Author's Note: OK so I'm going to put this out here first - information on defecting and all is not readily available, and obviously I haven't personally defected before.
So it's mainly putting together what I gathered from interviews of North Korean defectors. I also based it off the vaguely-narrated experience of Thae Yong Ho, a North Korean diplomat, who defected and is now a parliamentary member in the South.
Take it with a generous pinch of salt, enjoy it for what it is (fiction) and have fun!
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For the first time since they got together, Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong Hyeok boarded and took the same airplane bound for Incheon.
It would have been a very romantic and touching experience, except for the fact that they were being escorted by South Korean NIS agents.
After days of putting up at a safe house under the surveillance and protection of the embassy and intelligence services, Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok were finally cleared after preliminary investigations.
On account of Se-ri's pregnancy as well, the couple was allowed to head back to Seoul, where Jeong Hyeok would subsequently be detained for further interrogation by the NIS.
Se-ri was also scheduled to undergo another round of interrogation, after which she would be released should everything goes well.
"How are you feeling?" Jeong Hyeok asked concernedly, gently reaching down between them to massage Se-ri's calves.
"I'm okay, just that the full-length compression stockings are really tight." She said softly, wearing a faint grimace on her features.
Flying during pregnancy increases the risk of thrombosis, so Se-ri had been instructed by the doctor in Switzerland to put on compression stockings to ensure constant circulation.
"Hang in there, alright?" Jeong Hyeok tenderly stroked her hair. "You'll be able to remove them in a few hours after we land in Incheon."
"I don't wish for this flight to end." Se-ri reached for Jeong Hyeok's hand, squeezing it snugly. "We're going to have to say goodbye again after being sent to the NIS headquarters."
Her family had already been informed on the unexpected turn of events.
Her parents, along with two Queen's Group legal representatives, will be waiting at the NIS to bring her back to their home where she would be staying until Jeong Hyeok 'graduates' from Hanawon.
"I'll miss the both of you very much. But we have something so much better to look forward to this time. Focus on that, think of the positive aspects."
Sighing softly, Se-ri managed a small smile and nodded.
"We will do our best." Putting a hand on her belly, she said, "Baby...be a good boy and we will wait for Appa to come back to us."
"I won't be long. Please wait for me."
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It was the fifth day since he had been taken in by the NIS.
Understandably, as it was his second time entering South Korea, the interrogations were more stringent than he remembered them to be in the uncomfortably cold room.
Subjecting Jeong Hyeok to repeated questioning, likely with the intention of identifying potential behavioral change or errors in speech, the officers had been almost coercive, relentlessly digging into his family background.
"I am not politically-affiliated in any way to the Workers' Party of Korea. My father might hold office, but I am merely a musician with no political or military ties."
Jeong Hyeok suppressed a sigh, keeping his face a stony facade as the young man across the table once again brought up his father and the General Political Bureau.
That youthful face staring back at him couldn't be much older than Joo Meok, the North Korean pianist thought.
Unfortunately for him, with the young age came searing enthusiasm in somehow proving that Jeong Hyeok was a North Korean spy agent.
Like the ones before him, this officer had probed about his annual visits to Switzerland, his reasons for defection, his plans in Seoul going forward, etc.
"From our records, you were holding the position of captain in the military. What is your intention in coming here?"
Jeong Hyeok quietly engaged the interrogator in an intense eye lock; most would have felt unsure under the NIS interrogator's piercing gaze, but not this ex-military captain.
"That was merely part of the mandatory military service year ago. I am here to be an ordinary South Korean citizen, with no
political or military ambition."
It's alright.
Focus on Yoon Se-ri.
Focus on our son.
Holding up a tablet with a running video clip of Jeong Hyeok performing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2 at the Lucerne Music Festival, the young officer by the last name Park, asked.
"We have obtained these footages. What is your purpose in masquerading as a musician for the last few years? You suddenly went from a military captain to being a pianist in Switzerland. What is your motive for doing so?"
Jeong Hyeok had been relatively calm all this while, even as the officers took turns to dig relentlessly into his background.
But this.
This made him see red.
Motive? What a gross insult.
Jeong Hyeok had to battle the urge to roll his eyes or throw a look of contempt at the younger man.
The bright lights and the chill in the interrogation room aimed at increasing his anxiety were not helping.
Hold it.
Se-ri. Think of Se-ri.
Drawing a deep, controlled breath, the pianist cast a meaningful glance at the screen, before replying in a clipped voice.
"Firstly. I don't think anyone can pretend to play like that. Contrary to your assumption, I am not masquerading as a musician. I am a musician."
"Secondly, I was honorably discharged-"
The door clicked open.
"I'll take over from here."
His head snapped up to turn in the direction of that vaguely familiar voice.
