An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 143

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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 142
Part 2. Japanese Sorcery and Korean Shamanism (1)
The moment Kang Hyung-seok fell asleep upon arriving home, he felt his body being pulled deeply inward.
A familiar sensation.
His head spun, and he felt himself drifting toward somewhere other than reality.
‘Spirit possession…?’
Opening my eyes in a place between dream and waking, I discovered I was standing on my own two feet.
Just moments before, I had been in bed.
But now, darkness surrounded me on all sides.
Whoosh.
I rubbed my face and straightened my clothes, then drew in a deep breath.
‘My Guardian Spirit has called for me.’
Something I hadn’t noticed before—the air in this place carried a faint fragrance.
Doooom.
The distant sound of a drum rang out, guiding me forward.
And so I moved my feet in that direction.
That’s how experience works.
At first, it feels strange and frightening, making you hesitate. But once you grow accustomed to it, you become calm and serene.
Just as I was now, moving toward my Guardian Spirit.
Step, step.
Walking through darkness so complete I couldn’t see an inch ahead, I suddenly stopped.
Still, nothing was visible.
Yet I brought my hands together in reverence and bowed toward the darkness.
“Your disciple has come.”
There was a presence that even the deepest darkness could not conceal.
It was the presence of my Guardian Spirit—a bond between us that no amount of pitch-black darkness could ever hide.
-My disciple.
A low and solemn voice.
Feeling the Guardian Spirit’s voice resonate through my entire being, I closed my eyes and opened my mouth.
“I am listening.”
-There is a place you must go.
My eyelids grew heavy.
My Guardian Spirit was granting me a revelation.
Like the water initiation mark upon my palm, it spoke of performing righteous deeds.
“Please tell me. What must I do?”
-There is one who has learned Japanese sorcery.
At this unexpected statement, I involuntarily opened my eyes.
“What…?”
-That person seeks to defy the Way of Heaven and distort the laws of the sky. Because they would disrupt the natural order, you must stop them.
This was no ordinary revelation.
It was a revelation of a different character than what had descended upon him before.
“…Who are you speaking of?”
-One who hides behind the mirror.
Behind the mirror?
Those words sent a profound ripple through his chest.
Kang Hyung-seok, who unconsciously imagined a mirror and the act of gazing into it, opened his mouth with grave deliberation.
“You speak of the Shaman.”
If he looked into a mirror, Kang Hyung-seok, who had received the Guardian Spirit, would be reflected.
Then one hidden behind that mirror would be an existence living in the world without revealing itself, wearing the same form as Kang Hyung-seok.
If so, the person the Guardian Spirit spoke of was the Shaman.
-….
Silence.
It must mean yes.
“Tell me who he is.”
-The serpent’s fangs harbor venom; wait for the moment.
It was the moment Kang Hyung-seok swallowed his frustration by pressing his lips firmly together.
-Aim for the serpent’s tail. He hunts you with wicked sorcery, so sever the tail and force the serpent to hide.
Kang Hyung-seok closed his lips with even greater force and lifted his head.
And he gazed upon the Guardian Spirit standing before him.
A black general shrouded in black mist.
A great sword hung at his waist, and the Guardian Spirit stood before him with blue flashes of light barely visible through the gaps in his scaled armor.
“I understand.”
Kang Hyung-seok answered with an unwavering voice as he beheld the Guardian Spirit.
“I know the grace of being watched over and protected by you.”
With sincerity, Kang Hyung-seok brought his palms together in reverence before the Guardian Spirit and continued.
“I will do what is right.”
Perhaps the words his Guardian Spirit most wished to hear.
The meaning of the oath the Guardian Spirit left when I took up the Shaman’s Bell, and the one and only wish the Guardian Spirit desired.
At my declaration to uphold it, the Guardian Spirit moved.
And then the Guardian Spirit’s hand descended upon my shoulder.
The Guardian Spirit is divine and possesses no physical form.
Yet perhaps because this was a space beyond reality.
The warmth, weight, and shape of a palm were transmitted to my shoulder.
And even my heart.
-I will protect you.
