Yongsan Air Base was technically a civilian airport that happened to share space with military operations. Practically, it was the place where government agencies sent their people when they needed to get somewhere without dealing with commercial airlines, security theater, or the general public asking inconvenient questions.
Jinho's driver pulled up to a private hangar around midnight. The building was unmarked, which meant it was exactly the kind of place KSID used for operations they didn't want to explain to anyone.
"This is your stop, sir," said the driver.
"Thanks for the concert." Jinho climbed out. His ears were still ringing from forty minutes of aggressively cheerful pop music. "Next time, maybe jazz?"
"Director Baek chooses the playlist, sir."
"Of course she does."
The driver pulled away, leaving Jinho standing in front of a hangar that looked like every other hangar: big, metal, boring. The kind of place where interesting things happened but nobody ever talked about them afterward.
He walked to the side entrance and punched in his access code. The door clicked open.
Inside, the hangar was exactly what he expected: a small jet, probably KSID's Citation, along with various crates of equipment, a few maintenance personnel who didn't make eye contact, and one person who very much did.
She stood near the jet's stairs, reading something on her phone, dressed in practical black cargo pants and a fitted jacket that probably cost more than Jinho's monthly rent. Japanese, mid-twenties, with sharp features and the kind of posture that suggested military training or dance or possibly both. Her dark hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail that somehow looked tactical.
When she looked up and saw Jinho, she slipped her phone into her pocket and bowed slightly. Professional. Precise.
"Agent Seo Jinho?" Her Korean was perfect, barely accented. "I'm Agent Yuki Tanaka. Tokyo division."
Jinho walked over, already mourning the four hours of sleep he could have been getting on this flight. "Just Jinho is fine. We're going to be stuck together for a while."
"Tanaka, then." She straightened up. "I've read your file. Your work is... impressive."
"My file makes me sound way more competent than I actually am."
"It says you're triple-blessed. That's not something files exaggerate."
"It's also not something that makes me particularly useful." Jinho gestured at the jet. "Are we waiting for anyone else, or is it just us two?"
"Just us. Pilot and co-pilot are already aboard. We're cleared for takeoff once you're ready."
"She's very organized," observed the Jade Emperor.
"She's very uptight," countered the Demon King.
"She's perfect for balancing you out," said the Phoenix. "Which means you're going to hate working with her."
"Probably," Jinho muttered.
"Excuse me?" Tanaka looked at him.
"Nothing. Talking to myself. Bad habit." He started toward the jet stairs. "Let's get this over with. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can come back."
"You don't sound enthusiastic about the mission."
"I'm not enthusiastic about anything before I've had eight hours of sleep." Jinho climbed the stairs. "Which, given our flight time, I'm planning to get right now."
The jet's interior was standard government issue: leather seats, small conference table, enough room for maybe eight people if they were friendly. Jinho immediately claimed a window seat and started arranging himself into what he optimistically called a "sleeping position."
Tanaka boarded behind him, moving with the efficient grace of someone who'd probably never slept in a weird position in her life. She took the seat across from him and pulled out a tablet.
"Did you read the briefing documents?" she asked.
"Skimmed them."
"You should read them properly."
"I'll retain more if I sleep first, then read them when we land." Jinho closed his eyes. "Trust me, this is my process."
"Your process is sleeping?"
"My process is energy conservation. Big difference."
He could feel Tanaka looking at him. Not judgmentally, exactly, but definitely evaluating. He'd gotten that look a lot over the years. People met him, read his file, expected some kind of hardened warrior blessed by three gods, and instead got a guy who looked like he'd rather be literally anywhere else.
The jet's engines started up. The pilot's voice came over the intercom: "Agent Seo, Agent Tanaka, we're cleared for departure. Flight time to Chiang Mai is approximately four hours and twenty minutes. Weather is clear."
"Perfect nap weather," Jinho said without opening his eyes.
"You can't possibly sleep through this," said the Phoenix.
"Watch me."
"The girl is staring at you."
"She'll get over it."
The jet began taxiing. Tanaka was indeed staring at him, though when he cracked one eye open to check, she immediately looked back at her tablet like she'd been reading the whole time.
"You can ask," Jinho said.
"Ask what?"
"Whatever question you're trying not to ask. Everyone has questions about the triple blessing thing. Might as well get it out of the way now."
Tanaka set down her tablet. "Does it hurt?"
That was not the question he'd been expecting. Most people asked about power levels, or how he'd been chosen, or whether he could fly. Nobody asked if it hurt.
"Sometimes," he said honestly. "Three different divine authorities crammed into one person. They don't always play nice with each other."
