An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 11
Part 4. What Must Not Be Seen (2)
Kang Hyung-seok studied Shin Jung-ah’s face.
She wore the expression of someone who couldn’t understand why he was looking at her.
Just as he’d suspected, the sound of the Shaman’s Bell seemed to reach only Kang Hyung-seok’s ears.
A soft footstep.
Even as he removed his shoes and made his way toward the Small Room, the Shaman’s Bell continued its incessant ringing.
Kang Hyung-seok entered the Small Room, and Shin Jung-ah hesitated at the threshold for a moment before reluctantly following him inside.
“Was the salt like this this morning as well?”
Shin Jung-ah, standing behind Kang Hyung-seok’s shoulder and observing the salt, answered with a nod.
If that was the case, then it hadn’t been active after sunrise.
“Pardon me for a moment.”
A rustling sound.
Stepping over the scattered salt, Kang Hyung-seok pushed the coat rack to one side.
Damn, why were there so many clothes?
Just as he was about to hang the coat rack elsewhere—it kept snapping back to its original position no matter how hard he pushed—
“Hyung-seok, do they really teach you this kind of thing in folklore studies?”
“What kind of thing?”
Shin Jung-ah didn’t answer.
So Kang Hyung-seok resumed moving his hands, pushing the clothes to one side.
“I’d appreciate it if you kept what’s about to happen a secret from the Company.”
“…A secret about what?”
“About what’s going to happen from now on.”
The bell rang out more intensely.
The Shaman’s Bell chimed with increasing urgency.
Kang Hyung-seok extended his fingernails against the wall he’d been touching, then carefully scraped at the wallpaper before Shin Jung-ah’s watchful eyes.
That was when it happened.
A slight catch.
His fingernail snagged on a minute crevice.
Kang Hyung-seok traced the outline, pressing along the gap with his nail.
How desperately he wished it was merely a simple crack.
A scraping sound.
But the marks left by his nail were forming a distinct shape.
Shin Jung-ah’s face grew increasingly taut with anxiety and dread, and Kang Hyung-seok felt much the same.
Another scrape.
Having traced the gap down to near the floor, Kang Hyung-seok straightened his legs and took a step back.
The line formed a shape far too familiar.
A rectangle.
“…That’s not a door, is it?”
At Shin Jung-ah’s words, Kang Hyung-seok answered with a heavy nod.
Even he could see there was a door hidden behind the wallpaper.
Shin Jung-ah’s eyes turned toward him, and the Shaman’s Bell rang with a discordant jangle.
Scattered salt.
A spirit that crawled across the ceiling.
The Shaman’s Bell ringing as if to warn of something profane.
All of it converged, pointing to the door concealed within the wallpaper.
“Wait, just a moment—let me contact the House Owner first….”
Shin Jung-ah was reaching for her phone with a bewildered expression.
“Do you have a knife?”
“…Tear it?”
“You said it was a remodeled house. The House Owner hid it. We need to show him—he won’t admit anything otherwise.”
Shin Jung-ah silently lowered the hand holding her phone.
Then she retrieved a utility knife and handed it to Kang Hyung-seok.
Click, shhhhk.
Kang Hyung-seok cut slightly larger than the door’s outline and began tearing away the wallpaper.
Rip rip rip! Shred shred shred!
The backing paper had been applied to level any irregularities, with wallpaper pasted over it.
So as the wallpaper tore, the backing came away with it.
Shred shred shred!
After stripping away the wallpaper, Kang Hyung-seok exhaled sharply and stepped back further.
A complete door was revealed between the torn strips.
It was no ordinary door.
A door frame fixed shut with nails to prevent it from opening.
The doorknob hole sealed with concrete.
Most grotesque of all was the faded Bodhidharma portrait covering the door—hung upside down.
There was no way to excuse this as merely a design choice.
Gazing at the inverted eyes of the Bodhidharma, Kang Hyung-seok spoke in a low voice.
