An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 140

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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 1. The Heart Reaches Heaven (1)
The Dog Spirit approached Lee Jin-pyung.
In the Dark Room, without a sound.
Without the slightest warning.
It drew near and moved its lips with a half-melted face beside Lee Jin-pyung’s head.
Yellowed teeth were bared, cracked lips split and bled, and pus beaded on skin ravaged by severe burns.
—Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
The Spitz Victim Spirit barked fiercely, but the Dog Spirit paid it no mind.
A Victim Spirit and a Vengeful Spirit—the gap between them was not easily bridged.
Crunch.
As the Dog Spirit opened its maw wide, Lee Jin-pyung’s brow furrowed.
“Ugh… uhhhhh.”
—Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
The Spitz’s fur bristled completely on end as it turned to look at Lee Jin-pyung’s face.
Then, with its small head deep in thought,
—Arooooo!
it hurled itself at the Dog Spirit.
At the Dog Spirit, far larger than itself.
To avoid a tragic reunion with Lee Jin-pyung, the Spitz threw itself at the Dog Spirit with abandon.
***
“Blech! Blurgh!”
Acrid vomit poured from Kim Young-jun’s mouth.
The typical symptoms of possession.
And the process of what dwelt within his body departing.
“Are… are you alright!”
Kim Young-chan rushed forward with the question, but there was no time to answer.
Crash!
Kang Hyung-seok, desperately pressing down on Kim Young-jun’s body while shaking the Shaman’s Bell, cast a sharp gaze toward the Veranda.
There, Dog Spirits boiled alive in a cauldron and dead were shedding tears.
Resentment is suffering.
The same suffering for the living and the dead alike.
And the same for people as for animals.
“Travel on, rest not at famous mountains, lest you meet the Mountain God and be denied rebirth; travel on, the Pearl River’s southern bank, the Chokseok Pavilion where Yi Am once played—is it not a blessed place.”
Yet that does not mean it is acceptable to harm others.
“Play there awhile, and should darkness fall before you depart, the Mungjang Terrace of Boeunsongni where King Sejong once played—go and play there instead.”
What made you all suffer so terribly.
“Travel on, and should darkness fall before you depart, the Yeongwang Pavilion on the Daedong River in Pyongyang where Wolcheon once played—go and play there instead.”
Kang Hyung-seok recited the scripture, watching the Dog Spirits that targeted Kim Young-jun’s body, his heart seeking answers.
It was then.
Clang-clang-clang!
I shook the Shaman’s Bell and the ritual knife vigorously, then froze in an instant.
Kim Young-jun’s convulsing body went still, and Kim Young-chan’s eyes darted about in bewilderment at the sudden silence.
He didn’t know.
“…Show me the truth.”
What I was seeing as I muttered in my hoarse voice.
My desire to understand the Dog Spirit—not merely as something to exorcise, but to comprehend—reached the divine.
The god who received my heart was the Guardian Spirit.
“Their resentment runs too deep. What must I do?”
To my prayer-like murmur, a voice and form rushed toward me.
“Our Bokgu, eat plenty. Then you’ll have good milk for the pups.”
“Bori, oh goodness, this one. Do you like me that much?”
“Let me give you a hug!”
“Hey! Didn’t I tell you not to poop anywhere you please!”
“Honey, could you buy some pufferfish on your way home? Baduk hasn’t been eating well lately. Maybe we should give him something better.”
“A dog’s fortune is better than a person’s. Understood.”
“Baekgu!”
“Baduk, here. Here!”
Each Dog Spirit had an owner in life.
Those dogs were stuffed into a dog trader’s sack, kept in metal cages, then dragged to Kim Young-chan’s father.
Sold for mere tens of thousands of won, shoved into a pot, never to see their owners again.
That anguish reached me with brutal clarity.
Whimper.
I lowered the hand holding the Shaman’s Bell and gazed out the window at the Dog Spirits with a quiet face.
“I understand your pain.”
The relationship between humans and dogs means words don’t pass between them.
That’s why animal spirits are the most difficult to handle, yet through my powerful spiritual possession, my heart connected with the Dog Spirits.