"I have two blessings. Amaterasu and Susanoo. They argue constantly."
"Siblings who hate each other?"
"Siblings with very different philosophies about how power should be used." Tanaka's expression was carefully neutral. "Amaterasu wants perfection, order, duty. Susanoo wants action, chaos, results. It's... difficult."
"Try adding a third god who thinks rules are just suggestions." Jinho finally opened both eyes and sat up slightly. "The Jade Emperor wants me to be a perfect divine instrument. The Vermillion Phoenix wants me to burn brighter and embrace destiny. The Demon King wants me to do whatever I want and ignore the other two."
"That sounds complicated."
"That's a polite way of saying it sounds like a nightmare."
"I was being diplomatic."
"You can just say nightmare. I won't be offended." Jinho stretched, his back cracking in several places. "So. Tokyo division. What brings you to KSID?"
"Transfer request. I wanted to work somewhere with more... active operations."
"And they sent you to Seoul, which is basically a supernatural disaster waiting to happen every other week."
"Exactly."
Despite himself, Jinho smiled. "You might be slightly insane."
"I've been told that before." Tanaka picked up her tablet again. "Director Baek said you're the only triple-blessed agent in the world. How did that happen?"
Jinho leaned back in his seat and watched the lights of Seoul disappear below them as the jet climbed. "Wrong place, wrong time, wrong decision."
"That's not an answer."
"Sure it is. Just not a detailed one." He closed his eyes again. "Short version: I was ten years old, wandering around a mountain temple I wasn't supposed to be in, touched three artifacts I definitely wasn't supposed to touch, and apparently impressed three gods enough that they decided to bless me simultaneously."
"That should have killed you."
"Yeah, that's what the priests said. Very loudly. For several hours." Jinho could still remember the panic, the shouting, the old monk who'd looked at him like he'd personally offended heaven. "But here I am. Lucky me."
"You were chosen for a reason," said the Jade Emperor.
"You were chosen because you were too stubborn to die," corrected the Demon King.
"You were chosen because you're special," said the Phoenix.
"I was chosen because I was a stupid kid who couldn't follow basic instructions about not touching things," Jinho thought back at them.
Out loud, he said to Tanaka: "What about you? How'd you get dual-blessed?"
"My grandmother was a shrine maiden. My grandfather was a monk. They both served their respective deities their entire lives."
Tanaka's voice was matter-of-fact. "When I was born, both Amaterasu and Susanoo blessed me as a sort of... diplomatic gesture between their temples."
"That's much more dignified than my origin story."
"It came with expectations."
"Ah." Jinho understood that tone. "Let me guess. Perfect grades, perfect training, perfect behavior, never disappoint the gods who blessed you."
"Something like that."
"And yet you ended up in KSID, hunting stolen artifacts in Southeast Asia instead of doing whatever perfect shrine maidens are supposed to do."
Tanaka was quiet for a moment. Then: "I got tired of being perfect."
"Oh, I like her," said the Phoenix.
"She's running from expectations," observed the Jade Emperor. "Just like someone else I know."
"Hey, I'm not running from anything," Jinho thought. "I'm just moving very slowly in a direction that might coincidentally be away from responsibility."
"That's called running," said the Demon King.
The jet leveled off at cruising altitude. The cabin lights dimmed slightly. Through the window, Jinho could see stars, which was rare in Seoul. Up here, away from the city lights, the sky looked like something out of a painting.
"The briefing documents mention the Phoenix Seal," Tanaka said, pulling him back to reality. "One of the Seven Primordial Seals. If someone has both fragments now—"
"Then we find them and take it back before they can use it." Jinho yawned. "Simple."
"Nothing about this seems simple."
"It's simple in concept. The execution will probably be terrible." He closed his eyes again. "Which is why I'm sleeping now, while I can."
"How can you sleep? We're heading into a potentially world-ending situation."
"World-ending situations are exactly when you should sleep. You'll need your energy later." Jinho adjusted his position, getting comfortable. "Trust me. I've done this before."
"Done what? Stopped world-ending situations?"
"Napped before stressful events. Very important life skill."
He could feel Tanaka staring at him again. Could practically hear her trying to figure out if he was joking or genuinely this unbothered by everything.
The answer was both.
"You're going to give the poor girl an aneurysm," said the Phoenix.
"She'll adapt," said the Jade Emperor. "Or she won't. Either way, it builds character."
"I give it three days before she tries to kill him," said the Demon King cheerfully.
Jinho ignored all three of them and focused on the gentle vibration of the jet engines. White noise. Perfect sleeping conditions.
"Agent Seo," Tanaka said after a minute.
"Jinho."
