AGENT 33

Yongnae had never been abroad before. He thought his first time would be flying on a plane with his family, but he never imagined he would be smuggling himself into a foreign land with criminals to meet another criminal.

When he stepped onto Hong Kong soil for the first time after getting off the sightseeing boat they had transferred to from the smuggling vessel, Yongnae was momentarily lost in the scenery right before his eyes.

Even though dark night had fallen, a pretty double-decker bus with an open top was passing in front of him, and this place, called Tsim Sha Tsui Pier, exuded a full foreign atmosphere with its stretching exotic trees. Furthermore, across the sea, the view was filled with incredibly twinkling and flamboyant buildings.

“Wow…”

Yongnae’s eyes grew wide.

Lee Suji had said that looking at Gucheon New City made one go ‘Ooh—!’ because it was similar to Hong Kong. But Yongnae’s thoughts were different. Gucheon New City could not be compared to Hong Kong. The quality of that splendor and this splendor was on a different level.

It suited the man to live in a place like this. Even if the man were to walk among these brilliantly flashing buildings, it wouldn’t feel out of place; he would likely blend in perfectly, just like a scene from a painting.

“So, what do we do now?”

“Pardon?”

“Where should we go?”

However, the appreciation of the city was brief; the hyung-nim was asking Yongnae where they should go right this moment. Since it was Yongnae’s first time in Hong Kong too, how could he know where the man was?

“We have to go to a dumpling shop.”

But Yongnae had a clue.

Joe’s Dumpling.

‘Joe’s Dumpling! It’s the best dumpling shop in Hong Kong!’

While recalling things on the boat that might serve as clues to finding the man, Yongnae remembered Lee Suji shouting about Joe’s Dumpling next to Weizhen, who had been telling anecdotes about Susu on the way down to Imsil.

A dumpling shop that Susu visits at least once a week. If it was a restaurant good enough to visit once a week, it would be famous and likely easy to find, and he thought he might be able to meet the man quickly if he waited there.

Therefore, they had to go to the dumpling shop first.

“Nothing is popping up on the map?”

“Nothing comes up even if I search on blogs.”

“Is it definitely Joe’s Dumpling? Not Chobi’s Dumpling or George’s Dumpling?”

However, the dumpling shop called Joe’s Dumpling left no trace anywhere. It was supposed to be a shop that stayed open without missing a single day, as if they did business 366 days out of 365, but even when searching in English, there was no information on a place called Joe’s Dumpling.

Thinking the spelling might be different, they looked for dumpling shops that were open year-round, but the only ones that came up were Chobi Dumpling, Juenschi Dumpling, and Ohs Umplin.

Could it be that the name was actually different, but they just called it Joe’s Dumpling? But back then, Weizhen had said that it was the first time in years Susu had spoken to Joe. Given that the name ‘Joe’ was mentioned several times, it didn’t seem like the name was wrong. But why on earth did nothing come up even when searching on Goo-x?

“Can’t we just visit all the dumpling shops listed on the map? There are only sixteen.”

“What are we going to do after going to all of them? You want to wait a week at each shop?”

“Ah…”

“And try reading the shop sign behind you.”

There was no guarantee the man would appear within a week even if they waited at every shop, and even if that wasn’t an issue, there was another problem.

[Cheese Dumpling]

“Sih-his Doom-p…? I’m sorry. My English is a bit weak.”

“Even if it’s weak, you can’t even read ‘Cheese’? Look, that’s a dumpling shop over there too, but it doesn’t show up on the map.”

“Oh? You’re right. Is it a place that tastes bad?”

“It’s an illegal storefront. If we want to include shops like that and stay a week at each, we’d have to live in Hong Kong for a year.”

There were far too many illegal storefronts. The shops visible on the main street right now exceeded ten at a glance, but only three or four were marked on the map. Finding the man with only the name of a dumpling shop was impossible.

However, in a state of having no information, the dumpling shop was the highest probability and safest route. If not that, it would be trying to contact the number from the text message Lee Suji had sent two months ago, but…

[The number you have dialed is currently unavailable—]

He tried calling from one of the Black Horse Gang members’ cell phones, but it was already a disconnected number.

“Civil servant teacher, what do we do now?”

Now there really was no clever solution. He had no choice but to use that dangerous method he really hadn’t wanted to use.

“…By any chance, do you have information on clubs in Hong Kong where methamphetamine or fentanyl is being distributed?”

Using the information network of the Black Horse Gang members back in Korea, they received a list of clubs where methamphetamine or fentanyl distribution was actively taking place.

“Why these clubs on the list? You want to go?”

“No. We don’t need the clubs on this list.”

