The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 238

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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 238
“Abuse of authority?”
“Yes. I threatened the Former Priest with a gun.”
“…!”
Threatened? That word didn’t suit Ik-seong at all.
“I used a firearm while not on duty.”
And with a gun, no less?
I was momentarily flustered, but I quickly regained my composure.
“But that was to save me….”
I knew nothing about Ik-seong’s personal affairs.
Such things never appeared in the ‘original work,’ after all.
If he had such a past, it was only natural that he wouldn’t like his own abilities.
No, wait.
‘There must have been people who wanted to use that ability recklessly.’
There were certainly people who became twisted and tried to develop their abilities in worse ways.
But Ik-seong was not like that.
He always tried to use his abilities for good—
“Yes, that’s correct.”
But the moment I saw Ik-seong’s expression, I could only close my mouth.
“I didn’t use my abilities and my weapon for Lee Yu-ji the investigator, but to save Lee Yu-ji herself. It wasn’t even inside a dungeon, and I wasn’t even certain what kind of danger Lee Yu-ji was in. I abused my strength and my authority for very personal reasons.”
“If it’s for very personal reasons….”
“Aren’t you continuing to speak?”
Ik-seong looked at me quietly.
So I could tell right away.
That confession I had buried for a moment—
‘I have feelings for Lee Yu-ji the investigator.’
…That was the very personal reason.
“I like Lee Yu-ji the investigator.”
When Ik-seong said those words, he didn’t seem to tremble.
He didn’t seem shy either.
He just….
‘Looked full of self-loathing.’
“Manager.”
Watching Ik-seong crumble rapidly, I had no idea what to do.
“If I want to save Lee Yu-ji the investigator, I will break my principles again. I will break the law and ignore morality. I didn’t twist the Former Priest’s wrist believing his hand would grow back.”
He twisted the Former Priest’s wrist?
“I would have done it even if that person could never use his wrist again.”
Kwon Ik-seong lowered his head, unable to meet my eyes like someone confessing a crime.
“I told Lee Yu-ji the investigator to use me, but I will end up doing it. I will end up using Lee Yu-ji the investigator.”
“You haven’t done that.”
Without realizing it, I brought my hand down sharply on the interrogation room desk.
I clenched my fist.
“Inspector Lee Yu-ji.”
Kwon Ik-seong lifted his head.
“What I’m about to say means….”
Ik-seong gazed at my hand resting on the desk for a moment.
He extended his hand toward mine.
He nearly touched my hand but stopped just before it.
“If I come to desire your affection, I will inevitably use you. And that….”
Ik-seong withdrew his hand.
“It’s now. Starting this very moment, I will become a dangerous person to you.”
Ik-seong pulled away from me.
I wanted to hold onto him.
But I didn’t know how to stop him.
You’re not a dangerous person to me?
You’re not that kind of person?
The emotions you feel are perfectly natural, and anyone could feel the same way?
And then what?
So…we….
That was when it happened.
The interrogation room door burst open and Pee So-won entered.
“Did you find out anything?”
At Pee So-won’s question, I looked at Ik-seong.
Ik-seong, whose face had completely crumbled moments before, quickly composed himself perfectly and looked at Pee So-won.
With that impassive expression.
“Not yet.”
“So you two just sat around chatting? I told you to stop pestering my partner.”
Pestering, my foot…!
I was about to say that.
Kwon Ik-seong looked at Pee So-won calmly and spoke.
“I’ll make an effort.”
“What?”
“I’ve decided to make an effort not to pester her.”
“…!”
Leaving Pee So-won’s bewildered face behind, Ik-seong asked me.
“Then tell me. About the conversation you had with Sa Gong-seong. You said there might be something that could serve as a clue, didn’t you?”
Pee So-won seemed to have more to say, but I had no choice but to look at Ik-seong and speak.
“Well…. I met Seol Ok-gyun’s adopted daughter. She said her name was Seol Jo-yang.”
My mind was completely scattered by Ik-seong’s ‘confession,’ but I decided to set that aside for now.
