An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 139

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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 139
Part 7. There’s Something in Our Family, They Say (3)
Click!
After closing the door, Lee Jin-pyung set down his bag first.
The gosiwon in the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province was his home.
The advantage over a regular gosiwon was that it came with a private bathroom and a desk, but in exchange, the monthly fee was fifty thousand won more expensive.
Spritz!
After removing his clothes and spraying deodorant, he collapsed onto the bed.
I miss Mom.
It was a thought that came to me every time I looked at the silent, dimly lit ceiling.
Lee Jin-pyung plugged his charger into his phone and opened the messenger application to find his mother.
Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep.
After the distinctive ringtone of voice talk sounded a few times, his mother’s voice followed.
(Son! You’re off work? You’re late today?)
My parents live in the United States.
So despite the time difference, my parents always answered my calls.
“Yes, Mom.”
(Why are you so late today?)
The light felt dazzling, so Lee Jin-pyung covered his eyes with his forearm.
“It’s nothing much. The Factory Owner from the meeting bought me dinner. It seems like things went well in many ways.”
(Oh my, well done! Well done. Do you think it might even lead to a contract?)
“Yes.”
(My son works so hard. Don’t overdo it, okay?)
“I’m not overdoing it.”
Lying in bed and mumbling through the call, Lee Jin-pyung’s voice was slightly softer than usual.
“Shin Manager took good care of me. The Manager did too.”
(Ah, that Kang Hyung-seok you mentioned?)
“Yes.”
(Take good care of him. He seems to be looking out for you a lot. He even visited you in the hospital a few times when you were admitted, remember?)
“Yes.”
(People like that are rare, aren’t they?)
Beneath my forearm, the corners of my mouth rose faintly but distinctly.
“I know.”
(Did you eat?)
“I told you I ate outside.”
(Right, right. What am I thinking?)
“Um, Mom.”
(Yes?)
“Baekseol came up in conversation while we were eating today?”
As if the conversation until just now had been a lie, silence descended.
Baekseol was a Spitz that Lee Jin-pyung had raised long ago.
(How did that happen?)
“The Factory Owner’s son had one too. He used to keep a dog back then.”
(Ah, I see.)
“I miss Baekseol.”
(What can we do about it….)
There was nothing to be done about it.
It was probably words his mother had swallowed back.
“I understand.”
Lee Jin-pyung spoke with a melancholic tone and withdrew his arm from his face. Then he turned his gaze toward the desk, where a photograph in a frame showed Lee Jin-pyung cradling a white Spitz in his arms.
-Whimper, whimper.
Dogs understand human emotion in a way that is almost frightening.
Even if it had become a Victim Spirit, even if it was no longer visible to its master’s eyes.
The Spitz Victim Spirit understood Lee Jin-pyung’s heart.
“I’ll be able to see Baekseol again, won’t I?”
(Yes, you will.)
“Okay.”
-Whimper, whimper, whimper.
The Spitz cried with a sorrowful sound, while Lee Jin-pyung’s gaze, oblivious to it all, remained fixed on the photograph in the frame on his desk.
“I’ll hang up now. Sleep well, Mom.”
(Yes! Get some good rest, and do your best at work tomorrow!)
“Okay.”
After ending the call, Lee Jin-pyung covered his eyes with his forearm again and exhaled a deep breath.
Then he grabbed his pillow and threw it to turn off the light.
The room fell into darkness.
-Whimper, whimper.
As the Spitz cried weakly on his chest, Lee Jin-pyung pulled the blanket over his head.
***
Waaaaarang!
Upon encountering the Dog Spirit, the Shaman’s Bell rang with piercing intensity.
The divine blade’s handle grew cold to the touch.
The sacred implements were responding.
‘This is no ordinary animal spirit.’
A mass of spectral bodies.
The dogs slaughtered by Kim Young-chan’s father had coalesced into something singular.
Bruises.
The Dog Spirit’s nostrils flared as it took a step forward, its head swaying left and right like a metronome.
Even dressed in Kim Young-jun’s clothes, my scent could not be entirely erased.
-Krrrrooowwwl!
Sensing something amiss, the Dog Spirit bared its tongue and barked loudly, the stench of beast mixed with spectral miasma so acrid it felt like claws tearing at my nostrils.
‘I must block its escape route.’
