An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 130

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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 129
Part 5. Savor This Moment, Today (1)
“Manager Kang.”
Before Shin Jung-ah, who stood with her arms crossed, Kang Hyung-seok maintained an exceptionally respectful posture.
We were in the break room.
Outside, Namgoong Min-ah and Lee Jin-pyung were attending to their duties, and it was just after lunch hour had ended.
“We haven’t seen each other in so long—surely you have something to say?”
Four days had passed since the cult incident.
After any sudden extended business trip, a mountain of backlogged work always comes charging in like a sword-wielder.
Because each of us had been consumed by our own pressing matters, Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah had only now found the peace to speak freely with one another.
“Ahem.”
Kang Hyung-seok caught sight of Shin Jung-ah’s trembling lips and awkwardly cleared his throat.
“I… I apologize.”
“Apologize for what, exactly?”
Shin Jung-ah’s tone was measured, yet genuinely terrifying.
“I never anticipated things would unfold the way they did.”
Shin Jung-ah had played the role of protector for Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph.
She had lessened the burden of the malevolent spirit’s toxic influence that they would have otherwise borne, enduring great hardship in the process.
With no warning whatsoever, it must have felt like a traffic accident to her.
“Manager Kang, you’re not a—”
Her words hadn’t yet finished.
The door swung open.
Namgoong Min-ah, tumbler in hand, had started to enter, but the moment she sensed the atmosphere, she immediately turned and left.
It happened in an instant, as if she’d felt some primal instinct for survival.
Thanks to the interruption, Shin Jung-ah rubbed her forehead and spoke again.
“You’re not a Shaman, are you? You have spiritual power, so you should have known.”
Kang Hyung-seok had something to say about this too.
“You’ve seen it yourself several times. Even those who receive divine power don’t know everything.”
“…Ugh.”
Watching Shin Jung-ah groan, Kang Hyung-seok continued with genuine remorse in his voice.
“Still, I really wanted to thank you.”
“…I know you’re grateful.”
“Of course.”
Since the cult incident, there hadn’t been time for proper conversation. So Kang Hyung-seok seized this opportunity to tell her everything that had happened.
The pursuit by the cultists.
Their madness.
And even how he’d been crushed beneath that vicious toxic influence in the tunnel.
“I understand how difficult it must have been for you.”
Not empty words, but genuine sincerity.
His words tumbled out earnestly, and Shin Jung-ah’s previously sharp gaze softened quickly.
“It must not have been easy. We all felt the energy that the Manager took on.”
Shin Jung-ah’s lips pressed firmly together, and Kang Hyung-seok gazed at her with gratitude.
“Without the Manager, we would probably all be dead.”
Perhaps that tunnel was not a space for offering sacrifices to the Mountain, but something far worse.
The thought struck me now with unsettling clarity—there was something profoundly wrong about that place.
The suffocating miasma was one thing, but the mold that covered the walls with such abnormal density was equally disturbing.
Of course, moisture was inevitable in such a space.
Yet the more I dwelled on it, the more I became convinced that the mold had fed not on dampness, but on blood.
“I owe my life to you. Thank you.”
At the sincerity in his words, Shin Jung-ah’s face contorted and she let out an anguished groan.
“Damn it, when you come at me like that, Kang, I’ve got nothing to say.”
Shin Jung-ah spoke through gritted teeth, her eyes glistening with sorrow as she muttered under her breath.
“Somehow, whenever I get tangled up with you, I end up in situations like this.”
In truth, it had something to do with Shin Jung-ah’s natal chart as well.
I had once asked Chung-geum to read Shin Jung-ah’s fortune, and several inauspicious stars had been discovered.
The Gate of Ghosts and the White Tiger’s Calamity.
These were not insignificant influences on her tendency to become entangled in such matters.
“Did the Shaman perhaps give you something?”
At Kang Hyung-seok’s question, Shin Jung-ah’s eyes widened and she thrust her hand into her pocket.
“She did give me something.”
She withdrew a small red pouch from her pocket and handed it to Kang Hyung-seok.
Swish.
When Kang Hyung-seok untied the string sealing the pouch, a small piece of paper folded twice emerged from within.
It was a talisman written in cinnabar ink.
“The Shaman showed considerable care.”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t hear the explanation?”
“She just said not to take it off my body.”
It seemed she had left the explanation to Kang Hyung-seok.
Kang Hyung-seok carefully refolded the talisman and placed it back inside the pouch, sealing the opening firmly.
“It is a Divine Guardian Talisman. Keep it with you at all times.”
“Huh? Is it good?”
“For you, it is.”
This talisman was written by Lee Geum-kyung herself.
The energy emanating from it was extraordinary.
It had been completed through prayer, the careful preparation of red ink in cinnabar, the meticulous inscription of each character, and the blessings and wishes woven into every stroke.
“…with this, I won’t get caught up in strange things, right?”
“At the very least, possession and malevolent spirits will not be able to attach themselves to you.”
Malevolent spirits exist everywhere.
Naturally, they exist in this Break Room as well.
Yet just as Kang Hyung-seok basked in the protection of a great deity, the Malevolent Spirit dared not approach Shin Jung-ah either.
“I thought something was odd, but it seems the teacher has given you quite a generous gift.”
“Ah….”
