The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 158

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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 158

* * *
One shot, one kill.
As always, Pee So-won seemed to eliminate the grotesque limb-spider in a single strike, but…
The spider, having casually shed a few severed legs, approached us again.
Bang!
Rat-a-tat!
Pee So-won removed its legs once more.
Only after all its legs were severed did the spider writhe and slow its advance.
What could only be described as a torso—the part where the legs had been torn away—crept slowly toward us.
Pee So-won stepped on that indescribable thing and fired one final shot.
Bang!
From the central mass melted by the magic bullet, a small magic stone was revealed.
“Damn it…”
I barely suppressed the nausea rising in my throat.
I watched the arms that Pee So-won had blown away dissolve into nothing.
Judging from the skeletal remains that lingered—
‘Those are human arms and legs.’
This is infuriating, truly.
So this is how that human sacrifice was being used?
‘Are they insane?’
They dismember people one by one, fashion them into chimeras, and set them to guard the maze?
What in the world is lurking deeper inside this place?
“How many of these things do you think are in here?”
Pee So-won asked, glancing at Byeon Gu-do.
“I’m not sure. But it seems safe to assume there’s one guarding each corridor.”
“Behind us.”
That was when it happened.
Ma Deok-ho spoke.
We all turned around.
There it was again.
Another limb-spider.
Pee So-won naturally raised her weapon, but I grabbed the barrel of her gun.
And I brought a finger to my lips.
Wait.
I silently mouthed the word without speaking.
And simultaneously, I looked at Ma Deok-ho and Byeon Gu-do.
I brought a finger to my lips in the same gesture toward them.
It was a signal to stay quiet.
The moment we fell silent, the moment our movements ceased.
The spider’s speed slowed.
The spider exhibited strange behavior, crawling up the wall and then down, then up again.
All the while, it kept feeling around its surroundings.
“Team Leader! Now!”
As I spoke, the spider rushed toward me rapidly.
Seeing that, Pee So-won fired her gun.
Bang!
This time, she didn’t miss—aiming straight for its core.
The spider died instantly.
Watching it, I became certain.
“This creature has no eyes. It can’t see ahead. It can only detect sound.”
“But it has no ears—how can it detect sound….”
Pee So-won hesitated for a moment, then kicked at something hard among the melted bones.
“Damn. There it is. They’re glued on.”
I nearly retched again.
But we had gained something.
I didn’t know what each monster roaming here looked like—
“But none of them will overcome their individual physical limitations. We need to exploit that.”
“Okay okay okay!”
Byeon Gu-do answered excitedly, as if he’d found a clue.
Watching him, I furrowed my brow.
At the same time, two spiders rushed at us from the left and right.
“Ugh! Please, enough.”
I shot off one of the right spider’s legs with my pistol—
“Shut up, you bastard.”
Pee So-won aimed for the left spider’s core and killed it.
Finally, Ma Deok-ho finished off the right spider’s core with his pistol.
Seeing that, Byeon Gu-do covered his mouth.
“I’m… sorry….”
“Don’t make noise and let’s go. You bastard. Would you rather be a spider here instead of them?”
“No.”
It was when Byeon Gu-do answered quickly.
Ma Deok-ho stroked the wall and spoke.
“Eggs… Pabeurje….”
“What are you doing. I’m seriously buying you grilled clams next time.”
Byeon Gu-do tried to grab Ma Deok-ho by the back of the neck, but I stopped him.
Ma Deok-ho continued speaking, having escaped from Byeon Gu-do.
“That Guy apparently keeps his precious eggs here.”
“Those barnacles told you that?”
Byeon Gu-do spoke with a subtle expression, and I struck his ribs with my elbow.
Even as Byeon Gu-do coughed, he covered his mouth to stifle any screams that might escape.
“It seems like he made a deal with Yulia Kim to create that egg. And it appears he needed Yulia Kim’s eyes.”
“Eyes?”
Oh, don’t tell me.
I recalled the pitch-black sinkhole that existed where Yulia Kim’s eyes should have been.
So that woman also gave something to the boss monster here?
Like, “Here, take my old eyes in exchange for the egg”?
“A fun toy… that means the boss monster seems to be creating various items.”
Ma Deok-ho interpreted those words while conversing with the barnacles.
But what is the boss monster creating?
In that moment, I recalled what Kan-dol-i said in the original work.
“That monster bastard doesn’t eat people—instead, it spits out items like crazy.”
What if that ‘monster bastard’ wasn’t Yulia Kim?
I gazed into the dark passage.
The interior of Yulia Kim’s workshop, oddly pristine for an S-Rank Craftsman.
A place where only containers were stacked.
And Yulia Kim’s words about selling her eyes to be here.
I was thinking like Kwon Ik-seong without even using memories from possession.
The feeling of all the threads aligning perfectly.
That unpleasant thrill the feeling gave me.
What if something inside there was actually the real item craftsman?
What if the true identity of the S-Rank Craftsman was actually an S-Rank Boss Monster—
“We can’t rule out the possibility that this is an S-Rank Dungeon.”
As I muttered, everyone looked at me.
In that moment, Ma Deok-ho spoke.
“There is a way to clear this dungeon without killing the boss monster.”

