AGENT 54

— Please, please save me…!

— Bang—!

Along with Seo Soo’s words about shooting a gun, there was the pleading voice of an unidentified male. And soon, I should have been shocked by the merciless gunshot that followed, but Yongnae felt strangely relieved.

Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province, China, which is closest to Hong Kong. In other words, Samcheon. Seo Soo said he was there now. I didn’t know what business took him there, but judging by the voice begging for life heard alongside the gunshot, it seemed certain he had gone for work.

Seo Soo shooting a gun. I saw it once back in Korea when I was trapped in the basement of the Gucheon City killer’s house. I recalled the way he fired without a single tremor, without hesitation, when he blew off the killer’s hand, as if he had shot a gun many times. Even now, though I couldn’t see the act itself, that was the feeling even through the phone. The feeling of firing indifferently and without hesitation.

To possess that level of indifference, how many people had Seo Soo shot? Also, how many people had he killed? The Gucheon City killer who threw South Korea into an uproar had killed six; had Seo Soo killed more people than that?

— What about the agent?

“Yes?”

— What did you do today.

Even if that were the case, it didn’t matter.

“Ah, well, I tried Peking duck…”

— Mm, and?

“And, and… Ah, and I washed up after coming back…”

— Good job—.

Even if he had killed twice as many people as the Gucheon City killer—no, even if he had killed ten times more—it didn’t matter.

— Bang—!

— I’ll call again—.

Whether Seo Soo was a swindler, a druggie, or a murderer. No matter what kind of bad person he was, I loved Seo Soo. I loved that beautiful face, that languid voice, and every bit of his danger.

“…Yes.”

Yongnae answered while looking down at the already disconnected phone.

I cannot escape Seo Soo. Seo Soo cannot escape me.

When the second night at the mansion passed and the third morning dawned, Yongnae opened his eyes early. Then he sat up and listened quietly to the sounds outside.

From the morning, someone was busily moving around the first floor, and in the forenoon, the sounds of organization members waking up and loitering on the upper and lower floors could be heard. And when it became two o’clock in the afternoon.

Knock, knock—

“Yes.”

Lee Suji opened the door and entered.

“You haven’t eaten?”

“No.”

“Why? You didn’t eat much of the duck yesterday either.”

“It’s because I sleep a lot in the morning.”

When Yongnae rubbed his eyes as if he had just woken up, Lee Suji snickered mockingly and told him to come down to the first floor to eat.

“Lunchtime has passed; won’t it be an intrusion for the kitchen?”

“It’s fine. They like preparing meals. It’s a bit chilly, so put something on before you come down!”

As if they were put there for Yongnae to wear, there were several pieces of casual clothing of a similar size to Yongnae in the closet.

“Louis…”

While trying to put on the most plain cardigan over the shirt he was wearing, he happened to see the label, and it was a brand even Yongnae knew.

Yongnae, who hung the cardigan back on the hanger, put the clothes back in the closet and left the room. Then he moved his steps slowly and scanned the left hallway once.

There were a total of three rooms: one door straight ahead at the very end, and doors facing each other in the hallway. One of those would be Seo Soo’s room, and it was presumed that the end door straight ahead was likely Seo Soo’s room. He probably stayed in that room until he moved out to live separately.

After scanning just the structure of the doors briefly, Yongnae went down to the first floor and moved toward the place where the smell of food was spreading strongly. The dining hall was at the end of the left hallway from the first-floor lobby, and the moment he entered, it was quite large, so there was a slight sense of surprise.

The dining hall, which had several round tables covered with white tablecloths, felt exactly like a banquet hall. He thought it would be large, but for it to be this big.

“Teacher, come over here.”

Lee Suji sat at the table closest to the kitchen and called Yongnae over with a gesture. As he approached, a middle-aged man was sitting in front of Lee Suji; he also had a shiny baldy head. However, it was a very clean scalp without a single scar, showing a contrasting image to Lee Suji.

“Say hello. This is Danny, the mansion manager and chef.”

“Hello.”

“This is the teacher who helped us in Korea. Kim Yongnae.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Ah, you are Korean. Hello.”

