Chapter 14 …
Congratulations!
Possession completed successfully. A special skill has arrived!
I ignored the flashing notification window and glanced at the person beside me—Investigator Kwon Ik-Seong.
Right now, I was sitting in the passenger seat of a sedan belonging to the Investigation Unit, wrapped in Kwon Ik-Seong’s jacket.
Meanwhile, the forensics team was cleaning up the scene behind us.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the Healer Hospital?”
“Huh? Oh… I think I’ll be fine.”
Other than my skin stinging a little.
Probably…?
“I’m asking because it doesn’t look like ordinary slime poison.”
Ik-Seong pointed toward the back seat where the slime was sitting—and eating the car seat.
As if realizing we were talking about it, the slime stopped chewing and quietly buckled its seatbelt.
It got smarter after becoming a giant slime.
Though its size was smaller now.
A giant slime could adjust its form as it pleased.
“It’s fine. I don’t think it’s that strong of a creature,” I said, watching the slime pretend to look innocent.
A notification popped up.
Affinity with the Giant Slime +5
…Did it just understand me?
Slime affinity. What a concept.
I felt extremely weird.
And on top of that, I could still vividly remember what it felt like to eat this world’s protagonist.
It was disgusting.
…It had a very fizzy taste.
I recalled Choi Woo-Jin thrashing around inside me.
For reference, Choi Woo-Jin and Kang Il-Yeon were currently in a different transport vehicle.
And both were cuffed.
They were A-rank hunters, so of course they were physically fine.
The problem was me.
Ik-Seong caught me going into the pocket dimension—and of all people, I got caught by Kwon Ik-Seong!!!
“…So, um, aren’t you going to ask how I got into that pocket dimension?”
“I was planning to ask once you were feeling better, but—”
Screech.
Before the light even turned red—just yellow—Ik-Seong hit the brakes perfectly on the stop line.
“If you’re fine to answer now, I’ll ask now.”
…I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
“How did you get into the pocket dimension?”
He stared straight ahead, expression unchanged.
I began rattling off the excuse I had prepared.
“I was inspecting the personal belongings of Kang Wol-Yeon, the murder suspect, and I found a keyring connected to the pocket dimension. I fiddled with it and, somehow, I ended up inside.”
“…‘Somehow’?”
He repeated my words like he was tasting them.
Yes, yes, I KNOW there were too many coincidences!
My only saving grace was that no one in this world would ever suspect something like a “possession” skill.
But instead of questioning the coincidences, Ik-Seong asked something else.
“Once you realized it was connected to a pocket dimension, was it impossible to come back out?”
“Not impossible, but…”
I hesitated before speaking.
“There was a kid in there who looked exactly like Kang Wol-Yeon. I thought it might help the investigation, so… I stepped in.”
Some important facts were missing, but technically, I wasn’t lying.
Not mentioning that I had already guessed the connection between Kang Il-Yeon and Kang Wol-Yeon.
But the moment someone saw Kang Il-Yeon’s face, they’d realize the two were twins—so it wasn’t a problem.
“It could have been dangerous.”
“Yes… I know.”
“What I mean is, you could have died. That place was full of weapons. Even I went in fully armed.”
Ik-Seong pulled back his jacket slightly, showing the revolver at his waist.
From the back seat, the slime let out a tiny “kyuu…” as if it had PTSD.
Honestly, I almost felt bad for it.
Maybe because I was once a slime myself.
Damn.
“Still… I had to bring Kang Il-Yeon out.”
His expression twitched faintly.
Was he still suspicious?
But Ik-Seong, like in the novel, was impossible to read—calm, still, like a deep lake.
So that was handled “somehow,” and the only unresolved issue was me shooting the slime with a water gun—
“So you forced your way in and used the giant slime to get Kang Il-Yeon out?”
“No, not exactly—”
I looked back at the slime, who was pretending to look pitiful again.
“I was trying to bring the slime out too. It’s evidence of illegal trafficking. And… it was pitiful. Who knows how else they’d use it? I had to help. So I bought an item. A slime water gun.”
Ik-Seong frowned slightly, as if he knew the water gun’s effect.
“You had money for that?”
“…I had savings. Before joining the Hunter Investigation Unit, I worked construction-type dungeons a few times to earn my brother’s college tuition.”
A heavy silence filled the car.
I knew what it sounded like.
That I spent my entire life savings—100 million won—just to save one slime.
Depending on how you heard it…
It sounded like I went in with a plan.
Why else would someone waste 100 million without thinking?
I swallowed hard and waited for my fate.
“You’ll probably need to write an incident report. Investigation Unit officers are required to be in teams of two on missions. And—”
Of course.
Ik-Seong was a strict rule-follower.
I could be disciplined for this.
A rookie who recklessly entered a pocket dimension alone just to catch a criminal?
Anyone would think I was blinded by the reward money.
“I’ll try. So there won’t be any disciplinary action.”
…Except.
Ik-Seong reached a very different conclusion.
Shockingly—he believed me.
No questions, no interrogation.
Then I remembered.
Another reason I loved Kwon Ik-Seong in the novel:
Because he used the goodness in his heart… to believe in the goodness of others.
“….”
It was over.
Just like that.
Stupidly easy.
I stared at him.
My favorite… truly…
How could anyone not love him?
I smiled faintly.
Right until he spoke again.
“We’ll cooperate with Team 5 on the Geumho-dong illegal weapons trafficking case. For now, begin interrogating Choi Woo-Jin.”
“…Me?”
Ik-Seong looked slightly exasperated.
“Choi Woo-Jin woke up and immediately invoked his right to remain silent. Then he specifically named Investigator Lee Yoo-Ji. He refuses to talk to anyone except you.”
One of his eyebrows creased—an unusually visible reaction.
Damn.
Which meant…
Team 5 would be dragged into this weapons trafficking case too.
“Great. Our rookie dragged another case to us.”
Just tell me you’re angry instead of making that face…
I stood in front of Team Leader Pi So-Won, who looked up at me with an unreadable expression.
But seriously—was it wrong for a detective to bring in a case?
Was that how this works? Really?
“…Sticking your nose into something that wasn’t even ours.”
Okay.
That was my fault.
A public officer must respect their jurisdiction. Violating it causes massive problems.
Liability becomes messy.
I immediately accepted it and lowered myself.
“I accidentally messed with Kang Wol-Yeon’s personal belongings…”
“You went through a suspect’s belongings without authorization.”
BANG!
She slammed a file down in front of me.
Her eyes sharpened.
Now I knew for sure.
Team Leader is mad…
“What if it was magically booby-trapped? And you just touched it freely? Do you not know investigation protocol?”
“…No one taught me…”
I answered in a tiny voice.
Her brows tightened.
This was the spirit of an MZ-generation investigator!
…Except I shrank like a terrified mouse.
