The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 128

—————
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 128
I opened my mouth slowly.
“You said you didn’t know each other at the police academy. I heard you met through a blind date, but I don’t know the details. My father passed away right when I turned twenty, so I never had the chance to ask about such things.”
“You had twenty years, though?”
Choi Woo-jin spoke as if mocking me.
My brow furrowed.
Something felt strange.
As if he were resenting me.
As if he were reproaching me for not listening to my parents’ stories.
When I had read his stories so eagerly.
Something felt terribly strange.
Then who was I, the one Choi Woo-jin was reproaching?
Lee Yu-ji? Or the me from my past life who was a Municipal Office Employee?
It was the first time I’d had such a thought since recalling the memories of possession.
And the fact that Choi Woo-jin was the one who made me think this way for the first time bothered me.
“You weren’t interested in me either.”
In me, in my life, in me who was nothing but an extra in this world where you’re the protagonist—you had no interest whatsoever.
When I was blown to pieces in Team 5, you showed no reaction at all.
Even though you knew I was Han Seong-ye’s daughter.
And you dare criticize me after that?
You?
“Me?”
Choi Woo-jin swirled the sparkling tea in his glass like wine, laughing.
“I’ve always been interested in you, Inspector Lee.”
Choi Woo-jin’s gaze turned toward me.
His expression was so utterly sincere that I almost fell for it.
“Liar. You didn’t care whether I lived or died, so why are you suddenly interested in my parents’ affairs? My mother….”
I suppressed my increasingly heated voice as much as I could.
“She was just doing her job. If it had been someone else there instead of you, she would have saved them too.”
Now that I think about it, that’s true.
It would have been the same even if it were me.
Because my mother was the only police officer who responded to that scene.
And there was a small child trembling between the corpses of parents.
It was something my mother would have done even if she weren’t a police officer.
Saving people.
Keeping people alive.
“So that’s what kind of person Officer Han Seong-ye is.”
Choi Woo-jin looked at me as if he understood something.
“Someone for whom saving lives is a habit.”
That mouth of yours, seriously.
I squinted one eye.
“That’s better than someone who makes a habit of killing rabbits.”
At my words, Choi Woo-jin let out a soft laugh.
He rested his chin on one hand and looked at me.
“Why are you so naive, Investigator Lee Yu-ji?”
Hey now, this—
“You’re the one who’s become corrupted.”
“If I don’t kill rabbits, I’ll be killed instead. Do you not know what kind of person my grandfather is?”
In that moment, Choi Woo-jin picked up a piece of chicken with red sauce dripping from it.
As if it were the corpse of a rabbit, or something else entirely.
“I look like some reckless fool interested only in killing rabbits, so that’s why he keeps me alive for now. Of course, that won’t last long either. Just like the rabbits he’s locked up on that island, if someone wants to kill me, he won’t stop them.”
Despite saying such brutal words, he curled up the corners of his mouth in a smile.
“So how does it feel? As someone raised in the hands of a person whose habit is saving lives, to see someone raised in the hands of a person whose habit is taking lives?”
My answer came out immediately.
“It’s bullshit.”
“Oh.”
Choi Woo-jin let out a short exclamation.
“Just because you were raised in the hands of someone whose habit is killing people doesn’t mean you’ll become a bad person. If you become a bad person, that’s not your grandfather’s fault—it’s yours. And—”
I tried my best to put on an expression I didn’t normally wear on my face.
A scornful one.
I scoffed at Choi Woo-jin with all my might and pointed at him with the knife dripping with blood-like sauce.
“You’re not a bad person. You just want to look bad.”
Hmph.
Who do you take me for, a fool?
I’ve read the entire original work, after all.
Despite all his grand declarations about fighting evil with evil, Choi Woo-jin ultimately saved people.
Even though he seemed to mock and ridicule the Hunter Investigation Unit, at crucial moments he helped them.
Even if the process was twisted and wrong, his intentions were good.
And most of the outcomes were better than his previous life.
So—
“You’re a good person.”
At my words, Choi Woo-jin’s eyes widened.
I could see him stiffen for a moment.
His hand, which had been twirling the chicken, stopped.
The smile he’d been wearing while looking at me vanished.
His gaze lowered.
“…You trust people too much. You really are naive, our Investigator Lee Yu-ji.”
He hid the hand supporting his chin below.
As if there were something shameful there.
And in that moment, a window appeared before my eyes.
Choi Woo-jin’s favorability has increased by 10.
Choi Woo-jin’s favorability?
Why is such an unnecessary and unpleasant window appearing?
There’s no reason for me to ever possess Choi Woo-jin.
‘If my abilities get exposed, I’ll definitely be exploited mercilessly.’
Choi Woo-jin wasn’t a bad person, but he wasn’t a good one either.
There’s a difference between being a good person and being kind.
“In any case, since I gave you what you wanted, I suppose I should pay the price too, shouldn’t I?”
That’s when Choi Woo-jin spoke.
Price.
At that word, I snapped back to attention.
I remembered why I was sitting here.
And at the same moment, the room darkened.
“…?”
I looked up at the ceiling.
Then, between the chandelier crystals, several large shadows rippled and moved.
They soon revealed themselves.
They descended along the chandelier’s teardrop-shaped crystals, falling onto the table and then to the floor.
‘Spiders.’
These were Choi Woo-jin’s eyes, ears, and nose.
One of them crawled across Choi Woo-jin’s hand.
He gently brushed it while murmuring something.
It sounded like something very ordinary, but once I heard it, I couldn’t remember it.
Like an incantation imbued with a curse.
And soon the spiders stiffened in place before rapidly disappearing.
Some through the gaps in the floor carpet, some toward the ceiling, some through the window cracks.
“What happens if those are spotted by other people…?”
In the novel, I’d never seen those spiders get discovered, but suddenly I was curious.
“They turn to dust.”
“But someone could still find traces. Especially if it’s the Hunter Association, that would be dangerous….”
As I muttered, Choi Woo-jin chuckled.
“Are you worried about me? When we’re just using each other?”
“No! I’m not worried at all?”
You’re the protagonist with guaranteed survival, and I’m an extra whose life hangs by a thread, you bastard.
“I see. Then let’s go with that.”
He spoke in a tone that showed he didn’t believe me at all, then put chicken into his mouth.
“Now let’s eat. By the time we finish, my many-legged friends will bring back some interesting news.”

