The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 157

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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 157

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“Is it really enough if we just back this up?”
Park Min-bae pointed at the screen with a tense voice.
A breaking news alert from a terrestrial broadcast was displayed on the screen.
[Maritime Rescue Team Rescues Approximately a Dozen People Presumed to Be Korean. One of Them Confirmed to Be an Awakener Currently Wanted.]
Along with the sensational caption below, the image of the so-called Pink Bunny trembling while wrapped in a blanket was captured.
[I keep telling you I’m innocent… This time I was only trying to help the people of Heonsuguk, you know? The Taekwondo Girl! She knows well, right?]
Even as I listened to Pink Bunny’s words flowing from the news broadcast, my expression remained as serene as always.
I sat quietly and glanced at the dark laptop screen.
Everything was as I had heard.
Lee Yu-ji and I had roughly finished discussing the undercover investigation.
‘We’ll hide in the container ourselves. She may be an S-rank Craftsman, but I’m A-rank too, and more importantly, if things get urgent, you’ll come, won’t you? We still don’t know where we’re going yet, but you’ll find out where we are anyway. Definitely.’
Now I finally understood what that meant.
And without paying attention to Park Min-bae and Ham I-na’s worried gazes, I quietly began to align the threads.
Just as always, I was piecing together the fragmented puzzle.
Lee Yu-ji said she would find out where Team 5 was located.
Lee Yu-ji knew this news would reach us.
A maritime rescue operation, especially one rescuing people in someone else’s territorial waters, doesn’t usually make the news quickly.
Yet the news broke very quickly, as a breaking alert.
As if someone skilled at handling media had moved.
And as if Lee Yu-ji had known about it.
That meant—
I quietly turned on the dark screen.
Then a familiar screen appeared.
Hello, Team Leader Kwon… Or will you be Manager Kwon soon?
It was the Gamer.
Her characteristic fox character was nowhere to be seen.
Her manner of speech was as relaxed as always, yet somehow it didn’t feel relaxed.
Our investigator Lee Yu-ji seems to be in quite a crisis, so how can our manager just sit still? The Heonsuguk’s reputation is at stake, isn’t it?
Unlike her usual mysterious way of speaking in circles, this time she was even direct.
As if commanding me to save Lee Yu-ji’s life no matter what.
A crack appeared in my expression, in my face that had been like a still lake.
I brought my fingers to the keyboard.
Seeing this, Ham I-na let out a sigh.
“Um… Team Leader… Maybe you shouldn’t contact Team Leader Pee or Investigator Lee Yu-ji….”
Where is Investigator Lee Yu-ji?
I can’t tell you that.
So she doesn’t know.
…Let’s go with that.
The Gamer’s abilities have their limits.
Kwon Ik-seong’s face twisted as he grasped even that.
Is he alive?
Kwon Ik-seong hesitated for a moment before typing on the keyboard.
At those words, the Gamer responded slowly—
Or perhaps it was just how Kwon Ik-seong perceived it.
Because in that moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Perhaps his mind had grown impatient.
He’s alive. For now.
At the word “for now,” Kwon Ik-seong’s head tilted to one side.
The moment his descending hand grasped the chair, the armrest shattered completely.
“…!”
Park Min-bae and Ham I-na’s eyes widened.
This was the first time they’d ever seen Team Leader Kwon lose his composure like this.
But there’s no guarantee it’ll stay that way going forward. And I can’t go any deeper than that myself, you see.
Any deeper?
Kwon Ik-seong wasn’t even aware that he’d just broken the metal armrest.
His mind was entirely focused on piecing together what the Gamer had said.
Is there something else beneath the Maritime Dungeon?
An S-rank dungeon. That’s beyond my abilities. So—
And if that’s an S-rank dungeon?
I could almost hear the Gamer’s voice.
I could feel his agitation reaching me.
First, find its location. The Maritime Dungeon’s position. That’s the last place I saw it.
The screen shifted at will, and a map appeared.
A red dot was marked on it, with latitude and longitude coordinates displayed.
Kwon Ik-seong stood up from his seat as he looked at it.
He closed the laptop screen and looked at Ham I-na and Park Min-bae.
“Let’s go.”
“Uh, where to….”
“There.”
Kwon Ik-seong pointed to the empty Russian territorial waters on the screen.
Beneath that sea, a caption was scrolling.
Russia: “We have no information to provide regarding cargo ships passing through territorial waters”
Russian Expert: “That maritime zone is a Russian submarine route where civilian cargo ships frequently run aground. It’s likely classified military information.”
President Baek: “We will work closely with Russia to save even a single citizen’s life.”

