I looked back and forth between the two messages, pondered for a moment, and then just closed both of them.
‘I don’t even know anymore.’
It was then.
Ji Wongil, who was next to me, saw my phone and spoke as if he noticed the change in my expression.
“Are you dating someone?”
Out of nowhere?
Did he also see Kwon Ikseong buying handmade burgers?
It felt like Kwon Ikseong was purposely dropping hints bit by bit.
To find out who was watching us.
But the fact that the actual Gamer was among the people caught in that trap was truly surprising.
‘…I guess he isn’t called an ace investigator for nothing.’
“Doesn’t my expression look a bit too dark for someone who’s dating?”
“Relationships are supposed to make your head complicated.”
Ji Wongil said that and put on a mysterious expression.
It seems this guy has some complicated story of his own, but could it be worse than mine, with sudden death scheduled?
Ji Wongil continued speaking as if he didn’t particularly intend to share his complicated story with me.
“Ah, right. And while I’m at the Bureau, I’ll look into what you mentioned.”
He means the incident from 18 years ago.
“Ah. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I’m a member of the Special Task Force now too, so I’m just doing my job.”
A member of the Special Task Force.
I quietly looked at Ji Wongil at those words.
The more I look at him…… the more he feels like personnel suited for the HIB rather than the Hunter Administration Bureau.
He’s good at finding creative methods rather than just processing things according to protocol, and he’s full of a sense of justice.
“Thanks to the Special Task Force, I feel like I’m finally doing work that makes my heart pound for the first time in a while. I think there are more fun things than tiring things?”
As expected, this side suits him better.
I swallowed those words back down my throat.
Anyway, being in the Hunter Administration Bureau is much more stable for Ji Wongil than the HIB, which is like a candle in the wind.
Ji Wongil is the head of a household, after all.
Of course, I am too, but.
…Somehow, I feel like Lee Yugyeom would live perfectly fine even on his own.
‘If you get caught in the demonic clutches of the HIB, it becomes dangerous.’
This, this is the path to ruining your life.
Thinking that, I arrived at the Hunter Administration Bureau.
* * *
I headed straight to the Internal Audit Team first, and Ji Wongil headed straight to the Commissioner’s office.
Hearing the name Internal Audit Team somehow made me feel extremely intimidated.
There are three words civil servants usually hate.
Salary reduction, audit, and disciplinary action.
A pay cut is for reasons similar to other office workers, but audits and disciplinary actions are fatal because if caught in them, it affects the civil service pension.
A civil servant without a pension is just a corpse.
However, once I actually opened the door to the Internal Audit Team, several public servants with gloomy faces were sitting there.
‘…This feeling isn’t unfamiliar.’
Especially the fact that no one even tried to turn their heads over their partitions despite a clear outsider like me entering.
It was a side profile that conveyed the worry and anxiety of, ‘If I talk to her first, I’ll be the one taking on the work.’
Somehow I feel like I’ve returned to my previous life.
In the midst of that, I approached a woman who likely held the lowest seniority and had thus ended up stationed near the hallway side, and opened my mouth.
“I’m from the HIB.”
At my words, the woman raised her head and smiled brightly.
“Ah, if it’s about that, you need to see the officer in charge of Hunter Investigation Audits.”
The joy of ‘It’s not my job!’ lingered.
And soon, a middle-aged woman with a gloomy face walked out from the far end.
“You’re from the HIB? Miss?”
The title ‘Miss’ is very familiar too.
Unifying all civil complainants simply as ‘Miss/Sir’ is the national rule for civil servants.
I nodded and handed over the documents.
“I was told I need to submit these documents in person for Suspect Go Cheolwon’s summons to be issued.”
For reference, the reason I came here was to get Go Cheolwon’s summons.
While ordinary Hunters can be immediately summoned for investigation by the HIB, elected officials like the head of a local government could only be summoned if the Hunter Administration Bureau issued a summons.
And it had to go through a bit of a screening process.
“Yes. Well, did you bring all the documents? The statement of reasons is here. Exhibit 1. The appendix is attached too….”
The middle-aged woman immediately opened the envelope and, with a bored expression, roughly checked the contents, circling things with a mechanical pencil.
“Yes. Everything is here.”
“Then will the summons be issued right away?”
“We can’t tell you that. Because it has to be passed over to the Investigation Team again before it comes out.”
“Then how long will it take?”
“We can’t tell you that either.”
…What exactly do you know, then?
Before I could ask that, it felt like the ‘me’ from my previous life was sitting right in front of my eyes.
They’re just deflecting with the responsibility-avoiding answer ‘We can’t tell you’.
Smiling awkwardly as if I understood all too well, I bowed my head and left the Internal Audit Team.
It’s not like anything would come out even if I grilled the low-level civil servants.
It was while I was walking down the hallway thinking that.
As if by total coincidence, the Commissioner was walking over from the end of the hallway.
“Oh, isn’t this Investigator Lee Yuji. Taekwondo Girl~!”