“Call him.”
“Right, okay.”
Shin Jung-ah dialed the House Owner with trembling hands, struggling to steady herself.
***
“I got your call. What door are you talking about?”
Unexpectedly, it was the Real Estate Agent who called Shin Jung-ah back.
“It’s the small room! If something like this existed, you should have told me!”
“What door are you referring to? And why are you raising your voice?”
“How am I supposed to stay calm about this? I’ll send you a photo, so take a look yourself, boss!”
She was standing in front of the house.
Shin Jung-ah, her voice raised just enough not to echo through the alley, sent a photo of the door with the inverted dharma painting hanging on it, her irritation evident.
“Wait, this is… Did you open it…?”
“No! How could I open that!”
“I’ll be right there. Don’t do anything and just wait.”
After hanging up, Shin Jung-ah’s face showed her barely suppressing her anger.
If Kang Hyung-seok hadn’t been there, she probably would have unleashed a torrent of curses.
Click, click. Crackle!
Watching Shin Jung-ah light a cigarette, Kang Hyung-seok turned his gaze toward the house.
The Shaman’s Bell was no longer ringing.
Nothing in particular appeared in his spiritual vision either.
Yet strangely, I felt the urge to open that door.
It was the right thing to do.
I couldn’t explain why, but the thought kept surfacing unbidden.
“Do you happen to have a hammer in the house?”
“Why? Don’t tell me you’re trying to open that door?”
“Yes.”
“Crazy! Why would you open that!”
Shin Jung-ah reflexively cursed, then caught herself and closed her mouth in embarrassment.
I wasn’t surprised, having already anticipated her true nature. And I knew all too well that the curse wasn’t directed at me.
“It’s a trapped Victim Spirit.”
“…What?”
“We need to free it. That’s what’s right.”
Shin Jung-ah pressed her lips together firmly, then opened them carefully.
“Hyung-seok, did you receive a divine calling or something?”
“Something like that.”
Shin Jung-ah’s pupils wavered.
So this was what he’d asked her to keep secret.
“Then why are you working at a Company?”
“People like that exist often.”
It wasn’t an incorrect statement.
There were indeed people who received divine callings yet continued their ordinary lives.
Some because their guardian spirits weren’t strong enough for shamanic work.
Some simply wanting to escape spiritual illness.
There were those who accepted the divine while knowing they belonged to neither the ordinary world nor the shamanic one.
Many of them drifted through life without securing stable employment.
“I don’t quite understand.”
But from Shin Jung-ah’s perspective, Kang Hyung-seok was not that sort of person.
He possessed something—a supernatural quality that rivaled not just ordinary people, but those who practiced shamanism itself.
The fact that he could explain the curse and immediately locate the hidden door seemed anything but ordinary.
“Even if I explained, it would be difficult for you to comprehend.”
“Is it something bad or dangerous…?”
“It’s not that.”
When Kang Hyung-seok spoke with such finality, Shin Jung-ah suppressed her questions despite her confusion.
“…Then that’s fine. I’ll accept it.”
She decided it wasn’t something that needed to be revealed right now.
Kang Hyung-seok nodded with a bitter smile, his eyes betraying genuine gratitude.
Then it happened.
Vroooom.
The Real Estate Agent, who had arrived in a red compact car, stepped out with a grim expression on her face.
“What happened?”
At her blunt question, Shin Jung-ah’s anger flared anew, her eyes narrowing sharply.
“Excuse me, boss! Shouldn’t you apologize first?”
This time, her voice echoed through the entire alley.
As several people opened their windows to look, the Real Estate Agent froze, unable to speak.
“Let’s discuss this inside.”
“How are we supposed to go in there, boss!”
“Then perhaps in my car….”
At that moment, Kang Hyung-seok interjected.
“You can go in.”
“What, what?”
At his words, both Shin Jung-ah and the Real Estate Agent’s expressions softened.
