The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 228

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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 228
I quickly understood why Seon-i had come to find me.
“I already told you. I was dating Kim Ha-jin.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
I shook my head.
There were red marks on Seon-i’s neck.
We athletes always carried injuries with us, so I figured she must have had a pain patch on that spot at some point too.
“Then what do you want me to say? The new national team coach is Kim Ha-jin’s relative.”
“What does that have to do with anything! How is that even relevant to this!”
I couldn’t understand it.
Was the person standing before me really Seon-i?
If she truly was Seon-i, had I been wrong about who she was?
Seon-i wasn’t like this—she showed courage when it was needed and kindness when kindness was required.
“You think you did something good, don’t you?”
Seon-i glared at me as she spoke.
“You rushed in without thinking and beat Kim Ha-jin senseless, and you think that was the right thing to do?”
Seon-i looked at the wounds on my knuckles, then gently touched the cuts on my face from the scuffle with Kim Ha-jin.
If I said her touch carried a note of sorrow… would that be my imagination?
“You did what made you look cool. Selfishly. Risking my athletic career.”
“…Seon-a.”
“When the ethics committee convenes, just say what I tell you to say.”
Seon-i touched my bruised cheekbone and spoke desperately.
“Say we were dating. That you misunderstood.”
I couldn’t respond.
I still couldn’t let go of Seon-i.
‘Being kind or unkind isn’t something fixed—it’s about being kind when you can be.’
That’s what you told me.
You—
“I witnessed Kim Ha-jin sexually assaulting Lee Seon. Lee Seon has injuries on her body. The team doctor confirmed it. Even if the two were dating—”
You were the one who taught me the character for kindness, the one who showed me what it meant.
My name is Lee Yu-ji.
Help. Meaning.
A person of purpose who helps others.
You taught me the meaning of my own name.
So you showed me who I was supposed to be.
“That constitutes dating violence.”
I didn’t grant Seon-i’s request.
Not knowing it would be her last one.
The ethics committee’s findings came back quickly.
No issues found.
The two of them were dating, and I—someone who had always been jealous of their closeness—was blamed for committing the violence.
Regarding my assault, Kim Ha-jin said he would ‘graciously’ overlook it, and I arranged a meeting with the reporter.
I thought that if I did this, I could see Seon-i again.
I wanted to refute what Seon-i had said.
I believed it was all for Seon-i’s sake, that she would understand my sincerity once this matter was resolved.
But the moment I went ahead and arranged the meeting with the reporter, Seon-i left the Athletes’ Village.
The coach explained the reason.
“Isn’t the director of the corporate team where she worked Kim Ha-jin’s father? You don’t know anything and yet you act like you do. This whole place is Kim’s territory. If Seon-i ends her athletic career with a corporate team here, it’s basically like entering someone else’s dojo and being unable to teach. And the ones who opened dojos—aren’t they all Association people?”
Everything became clear, as if I’d been struck on the back of the head.
That’s right.
In Seon-i’s life, the villain wasn’t Kim Ha-jin—it was me.
I was the one who made her let go of that lifeline she desperately wanted to hold onto, and Seon-i’s words about me pretending to be good were correct, and I was just—
‘Selfish.’
“You’re a selfish person.”
Without realizing it, I found myself uttering those words while standing there.
Right in front of Seon-i.