…Looking at Ji Wongil standing next to him with a rotten expression, I realized.
This isn’t a coincidence.
“Ahaha, is work going well? I heard you’re busy these days with the Special Task Force and all.”
Why ask as if you don’t know anything about it?
When you’re the one who ordered it.
My mood turned subtle, but I nodded awkwardly.
“We are working hard. We have to catch the criminals quickly!”
Was it too awkward?
Even in the momentarily stiffened atmosphere, the Bureau Director nodded with a practiced smile.
“As expected! I like that attitude! This is what’s really great about Investigator Lee Yuji. Hm? Isn’t that right, Administrator Ji Wongil?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
Ji Wongil answered without a soul.
Seeing that your soul was snatched away as soon as you entered the Bureau, you really are a quintessential civil servant too.
Thinking that way, I tried to quickly escape the Bureau, but I was soon caught by the Commissioner and forced to have a mandatory tea time.
Ji Wongil quietly sent me a message on the way to the Commissioner’s office.
I’m sorry it turned out this way.
Why are you apologizing? For what? For not being able to stop the tea time with the Bureau Director?
I can’t find those files. It turns out they’re highly classified documents belonging to the Commissioner’s office?
Ah. Because of the documents from 18 years ago?
I had expected it to some extent, but I asked Ji Wongil just to confirm.
Is it common for civilian fatality accidents to be classified as highly classified documents?
Ji Wongil
No. It’s not common. That’s why it’s a bit strange.
‘Hmm….’
And a moment later, inside the Commissioner’s office.
“Right. So they say the scale is likely to get a bit big this time since even Mayor Go is entangled?”
I felt strange seeing the documents I had submitted just 10 minutes ago already in the Bureau Director’s hands.
You received the documents in advance?
And yet you told me to come up?
Looking at the expensive handmade cookies placed in front of me, I recalled Pi Sowon’s words.
‘Are you going to go if they tell you to come in and they’ll make another special department for you when you go to the Hunter Administration Bureau?’
Is it another offer like that?
Or—
‘Are you going to crawl into the tiger’s den just because they offer a bit more money?’
Bribery this time?
Trying to buy me with money?
Could it be that someone connected to the Commissioner is among the Sorghum Field buyers, and he’s trying to sweet-talk me into letting them off the hook?
Do you think I’d move for a few pennies like that?
I have a lot of money right now because of the workshop!
It was when my sense of justice burned and I tightly clenched my fists.
Unexpected words flowed from the Bureau Director’s mouth.
“With uncorrupted integrity, you have to shake everything out completely. You know?”
Pardon?
This person seemed quite far from ‘uncorrupted integrity’, though?
Didn’t you take staged photos and stuff last time?
It was a bit strange hearing the words ‘uncorrupted integrity’ coming from such a person’s mouth.
“A high-ranking public official, I mean. You shouldn’t get special treatment just because you’re a Hunter. Isn’t that right, Administrator Ji?”
“Yes. Yes, that is correct.”
Ji Wongil hesitated before answering.
‘Oho.’
Only then did I feel like I understood why the Bureau Director called me here.
‘You want to have a foot in both camps?’
Seeing Unit Chief Cha Jeonhyeok get arrested and the Special Task Force created, it seems abolishing the HIB is out of the question, and if he continues to foster public opinion towards abolishing the HIB and antagonizes them, he might end up becoming isolated later.
Someone at the level of the Hunter Administration Bureau Director is a minister-level official, which practically makes him a politician.
At times like this, the thought seems to be that while currying favor with the Hunter Association in front, it’s important to keep a line open with us in the back—
“Then Mayor Go’s summons is….”
I have to get what I can get quickly at a time like this.
“Ah, that. I need to approve it right now. In fact, I just signed it.”
At my words, the Commissioner held out the document that already had his signature on it to me.
Wow. To think this would come out so quickly.
I smiled proudly.
Because there was one more thing to get out of this.
“Um, and just one more thing…….”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Could I use the restroom? My stomach hurts a lot…. I don’t think I can make it to the floor below….”
“Oh…… Oh, use it! Use it! You should use it. Only when your stomach is sturdy can you do your job well!”
The Commissioner seemed somewhat flustered, but soon smiled brightly and said that.
Last time he practically threatened me, but now he’s even accommodating my bathroom needs.
As expected, being a politician isn’t something just anyone can do.
* * *
And so, a short while later.
“The response to that video Investigator Lee Yuji shot in the HIB courtyard back then was pretty good. Try to persuade her to shoot one at the Hunter Administration Bureau next time. We’ll prepare specially custom-made pine boards and—”
“…I don’t know if she will listen to me….”
I was crawling through the hallway while listening to the conversation between Ji Wongil and the Commissioner.
To be precise, not on the floor of the hallway, but on the ceiling of the hallway.
Remaining Time:
09 : 53
That’s right.
[Kyu-kyu…….(They said the classified document archive room was on this floor…….)]
I am currently a slime.
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