An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 124

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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 123
Part 3. What to Believe In (1)
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
Early dawn.
The motel door where Shin Yoseph slept was pounded violently.
Before Shin Yoseph could even fully open his eyes, a voice called from beyond the door.
“Sir, are you awake?”
It was the Local Dignitary.
Shin Yoseph wiped his gaunt face while catching his breath.
Oink! Oink oink! Squeeeeeal!
As I heard the piglet wailing as if its throat had been cut, I rose from the bed.
“What is it?”
“Get up quickly. There’s somewhere we need to go together.”
Whoosh!
I drew back the curtains and looked out the window—it was still dark, the sun not yet risen.
“At this hour? Where?”
“Let’s grab a bowl of gukbap and talk. There’s an amazing place right in front of here.”
With such a cheerful tone, I opened the door with only a pen hidden away.
I was prepared to protect myself if necessary.
But the dignitary’s smile was so broad, and the Motel Owner standing beside him looked flustered, so I kept the pen thoroughly concealed.
“My goodness, you must have slept late last night. Your eyes look so tired.”
I let out a laugh like a sigh and replied in a leisurely tone.
“How could anyone sleep with so many people working hard and making such a racket?”
“Ha ha ha! Well, that’s just how it is, isn’t it?”
Men of that age certainly do love such jokes.
“But I’d like to change into some clothes first.”
“Then get ready and come out. I’ll wait right out front.”
The dignitary closed the door with a smile, and I let out a long sigh before slowly putting on the clothes I had hung on the rack.
Then I picked up the piglet in its cage and left the motel.
Vrooooom.
“You must be quite fond of that pig,” the dignitary said cheerfully as he gripped the steering wheel, and I replied while stroking the cage.
“I’m raising it.”
“Phew, pigs smell and it’s not easy to keep them.”
“Once you grow attached, what’s the problem?”
The dignitary merely smiled with an odd expression.
And the two of us and one pig finished a simple meal at the restaurant.
I felt as if I were sitting on a bed of nails.
What exactly did this man want? Why were there so many people at the gukbap restaurant at this early hour?
I couldn’t eat a single spoonful in peace until I set down the last one.
Shin Yoseph couldn’t eat his rice comfortably for even a moment until he put down the last spoonful.
“But I suspect you didn’t call me just for breakfast.”
“Ah.”
The Local Dignitary grinned, baring his teeth as he withdrew a coffee from the vending machine at the restaurant entrance.
“Actually, the Pastor asked me yesterday if we could meet.”
“Is that so?”
“Does that displease you? Should we postpone it for another time?”
Damn it—I couldn’t tell if he was testing me or being sincere.
Shin Yoseph found himself wishing Kang Hyung-seok were here beside him, but he agreed nonetheless.
“Haha! It should work out perfectly. Today is Friday, and there’s an event happening—something like a bazaar. You just need to make a brief appearance.”
Shin Yoseph nodded in understanding and took a sip of the coffee the Local Dignitary handed him.
Even as he did, the Local Dignitary’s gaze and those of the Gukbap Restaurant patrons remained fixed upon him.
***
The Church was unremarkable.
It was a standalone building with a sign reading “Yeongwang Church,” constructed in a Western style, though it bore no resemblance to a Catholic Cathedral.
A typical Protestant Church exterior.
The empty Parking Lot had tables and baskets filled with various items arranged about, apparently for the bazaar.
“Pastor!”
The Local Dignitary strode ahead across the Parking Lot, raising his voice.
“Pastor! I’ve brought that person you mentioned yesterday!”
Is this how it should look?
Shin Yoseph frowned as he watched the Local Dignitary call out to the Pastor without the slightest reverence.
‘He addresses the Cult Leader so casually?’
A Cult is sustained by the authority of its Cult Leader.
Therefore, even in the smallest Cult, the Cult Leader commands absolute reverence from the believers.
To call such a person so informally?
It directly contradicted everything I understood.
Crunch.
I clenched my jaw, resolving that I must face the Pastor one-on-one if at all possible.
Kang Hyung-seok had urged me to do so, and I sensed that only in solitude could I truly discern the Pastor’s true nature.
“You seem busy. Why don’t you head inside?”
The Local Dignitary spoke to Shin Yoseph abruptly, then stopped walking.
Was this another scheme?
As Shin Yoseph’s brow furrowed, the Local Dignitary chuckled and pulled out a cigarette.
“He’s getting on in years and his hearing isn’t what it used to be. Don’t worry—just have a comfortable conversation.”
The Local Dignitary conveyed the impression that he would smoke a cigarette here and wait, and Shin Yoseph moved toward the Church, still clutching the cage containing the pig.
“Ah, wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
“Why carry something so heavy? Let me take it.”
The Local Dignitary gestured toward the cage as if offering his assistance.
In truth, bringing an animal—especially a pig—into a religious facility made no sense whatsoever.
So Shin Yoseph entrusted the cage to the Local Dignitary and entered the Church alone.
Creak.
As the door opened, an unfamiliar scent wafted toward him.
Incense.
A subtle fragrance of the sort one might encounter in Eastern religions.
Detecting an aroma distinctly different from artificially-scented incense, Shin Yoseph proceeded toward the massive cross hanging deep within the Church.
“Is anyone here?”
Before he could finish speaking, a door opened from within, and an elderly woman wearing wool gloves emerged.
“Oh, hello there.”
Her frame was slender, her expression unremarkable, and her gaze radiated kindness.
Yet that peculiar gleam in her eyes—the kind distinctive to cult members—only deepened his confusion.
And the fact that she was a woman, no less.
“…Are you the Pastor?”
“Yes, I am.”
Her voice was measured and calm.
Shin Yoseph, who had unconsciously assumed otherwise, suppressed his expression.
