The Civil Servant Who Concealed Their True Strength Turns Out to be a Master of Possession - Chapter 98
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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 098
Incheon City, Michuhol-gu, Dohwa-daero XX-gil, XX.
Kwon Ik-seong sighed as he entered that address—the one floating conspicuously in plain sight—into his navigation system, then glanced at his side mirror once more.
He rolled down his window and spoke.
“How much longer are you planning to stand there?”
At his words, a shadow concealed in the flower bed behind Kwon Ik-seong’s car revealed itself.
The shadow’s owner was Pee So-won.
Pee So-won leaned against the open passenger window with her long legs, moving swiftly.
“Can I get in now?”
“….”
Before Kwon Ik-seong could even respond, Pee So-won reached into the car and opened the passenger door herself.
Her movements were smooth and practiced—like checking a magazine and pulling a trigger—with an attitude that suggested permission was entirely unnecessary.
“You’ve been doing so many strange things with my partner. I can’t just sit still and do nothing.”
At Pee So-won’s words, Kwon Ik-seong’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Strange things, you say—”
“I’ve been thinking about it. Did you two go on a date eating together? Or did you help our Lee Yu-ji pull off one of her bizarre schemes?”
Pee So-won’s fingers traced her waistband.
A rifle rested there.
Of course, it held no live ammunition, but she’d brought the ammunition pouch with her today anyway.
“It seems you lack faith in your partner, ma’am.”
At Kwon Ik-seong’s words, Pee So-won let out a soft laugh.
“I have too much faith in my partner. Our partner is—”
Pee So-won looked at the handsome face of Kwon Ik-seong sitting beside her.
She’d noticed that Lee Yu-ji sometimes stared at this bastard’s face with her lips slightly parted.
But she also knew that if something real had happened between them, that particular look wouldn’t be there.
If you truly liked someone, you wouldn’t want to be caught.
Yet Lee Yu-ji hadn’t even attempted to hide it.
And more than anything, Lee Yu-ji was—
“Always causing trouble wherever she goes.”
Drawing the strange attention of the “Gamer.”
Pee So-won recalled the spider’s remains that Captain Hong had given her.
If the “Gamer’s” skill didn’t rely on physical programs like hacking, if “surveillance” itself was that bastard’s sinister ability, then Lee Yu-ji was essentially under the Gamer’s watchful eye right now.
And did Kwon Ik-seong not know this fact?
Did he truly not know, and hand over that delicacy to Lee Yu-ji out of genuine ignorance?
Out of actual romantic interest in Lee Yu-ji?
‘There’s no way.’
Pee So-won knew what kind of man Kwon Ik-seong was better than anyone.
Rumors swirled around Kwon Ik-seong.
Because he’d once belonged to the Hunter Management Office, and because he’d been demoted from the Hunter Management Office to the Hunter Investigation Unit—a kind of lateral transfer—people said his cold personality had caused him to fall out of favor there, which is why he’d come down here.
But the truth Pee So-won knew was different.
Kwon Ik-seong had been demoted to this position after investigating the Daeyang Guild.
He’d been reassigned after attempting to uncover the entire web of collusion between the Hunter Association and the Daeyang Guild.
Though he appeared to simply follow orders, Kwon Ik-seong was obsessed with investigation.
Not so much for justice, but rather he was conditioned by a habit of never letting go of any clue that emerged from deduction.
Pee So-won observed Kwon Ik-seong’s expressionless profile.
“And you’re the type who would exploit someone like Lee Yu-ji without hesitation if it served your investigation.”
“…You certainly see things clearly.”
Kwon Ik-seong responded with those words as he released the parking brake and shifted the gear into Drive.
“I’m heading to meet Investigator Lee Yu-ji now. Will you be coming along?”
“Do I look like I’d refuse?”
“No. I was just asking. Out of courtesy.”
At Kwon Ik-seong’s response, Pee So-won let out a hollow laugh.
The man who had always been rigid and mechanical now had something strange about him—a certain softness.
It seemed he and Lee Yu-ji had done more than just share meals together.
More than just investigations.
With that thought, Pee So-won asked him.
“Do you really like our Lee Yu-ji?”
“Yes.”
The answer came quickly.
‘As a woman?’
There was naturally a follow-up question that should have come, but when Kwon Ik-seong punched some massive tree-like landmark into the navigation system, all her thoughts evaporated.
