The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 223

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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 223
“Ah, no… We’re not…”
“You’re not what?”
Ugh. I was running out of breath.
I tried desperately to attach the silver spoon, but when it wouldn’t stick, I quickly grabbed it in my hand…
and it crumbled to dust the moment I held it.
‘Sigh.’
I recalled what the store clerk had said during my dress fitting.
‘Your size is actually bigger than you look. I would have guessed you needed a smaller size.’
‘I’ve been working out.’
‘Ah, I see. Wow.’
She touched my shoulders and arms, then jerked her hands back in surprise.
‘They’re like stone. Are you… very muscular?’
‘I’ve been working out.’
‘…Ah, I see. Your arms aren’t particularly thick though—’
‘It’s all muscle. I’ve been training my upper body too.’
‘Ah… I see…’
The clerk seemed to be losing her words for some reason.
And the children’s faces grew increasingly pale.
“Hey. Apologize quickly.”
“Hurry.”
I could hear the children whispering, but one girl in a pink dress stepped forward with a defiant expression.
“You’re Inspector Lee Yu-ji, right? I saw you on TikTok and Star. But what’s your relationship with Kang Min-joo that you’re telling her to apologize…?”
The girl in the pink dress swallowed hard as she looked at the silver spoon fragments in my hand, then continued in a trembling voice.
“…Stop it? Kang Min-joo’s parents are criminals. They’re bad people.”
“That’s right. Dad’s already in prison, and Mom and her older brother are under investigation too!”
Emboldened by the girl in the pink dress, the other children spoke up.
“Shouldn’t an inspector like you not associate with criminals like that?”
At those words, Min-joo’s shoulders beside me shrank.
Min-joo quietly grabbed the hem of my dress from behind.
Was she asking me to just leave?
But I couldn’t just leave.
Especially not after hearing something like that.
“I think you’re confused about something.”
I looked at the girl in the pink dress and the other children as I spoke.
“The fact that Min-joo’s parents are being punished for their wrongdoings has nothing to do with you hurting Min-joo. And Min-joo is not a criminal.”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the children.
“Most importantly, Min-joo is a good, kind person.”
You can tell just by observing.
Just from the way she plays with our Yu Gyeom, Won-yeon, and Il-yeon, who all have terrible personalities…
‘…Not that.’
Just seeing how she worries about me getting hurt because of her parents’ situation.
Even though she adores Yu Gyeom so much, whenever he studies, she just peeks her head out and watches—that alone tells me everything.
I can just feel it.
Min-joo is a good kid.
“You all might have befriended Min-joo because of her parents, but that’s not how Min-joo works. That’s why even though it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other, she was trying to greet you so warmly.”
I spoke to the children with a cold gaze.
“You didn’t even know what kind of kids you are.”
The girl in the pink dress furrowed her brow and spoke.
“What kind of kids? Excuse me. What exactly qualifies you to be here? This is a VVIP party, you know? I heard you were F-rank….”
That’s when it happened.
Someone bumped the girl in the pink dress’s shoulder as they passed by.
Because of that, the non-alcoholic (…presumably?) champagne she was holding splashed all over her chest.
“Kyaaah! Hey!”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
It was a waitress who had bumped the girl in the pink dress’s shoulder.
She apologized with a dry expression.
‘What, how can she be so brazen.’
I was momentarily flustered, but I reached for a napkin beside me to wipe the girl in the pink dress’s chest.
However, before my hand could even touch her, the girl in the pink dress threw a tantrum.
“What’s your name? Get your manager out here right now! Do you know how much this dress costs? You couldn’t even afford it with your salary!”
“I think you could probably buy it with a salary…”
That’s when Min-joo muttered softly from beside me.
At those words, the girl in the pink dress furrowed her brow.
“What?”
“I said you could probably buy it with a salary.”
Only then did Min-joo speak clearly and distinctly.
Her shoulders, which had been hunched before, were now completely straightened.
“I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but you said the dress you wear to every party is made by a Swedish Royal Fashion School designer, right? Well, I’ve seen that dress too.”
Min-joo glanced at the other kids beside her one by one.
“In a fashion magazine. It’s not that expensive. Like a million won, a million and a half won? This one’s probably around that price too.”
“What do you know….”
“Elin Anderson.”
Min-joo said that and pulled out her phone from a tiny bag, showing an account she followed.
