The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 97

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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 097

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“What kind of evidence is that?”
Choi Woo-jin looked down at Lee Yu-ji with an unreadable gaze.
No matter how hard he tried to shake her off, Lee Yu-ji wouldn’t budge.
Lee Yu-ji stood before him with formidable strength, using the handcuffs as leverage.
She gripped the handcuffs that connected their wrists together.
Her fingertips touched the spot where his pulse thrummed.
Every time he saw Lee Yu-ji, an uncomfortable emotion that had been overflowing from deep within his chest surged up more violently upon meeting her here.
Four arms swaying before his eyes.
Thick blood dripping down steadily.
A pungent, fishy odor that pricked his nose—whether it was the smell of oil, blood, or the scent of torn metal, he couldn’t tell.
Such things still lingered here.
This place.
Where his parents had died.
Above all else, the smell of overwhelming guilt remained.
“How did you find this place?”
“Well—”
“You attached a spider to me. That thing you always use. Not a hacking program, but something like an eye, right?”
‘Damn it.’
Choi Woo-jin nearly cursed aloud.
She’d figured it out that far?
He should have realized it from when she solved countless cases with that seemingly foolish expression.
That seemingly foolish manner of speaking, expression, and behavior—it was all an act.
He wasn’t the only one skilled at acting.
At least his regression hadn’t been exposed.
There was no way anyone could deduce something like that in the first place.
Then wasn’t this actually working out well?
Suddenly, Choi Woo-jin thought such a thing.
And he wrapped his hand around Lee Yu-ji’s wrist, the one holding the handcuffs.
Maintaining a taut distance between them, the handcuffs that had been cutting into both their wrists drew closer toward Choi Woo-jin’s side.
The moment the handcuffs no longer dug into their wrists.
“Yeah.”
Choi Woo-jin spoke while gripping Lee Yu-ji’s wrist.
He felt her pulse.
He thought it would be racing frantically—
But it was slower than expected, which irritated him.
“So things are good now.”
“What…?”
Lee Yu-ji’s eyes grew clouded.
As Choi Woo-jin pulled at her wrist, their bodies drew close enough that the lantern she held cast its beam directly before his eyes.
In that torrent of light, Choi Woo-jin recalled a woman who had approached him.
Han Seong-ye.
He had never forgotten that name tag. Not for a long time.
“Officer, do we have to leave Mom and Dad here?”
Officer.
That five-year-old child, still calling the woman “officer,” had spoken with innocent simplicity, and the police officer had answered with composure.
“Everyone must leave behind the people they love at some point. It came early for you, but there’s no need to feel wronged.”
That police officer—she had no hesitation speaking to a five-year-old child.
“Someday, I’ll have to leave my daughter behind too.”
I only understood what those words meant much later.
In that blinding light, he traced over Lee Yu-ji’s eyes, nose, and mouth.
“Does she resemble her?”
No—
Honestly, not much at all.
Perhaps the nose bore some resemblance, but the rest seemed to take after the maternal side.
Here stood the daughter of that woman who had so casually pulled him from between the corpses of his dead parents and let him live.
So this was an opportunity.
Choi Woo-jin smiled at that thought.
“I’ll help you. You help me. Let’s use each other. What’s wrong with that?”
An opportunity for Choi Woo-jin to take revenge on Han Seong-ye.
Her daughter should know for longer what the guilt of those left behind truly feels like.
With that thought, he gazed at Lee Yu-ji.
Looking again, she did seem to resemble her.
Especially those tightly pressed lips.

