An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 121
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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 120
Part 2. The Baekbaek Church’s Target (1)
Creak.
The approaching footsteps came to a halt.
Kang Hyung-seok remained concealed within the brush, observing the figures who had climbed the stairs.
They appeared to be in their thirties or forties.
Their attire was inconsistent—jeans, shirts, or athletic wear—and one of them carried an enormous backpack.
Rustle, shuffle, crackle.
Their movements made it abundantly clear they were searching for something.
They rummaged through the brush, craned their necks upward at the trees, and swept their flashlights across the surroundings.
Kang Hyung-seok clenched his lips and watched them, then exhaled silently and lowered his head.
‘Insane bastards….’
Their pockets bulged distinctly in the shape of a crowbar.
A wooden handle protruded from above it, and I couldn’t begin to guess what was stuffed into the bag one of them carried.
Kang Hyung-seok swallowed hard and moved slowly.
First, I needed to escape this location.
Just as I was about to head toward the stairs—
“Baekbaek Church’s target.”
One of them muttered an incantation that pierced sharply into my ears.
“Baekbaek Church’s target, respond, respond, we beseech you.”
“Baekbaek Church’s target, respond, respond, we beseech you.”
Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes widened as I turned to look at the muttering figures.
It was the Baekbaek Church’s incantation.
They were reciting the Baekbaek Church’s incantation—one that should have vanished long ago.
‘Heretics.’
These people were connected to heretics.
Kang Hyung-seok furrowed my brow and bit my lower lip with a sense of grim inevitability.
I wanted to extract information from them immediately.
But there were three of them.
And they were armed with weapons.
Should I just rush them? Or should I watch a bit longer?
Whoosh!
The flashlight beam swept rapidly across the brush where I was hiding.
I held my breath for a moment, but fortunately, the one holding the flashlight didn’t seem to have spotted me.
‘Let me observe for now.’
Kang Hyung-seok silently adjusted the backpack closer to my chest.
If necessary, I could quickly retrieve what was inside, and the bag could also shield me from attacks.
Whoosh! Crackle, crackle.
The flashlight beam moved frantically, and the chaotic search continued for quite some time.
As I waited with my blood running cold, the flashlight beam went dark.
Beep beep beep.
And through the oppressive silence, I heard the faint sound of one of them making a phone call.
“Evangelist, yes. No, we haven’t found him.”
The call had connected.
“No, it doesn’t seem like it. Yes, yes.”
For someone carrying a weapon and searching for me, his voice was disturbingly ordinary.
He sounded like someone you’d pass on the street, in a Convenience Store, at a Cafe or restaurant—the kind of person you’d see once and forget. That familiarity made him all the more unsettling.
“Ah, yes. Then we’ll split up and search. Yes.”
The man ended the call, clicked his tongue, and began talking with the others.
“The Evangelist says we should split up.”
“Is this really necessary?”
“It’s what the Evangelist said. We have to follow orders.”
“Still, though…”
“I’ll search this area. The rest of you head down. Once we’re done, let’s grab a drink at the Hof Bar.”
Things were unfolding perfectly.
Two of them descended the creaking wooden stairs, leaving only one behind.
Creak, creak.
I waited until the footsteps faded completely.
Once they vanished, the remaining man lit a cigarette.
Click, click!
The lighter’s flame briefly illuminated the man’s face, and I tensed, ready to strike at any moment.
A golden opportunity would present itself—just once.
I couldn’t afford to miss it.
Whoosh!
The cigarette ignited, and as the man drew the smoke in deeply,
Crash!
I burst forward, my forearm leading the way.
“Gack!”
The startled man expelled smoke as his throat was crushed.
Thud! Slam!
I pinned his neck with my forearm, driving him hard against the wooden post.
I swept his legs out from under him and threw my full weight onto his mouth and chest.
“Hack, hack, hack!”
With the struggling man subdued, I yanked the crowbar from his pocket.
Shock and terror flooded his face, and I held the crowbar aloft, growling low.
“Don’t move. I won’t say it twice.”
I repositioned the crowbar so its pointed end faced him directly.
A brilliant moon hung behind me, and the rusty crowbar’s head caught the moonlight, its outline sharp and clear.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
The man nodded quickly, breathing in short, controlled gasps.
Kang Hyung-seok also drew ragged breaths as he gripped the crowbar firmly in his hands.
Intimidation depended on presence and momentum—the moment you appeared weak or hesitant, the interrogation would fail.
So Kang Hyung-seok deliberately widened his eyes and fixed the man with a piercing glare.
“Why were you looking for me?”
“Ugh… mm.”
“Answer with your eyes. Once means yes, twice means no. Understand?”
The man blinked once.
His body was trembling, and the vibrations transmitted clearly through his forearms.
“Were you trying to kill me?”
The man’s eyes twisted, but he gave no answer.
Kang Hyung-seok glanced back briefly, then fixed his gaze on the man again and pressed down on his chest.
Grrrrgh.
“Aaaagh!”
“I’m asking again. Why did you bring this?”
As Kang Hyung-seok adjusted his grip on the crowbar, the man blinked frantically, terror flooding his eyes.
Seeing the man’s breath cut off, Kang Hyung-seok eased some weight from the knee pressing against his chest.
“Answer properly. Were you planning to use it if things went south?”
The man blinked weakly once.
“…Why?”
Kang Hyung-seok had done nothing.
He had simply arrived in this Village, taken a bus once, and come up here—that was all.
Yet these bastards were treating him with extreme suspicion as an outsider.
“Did the Evangelist tell you to?”