* * *
A distant, throbbing pain washed over me.
From my fingers that Yulia Kim had crushed….
…No, from my cheeks.
“Hey, you bastard! Wake up! Wake up, I said!”
It hurt.
It hurt…!
I forced my eyes open and found myself staring up at Pee So-won, who was relentlessly slapping my cheeks from above.
“Wait, hold on…!”
“You bastard…!”
“No, no, no! I’m awake! I’m awake already! Stop hitting me, please!”
I scrambled to my feet in a panic.
Clutching one of my fingers.
Damn. It hurt like hell.
“Is your hand okay? No, it should be fine. Just head straight to the Healer Hospital.”
At her words, I opened my hand to show her.
“Ta-da.”
“…?”
My left fingers were covered in blood.
But the fingers themselves were perfectly intact.
“Like magic, right? You can buy it from the Hatsune Dalnim Workshop, and the Instagram handle is….”
“Do you want to die? What is this?”
Pee So-won stared at me in disbelief.
“Il-yeon made it for me. It’s a wound-healing salve. For some reason, I felt like I should bring it.”
‘Noona. Take this along with the owl. It seems like you’re getting hurt so much lately.’
‘You’re beta-testing this on me, aren’t you.’
‘…It’s not just that.’
‘Fine.’
It didn’t seem like it was given with pure intentions, but oh well.
I grinned and spoke.
“Still, she said it doesn’t work if your body is completely severed, so I applied it right away and it healed completely! Ahahaha!”
Hearing my words, Pee So-won exhaled roughly and leaned her head against the wall.
Shaking her wet hair in annoyance.
“Damn it!”
“Please don’t be like that. At least everything turned out well, didn’t it?”
Byeon Gu-do was working beside her to calm her anger.
By the way, Byeon Gu-do was completely soaked as well.
Now that I think about it, we all got sucked into some kind of giant toilet at the end, didn’t we?
I looked around.
Between the mist that clung like sea fog, I could see an elongated corridor.
Barnacles clung thickly to the walls in various places.
‘Is this a hidden dungeon….’
“Doesn’t seem particularly fortunate, does it?”
That’s when Ma Deok-ho spoke.
Ma Deok-ho was running his hand across the barnacles attached to the wall with an odd expression.
Ah, surely not.
“Are you having conversations with those barnacles too?”
I quietly approached Byeon Gu-do and asked.
Then Byeon Gu-do nodded and spoke.
“That’s why he’s a vegetarian. Won’t even eat grilled shellfish.”
“Ugh.”
Disgusting.
I’m curious how Ma Deok-ho would react if he met Choi Woo-jin, who goes rabbit hunting as a hobby.
“But what do you mean it doesn’t seem fortunate….”
“This place appears to be a maze.”
A maze?
I gazed toward the end of the ominous-looking passage at those words.
“So there’s a boss monster in the center of this maze?”
Before Ma Deok-ho could answer my question—
“Perfect.”
Pee So-won shouldered her rifle and spoke.
“Let’s finish this quickly and get out. I’m going to blow the head off the bastard who broke our youngest’s fingers.”
Ugh. You don’t need to do that. Really. Seriously.
“It might be difficult to leave right away.”
At Ma Deok-ho’s words, Byeon Gu-do tilted his head.
“It’ll take a bit, sure. But what’s so hard about a maze? Worst case, we can just climb over the walls. Should I go up and take a look?”
Byeon Gu-do asked Pee So-won. She nodded in response.
“Go.”
“Yes.”
Is this Pokémon?
Byeon Gu-do climbed the wall with nimble, rapid movements.
Ha…. Every time I see that skill, it suits a criminal far better than an investigator.
It was as I was thinking that.
Byeon Gu-do quickly descended from atop the wall.
“I think I might’ve seen something wrong.”
What did you see?
The answer to that question was charging toward us from beyond the fog-shrouded passage.
Skittering!
A spider-like form with an enormous number of legs.
But as it drew closer, we soon realized.
“What the hell is that thing?”
Pee So-won aimed her gun as she spoke.
Those appendages dangling from that monster—they weren’t spider legs.
They were human limbs.
Damn it, Byeon Gu-do had seen it correctly!

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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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