(♀️, 32 years old) Member of the ANSP Anti-Communist Investigation Bureau’s Team 1
A loose cannon so impulsive and hot-headed even she doesn’t know what she’ll do next. She’s true to her feelings and utterly unreserved. She’s so obstinate that she always has to get what she wants and so self-assertive she’ll never concede a point. In short, she’s got the sort of personality least suited to working for a hierarchical organisation. The comment she most gets from her superiors is, ‘How did someone like you become an ANSP agent?’ Nonetheless, they call her by the nickname ‘Il-dang-Baek’* because she more than pulls her own weight.
She was raised by exceedingly materialistic parents who used deception, machinations, and savviness to achieve their sole purpose in life–‘success’. She’s always loathed her father who, thanks to those lofty efforts, became a member of the National Assembly, so when she met Lee Gang-mu, whose value system was a complete 180°from his, she fell head over heels in love. But Gang-mu left her without warning and disappeared without a trace. She spent half a year aimlessly searching for the man who’d disappeared like smoke before it came to her: he had joined the ANSP. So she joined too, without a single thought for dedicating herself to national security or safeguarding the public...
A few notes on the above:
- The ANSP (안기부), or Agency for National Security Planning (1981-1999), was a precursor to the modern South Korean National Intelligence Service, and the enforcer arm of the authoritarian regime that held power at the time. On paper, they were Korea’s preeminent intelligence organisation, charged with ‘the collection, compilation, and distribution of foreign and domestic information regarding public safety against communists and plots to overthrow the government.’ They would regularly arrest student protestors and political dissenters, frame them as North Korean spies or communist sympathisers, torture, and even kill them.
- Though not listed in her profile, she’s stated to be the ANSP’s first-ever female agent and her rank is given as ‘jooim’ (주임) which would be something like a section chief or department head depending on the agency’s parlance.
- Again, not listed, but her call sign is ‘Milky Way’ (은하수) or ‘Galaxy’ as they have it the Disney+ subs.
- *Her nickname, ‘Il-dang-Baek’ (一當百), means ‘one who does the work of/is equal to a hundred.’ This became ‘One Hundred Warriors’ in the Disney+ subs.
- The National Assembly is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea, equivalent to the UK Parliament or the US Congress.
You can find the original Korean on JTBC’s official website here.
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