In that instant, the man’s eyes squeezed shut.
He must have thought Kang Hyung-seok had overheard the entire conversation.
Kang Hyung-seok clenched his teeth and exhaled hot breath through the gaps.
“What the hell are you bastards doing?”
He muttered it like he was talking to himself.
But the man’s pupils trembled slightly.
Kang Hyung-seok looked down at the man and released a shallow sigh. Then he removed his hand from the man’s mouth.
“If you scream, I can’t promise what happens next.”
Watching the man breathe heavily through his nose, he continued.
“What are you doing?”
His voice was deliberately pressed and controlled.
He kept his ears open and tightened his grip on the crowbar.
Kang Hyung-seok waited for an answer, reacting sensitively to every minute movement the man made.
The man’s mouth opened.
And the moment he stuck out his tongue and wedged it between his upper and lower teeth, Kang Hyung-seok drove his elbow hard into the man’s temple.
Thwack!
With a heavy sound, the man’s head snapped to the side and his body went limp.
Kang Hyung-seok hurled the crowbar far away and pocketed only the man’s phone.
‘Ruthless bastards.’
Looking at the unconscious man, I recalled the Malevolent Spirit that had enthralled Gwak Young-ho in the Valley.
Those who don’t spare their own lives will unhesitatingly destroy the lives of others.
Zip!
After securing the phone in my bag, I bit my lower lip and turned my gaze toward the Village.
A Village filled with men like the one lying unconscious.
“Shin Yoseph….”
This happened to me.
There’s no guarantee that the same won’t happen to him—a fellow outsider.
I descended the Mountain while texting Shin Yoseph on my phone.
***
Bzzt.
Shin Yoseph felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
But he deliberately ignored it, raising his glass with a smile on his face.
Clink!
The transparent glasses collided, and the liquid inside splashed into the air before settling.
“Please, enjoy yourself, sir!”
A man with age spots on his face and short hair spoke with an exaggerated laugh, and Shin Yoseph responded with an easygoing smile.
“I didn’t expect such a warm welcome.”
“You’re an important guest, sir. An important guest! Isn’t that right?”
“Of course.”
The man chiming in was also middle-aged, but his round face and glasses gave him a dignified appearance.
A Local Dignitary and a Civil Servant.
Tara-ra-dan, tan-dan.
The venue was a bar where monotonous mechanical sounds poured from a poor-quality speaker.
It was the kind of place that deserved the label “cabaret,” and unlike the Local Dignitary, the Civil Servant looked uncomfortable.
“I apologize. This place is a bit… you know?”
“No, it’s fine. It’s great.”
“That’s right, that’s right! Our director here, he knows the score! He really does!”
The Local Dignitary thrust his thumb forward, leaned in, and shouted, “Hey, bring some fruit snacks over here!”
Even that voice was swallowed by the background noise.
Shin Yoseph brought the glass to his lips and exhaled a thin sigh.
Oink, oink, oink!
The pig placed at my feet squealed as if the loud surroundings were painful, and it seemed a text had come from Kang Hyung-seok, but I had no time to check it.
‘I can guess what he sent, but this is suffocating.’
I have instincts. That’s how I know.
These people who’ve been clinging to me ever since leaving the District Office are holding me captive.
Dragging me all the way to this Underground Bar was meant to separate me from the Village.
“But sir, how did you come to decide to invest everything in our Village?”
“It looked promising, so I stopped by to scout it out.”
“Please look kindly upon us. This is truly a wonderful place to live—the air is clean, the people are good.”
The Local Dignitary wasn’t originally from here, so his speech carried traces of a regional dialect.
“I can’t speak to the people, but it doesn’t seem like a bad place to live.”
Shin Yoseph smiled faintly, while the Local Dignitary laughed heartily as if delighted.
“You see, there are quite a few famous people here.”
That was when it happened.
Unlike the Local Dignitary, the Civil Servant—who had drunk less—clearly moved.
He seemed to have nudged the Local Dignitary’s shoe with his foot.
“Oh yes, yes. Right.”
As the Local Dignitary tried to brush past the topic awkwardly, Shin Yoseph opened his mouth while picking up some dried snacks.
“Famous people, you say?”
“Ah, no. This gentleman simply enjoys drinking…”
The Civil Servant interjected mid-sentence, but Shin Yoseph maintained his smile while looking at the Local Dignitary.
“I thought it would be nice to pay my respects.”
“Oh, just someone famous in our generation.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, yes. An entertainer. An entertainer.”
The Local Dignitary grinned, revealing gold-capped canines, and a fruit platter was placed between them.
Click, click.
Noticing the waitress walking away in high heels was unusually young, Shin Yoseph picked up a fork.
“Ah, is there perhaps a church in this area?”
“…Pardon?”
The Civil Servant asked for clarification, and after Shin Yoseph chewed and swallowed a peach he’d speared with his fork, he continued.
“I need to be somewhere by Sunday, so I was hoping to attend a service before I leave.”
“Our director, are you a believer?”
“Well, you already have my business card. Despite appearances, I’ve been a believer since birth.”
“Ah, yes! Of course! That’s right.”
The Local Dignitary clapped his hands and made a fuss, exchanging a brief glance with the Civil Servant.
Then he smiled so wide his lips nearly touched his ears, his eyes curving like crescents.
“Our Pastor is a wonderful man. Would you like to attend a service?”
He’d taken the bait.
Shin Yoseph smiled knowingly and raised his glass.
Then, as if sharing the same thought, they clinked their glasses together smoothly.
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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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