Chapter  04

* * *

There are countless smells in this world.

Someone’s perfume.

The smell of a mop used to clean the floor.

The sandwich that person just ate.

And—

Blood sausage?

Lee Yu-ji—or rather, Lulu, whom Lee Yu-ji was currently possessing—quickly turned her head, searching around. But when the scent faded, her ears drooped sadly.

That’s right.

Right now, Yu-ji was possessing Lulu using her skill.

As for where her real body was?

Dog-Yu-ji looked up at the real Yu-ji, who was standing there with a slightly vacant expression while holding her leash.

– During possession, you may give simple instructions to your original body.

That was the truly ridiculous part of the skill.

She could give commands to her real body, too.

So Yu-ji had ordered her original body to walk around holding Lulu’s leash.

Of course, since she couldn’t give complicated instructions, her real body looked like a broken doll.

Thankfully, nobody in this building actually knows what Lee Yu-ji looks like.

And thanks to Senior Lulu’s overwhelming cuteness, most people only paid attention to the dog and ignored everything else.

Dog-Yu-ji happily wagged her tail and crossed the Hunter Investigation Unit lobby with the most harmless smile possible.

Completely unaware of how ridiculous she looked.

Senior Lulu is way more distracted than I expected…

Now she understood why Lulu was still stuck with Team 5 and hadn’t gone into active field work.

On the way from the backyard to the lobby, Lulu had greeted countless employees and charmed snacks out of nearly every one of them.

I’ve seen her roll over for belly rubs at least ten times already.

What a shameless dog.

You gave me affection points! Was all of that a lie?!

Yu-ji had originally planned to use Lulu only to find the bomb.

Unfortunately, Senior Lulu was impossible to control.

…Which was how things ended up like this.

Just as Dog-Yu-ji reached the security gate and lifted her head to scan the employee badge hanging from her real body’s neck—

A strange scent drifted in from behind.

Yu-ji turned around.

The first thing she saw was a pair of polished black dress shoes.

Above them were perfectly pressed suit pants.

Then a crisp shirt and jacket.

And…

A ridiculously handsome face sitting above shoulders broad enough to cross the Pacific Ocean.

“…!”

The man crouched down in front of Dog-Yu-ji.

A gentle hand stroked across her head and down her back.

An employee badge swung in front of her eyes.

Hunter Investigation Unit – Team 1

Team Leader Kwon Ik-seong

It’s Ik-seong…!

Yu-ji’s vision nearly spun.

He’s even more handsome than the illustrations. Is this legal? Is this allowed? How can someone be this good-looking? Isn’t this a crime? Should a government employee even be allowed to look like this? Breathing the same air as him feels wasteful. Should I stop breathing?

At that moment, Dog-Yu-ji nearly rolled over and exposed her belly.

No! My dignity! I have dignity!

But for some reason, her body refused to listen.

Then someone behind Kwon Ik-seong asked,

“Huh? Why is there a dog here?”

Kwon Ik-seong glanced at Lulu and answered in his usual expressionless voice.

“She’s Team 5’s detection dog.”

He casually extended his hand toward Lulu’s face.

Yu-ji stared blankly for a moment before noticing him frown slightly.

Oh… he wants me to smell him!

She quickly sniffed him.

Fabric softener.

A faint natural scent.

And…

A smoky, metallic smell.

What’s that?

As Yu-ji kept sniffing the end of his sleeve, Kwon Ik-seong smiled slightly.

…He’s way too handsome…

Realizing drool was about to drip from her mouth, Yu-ji quickly licked it away.

Looks like Lulu is close with him.

For a moment, she became jealous of Senior Lulu’s impressive social connections.

Kwon Ik-seong stood up.

His gaze naturally shifted toward Yu-ji’s real body,holding the leash.

After checking the ID badge, he spoke.

“Investigator Lee Yu-ji?”

Ik-seong knows my name—!

No.

That wasn’t the problem.

Yu-ji’s brain immediately started panicking.

Her real body couldn’t answer right now!

And sure enough, her original body simply stood there staring blankly at Kwon Ik-seong.

Kwon Ik-seong was an elite investigator with five years of experience and the leader of Team 1.

Compared to me, he’s practically my superior from the heavens!

If she failed to respond properly, she’d deserve a serious scolding.

Instead—

“You must be Team 5’s new recruit. Keep up the good work.”

Kwon Ik-seong simply nodded and walked away as if nothing was wrong.

…Is he an angel?

Still inside Lulu’s body, Yu-ji watched his broad back disappear into the distance.

Then—

Remaining Possession Time: 00:08:50

She immediately snapped back to reality.

