The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 206

—————
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 206
So… what I just witnessed was my ‘reward’.
Part 2 Prologue.
And this place is the Sky Orphanage.
The place where my father, mother, and Han Su-eop ‘appeared’.
I gazed at something glimmering above the bronze plaque bearing the name Sky Orphanage.
That blue-glowing object resembled the ‘artifact’ my mother had seen in the prologue I witnessed.
~Traces of Twisted Causality (S)~
Currently attributed to the ‘Eternal Returner’…
Visible only to the protagonists of the story.
Visible only to the protagonists of the story.
The fact that I could see these words meant—
I was no longer merely the protagonist’s family or a supporting character meant to test the protagonist, but had become a protagonist of the story myself.
“Hgh…”
A sob escaped from deep within my chest.
It was a cry that came with retching.
Mother’s four regressions… did not fail.
Mother saved all of us.
Kwon Ik-seong, Captain Hong, and Choi Woo-jin.
That’s not all.
I was able to survive because of Mother.
Those people Mother kept alive saved my life.
So everything… was Mother’s doing.
I read the glimmering letters on the bronze plaque again.
Twisted Causality.
Causality.
It is the most important element in a story.
Every result has a cause.
But that law was broken.
The reason was likely because Mother ultimately took her own life and passed her place to Choi Woo-jin.
Now it became clear why Mother suddenly died alongside Father at his dispatch scene.
Mother must have known that Father was going to meet Choi Woo-jin.
That Father would die at that location.
So she went to stop it.
To die in his place instead.
In her fifth life, Mother wanted to give trials to Choi Woo-jin, who would become the protagonist, to make him stronger.
The Choi Woo-jin Mother saw in her third life was far too fragile.
Kind and… gentle Choi Woo-jin.
‘Thinking about it now, it seems so strange—’
Everyone is influenced by the environment in which they grow up.
In my third life, Choi Woo-jin maintained continuous contact with the police officer who saved him, and he was able to learn the secrets surrounding his parents’ deaths immediately.
Mother raised Choi Woo-jin as if he were her own son, and Choi Woo-jin trusted and followed her.
So for Choi Woo-jin, it was as if he had gained another family.
However, such a good and warm child was useless to Mother.
Mother did not wish for that child to grow up kind and warm.
She wanted him to become the protagonist who would rise after overcoming trials that could eliminate the villains of this world.
She wanted him to suffer countless betrayals, develop a desire for revenge against his grandfather, regress once more, and use his abilities to eliminate the villains of this world.
So Father shouldn’t have given that case file to Choi Woo-jin, and above all—
‘She must have wanted to save Father.’
But she must have realized it was too late, and that there was no more time to delay.
Mother had to make a choice.
She must have agonized while watching Father die.
Whether to regress again, or to stop here and pass the role of protagonist to Choi Woo-jin.
And Mother made her choice.
To pass the role of protagonist to Choi Woo-jin.
“Huff… gasp…”
I leaned against a brick pillar, tears and mucus streaming down my face.
The dizziness was so severe I could no longer stand.
“Damn it…”
A curse escaped my lips.
So Mother’s destruction of this novel’s causality created Han Su-eop.
A fictional character to replace Mother’s existence.
An extra in this world.
A being who doesn’t appear in the novel.
And so Han Su-eop became Pee So-won’s partner, made Byeon Gu-do an investigator, and helped Captain Hong.
But Han Su-eop was an extra who shouldn’t have influenced the protagonist, so he died before the protagonist’s regression point.
Han Su-eop was a trace of broken causality, and a perfect novel couldn’t have such holes.
Then a question arises here.
Did I also recover memories of my life before possession due to the effects of this broken causality?
But I’m an extra. So why did I gain such exceptional abilities?
Choi Woo-jin didn’t even pass the role of ‘protagonist’ to me.
No, rather, Choi Woo-jin seemed unaware of his own role as ‘protagonist’.