In that fleeting moment of familiarity, Jeong Hyeok felt like he was transported back in time, to when he had been in a different room with the same agent, tapping advanced messages to a certain heiress.
Agent Kim.
"But chief-"
"Run along."
"Yes, chief."
As the younger officer exited the room, Agent Kim took the seat that was freshly-vacated.
Eyes met, and the North Korean pianist noticed how age had only honed the sharpness that always dwelled within the older man's eyes.
"I apologize for those questions. This young chap is still a little green. How have you been, Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi?"
"I have been very well. How about you, Chief Kim?"
"Good, good. Haven't made much career progression since the time we've last seen each other, as you can see." The older man muttered, nodding away as he grabbed a file by his side and flipped through it non-committally. "Just surprised to see you here again. How is the lady?"
"She's very well. Currently expecting our first child." Jeong Hyeok replied honestly.
Honesty was his best defense against the NIS chief, the pianist figured.
He might be a seemingly-friendly, familiar face, but this man was ultimately a chief heading a team at what is widely-regarded as one of Asia's most elite intelligence agencies.
"Which brings you back here. That I've heard." Pinning the North Korean pianist with a penetrating stare before breaking it off to assume a casual expression, Agent Kim continued. "Congratulations, by the way. I have two teenage girls. Absolute terrors at times. Oh, they play the piano as well."
Jeong Hyeok nodded with a small smile, though he firmly kept his guard up.
Rapport building was a common tactic employed in interrogations.
"I'll not beat about the bush. Since we can be considered acquaintances, and I hold respect for you, I am just going to ask this once." Lowered eyebrows accompanied the look of seriousness that Jeong Hyeok remembered on the older man.
"What exactly are you back here in South Korea for?"
The word 'exactly' was heavily emphasized.
"Yoon Se-ri, and our son." Jeong Hyeok's immediate reply was resolute.
The NIS chief's eyes bored into his, devastatingly powerful, and for the first in a long while, the North Korean ex-military captain had to resist the instinct to evade the former's gaze.
"No other reasons? No funny business?"
"I cannot think of any." Jeong Hyeok would be lying if he said he didn't feel nervous. But he had to stand his ground. "I am just an ordinary pianist, who is here purely because I seek a future with Yoon Se-ri and our son."
Languidly, the NIS chief raised his eyebrows, before chuckling dryly.
A moment of silence.
Loud, audible exhalation.
"I guess most might think you are crazy, but I was there at the border when she came to say goodbye. That was more dramatic than any K-drama I've ever watched."
Jeong Hyeok stayed silent; his heart was aching traitorously - strange how that parting still hurt after all these years.
He took a deep breath, unclenching his jaw.
"I honestly have no dishonorable intentions. All I want is to be with her."
Regarding the North Korean pianist intently, Agent Kim wordlessly nodded, before breaking the eye contact.
A few more basic questions on his plans upon settling into South Korea, and Jeong Hyeok was dismissed for a break.
Before the older man could leave the interrogation room, he casually asked as he gathered the files and tablet used earlier on.
"Would you ever be keen to work with, or for, us?"
Their eyes met, and neither man backed down.
Seconds, agonizingly slow, ticked by in the cold interrogation room.
Breaking the gaze to shift in his seat, Jeong Hyeok shook his head with a small, resigned smile, before resuming eye contact.
"Why would the esteemed NIS have any need for an ordinary pianist like me?"
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Across the border, an unlikely friendship which had blossomed saw two figures drinking in the military village.
"Here, here have more." Pyo Chi Su lifted the wine bottle to refill the glass for the owner of Pyongyang's largest department store.
Go Myeong Eun lifted the glass to her lips and took a generous gulp.
"This is good wine indeed! I should have brought more back from Europe when I visited my Dan."
The current captain of the Fifth Company casually asked, "Oh, how is your daughter doing? Actually you could have introduced her formally to me. I mean, I'm really popular with the ladies and might not have time to entertain every one of them, but I'll make an exception for her."
An amused, withering look was cast in his direction by the older woman.
"My Dan is already dating someone back in Pyongyang." She said contentedly, before adding, "Oh! You would be interested to know this..."
"What?"
Dropping her usually boisterous voice to a hushed whisper, the department store owner motioned for Pyo Chi Su to come closer.
Once he was within earshot, she whispered, "Ri Jeong Hyeok has defected. That was what Dan said. He told her personally when they met up in Switzerland."
"Really!" The Fifth Company captain exclaimed, jumping back.
"I am absolutely positive." Go Myeong Eun replied knowingly.
"Really, really!" For a while, that was all Pyo Chi Su could say, his lips wearing a wide, sincere grin that wasn't often seen on him. "Really!"
He just hoped, that the alcohol would help his red-rimmed eyes go unseen by his drinking buddy.