The Civil Servant Who Conceals Her Power Is Too Good at Possession Chapter 27

* * * 

 

“Hey, rookie. You know that thing I asked you for yesterday, that…….”

 

“Yes, sir! I just sent it—the CCTV footage!”

 

“Huh? Oh…… thanks…….”

 

Listening to the exchange between Lee Yuji and Byeon Gudo, Pi Sowon let out a small sigh.

 

Ever since Chief Hong had stopped by, Lee Yuji had been like that the entire time.

 

How should she put it…

 

“Sunbae-nim, how about the Chinese place right next door for lunch today?”

 

“Sounds good. I’ll have jjamppong.”

 

Pi Sowon watched with a sense of absurdity as Lee Yuji approached, practically wagging an invisible tail. 

 

“What about you, Team Leader?”

 

Look at how excited she is. 

 

The bruises around Lee Yuji’s nose and lips were still vivid.

 

Apparently, she had intentionally skipped treatment so she could get it done at the infirmary?

 

When Pi Sowon told her she should’ve taken care of that sooner, she had scratched the back of her head and laughed awkwardly, saying she hadn’t thought of it.

 

Pi Sowon had been the first to see the footage of Lee Yuji being mercilessly beaten by Lamia in the illegal fight ring.

 

Other hunters would let out horrific screams the moment they so much as touched the cage, but Lee Yuji endured being pressed against the cage wall and scorched by Lamia for a full ten minutes without screaming even once.

 

Even as blood burst from her nose and mouth, she had simply gripped the Lamia’s venomous stinger, waiting for her chance.

 

‘Crazy b*stard.’

 

The words had slipped out of Pi Sowon’s mouth as she watched.

 

‘A mad dog just joined Team 5.’

 

Pi Sowon recalled something someone once said while looking at her, covered in mud after rolling on the ground with a suspect during a joint dispatch.

 

….Had that person looked at her the same way?

 

After a moment of thought, Pi Sowon replied bluntly. 

 

“What kind of person starts taking lunch orders at 10 AM?” 

 

“Hehe, is that so? Well, since I’m ‘our’ rookie who’d be embarrassing no matter where you put me….”

 

Pi Sowon’s brow furrowed at the sight of her scratching the back of her head sheepishly. 

 

Not the three hundred million—she’d gotten hung up on the word “our”?

 

“That word ‘our,’ you know….”

 

“I know. You just said it out of courtesy. Because we’re a team, after all. Team 5.” 

 

With a nuance that suggested she hadn’t understood it as mere courtesy at all, Lee Yuji pointed at the whiteboard.

 

“I’m the one who boosted our performance, too. Though of course…” 

 

Meeting Pi Sowon’s cold gaze, her voice turned sullen.

 

“…you didn’t like that.” 

 

Sensing the air between Pi Sowon and Lee Yuji turning sharply cold, Byeon Gudo cut in.

 

“Hey, now. Thanks to our rookie, Team 5’s allowance increased. And well, sure, the case assignments increased too, but compared to Team 1, these are minor incidents, aren’t they? No ‘Funny Powder’ cases here.” 

 

“What about the Funny Powder case?”

 

When Lee Yuji asked, Byeon Gudo replied.

 

“If Funny Powder gets involved, it’s a headache. The eyes on the kids who do that are something else. They completely lose it; you never know what kind of trouble they’ll cause.” 

 

Ah.

 

Lee Yuji nodded, recalling Kang Ilyeon’s uncontrollable state due to the illegal dungeon byproduct.

 

She also recalled what Funny Powder was like in the original novel. 

 

Meanwhile, Pi Sowon stood up and said,

 

“Lee Yuji is excluded from cases for the time being. For now, you can just feed Lulu.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“…?”

 

More flustered than Lee Yuji was Ma Deokho.

 

The MZ investigator who was always scrolling through cat photos.

 

Since Lee Yuji knew he enjoyed going to the kennel, she was about to offer to trade places.  

 

Besides—

 

‘I want to do the cool stuff too! Like snapping on handcuffs! I want to do that!’

 

Lee Yuji had her desires.

 

“Where do you think you’re going with that face? Stay cooped up in the office until your face heals.” 

 

But Pi Sowon was firm.

 

* * *

 

And so, once again—

 

“Senior Lulu……. Hello?”

 

As lunchtime was nearing its end,

 

I stood in front of the kennel.

 

Pi Sowon, Byeon Gudo, and I had eaten jjajangmyeon and jjamppong, while MZ Ma Deokho had gone out, saying he’d grab a salad.

 

“Ah, seriously….”

 

I’m so jealous.

 

I want that kind of boldness too.

 

Even while thinking that, I was the coward dutifully coming to feed Lulu in accordance with Pi Sowon’s orders.

 

I should behave for the time being. I did just get three hundred million, after all…….

 

‘Hehe… I should pay off the apartment loan.’

 

So exciting. To have legally earned money.

 

Just then, a window popped up before my eyes.