“It’s safe to enter. The Victim Spirit doesn’t manifest during daylight hours.”
Victim Spirit.
At those words, the Real Estate Agent’s shoulders trembled.
“Who… are you?”
“Someone acquainted with this person.”
It wasn’t intentional.
Yet a strong shamanic aura emanated from Kang Hyung-seok, forcing both women to cease their quarrel.
“Well, let’s go inside then.”
The Real Estate Agent, believing Kang Hyung-seok to be someone of significance, kept glancing at him nervously as she entered the house with Shin Jung-ah.
Click.
Once the entrance closed, Shin Jung-ah spoke with suppressed fury, her voice firm.
“Boss, you need to explain this clearly. What is that door? You know what it is, don’t you? Yet you said nothing about it when we signed the contract?”
The Real Estate Agent simply stood in silence, her head bowed low, offering no response.
“If you have a mouth, then speak! What on earth is this house? And what’s with that door!”
As Shin Jung-ah pressed the Real Estate Agent harder, Kang Hyung-seok stepped forward and opened his mouth.
“This is a house where someone died, isn’t it?”
That was the moment.
The short Real Estate Agent looked up at Kang Hyung-seok in bewilderment, and Shin Jung-ah cast a similar gaze toward him.
Between them, Kang Hyung-seok pressed his eyes shut with the hand bearing the water ritual mark.
‘What is this? The image….’
It felt like someone else’s memories were flowing into his mind.
The insight and ability of shamans.
It was showing Kang Hyung-seok what had happened in this house.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A man hammering nails into the wall, with two women watching from behind.
One was the Real Estate Agent, looking far younger than she did now, and the other was a Shaman dressed in ritual robes.
The Real Estate Agent’s eyes were filled with fear, while the Shaman’s eyes gleamed with something sinister.
As if using a forbidden method that should never be employed.
‘Do we really have to go this far?’
The Real Estate Agent asked in a trembling voice, and the Shaman’s sharp gaze turned toward her.
‘You’re the ones who asked me to do this! You wanted the ghost of the murdered tenant to stop appearing!’
The image was far too vivid.
Kang Hyung-seok swallowed a groan and removed his hand from his eyes.
“It’s probably not just a house where someone died. They were murdered here, weren’t they?”
“W-w-who are you?”
The Real Estate Agent stammered out the question, trembling, while Shin Jung-ah shuddered as if seized by chills.
It was an old house.
Given how many people had lived here over the years, it wouldn’t be unusual for someone to die within its walls.
But this house was the site of a murder.
“Ugh.”
Kang Hyung-seok groaned again as more images flooded his mind.
This time, fragmented images flashed past like pages being rapidly turned in a photo album.
The Victim Spirit being killed.
The House Owner and the Real Estate Agent discovering the corpse.
Police and ambulances.
And the Shaman.
“Hyung-seok…?”
Sensing something was amiss, Shin Jung-ah asked quietly, and Kang Hyung-seok swallowed hard before turning his gaze to the Real Estate Agent.
“What’s your relationship with the House Owner? Friends? Relatives?”
“That… well.”
Kang Hyung-seok watched her panic, his brow furrowing. Another image had sliced through his mind like a dagger.
“You’re relatives, aren’t you?”
“Oh my goodness!”
The Real Estate Agent collapsed with a thud, her face turning ashen as she trembled.
“W-who are you? Who exactly are you?”
“Did you think it would be fine? Because it was long ago and you sealed the door, did you assume it was all over?”
The Real Estate Agent couldn’t muster any response, her body quaking uncontrollably.
Every word Kang Hyung-seok spoke was the truth.
Not a single word was wrong—even if she had a thousand mouths, she would have nothing to say in her defense.
“The Shaman told you to hang the Dharma painting upside down, didn’t he? Did you do this without knowing what suffering the Victim Spirit would endure?”
“Oh my, s-sir.”
Now the Real Estate Agent recognized Kang Hyung-seok as a spiritual practitioner.
