AGENT 13

But there was one question. Why had the man taken him toward Room 1204 to collect the air? The reason he hadn’t knocked him unconscious like Detective Park was likely because he was someone not in the plan, so he wanted to return him safely to deflect suspicion.

But why did he insist on having the air from Room 1204 collected? Even if he had collected the air from Room 1202 as planned, they would have gained time while it was being analyzed.

Why, specifically, did he have Room 1204 sampled? There was the risk that, just like now, he could unravel that clue and inform the police. Why…

For now, Yongnae stood up to head back to the National Police Agency. Detective Moon said they could delay the distribution of ‘E8’ for the time being, but he was wrong.

The drugs of the organization that had eluded the police would have been manufactured as scheduled that day.

Ring, ring—

Yongnae called Detective Moon as he made his way back up the platform. He needed to briefly explain this over the phone first and then return to the agency to deliver the information properly. The train he had just reserved was the last one, so if he missed it, he would truly have to sleep in a nearby motel today, but he judged this to be information that would be a very great help to the police.

Taking advantage of the gap where the police had lowered their guard, thinking the drugs couldn’t be manufactured, and were now likely distributing them actively—now might be the perfect time to catch the man and the organization.

He could catch the man. If the man were caught, since he was the only one who had seen his face, he might even see him once more for identification.

[The person you are calling is not available—]

However, since the call to Detective Moon didn’t connect immediately, an unknown sense of anxiety filled him. Even if he went to the National Police Agency now, he could deliver this content even if it wasn’t specifically to Detective Moon; he wasn’t usually such an impatient person, so why did he feel so rushed?

[Detective Moon. I have something additional to tell you | ]

Ultimately deciding to leave a text first, Yongnae hurriedly drafted a message. That he was returning to the National Police Agency now because there was additional information.

However, had his sense of smell detected not just odors but also anxiety?

“Researcher?”

Yongnae had to stop all his actions because of the people blocking his path.

In the middle of Yongsan Station, Yongnae was surrounded by men in black suits, one of whom had a tattoo on his bald scalp that wasn’t a snake shape, but a snakeskin pattern. It was incredibly grotesque.

At the same time, it seemed to clearly indicate which side they were on—not the police or the prosecution.

“…Yes. What is it?”

And he felt it instinctively. These are the people sent by the man.

Next to the bald man with the snakeskin tattoo, a man who looked neat and wore glasses—so much the opposite that it felt like a mismatch—stepped forward and stood in front of Yongnae.

“We’d like you to come with us and check something.”

At his proposal, thump, thump. Yongnae’s heartbeat was so loud it echoed through his entire body.

Was this trembling due to fear, or…

What are the odds of an adult male being kidnapped in the middle of Yongsan Station at 9:00 PM on a densely populated Friday evening? And what are the odds of that male complying with the kidnapping himself without a single act of resistance?

Yongnae, who had followed the men into a black sedan, stared blankly out the window. The car left Yongsan Station and entered a large ten-lane road, soon beginning to cross a bridge over the Han River. The Han River during the day seen from the train was pretty, but the Han River at night seen from the car was also beautiful.

“…”

Beauty. As that word came to mind, Yongnae naturally brought the man’s face to mind as well. Until now, the ‘beauty’ he had defined consisted only of things like a beach at sunset, a lush forest, or the shimmering of the Han River he was looking at now. But to think the man was now included in that definition of beauty.

The thumping, though slow, was strong and still vibrating through his whole body. If he followed them now, would he meet the man again?

In fact, cooperating obediently with them and following was a very foolish thing to do. However, Yongnae judged that at least they didn’t seem to intend to harm him.

First, he briefly considered if they might not be the man’s organization, but rather the organization of the methamphetamine criminals who had been tied up in Room 1202 to be caught instead; however, if that were the case, he didn’t think they would know his job title in such detail. Besides, if it were them, he thought they would have chased the man or the man’s organization, not him, so he set aside the danger regarding that side.

And what if the man who impersonated Detective Park then was actually an important figure in the organization, and they were kidnapping him like this to get rid of him because he had witnessed his face? He also set up that hypothesis, but if that were the case, he thought they wouldn’t have bothered to come in a group to a crowded Yongsan Station and ask him to go with them, but would have instead sent someone to wait for a timing when he was alone and then quietly dispose of him.