 

Lulu’s affection has increased by 10!

 

How did she even know I’d brought sundae specially…….

 

I diligently led Lulu out of the kennel and vigorously rubbed under her chin and along her belly.

 

‘You’re the only one in the HIB who loves me like this.’ 

 

Though, of course, it was conditional love—I could feel her deftly swiping the sundae from my pocket.

 

“Well, well. You must be the famous new recruit from Team 5?”

 

At that moment, a voice came from behind me.

 

When I turned around, a new security guard was greeting me. I returned the greeting with my face still offered up to Lulu.

 

“Ah, y-yes… Hel… lo…” 

 

“Taekwon! I did a bit of Taekwondo when I was young too, and man… they say you’re incredible? I watched those videos.” 

 

Videos?

 

“But since you’re both from Team 5, I guess you had lunch separately?”

 

“Pardon? Both of us?”

 

When I asked, the guard gestured with his chin toward the flowerbed along the wall that wrapped around the kennel.

 

There, I could see the back of a man squatting down. A headset hung around his neck.

 

I could guess who it was.

 

‘He looks like the type who wouldn’t like it if I acted familiar….’

 

But the newly hired security guard seemed somewhat lacking in tact.

 

“Hey! Another Team 5 member’s here too!”

 

At the guard’s shout, Ma Deokho slowly turned his head to look at me.

 

Surprisingly, his face was remarkably gentle.

 

An expression of joy I had never seen before. 

 

“Woof! Woof woof!”

 

Lulu ran over to him.

 

He was about to flop onto his back in front of Ma Deokho out of habit when he caught a scent and started sniffing. 

 

I wasn’t particularly eager, but I approached Ma Deokho alongside Senior Lulu. Otherwise, it felt like the guard would keep talking to me.

 

“It’s a kitten?” 

 

In front of Ma Deokho, four kittens were curled up asleep in the flowerbed. Seeing them huddled together, rubbing their faces against each other’s backs and butts, they looked just like…

 

“They look like donuts….”

 

I found myself unintentionally drawn into the scene. It was then.

 

“Bagels.”

 

Ma Deokho spoke in a small voice.

 

“…Excuse me?”

 

“They look more like bagels.”

 

Wow. I think this is the first time I’ve heard him speak in a full sentence like that.

 

“What’s the difference between the two…….”

 

“Bagels are chubbier and whiter….”

 

“Ah, I see…….”

 

I decided to pretend I understood. Lunch break was almost over anyway, so if I got up around now and said I was stopping by the restroom on the way back….

 

Just as I was thinking that. 

 

Suddenly, Ma Deokho pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me.

 

It was bruise-fading ointment that looked like it came from a pharmacy and a band-aid with a cat drawing on it. 

 

No way…. Did he go out to buy salad and get these?

 

“Team Leader Pi is afraid of her team members getting hurt.” 

 

And that was what he said out of nowhere.

 

“Afraid?”

 

Afraid. Not that she dislikes it. Isn’t that a strange way to put it?

 

“Back when Chief Hong was the Team Leader of Team 1, Team Leader Pi’s partner died during a joint investigation.” 

 

“…!”

 

I feel like I’ve just heard a massive secret. 

 

“They achieved a huge result, so back then Chief Hong, Equipment Manager Cha Jeonhyeok, and Team Leader Pi were all promoted, but…” 

 

Ma Deokho glanced lightly at my lips and the bridge of my nose as he spoke.

 

“…Performance isn’t everything.” 

 

Performance isn’t everything.

 

That phrase struck me with unexpected weight. 

 

To Team Leader Pi So-won, me putting my life on the line wasn’t an annoyance— 

 

‘She was scared.’

 

I was sitting there blankly, feeling as if I’d been struck on the back of the head, when Ma Deokho suddenly muttered something.

 

“Seriously, though. I wonder where Blackie went?”

 

As he stroked a kitten, Ma Deokho continued murmuring.

 

What is this?

 

“Are you… having a conversation?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Try having one like this with a person.

 

I was watching him, thinking he was the type who liked animals more than people, when Ma Deokho looked at one of the peacefully sleeping kittens and murmured,

 

“Ah, no. You shouldn’t keep throwing up. That’s not good.”

 

The moment he finished speaking, the kitten opened its eyes and promptly retched up what it had eaten onto the flowerbed.

 

‘…Huh? It doesn’t look like a conversation; it looks like he’s reading its mind…?’ 

 

As I stared at Ma Deokho’s profile with that thought, he seemed to sense my gaze and answered,

 

“Animal communicator.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“My skill lets me communicate with animals.”

 

At that moment, a chill ran down the back of my neck, and I remembered the days when I had possessed Lulu.

 

Then this guy, could he possibly—

 

Ma Deokho, who was silently patting the back of the cat that had vomited, spoke without looking at me and without a single change in his expression. 

 

“But why did you lie when we caught the terrorist? I’ve always been curious about that.” 

 

F*ck.