-Woof-woof-woof-woof!
-Bark! Bark-bark-bark-bark!
-Yelp! Yelp-yelp!
The Dog Spirits’ barking rang in my ears with such pain.
Yet I didn’t furrow my brow once, listening intently in silence.
‘Pour it all out.’
Release it.
Spill everything.
I’m listening.
Vomit up all the knotted resentment and sorrow, shed every lingering attachment.
After listening to the Dog Spirits’ cries for a long while, I opened my mouth without shifting my gaze.
“Factory Owner.”
“…Y-yes?”
“They have something they desire.”
Kim Young-chan’s lips trembled as he glanced briefly at Kim Young-jun, who remained motionless, and Kang Hyung-seok continued.
“So I ask only one promise of you.”
Kim Young-chan swallowed hard and nodded with difficulty.
Then came the request.
“Please build a Memorial Shrine in the area where the Health Center once stood.”
“A Memorial… Shrine?”
“The size and form don’t matter. However, you must personally craft each memorial tablet that goes inside.”
They must be made with a heart that seeks to console the departed souls.
Only then will the resentment of the Dog Spirit, bereft of its master, be released.
Kang Hyung-seok spoke while still gazing at the Dog Spirits by the window.
“A sincere heart reaches even the divine.”
A heart that touches the divine gives birth to miracles.
The miracle Kang Hyung-seok sought was the forgiveness of the Vengeful Spirit—the Dog Spirit.
And what could make that miracle possible was Kim Young-chan’s resolve.
“Please console the spirits of the Dog Spirits with memorial tablets, so that the divine does not turn away.”
Kim Young-chan’s lips quivered.
Words he had never imagined, never anticipated, pierced straight through his chest.
Though they were not easy to grasp at first, he soon opened his mouth.
“I… I understand.”
My son lay there.
My son, who had been mimicking a dog like my departed mother, was unconscious.
“That, that! I will absolutely do it…. Even if it takes my whole life, I will…. Please, please do something for my son.”
Kim Young-chan fell to his knees and clasped his hands together toward the window where Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze was directed.
Then he rubbed his hands together, tears and mucus and saliva streaming down his face.
“I have spent my whole life making furniture. Can I not make memorial tablets? Can I not build a Memorial Shrine? I will do it my whole life, so please, please save my family.”
Kim Young-chan, who had inherited his father’s karma, now prayed for the sake of future generations.
Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth while gazing at the Dog Spirits.
“From now on, I will open the path to heaven.”
It might have been impossible under normal circumstances.
Yet with the power of two divine objects and the Guardian Spirit, Kang Hyung-seok was certain he could guide these Dog Spirits to salvation.
“When you build the Memorial Shrine, if possible, find their bones and bury them properly, offer foods the dogs enjoyed, and perform rites for them.”
“I, I will do it all! Everything!”
As Kim Young-chan rubbed his hands together frantically, Kang Hyung-seok nodded gravely.
Then he picked up the Shaman’s Bell and shook it gently.
Wa-rang.
The clear sound of the bell rang out.
A bell sound that hoped the heart would reach heaven and the divine.
That this heart would transform into a miracle.
With earnest prayer, Kang Hyung-seok began to recite the sacred incantation.
***
One eye had been torn away, and a paw had been ripped off.
My body was covered in wounds, and tears streamed endlessly from my remaining eye.
Yet I could not retreat.
Lee Jin-pyung stood directly behind me.
-Grrrrr!
Knowing I posed no real threat, I growled and lunged at the Dog Spirit anyway.
And I was bitten, shaken, and hurled across the ground.
-Yelp! Yelp!
Rolling across the floor, I barely managed to rise on trembling legs.
It seemed a meaningless sacrifice at first, but the Dog Spirit’s attention had shifted from Lee Jin-pyung to me.
That was enough.
-Bark! Woof!
Charging again, I clamped my jaws around the Dog Spirit’s throat and held on.
Though I inflicted no real damage, I clung with desperate determination.
My only desire was to protect Lee Jin-pyung.
This singular, fervent wish was all that mattered.
