An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 129

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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 128
Part 4. I Have Reached a Place Without Permission (3)
Clang, clang!
The sound of someone trying to pry open the iron plate was deafening.
Impatient, they fumbled with the metal plate again and again, dropping it each time.
Kang Hyung-seok glanced back and gripped the ceremonial knife with his damp hands.
Then he shifted his gaze to the Buddha statue and spoke through his parched throat.
“Your sins are grave.”
The statue’s hands moved.
It lowered one hand to shoulder height and the other near its pelvis.
The raised hand’s fingers stretched upward in perfect alignment, while the lowered palm faced outward.
The mudra of fearlessness and wish-granting.
Even now, it continued to mock the Buddha.
“Now I know your true nature and your origins.”
Step.
Kang Hyung-seok advanced another pace toward the statue, his eyes turbulent with conflicting emotions.
“You have harmed countless lives and sought to repeat the sins of your past.”
The air shimmered with an eerie mockery as the statue seemed to laugh at him.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok remained unmoved, his voice grinding out from the depths of his throat.
“Jeon Jung-un, let us end your karma now.”
Whoosh!
Kang Hyung-seok approached the statue while chanting a sutra.
“Aimganggan samdeungbangpyeon sinseungganggang banwolpungnyun.”
As the slow-paced sutra resonated, the statue’s mudra trembled faintly.
Shin Yoseph watched anxiously from behind, while the statue observed him in silence.
There was no telling when the Shamans would burst through.
“Hurry! Faster!”
“Dangsanggubang namjagwangmyeong soyeomumyeong sojeogjishin yeokchukcheongsang gongjoongjiha soyugilche jagjejangnan.”
Contrary to Shin Yoseph’s urgency, Kang Hyung-seok remained composed, focusing on the recitation.
His will to subjugate the wicked flowed forth through the bell’s resonance.
Whoosh.
“Bulseonsimja gaenaehogoe cheongsasoseolgajibeopeum.”
The deaths connected to this statue were countless.
Kang Hyung-seok recalled the Victim Spirits he had seen on the Mountain.
The anguish of hundreds of spirits was etched into his vision as vividly as if burned into his corneas.
The bitter rage that had poured down even upon him, a stranger with no connection to them.
Kang Hyung-seok relived it all as he continued the demon-subduing incantation.
“Sajepoag paeyeokjisim eobulbeopjung hamgisinsim.”
Clunk!
The sound of the iron plate opening rushed swiftly through the Corridor.
The Shaman’s scream followed, and urgent footsteps rushed toward this place at full speed.
The outside air, carrying the scent of the Mountain, pressed into the Corridor.
Whoooosh.
“Protect the dharma, guide the lost souls, grant blessings and safety.”
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell and turned his head away from the Buddha statue.
Even stiffened with anxiety, his face showed that he sensed something.
“You….”
“Aaaahhhhh!”
The Shaman’s scream swallowed Shin Yoseph’s words.
Kang Hyung-seok watched behind him, his face a tangle of conflicting emotions.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The footsteps rushing up were not from one person.
The Shaman and at least two believers were running toward them.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze was fixed on what lay beyond them.
‘Now everything is prepared.’
The time had come.
The source of the Malevolent Spirit had been revealed, its true form exposed.
And those entering this Corridor were not merely people.
Whoooosh!
When the Shaman opened the iron door, the Victim Spirits could also enter.
The Victim Spirits I had seen on the Mountain.
Victim Spirits harboring rage with nowhere to go.
Their fury could now be directed at the Shaman and Buddha statue—the remnants of the Baekbaek Church and Baekdo Cult that had murdered them.
“Uuueeeeaaahhhhh!”
The Shaman came rushing forward like a demon, arms stretched before him, shrieking with malice.
Burly men followed behind, but Kang Hyung-seok did not move an inch.
Whoooosh!
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell violently, as if guiding the Victim Spirits.
In that instant, Shin Yoseph reflexively pressed his back against the wall, sensing something, and the Shaman’s feet—his face drained of color—came to a halt.
And he turned to look behind.
“Ah, ah, ah!”
Understanding came too late.
Kang Hyung-seok, watching beyond the Shaman into the depths of the Corridor, waved the ritual knife gently and spoke.
“Come forth, come forth! Come forth, come forth!”
Those who have harmed you are here.
Please come swiftly and release your resentment, that you may find peace and ascend to heaven.
“Seated, you gaze three thousand miles; standing, you see ten thousand miles, perceiving all heavenly blessings, come forth.”
The Shaman looked at Kang Hyung-seok with venomous eyes, then gazed upon the standing Buddha statue and gasped.
The men following behind froze at the grotesque form of the statue, while Shin Yoseph silently made the sign of the cross and closed his eyes.
He could sense that a hellscape was about to unfold before them.
“From the Cult Leader’s emergence in Gangnam, swiftly, swiftly drifting down, passing through Seochok, traversing six hundred li of intestinal passages, eight hundred li more—”
“Aaaaaaah!”
The Shaman lunged forward with a scream that tore through the air.
But when Kang Hyung-seok wrenched free his captured arm, the Shaman tumbled helplessly across the floor.
“C-Cult Leader!”
“That… that bird…!”
It was the moment the Afflicted Men were about to rush at Kang Hyung-seok.
Uuuuuung!
The Corridor resonated with a tremendous sound.
And in the eyes of the Shaman and Kang Hyung-seok, who possessed spiritual sight, Victim Spirits began to manifest.
Victim Spirits bordering on Malevolent Spirits, crowding through the narrow Corridor with suffocating density.
“H-hagh! Hueeeee!”
The Shaman’s face drained of color as she flailed her hands toward the Corridor.
