The Civil Servant Who Conceals Her Power Is Too Good at Possession Chapter 4

* * *

 

There are countless smells in this world.

 

The scent of someone’s perfume. 

 

The scent of a rag used to mop the floor.

 

The smell of the sandwich that person just ate.

 

And—

 

‘The smell of blood sausage?’

 

Lee Yuji—no, Lulu, whom Lee Yuji had possessed—quickly swung her head around, scanning her surroundings. When she felt the scent fade, her ears drooped in disappointment.

 

It was true. 

 

At this moment, Yuji was possessing Lulu’s body. Using her skill!

 

And where was her original body?

 

Dog-Yuji tilted her head up with a slightly vacant expression at ‘Original Body’ Yuji, who was holding her leash.

 

-During the possession time, simple behavioral instructions can be given to the ‘original body.’

 

The insane part of this skill is that you can give simple directives to your ‘original body.’

 

So Yuji had ordered her ‘original body’ to walk her around on a leash.

 

Of course, since she couldn’t do much else, her original body was currently in a broken-doll-like state.

 

‘Fortunately, no one in this building knows Lee Yu-ji’s face, so she doesn’t stand out.’

 

Besides, because she was in the body of Senior Lulu—owner of lethal levels of cuteness—most people’s gazes lingered only on “Dog Yuji” before drifting away.

 

Dog Yuji wagged her tail furiously, plastering on the most harmless smile possible as she crossed the lobby of the Hunter Investigation Unit building.

 

Unaware of how utterly ridiculous she looked.

 

‘Senior Lulu is much more easily distracted than I thought…’

 

No wonder she was still stuck in Team 5 and hadn’t made her field debut.

 

On the way from the backyard to here, Senior Lulu had greeted countless employees and used her charms to coax all kinds of snacks out of their pockets.

 

‘How many times have I watched her roll over and show her belly?’

 

You shameless dog.

 

‘You gave me favorability points—was that all a lie?!’

 

For the sake of her own dignity, Yuji wanted to just use Senior Lulu to find the bomb rather than becoming a dog herself, but Senior Lulu was not easy to control.

 

…And so it had come to this.

 

Just as Dog Yuji reached the corridor and lifted her head to scan the ID card hanging from her original body’s neck at the security reader—

 

A faint, metallic smell drifted from behind.

 

Yuji turned her head.

 

Black dress shoes filled her vision.

 

Above them, neatly pressed suit pants. Above that, a crisp shirt and jacket, and—

 

A handsome face resting atop shoulders broad as the Pacific.

 

“…!”

 

The man knelt in front of Yuji, who was inside the dog, and a gentle hand smoothed over Dog—no, Yuji’s—head and down her back.

 

A rectangular ID badge swayed before her eyes.

 

Hunter Investigation Unit Team 1

Team Leader Kwon Ikseong

 

It’s Ikseong……!

 

Meeting her favorite character in person, Yuji’s vision spun.

 

‘He’s even more handsome than in the illustrations. Is this insane? Has he lost his mind? Isn’t being this handsome a crime? Should a public servant look like this? Aren’t I wasting oxygen breathing the same air as him? Should I hold my breath?’

 

At that moment, Dog-Yuji almost rolled over for a belly rub without meaning to.

 

‘N-No. My dignity. I have dignity.’

 

But for some reason, her body wouldn’t listen.

 

Then someone behind Kwon Ikseong asked,

 

“Huh? Why is there a dog here?”

 

At that, Kwon Ikseong looked down at Lulu with his characteristic blank expression and replied,

 

“She’s a detection dog assigned to Team 5.”

 

He casually extended his hand in front of Lulu’s face.

 

Yuji stared blankly for a moment before noticing Kwon Ikseong’s brows knit slightly.

 

‘Ah… he wants me to sniff.’

 

Yuji quickly caught Kwon Ikseong’s scent.

 

Fabric softener that stung the nose. A faint trace of his natural scent.

 

And—

 

‘A sharp, metallic smell.’

 

What is that?

 

As Yuji’s nose lingered persistently at the end of Kwon Ikseong’s sleeve, he let out a faint chuckle.

 

‘He’s… too handsome….’

 

Yuji realized drool was leaking from her mouth and quickly licked it up with her tongue. 

 

‘So he’s close with Lulu.’

 

It was a moment where she felt envious of Senior Lulu’s vast social network.

 

Kwon Ikseong rose to his feet.

 

His gaze naturally shifted to the ‘original body’ holding Lulu’s leash. After checking the ID badge hanging there, he spoke.

 

“Investigator Lee Yuji?”

 

Ikseong said my name……!

 

No, wait!

 

Yuji’s mind raced.

 

Her main body couldn’t answer right now!

 

As if on cue, the ‘main body’ simply stared at Kwon Ikseong with a dazed expression instead of responding!

 

Kwon Ikseong was a five-year veteran elite investigator and the Team Leader of Team 1.

 

‘To me right now, he’s practically heavenly seniority…!’

 

Under normal circumstances, failing to respond properly would earn a severe reprimand!

 

“You must be the new recruit for Team 5. Good work.”

 

As if unbothered, Kwon Ikseong gave a brief nod and walked away.

