The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 129

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Civil Servant Who Hides His Strength Is Exceptionally Good at Possession – Episode 129

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“You know the drill—just go to the entrance and come back out. Since it’s a high-rank dungeon, it’s dangerous, so don’t venture too deep.”
Team Leader Kang spoke while deliberately—or perhaps coincidentally—observing me and Cheon Min-jun carefully.
It seemed he was mindful of how we’d fallen into a hidden dungeon at the Protective Tree dungeon before.
Besides, a high-rank dungeon being dangerous and all that.
We’d already come here knowing from preliminary surveys that it was a low-rank mana stone mine, so what’s with that shameless attitude?
The entrance area only has low-rank goblins anyway.
And the Hunter Association is aware of that fact too.
They also know there’s a mana stone mine worth at least hundreds of billions inside.
Yet they’ll brazenly report it to the government as a high-rank dungeon and assign it to the Hanseong Guild’s hunters.
Then the hunters who came excited to experience a low-rank dungeon—
‘will touch the mine interior.’
And an A-Rank Monster will emerge from there, destroying the entire city of Jeong-an.
I recalled the sparse apartments visible in the distance on the way here.
“What was the population of Jeong-an again?”
When I asked, only Cheon Min-jun looked up from equipping his items to answer.
“It’s just over 40,000.”
“Ah, quite a small city then.”
Right. A small city. Incredibly small compared to other cities.
And ten thousand deaths are worse than a hundred deaths.
But I know this.
Sometimes one person’s death steals an entire world from someone else.
“Right. Why do our business trips always end up in these rural areas anyway…? Haha. It must be because the air is fresh and there’s lots of phytoncide that’s good for the lungs! Bahahaha!”
Officer Oh inadvertently lamented before quickly changing his tone upon seeing Team Leader Kang.
Kang Han-geul shouldered a crossbow and stuffed a wave detector and necessary documents into a 007-style briefcase.
The weapon hardly matched his typical office worker appearance—navy jacket, shirt, dress pants, and polished shoes.
But that’s how all the Hunter Association people were.
Hunters, yes, but simultaneously office workers.
‘A hundred times better than being a hunter and a civil servant at the same time.’
That’s what I was thinking.
Kang Han-geul spoke.
“A small city is still a city. It’s different from last time at the Protective Tree dungeon. This time there are lots of documents to file with the local government, so let’s work carefully.”
If that sounded like “let’s carefully fabricate,” then this is just an investigator’s occupational habit, right?
“Ha Dae-ri, come over here. Check this receiver and let me know the readings.”
“Yes, understood.”
I picked up the tablet-like monitor attached to the wave detector.
Complex numerical readings received through the wave detector were displayed on it.
I didn’t need to understand all those numbers—I just had to tell Kang Han-geul whether the wave detector was functioning properly.
But why are you making the deputy do this instead of leaving it to the team leader?
Well, that’s—
“Don’t cause trouble like last time.”
“Yes….”
After all, I’m notorious at the Hunter Association as someone who causes accidents! Ha ha!
“Alright everyone, here.”
Once Team Leader Kang confirmed everyone was ready, he distributed bubble gum to all of us.
It was a familiar item.
Bubble gum made at the Hatsune Dalnim Workshop.
“Looks like it’s new stock. Man, I used to blow these all the time when I was younger….”
When Officer Oh unnecessarily added his commentary, Kang Han-geul spoke as if exhausted.
“There are apparently a lot of particles that look like dust inside, so use them properly. Everyone put on goggles too. If something goes wrong because you acted recklessly without even knowing what kind of dust it is, you won’t even get workers’ compensation, understand?”
This vicious Hunter Association.
Even as I thought that, I quickly took the bubble gum and offered it to Kim Ju-im as well.
“Yes. Thank you.”
But Kim Ju-im… no, Pee So-won gazed at the bubble gum with a subtle expression, without even saying thank you.
“It’s a familiar item.”
“Huh… really? I’ve never seen it before.”
I quickly changed the subject at Pee So-won’s pointed remark.
After distributing bubble gum to Officer Oh and Cheon Secretary as well, I chewed my portion of gum and put on my goggles.
Pop. Poppop. Pop.
The sound of bubble gum popping echoed incongruously with the situation.
Looking around, everyone stood waiting with similar thin pink membranes covering their mouths and noses, goggles on their faces.
We soon stood before the shimmering black sinkhole at the apartment entrance.
I heard Team Leader Kang’s muffled voice, as if he were mumbling through a mask.
“Let’s head in then. Man… let’s finish this quick and clock out.”
