AGENT 6

At that, Yongnae dragged his carrier as if possessed and passed the man to step into the hotel room, and at that moment, a certain scent enveloped Yongnae’s nose. First, an alcohol smell like disinfectant was felt most strongly, but behind it, a sweet scent was layered more heavily.

A sweet scent like one he had smelled somewhere before.

Yongnae did not like typical men’s cologne. One could say that scents others called refreshing felt harsh to Yongnae. However, a sweet smell, rather than that kind of cologne, was coming from the man.

Sniff, sniff. Yongnae took a few more deep breaths to chase the man’s fragrance. Where had he smelled this scent before?

“…”

Although the source did not come to mind, Yongnae was actually in a state of great internal surprise. How could a person be so perfect in every aspect? With those looks and a job as a detective, Yongnae felt a sense of admiration blooming even though he hadn’t looked at the man for even 30 seconds.

“Wow…”

And the moment he entered the hotel room, a second exclamation burst from Yongnae’s mouth.

This place was luxurious, just like the houses where the rich live in dramas; rather than calling it a hotel room, it seemed more appropriate to call it a private pool villa. It was incomparably spacious compared to ordinary hotel rooms.

At first, he had doubted, How are they manufacturing drugs in a hotel? but if the next room was this size, it seemed more than enough to manufacture them. In particular, a large marble swimming pool in the middle, big enough to easily fit ten adult men, caught his eye. To think there was a swimming pool in the room.

Tap—

“Is this your first time here?”

But in truth, even with such a flashy room before his eyes, his entire attention was focused solely on the man behind him. At the man’s voice heard from behind his back, he felt a tingling sensation in his waist.

“…Ah, yes.”

Forget this place, it was his first time in Seoul as well. And he wanted to say it was also his first time cooperating in such a reckless manner, but his speech was blocked the moment he faced the man’s countenance. It was a breathtaking face even seeing it again.

“Am I handsome?”

“…Pardon?”

“Because you keep staring—.”

With a low-pitched voice devoid of any playfulness yet carrying a smile in his eyes, he seemed to possess people. As if to fit the words about staring, Yongnae looked up at the man blankly again, then barely caught hold of his reason and diverted the subject.

“…Th-that, quickly, I will begin.”

As if the stuttering Yongnae was funny, the man’s low laughter was heard.

“…”

However, Yongnae could not laugh along. Sweat leaked from the hand gripping the carrier. Because he himself was a man, it ended with just looking like this; if he were a woman, the man’s beauty made one’s mind so faint that she might have confessed her love at first sight immediately.

He was glad that he was the same gender.

“The bathroom…”

Yongnae, who said they should quickly start working to change the subject, turned his head with exaggeration to look for the bathroom.

He was told the bathroom vent had been torn open so he should collect from there, and looking around, there were two bathrooms at opposite ends of the room. Two bathrooms in a hotel room. Wondering which of the two it was, he turned his head this way and that toward both sides, and just then, he caught a glimpse of something presumed to be the vent lying on the floor of the right-side bathroom. It’s over there.

Yongnae hurriedly dragged his carrier and headed that way.

No, he tried to head there.

Suddenly, a sweet smell wafted strongly from behind, and the man grabbed Yongnae’s shoulder and stopped him.

“Ah…!”

The shoulder touched by the man’s hand felt as if it were thumping—! and tingling. He had only grabbed the shoulder once, but the startled Yongnae looked up at the man with bewildered eyes.

“It’s that way.”

The man, with a smile in his eyes, pointed to the opposite side with a gesture of his chin.

Ahem—

Yongnae, who hurriedly pulled away from the man’s hand, gave a loud fake cough once and then walked toward the opposite bathroom with a quick stride.

“…”

It felt as if white paint, starting from the shoulder the man’s hand had touched, was riding up his neck and spreading to his head. At that, Yongnae closed his eyes and gave his head a small shake. It was merely the touch of another man’s hand, yet he felt as if he were reacting like a shy girl in a novel, which almost made him feel displeased.

Let’s just collect quickly. Yongnae stepped into the bathroom, struggling not to be conscious of the man.

But he thought he was told the vent had been opened.

The vent of the bathroom on the opposite side was perfectly closed as if it hadn’t been touched. Detective Moon seemed more senior than Detective Park; had he lied because he was afraid of being scolded for opening the wrong one by mistake?

Yongnae himself had never made a mistake, but even if something was treated as a mistake due to others, he had never once told a lie to Dawon.

If it were the original Yongnae, he would have been in a bad mood because of something not in the plan and would have pierced him with the facts, asking if he had lied since he said on the phone with Detective Moon just a moment ago that the vent was open, but now he just waited quietly, thinking there must have been a reason. It was a strange phenomenon where flexibility came alive in the presence of beauty.

“…”

“…”

However, no matter how much he waited, the man did not make a motion to open the vent. Rather, he was just standing still beside him since a while ago, looking down at him as if spectating.

“Uhm…”

“Yes—?”

“The vent…”

“Yes—.”

“You have to tear it off for the work to…”

“Ah-ah—.”

At Yongnae’s direct request, the man finally began to take off the vent as if he understood.

But why does he keep drawing out the ends of his words. The man’s way of speaking, which stretched out softly as if treating a child, was so ticklish.

Yongnae pressed and rubbed his tingling earlobe once firmly with his palm, then laid the carrier down, opened it, and operated the collection equipment.

Beep-beep— Beep—

While the device was turning on, he had to connect a long rubber tube to the equipment since he had to insert it inside the vent to collect air. However, wondering if it was true that no one except one person used this equipment, unlike the Imsil equipment which had rubber tubes of various lengths inside, this one only contained a rubber tube about 1m long. This probably won’t reach.

Beep-beep-beep—

When the device turned on, Yongnae stood up holding the rubber tube.

“Ah…”

However, the length was naturally short. 1m only reached Yongnae’s waist, and to collect by putting the rubber tube into the vent, it had to be at least 3m long.

He either had to call Detective Moon and tell him to go to the researcher and bring a 3m rubber tube, or he had to hold this heavy device and collect, but he couldn’t hold this heavy device for the approximately 2 minutes it took to collect.

“…Uhm, De-Detective Park. Could you please tell Detective Moon to go to the researcher and bring a 3m rubber tube? The length is too short…”

Since he had come suddenly, he didn’t have Detective Moon’s phone number or anything, so the man had to make the contact, but he spoke while looking down because he absolutely could not look at the face.

Because once he looked at the man, he became possessed by that beauty and kept looking. But since that could lead to strange misunderstandings, Yongnae tried to avoid his gaze as much as possible.