Then—
There’s something more that I don’t know.
What Mother said to Choi Woo-jin at the moment of her death.
‘Lee Yu-ji. That’s my daughter’s name. Please remember it.’
I don’t know what impact those words had.
Before Choi Woo-jin’s ‘story’ began, Mother imprinted me upon him.
As if she wanted me to become Choi Woo-jin’s ally rather than an extra.
But for some reason, Choi Woo-jin couldn’t find me before I died—
‘I’m the kind of person who has to bear witness to even your death.’
No.
No.
Did I really fail to find it?
Someone’s voice passed through my mind.
My thoughts were in chaos.
That’s when it happened.
Someone seized my shoulder from behind.
“…Mmph!”
I tried to scream, but a large hand covered my mouth.
Held firmly in someone’s embrace.
A familiar voice reached my ear.
“Don’t make a sound.”
It was Kwon Ik-seong.
I tried to turn around, but Kwon Ik-seong held me firmly.
“Get up slowly.”
This was the first time I’d heard him speak in casual speech.
But I couldn’t afford to worry about that—
The sticky liquid flowing from Kwon Ik-seong’s hand concerned me far more.
‘Blood.’
The acrid metallic stench pierced my nostrils.
‘He’s injured.’
I could sense it instinctively, but I obeyed Kwon Ik-seong’s words, keeping my mouth shut and relaxing my body.
Then Kwon Ik-seong slowly released me.
Thanks to that, I was able to slowly rise to my feet.
Carefully, without making a sound.
I turned my body to check Kwon Ik-seong’s wound—
Kwon Ik-seong covered my eyes.
“Listen instead of looking. You won’t see anything here anyway.”
I obediently closed my eyes and focused my hearing.
Kwon Ik-seong was clearly listening to something.
I had to use that same ability.
‘Concentration’.
As I activated the skill, I heard someone’s voice clearly.
Or rather, the voices of ‘multiple people’.
“Is it a musk deer? Sometimes they fall down here anyway. Let’s just take a quick look and go. We didn’t see anything special when we checked outside either.”
One was the voice of a middle-aged man.
“Still, we should check just in case. The Chairman ordered us to investigate.”
The other was the voice of a younger man.
I could sense the two men’s footsteps moving from the twelve o’clock direction toward the three o’clock direction.
Kwon Ik-seong’s breathing came heavy and loud, and my heartbeat thundered even louder beneath it.
I felt some liquid dripping from Kwon Ik-seong’s hand and shoulder.
It wasn’t sweat.
I couldn’t treat it right now.
Then I needed to focus harder.
More. More.
Soon I heard something like steam rising.
I could discern its nature.
‘It’s coming from the car.’
The engine was broken, rattling with a clattering sound.
“What is it? It’s just a musk deer. Dead, right? I told you so, didn’t I?”
But it seemed they couldn’t hear it.
Was that fortunate?
Who were these people?
Couldn’t they possibly save us?
Feeling Kwon Ik-seong’s tense muscles, I changed my thinking.
No.
It was the opposite.
These were people who remained in this place—whether dungeon or some bizarre rift in spacetime, I couldn’t say.
Moreover, seeing how they used the word “Chairman” suggested they were the ones managing and overseeing this place.
‘It’s safer to assume they’re not ordinary humans.’
And—
“No, it’s not just a musk deer, this thing.”
The young man’s voice turned cold.
Crunch.
The sound of glass shards being stepped on.
The young man’s footsteps moved quickly from the three o’clock direction toward four o’clock.
“Look at this. There’s a car here.”
Kwon Ik-seong pulled me closer to him.
Kwon Ik-seong whispered near my ear.
“Lee Yu-ji.”
It was clear he thought I hadn’t heard that voice.
“I’m going to check what’s over there, so stay here.”
Kwon Ik-seong pressed my hand firmly against the brick pillar.
Kwon Ik-seong released his hand.
Then his face, covered entirely in wounds, was revealed.

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