 

‘…Is he an angel?’

 

Still in Lulu’s body, Yuji stared blankly at his broad back growing distant—

 

Remaining possession time: 00:08:50

 

Seeing the remaining time, she snapped back to her senses. 

 

The golden retriever’s tail whipped wildly through the air.

 

* * * 

 

Still as Senior Lulu, I returned to Team 5’s office.

 

But I didn’t sense anything particularly suspicious.

 

Then—

 

‘The smell of blood sausage…!’

 

My body reacted instantly to the scent. My pupils dilated, my nose flared, and most of all—

 

‘I’m drooling again.’

 

That smells amazing!

 

And I discovered an important trait of this EX-rank skill.

 

While possessing someone, you start to resemble their personality and traits.

 

Like how I’d almost flopped over for a belly rub in front of Kwon Ikseong earlier……

 

In other words, right now, I am a dog. Not completely—but just a little.

 

Just then, the footsteps carrying the scent of blood sausage stopped.

 

“Delivery!”

 

A helmeted delivery driver had walked straight through the iron gate that normally required an ID scan to enter.

 

At that shout, Ma Deokho and Byeon Gudo crawled out from wherever they’d been hiding like ghosts.

 

‘…Are they cockroaches?’

 

Time kept ticking down, but I still couldn’t smell anything like a bomb.

 

Instead, my brain kept chanting—

 

‘Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Blood sausage!’

 

Stop it.

 

I immersed myself in other thoughts to delete the word ‘blood sausage’ ringing like a siren in my head. 

 

The HIB building is a place where outsiders cannot bring anything in without passing through a security checkpoint at the entrance. 

 

Even investigators have to run their belongings through them when coming and going.

 

Those scanners are essentially appraisal items—magical bombs are easily detected.

 

So if the bomb didn’t pass through the scanner, how did it get in?

 

What items do investigators have that don’t need to go through security?

 

Was it placed somewhere else and brought here later to detonate?

 

Was the mole not even an investigator?

 

‘Blood sausage! Snack! Blood sausage! Snack!’

 

Enough already!

 

Panting helplessly, I stared at the desk where the delivery driver had set down the blood sausage soup.

 

“Whine……?”

 

‘Blood sausage! Snack! Blood sausage! Snack!’

 

Wait.

 

Didn’t another smell just mix in?

 

That sharp, metallic scent.

 

It’s similar to the smell I noticed on Kwon Ikseong earlier.

 

I recalled something Kwon Ikseong’s colleague had said in passing.

 

‘You only shot tens again this time.’

 

Kwon Ikseong had come from the live-fire practice range.

 

Which means—

 

That smell was the scent of magical bullets.

 

If that’s not food, why does it trigger thoughts of snacks?

 

Did I—or rather, Senior Lulu—usually get snacks whenever she smelled that scent?

 

‘A detection dog getting snacks—’

 

That would be a reward.

 

The smell I’m sensing now is similar to magical bullets—

 

And it’s also the smell Senior Lulu got rewarded for finding.

 

My head began spinning.

 

‘The mole.’

 

The word had felt so heavy that I’d imagined something grand and dramatic.

 

But thinking about it, the mole doesn’t have to be an investigator.

 

Nor do they have to personally plant the bomb.

 

They just have to let the bomber pass through security.

 

‘If you tell me in advance when you’re ordering late-night snacks, I’ll let everything through. You don’t need to worry so much about the Security Chief acting all strict.’

 

I remembered the security guard saying that as he let delivery drivers in through the back door.

 

Something that doesn’t go through the scanner.

 

Something that can reach inside the office unnoticed.

 

Something not suspicious for an outsider to carry in.

 

…It’s delivery food.

 

‘…!’

 

“Woof!”

 

I started barking at the blood sausage soup.

 

Byeon Gudo reacted first.

 

“Ah! You scared me! When did you get in here? And why did you bring Lulu inside, Lee Yuji? Man, she goes crazy whenever she sees blood sausage.”

 

There was no time.

 

Byeon Gudo thought I—no, Lulu—was barking because of the sausage and tried to hide it from me.

 

Less than two minutes of possession remained.

 

I quickly climbed onto a nearby potted plant and launched myself forward.

 

My body overlapped with Byeon Gudo’s.

 

‘Ugh—at least wash yourself once in a while!’

 

An overwhelming stench hit me, and unable to bear Lulu’s weight, Byeon Gudo toppled over.

 

The open container of blood sausage soup in his hands fell at the same time.

 

‘Blood sausage! Snack! Blood sausage! Snack!’

 

As my brain buzzed—

 

Possession has ended! See you next time, See you!

 

With the annoying status window, my body returned.

 

And the next thing in front of me—

 

“AAAAH!”

 

Byeon Gudo, screaming with blood sausage soup splattered all over him.

 

“Woof! Woof woof!”

 

Lulu, mouth stuffed with sausage, barking furiously at something that had fallen to the floor.

 

And Ma Deokho, watching it all.

 

What a complete circus… no, a sausage fiasco.

 

I pointed at the rectangular object Lulu was barking at and shouted,

 

“…It’s a bomb!”

 

It was a very contrived discovery—

 

But I found it.