“Later, give him a call to thank him. He’ll be pleased.”
Shin Jung-ah let out a small exclamation upon realizing she had received a far more substantial gift than expected.
Then, as if suddenly struck by remorse, she furrowed her brow and looked at Kang Hyung-seok.
“Wait, did Manager Kang receive anything too?”
“What do you mean, ma’am?”
“Well, we both went through hardship together, so it’s strange that only I received something.”
Kang Hyung-seok regarded her with surprise, then burst into laughter.
He could sense what was troubling her.
“It’s fine. I have something separate to receive anyway.”
When Kang Hyung-seok waved his phone, Shin Jung-ah parted her lips in understanding and nodded.
It was right then.
Ding.
With perfect timing, Kang Hyung-seok’s phone screen lit up and notified him of an incoming message.
The screen was angled toward Shin Jung-ah, so she could see the contents.
“It’s a message from Director Shin?”
It was only a single line, yet it carried considerable weight.
“Hmm? Just a moment.”
After reading the message, a soft smile graced Kang Hyung-seok’s lips.
“He wants to draw up a contract. This is perfect.”
“Tell the Manager right away! He’s been so worried about it.”
It was a fair observation.
Several days had passed since Shin Yoseph returned from the extended business trip, yet there had been no word from him.
He wore the expression of a parent who wanted to ask but refrained from doing so, fearing it might cause hurt.
“Do you know where the Manager is right now?”
“He went up to the Company Rooftop with a cigarette a moment ago.”
With a satisfied expression, Kang Hyung-seok slipped his phone into his pocket.
“Would you like to go together?”
“Why not?”
Shin Jung-ah chuckled as she imagined the surprised face Gwak Young-ho would make, and Kang Hyung-seok, though not quite as amused, left the Break Room with a smile.
Then Namgoong Min-ah, who had been sitting blankly with an empty tumbler, suddenly rushed into the Break Room.
***
Sip.
On the Company Rooftop, Gwak Young-ho sipped his coffee from a paper cup with a bitter expression.
A thin cigarette dangled between fingers marked by the passage of years, while pale gray smoke drifted solemnly above his head.
Click, click-click-click.
He opened his text messages on his phone, exhaled a sigh mixed with cigarette smoke, and turned his head to the side.
“Manager Kang, still no word from Shinjin Construction?”
An unsent message.
He wanted to ask what would happen to the promised contract, but Gwak Young-ho wasn’t the only one whose blood was running dry.
The ones enduring the hardest time would be Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah themselves.
‘Never mind. Pushing won’t change anything.’
Just as Gwak Young-ho was about to slip his phone into his pocket.
Creak.
Two young employees chatted as they opened the rooftop door and stepped inside.
“You hear about that guy from Sales Team 1?”
“What, Manager Kang?”
“Looks like this long-term business trip is a bust, doesn’t it?”
“No contact this whole time—it’s definitely fallen through.”
“Serves him right. Our old-timer’s been comparing him to everyone all day, which was getting annoying.”
Tsk.
“The higher-ups were really counting on this, you know. If this deal breaks like this, it’ll hit Manager Gwak hard too.”
“What a mess.”
“I hope a few more things blow up so the whole Sales Team 1 just disappears.”
Either because Gwak Young-ho had been so quiet or because they were absorbed in conversation, they seemed to think they were alone on the rooftop.
“Hey, hey.”
“What? All of a sudden?”
One employee who spotted Gwak Young-ho flustered and tapped the other’s arm repeatedly, and only then did both of them turn pale as if they’d seen a ghost.
“S-sir, you were here.”
“Hello, sir.”
Gwak Young-ho waved his hand dismissively, but the two employees wished they could disappear into a mouse hole.
Who could have known.
That Gwak Young-ho would be here.
“W-we’ll get back to work, sir.”
Just as they were about to put away the cigarettes they’d been holding and slip away.
“Why? Smoke.”
“Ah, no. No, sir.”
“Smoke.”
The two employees, watching Gwak Young-ho’s expression, reluctantly put cigarettes to their lips.
“Enjoying talking behind people’s backs?”
Cough! Hack, hack!
One employee choked and turned ashen, while the other hung his head in complete defeat.
“I apologize, Manager.”
“M-Manager, it’s not like that.”
The employee who had been about to make excuses was elbowed by his colleague, so he simply bowed his head deeply.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Sigh—!”
Gwak Young-ho pulled out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, and lit it with a furrowed brow.
Then, looking at the two employees, he clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“I generally don’t criticize people from other departments, but let’s maintain some standards, shall we?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“And if you don’t like being compared to Manager Kang, then work harder and do better. Where do you get off cursing for things to go wrong? Frankly, aren’t you all part of the same company?”
As if they had nothing to say even with ten mouths, the two men’s heads sank even lower.
“Ugh, tsk.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Gwak Young-ho descended the emergency stairwell, pouring out his rising anger through his eyes rather than his mouth.
His heart was truly wounded.
What was the big deal about that contract anyway?
Life happens—sometimes things don’t work out the way you want.
Instead of offering encouragement, they were just looking for places to sink their teeth in.
“Ugh!”
Gwak Young-ho exhaled a heavy, irritated sigh.
“Is something troubling you?”
He encountered Kang Hyung-seok coming up the stairs with Shin Jung-ah.

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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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