I Was Her

Chapter 2

HOPE'S POINT OF VIEW.

I take a deep breath to push away my worries. I watch the woman in front of me as she eats burgers. She ordered three big ones, along with a large taro milk tea and some desserts. I know she usually eats a lot, but this feels different.

She’s already finished two burgers and is now on her last one. Since the meeting, she’s gone quiet, and I can’t blame her; I feel drained, too. But we can’t do anything—we’re just here to follow orders.

Watching Yara eat is tiring; I can almost feel my own jaw getting sore from all her chewing. She’s focused on her food, biting, chewing, and gulping without noticing me. It’s like she’s forgotten I’m here. She often loses herself in food when she needs to think. I don’t bother to order anything; I’m still full from the cake.

We head straight to the canteen after our meeting with the boss. It's a lot to handle. I get why he gave the mission to us; it’s not a good one. The task itself is simple, but deciding whether to go through with it is not so easy. Magiging kalaban mo mismo ang sarili mo kapag nagkaroon ka ng pagdadalawang-isip. Although I'm not totally against killing the both of them because, honestly, they have a point–somehow,

Tumagal 'din ng isa't kalahating oras ang pag-uusap naming tatlo—apat. Through the big screen—they already hacked the CCTV cameras at pinakita nila sa'min ang loob at labas ng church at ang mga pasikot-sikot dito at kung saan ang kwarto ng mag-ina. Hindi lang kaming dalawa ni Yara ang tatanggap ng mission na ito kundi may isa pa. Si agent 009, isa siya sa mga pinaka magaling na hacker ng organization—ito ang sabi ni boss dahil siya ang magsisilbing mata at guide namin gamit ang mga CCTV camera ng mismong church.

Hindi namin siya totally kasama sa mismong meeting dahil kausap lang namin siya kanina sa big screen—all the hackers in the organization were not required to expose any information about themselves.

Bawal makita ang mga mukha nila at kahit napakaliit na information na magtutukoy na sila 'yun—katulad ng pagbahagi ng totoong pangalan ay matinding pinagbabawal at haharap sa matinding kaparusahan. Tanging code name at boses lang ang kilala namin sa kanila at tanging mga nakatataas lang ang nakakaalam kung saang lupalop sila nagtatrabaho at kung ano ang mga itsura nila.

Nahahati kasi sa walong category ang organization—

higher-ups,
hackers,
spy,
assassin,
secret agents,
detectives,
helpers,
regular employee

at bawat kategorya ay hiwa-hiwalay ng location kung saan sila magtatrabaho-at bawat grupo ay may boss at sila ang tinatawag na nakatataas o higher-ups. Hindi kami sama-sama sa iisang lugar dahil iniiwasan ng mga nakatataas na malaman ng mga pulisya o ng mga citizen ang tungkol sa'min.

Bawat building ng organization ay pinalilibutan ng regular employee at—dito sa building namin? They are all call center agents—just regular employee. Wala silang kaalam-alam about sa totoong purpose ng company kung saan sila nagtatrabaho. We have two bosses in this company: one for the call center agents and one for us. Ang boss ng company ay isang regular employee but pamangkin siya ni boss kaya alam niya ang katotohanan.

Hackers ang pinaka confidential na trabaho sa'min. Sa minalas-malas nasama ako sa assassin. Tumatanggap kami ng mission at binabayaran ng malaking halaga ng pera para pumatay ng tao. We assassinated people who were in black organizations that committed crimes such as illegal dealing, blackmailing, robberies, and contract assassinations.

Ang secret agents naman are ones who deal with the country's government and others. They exposed the crimes committed—pero hindi sila maaaring pumatay since each group has different goals and rules.