There was no enthusiasm whatsoever in this voice, as if he’d already exhausted all his energy on the way here.
Every time I feel it, but Kang Han-geul seems to treat office politics as just another part of the job.
Especially considering he’s only showing this much enthusiasm even after accepting the ginseng box.
Regardless, we soon entered the dungeon interior.
“…What is this?”
At that moment, Kim Eun-kyeong’s irritated voice rang out.
It was understandable.
The dungeon interior was completely different from outside, which had seemed to carry a faint phytoncide scent, surrounded as it was by mountains.
The dungeon interior was dimly lit except for inexplicable torches standing here and there, and those torches were—
“Is that really a skeleton? Hello there, mister. What’s your name?”
Being held by a skeleton.
Watching Officer Oh chuckle while pointing at the skeleton, I shook my head.
‘Even though it’s a low-rank dungeon, how can they have such poor safety awareness?’
“Don’t touch anything carelessly. Let’s not create unnecessary trouble.”
Kang Han-geul didn’t even glance at Officer Oh as he spoke, then gestured to me with his chin.
I trailed after Kang Han-geul, tablet in hand, moving obediently along.
The four of us—Officer Oh, Cheon Min-jun, and Kim Eun-kyeong—formed a protective formation around us two.
“According to the paperwork, we only need to measure the wave patterns down to 200 meters underground, so let’s head there.”
Kang Han-geul spoke. His voice sounded strangely muffled, barely reaching my ears—the cave’s peculiar structure seemed to swallow sound like dust.
The 200-meter benchmark existed because the Hunter Association had reported this dungeon’s depth as 300 meters to the Hunter Management Office, and the local government had issued directives based on that figure.
But I knew better.
The actual depth of this dungeon was 1,500 meters.
And hidden within those additional 1,200 meters lay precious mana stones and something far more dangerous.
“We can kill the goblins as needed, right? I heard golden goblins drop gold from their bellies when you kill them.”
Officer Oh’s voice came from nearby.
Cheon Min-jun seemed to respond to him, but both their figures soon vanished from my sight.
The darkness was suffocating, and strange dust kept obscuring their forms from view.
“The wave detector should show the staff’s positions. Don’t miss that either.”
Kang Han-geul issued the instruction to me, sounding slightly tense about the dungeon’s unexpectedly dark interior.
“Yes, understood.”
I nodded while watching the five red dots appear on the right screen.
Apparently he does care about his employees’ lives after all.
I thought this while observing Kang Han-geul.
“From here on, it’s a downward path, so keep your eyes on the screen but be careful not to slip. Got it? If you crack your head here, it won’t be covered as a work injury. I’d have to file an incident report too.”
…Never mind, he doesn’t care.
Seriously, why do I always end up with superiors like this?
Including Pee So-won.
‘Well, except for Ik-sung.’
But unfortunately, Ik-sung wasn’t my direct superior.
Sigh.
While lost in these thoughts, I was walking when—
“Stop.”
Kang Han-geul said.
But Officer Oh, who hadn’t heard him, made a confused sound and created a slipping noise.
I remained in place and moved slightly closer to Kang Han-geul.
Looking down, I saw a cliff.
Below that cliff, there were stones floating oddly in the air.
Those stones, extending downward into the cave, resembled a staircase.
“Are we supposed to descend using those?”
Kim Eun-kyeong’s voice came from a distance.
But it wasn’t as far as I expected.
I could confirm Kim Eun-kyeong with my own eyes.
“Yeah.”
As Team Leader Kang answered, Officer Oh and Cheon Min-jun, who had drawn near, approached us.
Officer Oh nearly stumbled, his appearance slightly disheveled from the impact.
“Ah, do we really have to go down there too? Why don’t we just send Ha Dae-ri and Kim Ju-im?”
Damn, this guy really.
“There’s no guarantee those rocks are safe either. No matter how low-rank this dungeon is… tsk.”
So what, I’m supposed to be expendable?
That’s when I was about to say something.
From behind came a metallic click as Kim Eun-kyeong’s gun barrel swung toward Officer Oh.
“…?”
“W-what are you doing, Kim Eun-kyeong?”
“Verification.”
Kim Eun-kyeong—no, Pee So-won—answered in English and pulled the trigger.
‘This psychopath!’
She’s doing it again!
The bullet struck a stone floating in mid-air.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang-bang!
After firing at roughly five stones, Pee So-won naturally raised her gun barrel toward the sky, her characteristic arrogant smile playing across her lips.
“W-what did you do! I was aiming at you!”
“If you were aiming at me, you would’ve gone for a headshot and been done with it. Falling off a cliff makes corpse disposal quite convenient. I was simply verifying. There’s a Korean saying about tapping a stone bridge before crossing it, isn’t there?”
…Today too, Pee So-won was being Pee So-won.

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