The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 96

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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 096
What had Team Leader Han said when he first laid eyes on that background?
‘Is that some kind of dungeon accessory? Will it make any money?’
‘We’ve collected sap samples and examined the leaves, but nothing came up. Should we cut it down?’
‘Leave it for now. Just clear away what’s in the way of where we’re placing the containers.’
When Team Leader Han tapped the tree trunk, there was no reaction whatsoever.
It was difficult to regard it as something alive.
It looked like a dead tree, and sometimes it appeared to be nothing more than the background of a dungeon—a false landscape, in other words.
But now, these things were clearly alive.
And moreover—
‘Those are Druids…!’
Probably B-rank or higher, possibly even A-rank if things went well, these creatures easily ensnared Team Leader Han and the other humans as their strength drained away, and finally reached out toward a woman.
More precisely, it was the smallest tree among them—the one with sparse leaves and bare branches.
It seized Lee Yu-ji and the Slime.
As if cradling something precious.
Then, holding them close, it walked slowly across the earth using its roots.
The tree moved toward a wall of the cave.
The wall trembled, and moss-covered stones piled there came tumbling down.
A massive tree root emerged from within. The root curved to the side, creating a circular opening.
Then the tree holding Lee Yu-ji and the Slime looked upward.
As if offering gratitude to the owner of that root.
Soon the tree entered the opening.

* * *
And then ‘I’ open my eyes.
When I opened them, a dark space that had grown even colder came into view.
I exhaled white breath as I looked down at Kang Si-bang cradled in my arms.
Kang Si-bang retched as if he couldn’t bear it any longer.
[Bwaaaagh!]
Along with Kang Si-bang’s viscous slime secretion, the ledger shot out remarkably well-preserved.
I muttered to Kang Si-bang while observing it.
“Thank you… Kang Si-bang…”
I felt like I was about to lose consciousness.
Or rather, I had already lost consciousness.
The sensation in my fingertips still hadn’t returned due to the neurotoxin’s effects.
I was grateful I’d regained awareness at all.
I soon found myself staring at a blocked wall and a single tree standing before it like a barrier.
That had been ‘me’.
As I gazed at that form, I suddenly turned my head toward the light shooting from behind.
At the far end of the dark space, where buildings and sewage pipes seemed to have split open, revealing rebar, concrete, and rusted pipes, a man was walking toward me.
And behind that man, I could see a car pierced through with rebar, completely mangled.
So ancient that the broken windows were covered in a hazy layer of dust.
And as the man glanced at that car, he spoke.
“It looks like some kind of accident happened here.”
With the man’s words, I realize his identity.
Or rather, I already knew.
That this man would come here.
That he would definitely find me.
“But Inspector Lee Yu-ji, why did you come here?”
For a moment, the man’s face is obscured by the light shooting toward me.
I too pulled out the lantern from my pocket and shone it toward him.
Then sharp eyes, distinct features, and a face that for some reason bore not a single smile were revealed.
The playful fox-like impression had vanished somewhere, leaving only an emotionless handsome face in its place.
Choi Woo-jin.
He doesn’t even squint at the light shooting from the lantern.
I spoke to him.
“Didn’t you come for a similar reason?”
I knew where this place was.
This was it.
The place where Choi Woo-jin’s parents were murdered under the guise of an accident.
And—
‘Can you… save me?’
The place where young Choi Woo-jin had asked my mother this question.
My mother, holding the lantern like this, had answered Choi Woo-jin in that very way.
‘Yes.’
That five-year-old child who gazed at Han Seong-ye with faint hope and deep guilt no longer exists.
Standing here now is merely a withered adult man consumed by vengeance.
He asked with a rotten smile.
“Similar reasons… what does that mean?”
I wrapped my trembling hands—quivering from the nerve toxin—around myself as I spoke.
“…Could you please help me up? It hurts so much…”
At my petulant voice, Choi Woo-jin, who had been expressionless, slowly lowered the lantern to examine my condition.
Though honestly, his gaze seemed to drift toward the ledger before my hands.
What could I do about a man like that?
With that thought, I extended my uninjured hand toward Choi Woo-jin.
With the most harmless expression I could muster.
Then Choi Woo-jin hesitated slightly before grasping my hand.
And in that moment.
I snapped handcuffs onto Choi Woo-jin’s wrist.
Click.
…?
Choi Woo-jin’s brow furrowed.
“What are you—”
“What do you think? It means I found what I was looking for.”
I spoke as I freed my trembling hand from the nerve toxin, pulling it away from the handcuffs.
Then I addressed Choi Woo-jin in a flat voice.
“You came here looking for something too, didn’t you, you bastard.”
“…”
“The Gamer. That’s you, isn’t it?”
I spoke in a cold voice as I stared at the window materializing before my eyes.
Congratulations! You have completed the Quest ‘Capture the Gamer (S)’ and received your reward!
Damn it.
I’ve been released from sudden death.
I’m alive, Mother.

* * *
I considered two possibilities.
One was that Choi Woo-jin didn’t know the relationship between my mother and me.
The other was that Choi Woo-jin did know the relationship between my mother and me.
Well, the latter overwhelmingly won out.
So that’s why he spoke as if he knew me when we first met.
And it was highly likely he’d been aware of me even in his past life.
Though his desire to keep me alive probably wasn’t all that desperate.
Just the thought that the daughter of his benefactor should survive this time around—something like that.
‘Which means in the Gamer’s first life, I died one way or another.’
Sadly, it seemed I was always fated to die.
No matter what.
Thinking about it that way, I could understand what Kwon Ik-seong had said to some degree.
His misunderstanding that the Gamer ‘liked’ me.
The Gamer has an interest in me.
Not only did the daughter of his benefactor survive contrary to the previous life, but she’s also alive and moving, creating various variables different from the past.
‘He’d want to exploit me somehow.’
That’s why Choi Woo-jin kept tracking my movements and Kwon Ik-seong’s.
It wouldn’t be just watching me within the office.
‘He definitely used his skill.’
If that’s the case, then the data I see and my location are being hacked in real-time continuously.
Which means from the moment I started this undercover investigation, Choi Woo-jin would have been monitoring me.
One way or another.
And even if the Dungeon Connected to the Sacred Tree is difficult to enter, once he identified its location, he would have devised a way to reach me.
What connects from there is precisely this massive sinkhole-like Dungeon Break Pit.
This place where Choi Woo-jin’s parents died serves as a storage facility connected to that Sacred Tree’s dungeon.
After the incident, this pit was sealed due to the possibility of additional Dungeon Breaks and has been used as an item storage by Go Cheol-won.
I confirmed that from Go Cheol-won’s files, and I left hints on my computer so that Choi Woo-jin, who would be monitoring my work PC, could see them.
So Choi Woo-jin had no choice but to appear at this pit.
Because he had to find me.
Lee Yu-ji, the greatest variable in Choi Woo-jin’s life—it would be a waste to just let her die.
That was my gamble.
The stakes I put down were the completion of this Quest.
A golden opportunity to have a conversation alone with Choi Woo-jin in a place with no one around and reveal that he’s the Gamer.
Choi Woo-jin released my hand without a single change in expression.
“You have proof?”
My body nearly collapsed, but I held on using the force of the handcuff connecting my wrist to Choi Woo-jin’s.
My wrist throbbed as if it might snap, but it had to be the same for him.
I managed to stay on my feet without falling.
And breathing heavily, I spoke.
“You found me, didn’t you? That’s the proof.”

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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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