Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 75

The afternoon shift had begun, and Suho officially became a Record Renewal Agent in the Awakening Division.

“A Renewal Agent... It’s been a while.”

A Renewal Agent was, in essence, a collector of overdue responsibilities. Much like how the tax office sends collection teams after delinquent taxpayers or the military dispatches deserter squads to capture runaways, the Awakening Division deployed Renewal Agents to update overdue records.

Naturally, all Renewal Agents were field operatives, exclusively Players. Ordinary civilians need not apply.

Eom Jun-seong handed Suho a temporary Renewal Agent ID and encouraged him with a smile.

"Well then, Suho, good luck!"

"Yes."

Suho replied nonchalantly to Eom’s enthusiasm.

The reason Eom wasn’t accompanying him? Simple: Eom wasn’t a Player, nor a field operative, but a desk worker. Thus, someone else was assigned to act as Suho’s guide—someone who was both a field agent and an active Player.

Han Ho-seong, a current Renewal Agent and Suho’s assigned field mentor, greeted him.

"Nice to meet you, I’m Han Ho-seong."

Han Ho-seong.

As a Grade-7 field agent and a seasoned veteran with a reputation for excellence, he had been specifically chosen to oversee Suho’s training.

But Han wasn’t thrilled about this assignment.

“Damn it, being good at my job feels like a punishment sometimes.”

Han knew exactly who Suho was.

In fact, who in this country didn’t?

That was why Han couldn’t be pleased about becoming Suho’s trainer. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Rumors about Suho were already widespread within the association.

“He’s part of the Royal circle, so everyone is expected to cater to him. Great, just great... Like I don’t have enough to deal with already.”

As part of his role, Han had reviewed the list of non-compliant renewals assigned to Suho for training. That list alone was enough to annoy him.

The individuals on it weren’t just troublesome—they were legendary for being untraceable or impossible to catch. They were, as Han thought of them, “legends of legends.”

And yet, these cases had been dumped on Suho, a mere trainee.

The intent was obvious: others would catch the targets and hand them to Suho on a silver platter.

Why?

Because Suho was a "Royal" destined for the Special Division.

From Han’s perspective, it was impossible not to harbor some resentment.

Despite this, Suho greeted him with a bright smile.

"Nice to meet you, I’m Ahn Suho. I’ll be relying on you for a while."

"Uh, sure... Shall we start with some basic instructions? Oh, wait—Eom briefed you on the stat-measuring device and other tools, right?"

"Yes, he did."

"Great. Then we can skip the basics. Let’s see..."

Han sighed heavily as he scowled at the file he held, reviewing the list of targets.

He muttered under his breath, "This is insane... seriously..."

It felt almost inhumane to include nothing but troublemakers on the list. How could they assign a trainee only the worst cases?

Han continued grumbling, unaware that Suho was watching him with a faint smile.

"Are you having trouble deciding where to start?" Suho asked politely.

"Yeah, you could say that..."

"Then how about this person?"

Suho pointed to one of the names in the file.

Han glanced between the photo and Suho, letting out another sigh.

"Look, Suho... Are you sure you know who this guy is before suggesting we go after him?"

"He’s a non-compliant renewal case, isn’t he?"

"Sure, but... Let me be blunt. Everyone assigned to you is a legend in the Awakening Division for being utterly unmanageable. And this guy you just pointed to? We don’t even know where he is! He’s been off the grid for years!"

"I know."

"What?"

"I said I know. If he’s listed as a non-compliant case despite being untraceable, it means the division knows he’s still active somewhere. Isn’t that why he’s on the list?"

"Well... that’s true. But how do you know that?"

"I’ve done my research. Anyway, I’ll handle him."

The target Suho had pointed out was Kim Goong-won.

As Han had mentioned, Kim was an infamous non-compliant renewal case who had eluded capture for years.

Under normal circumstances, his prolonged absence would warrant a declaration of missing or deceased.

However, his continued presence on the list indicated that he was still actively operating within society, and the Awakening Division was well aware of it.

Han frowned even deeper at Suho’s confident attitude.

"Look, Suho, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but how exactly are you planning to catch him? The guy is supposedly overseas."

"Do you really think he’s abroad?"

"What?"

"Kim Goong-won. Profession: illegal pharmacologist. Nicknamed the 'Doping Designer,' he supplies performance-enhancing drugs to athletes, including non-Awakened individuals. The issue is that these drugs mimic skill effects. He denies the allegations, but multiple reports have been filed against him. The Awakening Division requested an update to his status window to verify the charges, but he’s refused for years, evading capture. His current location is supposedly overseas..."

It was as expected.

Kim Goong-won had initially worked as a doping designer while still an ordinary person. However, when he unexpectedly awakened as a Player, his case was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Great Awakening Association (GAA).

While his doping activities had little direct connection to the GAA, the issue was that his illegal drugs started producing skill-like effects rather than just traditional doping enhancements.

This development made him a target of the GAA's investigations.

“They need concrete evidence before the Special Division gets involved.”

“And, of course, P. Sung-yeol finds cases like this bothersome.”

“Let him figure it out the hard way. He needs to learn that even being a Sword God doesn’t make tracking non-compliant individuals any easier. This is a completely different game.”

With the phone numbers in hand, Suho headed to the Nexus Academy in Paju.