“Mmgh…”
Lee Jin-pyung groaned and stirred, tears trickling from the corners of his tightly closed eyes.
And from his lips came a faint, breathless whisper.
“…Baek-seol.”
A sincere heart reaches the divine.
-Whimper.
I hauled my battered body upright once more.
My black, bead-like eyes gleamed with fierce light, and my small teeth sharpened.
And I lunged at the Dog Spirit, fastening my jaws around its eye socket.
-Snarl!
The Dog Spirit thrashed its head to shake me loose, but I clung with even greater ferocity.
My desire to protect Lee Jin-pyung burned so intensely, so desperately, that it reached the divine.
A heart that reaches the divine creates miracles.
-Grrrrr!
I tore the Dog Spirit’s eye clean away.
I bit at its throat, pressed my front paws against its neck, and wrenched my head back.
-Shriek!
The Dog Spirit thrashed wildly, and Lee Jin-pyung’s eyebrows twitched.
And the Dog Spirit, exerting all its power, finally wrenched me free.
-Bark!
I stood my ground and barked defiantly at the Dog Spirit.
The leg and eye I had lost to the Dog Spirit had somehow restored themselves to their original form.
After a long standoff, the confrontation ended when the Dog Spirit turned its head away.
There were three reasons for this.
The scent of Kim Young-jun was fading from Lee Jin-pyung’s body.
Spitz’s resistance was too fierce, and I could feel someone praying for the Dog Spirit from afar.
It was Kang Hyung-seok’s scripture chanting.
Tap, tap.
As the Dog Spirit retraced its path, a profound silence descended upon the Dark Room.
—Whimper.
Only then did Spitz, its energy finally spent, climb weakly onto Lee Jin-pyung’s chest.
This was the moment.
—Clang, clang, clang.
The sound of Kang Hyung-seok’s Shaman’s Bell and his chanting reached even Spitz’s ears.
—The original mind is tranquil, knowing neither past nor present; what then is birth, and what is return?
Spitz lifted its head, looking toward the direction from which the chanting came.
—The Buddha revealed both feet outside the coffin, and the Patriarch Bodhidharma carried away one straw sandal on his staff. Should the Victim Spirit attain such profound wisdom, they would transcend the cycle of life and death.
It was a scripture for guiding spirits to heaven.
A scripture that opened the path to heaven, connecting this world and the next.
—Why grieve? As floating clouds gather and disperse through karmic connection, so too do the lives and deaths of all beings arise through karma. Hold fast to good karma and abandon bad karma, and in your next life you shall meet with good fortune.
The chanting continued, guiding the Dog Spirits toward salvation.
And then,
“Ugh…”
Lee Jin-pyung’s eyes fluttered open.
Spitz looked down at Lee Jin-pyung as always, but Lee Jin-pyung’s gaze was fixed not on darkness, but on one specific point.
It was directed at Spitz.
“…Baek-seol?”
—Release even your resentment and abandon all prejudice, so that with a purified mind you may be embraced in the Buddha’s bosom and attain rebirth in the Pure Land.
It was a miracle woven from tangled threads of coincidence.
Spitz’s desire to save Lee Jin-pyung had reached the heavens, and the gates of heaven had opened.
—Woof! Woof, woof, woof!
Spitz, its fur standing on end at being recognized by Lee Jin-pyung, barked fiercely and spun in circles on his chest.
Its tail wagged as if it might fly off, and its eyes grew wet.
Lee Jin-pyung’s hand reached out toward Spitz.
“…Baek-seol.”
There was no sensation, no warmth.
Yet Lee Jin-pyung pulled Spitz close with all his strength, seeing the dog again after so long—however brief this moment might be.
“Baek-seol, Baek-seol. Baek-seol.”
Spitz curled up in Lee Jin-pyung’s embrace, wagging its tail slowly.
Though I cannot feel Lee Jin-pyung’s embrace around me, I know this cannot last forever.
When morning comes, Lee Jin-pyung may think this was merely a dream.
And yet, even so.
—Woof, woof, woof, woof!
Grateful and delighted that Lee Jin-pyung was holding me, I wagged my tail continuously and licked my master’s face.

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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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