The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 1

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

A Civil Servant Who Hides His Strength Is Exceptionally Good at Possession – Episode 001
Silence hung heavy in the interrogation room as I set down the documents.
At even that small sound, Lee Yu-ji’s shoulders flinched—she’d been watching my every move.
The servile smile etched across her face did nothing to soften my stern expression.
“So you’re saying that Lee Yu-ji resolved all of these cases through possession?”
“What? I’m not sure what you mean. Oh, it’s almost lunchtime already! Since I’m in charge of meals for our team… well, you might not know this, but our team doesn’t have a food budget, so we always play go-stop to cover the costs…”
She attempted to slip away from the situation with awkward acting, but the moment the next words left my lips, her entire body went rigid.
“The illegal fighting ring case in Cheonho-dong.”
I continued reading through the documents with an expressionless gaze.
“The weapons trafficking investigation in Geumho-dong.”
“…”
“The bus terrorism incident downtown.”
“…”
“And the bomb disposal inside the Heonsu Building.”
“Wait! I didn’t actually dispose of that bomb!”
She straightened her hunched shoulders and spoke with sudden confidence.
But my response was simple.
“Yes. You only discovered it. Let me correct myself. Bomb discovery.”
There was no escape route whatsoever.
Realizing this fact, dark clouds gathered across her face.
Watching her dejected expression, I found myself thinking of a retriever with its tail and ears drooping.
…Somehow, they resembled each other.
“The thing is… what happened was…”
“Civil servants face penalties for failing to report their awakening.”
“Are you saying you’ll report me?”
Her voice cracked at the end, so desperate was her tone.
“I could.”
My composed face gleamed under the interrogation room’s harsh lighting.
‘Ik-seong really does shine even under this dim interrogation room light…’
Gazing at that face, she couldn’t help but admire him inwardly.
Kwon Ik-seong had been her favorite character when she was reading this ‘novel.’
A civil servant hunter.
Grade 3.
And a strict adherent to principles.
‘But now I’m really feeling the consequences of that!’
Right now, he was threatening to report her.
“Still, there’s the bond that’s built up between Team 1 and Team 5 through joint investigations… I’ve helped you quite a bit, haven’t I? I could have claimed the Geumho-dong case for Team 5’s record, but I pushed it to Team 1 instead!”
An awkward smile appeared on her face.
She continued speaking in the kind of secretive, hushed voice that countless criminals who’d passed through this interrogation room might use.
“I’ll keep helping you behind the scenes going forward, so if you could just keep this secret for me…”
“Are you saying Hunter Lee Yu-ji is a Possession-type?”
At the word “Possession-type,” Lee Yu-ji’s shoulders flinched.
‘Damn it….’
“It’s a fascinating skill. From what I can see, Hunter Lee Yu-ji’s ‘Possession’ ability is at least A-rank… or possibly even higher, that’s my assessment. Am I wrong?”
Cold sweat trickled down Lee Yu-ji’s back.
And for good reason—her skill was—
Your body is my body, my body is my body (EX)
Not A-rank, not S-rank. EX….
Beyond classification.
A grade that shouldn’t exist for someone publicly known as F-rank!
“So you’re asking me to keep such an enormous secret? And in exchange for fabricating results?”
“That’s right…?”
Lee Yu-ji answered quietly, her expression miserable.
The weakness in her response stemmed from knowing Kwon Ik-seong’s true nature.
In the ‘novel,’ Kwon Ik-seong, the male lead, was a man of unwavering principle and strict adherence to rules.
Even unjust laws are laws.
One must choose proper means and methods.
The person who embodied these sentiments perfectly.
There was no way such a man would engage in result manipulation….
“Very well.”
…He would?
Lee Yu-ji asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“You agree?”
“However, let’s change the terms slightly.”
“I’ll agree to anything you ask….”
“Transfer to Team 1.”
Oh. This is perfect.
He’s recruiting me?
I can actually escape this damn Team 5…!
“…Ah, I can agree to that anytime….”
