AGENT 23

“Let’s go quickly.”

“Just the two of us? What about the others?”

“Weizhen and the youngest are sleeping on the sofa, and I felt bad waking them up. Let’s just go quickly by ourselves.”

Opening his door and stepping out at the call summoning him after dinner, Yongnae saw Lee Suji standing there alone in light clothing. He looked for Weizhen and the youngest, but at the word that they were sleeping, he simply nodded.

In truth, this wasn’t just a matter of going around houses; having to deal with the people inside made it quite an exhausting task. There was no shortage of people asking what the cause of the smell was or which house it seemed to be leaking from. Yongnae, having plenty of experience in such situations, replied nonchalantly and focused only on catching the scent, but it would have been different for Weizhen and the youngest. Polishing their act to reply kindly while pretending to be civil servants must have been no small feat, and perhaps they were even more tired than Yongnae, who only had to smell.

Understanding that situation, Yongnae made the judgment that it was fine to let the two sleep and go with just Lee Suji. Anyway, there was no guarantee that people would be home now in the ten houses that were empty earlier, and since he had spent the whole day answering like a machine, even if there was someone suspicious enough to be the killer, he just had to step out naturally as Weizhen had said.

And above all, there was a higher probability that the killer would be among the remaining 114 houses they were to rotate through tomorrow rather than in these ten.

“Hyung-nim. Are you going with just the teacher?”

“Yeah. If you can’t get a hold of me, it means I’ve been dismembered and dumped in a suitcase, so keep a good eye on the neighborhood.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“This crazy guy says ‘understood.’”

Lee Suji lightly swatted the head of the red-haired subordinate following behind him. At that, the red-haired man chuckled and bowed deeply, telling them to have a safe trip, but it felt a bit unsettling because it looked like a greeting given when sending someone off on their final journey.

Yongnae entered Gucheon New Town again in the car with Lee Suji. Perhaps because it was a wealthy neighborhood, the area was as bright as day even though it was evening. Just how many streetlights are there?

“Looking at it at night, this place really looks like Hong Kong.”

“Does Hong Kong have this many streetlights too?”

“No, it has a lo—t of neon signs.”

“Then what part of it is like Hong Kong?”

“When you look at it from the outside, a ‘Wow—!’ just comes out.”

Certainly, while Gucheon New Town didn’t quite reach a ‘Wow—!’, one’s mouth did hang open when first entering. Because each had its own personality, the large and beautiful buildings and the luxurious, clean roads immediately gave the impression of a pretty neighborhood.

“Shall we start from here?”

“Yes.”

He had never been to Hong Kong and had never encountered it through photos or videos, so he couldn’t imagine what it looked like at all. But so Hong Kong was this flashy and pretty too.

I wonder if I, too, will be able to go there at least once someday.

PM 8:22

The two of them went around the ten houses that were empty during the day in order, and the house they were entering now was the seventh. They only had to go around three more houses before they were off the clock.

“Oh, it’s this place. The house Daesik said looked gloomy and likely to have a killer living in it.”

“Is that so.”

“Oh, but it looks like someone is home now? The lights are on.”

“So they are.”

Yongnae left Lee Suji behind and got out of the car holding the fake equipment. He had felt a slight sense of triumph because the previous house and the house before that still had no one inside, but it seemed the person here had returned early. A slight sense of disappointment rushed in at the fact that the number of houses to use for stalling time tomorrow had decreased.

Ding-dong—

“…”

Ding-dong—

But was no one there? Even though he pressed the gate doorbell twice, there was no one answering from inside. Did only the lights turn on automatically because it became night? The grayish house visible through the gate bars was quiet. This would make it the third empty house already. Since this meant more places to visit tomorrow, Yongnae, who was inwardly cheering and about to turn around to go back to the car,

— …Who is it.

A low male voice was heard from inside. Yongnae, who was about to step away, approached the doorbell again.

“Ah, hello. I’m from the provincial office. I’ve come to check the sewers because of the odor in the neighborhood.”

— …Odor? What odor.

Judging by the fact that the man with the voice, who seemed to be the homeowner, was not home during the day, he must have been out; did he not catch the odor? All the neighborhood people knew about it, but the man seemed to have no idea at all.

“The hydrogen sulfide gas levels in the neighborhood are high right now, so I will just check the pipes for a moment and go.”

— …

“…”

— …

Click— Creak—

Was he displeased by the fact that someone was coming to inspect late at night? The man maintained silence for a moment, then soon opened the gate without a word.

“…”

However, for some reason, an inexplicable sense of rejection filled him. A creepy feeling coiled around his body. He didn’t want to go in alone.

“…”

Yongnae turned around and looked toward the driver’s seat of the car. He saw the bald man, who was preoccupied with playing a mobile game called Bubble Pang or something, saying it was boring to stay in the car all day.

Why—?

The bald man, perhaps sensing Yongnae’s gaze, lifted his head and asked with his mouth shape “Why?”, but if he went in with that man, rumors would spread far and wide throughout the neighborhood that a gangster, not an odor, was wandering around.

Yongnae, shaking his head as if it were nothing, pushed the open gate with his hand and entered the house alone.

Just like the other houses, this one also required crossing a large garden to enter, but the grass was parched and dry, making it look as though it wasn’t maintained at all. This was despite the fact that other houses had well-maintained gardens as if they were competing.

Creeeak—

As soon as Yongnae crossed the garden, the front door opened quietly as if it had been waiting.

“Hello.”

And inside the door, a man who seemed to be the owner of the voice that had flowed through the gate intercom earlier stood greeting Yongnae.

Because it was a low voice, he had thought the man would have some build, but the man had a build similar to Yongnae, who was on the thin side, and his cheeks were sunken, making him look even more frail.

“…Yes. Hello.”

“…”

The man slowly scanned Yongnae with his eyes from head to toe, and that somewhat slimy gaze evoked a considerable sense of rejection.

And another sense of rejection.

Inside the open door, the smell of deodorant, as if it had just been sprayed, was vibrating. No, this wasn’t just a level of spraying. It had been poured on to hide something.

And as for what that something he was trying to hide was, Yongnae was able to find out immediately. No matter how fatigued his sense of smell was, and no matter how much deodorant or perfume was poured on,

It could not bury this smell of blood.

At the faint fishy smell he could catch, strength entered the hand of Yongnae, who was holding the fake inspection device.

It’s this guy. This guy is the culprit of the Gucheon City serial murder cases.