Always.
At the meaning conveyed not in words but in spirit, I bowed my head even more deeply.
It was immediately after.
Zzzzzing!
The alarm on my phone pulled my consciousness back to reality.
“Ugh…”
After lying in bed in a daze for a while, I reached over and turned off my phone’s alarm.
‘I don’t want to go to work.’
The moment reality sank in, that familiar wave of office worker despair washed over me—there was nothing I could do about it.
Still, I had some time left, so I lay in bed fiddling with my phone.
That’s when it happened.
“What…?”
A text message had arrived.
「Stop by today.」
It was from Shin Yoseph.
***
(Sounds good! Perfect!)
Brrrrm.
Inside the moving car, I smiled awkwardly at the vehicle speaker connected via Bluetooth.
“Thank you for understanding.”
(Understanding? I was actually wondering when Shinjin Construction would reach out. This works out great!)
The mere fact that Shin Yoseph had contacted him seemed to delight Gwak Young-ho.
“He didn’t mention what it’s about, but I’ll brief you once we meet.”
(Manager Kang, it doesn’t matter if it’s important or not. This is—)
I raised one eyebrow, staring at Manager Gwak Young-ho’s name displayed on my phone as his voice came through the speaker.
(That’s how sales works. Major clients sometimes call you for personal matters. But in the end, all of that leads to contracts, doesn’t it?)
That’s true enough.
Still, there are exceptions.
“But this isn’t a pharmaceutical company matter, is it?”
(Hey! That’s…)
Gwak Young-ho trailed off, at a loss for words.
(Well, Director Shin isn’t that kind of person, is he?)
“Yes, that’s true.”
If anything, our relationship couldn’t be characterized that way.
If I, an employee of Daejeong Materials, need Shin Yoseph of Shinjin Construction, then Shin Yoseph the exorcist needs me, a shaman.
Our relationship felt almost symbiotic.
(Anyway, nothing urgent today, so take your time and have a good conversation. If you end up going somewhere, just let me know.)
“Yes, understood.”
(So we’re meeting at Shinjin Construction?)
No, that wasn’t it.
I had exchanged texts with Shin Yoseph this morning.
I’d replied asking why he suddenly wanted to meet, and he’d sent back a message saying he had something urgent to discuss—but the meeting place wasn’t Shinjin Construction. It was a cafe.
“No. It’s a cafe, a midpoint location.”
(Ah, Director Shin is considerate.)
I chuckled and nodded in agreement.
“We’re almost at the meeting location. I’ll call you back once we’re done.”
(Sure, sure, do well! I’ll handle the attendance report, so don’t worry about it!)
“Yes, thank you.”
After ending the call, I turned the steering wheel toward the nearest parking lot, following the navigation’s directions.
It was a famous franchise cafe.
There was a spacious parking lot in front, and a concrete planter box, but the plants that should have been there were conspicuously absent.
Theft or cigarette ash.
The reason was predictable enough that I felt a twinge of melancholy cross my face.
Vroom.
After turning off the engine, I picked up my phone, spotting Shin Yoseph’s car parked to one side of the lot.
I was just about to call and say I’d arrived.
“No need to call.”
I turned my head and saw Shin Yoseph smoking a cigarette.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
Shin Yoseph exhaled smoke like a sigh, then gestured toward his car.
“Want to talk at the cafe? Or inside the car?”
“What’s this conversation about?”
“I prefer the car.”
It seemed the discussion wasn’t meant for public ears.
“Wait in the car. I’ll grab us some coffee.”
“Already got it. Just get in.”
After we both got into the car he’d indicated, he handed me a coffee from the cup holder and pulled a document from the driver’s side door.
“There’s something I need you to help me with.”
I peeled away the plastic wrapper covering the straw and turned my attention to him.
“What is it?”
“A deal proposal came in recently. One of the executives pushed it through—someone I don’t get along with.”
Corporate politics, perhaps?
I took a sip of the cool coffee and opened the document folder, pulling out the papers inside.
As I did, Shin Yoseph continued his explanation while gazing out the window.
