Chapter 09 …
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the possession and unlocked a special skill!
The “special skill” the system referred to at that moment was this.
Dog Nose (A)
Can smell the scent of mana.
However, when using the skill your tongue may keep sticking out, so beware!
I really had to struggle to keep my tongue in my mouth.
The whole time I was watching this scene.
Still, there was some payoff.
I confirmed through “Dog Nose” that there were two Awakened people inside the classroom.
“Two different scents were coexisting.”
One was definitely Kang Wol-yeon’s, but the other—
It must have been the suspect’s scent, the one that vanished without attracting the witnesses’ attention.
And to follow that scent they’d taken Kang Wol-yeon out and deliberately provoked him.
“Kang Il-yeon.”
They brought up that name.
Then, pretty smoothly, they blocked Kang Wol-yeon from giving his real name, saved my life, and also located a footprint.
“Are you okay?”
Pi So-won asked when she saw me return from the Hunter Unit’s medical room after treatment.
“Is this about what you were talking about just now?”
“…Yeah.”
“Ha. It hurts a little, but they said it won’t be serious.”
The medic in the unit seemed a little surprised that someone rated F like me was fine after getting hit in the face by an A-rank hunter.
“A little?”
Pi So-won looked incredulous, but there was only one line I could give.
“I’m naturally tough.”
I’d always been tough back when I was an athlete.
So in practice matches I’d have fearlessly stepped into someone else’s range.
Well. That was long ago.
Still, considering I’m F-rank and oddly tough, maybe some of my old civilian durability remains.
“Reaction speed is usually that fast… no. Forget it. Why would I ask you anything.”
Pi So-won scanned me up and down and then, as if it didn’t matter, opened the door for me to the interrogation-viewing room.
Technically it was the door leading to the room with a view of the interrogation room.
From this room you can see into the interrogation room, but from inside the interrogation room this room looks like a mirror.
“A scene you see a lot in crime movies…”
My heart jumped a little again.
Is this a side effect of the “Dog Nose” skill? My tongue keeps wanting to poke out and I get a weird feeling like a non-existent tail is wagging!
“Excited?”
“No!”
I tried to keep my face neutral beside the partner who was about to flip into psychopath mode.
Then—bang!
“Are you really not going to say anything? Then you’re taking the fall for everything, you hear me!”
I heard Byun Gu-do’s angry voice from inside the interrogation room.
I noticed Kang Wol-yeon’s face smiling that grim smile while he just watched Byun Gu-do fume.
“I really was alone in that classroom, okay? I stabbed that bastard to death with that knife.”
His school uniform had bright bloodstains and his grin was exactly the face of a murderer, but—
“Liar.”
On our side there was already proof that another person had been in the classroom.
The footprint on the ceiling.
Someone had used a mana item to escape without anyone noticing.
But the problem was the only way to identify that someone was by shoe size.
“A 280mm footprint corresponds to 87 students. If you factor in staff and possible outsiders, the suspect pool is even larger.”
Pi So-won showed me a sheet from a file.
On it, the footprint measured at 280mm was drawn.
“It’ll take a long time to catch the suspect.”
Pi So-won sipped her strongly brewed coffee and looked at the interrogation room with dark circles under her eyes. Then she said,
“That’s not all. This only proves someone else was there. Whether the two conspired to commit the murder or whether that guy really did it alone—we won’t know unless this guy talks.”
She was right.
Even if another Awakened was there, we don’t yet have proof that that Awakened was the real culprit.
“Also, the traces of mana found on the weapon matched only that guy.”
That would shift focus back to the “witness.”
“This is bad for Kang Wol-yeon.”
At times like this you could drug someone with mushrooms so they tell the truth properly, but neither Kang Wol-yeon nor I wanted that.
Kang Wol-yeon had a secret to protect.
That only I knew it might not be a bad situation for me.
I thought all this as I looked at Kang Wol-yeon, who was sitting cockily in the interrogation room, and I spoke up.
“Um… Chief…?”
“If you’re about to ask to be interrogated too…”
“No. Not that. It’s 6:03.”
“…?”
Pi So-won’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s three minutes past quitting time.”
Seeing Pi So-won’s bewildered face, I grinned.
“Work-life balance is precious.”
Am I wrong?
You become a civil servant to protect work-life balance, not for the money!
“Then I’ll be off!”
While everyone was clutching their necks at the new MZ (millennial/Gen Z) rookie, I quietly returned to the office alone.
And, as expected, Ma Deok-ho wasn’t there.
He had clearly left exactly at 6 like a flash.
“Stupid. He stole my MZ status.”
I stuck my tongue out at his MZ prowess and took something out of my pocket.
^ ^
◐ ◑
^
A plush with oddly shaped eyes.
Earlier, while things were chaotic, I’d secretly pocketed the one that had been hanging from Kang Wol-yeon’s bag.
“Wow… I was wondering how I’d get this into my hands.”
It was this easy?
I pressed the plush’s chest.
Then the doll “spoke.”
Enter access code.
This was—
“Sun and Moon.”
At that moment, everything went black in front of me.
A moment later, a man wearing a cat mask appeared where nothing had been visible.
“Welcome to the ‘Millet Field.’ Do you want red millet or blue millet?”
The Team 5 office had completely vanished.
Yes.
This doll was an item that connected to a pocket dimension.
“In the original, Choi Woo-jin had stolen this from villain Kang Wol-yeon.”
Thinking about what Choi Woo-jin had done to Kang Wol-yeon then…
Ugh. Who’s the villain here?
If you find the “red millet” here—
“Red millet, please.”
“Welcome.”
When the man snapped his fingers in the air, a mask dropped down over my face as well.
Masks are used to guarantee anonymity.
Why do you need anonymity? Because—
“Next item starts at 300 gold. This one is a water gun filled with concentrated slime extract. It only works on humans and touching human skin causes enormous pain for 24 hours!”
In this pocket dimension they trade weapons that the Hunter Management Agency absolutely, absolutely forbids!
“400 gold!”
“450!”
“500!”
Rows of masked people chanted numbers, holding up bidding paddles.
Watching the frighteningly rising bids, I smiled to myself.
It was a den of criminals.
And a little later—
“One thousand gold!”
I bought the item.
I spent one hundred million won.
“…One thousand gold! Is that your final bid?”
The auctioneer yelled in excitement.
While he repeated “one thousand gold” three times, everyone looked toward me.
“Who is that?”
“I’ve never seen them before…”
“Must be rich!”
Ha. Do I look like someone who has so much money I don’t know what to do with it?
That’s right.
I’m the person with five hundred million won and no idea how to spend it.