“I’m s-so sorry. I never thought it would turn out like this….”
“Call the House Owner. I’m opening that door.”
“No, that can’t be! That’s…!”
“Will you leave this house haunted by ghosts?”
His voice was low yet carried an unmistakable weight of authority.
The Real Estate Agent, by contrast, seemed to lose all her strength entirely. Her head drooped as she released a series of deep sighs.
“Understood.”
“Call right now.”
“Y-yes.”
The Real Estate Agent stepped outside the entrance with only her phone in hand.
Shin Jung-ah, who had been frozen in shock, immediately spoke up.
“W-what’s happening? Hyung-seok, what is all this?”
Kang Hyung-seok looked at Shin Jung-ah without responding.
His gaze was a silent command not to speak of this, and Shin Jung-ah answered with a vigorous nod, her expression tense.
“I’ve received a divine calling, you see. It’s a rather significant one.”
“….”
“They say it’s a calling so great that merely receiving it would make one a master shaman. Though my experience is limited, so I’m only halfway there, you could say. Consider me a semi-spiritual practitioner.”
Shin Jung-ah felt goosebumps crawling up her forearms.
She had suspected as much, but hearing it directly from his own lips struck her with a different kind of impact.
A mixture of awe and alienation washed over her, and she pressed her lips firmly shut.
As a heavy silence settled over them, the Real Estate Agent returned, her head bowed.
“He said he’ll be here in five minutes.”
Kang Hyung-seok nodded, and true to her word, an elderly man soon rushed in breathlessly.
“What on earth is——”
The House Owner was even more flustered upon seeing Kang Hyung-seok.
He had hurried over upon hearing a spiritual practitioner was here.
But the casual attire was so ordinary that he couldn’t fathom what this was about.
Yet he said nothing, for both the Real Estate Agent and Shin Jung-ah kept their mouths shut.
As if they had witnessed something extraordinary emanating from him.
“You must be the House Owner.”
“Yes? Y-yes.”
So the House Owner found it difficult to treat Kang Hyung-seok, who was younger than himself, carelessly.
Kang Hyung-seok asked Shin Jung-ah to bring him a crowbar, then opened his mouth to address the House Owner.
“How much have you heard?”
“That I… opened the door.”
“Yes. You should prepare yourself.”
“Prepare for what, exactly?”
The House Owner’s gaze shifted to the crowbar gripped in Kang Hyung-seok’s hand.
“You’ve bound an innocent Victim Spirit to this house through improper means. You’ll suffer illness for some time, and minor misfortunes may befall you.”
“No, wait! What are you saying—!”
At that moment, the Real Estate Agent hastily grabbed the House Owner’s arm.
It was right after the House Owner, his face flustered, looked at Kang Hyung-seok—a silent plea to stay quiet.
“This karma should have been released long ago. Correcting it now is the only way to minimize the damage.”
It wasn’t about placing all the blame on the House Owner.
It was about setting things right now and minimizing harm for everyone.
Though the House Owner and Real Estate Agent understood his meaning, both were visibly anxious and flustered.
Still, neither tried to stop him.
They feared that doing so would invite even greater punishment.
“There’s just one thing I’d like to ask.”
The House Owner spoke in a barely squeezed-out voice, gauging Kang Hyung-seok’s reaction.
“Are you a priest? A Taoist master?”
Kang Hyung-seok didn’t answer, instead opening his backpack.
He unzipped it and pulled out the Shaman’s Bell, which he kept in a pencil case inside.
Wa-ra-ra-rang!
Holding the Shaman’s Bell, which emanated a power so strong that even ordinary people could sense it, he began walking toward the Small Room, crowbar in hand.
“I’m opening the door now.”
Wa-rang! Wa-ra-rang! Wa-ra-ra-rang!
Overwhelmed by the sight of Kang Hyung-seok shaking the Shaman’s Bell, the others held their breath and watched him intently.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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