“Something feels off. It looks clean on the surface, which makes it even more suspicious. I need to know what’s hidden inside.”
“Like when the Queen gave Snow White a poisoned apple?”
It was a question I threw out on impulse, but it seemed to be an apt comparison.
Shin Yoseph’s head nodded heavily in agreement.
“You’ve got your hands full.”
“That’s just how it is for Snow White, you know.”
Shin Yoseph’s gaze showed no sign of leaving the window, clearly troubled by the matter.
It seemed that even wealthy families had their own burdens.
With that thought, I flipped through the documents and read on.
“A factory?”
“To be precise, it’s the factory currently under construction. The company representative there has been running various operations since way back, and his background is clean.”
“Hmm.”
I understood that much.
But I couldn’t figure out why this was a case that specifically required me, Kang Hyung-seok.
The documents offered no answers.
They merely listed what kind of factory it was, where it was located, what materials would be used, and the projected annual production volume.
“So why do you need me?”
“There’s a rumor.”
I furrowed my brow as I looked at Shin Yoseph, and he withdrew his gaze from the window before reaching into the cup holder to grab his coffee.
“I need you to verify it.”
“What kind of rumor?”
“Something about dealings with a Japanese sorcerer.”
I rubbed the inside of my cheek with my tongue.
The revelation I’d received from the Guardian Spirit this morning suddenly came to mind.
‘He said there was someone who had learned Japanese sorcery.’
That person is a snake.
Someone hiding behind a mirror.
Perhaps this person Shin Yoseph was talking about was the same individual.
“Tell me more. Is it definitely a Japanese sorcerer?”
“I’m certain. That’s what makes it strange. It’s common to perform shamanic rituals before constructing a factory, but Japanese sorcery? That’s not normal.”
“True enough.”
Even I, who had lived a relatively shamanic life compared to ordinary people, had never heard of such a thing.
A Korean factory and Japanese sorcery.
It felt like incompatible things were clinging together for some inexplicable reason.
“Just confirm whether the place is as suspicious as the rumors suggest or not. After that, I’ll handle the rest.”
This matter was entangled with Shin Yoseph.
It was part of office politics, and if someone was truly trying to attach a suspicious person to Shin Yoseph, it could indirectly create problems for me as well.
I understood that much.
“Why me?”
While Shin Yoseph watched me with one eyebrow raised as he sipped his coffee, I continued.
“Couldn’t you just hire someone? Or you could do it yourself.”
“Unfortunately, there aren’t many people I can trust. And if this goes wrong, my head could be on the chopping block.”
Shin Yoseph is the son of the chairman of Shinjin Construction.
If it were a small or mid-sized company, it wouldn’t be a major issue.
But this is a large corporation, and in such places, power struggles happen all too naturally, and they don’t discriminate in their targets.
“It seems there are people who resent the recent dealings between Shin Yoseph and Daejeong Materials. These bastards might be trying to connect me with something suspicious to create leverage against me.”
Shin Yoseph set his coffee back in the holder and pulled out a cigarette.
“And this is your specialty, after all.”
A Shaman.
And someone capable of exorcising spirits.
A person who had even earned the trust of Shin Yoseph.
Only Kang Hyung-seok could satisfy all these absurd conditions.
“Phew—!”
“I know. I’m shameless. But I’ll make sure the reward is worth your while.”
“Tell me if you’ve found anything else in your separate investigation.”
As Kang Hyung-seok slipped the documents into a file folder and spoke, Shin Yoseph, who had been about to light his cigarette, hesitated for a moment.
Then he lit the cigarette and opened his mouth.
“Among the employees who worked with that person, quite a few claimed to have seen a Japanese yokai.”
Shin Yoseph searched for something on his phone and showed it to Kang Hyung-seok.
“This is it.”
Kang Hyung-seok sucked in his lips as he examined the photograph.
It certainly didn’t feel like a Korean yokai or spirit.
The art style drawn in Japanese folklore made that impression even stronger.
“The name is Rokurokubi, apparently.”
At the name Shin Yoseph provided, Kang Hyung-seok nodded heavily.

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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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