An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 114

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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 113
Part 6. He Was Hiding (2)
“Huh? Where’s the Manager?”
The moment Namgoong Min-ah arrived at the Pension, she immediately searched for Gwak Young-ho.
Shin Jung-ah’s expression darkened for a moment, but it was Kang Hyung-seok who spoke up.
“The Manager went to the Supermarket just in front of here for a bit.”
“What?”
Namgoong Min-ah showed a bewildered reaction, and Kang Hyung-seok continued with an awkward smile.
“He should be back soon. I’m not sure what it is, but he seemed to need to buy something urgently.”
“Ah… so who came in first then?”
“He asked me to keep time for him.”
Kang Hyung-seok glanced at his wristwatch and smiled at Namgoong Min-ah.
“Your team was a bit faster than ours.”
“Oh? Really, truly?”
“Yes.”
“Wow! Yes!”
Now Namgoong Min-ah seemed not to care that Gwak Young-ho was nowhere to be seen.
However, Shin Yoseph appeared to have noticed something, his gaze fixed on Kang Hyung-seok.
As if asking whether he was truly telling the truth.
His eyes clearly conveyed that question.
“But he’s taking quite long. We’ll go check on the Manager, so Namgoong Min-ah and Lee Jin-pyung, please wait here. Call us if anything comes up.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke while looking directly at Lee Jin-pyung.
Though dull-witted, he was steadfast and reliable, always following orders without delay.
With someone like Lee Jin-pyung, I could trust him to watch over Namgoong Min-ah.
“Yes, Manager.”
Lee Jin-pyung answered with his usual expression, and Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze shifted to his feet.
Woof, woof!
A Spitz Victim Spirit that followed Lee Jin-pyung barked confidently up at Kang Hyung-seok.
The same one that had protected Lee Jin-pyung even at the Hospital.
Kang Hyung-seok nodded and turned his gaze to Shin Yoseph.
“Will you come with us as well? You had asked about something before.”
“Ah yes, the material transaction for next quarter?”
Shin Yoseph, quick to pick up on things, played along, and Kang Hyung-seok nodded emphatically.
“Yes. I have some things to discuss about that as well.”
“Perfect then. I’ll go with Manager Kang, so you two just rest here.”
Shin Yoseph pushed Namgoong Min-ah and Lee Jin-pyung toward the Pension entrance, urging them inside.
“Be careful on your way!”
Namgoong Min-ah waved her hand as she entered the Pension.
As Kang Hyung-seok watched her receding figure and the surroundings, his lips pressed into a firm line. Then Shin Yoseph’s gaze turned toward him.
“What is the matter?”
“Let’s talk on the way.”
Shin Yoseph nodded at Shin Jung-ah.
From the atmosphere, it seemed she had learned about him through Kang Hyung-seok.
Beep beep, click!
Kang Hyung-seok unlocked his car in the Parking Lot and opened his mouth.
“The Manager was possessed. A Victim Spirit told him to check the Valley.”
Even with such a brief explanation, Shin Yoseph could understand.
For a moment, Shin Jung-ah glanced at Shin Yoseph.
But seeing him maintain a quiet silence, she averted her gaze.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’ll handle the search.”
Kang Hyung-seok approached the trunk and pulled out a bag from deep within.
He brushed off the dust, took a moment to steady his breathing, then tilted his head to the side and yanked the bag toward him.
Inside were salt and glutinous rice.
Even before receiving the Guardian Spirit, I had always carried protective items within reach.
Thud!
With the bag slung over his shoulder, he spoke to Shin Yoseph in a low voice.
“I’m asking only for your support.”
Shin Yoseph exhaled sharply through the gap and took the bag from Kang Hyung-seok, carrying it himself.
***
Crunch, crunch.
Walking with the lantern illuminating the ground beneath, insects swarmed relentlessly.
It was past 9 PM, and about 25 minutes had passed since Gwak Young-ho disappeared.
Whoooosh.
They were heading toward the Valley.
The waterfall-like Valley water was something I had seen during the day.
But just as the Mountain differed between day and night, the Valley water presented a completely different impression.
It felt like a black hole—a grotesque, sinister force that lured people in and stole their lives.
“Huff, huff!”
Shin Jung-ah, whose stamina was weak, breathed heavily, but there was no slowing down.
Kang Hyung-seok extended his hand, and Shin Jung-ah grasped it with an exhaustion so evident that even in the darkness it was unmistakable.
Whoooosh!
After walking much further like this.
Kang Hyung-seok stopped abruptly, and Shin Yoseph and Shin Jung-ah caught their breath while surveying the surroundings.
It was the place where Gwak Young-ho had played during the day, but his figure was nowhere to be seen.
Clink.
Kang Hyung-seok picked up the Shaman’s Bell and soon drew out a ritual blade as well.
As the sheath came free, the blade gleamed beneath the moonlight, and somehow the surroundings felt slightly brighter because of it.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
As I shook the Shaman’s Bell while gripping the ritual blade, Shin Jung-ah’s eyes suddenly widened. Without a word, she took the bag from Shin Yoseph and pulled out a pouch containing glutinous rice.
It was something we had agreed upon before coming here.
Crackle!
She bit the corner of her lip and began sprinkling glutinous rice flour bit by bit onto the ground.
Splash, splash, splash. Wheeeee!
Meanwhile, I shook the Shaman’s Bell and whistled.
‘If you’re hiding, reveal yourself.’
The whistle technique is a method for finding spirits.
I slowly moved upstream through the Valley, continuing to whistle, and stopped near where I had seen the water-drowned spirit earlier.
It’s there.
I can feel something in that spot.
But it’s not the energy of the water-drowned spirit I saw during the day.
Wheeeee.
