The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 77

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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 077
The privilege obtained at the cost of my life held little substance in Special Side Story 2.
Or should I say there was nothing special about it, or perhaps I was missing some hidden meaning again?
Special Side Story 2 featured a five-year-old Choi Woo-jin.
A five-year-old Choi Woo-jin.
The special side story began with a description of the young boy’s feet not touching the ground, his small calves swinging through the air.
From that point alone, I was overwhelmed by the thought that I didn’t want to see this.
Because I already knew how this story would end.
“Mommy, mommy. The airplane we’re riding is called Boeing. Boeing.”
“I know. You’ve said that so many times.”
The young boy’s mother giggled.
It was the five-year-old boy’s first time riding an airplane.
Like any boy his age, whenever he went to a parking lot, he would become absorbed in a game of guessing car models by looking at their hoods, and he showed great interest not just in cars but also in airplanes and trains.
Of course, there was one aspect that wasn’t ordinary about the boy.
“Why would Father suddenly invite us all to a resort?”
“…Honey.”
“I don’t mean it as a complaint, it’s just… Father, he…”
The boy’s father glanced at the boy sitting in the back seat and lowered his voice.
He spoke with a sigh mixed into his tone.
“…doesn’t really like me, does he?”
The fact that the boy was Choi Woo-jin.
Yes, that was already far from ordinary.
The boy’s grandfather was Choi Jun-gu, and during the golden age of the first generation of Hunters, Choi Jun-gu had obtained a very special artifact.
That special artifact was one that granted the power of awakening to the descendants of whoever possessed it.
“An artifact perfectly suited for creating an Awakened Clan Group.”
I recalled having that impression while reading the main story.
Regardless.
The problem was Choi Woo-jin’s father, Choi Kyeong-hoe.
Choi Woo-jin’s father had not inherited Choi Jun-gu’s power, and for that reason, he had always been looked upon with disfavor by his own father.
It wasn’t simply because he hadn’t awakened.
Since awakening was hereditary, he had been suspected of perhaps not being his father’s biological son.
Even after a genetic test was completed, that suspicion persisted.
Growing up as an ugly duckling in this way, Choi Kyeong-hoe began to go astray entirely.
Working as a journalist, he reported on the misconduct of Hunters, and his investigations spared no sacred ground.
Even the Daeyang Group and the Hunter Association became subjects of his investigations.
As a result, the already strained relationship between father and son became completely severed.
“This time, why don’t you try to get along well? If you make an effort, who knows what might happen.”
“I can get along with Father anytime. The problem is Father himself.”
Choi Kyeong-hoe said as much, but then he widened his eyes and fell silent as he watched the just-turned-five-year-old Choi Woo-jin, who was gauging his parents’ moods.
“…I understand.”
So that day wasn’t particularly special either.
The discord between people who didn’t get along remained the same, the affection of parents cherishing their five-year-old son remained the same, and the car continued smoothly down the straight road leading to Incheon Bridge.
Whether someone had exceeded the speed limit or run a red light, a police car stood on the shoulder, and Choi Woo-jin gazed at it with curious eyes, while Choi Kyeong-hoe teased him for it.
‘The police officers must have come to catch Woo-jin because he did something wrong. Hide!’
Then Choi Woo-jin giggled and ducked down.
So even that was ordinary.
An ordinary day.
An extraordinary event happening on such a day.
Throughout reading Special Side Story 2, I couldn’t escape a sense of déjà vu.
My parents passed away on a day like that too.
An ordinary day.
So ordinary that I felt I would never forget that very ordinariness.
Screeeeeech—
The car Choi Woo-jin was riding in suddenly stopped.
‘What is that…’
What is that. Even these words couldn’t continue.
A sinkhole began forming on the road.
Since there were no cars coming from either direction, Choi Kyeong-hoe began reversing the car.
But the sinkhole expanded faster than the car’s reverse speed.
A sudden dungeon break.
After the Great Calamity, people had become quite accustomed to disasters and believed they could control them.
The Hunter Management Office had previously controlled and managed areas where dungeon breaks were likely to occur.
But some disasters are designed to be unavoidable.
The car was swallowed in an instant.
None of the three screamed.
The Special Side Story transitions to the next scene there.
‘Police officer?’
It was a person in uniform who responded to Choi Woo-jin’s faint voice.
‘Yes.’
Choi Woo-jin soon realized the responding voice was a woman’s.
The police officer spoke to Choi Woo-jin with the composure characteristic of her profession.
‘Are you hurt anywhere?’
‘What about Mom? What about Dad?’
But Choi Woo-jin answered the question with a question.
The police officer hesitated for a moment before answering.
‘…They’re not breathing.’
At those words, Choi Woo-jin looked toward the front seats in his overturned field of vision.
Actually, it was an angle he could have seen from before, but he had deliberately avoided looking.
But when the flashlight the police officer was holding pointed toward the passenger and driver seats, it became clearly visible.
The front windshield of the car pierced by a protruding structure jutting from the dungeon exterior wall.
Blood stains.
And four dangling arms, pale and ghastly blue.
‘Officer. Officer.’
Young Woo-jin asked. Even though he knew the man wasn’t an officer.
‘What did I do wrong? Is that why I’m being punished?’
No answer came.
‘Can you… let me live?’
An answer came to that.
‘Yes.’

