The Scent Tracker
"I could track them, sure, but how exactly do I get inside the school?"
"Ah, right."
To find the owner of this handkerchief, I needed Chae-yun's power. Even if it wasn't her, maybe Seo-hee could... but she immediately shot that down.
"I can't do anything like that. Besides, I can't get in there either."
It's fucked. I'd finally come up with a decent plan, too.
"...But what is that handkerchief, anyway? Why are you so determined to find its owner?"
"I don't know either. It just keeps hitting me that it's important..."
Chae-yun tilted her head again, then snatched the handkerchief from my hand and began sniffing it intently.
"It smells fishy. Unpleasant."
"...What kind of smell?"
"I've memorized the scent now. We don't need this anymore."
She handed the handkerchief back to me, then opened the window and started sniffing the outside air. Wait—could she really pick up a scent like that?
"...It's definitely coming from the school direction, but from this far away I can't pinpoint the exact location."
"Then can't I just take your body there tomorrow to check? Like we did today."
"I'd love that, but if I abandon this body, it won't be able to use any of the evolved functions I built into it."
The way Chae-yun shrugged told me we were blocked again. I threw myself onto the bed and lay there, thinking.
I had to find them without letting them sense me—creatures that were hiding their presence. I didn't understand why I felt this handkerchief was connected to them, but the feeling was impossible to ignore. It was like every nerve in my brain was pointing at it, the same way a game guide message would.
"Ha... what the hell do I do?"
Finding the owner of the handkerchief probably wouldn't be that hard. The real problem was the process. Bringing Chae-yun onto campus would expose us to the pursuers again. Just in case, I lifted the handkerchief to my own nose and inhaled.
"You really are like a dog."
"Shut up."
As expected, it had dried out. All I caught was a faint metallic tang of blood.
Think, Im Chan-woo. How can I locate them... I ran through every detective movie and comic I'd ever seen. How did they usually catch the culprit when scent was the only clue?
"...Wait. Do we actually have to be the ones who find them?"
The more I thought about it, the more I remembered a method used when scent was the sole piece of evidence. What I was about to try was a slight twist on our current plan, but it could work.
I pulled out my phone, scrolled through my short list of contacts, and dialed the number I'd found faster than expected.
"Hey, Rin. It's an order. Come to the address I'm sending you right now."
"...Who's Rin?"
Chae-yun looked at me with open curiosity, surprised by the name. Seo-hee, who had no way of knowing her, simply tilted her head and stared, her eyes clearly asking who I was talking about.
"Seo Rin. The class rep of our department."
The class rep who had rushed to my studio apartment at my call now sat in the middle of us, staring straight at me.
"...Hmm. As expected, you're the one who's good at this sort of thing..."
"If you treat them too violently like Sister does, they'll break eventually. If you're going to use them, you should use them for a long time♡."
Seo-hee watched the class rep with fascination while Chae-yun hugged her like a prized possession, sitting beside her and dragging her long tongue across the girl's cheek. Even so, Seo Rin showed no change in expression whatsoever. She didn't seem to care about the situation at all.
"But, Oppa. Why did you suddenly call for our Rin?"
"Is the class rep your daughter or something? Anyway, I need you to put in some effort here one more time."
The ones who couldn't enter the school were those like Seo-hee and Chae-yun whose main bodies resided in their heads. That meant the perfect person for this job was an ordinary human who was connected to us but not too deeply involved—someone who obeyed commands faithfully without having her brain taken over. In other words, this woman: the class representative of our design department.
"That thing that makes her smell really well—can't you modify her to do that?"
Chae-yun flicked her tongue like a snake and gave a small, amused smile.
......
I tapped the keyboard with my pen in silence. Time was crawling by so fucking slowly.
"...Min-jeong."
"Yes?"
"How long have we been here?"
"It's the fourth day."
So we'd been sitting here like this for ninety-six hours. Why was everything so quiet? I'd thought that if we just came to this place, we'd be able to spot them.
"Haa, I'm so bored."
"Still, after three more days we'll be able to go back."
She was smiling tiredly without realizing it. Dark circles had formed heavily under Min-jeong's eyes as she looked at me. After staring at monitors for three straight days without sleep, it was only natural.
"...You have the student list, right?"
"Yes. We're receiving attendance records and student information periodically, but there are currently no students displaying any particularly noticeable behavior."
"They're attending classes properly too?"
"Yes. We investigated students who suddenly stopped coming to school just in case, but none of them were parasitic entities."
"Haha, that's good. Students these days really are diligent."
Ah, fuck. Never mind whether they'd noticed us or not—how the hell were they hiding their bodies? Was there some trait I still didn't know about? That stupid bald fat-ass team leader. I'd told him transferring them before the investigation was finished was too reckless. The bastard never listened to a damn word anyone said... But what was the point of cursing a dead man? It wouldn't change anything.