* * *
[Why? Did something happen to your sister?]
Kwon Ik-seong answered expressionlessly to the voice coming through the receiver.
“No, it’s not that— I’m out right now, and I wanted to ask her for a favor if she was home, but she didn’t answer her phone.”
[I thought she had that appointment with you, Inspector Kwon. Did she meet another man in the meantime?]
At Lee Yu-gyeom’s words, Kwon Ik-seong gazed at his expressionless face in the side mirror and spoke.
“She went out with a man?”
[Oh, no, it’s not like that. She just went alone. It looked like she called a taxi, but it seems she’s drinking with friends and sleeping at their place. I don’t really know my sister’s friends’ numbers…]
“You don’t know?”
At that question, Lee Yu-gyeom’s words caught in his throat.
Kwon Ik-seong could instinctively sense that his words had flustered Yu-gyeom.
[After that incident, it’s become the unwritten rule not to ask too much about Lee Yu-ji’s personal life…]
That incident.
Lee Yu-gyeom only referred to it that way, but Kwon Ik-seong had a rough idea of what it was.
It must be about that event that made Inspector Lee Yu-ji quit taekwondo.
Since she had dreamed of being an athlete for so long, all her human relationships would have revolved around that world, as they do for all students pursuing sports and arts.
Friends, lovers, coaches.
They were all connected, but when everything shattered in an instant, some remained while others left.
So in a situation where he didn’t know specifically who stayed and who left, it became awkward for the younger brother to ask who his sister was meeting.
“I know.”
Kwon Ik-seong still gazed at the side mirror, leaning the back of his head slightly against the headrest.
“I just got a call. From Team Leader Pee.”
[Team Leader Pee?]
“Yeah. Inspector Lee Yu-ji’s partner. The two of them are drinking together, and it seems he just called me.”
[Ah… I see.]
Hearing the relieved tone in his voice, Kwon Ik-seong clenched his jaw for a moment.
His jaw muscles twitched faintly.
[That’s a relief.]
“Sorry for calling late.”
[No, it’s fine. These things happen. Good luck.]
“Good luck…?”
[Just be careful about workplace romance… I’ve been hoping my sister would get out of being single soon anyway. I’d just be happy if there was someone decent around her.]
“Ah. Yeah.”
Kwon Ik-seong recalled those bright, sparkling eyes as she drank the beverage he had bought her.
Ham I-na, whom he had briefly met in the lobby, said that Lee Yu-gyeom didn’t resemble Lee Yu-ji at all, but Kwon Ik-seong thought the two were remarkably similar.
In that subtle softness they both possessed.
In the way that goodness in their eyes seemed like it would never be extinguished.
It was something you could feel without even using a skill.
“Yeah. I’ll do my best. Thanks.”
Kwon Ik-seong said that and hung up the phone.
What I confirmed from this call was one thing: Investigator Lee Yu-ji hadn’t gone to a public institution to obtain a death-in-service certificate.
In the first place, a death-in-service certificate isn’t issued immediately upon application, and there’s no reason to go in person to submit one.
Kwon Ik-seong knew this fact but deliberately didn’t press the issue.
I thought she must have something she wanted to hide.
I wondered how much she wanted to hide it if she’d cover it up with talk of her parents.
But an odd sensation touched him.
This time it was definitely a skill.
That “Focus” which had revealed his father’s infidelity without him even trying to use it—it moved of its own accord.
The Incheon City data that Lee Yu-ji had gone so far as to become a Slime to uncover.
And the clues about unregistered dungeons contained within that data.
Based on that, I had been conducting my own investigation as well.
After Go Cheol-won became a Dungeon Management Department employee in Incheon, I prioritized examining the places where Dungeon Breaks had frequently occurred.
And after Go Cheol-won became mayor, I looked at lands that were bound as “Development Restriction Zones” or purchased by local governments.
There were overlapping parcels.
But since they were all under local government jurisdiction, it was difficult to commence a search without sending a cooperation request document.
‘Difficult to commence a search.’
The moment I recalled that sentence, it was no coincidence that Investigator Lee Yu-ji came to mind.
Whenever it became difficult to commence a search, whenever an obstacle appeared that Kwon Ik-seong—who upheld principles and rules—couldn’t overcome, Lee Yu-ji did something.
She risked her own life. Dangerously.
And I looked at Investigator Lee Yu-ji’s computer because of that intuition.
A password was far too simple to crack.
dlrtjd84
I don’t know why exactly, but it was his name. The 84 at the end was probably his birthday.
I noticed it because of her habit of turning her body to look at me before entering the password whenever I was nearby.
Six English letters, two numbers.
Normally it would be a combination of name and birthday, but I realized it was a combination she didn’t want to show me.
So when I opened Lee Yu-ji’s computer with that password, a map window was already open.
Incheon City, Michuhol-gu, Dohwa-daero XX-gil, XX.
…And in that window was a single photograph of a gloomy-looking tree on some large mountain.

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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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