* * *
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Is there actually someone who fires a rifle like a machine gun?
There is!
Pee So-won, that crazy woman.
I watched in awe as she aimed and reloaded her rifle at a speed that defied human cognition, my jaw dropping at the sheer impossibility of it all.
Of course, my role was to circle around Pee So-won like a madman, drawing aggro with reckless abandon.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Damn it.
We never trained like this back at the athlete’s village!
Meanwhile, on the other side, Byeon Gu-do was sliding along walls and corridors, slashing the back of monsters’ heads with his blade, while Ma Deok-ho controlled his every move with precision.
“Behind us.”
“Four o’clock direction.”
“Seven o’clock.”
Their coordination was nothing short of fantastic.
Ma Deok-ho listened to Kan-dol-i’s voice to alert them of monster appearances, while Byeon Gu-do, stronger with visual cues, eliminated the monsters that relied on sight.
In contrast, our side with guns drew aggro from monsters that were sensitive to sound and dealt with them.
‘It’s almost like… our teamwork is actually working?’
These people were annoyingly useful, which irritated me.
If they could do this, why did they make me suffer so much until now?
And sure enough, as we reached the edge of the maze—
“Is this it?”
Byeon Gu-do, breathing heavily, pulled out a glowing blue egg embedded in the wall at the entrance to the next corridor.
The egg’s surface was carved with intricate patterns, and faint light seeped through the gaps between them.
Crackle.
But when the egg crumbled in Byeon Gu-do’s hand, nothing happened.
“This doesn’t seem to be it either.”
Byeon Gu-do clicked his tongue.
According to Ma Deok-ho, the way to clear this Maze Dungeon was to find “the real Fabergé egg.”
The boss monster had created multiple eggs, and the real one contained the boss monster’s core—destroying that egg would eliminate the boss monster as well.
But so far, we’d destroyed a total of five eggs.
None of them were the real one.
“What is this, some kind of egg-laying hen? Ugh.”
Byeon Gu-do grumbled and wiped the sweat from his brow.
All three of us except Pee So-won were covered in cuts and bruises, feeling the limits of our stamina.
Fortunately, the monsters weren’t difficult to eliminate, but the deeper we went, the more of them appeared.
‘If we make even one mistake at this rate, it could get dangerous—’
Anxiety was beginning to creep in.
Ma Deok-ho, who had been quietly observing the spot where the egg had been, carefully removed the barnacles clinging to the wall one by one.
‘Even while doing this, he’s being considerate…’
I gazed at the wall as the barnacles were removed, thinking this through.
Once the barnacles were cleared away, what I’d thought was a wall revealed a barred door.
I picked up the crushed eggshell that Byeon Gu-do had shattered.
The pattern oddly resembled a key shape.
Could it be?
I carefully disassembled the pattern carved into the eggshell like I would a puzzle, reshaping it into a key form.
Then I inserted it into the keyhole at the edge of the barred door and, applying just enough gentle pressure so the eggshell wouldn’t crumble, turned it—
Click—
The barred door swings open.
…!
It really was a key.

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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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