"We're all suffering here. After this operation ends, how about a company dinner? My treat."
"Oh, then..."
"Let's go to a jjimjilbang. None of us have been able to wash properly these past few days..."
Inside the lecture hall, I sat in my usual corner, quietly listening to the lecture. My mind was elsewhere, so none of it was actually going in one ear and staying there.
I glanced at the class rep sitting at the very front. Even with a mask on and clearly looking unwell, she turned to look at me.
"...Seo Rin? Are you okay?"
"......"
The professor, who had been continuing the lecture, noticed her and asked. She silently nodded. But her face was obviously that of someone sick. The sweat she'd been shedding since earlier, her flushed cheeks, her dazed and unfocused eyes.
"...This won't do. Go home early today. I'll mark your attendance, so just bring a doctor's note later, alright?"
Wow. That actually worked. It really drove home how important a person's usual behavior was. The model student who studied hard and always listened attentively to the professors was gone now.
As expected, she silently bowed her head in greeting, gathered her things, and left. Our eyes met as she walked out.
"...Shall we go out?"
I secretly packed my bag too and quietly slipped out of the lecture hall. Then I grabbed the hand of the class rep who was walking ahead and pulled her into our usual bathroom.
After locking the door.
"...Take off your mask."
"....... "
The class rep, who always answered my commands, silently removed her mask without a word today. Only then did her mouth come into view—holding something inside.
"Puha..."
She opened her mouth, showing me the interior drenched in moisture and heat. It was filled to the brim with white, fishy liquid. My semen.
"Ugh... It's done now."
Chae-yun spoke while pulling the tentacle out of the class rep's ear. The girl had only twitched slightly, showing no other reaction. Beside her, Seo-hee watched the scene with great interest.
"Her sense of smell should be almost like a hunting dog's now. As expected, it's incredibly easy to modify them once you've emptied their heads completely!"
"Good. Then..."
"Wait a moment."
Just as we'd solved the problem and were about to rest for tomorrow, Seo-hee stopped me.
"You're taking Chae-yun's body with you tomorrow too, right? But she'll be there tomorrow as well. What are you going to do?"
"....Ah." Right. I hadn't thought of that.
Chae-yun's shell could only follow very simple commands. Taking her along to uncover the pursuers' identities would be far too dangerous.
"...Let's do it this way."
Our brain, Chae-yun, thought for a moment before speaking up.
"Give my body the command to listen to the lectures in the classroom. There are back-to-back lectures tomorrow."
"Then what about us?"
"Slip out during the lecture to search. Oppa seems to have the professor wrapped around his finger anyway."
"What?"
I felt like I'd just heard something I couldn't ignore.
"So Oppa can leave the classroom and no one will care, but our Seo Rin is the problem."
The class rep was a model student, an honor student, and one the professors openly favored. If 'absent' ended up written in her attendance record... It might not be a big deal. I might have been overthinking it. But the moment that thought crossed my mind, it hit me like a lightning bolt—I couldn't let that happen.
"So here's what we'll do. We'll have her take sick leave due to illness."
"What? You guys can do that too?"
"No? Oppa has to do it."
"Me?"
What exactly was she telling me to do?
"The class rep has trouble expressing emotions, but if her body genuinely becomes ill, some degree of abnormality can still occur. She's human, unlike us."
"...What are you even saying?"
Seo-hee tried to butt in, but I raised my index finger to my lips, signaling her to stay quiet. Noticing that Seo-hee was growing bored as the explanation dragged on, Chae-yun cleared her throat briefly and got to the point.
"...So right now, the class rep's sense of smell has become extremely sensitive. If you put something with a strong odor in her mouth, she'll react at an appropriate time after the lecture begins."
"...Why do I feel like I already know what that something is?"
"Yes. It's Oppa's semen."
That's why, this morning before entering school, I'd extracted a load straight into her mouth and made her hold it there.
"...I can't believe this is actually going to work. Then swallow it. Let's go quickly."
"....Gulp.."
The small sound of her swallowing echoed through the bathroom like a ripple, then everything fell quiet again.
I was about to hurry out when the class rep grabbed my collar from behind.
Surprised that she'd done something without being ordered, I turned around. Her face was the usual blank mask, but something was different. Her cheeks were flushed bright red, her breathing irregular and labored.
"Ah, s... I'm sorry. Master, I don't know why I did that..."
She seemed confused by her own actions. I observed her again. Between the confused class rep Rin's legs, I noticed a stain on her skirt and lifted it.
".....Ugh."
Intense heat radiated outward. Her panties were already soaked through as if dipped in water. The liquid leaking from them formed long strands that dripped onto the floor with audible plops.
"I'm sorr... Uup!"
I don't remember what I did after that. The last clear memory was fiercely lifting her head and pressing my lips against Seo Rin's.