AGENT 1

Born in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, Kim Yongnae was a special child with a talent that differed from others.

Yongnae possessed a sense of smell superior to other people, but it didn’t end at the level of being called a “dog-nose” for smelling things slightly well; he was a child whose sense of smell was extremely developed to the point it could truly be compared to a dog’s.

This special ability showed its signs even before Kim Yongnae was born. When Kim Yongnae’s mother, Ms. Kim Yongeun, was pregnant with him, she briefly gained the mysterious ability to smell and guess what kind of food was in her husband’s hands as he returned from work, starting all the way from the apartment hallway. Of course, seeing as that ability vanished cleanly after she gave birth to Kim Yongnae, the owner of that sense of smell had been Kim Yongnae from the very beginning.

Anyway, unlike his extremely developed sense of smell, the newborn Kim Yongnae did not have a sensitive temperament; he didn’t cry much and was gentle, so his parents did not realize that Kim Yongnae was a special child.

Then, once Kim Yongnae became able to express his intentions, they gradually came to know that this child was a little different from others.

A baby who had just started babbling and standing up would bolt upright, knowing he was about to eat “mamma” just from the formula container being opened; and when his second brother, Kim Yongri, who was one year older, made a mistake in his diaper, he would point it out accurately with his finger—Poke!

As such, there were many anecdotes, large and small, caused by Kim Yongnae and his extraordinary sense of smell. Among the small happenings, there was an incident like this.

‘Mother. I smell the same scent from Youngshik’s father and Kyeongho’s mother.’

‘Huh? What do you mean by that?’

In the year Kim Yongnae turned 8, after an elementary school classroom observation lesson was over, Yongnae, who was walking home holding his mother’s hand, once conveyed a phenomenon to his mother that his little head simply could not understand.

‘Just like how Mother and Father have the same scent. I smell the same scent from Youngshik’s father and Kyeongho’s mother. Can the same scent come from strangers who have no connection?’

‘……Those two houses must use the same shampoo.’

‘No. I did not smell that scent from Youngshik’s mother.’

‘……Youngshik’s mom must use a different shampoo.’

‘Is that so? To use different shampoos in one house, it is a bit unusual.’

‘……I suppose so. Yongnae, do you want to eat ice cream?’

It could be so. Though they were one household, they could use different shampoos. However, the mother, Ms. Kim Yongeun, instinctively sensed something, and hurried to seal young Yongnae’s mouth with ice cream lest anyone hear.

‘……Yongnae. Let’s not tell anyone about this.’

‘Why is that?’

‘Just because… it’s Mother’s wish…’

‘Yes. I understand.’

Because Yongnae was a good child who listened to his mother well, he did not divulge this fact anywhere, just as his mother wished. Though it might have been a big deal to someone for it to be called a small happening, since Yongnae and his family did not know what happened afterward, let’s just call it a small happening.

Next, there was a time when a major incident was prevented in advance due to Yongnae’s extraordinary sense of smell. This was a truly big incident that even led to Yongnae appearing in the local newspaper with the title: “Apartment Residents Escape Great Disaster Thanks to Child with Amazing Dog-Nose!”

‘Mother, Father.’

‘…Huh? Yongnae, weren’t you sleeping?’

‘Please wake up.’

One day when Yongnae was in his first year of middle school, at 2:00 AM in the dawn when everyone was deep asleep, an intruder entered Yongnae’s parents’ bedroom. It was the youngest, Yongnae, who looked like he had just woken up, with thick double eyelids over his small eyes.

‘I smell gas.’

‘Huh? Gas smell?’

‘Yes.’

Yongnae shook his parents awake in the middle of the night, and then suddenly said he smelled gas. Startled by that, his parents bolted upright and moved around here and there, sniffing, but even when they went to the kitchen, went to Yongnae’s room, or went out to the veranda, there was no smell of gas.

‘I don’t smell gas, though?’

‘It is not our house.’

‘Huh? Then where is it coming from?’

Yongnae’s family lived on the 4th floor of an apartment building that was 30 years old. The place where Yongnae led his parents, sniffing as he searched for the source of the gas smell, out the front door, through the hallway, and down the stairs, was the spot where the gas pipes installed on the exterior wall of the apartment were buried.

‘Oh my, what is that?’

‘Why is that broken?’

Upon arriving there, the smell of gas was leaking out so heavily that even an ordinary person could feel it immediately. When Yongnae’s father approached the pipe and looked closely, the aged pipe had eventually broken after enduring the contraction and expansion of the winter season.

Yongnae, who had been sleeping on the 4th floor, had smelled this and found it, and finding it at dawn was truly an act of heaven. Because this place where the pipes were installed was a secluded spot in the apartment, local punks always gathered here during the day to smoke cigarettes.

With a gas leak of this level right now, even a small cigarette spark could lead to a large explosion, and in a multi-family apartment like this, it was highly likely it would have escalated into a major loss of life.

