Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 146

From that point on, Su-ho's group interviews began.

After Kim Goong-won informed the block leaders, he brought them to Su-ho, following the order of the room numbers.

The leader of the first room, Room 1-1, Oh Yun-ho, immediately bowed his head and greeted Su-ho as soon as he stood before him.

"I am Oh Yun-ho, the leader of Room 1-1. Allow me to introduce the others in order..."

The cells at Cheongok Prison usually housed a minimum of six and up to eight inmates.

Following Kim Goong-won’s instructions, Oh Yun-ho began introducing the names, crimes, and remaining sentences of the inmates in the room, starting with himself. When the last introduction was made, Su-ho narrowed his eyes and said,

"...There are no decent people here."

It wasn’t an exaggeration.

Room 1-1 had eight inmates, and apart from the leader, Oh Yun-ho, almost all of them were violent offenders — murderers, rapists, robbers, arsonists — the worst kinds of criminals.

The only one who wasn’t a violent offender was the youngest, who was in prison for theft.

At Su-ho's words, none of the inmates spoke up. Of course, they all grumbled inwardly.

‘He’s...’

‘How many people did he kill to end up here...’

‘Why is he suddenly making a fuss...?’

Su-ho observed their faces for a while, then pulled a small pill bottle from his pocket.

The bottle, which looked like an ordinary medicine bottle, was filled with small white pellets that resembled BB gun pellets. Su-ho took out the correct number to match the number of people in the room and handed them out to the inmates of Room 1-1.

He then asked the youngest inmate.

"You’re in for theft, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"What did you steal?"

"A car..."

"A car? Whose car?"

"I don’t know the person..."

"Why did you steal it?"

"Because I wanted to drive it..."

"Tch, figures."

He had asked just in case, but it seemed obvious from the start.

There could be no exceptions for someone like him.

After handing out the pellets, Su-ho spoke.

"Eat it."

"...Excuse me?"

"What... What is this?"

The inmates were flustered and confused.

It was understandable.

It wasn’t like Su-ho was someone they knew, and suddenly he had them swallow something of unknown origin. How could they not be fearful?

However, Su-ho had no intention of answering their questions kindly.

"Don’t want to eat it?"

"You... You have to tell us what this is..."

At that moment.

BAM!!

In response to Oh Yun-ho’s question, Su-ho punched him square in the face.

Oh Yun-ho flew back, crashing to the floor. In the process, several of his teeth were knocked out.

As Oh Yun-ho writhed on the floor, Su-ho shifted his gaze to the other inmates and asked,

"Not going to eat it?"

"Y-Yes! I’ll eat it!"

"We’ll eat it!"

"Ugh!"

One inmate didn’t even respond and swallowed it right away.

As all seven inmates swallowed the pellets, Su-ho gestured for Oh Yun-ho to come closer.

Su-ho handed him another pellet. Oh Yun-ho, shaking with fear, took it and ate it.

"Next."

That was the entire explanation.

At Su-ho’s command, the inmates of Room 1-1 quickly left, with Oh Yun-ho collecting his fallen teeth.

Kim Goong-won gulped down a dry swallow and then returned with the inmates from Room 1-2.

The process was the same.

Anyone who questioned the situation was treated just like Oh Yun-ho, and when two or three more inmates were added to the mix, the others, watching from the sidelines, stopped being curious and simply swallowed the pellets.

The guards, watching from a distance, pretended not to see anything.

In fact, they snickered as they watched the inmates drop.

It was only natural.

Before Yoon Hyun-chul took control of Cheongok, the prison guards, led by Jo Gwang-ho, had tormented the inmates of Cheongok mercilessly.

This was simply karma.

***

Su-ho had finally succeeded in making most of the inmates at Cheongok swallow the pellets.

It was thanks to Kim Goong-won's busy efforts.

Of course, not all inmates were forced to take them.

Even amidst the hustle, Su-ho made sure to differentiate. Those with a history like Yoon Hyun-chul, who had personal stories, were excluded from taking the pellets after verification.

Kim Goong-won was also one of those excluded.

Once the pellet distribution was complete, Kim Goong-won cautiously looked at Su-ho and spoke up.

"U-Um... Big Brother?"

"Yes?"

"Well... I have a question."

"Don't."

"I haven’t even asked yet?"

"You were going to ask about what I gave to the inmates, right?"

At Su-ho's words, Kim Goong-won awkwardly responded.

"Haha... Yeah... How did you know?"

"Don’t worry about it. If you find out what it is, you’ll have to eat it too."

Kim Goong-won swallowed a dry gulp and, avoiding Su-ho’s gaze, said,

"...I won’t ask, and I won’t eat it."

"Good choice."

Su-ho had no intention of feeding Kim Goong-won the pellets.

Because what he had given to the inmates wasn’t just some toy bullets, but insect eggs.

The name of the creature was "Seong-go" (吸星蠱), a parasitic insect known for absorbing life force.

In his past life, it was a favorite tool of a famous Insect Mage player known as "Chungma".

Su-ho knew well that the Seong-go absorbed vital energy (진기) rather than simple vitality or energy.

Vital energy was the innate energy one is born with—essentially life force—different from regular energy, which could be restored with food and rest.

Seong-go would grow by absorbing this innate energy, but its primary function was much darker. If it absorbed vital energy without a proper purification skill, it would cause severe side effects.

And so, Su-ho did not want to risk using the powerful Seong-go. Instead, he had used a lesser version of it—one that absorbed experience points and vitality, rather than vital energy.

Indeed, Su-ho had planned to use the inmates as an experience factory from the start.

"Once they get out, they’ll just cause more trouble. It's better for them to donate experience points to the world," he thought.

The Seong-go would not cause the inmates to lose levels. However, in order to level up again, they would have to recover the experience points they lost.