Chapter 26 ….
The Overpowered Civil Servant Possesses Too Well
Article link 🔗 “Hunter Water Police narrowly survives crisis of abolition.”
Narrowly survives??? What garbage wording.
There aren’t even many articles by this Kevin Choi guy. Ridiculous.
The next morning.
I read through the piled-up messages from the new recruits in the Hunter Water Police group chat as I went to work.
Honestly, my body was so sore I wanted to take the day off, but… if I clock in and get treatment from the infirmary healer, it’s free……
‘Besides, I can’t use vacation on such an important day!’
My precious paid leave!
I already have a plan for where I’m going to blow all of my precious vacation days.
Because I need time to spend my illegally obtained 700 million won!
[Are you coming in today, Investigator Lee Yoo-ji?]
On top of that, judging from the messages asking for me, if I didn’t show up today, that would become gossip too.
[Is it really Investigator Lee Yoo-ji who caught Kevin Choi? Did Team 5 secretly organize a special task force or something?
So what’s the reward money going to be……]
Among the rookies, there was a little jealousy and resentment.
Some tried prying for more details, others wondered if I had some secret internal connection—
But then, for some reason, Team 1’s Ham Mina firmly said this:
[As far as I know, she independently investigated out of duty. Risked her life. I heard she almost died.]
[Is that info from Investigation Team 1?]
[Can’t say any more.]
Thanks to Ham Mina cutting it off, the atmosphere suddenly got solemn, and soon the topic changed.
[So does that mean we don’t have to look for new jobs anymore?
Looks like the abolition debate disappeared from politics and upper management. Even if Daeyoung tries to control the media, the murder case is too big, so they probably won’t touch this investigation for a while.]
That message was from the youngest on the support team.
I didn’t know the internal situation, but it was clear that public opinion had reversed.
No matter how strong Daeyoung Guild’s influence was, and no matter how dominant the “Hunter Water Police are useless” sentiment had been, a series of murders was too much.
And inside the tablet PC were recordings of the murder scenes.
The fighters were brutally slaughtered by monsters, and VIPs and regular spectators watched and laughed.
Team Leader Pi’s reaction after seeing the footage:
“F*.”**
Short and intuitive.
Meanwhile, the MC said in his statement that instead of claiming he was “under a spell” when he sent the footage to Team Leader Pi by email, he simply couldn’t stand it because of his conscience.
He saw how the situation was turning and chose his path.
Thanks to that, there was no evidence of me using skills.
I thought I’d at least have to write up a formal apology for participating in illegal fights, but—
“Wow. So our baby of Team 5—no, I should say Investigator Lee Yoo-ji—actually conducted a spontaneous investigation. You saw illegal monster trafficking in subspace, wondered where they were being used, tracked the source, infiltrated an illegal fight, and solved the case. Right?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Somehow… this was being smoothed over?
When I arrived at work, Deputy Chief Hong Jaegyeol was waiting in our office.
Team Leader Pi So-won looked even more exhausted than usual. Ma Deok-ho and Byeon Gu-do weren’t even here yet.
“Wow! The rising star of the Hunter Water Police! The next Kwon Ik-seong! Our superstar arrives!”
…Excuse me?
I awkwardly wondered if I should sit or stand around looking stupid.
Right then, Deok-ho walked in exactly at 9:00:00 and sat down, immediately putting on his headset.
Didn’t even greet the deputy chief. A truly hardcore MZ child.
Byeon Gu-do came even later, making ridiculous excuses and sucking up to Hong Jaegyeol.
Even while looking at this chaos, Deputy Chief Hong just kept laughing.
He even decorated my participation in the illegal fight as “independent investigation” and “undercover operation.”
“How did you see illegal monster trafficking in subspace and figure out the connection to the fights? Your brain is just—”
He wiggled his fingers near my temple.
“Too. damn. smart.”
“Haha… thank youuu…!”
Why would I reject free credit?
If the link with Section Chief Gil got exposed, my past participation in illegal dungeon raids could lead to disciplinary action…
“Oh, right. That Gil guy. What an absolute piece of garbage.”
“……!”
So we weren’t getting out of this completely unscathed!?
While I panicked, Hong continued:
“He was allegedly running illegal raids. Because of that—”
He leaned on my desk and looked up at me.
Despite his friendly smile, his eyes were sharp.
“—there were lots of hunters who joined not knowing they were illegal. Looks like Hunter Ji Won-gil is one of them.”
He winked.
So what he was saying was—
‘We’re going to cover up your past illegal raids as you being an innocent victim who didn’t know.’
I swallowed hard and opened my mouth.
“Then Hunter Ji Won-gil—”
“He wasn’t injured. He’ll probably only have to do a witness statement. No charges. We got testimony saying he only participated to help your investigation, so it’s fine.”
That testimony was… “encouraged,” wasn’t it…?
The cheerful old man I thought was just happy the abolition movement was crushed was suddenly terrifying.
“Actually, I talked to Hunter Administration for him. Working there will be easier now.”
So he even knew Ji Won-gil was getting hired there.
Hong Jaegyeol decided: having a government employee in your debt is a good thing.
…Mom… Dad… there are scary people here.
“He seemed like he was in a bad situation, so I talked upstairs and got his start date moved up. That way his government loan comes out right away.”
In the end, it worked out.
Thanks to how fast things were handled, the prize money Ji Won-gil would’ve received disappeared, but this actually gave him a better future.
When I checked my phone, there were multiple missed calls from Ji Won-gil last night. Probably about this.
I was too exhausted and passed out…
Since he’ll be working at Hunter Administration, I’ll see him eventually.
A Grade-4 civil servant.
I’m jealous…
While I was thinking that, Hong brought up the most important topic.
“Oh, right! I almost forgot. Reward money.”
“Ah, the reward money?”
I pretended not to care, but this was what I’d been waiting for.
Every time we produce results, we get paid a bonus.
And this was a huge one. Maybe 80 million won?
That’s what I was thinking when he said:
“I negotiated with upper management for two big ones. If you want more, say so.”
“…Sorry?”
What? Only 20 million won?
For fifteen murder cases, they should count it as fifteen separate results—
“…2 billion is too little, right? Shouldn’t we push for at least 3?”
…Oh. Two billion.
And it just became three billion won.
A blazing loyalty ignited in my heart. I bowed deeply.
“I will dedicate my life to the Hunter Water Police!”
A legal 3 billion won deposit. My spine automatically snapped to a 90-degree angle.
“Is he always like this?”
Hong patted my shoulder, confused. Team Leader Pi answered:
“Yeah. Pretty much. He’s our embarrassing youngest.”
“Our youngest”?
That was the first time Pi So-won called me that.