* * *
The investigator’s official vehicle reeked entirely of Choi Woo-jin’s alcohol.
Kwon Ik-seong sat in the driver’s seat, and I was pressed against Choi Woo-jin’s side, marking him closely.
Ham I-na was transporting the two criminals in another vehicle.
The reason it turned out this way was—
‘Because I put the handcuffs on my own wrist.’
I looked at my wrist, where the handcuff item was equipped, and Choi Woo-jin’s wrist.
And all of this was because of the Quest.
Capture the Gamer.
Wasn’t it worth trying once?
The Gamer is Choi Woo-jin, and Choi Woo-jin is the Gamer!
But the Quest completion notification didn’t appear.
So capturing him this way was pointless.
‘Wow… they’re telling me to expose Choi Woo-jin’s identity.’
It’s truly a terrifying Quest.
‘Why not just live the remaining two months to the fullest? Huh?’
After putting on the handcuffs, I even tried holding his hand out of curiosity, but it was all useless.
Grasping a part of his body didn’t work either.
It just left me feeling disgusted.
The hot, rough skin touching my palm and fingers.
The skin of a living person.
To learn the past of someone who was merely a protagonist in a novel—and a somewhat unlikeable one at that—and then have this kind of contact…
It was utterly repulsive.
Why on earth did they bring that as a reward?
Special Interlude 1 had a direct connection to the Quest.
Moreover, since it showed an altered future, it could be said to have been quite helpful for the Quest.
But this time, it had nothing to do with the Quest and showed the past rather than the future.
‘Why on earth…?’
Wasn’t Choi Woo-jin losing his parents in an accident at age five already mentioned in the main text?
Why show it in such excruciating detail? What kind of twisted taste is that?
I recalled the final part of Special Side Story 2.
And soon the police officer approached the young boy.
The police officer’s face, which had been obscured by the flashlight she was holding, gradually became visible.
At the same time, I could see the name on the badge attached to the police officer’s chest. That name was XXX…
The final part was blurred out.
Was there something hidden there?
Could that police officer actually be some kind of major villain?
After all, that accident itself had been ‘orchestrated’ by Choi Jun-gu.
‘If I could obtain that accident file, I might be able to figure it out—’
Since it was a dungeon break that resulted in civilian casualties, the file would definitely be kept at the Hunter Management Office.
I was in the middle of planning to ask Ji Won-gil for the documents.
Suddenly, Choi Woo-jin touched my hand.
Well, not exactly grabbed it—more like brushed against it.
Choi Woo-jin had leaned toward me as far as the safety belt would allow.
He laughed in the distance reeking of strong alcohol.
“Why did you want to become a police officer, Investigator Lee Yu-ji?”
And why did you plant that dark history of ‘the reason for my life is Lee Yu-ji’ in me, you bastard!
I should just expose the Gamer identity right here and die together with you.
It was the moment I was gritting my teeth with such thoughts.
The passenger seat window came down rapidly from the front, and struck Choi Woo-jin’s head.
“…!”
At the same time, Kwon Ik-seong’s fierce gaze reflected in the rearview mirror.
“You should keep your back against the seat rest.”
So that was… a warning, wasn’t it.

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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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