“I follow her. I think I followed her back then to buy some socks or towels or something?”
…Oh wow. So she buys socks and towels from a Swedish designer too.
That’s what I was thinking.
At Min-joo’s words, the kids in the back started murmuring.
“Min-joo bought the dress from where she buys socks?”
“Wow. She was bragging so much that it was a designer brand.”
“I heard her father is on the verge of being kicked out of Dae-yeong these days. He backed the wrong horse with Choi Jun-gu.”
The girl in the pink dress’s face was turning crimson at the children’s murmuring.
“You… you…”
It was then that the girl in the pink dress began to stammer.
Min-ju spoke to the waitress standing with an expressionless face.
“I’ll cover the cost of that dress, so don’t worry and you can go.”
“Oh. Oh my. Wow.”
For some reason, she seemed to have remarkably poor social skills…
…and somehow looked familiar…
The waitress, whose face seemed to express that everything was exhausting, bowed her head and spoke.
“Thank you? Then I’ll be going.”
The waitress left as she was.
‘Maybe it’s because this is a seven-star hotel, but the staff’s attitude is quite different.’
Was this unexpectedly premium service?
It was when I was thinking that.
“My goodness. I never expected to see that face here.”
Someone spoke to me from behind in a chilling voice.
Without even turning around, I could gauge who the owner of that voice was.
‘Min Bo-hee.’
I turned around with an awkward smile.
There stood Min Bo-hee with a rotten expression on her face.
Like an elderly version of the girl in the pink dress, leading her own clique.
“Oh, Sun-young came. It’s been a while.”
Min Bo-hee smiled and greeted the girl in the pink dress.
Then the girl in the pink dress approached Min Bo-hee’s side as if she’d found an ally.
“Grandmother! I missed you.”
“You already greeted your parents, but were you playing with friends?”
Min Bo-hee looked at the girl in the pink dress with a smile similar to the one she’d give her own granddaughter.
Which meant—
‘Similarly artificial, that’s what it meant.’
“Yes. But someone who I don’t even know if they were invited came, so it was quite awkward.”
The girl in the pink dress, or rather the one called Sun-young, glared at me as she spoke.
At those words, Min-ju seemed to bristle and tried to say something, but I quickly grabbed her hand.
And I glanced at Min-ju, sending her a look that said to calm down.
“Indeed. That famous investigator from the National Assembly who made a movie—what brings you to a place like this? This doesn’t seem like a suitable location for filming a noir genre piece.”
Min Bo-hee spoke elegantly while looking at me.
Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes weren’t smiling at all.
Well, she had no reason to like me.
After all, I’d put her husband away and pushed forward her grandson, whom she disliked, as the successor.
As a result, her position in the Dae-yeong Guild had become extremely narrow.
I observed the people standing behind Min Bo-hee.
So those were Min Bo-hee’s ‘women’.
The wives of early awakeners.
Most of them appeared to be older, though there were scattered among them some women who didn’t seem particularly aged.
They could be remarriages, or perhaps awakeners like their husbands.
Could Seol Jo-yang possibly be among them?
I couldn’t know for certain. But if these women were the core members of this party, then someone here might know what Seol Jo-yang looked like.
That also meant I needed to become close with them.
“Ah, I’m not here to investigate this place.”
The queen of high society, they called her.
I didn’t know how to do such things, but wasn’t high society usually like this?
“I received an invitation. Chairman Sa Gong-seong approved me entering here as Min-ju’s guardian.”
A place where connections determined everything.
“Chairman Sa Gong-seong?”
At those words, one of the Samos stepped forward in front of Min Bo-hee. Seeing that, both Min Bo-hee’s and the girl in the pink dress’s expressions hardened.
I didn’t stop there and deliberately lifted Min-ju’s wrist to show it off as I spoke.
“My goodness, Min-ju. That bracelet is really beautiful. Guild Master Choi Woo-jin gave that to you, didn’t he?”
“Huh? Um… Yes.”
“But you mentioned your wrist aches from studying lately, right? You should go get some treatment from Jun-mi. I heard there’s healing that works even on non-awakeners?”
The eyes of the Samos gleamed upon hearing the names Choi Woo-jin and Mo Jun-mi.
“Jun-mi… sister?”
Some of them wrapped their hands around their own wrists and bit their lips.
If you’re seventy years old, your wrists would ache. Your joints would throb too. Right?
‘Hehehehe.’

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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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