In that moment, for some reason, the faces of her Team 5 colleagues flashed through her mind.
The faces of those incompetent Team 5 members who were always ranked last in results.
‘Why am I having these fleeting thoughts…?’
It was then that Lee Yu-ji’s confusion deepened.
Both their phones began ringing simultaneously.
Then someone suddenly burst through the interrogation room door.
“Captain! The Heonsu Building’s computer system….”
Both of them rose to their feet.
Kwon Ik-seong reacted faster than the other.
Following Kwon Ik-seong as he rushed out of the interrogation room like lightning, Lee Yu-ji’s eyes caught sight of numerous monitors throughout the Hunter Investigation Unit, all displaying the same screen.
I asked the team member who had entered the interrogation room with me, “What’s going on here?”
“A message has arrived from ‘the Gamer.’ We’re currently decrypting the cipher, but it seems to be….”
The team member glanced sideways at Lee Yu-ji before continuing.
“…it appears to be related to Investigator Lee Yu-ji.”
What the hell is this…?
Lee Yu-ji let out a hollow laugh as she read the message displayed identically across all the monitors.
Lee Yu-ji, you are the reason of my life♡
…Damn it.
Is this hacker seriously making a rhyme pun?
If you raise Hunter Lee Yu-ji’s salary, I’ll give you a hint about my identity.
“The higher-ups are currently devising a way to increase Hunter Lee Yu-ji’s salary….”
Hearing those words, I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
Does this even make sense?
As far as I knew, the identity of this hacker called ‘the Gamer’ was….
‘The original protagonist and the one criminal Kwon Ik-seong couldn’t catch.’
…Choi Woo-jin.
I turned to look at Kwon Ik-seong’s shoulder with a miserable expression.
“Didn’t I tell you? That ‘the Gamer’ has his sights set on you.”
So this is what he meant by having his sights set on me?!
Somehow I’d received a recruitment offer from an elite investigator in a novel,
and somehow I’d gotten a message like a terrible dad joke from the original protagonist?
Abnormal Status ‘In a crime novel, unnamed extras must die’ activated!
‘All I wanted was to prevent this damn abnormal status….’
And then I heard what Captain Hong of the Hunter Investigation Unit had to say….
“The higher-ups say they’ll promote Investigator Lee Yu-ji to Grade 3 if she just catches the Gamer.”
…Grade 3 civil servant?
Me, who was Grade 9 in my past life, getting promoted six whole ranks!
Well, of course, Hunters are treated as special civil servants and can’t be compared to regular civil servants on the same pay scale…!
My civil servant instincts couldn’t help but light up my eyes with excitement.
‘Grade 3…!’
Now I was completely blinded by the prospect of promotion. All the achievements I’d accumulated so far flashed before my eyes. So did all those grueling days spent building up those achievements.
“I will! Work hard to catch him! The Gamer! With my own hands! I will definitely! Apprehend! Him!”
…And so, before I knew it, I found myself spouting off about catching the original protagonist with my own hands and turning him in.
All of this began on my first day of work.
It all started from my first day at work.

* * *
An old building with weathered windows that creaked with each opening, their hinges groaning in protest.
The Hunter Investigation Unit Building—where the stale sweat of investigators permeated every corner, and discarded instant noodle cups jutted out haphazardly between stacks of documents.
I inhaled the scent of the place with all my might, my voice crisp and clear as I spoke.
“Hello! I’m Lee Yu-ji, a newly assigned investigator to Team 5 of the Hunter Investigation Unit!”
And the moment I bowed my head.
A lightning bolt of realization struck through my mind.
I had heard the term “Hunter Investigation Unit” somewhere before.
And it felt like it was from a novel…?
Those Hunter Investigation Unit bastards… another failure?
If so, then this world is the one from the novel I read in my past life.
Yet I only realized now, at twenty-four years old as Lee Yu-ji, that I had possessed and reincarnated into a character in that world!

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————