"Jinho-ssi. Are you really going to sleep through the entire flight?"
"That's the plan."
"But—"
"Look." Jinho opened one eye. "Here's the thing about blessed agent work. It's 90% hurry up and wait, 9% paperwork, and 1% absolute chaos where people try to kill you. Right now, we're in the 'wait' phase. When we land, we'll probably hit the 'chaos' phase pretty quickly. So I'm using this time to sleep, because I don't know when I'll get another chance."
Tanaka considered this. "That's... actually sensible."
"I have my moments."
"Rare moments?"
"Incredibly rare. You should feel privileged." He closed his eye again. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have about four hours of sleep to catch up on from the past four years."
"Four years?"
"I'm exaggerating. Probably."
The jet hummed on through the night. Below them, the East China Sea stretched out dark and endless. Above them, stars. And inside Jinho's head, three gods who'd decided to finally give him some peace and quiet.
For about ten minutes.
"You know this mission is going to be dangerous," said the Jade Emperor.
"Mm-hmm."
"Like, genuinely life-threatening," added the Phoenix.
"Mm-hmm."
"The kind of thing where we might actually die this time," said the Demon King.
"Mm-hmm."
"And you're just... fine with that?"
Jinho cracked open one eye and looked at the darkness outside the window. "I'm triple-blessed by three gods who can't agree on anything. I can manipulate reality, command divine authority, and channel the Vermillion Phoenix's eternal flame. If someone manages to kill me despite all that, I'll be impressed."
"That's not confidence," said the Jade Emperor. "That's arrogance."
"What's the difference when you're this powerful?"
"Hubris. Usually followed by a learning experience."
"Then I guess we'll find out." Jinho closed his eye again. "Now shut up and let me sleep."
Across from him, Tanaka had given up on reading her briefing documents and was staring out her own window. Her reflection in the glass looked thoughtful. Maybe worried. Definitely more awake than he was.
"Tanaka," Jinho said without opening his eyes.
"Yes?"
"You ever fought a Primordial Spirit?"
"No. They've been sealed for three thousand years."
"Right. Well, if we run into one—and I'm saying if because I'm optimistic—just remember: they're not evil. They're just following their nature."
"Their nature being 'kill all humans'?"
"Their nature being 'survival of the fittest taken to its logical conclusion.' Slight difference." Jinho yawned. "Means they can sometimes be reasoned with. Sometimes."
"And the other times?"
"The other times we run very fast in the opposite direction."
Tanaka was quiet for a moment. Then: "You're not at all what I expected."
"I get that a lot."
"Your file makes you sound like some kind of legendary warrior."
"My file was written by people trying to make me sound impressive. Reality is usually disappointing." Jinho finally achieved the perfect sleeping position. "Fair warning: I'm lazy, I complain a lot, and I will look for any excuse to avoid actual work."
"Then why do this job?"
It was a good question. Jinho had asked himself the same thing multiple times over the years.
"Because someone has to," he said finally. "And it turns out I'm weirdly good at it. When I actually try."
"When you actually try?"
"Yeah. That's the kicker. Most of the time I don't have to try very hard. The three blessings do most of the heavy lifting." He could feel sleep pulling at him. "But when things get serious, I lock in. Can't help it. Survival instinct or something."
"That's the first honest thing you've said all night," observed the Phoenix.
"Character development," added the Demon King. "I'm so proud."
"Don't encourage him," said the Jade Emperor.
The jet flew on through the night. Four hours to Chiang Mai. Then however long it took to drive to the Golden Triangle. Then finding whoever stole the Phoenix Seal and taking it back before they could do something catastrophically stupid with it.
Simple.
Except it was never simple, and Jinho knew that, and he was going to sleep anyway because what else could you do when the universe kept throwing world-ending crises at you?
"Jinho-ssi," Tanaka said one more time.
"Mm?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being honest. Most blessed agents I've met try to act like heroes all the time. It's exhausting."
Jinho smiled without opening his eyes. "I gave up on being a hero when I was seventeen. Way too much work."
"What are you instead?"
"A guy doing his job and hoping to get back to his apartment in time for dinner."
"That's a terrible life philosophy."
"Yeah, but it's mine."
And with that, Jinho finally managed to fall asleep, leaving Tanaka to her briefing documents and her thoughts and the slowly growing realization that she'd been partnered with possibly the strangest blessed agent in the entire division.
Outside, the stars kept shining.
Inside Jinho's head, three gods settled in for the ride.
And somewhere far below them, in the mountains of Myanmar, someone was preparing to wake up something that should have stayed asleep forever.
But that was a problem for Future Jinho.
Present Jinho was taking a nap.