I whistled a high, thin note and shook the Shaman’s Bell finely.
At the same time, I raised the hand holding the spirit blade up to my chest.
Shhhhh.
As I moved the spirit blade slowly, I felt myself drawing rapidly closer to my Guardian Spirit.
I closed my eyes for a moment, sensed the energy around me, then opened them again.
And there, unbelievably, I spotted Gwak Young-ho standing blankly upstream.
Gwak Young-ho, hidden away by the spirit’s illusion clouding his eyes.
“Manager, it’s over there!”
“Huh? What?”
Shin Jung-ah looked startled and glanced in the direction I pointed, but she saw nothing.
“Hurry upstream! You need to keep sprinkling glutinous rice flour around the water’s edge.”
Though bewildered, Shin Jung-ah moved upstream as I instructed.
She sprinkled the glutinous rice flour while looking in the direction I indicated, but still saw nothing.
“Can you see it?”
Shin Yoseph answered my question by shaking his head.
So I told him to follow me and approached Gwak Young-ho in a straight line.
Splash! Splash!
Splash, splash, splash, splash.
Even as I cut through the rushing current toward Gwak Young-ho, I continued shaking the Shaman’s Bell.
When I grabbed his wrist, his body was ice-cold.
A symptom easily seen in possession victims.
“Yoseph! Still can’t see him?”
Splash!
I yanked Gwak Young-ho toward me and headed for Shin Yoseph.
Perhaps because he was in my grasp.
Now Gwak Young-ho was visible to Shin Yoseph’s eyes as well.
“I see him!”
Shin Yoseph, who had been following about two meters behind, raised his voice, and I immediately handed Gwak Young-ho over to him.
Click.
Shin Yoseph’s face hardened rapidly as he cradled Gwak Young-ho in his arms.
A rigid body.
Cold skin.
A faint stench emanating from his breath.
The same reactions he’d felt from those possessed by demons were now radiating from Gwak Young-ho.
Whoooosh! Splash, splash!
Shin Yoseph emerged from the Valley waters that drained away his body heat and removed his outer garment, draping it over Gwak Young-ho’s body before placing his palm firmly against the man’s chest.
“Archangel Michael, protect us. Guard this soul who desperately needs the Lord’s protection.”
Shin Yoseph rapidly traced the sign of the cross with his other hand.
Then he pressed hard against Gwak Young-ho’s convulsing chest and suddenly lifted his head.
“Wait!”
At that moment, Shin Jung-ah, who had finished scattering the glutinous rice, hurried over and set down her bag.
She withdrew a sacred rope from the bag and placed it on Gwak Young-ho’s chest, while Shin Yoseph’s suspicious gaze shot toward her like an arrow.
Yet Shin Jung-ah could offer no explanation.
She merely moved as Kang Hyung-seok had instructed.
Whoosh!
As she began scattering the remaining glutinous rice around Gwak Young-ho, both she and Shin Yoseph turned their gazes toward Kang Hyung-seok.
Even as they did, Gwak Young-ho’s body continued to tremble, and the Valley waters still flowed with their heavy, ominous sound.
Kang Hyung-seok stood in the middle of the Valley waters.
Jingle-jingle-jingle-jingle-jingle.
Shaking the Shaman’s Bell in short, rapid bursts, he stared into the darkness while remaining acutely aware of the ritual knife in his grip.
‘It’s hiding its body.’
With the Shaman’s Bell present, it wouldn’t dare attack directly.
But if I cannot find it, I cannot save Gwak Young-ho.
Gurgle!
Gwak Young-ho’s body convulsed as white foam began pouring from his mouth.
Shin Jung-ah squeezed her eyes shut, while Shin Yoseph contorted his face and turned his head toward Kang Hyung-seok.
Damn it—memories of his senior who had lost his life during an exorcism ceremony came flooding back.
He desperately prayed that such a tragedy would never occur again.
As he watched with fervent hope, Kang Hyung-seok slowly raised the ritual knife.
Shhhhh.
Then he slashed through empty air as if cutting invisible paper before him.
The form of his ritual knife resembles a star-shaped blade, but as a sacred instrument, its form and purpose do not perfectly align.
It serves the purposes of the guardian blade, the great divine blade, the seven-star blade, and the snap blade, among others.
Its greatest effect is drawing closer to the divine.
Jingle-jingle-jingle-jingle-jingle!
As he shook the Shaman’s Bell and drew even closer to the Guardian Spirit, his eyes gleamed with a radiance like that of a shaman receiving the divine.
Then Kang Hyung-seok pursed his lips and whistled.
Wheeeeee!
From where he carved with the ritual knife, his vision began to transform.
It was the minor magic of a Shaman who had achieved complete possession.
The things that had obscured his eyes, the hidden things, the things that should not be seen—all revealed themselves as if emerging into light.
The first thing that appeared was a brilliant sun.
Whoooosh.
Next came the flowing waters of the Valley.
And then,
Glub, glub, glub, glub!
A Young Woman in the water, her throat constricted, expelling pale white bubbles.
It was a Young Man who was strangling her neck.
Splash!
As the man released his grip, the woman broke through the water’s surface, gasping for air.
“P-please, save me, save me…!”
The man immediately seized the woman’s hair and shoved her back beneath the water.
Glub, glub, glub!
Watching the woman expel bubbles with an anguished expression, Kang Hyung-seok’s brow furrowed.
I felt her suffering as if it were my own.
But there was a greater reason.
‘So it was you.’
The water-drowned spirit I saw during the day.
The clothing of the water-drowned spirit, so bloated that its gender was indiscernible, matched exactly the garments of this woman being tortured by the man.
And at that moment,
Glub, glub, glub, glub.
Around the woman and man, a waterlogged gray head rose from the water.

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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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