What mattered right now was solving this mystery.
According to Park Min-bae, the password was designed so that the PC would explode if someone attempted to unlock it more than three times.
“Seol Jo-yang… Well, since that’s related to Seol Ok-gyun, could the name be connected to Jo-yang?”
“That’s not related to Sa Gong-seong. It’s connected to Seol Ok-gyun.”
Pee So-won nodded at my response.
“Sa Gong-seong wouldn’t have set the same password on both PCs. One was prepared for Seol Ok-gyun’s secrets, and the other was recorded by the Hunter’s Faith from the Guild’s perspective.”
“So here’s the thing… The laptop password has some predictable keywords.”
‘When dawn becomes morning, you shall know the will of the sacred heavens.’
‘When the daybreak comes.’
I recalled the strange hymn lyrics and what Seol Jo-yang had said when I was possessing Sa Gong-seong.
“Daybreak.”
I spoke while looking at Kwon Ik-seong and Pee So-won.
“The word ‘daybreak’ kept appearing repeatedly. At first, I thought it was just symbolic, but I suspect it might be something like a day of judgment, similar to the rapture mentioned in other cults. They probably have a specific date set for themselves.”
It was a conjecture I’d been developing all along.
The suspicion that the word “daybreak” didn’t simply mean a religious symbol.
Otherwise, Seol Jo-yang wouldn’t have answered so directly with the word “daybreak.”
It’s not common to directly refer to the time between dawn and morning as “daybreak.”
“So I’m thinking there might be a number that ‘daybreak’ represents.”
If that’s the case, there’s only one possibility.
I need to convert daybreak into numbers.
And the simplest way to do that is—
“0412314.”
Converting letters to numbers.
“April 12th at 23:14? That does look like a date and time.”
Pee So-won said.
I thought so too, but—
That’s when I looked at Kwon Ik-seong.
“If it’s an anagram, it could be different.”
An anagram.
A cipher method where letters are randomly scrambled to form a correct word.
“If it’s daybreak, that’s the time just before sunrise. 12140341. This is also possible.”
December 14th, 3:41 AM.
That’s too dark to call it daybreak.
“Isn’t there one more? January 24th… at 4:31 AM.”
When I asked, Pee So-won interjected.
“There’s another way. Among these, there’s a date, and the time matches the daybreak hour. For example, the daybreak time on December 14th. In December, daybreak would be around 6 or 7 AM.”
Both Kwon Ik-seong’s and my faces hardened.
Pee So-won looked at us both and spoke.
“So what do we do? We only get three attempts.”
What do we do?
Kwon Ik-seong looked at me.
“Let Inspector Lee Yu-ji decide.”
“Huh?”
Why. Why. Why me?
When I panicked, Pee So-won spoke up.
“Okay.”
“No, why? Why am I suddenly getting thrown under the bus as the youngest here?”
“You caused this mess. And—”
Pee So-won perched diagonally on the interrogation room desk, looking down at me.
“You’re the one who spoke directly with Sa Gong-seong and Seol Jo-yang. I trust your instincts.”
“I agree with that assessment.”
Kwon Ik-seong added as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
At those words, I hesitated briefly before opening my mouth.
“Are you really asking me to do this?”
“Right now it’s just a numbers game anyway. If we can’t crack this quickly, we’ll be on the receiving end of a counterattack. They probably already know roughly what information is in here.”
“In my opinion….”
I reached for the laptop.
Then I set it aside and quietly picked up the tablet PC instead.
“…?”
“I think it’s this one. 01240431.”
No matter how I looked at it, that number combination was it.
“It looks like a tablet PC pattern unlock.”
And thinking about it that way, this number combination came closest to connecting the dots on the tablet screen.
Any other combination had too many overlapping lines.
“That… I didn’t expect….”
Before Pee So-won could even finish saying she hadn’t anticipated this, I began drawing the pattern on the tablet’s lock screen.
Like dialing a phone number,
0
1
2
4
0
4
3
1
And in that moment.
Click.
With a cheerful chime, the tablet screen’s lock disengaged.

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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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