Dogs are spiritual creatures.
In folklore, there exists a spirit called the Divine Dog, and the native Sapsaree breed has long been believed to possess the power to drive away ghosts.
Yet when such a creature harbors resentment against humans and becomes a vengeful spirit, it cannot be compared to an ordinary malevolent entity.
Waaaaarang!
As I rang the Shaman’s Bell, the Dog Spirit froze, its milky-white eyes fixed upon me.
“Eastern direction, first heavenly stem—I invoke the Azure Earth General, the Azure Judge, the Azure Magistrate, the Azure Child, the Azure Messenger, the Azure Scribe, the Azure Great General, the Azure Heavenly Azure, the Azure Celestial Great, the Left Assembly Azure, the Right Assembly Azure Retreat, the thirty-eight celestial soldiers.”
I began reciting the Twenty-Eight Mansions Scripture to suppress the Dog Spirit.
“Eastern direction messenger, the great general of the first rank, by the authority of the Eastern direction, the seven-faced seven stars descend, controlling each direction’s domain, inspecting all things, surrounding the azure qi.”
Now the Dog Spirit understood.
What stood before it was not Kim Young-jun.
It was a Shaman wielding the Shaman’s Bell and the divine blade.
“Southern direction soldiers, the crimson earth general, the crimson judge, the crimson magistrate, the crimson child….”
-Grrrrrrrrgh!
The Dog Spirit, held motionless as if pinned by the scripture, suddenly kicked off the ground and lunged.
Anticipating this, I snatched up the salt container I’d set on the floor.
Whoooosh!
Salt blessed through prayer.
The Dog Spirit struck by the salt rolled across the ground, releasing a vile stench.
-Krrrrooowwwl! Krrrrooowwwl!
The aura emanating from its body was suffocating.
Flicker, flicker, flicker!
The ceiling lights began to flicker and dim, while cockroaches and beetles crawled in through the gaps of the entrance door.
Though the animal spirit could not speak, the resentment it exhaled pierced my skin like an awl, embedding itself in my mind.
A bitter, corrosive hatred.
The young Kim Young-chan who once looked upon me.
Kim Young-chan’s father who slew me.
The family that fed themselves on the money earned from my death.
He had died in that cauldron, and Kim Young-jun—that abomination—had kept a dog.
I despised it all.
Every bit of it.
-Kweooooooong!
Flicker, flicker, flicker—pop!
The light fixture made a strange sound before extinguishing.
Darkness swallowed the interior in an instant, though it was an Apartment Complex.
Through the Windows of the balcony and Living Room, the external light allowed only silhouettes to be visible.
-Kweong! Kweong!
Kang Hyung-seok drew his exorcism blade against the Dog Spirit thrashing and wailing in the darkness.
“I understand. How deep your resentment runs.”
-Kweong! Kwang! Kweong!
Crash!
Kang Hyung-seok suppressed the Dog Spirit as it tried to rise, using the Shaman’s Bell, his lips twisted as he approached.
“But you cannot take the life of the living. Doing so only deepens your sin. You will not even achieve reincarnation!”
Dogs are said to be the closest beasts to humans.
And in Buddhist teachings, humans are said to be the easiest animal for reincarnation.
Someday, even a dog might be reborn as a human.
Pitying the Dog Spirit, which would lose even that chance if consumed by resentment, Kang Hyung-seok had no choice but to raise his exorcism blade.
-Kweooooong!
As the Dog Spirit rolled its eyes back and thrashed, Kang Hyung-seok raised his exorcism blade high.
“…Forgive me.”
And just as he was about to strike down with the blade—
The surroundings seemed to darken.
As if something had blocked the moonlight streaming through the balcony window, or as if malevolent presences had gathered.
-Kweong!
Kang Hyung-seok turned his gaze to the balcony, faced with the pitifully wailing Dog Spirit.
There, dozens of Dog Spirits had gathered.
They all resembled the Dog Spirit before him.
Legless.
Completely hairless.
Eyeless, with half their heads missing.
Grotesque Dog Spirits clung densely to the balcony window, staring at Kang Hyung-seok.
“Ha….”
How many dogs had he killed?
Kim Young-chan’s father.
-Kweooooooong!
As the weight of compassion caught on the exorcism blade, causing its tip to droop, tears poured from the Dog Spirit’s eyes.
