It only took 12 years…

So, for the ones who’ve read the novels,

In the first series, I’ve always been a bit confused because Zhenya tells Taekjoo that “he wanted him first” and even Taekjoo was like “wtf? When?”

In the second series, we finally found out when this happened. What Zhenya was referring to when he said that Taekjoo wanted him first was that Taekjoo accepted him as his partner when they first met because up until then, Taekjoo worked solo.

Anyway, the second set of novels just came out in August, and it answers a few questions.

Spoilers for the second series:

Volume 1:
Taekjoo has a mission in Cuba that goes awry and he ends up being rescued by Zhenya and a Mexican narc named Matias. Once he gets home the higher ups question his relationship with Zhenya.

Volume 2:
Russia and North Korea are up to no good, and since Zhenya is the Russian ambassador in Korea and the son of a very influential family in Russia with close ties to the government, Taekjoo doesn’t want him interfering because he doesn’t want Zhenya to get in trouble. While in a mission in Russia, he’s working with 2 other agents and there’s an explosion. Taekjoo is saved by Zhenya, but since he’s the only one who came out alive, there’s suspicions. Taekjoo is mad that Zhenya interfered and leaves him behind in this island. He wants to prove to the higher ups his and Zhenya’s innocence, so he takes up a mission in Iran (which is a continuation of what he was doing in Russia.). Before leaving to Iran, he contacts Zhenya and tells him to not go look for him and that he’ll be back to get him when it’s all over because there’s something he needs to tell him. As much as he doesn’t want to, Zhenya complies, but when he tries to track his location he gets an error message. Sometime before he’d implanted a microchip in Taekjoo to track his location, and it worked based on the person’s vital signs. There’s news that Taekjoo might have died in a terrorist attack while in his mission in Iran, but at least his mission was successful.

Volume 3:
Zhenya goes to Iran to identify the body said to be Taekjoo’s. He’s accompanied by Jong-woo. After seeing the body, he determines it’s not Taekjoo and goes on a wild goose chase to find him. Unbeknownst to anybody, Taekjoo was arrested and is being tortured in an Iranian prison. Before the explosion he bumped into one of Zhenya’s brothers and saved him, so the brother is in an Iranian hospital when Zhenya comes to asks if he knows anything about Taekjoo’s whereabouts. In prison, Taekjoo is being SA’d, but uses his abuser’s lust to overpower him and escape. While he’s escaping Zhenya and Jong-woo arrive at the jail and they miss each other. He makes his way to Turkey where he bumps into Matias, who immediately recognizes him, but Taekjoo has lost his memories ans doesn’t recognize him but allows him to help him. Zhenya eventually makes his way to Matias’ place, but he misses Taekjoo again. Earlier Taekjoo had remembered his mom ans cslled her and she mentioned “the Russian ambassador”, but he was unable to look him up on his phone so he went to the city when Zhenya came. Eventually, Zhenya returns to Matias’ place and even though he can’t remember him, somehow he feels he can trust him and goes with him.

Volume 4:
Zhenya tries to be all lovey-doves, but Taekjoo is like “get the f*uk away from me.” Zhenya is angry and hurt that Taekjoo forgot him. He does remember Jongwoo, though. Eventually Olga makes an appearance and calls a psychologist over who explains to them what’s happening and how to go about it. Later, while in the pool, Olga drops the bombshell that Taekjoo and Zhenya were lovers. Both Jongwoo and Taekjoo are surprised by that bombshell. Throughout his interactions with Zhenya, Taekjoo couldn’t understand how he came to be “friends” with someone as abrasive as Zhenya, so he definitely could have never imagined he was actually not a friend, but a lover. Olga advises Zhenya not to push Taekjoo too hard and to try to make him fall for him again. Jongwoo had tried to contact headquarters to let them know that he’d found Taekjoo, but Zhenya broke his phone. Later they all go on a yatch trip, and Olga and Jongwoo plan to get off the yatch so Jongwoo can contact headquarters. They stay alone on the yatch, and Taekjoo is trying to be a lover to Zhenya. Things heat up, but right as they’re about to go all the way, Taekjoo has flashbacks of his abuse in jail and has a crisis. Back at the villa, Zhenya overhears Jongwoo and Olga talking about contacting headquarters. He freaks out and attacks them, but then he hears Taekjoo calling out to him. He goes to him and Taekjoo asks him to take him somewhere quiet, so they end up on his private island. They spend their days just being domestic and since he can’t remember his past self, he’s a sweeter lover. Eventually they go all the way, but that also awakens some memories from the past.

Volume 5:
After having sex, Taekjoo remembers all the bad memories and concludes that he must’ve just given up and that’s why he ended up becoming Zhenya’s “lover”. All throughout their stay in the island, Zhenya had had that nagging feeling of what would happen if Taekjoo only remembered the bad stuff. Taekjoo tied up Zhenya and basically denies their history. Since he can only remember the bad stuff, he can’t fathom how he could fall in love with him and even asks Zhenya if he’s ever said “I love you” to him, to which Zhenya thinks that neither have said so, but they were still lovers regardless. Taekjoo leaves him there and finally makes his way back to Korea. Once home, he finds his phone and as he browsed through it he found many many pictures of his love story with Zhenya. He finally remembers everything and decides to go look for Zhenya. Before going to Iran he’d told him to wait for him until he went to get him, so that’s what he’s planning on doing. Before this though, he had wanted to quit his job as an agent, but now he requested to remain “dead”. When agents died, their demise was never made public, nobody even knew they existed, so he wanted his existence to be completely wiped out. He asked Olga for help in reaching Zhenya, so he took her helicopter to his island, but the island is like a fortress. Zhenya won’t let anyone in. He is attacked by the island’s defense mechanism, but manages to send a Morse code message hoping Zhenya would recognize it. He does, but the misile had already been launched and still hit the helicopter. He thinks he’s killed Taekjoo and is about to shoot himself when he hears a faint sound. He goes to find Taekjoo who’s unconscious. When he recovers consciousness, Taekjoo tells him he loves him. They reconcile, have sex, get attacked, someone attacked the Kremlin, Zhenya’s brother kills the president, and Taekjoo and Zhenya travel the world. They do a quick pit stop at Nahyun’s wedding. They didn’t meet in person, but Taekjoo signed the guest book. Zhenya’s brother becomes president. They eventually return to Korea where they spend time with Taekjoo’s mom, Olga and Jongwoo. The story ends in the cemetery, in front of the tomb of Taekjoo’s dad. Zhenya asks him if he’s sure about quitting, and Taekjoo says that if he’d never met him, he’d probably still be lost (meaning working as an agent which he came to realize was a thankless job). Hearing Taekjoo say he’s the reason why makes Zhenya lean in for a kiss. Jongwoo notices and takes Olga and Taekjoo’s mom away from them while they kiss in the sunset.

The end.