At a 24-hour restaurant & cafe on the streets of downtown Tsim Sha Tsui, Yongnae sat surrounded by Jongtae, the hyung-nim of the Black Horse Gang, and his lackeys Changsik and Pilgu. Along with them was the youngest, Howon, who was so quiet he was almost imperceptible.

Among the 58 clubs in Hong Kong, they had excluded 30 small-scale ones, and of the remaining 28, they had spread out a map showing all the clubs alongside those where fentanyl and methamphetamine were being distributed.

“If you don’t need them, why did you ask us to look them up? What are you going to do?”

“You said Yiwon sells ‘E8’ exclusively. The places where methamphetamine and fentanyl are distributed will be locations where Yiwon’s reach does not extend.”

“Oh—?”

“And usually, clubs are managed by organizations, and organizations manage that entire zone.”

“Right! But how did you know that, teacher?”

“It comes up often if you watch ‘I Want to Know That.’”

“Even stuff like that shows up?”

“Yes. Anyway, you said fentanyl is being distributed in these clubs. Then it means this vicinity is being held by that organization. Here, here. This spot. These clubs likely aren’t under Yiwon’s jurisdiction.”

As Yongnae crossed out the club zones on the list with a red pen, the Black Horse Gang members applauded. They were struck with admiration, saying they thought he had just become a civil servant because he was a bit good at studying, but he seemed to be a naturally smart person.

Doing it that way left a total of ten clubs. And among them, three clubs were clustered right in the middle of downtown Tsim Sha Tsui. This entire zone must be managed by Yiwon. Yongnae circled that zone with a blue pen.

And of the remaining seven, another three clustered clubs were in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong Island, which was on the opposite side of Tsim Sha Tsui. After Yongnae circled that place with the blue pen as well, he excluded the remaining ones in the outskirts from the list. Even if Yiwon managed all the rest, they were out if they were in the outskirts.

“Then do we go here first? It’s right next door. But what are we going to do there? Buy some E8 or something?”

Jongtae, the hyung-nim, pointed his finger at the club managed by Yiwon in downtown Tsim Sha Tsui and asked in a playful tone.

“Yes.”

When Yongnae nodded in agreement, the Black Horse Gang members, including Jongtae, were startled and their eyes widened.

“What? You’re buying E8?”

“Yes.”

“What? No, what on earth… Teacher, are you in your right mind?”

There was no way he was in his right mind. If he were in his right mind, he wouldn’t have come all this way from Korea to this distant land of Hong Kong by smuggling just to find one man.

“I am in my right mind.”

But what else could he say when he had to buy drugs?

“You know E8 is a drug, right? It’s more dangerous than fentanyl or methamphetamine.”

He knew. He knew the danger of E8 all too well, but there was no other way besides this. Changsik thought Yongnae would get scared and back out at his words, but seeing as the intention to buy E8 seemed firm, he began to persuade him further.

“Teacher, do you know what the guys who run gambling dens and the guys who sell drugs never do? It’s exactly drugs and gambling. We’re drug sellers too, but if you touch that stuff even once, your life goes down the gutter.”

It was funny to hear a drug dealer who had sent many lives down the gutter give such a serious warning, but since Changsik was saying it out of concern for him, Yongnae decided to ease that worry a little.

“I’m telling you in advance, I won’t be using the drugs.”

“Then?”

“I’m only going to smell them.”

“What, that is doing drugs! Don’t you know drugs are most dangerous when inhaled through the nose?”

He knew. He knew that if drugs are inhaled through the nose, they are absorbed through the mucous membranes of the nasal cavity, making the effects spread faster and more dangerously than direct injection or ingestion.

Therefore, even if he said he would only smell it, if he put his nose to it, the drug would be absorbed—even in a small amount—through the nasal membranes. Of course, he knew that point perfectly well too. But there was no way other than that.

“Everyone calm down for a second. So teacher, what are you going to do by smelling the E8?”

“I’m going to track them. The E8 couriers.”

The reason he narrowed it down to clubs clustered in the central district was for that very reason. It had to be a place with many customers for the drugs to rotate quickly. Then the courier would bring in E8 again, and that person transporting it would be a Yiwon person. Because Yiwon exclusively distributed the drugs, he thought they wouldn’t tell the club officials to come and pick it up themselves.

So, after going to a club where Yiwon’s hand reached and obtaining ‘E8,’ Yongnae would smell it himself, wait at the back door of the club, and then track the courier.

“No, I mean, how are you going to track them by smelling? Are you some kind of drug detection dog, teacher?”

Of course, the Black Horse Gang members, who were unaware of Yongnae’s extraordinary sense of smell, had suspicious faces as if thinking, ‘What kind of nonsense is this bastard talking about? Doesn’t he just want to do drugs?’ so it seemed there would be difficulties in persuading them.

“Just take my word for it.”

So, Yongnae decided to just give up on persuading them.