Lulu’s tail began wagging furiously.

* * *

I returned to Team 5’s office while still possessing Senior Lulu.

But I still couldn’t smell anything that seemed suspicious.

Then—

Blood sausage…!

My body instantly reacted.

My eyes widened.

My nose twitched.

And most importantly—

Why am I drooling?!

That smells amazing!

And that’s when I discovered another important feature of this EX-rank skill.

While possessing someone, you start taking on parts of their personality and instincts.

Like how I nearly rolled over in front of Kwon Ik-seong earlier.

So right now, I was basically a dog.

Well… partly.

Just a little.

At that moment, footsteps approached along with the smell of blood sausage.

Then they stopped.

“Delivery!”

A delivery driver wearing a helmet walked right into the office and shouted.

The strange part?

This area was supposed to be restricted to employees only.

Immediately, Byun Gu-do and Ma Deok-ho emerged from wherever they’d been hiding.

…Are they cockroaches?

Time kept ticking away.

But I still hadn’t smelled anything that seemed like a bomb.

Instead, my thoughts were becoming—

Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Blood sausage!

Please stop.

To distract myself from the nonstop blood sausage siren in my head, I focused on thinking.

Nobody could bring dangerous items into the Hunter Investigation Unit.

Everyone had to pass through security scanners.

Even investigators had to scan their bags.

Those scanners were magical appraisal devices capable of detecting mana bombs easily.

Which meant the bomb never went through the scanners.

Then how did it get inside?

What items were allowed to bypass inspection?

Maybe the bomb wasn’t here yet.

Maybe someone planned to bring it in later.

Or maybe the inside man wasn’t even an investigator.

Blood sausage! Blood sausage! Snack! Blood sausage! Snack!

Shut up!

Panting nonstop, I stared at the desk where the delivery driver had placed a bowl of blood sausage soup.

“Whine…?”

Blood sausage! Snack! Blood sausage! Snack!

Wait.

Wasn’t there another smell mixed in?

That smoky metallic scent.

It was similar to the smell I noticed on Kwon Ik-seong earlier.

I remembered something another investigator had said while walking past him.

“You scored another perfect ten today, sir.”

Kwon Ik-seong had just come from firearms training.

Which meant—

That smell belonged to magic bullets.

This wasn’t a food smell.

So why did it make me think of snacks?

When Lulu smelled this scent…

Did she usually get rewarded with treats?

A detection dog getting treats means…

She found something.

Suddenly, everything clicked.

The scent was similar to magic bullets.

But it was also the scent Lulu had been rewarded for detecting countless times.

My thoughts raced.

The inside man.

I’d been imagining someone important.

Someone dangerous.

But thinking about it carefully—

The inside man didn’t necessarily have to be an investigator.

And they didn’t necessarily have to plant the bomb themselves.

All they had to do was help the bomber bypass security.

Then I remembered something the security guard had said.

“If you order late-night food, just tell me first. I’ll let the delivery guy through. Don’t worry about Security Chief Hong being strict.”

The image of delivery drivers entering through the back door flashed through my mind.

Something that wouldn’t attract attention.

Something outsiders could carry inside naturally.

Something that could reach deep inside the office.

.. Deliver food.

“…!”

“Woof!”

I immediately started barking at the bowl of blood sausage soup.

The first person to react was Byun Gu-do.

“Whoa! You scared me! When did you get here? And why did you bring Lulu inside, Lee Yu-ji? This little rascal goes crazy whenever she sees blood sausage.”

There wasn’t much time left.

Byun Gu-do assumed Lulu was barking because she wanted food.

He quickly tried hiding the soup from me.

The possession timer showed barely two minutes remaining.

I jumped onto a flowerpot beside me and used it as a launching point.

My body slammed directly into Byun Gu-do.

Ugh! Take a shower sometime!

A horrifying smell hit me.

Unable to support Lulu’s weight, Byun Gu-do fell over.

At that exact moment, the open bowl of blood sausage soup flew from his hands.

Blood sausage! Snack! Blood sausage! Snack!

The noise in my head reached maximum volume.

Then—

Possession has ended! See you next time!

The annoying status window appeared.

And I was back in my own body.

The next thing I saw was—

“AAAAAH!”

Byun Gu-do screams after getting covered in blood sausage soup.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Lulu, with blood sausage stuffed in her mouth, barking furiously at something lying on the floor.

And Ma Deok-ho is watching everything happen.

What a complete disaster.

No—

What a complete blood-sausage disaster.

I pointed at the small rectangular object Lulu was barking at and shouted:

“…It’s a bomb!”

It was a ridiculously dramatic discovery.

But still—

I found it.