of these people must participate as well. Of course, this operation is not safe. We cannot guarantee your safety, and you’ll have to sign a consent form stating that all of this is of your own free will. Still, do you want to hear about this?”
At the Director’s words, Sebastian stood up.
“Let’s meet at the Security Bureau tomorrow. We’ll bring everyone here and a lawyer with us.”
I thought he would insist on signing the consent form right away and demand to hear everything. But Sebastian was turning away sharply at the very entrance where he could hear all the stories. Was it because there was no lawyer to review the consent form?
Anyway, since he stood up, everyone on our side stood up as well. When he gestured to Kouri with his chin, Kouri took out a card from his wallet and gave it to the youngest.
While the youngest went to pay, Sebastian said,
“And as you all know, the Canaris executives have been in hiding all this time. August Kuno and all the known people are just figureheads. Replaceable at any time.”
The Director and Volkari closed their mouths. Looking at their faces, I realized. They clearly knew that the Canaris executives were in hiding and that all the known executives were mere puppets.
“And I will be the only person who can approach those executives. So it’s better to abandon the idea of ‘We have to tell him because we have no choice, so let’s just tell him as little as possible to avoid problems.’ I don’t need to hear this story. I can approach on my own and achieve my goals. It’s you who are at a disadvantage. I hope you’ll see the situation clearly when we meet tomorrow.”
The Director’s eyes widened. And those eyes began to pour blame on me.
What kind of bastard are you that you didn’t report any of Riegel’s activities like this?!
That’s what her eyes said, so I quietly averted my gaze. It’s not that I didn’t intend to, but somehow the situation became ambiguous…
It would all just sound like excuses.
To talk about these things about Sebastian, I’d have to tell the story of how his father helped Matthias Yudorov defect… I can’t do that. I’ll just have to take the scolding. If I get fired because of this, I’ll have to ask Sebastian to take responsibility and hire me, I thought to myself mischievously.
Sebastian put his arm around my shoulder and said to the Director,
“If you want my cooperation, pay the price. It’s not me squeezing into your operation, it’s you paying the price to come into a corner of my business and handle your affairs along with it. Do you understand?”
My fiancé is amazing.
I marveled the entire car ride back. To be able to come back unscathed after facing the Director and Volkari, and even outing them. But is outing them okay? The Director will surely enter politics, and Volkari is also on her way to becoming the Security Bureau Director.
“Wasn’t the outing a bit too much?”
When I cautiously asked, Sebastian, who was taking out a water bottle from the refrigerator in the limousine, looked at me with disbelief.
“Too much?”
“The Director is going to enter politics,”
“Yeah, and that’s why she’s manipulating you like a chess piece right now.”
Seeing Sebastian’s hostile tone, I wonder if I’ve done something wrong. Did I relay something wrong in between? Feeling uncomfortable, I opened my mouth.
“Rather than manipulating… I haven’t really done anything specific.”
“You haven’t done anything?”
“Just, well, I was told to become your friend, that’s about it.”
“Does that make sense? Do you think it’s reasonable to be ordered to become the ‘friend’ of a man who took you to a hotel room on your first meeting? And they were monitoring you. You said it was your friend from the Security Bureau who put the GPS device in you. About that GPS device, it was indeed something used by the Security Bureau. So when your friend put the GPS device in you, he was clearly on duty, and that duty was obviously authorized by the Director. If they had intended to dispose of you like your team, they obviously wouldn’t have put in a GPS. You’ve been caught up in a spy game. Thrown into a storm without even a map. Isn’t that too much?”
It is too much. But still, the outing…
I felt troubled. Why? Maybe it’s because I’m currently in that kind of relationship with Sebastian, who is of the same sex, that I empathize more. If my father knew I was in this kind of relationship with a man, wouldn’t he fall over backwards? He is a priest, after all.
At that moment, Sebastian gritted his teeth.
“They throw my lover naked into hell, and they expect to live happily while safeguarding their own privacy? I can’t stand that sight. Got it?”
