The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 76

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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 076

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This arrest operation was actually quite straightforward for me.
The Cheongdam-dong Joker from the Slime’s testimony.
He was a criminal hunter with a prior record, making his location easy to track down.
Since he hadn’t been handed over to the Hunter Investigation Unit for minor misdemeanors, it was possible to trace his vehicle registration and burner phone usage.
He was a C-rank hunter who possessed the ‘Face Change’ skill.
The problem was that since this ‘Face Change’ skill was useless for hunting monsters, he’d begun exploiting it for criminal purposes.
The ‘Face Change’ skill—or the so-called ‘Joker’ skill—wasn’t simply a skill that transformed the caster’s face into any desired appearance.
It was a skill that scanned a target after prolonged contact and then swapped the caster’s face and body with that person’s—exactly the kind of skill that practically begged to be used for crime.
And naturally, the Joker had exploited his skill to commit various frauds and illegal acts, with his most despicable crime being this.
He would scan the faces of ‘clients’ he connected as a broker between sellers and then blackmail them.
His primary targets were women.
It was undoubtedly the filthiest, most repugnant crime imaginable, and I certainly viewed such a criminal as depraved.
But personal feelings are one thing, and work is another.
I maintained a clear distinction between public and private matters. It was a conviction built up over years of working as an investigator.
Surprisingly, catching criminals often involves blurred boundaries.
Is this a crime? Or isn’t it?
Is this person a victim? Or a perpetrator?
When personal emotions mix into such judgments, reasoning instantly veers into arbitrary directions.
I don’t believe there exists some perfectly impartial standard in this world.
At the very least, it’s better to believe such a standard exists and pretend to follow it.
However—
‘Damn it.’
Lee Yu-ji’s eyes began to blaze as she watched the Hongdae Mudfish subtly touching women’s bodies inside the club using his ‘Slip’ skill.
A premonition that something was going wrong came over me, but for some reason, I wanted to just let her be.
This was a problem.
Whenever Lee Yu-ji was involved, my every judgment became tainted with subjective interpretation.
And today was no exception.
“If I go in there, would just one hit be enough?”
Lee Yu-ji, dressed in a security uniform obtained by intimidating the club manager, gazed up at me desperately in front of the VIP room.
“Intentionally striking a suspect during an arrest is a crime.”
“Usually! When! You’re making an arrest! People struggle with each other! And sometimes! Bruises happen! Doesn’t that happen…?”
Lee Yu-ji’s excited voice gradually grew quieter.
Seeing that, I shifted my gaze ever so slightly to look at her.
And I spoke one last time.
“In cases where physical confrontation becomes unavoidable, an investigator may exercise the right to self-defense to protect their own body.”
“…!”
I watched as Lee Yu-ji’s lips curved upward ever so slightly, and her fists clenched tightly.
And I pretended not to notice.
The moment Hongdae Mudfish brought a potential victim into the VIP room, Lee Yu-ji drove a straight punch directly into his face.
“Ugh! Who are you! What are you doing!”
“Argh, why is this so slippery! I can’t get a grip! Impossible to apprehend!”
Lee Yu-ji continued to kick and relentlessly pummel the Mudfish’s face, complaining about the difficulty of the arrest even though he didn’t seem to be using his skill.
Ham I-na watched Lee Yu-ji and finally asked Kwon Ik-seong a question.
“Will she be alright?”
“…The Mudfish becomes difficult to apprehend when he uses his skill.”
“…!”
Ham I-na looked at Kwon Ik-seong with considerable surprise, but he offered no further explanation.
Instead, he simply waited for the Mudfish to take a thorough beating from Lee Yu-ji before handcuffing him.
Ham I-na approached to help Kwon Ik-seong.
Observing the battered faces of the Mudfish and the Joker, Ham I-na frowned briefly and found herself thinking.
That Investigator Lee Yu-ji was starting to resemble ‘someone.’
And that ‘someone’ was Pee So-won, who had subdued Baek Sang-jin with just a single word on the first day of the Special Team, when he had caused trouble.
Team Leader Pee So-won.
Ham I-na had heard strange rumors about her more than once.