“So you wanted to see me?”
She spoke as though determined never to reveal her true intentions.
“It must have been difficult to come all this way?”
The Pastor smiled faintly as she spoke, and Shin Yoseph’s eyebrows twitched.
“Not particularly. You seem busy, though?”
“We’re preparing for an event. And outsiders are rare here, so I wanted to meet you.”
The Pastor removed her gloves and extended her hand.
The moment Shin Yoseph shook that hand, his confusion deepened.
Her palm was rough.
A hand that had borne the weight of labor and hardship.
A hand reminiscent of the Nun from the Orphanage who devoted herself to the children—and Shin Yoseph found himself suppressing a gasp.
“Your mind seems unsettled.”
Shin Yoseph’s eyes narrowed, and the Pastor continued in a voice as serene as a lake.
“You’ve endured much suffering. Outwardly bold, yet inwardly fragile.”
“Perhaps it’s because you’re a Pastor. What you’re saying is quite…”
Shin Yoseph forced a casual laugh.
The Pastor released his hand and spoke.
“That’s not your true self, is it?”
In that instant, it felt as though a sharp awl had pierced his lungs.
This Pastor knows something.
He glanced hastily behind him, but only the empty Church met his gaze—no one else in sight.
Even if someone were present, the creeping unease that filled his mind defied explanation.
For he had revealed his identity to no one in this Village.
“…Do you always speak in that manner?”
“To those who need help.”
The Pastor’s eyes were gentle as a deer’s, with the corners downturned in a compassionate gaze.
It was the kind of look a shepherd wore for the lost—one that stirred an intense revulsion within me.
It was an expression no cult should ever possess.
“In times like these, who isn’t struggling….”
“You’re a priest, aren’t you?”
Shin Yoseph stared at the Pastor, his lips pressed firmly shut.
‘What is this? How much does she know? How?’
Even at the Company, few knew his true nature.
The Attendant sent to this Village didn’t know nearly as much about Shin Yoseph as this Pastor did.
“There’s no need to be alarmed.”
The Pastor spoke in a measured tone, then offered a faint smile.
“Those carrying deep wounds need comfort. Unburden yourself. I will listen.”
Step.
As the Pastor moved closer, Shin Yoseph instinctively stepped back.
She was a woman with a far smaller frame than his.
Yet there was an oppressive presence emanating from her mysterious demeanor and the way she spoke as if she knew something.
“…I don’t think I need your help. More importantly, who are you?”
“You’d be more curious about who you are, wouldn’t you?”
At this unwelcome response, Shin Yoseph’s brow twitched.
The Pastor’s eyes grew even more pitying as her mouth opened.
“Someone lost their life because of you.”
“…What?”
“You haven’t escaped that memory. There’s no need to carry it. Even though that person has left this world, they care for you so deeply.”
It was about my senior.
This Pastor knew of my senior’s existence—something I hadn’t even confessed to Kang Hyung-seok.
My face contorted at the serpentine tongue that beguiled people.
“That never happened.”
“No. You know it best of all.”
Each word from the Pastor struck with surgical precision.
Exposed in my shame, my brow twitched sharply and my fists clenched.
While my emotions churned, the Pastor continued in a serene voice.
“Accept it. You need do nothing else—simply understand that you are loved. If you pray to God, He will answer you.”
“….”
“That alone is how you can be saved.”
The voice pierced straight into my heart.
It soothed my unhealed wounds and offered warmth.
Had I been weaker, I would have fallen to my knees and wept.
But I shook my head vigorously, clinging to my wavering resolve.
Then I looked up at the enormous cross hanging on the Church wall.
There is only one being worthy of his genuflection.
There is only one being worthy of his prayers.
It is not this Pastor.
Nor is it the Cult Leader of this heretical sect.
Just as Kang Hyung-seok served God, so too did Shin Yoseph serve the divine.
“Silence.”
As Shin Yoseph spoke with recovered composure, the Pastor’s face hardened.
“Is this how you deceived the villagers? How you seduced innocent women into surrendering their bodies? How you harmed people?”
A moan escaped the Pastor’s lips.
Yet still wearing that pitying gaze, Shin Yoseph raised his voice all the more.
“I know everything you know! How dare you impersonate God’s representative!”
It was then.
The Pastor’s face became expressionless, as though a mask had been inverted over it.
Even the subtle movements that any human should naturally display vanished, leaving the Pastor to stand like a mannequin, watching Shin Yoseph with unblinking stillness.
Shin Yoseph held the Pastor’s gaze while slowly backing away.
‘I cannot face this alone.’
Kang Hyung-seok was not beside him, and he lacked the preparations necessary for an exorcism.
Outside waited the Local Dignitary, and other believers might be lurking unseen.
As Shin Yoseph watched the Pastor as one might regard a viper, he was escaping the Church when—
“The heart can always change.”
The Pastor approached with slow steps, murmuring as though speaking to herself.
In the quiet Church, her voice echoed and carried toward Shin Yoseph with each deliberate stride.
“Seek salvation from God. He is always prepared to embrace you.”
“…That will never happen.”
“Then only great suffering awaits. How pitiful.”
Receiving the Pastor’s compassionate gaze, Shin Yoseph departed the Church.
And when he emerged into the empty Parking Lot, breathing heavily with bowed head, a black plastic bag lying in the center of the Parking Lot caught his eye.
A bag swollen taut as though something heavy lay within.
‘Surely not…’
With a sense of dread, Shin Yoseph approached the bag and tore open its mouth.
Thud!
Startled, he dropped the bag and collapsed to the ground in shock.
Blood stained the hand that had touched the bag, and a metallic stench assaulted his nostrils.
Inside the bag lay a creature with its head crushed.
The piglet Shin Yoseph had brought for the exorcism ceremony.

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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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