These people asked him to come with them and check something. He didn’t know what would happen to him after that check was over, but at least it didn’t seem like his life was in danger.

The man had used chemicals to knock out Detective Park, who had hidden in the next room to catch him, and he hadn’t acted threateningly or uncooperatively toward him during the entire collection process. That meant the man did not have a violent temperament that would inflict indiscriminate harm on a civilian.

“…”

The arguments he was laying out became long. But the truth was…

The car stopped in front of a building that looked tall and luxurious. He had no idea where this place was, but seeing that it wasn’t a place like an abandoned factory, he felt relieved. As expected, it didn’t seem like they were trying to hurt him.

“Give us your phone for a moment.”

“Will you return it immediately?”

“Yes.”

The phone was his only safety device, but since he figured if they were going to do something bad, they would have done it while coming here, Yongnae handed over the phone without resistance.

Well, were they trying to check if he was making a call or a recording? The man with glasses seemed to touch Yongnae’s phone a few times, then returned it quickly as promised.

Yongnae entered the building along with the men, including the bald man with the snakeskin tattoo, and used the elevator at the very end among the six in operation to go up. The destination was the 37th floor.

It was a very high floor. It was probably the highest place Yongnae had ever been in his life.

37th floor. Would the man be there too?

“——,——.”

While Yongnae was staring up at the elevator display as it ascended floor by floor somewhat anxiously, he heard an unfamiliar language among the men.

“——,——,——.”

A language that was not Korean. That language was somewhat similar to Chinese, but because Yongnae knew where they had come from, he could tell what the language was at once. Since the news said E8 was distributed in Hong Kong before crossing over to Korea, they were likely conversing in Cantonese, which is used in Hong Kong.

In particular, the bald man with the snakeskin pattern seemed to be the most fluent, as if he were from Hong Kong. Yongnae had thought from the beginning that the snakeskin-headed man didn’t seem like an ordinary person, and as expected, he wasn’t Korean. If he were a Korean gang member, instead of a grotesque snakeskin pattern, he would have gotten a dragon tattoo breathing fire to try to look cool.

“…”

Wait, then could the man also be from Hong Kong?

Yongnae’s brain stopped for a moment and then began to rotate rapidly. With that, the hypothesis that it might be so began to be established.

The man’s speech had been uniquely slow and drawn out. At the time, he had only thought it was gentle, but thinking about it again coolly, it could have been because he wasn’t good at Korean.

How could this be. To think the man’s appearance, which he had thought was the miracle of the peninsula, might not be the miracle of the Korean Peninsula, but the miracle of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. He didn’t know why the war he had thought of last time came to mind again.

Ding—

When the elevator stopped at the 37th floor, the men’s conversation also ceased, and Yongnae’s brain, which had been having idle thoughts, also stopped rotating for a moment. They surrounded Yongnae in the middle and walked down a long hallway together.

And when they arrived in front of a certain door, like people who didn’t care whether Yongnae saw the password or not, they naturally pressed the door lock to open it and entered. Yongnae, who was wedged in the middle and naturally entered with them, immediately had a question mark pop up in his head as soon as he stepped inside.

Contrary to his expectation that their base would be an office or a place where drugs were being manufactured, this was just a normal house. But a house like a model home with an all-white tone that gave a square feeling to the point of being a bit jarring.

Since there were five family members in Yongnae’s house, it was a place where persimmons were hung and chili peppers were dried, giving off a strong scent of people; this place was incredibly pretty, but it gave off no scent of people living there at all. It wouldn’t be like in the movies where they trap you inside the wall of a house being remodeled and then just smear cement over it, right?

No, whether that was the case or not… the man, where was the man? Had he not come here? Or was he in a room?

“Sit down.”

While Yongnae’s eyes were busily scanning every corner of the house, the man with glasses invited him to sit on the sofa. The sofa was an ivory color that matched the white-toned house very well, and looking clean without a speck of dust, it looked brand new.

“By any chance, do you know about the Guchon serial murder case happening now?”

Before Yongnae could even feel the cushion as he sat on the sofa, Glasses threw a question toward Yongnae.