* * *
A few days later.
We were riding in a van, gazing at the blue signpost marking Jung-an City.
In the van were myself, Kim Eun-kyeong, Cheon Min-jun, Team Leader Kang, and Officer Oh.
“Ahaha, Team Leader. You always score 95 out of 100.”
Oh, please.
Can we just drive in peace?
I swallowed my anger and stared at Officer Oh’s affected smile reflected in the side mirror.
“Why…”
Team Leader Kang Han-geul asked wearily.
He must be exhausted too.
Officer Oh had been such a nuisance since the rest stop.
He’d rushed off to buy roasted potatoes and squid, tripped on the way back and scraped his face on the asphalt, and spent the entire drive spouting middle-aged jokes praising Team Leader Kang…
“Because you have no flaws! Hahahaha!”
An astonishing silence filled the van.
Not only Kim Eun-kyeong, but even Cheon Min-jun and Team Leader Kang Han-geul didn’t laugh.
Honestly, it seemed like Seong-i didn’t even understand what that joke meant.
Maybe he didn’t even hear it at all.
I sat in the passenger seat beside Kim Ju-im, who occasionally grimaced, and watched Cheon Min-jun in the driver’s seat, maintaining an expressionless face as he drove.
“Officer Oh.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“I’m going to get some sleep. Wake me up later.”
Team Leader Kang Han-geul tried to escape into sleep, but life was not so forgiving.
Just then, we arrived near the dungeon located in Jung-an City.
“Ah, I’ll open the door for you.”
“What, I’m not some actress…”
Team Leader Kang Han-geul tried to stop Officer Oh with an irritated voice, but Officer Oh had already rushed out.
And I saw it.
An abandoned apartment left between the hills. And at its entrance, a wavering black sinkhole.
“Is that the dungeon entrance?”
As I asked, Kim Eun-kyeong pulled out a bag containing a rifle and spoke.
“It appears to be…”
Here it is.
Where the great catastrophe of Jung-an City would begin.
I swallowed hard and recalled Choi Woo-jin’s words.
‘It could be dangerous, but you’re really going to check? Inside the dungeon?’
That was right.
From now on, I intended to measure the true ‘rank’ of this dungeon’s interior.
Even though I already knew the rank.
‘What if a high rank appears anyway?’
I had answered Choi Woo-jin’s probing question, though he already knew the future.
‘I have to save them. The people.’
Choi Woo-jin didn’t smile.
‘You told our mother that saving people is her habit. I take after her, you know.’

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