The middle-aged man called Danny greeted him in Korean after Yongnae greeted him with an honest “Hello.”

“Danny is a Hong Konger. But he is good at Korean.”

“I see.”

Rather than the fact that Danny was a Hong Konger good at Korean, Yongnae was more surprised that Lee Suji knew his name accurately.

“Eat.”

Only three people were sitting in this huge dining hall, and the dish on the table where those three sat was a very familiar food to Yongnae.

“Danny, I’ve tried gimbap in Korea?”

“Yes.”

“But it’s exactly the same as what Danny made.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah! You said you’ve never been to Korea, so how did you make it exactly the same?”

Gimbap. It was something Yongnae often ate as a quick meal at the research institute when he was in Korea, but seeing it in Hong Kong, it felt like he was seeing it after a very long time. Listening to the conversation, it seemed Danny made this himself, but for a Hong Konger who had never been to Korea to make it, it was really well-made, just like the original, as Lee Suji said.

“Because I learned from Korea’s best chef.”

Korea’s best chef? Yongnae briefly thought of Mr. Baek, who often appears on TV, as he picked up a gimbap and put it in his mouth. Did he learn by watching YouTube or something?

“Did Su also try gimbap in Korea?”

“I don’t know. He’s always so busy going here and there alone.”

“Oh dear, he should have tried it.”

“He did try ice cream.”

“Haha. How cute.”

Is Su, perhaps, Seo Soo? Yongnae, who was chewing and swallowing the gimbap, suddenly raised his head and looked at Lee Suji.

“Why?”

“…”

“Ah, damn… This is a secret from Weizhen.”

Right. That Su was indeed Seo Soo. Then it meant Seo Soo had tried ice cream, and Danny was saying that was cute. What kind of anecdote made it cute? Yongnae turned his head to check who was in the dining hall, especially if Weizhen was there.

“Does Susu like ice cream?”

And once it was determined he wasn’t there, Yongnae threw out the question without hesitation. It seemed Lee Suji would tell him everything if he coaxed him just a bit, so now was the chance.

“Ah… I really shouldn’t say this.”

“I am curious.”

“Then, absolutely do not tell Weizhen.”

“Yes.”

At Yongnae nodding his head solemnly as if he would never tell, Lee Suji finally opened his mouth reluctantly.

“I heard this from Danny too, but Susu supposedly liked one Korean ice cream very much when he was young. But it was very hard to get back then, so he could only eat it once every two months.”

Korean ice cream…? What was the name? Actually, even if he heard the name, Yongnae wouldn’t know. He hadn’t eaten ice cream much since he was young. There was other information more important than that. Seo Soo’s childhood.

Is Danny someone who knew Seo Soo since he was young? Is that why he was hired here as the chef and manager? Yongnae’s gaze moved from Lee Suji to Danny.

And as if passing the baton following that gaze, Danny continued speaking.

“Whenever goods came in from Korea, perhaps the timing overlapped with that ice cream factory, so a few ice creams would come along with the items. Sometimes there were four, sometimes there were three, but even on days when there was only one, that was absolutely Su’s.”

So that means he ate the ice cream he liked so much when he went to Korea.

Yongnae felt he knew what kind of emotion Danny felt when he said it was cute. He thought Seo Soo was only indifferent and cold, but to think he had such a cute side. A smile bloomed on Yongnae’s lips.

“How much he liked it—on the days the goods came in, he wouldn’t go to his room after school but would just wait in front of that side door over there for the supply truck.”

However, that smile stopped abruptly.

“…Over there.”

“Yes. It was so cute how he would come running while dripping with sweat to wait.”

“…”

“I thought he forgot because so much time had passed, but hearing that he ate it in Korea is so cute.”

Yongnae followed Danny’s gaze as he smiled while looking at the side door.

Seo Soo, who wants this mansion to be kept bright always. Seo Soo, who has a room on the left side of the second-floor hallway. And the young Seo Soo, who used to wait for ice cream in front of that side door.

This wasn’t Yiwon’s mansion.

“…”

This place was Seo Soo’s house.