“D-don’t come! Don’t come! You wretches! Do you know where this is?!”
The Victim Spirits passed through the Afflicted Men.
Then, revealing the fury accumulated over nearly a century, they clung ravenously to the Buddha statue that had killed them.
The sight was unspeakably horrific.
“Aaaah! Eeeeee! Aaaagh!”
As if engulfed in flames, the Shaman thrashed her arms and legs, rolling across the floor.
The Buddha statue, by contrast, remained utterly motionless.
Being something akin to a god, it was beyond the reach of mere Victim Spirits.
Shing.
For this reason, Kang Hyung-seok approached the Buddha statue, holding the Exorcism Blade.
And passing the Shaman, he drove the Exorcism Blade into the statue’s chest.
Crack!
“No, noooooo!”
It was immediately after the Shaman cried out toward Kang Hyung-seok’s back with a fractured voice.
Through the wound created by the Exorcism Blade, the Victim Spirits poured in and entered the Buddha statue.
And moments later, a small spark ignited from that wound.
Whoosh, whoooosh!
Not only Shin Yoseph but also the Afflicted Men who had followed the Shaman stared at the flames blooming from the statue with expressions of disbelief.
The fire emerging from the Buddha statue’s wound felt surreal, as if rising from the depths of hell itself.
Yet the fire was tangible, illuminating its surroundings and casting shadows.
Whoooosh! Whoosh!
The flames grew larger, beginning to consume the Buddha statue like dry kindling.
They climbed up the chest, and the once-brilliant ornaments were buried beneath black soot.
“Kraaaaaah!”
The Afflicted Men gazed down at the Shaman with faces twisted in fear.
She who had displayed divine powers was now writhing as if consumed by fire.
The sight seemed as though her very soul was being torn asunder while still alive.
“Gasp, gasp! No, no, no!”
One man began backing away, and another quickly followed in his wake.
Abandoned by the believers, the Shaman rolled across the floor, frantically striking and scraping her body with her palms.
As if trying to extinguish an invisible fire.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
The statue burned with increasing intensity.
The fire that had started within reached her head, spreading through her mouth, nose, and eyes.
Whoooosh!
Watching the statue billow black smoke from its body, Shin Yoseph let out a groan and looked toward Kang Hyung-seok.
Is it over now?
His eyes were asking.
A nod.
Kang Hyung-seok answered while gazing at the statue, and his lips confirmed it as well.
“It seems she won’t even meet the Jade Emperor.”
Fire symbolizes many things.
Whoosh!
Just as it illuminated the dark corridor now, fire carries the meaning of exorcism and purification in both East and West.
It also symbolizes hell itself.
Whoooosh, crack, crackle!
The statue, now engulfed in flames, began to collapse.
Black smoke erupted from the boundary between neck and head, the head tilted, and soon rolled to the ground.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
In place of the statue, the Shaman let out a harrowing scream.
A Shaman connected to divinity.
One who had aided in the birth of a malevolent spirit, and who had dreamed of the Baekdo Cult’s resurrection.
Tormented by the murdered Victim Spirits, she was now beyond even Kang Hyung-seok’s salvation.
Whoooosh! Crackle.
Kang Hyung-seok turned his body away from the collapsing statue.
Then Shin Yoseph groaned and looked back at the Shaman and the statue before following Kang Hyung-seok.
“Ahhh! Cough, cough!”
Hearing the Shaman’s breath cease, Shin Yoseph opened his mouth with a heavy and sorrowful heart.
“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The flickering firelight of the statue illuminated their backs, and the long shadows pointed toward the exit of the corridor as if guiding the way forward.
“Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. Leader of the heavenly host, cast into hell by the power of God Satan and the malevolent spirits who roam the world to destroy souls.”
Shin Yoseph gazed at Kang Hyung-seok’s back, who held the Shaman’s Bell and the divine blade.
It was something he could never have accomplished alone. Yet he did not feel this would be the last.
A tight grip.
Shin Yoseph pressed his lips firmly together while watching Kang Hyung-seok’s back.
May his prayers reach that person as well.
I finished the prayer with earnest longing, my voice low yet resonant.
“Amen.”
***
Boom—thoom!
The drumstick stopped.
The Musicians held their breath, watching Lee Geum-kyung and Shin Jung-ah intently.
We stood before the Shamanic Temple as a cool night breeze swept in.
“Hah, hah, hah.”
Lee Geum-kyung reached toward Shin Jung-ah, whom she cradled in her arms.
She wiped away the cold, clammy sweat from her skin, then turned her head and called out to Chung-geum to bring water.
Chung-geum hurried back with a water bowl.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
In the quiet Courtyard, the sound of Shin Jung-ah drinking water seemed unusually loud.
Lee Geum-kyung wiped her sweat again, squeezing out words in a thin voice.
“You did well. You worked so hard.”
Shin Jung-ah had accomplished far more than I’d anticipated.
The pig I’d kept prepared for a major ritual had become unnecessary.
Squeeze.
Knowing how much effort Shin Jung-ah had poured in, I pulled her close in a tight embrace.
Her sweat had soaked through my clothes, but such things hardly mattered.
“…Is it… all over?”
“Yes, yes. It’s all finished.”
Shin Jung-ah laughed through her tears.
Chung-geum, watching from the side, smiled with a similar expression, and as Lee Geum-kyung gazed at her with pride, Shin Jung-ah’s voice trembled with sorrow.
“You never said it would hurt this much…”
Her face was so pitiful that I held her close and patted her back gently.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. I wasn’t enough.”
There was something oddly grandmother-and-granddaughter about it, and Chung-geum smiled awkwardly as she watched.
She was already thinking that once this patting was done, she could tell Shin Jung-ah it was fine to smoke now.

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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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