AGENT 22

The eyes of Yongnae and Weizhen could not hide their absurdity as they stared at Lee Suji, who had stepped out wearing a yellow knit sweater and cotton trousers, claiming he would look like a real civil servant.

“Why? Do I look too much like a civil servant? Would it be better to wear a shirt and dress pants like the teacher? But then I’d look too much like a gangster…”

“You think that’s the problem?”

What kind of civil servant walks around with a snakeskin tattoo on his head? Yongnae had expected him to show at least enough sincerity to wear a wig, but all he did was dress neatly. To anyone’s eyes, he was a gangster impersonating a civil servant.

“Hey. Is there a law saying a civil servant can’t look like this?”

“It is not a law, but for a start, it is grounds for disciplinary action for violating the duty to maintain dignity.”

“What…, seriously?”

“Yes.”

It was true. It wouldn’t matter if it were somewhere invisible on the body, but if one wore piercings in the nose or mouth, or shaved their head bald and covered the entire scalp with tattoos like Lee Suji, civil complaints were bound to come in. If that happened, one would be disciplined for violating the duty to maintain dignity.

“Then what do I do?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do I do.’ You stay in the car.”

“Fuck. I’ll just stay at home.”

“No. Just in case, follow the researcher around.”

Yesterday, Lee Suji’s subordinates had been driving around the Gucheon New Town spraying hydrogen sulfide gas. Once in the afternoon, and once at dawn. From the side observing the reaction, they said they captured many sights of neighborhood people covering their noses and wondering what the smell was.

There are almost no agencies that come to inspect the very next day after a complaint is filed, but the most sensitive organs in a human are hearing and smell. People who were sick and tired of the strange smell continuing even while they were inside their homes would not find it strange at all even if inspectors came out after just one day.

“We have to go around more than half today.”

Half of 230 houses was 115. If it had been a normal execution of official duties where all 230 houses had to be visited, it would have taken over a month. However, since this wasn’t about finding the real cause of the smell and he only needed to catch the scent of blood, he just had to act like he was using the machine and come right out. So, even if it took a long time, it was three minutes per household. Visiting half within today was sufficient.

If he was lucky, he might even find the killer today. If he found him today, would he be going home immediately today, on the sixth day?

“Researcher. Even if you find the fellow, do not show it; just act like you are inspecting and come out.”

He supposed he had to do that. He was a civilian and could not handle that guy. They said that guy’s first target was a middleman for this organization. To kill an organization member, who would be more skilled at fighting than a civilian, meant his power was considerable.

“Then, does the researcher go into the houses all alone?”

“No. Suji will wait in the car, and the researcher will be accompanied by me and the youngest. The rest will wait one minute away.”

Excluding Weizhen and the person called the youngest, the personalities of the organization members were all over the place. The red-haired one, who seemed to be Lee Suji’s direct subordinate, was out because he had red hair, and the rest of the organization members had scratches in their hair or eyebrows. Otherwise, they had scars on their faces.

There was a high probability the fellow knew he had killed the drug middleman. Therefore, since they must not arouse even a bit of suspicion, Weizhen and the youngest, who had the cleanest masks, decided to accompany him.

From early morning, one black sedan and two vans entered Gucheon New Town. To avoid suspicion, only the single sedan entered the neighborhood, and the vans decided to wait after parking nearby.

Yongnae opened the car door with a civil servant ID on a blue lanyard around his neck, as if he were going out on typical field duty. The two men seemed slightly flustered seeing Yongnae and said they didn’t have civil servant IDs, but Yongnae waved his hand saying it was fine and headed to the first house.

Ding-dong—

—Who is it?

“I’m from the provincial office. I’m an odor analysis agent.”

Even Dawon had never brought a civil servant ID whenever going out on field duty. This was a true reflection of reality.

They went around 116 houses. Among them, eleven places had no one home, and though they entered the rest, there was no smell of blood. Lee Suji spent the whole day just sleeping in the passenger seat, and Weizhen and the youngest marked 7 out of the 105 houses separately, saying the houses where men lived alone were suspicious.

However, in Yongnae’s view, the 7 houses where men lived alone were not suspicious at all. For a start, not only was there no smell of blood, but Yongnae speculated that the killer would have burned a lot of artificial incense out of concern for that blood smell; those 7 houses just smelled like a man living alone.

“Let’s head back for now. We’ll do the rest tomorrow.”

“Right. We worked through without even eating. Let’s go back.”

He had wondered what would happen if they found him today, but fortunately, the schedule was filled through tomorrow. Of course, there was no certainty that he would see the man just because tomorrow came, but wasn’t there at least a possibility? Tomorrow, he would pin his hopes on…

“Later this evening, let’s go back to the eleven houses that were empty.”

“…This evening?”

“If we push it to tomorrow, the time will be tight.”

“…Civil servants don’t work in the evening.”

“This isn’t official business, is it?”

Even if they went around the remaining eleven places in the evening, there was a higher probability that the fellow wouldn’t be among them. And he had been about to be the first to suggest going to the empty houses again tomorrow evening in order to drag out the time even a little bit.

“…Yes.”

Since it had come to this, he felt he should go around tomorrow while being as idle as possible. Well, he didn’t know if the reward he hoped for would follow just because he put in this kind of effort.

He followed the organization members, who decided to stay near Gucheon New Town, into a hotel that looked newly built. They must earn a lot of money selling drugs. Last time, the preparation was also done in a very good hotel, and the officetel in Seoul also looked quite expensive. Even now, it was fascinating that they brought all these organization members not to a motel that was a hotel in name only, but to a real hotel.

Every time he went on a business trip, the travel expense regulations were 100,000 won for Seoul, 80,000 won for metropolitan cities, and 60,000 won for others, so he had stayed in motels that had the name hotel attached to them; within just a week, this was already his second visit to a real hotel.

At Lee Suji’s words to rest because they would come by later, Yongnae, who entered the room alone, sat on the desk chair as if lying down.

For 27 years, it had been a quiet daily life without noise, but it felt like several days’ worth of incidents and accidents were crowding in.

Walking and going around houses to smell odors all day was no small exhaustion. For the last three or four houses, he felt like he couldn’t even sense smells well. He hadn’t found the killer’s house but failed to smell the blood because of fatigue, had he? A sudden worry surged in.

He had thought he would find the killer’s house tomorrow without fail, but what would happen if he couldn’t find it? Would they give him 50 million won and send him away as promised? Or would they ask him to stay a bit longer and find it? If he stayed a bit longer… wouldn’t the possibility of seeing the man also go up?

Even if he found the killer tomorrow, act as if he hadn’t… ah.

“Crazy bastard.”

A curse popped out loud. To think of acting as if he hadn’t found the killer just to see that man once. Yongnae, having rummaged through his hair, rubbed and wiped his face roughly and closed his eyes.

And as he closed his eyes, the man’s face floated up. Those eyes looking down at him. That smile. Even that fragrance.

Actually,

“…”

Killer or whatever, rather than receiving 50 million won, he would have given it himself.

‘Then, come see me.’

He was filled only with the thought of wanting to see the man once more.