AGENT 35

A faint scent of vanilla wafted from somewhere. Or was it the scent of apple? At the familiar sweet fragrance tickling the tip of his nose, Yongnae walked toward it. However, seeing as his body felt continuously limp, this seemed to be entirely a dream. His legs were always heavy in dreams.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

Furthermore, perhaps there was a cruise ship nearby, as a loud foghorn kept sounding repeatedly, making it a bit noisy. His feet were so heavy he wanted to just collapse right there, but he felt as though there would be something good if he followed this scent.

After walking like that for a long time, a room door appeared before Yongnae’s eyes, having come so far that the sound of the foghorn had grown faint. Without hesitation, Yongnae grabbed the handle in front of him and turned it.

Click…

And as he opened the door, the man who always appeared in Yongnae’s dreams was, as expected, present inside today as well.

“Ah…”

The man must have been looking at the door since the handle turned, because his eyes met Yongnae’s the moment he entered.

He is remarkably vivid today.

When the man first appeared in his dreams, his face had been very distinct. But as time passed, his face grew increasingly faint, which had made Yongnae sad; however, for some reason, the man’s face looked incredibly clear today, which made him feel good.

“Who the hell are you! How did you get out—hey! Drag this bastard out—!”

While Yongnae stood still, locking eyes with the man, a sharp voice rang out from the side. Yongnae’s eyes, which had been focused on the man, drifted slightly toward the direction of the sound.

It’s a squid.

A giant, yellow, talking squid sitting near the man stood up and was getting angry at him. Then it wriggled closer and wrapped a tentacle around his wrist.

“Disgusting…”

“What?!”

It was extremely disgusting. So, Yongnae shook off the squid with a burst of mysterious strength from who-knows-where and quickly ran toward the man.

A sweet smell…

Yongnae ran and threw himself into the man’s arms. Since he had already done all sorts of things with the man in his dreams, a hug like this was nothing.

“Crazy! This guy is out of his… Hey, you punks! I told you to drag him out right now!”

But the yellow squid, perhaps jealous that he was the only one hugging the man, began calling his comrades.

At the yellow squid’s call, several black squids swarmed into the room; among them, the figure of a surprised octopus seemed to flash by briefly upon seeing him.

“Get out.”

However, all those dried seafood pieces scurried out of the room in an instant, following the command of the man who spoke in a low, grounded voice.

Finally, only the man and he remained in the room. Yongnae, nestled in the man’s arms, looked up at that face.

“Today, you’re very vivid…”

If so, the next step naturally had to lead to something erotic. Pressing his lips against the man’s, rubbing his genitals against the man’s—naughty things.

Because he had never actually performed a sexual act, this was always the extent of the erotic things Yongnae could do in his dreams. The man always complied. Yongnae wrapped his arms around the man’s neck and tried to bring his lips close.

“You’ve had alcohol and drugs.”

However, for some reason, unlike the usual dreams where he accepted it naturally, the man held Yongnae’s cheeks in one hand and just looked down at him silently.

“I heard the Black Horse Gang boarded the boat with a civilian…”

“………”

“Did you come with them?”

The man was strange today. In the usual dreams, he only gave short answers or said lewd things, but today, for some reason, he kept asking questions. But even that was good. Like his distinct face, he liked the voice that sounded so clear. Feeling happy, Yongnae nodded his head.

“Why?”

“To find you.”

“Me?”

Nod, nod. When Yongnae nodded again, confirming it was so, the man pulled his eyebrows up slightly. He had a face that asked why on earth he was looking for him with those people. But that didn’t seem to be the important part.

“So, how did you find me?”

He looked curious about what method he had used to track him down, or if there was perhaps a mole within the organization. But since he hadn’t used any special method or had a mole, Yongnae just told the truth as it was.

“I smelled you.”

“Smell?”

“Yes. If it’s your scent, I can smell it from 10km away.”

It was the truth. He had simply followed the fragrance he remembered, and he was able to arrive in front of the man.

“That’s a bit… burdensome.”

Yongnae was telling the truth, but the man confessed it was burdensome with an indifferent face. However, contrary to those words, his eyes were full of interest.

“I shouldn’t do that then…”

Yongnae made a dejected face, brooding over the man’s words about it being burdensome.

Watching Yongnae, the man gave a short chuckle and, this time, moved his face closer to Yongnae first and asked.

“So, what do I smell like?”

As if his vitality had been restored by the man approaching him, Yongnae immediately hooked his arms around the man’s neck.

“You smell like someone handsome.”

His head had broken when he was struck with a glass by the Gucheon City murderer. No, to be precise, his scalp had been torn. However, the doctor who stitched the wound while he was unconscious had told his parents that a wound of this degree wasn’t serious at all, so there would be little pain even after he woke up—and that was actually the case.

When he woke up in the hospital room, there was no headache, just a slight nuisance where the stitched part felt tight occasionally. He had fainted from being hit with the glass, but he didn’t experience the pain of a “shattering head” afterward.

Then what was this? Did someone strike him with a crystal ashtray or a marble flowerpot stand instead of a glass?

“Aaaaagh…”

This was truly a pain that felt like his head was breaking. Not only was his head constantly spinning, but a throbbing ache continued, as if someone had put a bicycle tire pump in his brain and was stomping on it. It really felt like his head was going to explode.

Yongnae couldn’t even think of trying to get up and just let out groans of pain while clutching his head.

“Oh, the teacher is awake.”

“You actually managed to wake up.”

“Seriously. I thought he was a goner.”

Watching Yongnae, the Black Horse Gang members clicked their tongues with fed-up expressions. However, everyone’s faces looked somewhat haggard, as if they had all gone through something major last night.

“They say a quiet cat goes to the chimney…?”

“The kitchen stove.”

“Ah, yes. They say a quiet cat climbs onto the kitchen stove. You’re truly amazing, teacher…”

“This is why they say the guys who only study are more dangerous.”

What… what on earth does all that mean…?