He was going to meet Lee Yu-ji there?
* * *
“I’ll help you. You help me. Let’s use each other. What’s wrong with that?”
What’s wrong with it?
Nothing. Nothing wrong.
Actually, it was roughly the ending I wanted anyway.
Since I had one of his weaknesses in my grip, I figured negotiation with him was possible.
Normally, this insane regressor bastard would have cleanly killed off a junior investigator like me who’d learned his identity and acted as if nothing happened, but my situation was different.
‘I’m Han Seong-ye’s daughter.’
My mother saved him.
That fact would probably provoke him.
I’d anticipated that much.
But why did I feel so strange about this?
I didn’t like how his expression was twisted in such an odd way.
And the fact that he admitted his identity faster than I expected was somehow… ominous.
I put as much distance as possible between myself and Choi Woo-jin, who had drawn closer.
But thanks to the handcuffs, it was difficult to create any real separation.
“How exactly will you help?”
So what had been almost nose-to-nose became a distance where our breaths barely avoided touching.
Choi Woo-jin gave me the answer I’d expected to his question.
“I’ll boost your performance. Like you said, I can see anything and hear anything. Even from places I’m not in.”
“What are the skill’s limitations?”
I asked about his skill’s constraints even though I already knew them.
“A 10km radius.”
A lie.
It’s a lie.
Choi Woo-jin had the peculiar ability to hear the voices and see the actions of anyone whose name he knew.
Like how a novelist controls the actions and voices of people they recognize as characters.
But I pretended to think it over.
“10km is pretty far. That’s basically no constraint at all.”
“But if you’re not in the same city, I can’t see anything. Oh, by the way—”
Choi Woo-jin grinned and spoke.
“Are we going to keep talking like this? It’s like SM play, and I kind of like it.”
Choi Woo-jin deliberately toyed with the handcuffs at the mention of SM play.
Even exuding a seductive atmosphere.
Without any intention of actually seducing. The fox bastard.
“…Someone’s probably going to come soon.”
“Probably come?”
I furrowed my brow.
Then Choi Woo-jin shrugged with his characteristic languid expression.
“The investigators. They’re looking for you. Kwon Ik-seong searched your computer. I checked before coming here.”
“…!”
Kwon Ik-seong was coming?
Why?
I was puzzled, but I quickly thought I understood the reason.
‘I must have seemed suspicious again.’
There must have been a point where the excuse about getting a death certificate wouldn’t hold up.
Kwon Ik-seong was the type of person who didn’t miss even the smallest clues.
Do you know how difficult it is to survive as an EX-rank among these A-rank and S-rank hunters? Do you understand the burden I carry?
With that sentiment, I glared at Choi Woo-jin.
Then I sighed and pulled a key from my pocket.
“If you open it, from now on—”
He gently wrapped his hand around mine, which held the key.
Light as a cloud, yet I felt the key slip from my grasp in an instant.
“Everything that happened here stays between us. We’ve got a secret now, haven’t we? Officer Han Seong-ye and I have a big secret too.”
He said that and grinned wickedly.
Even though I couldn’t feel his hand move at all, the weight of the handcuffs around my wrist vanished in an instant.
I felt goosebumps rise across my entire body.
It felt like different handcuffs had been placed on me.
Handcuffs of secrets with Choi Woo-jin.
“We can talk about that later. Shall we head back?”
When Choi Woo-jin shone his lantern toward where he’d come from, the swarms of spiders clustered in the pitch-black sewers vanished with their crimson eyes gleaming.
* * *
And two weeks later.
“Wow, it’s great to meet you. So you’re Officer Lee Yu-ji, who received a special promotion. The Hunter Investigation Unit… or rather, the Hunter Investigation Bureau now. The Bureau Chief from there is also here with us!”
For some reason, I found myself on a famous TV talk show.
And I was there with the Hunter Management Bureau Chief whose skin had been pampered until his face glowed, Captain Hong—no, Bureau Chief Hong Jae-gyeol with a smile that wouldn’t fade from his face, and Pee So-won with a sullen expression.
“…So tell us about the rebellion of Investigation Team 5, who always came in last!”
“The rebellion was something Mayor Go Cheol-won started. We just did what we always do.”
And as always, Pee So-won caused another incident.
Ha! Ha! Ha!
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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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