The Civil Servant Who Conceals Her Power Is Too Good at Possession Chapter 22

A moment later.

 

We stood in a dark, pitch-black corridor.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready to enjoy another sexy, hot, blood-splattered night?”

 

Following the clear voice, as if amplified by a microphone, faint cheers echoed from beyond.

 

I could also hear the thumping, heart-racing beat of club music.

 

A man wearing a headset approached Ji Wongil and me.

 

“When I give you the cue, you may enter.”

 

His tone was that of a perfectly ordinary stage staff member running a show.

 

There was a professional familiarity in his voice, and the normalcy of it left me slightly dumbfounded—

 

“…Are you sure I should just do as you say? Maybe even now, we should call for the support team….”

 

Once the staff member left, Ji Wongil was shaking uncontrollably. 

 

He said he had seen this kind of show before.

 

Not as a spectator, of course—more as staff.

 

He also mentioned that after seeing the stage turn into a bloodbath back then, he couldn’t eat a single thing for three days.

 

I took Ji Wongil’s hand. 

 

His trembling eased, just slightly.

 

“If we do that, you won’t get your money, and I won’t be able to catch the real criminal who organized this game. So just do exactly as I told you.” 

 

Our eyes met.

 

Ji Wongil’s lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but the staff member soon shouted from the side.  

 

“Cue!”

 

At the same time, the door at the end of the dark corridor swung open.

 

Chiiiiik—

 

Whether they were using stage effects or not, fog and lights leaked into the corridor simultaneously. 

 

I let go of Ji Wongil’s hand and walked out the door with a calm expression. 

 

The world outside the door was the interior of a massive cage. 

 

Outside it stood the announcer from before, circling the structure and introducing our specs to the spectators surrounding it—and to the audience seated in what looked like VIP box seats.

 

“Introducing today’s prey… or hunters! Miss Rosie and Mr. Philip!”

 

Rosie? Philip? What kind of trash names are those?

 

Then again, what could you expect from people who casually call human beings prey?

 

Based on what I knew from the novel, Kevin Choi was either in one of those VIP rooms or—

 

I lifted my gaze to the monitors gleaming above the cage.

 

Cameras were attached to the cage to ensure there were almost no blind spots, broadcasting every bit of the bloody struggle inside live.

 

‘Kevin Choi is definitely watching this.’

 

He’s a fanatic for videos like this.

 

While I was thinking that—

 

“Now then, today’s hunter—or prey! Let’s welcome Mrs. Melinda! Everyone, together now! Mrs.— Melinda—!”

 

The masked audience outside the cage roared her name.

 

Some leapt about along the second-floor railing, shouting, “Kill them! Kill them!”

 

And soon, the door opposite the one Ji Wongil and I had entered opened with a loud ssssss hiss. 

 

Through the fog came the sound of something scaled dragging across the floor.

 

From within the fog, the sound of scales scraping against the floor could be heard.

 

It was a face pretty enough to bewitch anyone.

 

That is, until you noticed that the lower body revealed as the fog cleared was that of a snake—

 

Hissssss!

 

—and the fact that when she opened her mouth, bits of flesh were stuck between teeth as sharp as a jaguar’s. It was a jarring contrast.

 

She was so beautiful that for a moment, it felt as though mist filled my mind and dulled my judgment.

 

No—perhaps it wasn’t just a feeling.

 

‘Lamia are monsters that frequently use mental-type attacks.’

 

I had to be careful; the moment a Lamia touches you, your mind can cloud over.

 

I extended the offensive item I was holding, lengthening it.

 

I’d chosen a spear. Ji Wongil had picked a flame-shaped whip.

 

Both had durability like trash. And against the C-rank Lamia before us, they were D-rank weapons that wouldn’t do much at all.

 

‘Manager Gil, I am definitely going to catch you and throw you behind bars!’

 

As I thought that, I watched Mrs. Melinda’s tail move.

 

At the tip was a venomous stinger.

 

If we were hit by that stinger, which could send even a C-rank hunter to the afterlife instantly, we would die on the spot.

 

However, because Mrs. Melinda was a C-rank Lamia, she could only use that stinger once. 

 

didn’t know whether to call it a relief or a misfortune that we might be beaten to death by the tail instead of being taken out in one shot by the venom. 

 

“Mrs. Melinda is examining her prey quite thoroughly, isn’t she? I wonder how Melinda, our exquisite chef, will cook up her prey this time!” 

 

As if the announcer’s voice were a signal, Melinda’s tail struck down toward Ji Wongil.

 

Boom!

 

Ji Wongil narrowly dodged, but a hideously deep crater was left in his place. 

 

With her upper body, the Lamia kept her blue eyes fixed on me while her tail moved relentlessly, chasing after Ji Wongil.

 

Hissssss!

 

She kept hissing at me like I was some kind of cat!

 

Ji Wongil kept running to avoid the tail, but he was eventually backed into a blind spot where the cage ended. 

 

The bars enclosing this ring were made of a special material that induced horrific pain the moment they were touched.

 

It was a device these b*stards had created for their own amusement. 

 

‘They’re trying to force the hunter and the monster into the center.’ 

 

…B*stards.

 

I cursed inwardly, glancing toward Ji Wongil.

 

The instant I turned my gaze, the Lamia’s claws came slashing at me.

 

Instead of blocking them, I thrust my spear forward, aiming for her heart.

 

Thud.

 

I felt something connect.

 

“Kyyaaaa!”

 

The spear, longer than her reach, halted her advance.

 

But it was obvious—a D-rank weapon wasn’t going to pierce a C-rank Lamia’s hide.

 

“Oho! This piece of meat is putting up more resistance than expected! That speed, that judgment, that accuracy! It’s hard to believe this is the movement of an F-rank hunter!” 

 

In other words, I’d only managed to leave a shallow scratch near her heart—and enrage her.

 

The enraged Mrs. Melinda turned the tail that had been heading for Ji Wo-gil toward me. 

 

In an instant, it coiled around me and lifted me into the air.

 

“Lee Yuji!”

 

Ji Wongil shouted upon seeing this. 

 

He looked like he was about to use his whip, but his hand froze for a second.

 

‘Remember just two things.’ 

 

He was recalling what I’d told him in the waiting room.

 

‘First. Don’t try to help me.’

 

The crushing force of the tail felt like it would shatter my ribs. The horrific pressure constricted my chest.

 

The venomous stinger at the tail’s tip circled my throat as if in threat.

 

Melinda formed something that almost looked like a smile—

 

“Ugh……!”

 

She slammed my body, still coiled in her tail, against the wall of the cage.

 

The pain felt like it would tear me apart.

 

“Yuji!”

 

She heard Ji Wongil’s desperate voice. 

 

‘Second. Don’t die.’

 

‘…But promise me too. You absolutely can’t die either.’

 

Back then, I had answered Ji Wongil’s request with a “Mhm.” 

 

Even as my vision blurred from the pain, I watched the venomous stinger approaching my neck.

 

Now.

 

Right now.

 

‘Your body is my body, and my body is my body!’

 

Through teeth chattering from agony, I activated my skill.

 

And in the next moment.

 

I became Mrs. Melinda, the Lamia who had been trying to kill me.