That the renowned sharpshooter had pretended it was an accident and precisely shot off the criminal’s genitals, or that she had thrown an arrogant audit team employee from the Hunter Management Office out a window—
These bizarre rumors were famous among her peers, but unfortunately Lee Yu-ji didn’t know about them since she wasn’t particularly close with the others.
Ham I-na was the only one who could have told her, but she kept her mouth shut.
Regardless.
‘Do partners really grow to resemble each other…?’
With such thoughts, Ham I-na suddenly asked Lee Yu-ji a question.
“But how exactly do you keep physically overpowering D-rank and C-rank Hunters when you’re supposedly F-rank…?”
Lee Yu-ji’s eyes rolled back momentarily before returning to their usual vacant state, and she tilted her head.
“That’s what I’m wondering too…? It wasn’t like this during the fitness test?”
“….”
Though she spoke as if she didn’t know herself, I had a rough idea of the reason.
I had witnessed how, the moment Lee Yu-ji’s eyes rolled back, her body moved beyond her own strength.
That wasn’t body enhancement.
It was someone who had trained their body for an exceptionally long time.
Someone who could control each muscle with precision and could read both their opponent’s and their own breathing.
Such people sometimes drew their muscles beyond their normal capacity, much like when I use my ‘Focus’ skill.
Lee Yu-ji was precisely one of those people, and
whenever she did, Lee Yu-ji seemed as if—
‘she were in a competition arena.’
I had once seen a video of Lee Yu-ji’s competition.
In that footage, she truly seemed to be flying.
It appeared to be from her high school days, and she wielded her footwork with remarkable freedom, easily subduing her still-inexperienced opponent.
Though she claimed it wasn’t particularly impressive skill, no matter how I looked at it, she had the appearance of a promising athlete.
However—
Comment
She’s disgusting, going from rock bottom after assaulting a fellow athlete to barely surviving through her coach’s connections, and now she’s selling the taekwondo girl image ㅋㅋㅋ
From the comments, I could infer there was some backstory to all this.
What that backstory was, I had no need to know.
Lee Yu-ji didn’t seem to want to talk about it either.
Right now, there was only one thing I needed to know.
“Have you seen this face before?”
Getting the seller’s face from the Hongdae Mudfish and Joker who were huddled together.
And when I showed them the photo of the illegal weapons dealer suspect I’d deduced through the Slime’s testimony, that’s when it happened.
A loud noise came from outside.
Boom boom boom boom!
The DJ sound that used to pound against the heart now blared with enough force to shred the eardrums instead.
The moment I furrowed my brow, Lee Yu-ji opened the door to check what was happening outside.
And the instant she opened it, a man breathing heavily poked his face through the doorway she’d opened.
Their faces were close.
At the same time, the man grinned and tilted his head.
“Huh? It’s Lee Yu-ji. Investigator Lee Yu-ji.”
A black piercing gleamed in the ears of the man reeking of alcohol.
“Wow… they’re here too. I came to buy something fun. Hehe…”
Choi Woo-jin.
The moment I recalled that name, Choi Woo-jin’s body, unable to steady itself, collapsed forward onto Lee Yu-ji.
His breath touched her left cheek.
Lee Yu-ji’s fine facial hair trembled in the man’s alcohol-scented breath.
Just as I was about to grab Choi Woo-jin’s shoulder and twist it—
Choi Woo-jin whispered near Lee Yu-ji’s ear.
“The real fun was here all along.”
Lee Yu-ji’s eyes widened at those words.
A certain thought flashed through Lee Yu-ji’s mind in an instant.
‘Can you save me?’
Special Side Story 2.
That very thing I’d seen yesterday.
A description of young Choi Woo-jin’s appearance from within it.
That boy shed no tears and showed no fear in his eyes. As if he’d known this moment would come, he spoke with a face aged beyond his years.
It bothers me.
It bothers me—
‘It reminded me of myself on some day.’
That was the moment Lee Yu-ji thought that.
“Investigator Lee Yu-ji…”
I heard my own voice.
And at that moment, something cold touched Choi Woo-jin’s wrist.
“…?”
As the bewildered Choi Woo-jin looked down, he found handcuffs fastened around his wrist.
Choi Woo-jin gazed down at Lee Yu-ji, the investigator who perpetually wore a vacant expression.
She spoke with that characteristic face of hers, as though a screw were loose somewhere.
“This is your second arrest, Choi Woo-jin.”

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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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