Due to this incident, Yongnae’s face became known in the local newspaper, and he was praised as a hero in the neighborhood for several months. Because it was back then, it ended with just one appearance in the newspaper and being a neighborhood hero; if it were something that happened in this day and age, a video titled “[shorts] Legend Dog-Nose Civilian Saves All Apartment Residents by Distinguishing Smells from 1km Away” would have roamed the whole world.

Anyway, when that incident happened, Kim Yongnae made a decision. To do work that he could do using his sense of smell.

However, he could not become a perfumer, which is the most representative profession among those using the sense of smell. That was because it was a very fatal profession for Yongnae.

Yongnae smelled things well, but he was vulnerable to artificial scents like perfume or cosmetics. Should I say his nose becomes paralyzed if he smells a lot of it? It was a weakness born from having a sense of smell that was too superior.

Anyway, other than a perfumer, there were far—too few jobs using the sense of smell. Like Gami, the grey brindled puppy raised at home, if Yongnae had been a puppy, he would have been a drug detection dog at least, but unfortunately, he was a human, so he couldn’t do that.

Then, while browsing the internet by chance, he discovered a profession, and that was none other than an Atmospheric Odor Analysis Agent. Because this was a Grade 6 research position civil servant, the competition was monstrous, but Yongnae instinctively caught that this path was his path. This was because being a civil servant was perfect for his smooth and quiet life.

As there happened to be a research institute in Imsil, close to Jeonju where Yongnae lived, Yongnae decided on his career path and prepared for it since he was a high school student.

However, the competition for the Jeollabuk-do Provincial Office Public Health and Environment Research Institute was 200:1. It was not an easy goal. But Kim Yongnae is someone who, once hooked on something, accomplishes it with tenacity.

Kim Yongnae, who studied from his first year of university when everyone else was in “play-mode” and earned a total of five certifications including Atmospheric Environment Engineer, Water Quality Environment Engineer, Noise and Vibration Engineer, Soil Environment Engineer, and Waste Treatment Engineer, ended up snatching the research civil servant position upon graduating school with a total of 105 points, adding 5 certification bonus points to a perfect score of 100.

And finally, by lightly passing the Olfactory Determination Agent test, which was a piece of cake for Yongnae, he was finally able to be reborn as an odor analysis agent.

Kim Yongnae, who thought he would smoothly continue his life as a Grade 6 civil servant while being the pride of his parents.

Ssh— Ssh—

However, right now, in the center of a storm, he was facing an incident head-on that was far from smooth.

“Ah…?”

Blink, blink. Yongnae, who was blinking his eyes slowly, stared for a long time at what that dark red lump was.

Ssh— Ssh—

And finally, when he perfectly recognized what that was with his 0.9 vision in both eyes,

“Ah…!”

Yongnae let out a short scream and trembled violently.

Ssh— Thud.

It was a corpse. A corpse drenched in blood.

“Uaaah…—!”

Yongnae screamed and instinctively tried to move away from the corpse. However, his body did not move as he intended. It was because his arms and feet were folded backward and tied.

Extreme terror made Yongnae’s head dizzy, as if someone had poured an entire bottle of perfume into his nose. Yongnae screamed frantically and tried moving his body this way and that, but there was no sign of the bindings loosening, showing how firmly he was bound.

“You’re awake?”

Then, at a certain voice heard suddenly, Yongnae’s head turned toward that direction,

“Just why is a Jeollabuk-do civil servant hanging around with drug addict bastards?”

Whether the scratching sound from just now was the sound of sharpening an axe blade, he came eye-to-eye with the guy who was getting up while holding an axe with a glinting edge.

“How did you find me? Seriously annoying…”

The focus, which was off somewhere as if he wasn’t sane, made the guy feel even more out of place.

“You know the moment I saw that bald bastard?”

In the place where the guy pointed with the hand holding the axe, a bald head, as bloodied as the drenched corpse, was collapsed. And next to it, a hammer that looked like the tool used to make the bald head that way was sprawled together with its handle broken.

“I thought this would be the last time for this stuff.”

Since the hammer broke, the guy had picked up the axe. In order to strike him down with that.

“…No.”

“It’s my first time hitting something alive with an axe, it’ll probably hurt a bit.”

“No…!”

Whether Yongnae’s voice was even heard, the guy began to approach Yongnae without hesitation while gripping the axe. As if to enjoy this moment which could be his last murder, his eyes, which had turned around, were filled with ecstasy.

Shit—

Resentment toward this situation where he didn’t even faint now despite fainting as soon as he saw a pistol, and toward the man who hadn’t shown his face once until his death, enveloped Yongnae. Because of whom did he end up in this situation now…

Just once.

At the axe casting a shadow over his head, Yongnae’s two eyes squeezed shut. He tried to recall the man’s face, which came to mind every time he closed his eyes, one last time, but perhaps because the fear was too intense, the man’s face was not drawn even when he closed his eyes tightly.

Please, just once, if only I could see that face one more time—