AGENT 27

“Yongmi. Put Gami in the carrier, and Yongri, go tell the nurse that Yongnae is awake. You, clear this up.”

Yongnae sat on the bed staring blankly at his family, who began to carry out their assigned tasks under his mother’s command.

“…What, what happened?”

His last memory was the image of the man. Yet now that he was awake, it all felt as distant as if it were a past life.

Where did the man go and why was he here? Was the killer caught? Was Lee Suji alive? There was so much he wanted to ask, but rather than asking first, he had to listen to what his family had to say.

“Don’t you remember?”

He thought something would come from his mother first, but Yongmi, who had picked up Gami, spoke first.

Was he asking what it was that he didn’t remember?

“Ah…”

Perhaps it was because he had sat up suddenly, but his head was so dizzy and his stomach felt nauseous. There was no strength in his body at all, and his stomach felt empty, as if he hadn’t eaten for a long time.

Just how long did I sleep?

Yongnae spread his two hands open, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists. Seeing as he couldn’t exert much strength, it seemed he had been in an unconscious state for a long time.

Since he was alive, it was clear that the man had brought him out of there alive. However, he needed to find out how he had been returned to his family afterward. Had it been framed as him being released after a simple kidnapping, or had he been released after assisting in catching a murderer?

The latter was unlikely. This was because there was a high probability that they were currently holding the culprit without getting rid of him to confirm the raw material route the middleman had hidden. If so, it was highly likely that he had been framed as someone who was kidnapped for an unknown reason and then released.

Then should he just say he was kidnapped? That people he didn’t know had kidnapped him and he was threatened to manufacture hydrogen sulfide. Since he had even gone to the research institute to get materials, should he say the evidence would all remain on the CCTV?

“…I don’t remember very well.”

But he had to be more careful. Since he had parted ways with the man’s group without knowing how to coordinate the story of being kidnapped, for now, he had to buy time by pretending his memory was hazy from a head injury and observe the situation.

“Mmm…”

Yongnae lowered his head, closed his eyes, and held his forehead, pretending it was difficult to squeeze out memories. Then, from a distance, Yongri let out a gasp.

“Gasp. Did he lose his memory because he was so shocked by the serial killer? Is it something like short-term amnesia?”

What? Serial killer? Yongnae’s eyes snapped open. They mentioned the killer? Yongnae’s pupils shook slightly.

The story of the killer shouldn’t have come out here already. Right now, the man’s organization should have been catching the killer and looking for the raw materials hidden somewhere in the country. They said they would do that, and that was why they had hired him. But, the killer?

“First of all, that killer is dead.”

“…What?”

“Calm down. Yongnae. I know how you feel. I know your mood too. But don’t get excited; just calm down first and listen.”

He was only slightly surprised; he wasn’t excited at all and was completely calm. It was his eldest hyung who seemed more excited and less calm than himself, but Yongnae just stared at his hyung silently as if telling him to hurry up and talk.

Phew—. Yongmi took a deep breath, placed a hand on his chest, and spoke carefully as if it were a very important story.

“The Gucheon City serial killer you caught… that guy was already in a state of suicide when the police raided.”

What? Suicide? This time, Yongnae almost got excited.

That guy committed suicide? No way. That guy was completely mad for murder. If he had the spirit and physical strength left to commit suicide, he would have gathered all of it to kill Yongnae. He was absolutely not the type to commit suicide.

Then, was it homicide? Since he wasn’t the type to commit suicide, it seemed the fellow was likely eliminated by the man’s organization and disguised as a suicide. That made sense, because the last thing he remembered was the scene where the fellow suffered a gunshot wound to the hand. To be precise, the scene where the hand flew off. The amount of blood spurting was so great that it even splattered on his own face.

Yongnae raised his hand and touched his face. Dry skin with no stickiness.

“…”

Yes, it was clear the fellow had been eliminated by the man’s organization. That meant they had immediately found out where the raw materials for E8 were. And they must have got rid of the culprit to destroy that evidence.

But, did they find out this quickly? Did they find it immediately from the victims’ items the culprit had? Was that why they disguised him as a suicide and then left Yongnae there?

“And the people who kidnapped you.”

“…Yeah.”

“Those people, they say they were organization members who distributed the new drug ‘E8’.”

“…Huh?”

No, what. Hyung knows this fact too? How? Did the man’s organization inform them of this? No, that couldn’t be.

Then, was the organization arrested by the police? Had the police also raided at that moment the man came to save him?

“…Were those people caught?”

“Ah, well, no…”

As expected, phew… It was a relief. Since the man wasn’t caught. If so, it meant the police had found out the fact that the man’s organization was involved…

Did the police find out this quickly in just a few hours?

“…Hyung, what’s the date today?”

No. He had been lying down for a long time. But how long had he been lying down? One day? Two days? Yongnae looked for his cell phone to check the date.

“This time, don’t— be really surprised.”

Fortunately, the cell phone was placed right on the right bed table where it was easily visible, and matching the timing as Yongnae reached out to take it, Yongmi spoke again with exaggeration.

“Three days have passed.”

Since he had roughly guessed by his body condition, it wasn’t something to be surprised about. Yongnae’s cell phone was turned off, but seeing as it turned on immediately when he pressed the power button, it seemed his parents had charged it in advance.

“The doctor said you were in a very deep sleep. Yongri and I cried because you wouldn’t wake up, but Mom and Dad didn’t even cry? It was crazy. Aren’t they a total strong mom and daddy?”

“Mom and Dad knew— because Yongnae sleeps for a long time whenever he gets stressed—.”

To his hyung, sleeping for three days wasn’t the surprising part, but the fact that his parents didn’t have much of a reaction seemed to be the surprising part. Looking at his cute hyung, Yongnae inadvertently let out a chuckle.

“Ah, and those people. The guys who kidnapped you.”

Yongnae, who had no reaction to the previous content, was sincerely surprised this time by the words that inadvertently flowed out of Yongmi’s next sentence.

“Those guys, they say they all fled to Hong Kong.”

“…What?”

Tring—

And simultaneously with the cell phone turning on, a text message arrived.