Chapter 18 ….
The Government Worker Who Hid Their Power Possesses Too Well
HSD Investigation Team 1.
Unlike the creaky wooden sign for Team 5, the sign for Team 1 was framed in gold and firmly bolted into the ceiling.
“They’re discriminating down to the nanometer, wow.”
Feeling oddly indignant, I walked into Team 1.
“Do you have the CCTV analysis reports?”
“The Ilsan case is YOUR job! How can you work this carelessly?!”
Even though it was past quitting time, everyone was busy and passionate.
“Totally different species from my team…”
I stood awkwardly in their midst, unsure who to talk to.
At that moment—
A woman carrying a mountain of documents collided with my shoulder. Papers flew everywhere—along with her thick glasses.
“Ahh…! I-I’m so sorry, senior! I—I deserve death…!”
The woman kept bowing repeatedly as she crawled on the floor, searching around. Probably looking for her glasses.
I roughly gathered the scattered documents and found her glasses, handing them over.
“Ah! Thank you!”
She bowed deeply and put her glasses back on.
Her nametag read:
Hunter Investigation Team 1
Ham Ina
Ham Ina.
The name was familiar.
She becomes one of Team 1’s ace investigators later on.
I remembered her showing up several times during the chase for Choi Woojin.
Looks like she’s new right now.
Ham Ina squinted at me through her glasses, tilting her head. Only now realizing I wasn’t a senior from Team 1.
Then her eyes naturally dropped to my nametag—and she gasped.
“Detective Lee Yooji? You’re that new recruit from Team 5, right?”
“That new recruit?”
The wording rubbed me a bit wrong, and I blinked.
“Well, yeah, I am Lee Yooji, but…?”
“Taekwondo Girl! You’re that person!”
Taekwondo Girl.
The moment I heard it, I understood her reaction.
Oh. Right.
My video went up on YouTube, didn’t it…?
Earlier, on the phone with Lee Ugyeom, I learned that the video had gotten a shocking number of views.
[ …Do you seriously live without watching YouTube? ]
You don’t watch it either.
[…Okay, fair point. ]
Mr. “Top Student Who Ignores All Calls” pretending to lecture me.
Anyway, thanks to him, I watched the clip.
At first, my face wasn’t shown clearly—only my profile—so I didn’t think it would be a big deal.
But netizens are terrifying.
“Most comments are wrong, but a few had freakishly accurate info.”
Rumors I won an Asian Games ticket, and so on—total nonsense.
They probably mixed me up with someone else, or saw the martial arts technique and just made stuff up.
Asian Games my butt…
[ Try socializing with humans. ]
I recalled Ugyeom’s words.
He should try it himself first.
“That video was amazing! If I met a terrorist, I could never do what you did!”
I tilted my head.
Looks like the video’s impact inside the HSD is even stronger.
Probably because it was internal CCTV footage that was leaked…
“But seriously, who leaked it?”
Anyone in the HSD could immediately recognize the location as Team 5—meaning they knew the person kicking the terrorist across the room was me.
“Honestly, we’re all just government employees. Where did you even get that courage…?”
Says the woman who’ll one day fall off a cliff chasing Choi Woojin.
Right. She’s still a rookie at this point.
Now that I thought about it, I did remember her from the entrance exam.
She has a special body-strengthening skill and performed incredibly in the physical fitness test.
As for me—
“…pa…passed…”
The examiners had such painfully awkward expressions when I barely passed.
How was I supposed to compete against people who run 100 meters in five seconds?!
The only reason I was accepted was because applicants were at a historic low, and I just barely met the baseline.
Now I’m not even sure that was a good thing.
“I noticed you during the physical test too! You were inspiring!”
“…Sorry?”
She noticed… me?
While I was confused, Ham Ina stopped in front of a door with a frosted glass window.
“You said you needed to see the team captain, right? He’s here. Good luck!”
She clenched her fist and flashed a bright smile, then trotted off—only to stop and turn back.
“Ah, right! We rookies have a group chat where we share info. Should I… invite you?”
Info-sharing chat?
It reminded me too much of a chatroom from my past life working under my boss—it gave me instant rejection chills.
But Ham Ina would become a big name in Team 1 someday.
Being friendly couldn’t hurt.
“Oh, sure! My number is—”
We exchanged contacts, and she disappeared.
Now, I was alone in front of the captain’s door.
“Wow… A private office.”
A whole different world from Team 5 and its flimsy partitions.
Made it really sink in that Kwon Ikseong was the ace of the HSD.
I knocked.
No response.
No “Come in,” no “Get lost.”
I hesitated, hand hovering, when—
“Here already?”
A low baritone voice sounded behind me.
A strong hand gripped the doorknob. Under his neatly folded shirt sleeve, corded muscles showed.
I turned—and saw that sharp nose, deep-set brow ridge, and eyes hard as stone.
Ikseong…!
I nearly shrieked like a pterodactyl but clamped my mouth shut.
He was so close.
Aside from that time when I was a slime and accidentally brushed his leg, or the time I was a dog and he patted my head—this was the first time we’d been this close as humans!
And to make it worse, Ikseong had his hair slicked back with pomade, glasses on, giving him this bizarrely nerdy charm…
But still looking like he had the muscles of a comic book superhero hidden underneath.
“Y-you’re just getting back… from somewhere?”
I tried to sound calm, but my voice betrayed me with a squeak.
Ikseong completely ignored it—because of course he did—and sat at his desk, motioning for me to sit.
“I was at the Hunter Management Agency.”
He looked exhausted.
The HMA is the authority above the HSD. They have the power to control everything we do.
They’re also suspected of cozying up with big guilds—basically a rotten organization.
Because of them, HSD cases often end with nothing, and the public sees us as tax-wasters.
No wonder he looks tired.
“To be direct—the Agency does not want Choi Woojin, grandson of Daeyoung Guild’s master, involved in this case. The guild wanted to block his summons and send lawyers.”
…Wow. That was very direct.
“But Choi Woojin demanded to appear. He says he has something to tell Detective Lee Yooji.”
……Damn it.
Why did that sound ominous?
“Which is why I called you before anything else.”
So, what? Offer my body and soul to bring results? Interrogate like my life depends on it? Psychological tactics? Profiling waiting outside the door?
While I stared at Ikseong nervously, he exhaled and spoke.
“…Take it easy.”
“…What?”
Words I never expected from Kwon Ikseong came out of his mouth.