* * *
“What did you say?”
Seon-i’s face contorted.
For a moment, I wanted to peel back the skin of Seon-i’s face to check if that damned Seol Ok-gyun had done something to her.
But that wasn’t possible.
Even if Seol Ok-gyun had done something, I couldn’t lay a hand on Seon-i’s body anywhere.
“No, I just… wondered why you were here.”
I looked at Seon-i’s body.
Beyond the flowing lines of her dress, the firm muscles she had built up over time had vanished from her shoulders and forearms, barely visible now.
“Why am I here?”
And her face.
Her face shone with an unbelievable brightness.
“I came to have time for prayer and praise.”
Seeing that smile I thought she would never show me again, I wondered if I had inhaled funny powder once more.
“Sister Lee Seon has great faith. She’s waiting for her priestly ordination.”
Sa Gong-seong said this while gesturing for Lee Seon to sit.
Watching Sa Gong-seong, I clenched my teeth.
“Priestly ordination?”
“Exactly as I said. It’s truly a blessed thing. Isn’t it?”
Seon-i sat beside me and used words I was hearing from her for the first time.
A blessed thing?
What exactly did that even mean?
I found myself missing the Seon-i who used to call me selfish instead.
“I heard that both of you went through truly unfortunate circumstances. When Lee Seon first came to us, I was the one who heard her story first. Some filthy bastard made things difficult for her, and while helping her….”
Sa Gong-seong looked at me with a sympathetic smile.
Genuinely.
Sympathetically.
“Our investigator experienced dishonor. How could such a wicked person exist? The True One would never leave such a person alone.”
I completely failed to maintain my composure at those words.
The thread of reason I’d barely managed to hold onto until now was about to slip away.
“Are you saying I took personal revenge…?”
“Personal revenge?”
Sa Gong-seong’s eyes widened, and he laughed exaggeratedly.
“Good heavens. Investigator Lee Yu-ji, you really do think of the Hunter’s Faith as some heretical cult. I’m afraid, but we’ve never claimed to be a church, nor do we wish to become one. The truth is, we don’t care about God—we simply want to reveal the world’s truth through the True One to the world. If necessary in that process, there would certainly be ways to ensure that excellent hunters like Investigator Lee Yu-ji don’t suffer harm.”
Sa Gong-seong looked at me intently.
“So that method you’re talking about—”
This bastard is trying to coerce me right now.
Over Kim Ha-jin—
“I was too young back then, Yu-ji.”
But that was the moment.
A chill ran down my spine as Seon-i’s voice reached me from beside me.
“Calling you selfish and making you lie—those were all my sins.”
I turned my head slowly toward Seon-i like a broken machine.
Seon-i was crying.
Tears streamed from her crimson eyes. Her face held a sincerity as if she’d been waiting for this moment for a long time.
I never expected to hear an apology from Seon-i.
Because I thought I should be the one apologizing to her.
For not respecting her words, her will.
But Seon-i had already taken my hand and knelt before me, crying.
“That’s why I was punished and you were chosen.”
“What…?”
“You awakened.”
I shook my head, looking down at Seon-i.
“Seon-a. Awakening isn’t something anyone chooses. It just happens randomly—”
“No. Not everyone receives a choice. It’s a reward given to people like you—kind, righteous, and courageous.”
Seon-i spoke to me through her sobs.
My head felt numb.
Now it was certain.
The person before my eyes was definitely Seon-i.
I could roughly understand why she was doing this.
“Lee Seon has wanted to repent to Investigator Lee Yu-ji for a long time. We tried to help with that process, but we weren’t sure if Investigator Lee Yu-ji would want that—”
Just as I had felt sorry toward Seon-i all that time, Seon-i had felt sorry toward me.
I had quit my athletic career during all that time, became a hunter, and Seon-i had been growing her guilt like a snowball throughout all those years.
And Sa Gong-seong and the Hunter’s Faith had certainly played a role in nurturing that guilt.
I took Seon-i’s hand.
Just as I was about to speak, Seon-i looked up at me with desperate longing.
The same desperate plea as when she had asked me to lie for her.
“Can you forgive me?”
At those words, my throat tightened as if cotton had been stuffed down it.
I barely managed to open my mouth and answer.
“…Of course. Seon-a.”
“Thank you. Really…. Really….”
“Seon-a. Could you step out for a moment? I need to talk with the Chairman.”
I watched Sa Gong-seong without even having the chance to wipe away Seon-i’s tears.
There were far too many things I couldn’t say while Seon-i was present.
As Seon-i hesitated, Sa Gong-seong smiled gently and poured tea into his cup, mine, and Seol Jo-yang’s.
“What a shame. Have the former priest prepare a separate cup of tea for Sister Lee Seon.”
Soon Seon-i brushed past me, her hand resting on my shoulder.
Our eyes met in the empty space between us, then tore apart.
I felt that moment replay as if in slow motion.
I wanted to hold onto Seon-i.
I wanted to hold her and cry together.
I wanted to tell her I was sorry too, to pour everything out while sobbing.
But I didn’t.
I—
“What exactly are you plotting right now.”
I knew the awakening that had descended upon me was not a choice.
It was merely the status window’s interference.

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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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