Though grotesque in appearance, Kang Hyung-seok already knew the Dog Spirit’s history.
And so, rather than dread, another emotion crashed over him with terrifying force.
But it was not hesitation.
It was a sorrowful emotion closer to pity and compassion.
“I promise.”
-Woof! Woof! Woof!
“That those wretches will spend their lives in repentance, helping more lives than you ever will.”
That was the only way Kim Young-chan and his son could find peace.
-Woof.
The Dog Spirit, barking as if fading away, closed its eyes.
And Kang Hyung-seok adjusted his grip on the spirit blade.
“With sincere devotion offered this day, may you follow, be buried, be folded, and be embraced.”
Kang Hyung-seok recited the Yeongsan Purification Sutra, a prayer for the spirit’s ascension to heaven.
Rather than performing an exorcism with scriptures like the Chugwi Sutra or the Chuyeom Sutra, his heart held the wish that this Dog Spirit would ascend to heaven and find its way to the celestial path.
Whether such meaning held any power, he did not know.
“All gathered vengeful spirits and malevolent entities—may you submit before the celestial officials and divine generals, turning not back nor to the side, partaking abundantly before departing.”
Kang Hyung-seok swung the spirit blade.
It was the sword that connected him to his Guardian Spirit, and the blade that could protect him from Malevolent Spirits.
It was something the Dog Spirit could not resist.
Whoosh.
As he scattered spirit-repelling salt and watched the Dog Spirit gradually fade, Kang Hyung-seok recited the closing verses of the Yeongsan Purification Sutra.
“All spirits must submit at once before the celestial officials and divine generals, turn not back, turn not to the side, partake abundantly and depart.”
Vengeful spirits of the five directions.
Partake abundantly and depart.
Mountain spirits and vengeful ghosts.
Partake abundantly and depart.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
“Ugh! Uaaaaahhh!”
The screams of Kim Young-chan and his son pierced terrifyingly from the sealed room.
The structure connected to the veranda.
As other Dog Spirits approached from that direction, Kim Young-chan and his son shrieked with gasping breaths.
Crash!
When the door burst open, Kim Young-chan appeared with a face drained of all color.
And through the window connected to the veranda, Dog Spirits clung densely to the glass, while Kim Young-jun lay flat on the floor like a beast, both now visible.
“Gasp! Wheeze! Choke!”
It was just as Kim Young-chan, startled by his son’s grotesque breathing and rolling eyes, tried to rush toward him.
“Move!”
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell loudly to block the Dog Spirits’ approach, then mounted himself over Kim Young-jun.
“Salt! Quickly!”
Kim Young-chan stumbled and rose several times, retrieving the salt container from the living room.
Kang Hyung-seok snatched it and scattered salt over Kim Young-jun’s head, then hurled the container toward the window teeming with Dog Spirits.
“As the door opens, in that instant, fire blazes forth in accordance with the dharma—the ten directions are illuminated above and the four quarters are protected below. In this moment, the Bodhisattva of Unobstructed Passage manifests among the assembly.”
Reciting a prayer for the possessed, I pointed my ritual knife toward the window.
I understand your resentment.
I will not forget your grudge.
I will let this father and son ease your sorrow.
Watching the Dog Spirits with intense eyes, I began shaking the Shaman’s Bell to draw out the Dog Spirit clinging to Kim Young-jun.
***
“Huff, huff.”
In the darkened room, only Lee Jin-pyung’s breathing echoed quietly.
The Spitz Victim Spirit licked Lee Jin-pyung’s face while perched upon his chest.
A ritual repeated every single night.
And something no one else would ever know.
Yet the Spitz Victim Spirit continued to slowly lick Lee Jin-pyung’s face as if it mattered not at all.
“Mmm.”
Lee Jin-pyung stirred, and Spitz withdrew a step.
Then it rested its head beneath Lee Jin-pyung’s chin and closed its eyes.
It had intended to endure the long wait until dawn alone, but Spitz’s eyes suddenly opened.
-Grrrrr!
Something was coming.
Toward Lee Jin-pyung.
-Grrr! Bark! Bark bark bark!
The scent left behind when Kim Young-jun’s phone was shown at the restaurant.
A Dog Spirit that had tracked that scent was now breaking through the gosiwon’s door, entering the dark room.

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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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