An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 148

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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 148
Part 3. Tears of Blood (3)
Beep, beep, beep.
Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes snapped open at the alarm.
He reflexively reached out to silence his phone, then closed and opened his bleary eyes.
‘Ah, a motel.’
For a moment, he wondered why he wasn’t at home.
Still, he quickly came to his senses.
After leaving the construction site last night, he’d driven into the city center and checked into this motel.
“Yawn.”
He rubbed his eyes and sat up.
‘Where’s Yoon Sang?’
They’d slept together, but the bed held only him.
Just as Kang Hyung-seok was about to call Yoon Sang on his phone, the motel bathroom door opened.
Creak.
“Oh? Hyung-nim, you’re awake.”
“Yeah.”
“You look tired.”
Yoon Sang looked the same way.
He was forcing brightness into his voice, but dark circles shadowed his eyes.
“Why did you wake up so early? Get some more sleep.”
“I just couldn’t fall asleep.”
“Because of what you saw last night?”
“Well, yeah, Hyung-nim.”
Kang Hyung-seok gave a bitter smile and got out of bed.
“Wait a bit. Let me shower and then we’ll grab some food.”
“Should we just order delivery?”
“It’s morning—will they deliver?”
“Of course! With the app, it comes right away, Hyung-nim.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Yoon Sang’s fingers moved deftly across his phone as he placed an order.
The restaurant was a simple Korean diner, so Kang Hyung-seok ordered blood sausage soup with rice, while Yoon Sang ordered vegetable soup with rice.
The food arrived after Kang Hyung-seok finished his shower.
“Hyung-nim, please eat first!”
Yoon Sang, sitting on the floor, began unwrapping the food from its packaging.
Delivery food these days really comes nicely.
He’d expected it to be wrapped in plastic, but it came in disposable containers too nice to throw away.
Click.
As he opened the lid, the aroma of food filled the cramped motel room.
Blood sausage soup with rice, napa cabbage kimchi, and radish cubes.
Despite his delicate appearance, Yoon Sang devoured the radish kimchi with impressive vigor.
That’s when it happened.
Bzzzzt.
My phone rang, and when I checked, it was Shin Yoseph.
“Hold on, I need to take this.”
Before Yoon Sang could set down the cubed radish he was about to eat, I pressed the answer button.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
(Can you talk?)
“Go ahead. It’s fine.”
(You know what you asked me yesterday? Whether there was a Japanese person around that Factory Owner?)
Shin Yoseph’s weighty tone seemed to herald what kind of conversation was about to unfold.
“Was there?”
(Just like you said. His mother is Japanese.)
“…What?”
(I know it’s strange. But seriously, the only Japanese person was his mother. Her name is Hara Seiko.)
I couldn’t believe it.
“But she’s his mother?”
(So either we got it wrong, or this guy is even more insane than we thought.)
“Ugh!”
Among serial killers, there are those who murder family members.
But typically, the victims are limited to wives or children.
It’s relatively rare for someone to lay hands on their parents.
(Did you find out anything else?)
I exhaled through my nose and answered.
“I found an Altar at the Construction Site yesterday.”
(An Altar?)
“It looked like some kind of ritual offering or sorcery. Inside a jar were blood-stained rice and a ring. There was also a cat caught on electrical wire, decomposing.”
Now I understood whose ring it was.
The mother of the man building the Factory.
Hara Seiko.
(He was determined. Did you take photos?)
“Yeah, I got some.”
(Send them to me right away.)
“I’ll send them later. I didn’t take them with my phone.”
I shifted my gaze to Yoon Sang, and Shin Yoseph’s voice followed immediately.
(Got it. Thanks for the help.)
His tone suggested one case was solved, but his voice said otherwise.
Shin Yoseph had made the request because of a contract proposal.
The suggestion was to push forward with the contract since I was trustworthy, but now evidence had surfaced proving I wasn’t.
“What are you going to do?”
Kang Hyung-seok posed the question with the wistful expression of someone craving a bitter iced Americano.
(What?)
“Should we end it here? Or do you want to try going further?”
The answer didn’t come immediately.
But that was fine.
Sometimes silence itself becomes an answer.
(Exhale.)
“There’s still too much that doesn’t add up. Why he turned his mother into Rokurokuби, and why he even built an Altar in the Factory—I don’t know any of it.”
He’s the kind of monster who turned his own mother’s soul into a servant spirit.
The fact that such a creature had built an Altar in the Factory gnawed at me.
There’s something crucial here.
There’s definitely something I absolutely cannot overlook.
“The people in the nearby Villages suffered. Even the Guardian Spirit wept tears of blood. This is one hundred percent connected to something bigger.”
There are old tales of wells that herald calamity.
The story goes that when a well overflows, disaster follows soon after—and this type of tale is spread across many nations.
So I couldn’t ignore it.
What if this incident too was connected to some impending catastrophe?
“If you won’t do it, I will.”
I would see this through to the end, no matter what.
Kang Hyung-seok conveyed his resolve in that tone.
(I have no intention of backing out either.)
Shin Yoseph continued, his voice characteristically devoid of emotion.
(I don’t even know how the guy who introduced me to that Factory Owner will react, and more evidence is always better.)
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.
Speaking in that manner, Shin Yoseph exhaled a sigh.
(I managed to contact one of the Former Employees. He said he’d cooperate.)
“Did you find anything out?”
(I thought it’d be better if you went directly, so I just got the address.)
“Send it to me by text. I’ll head out right away.”
(Sorry about that. I feel like I’ve dragged you into something big.)
“It’s my business too.”
Before Shin Yoseph’s request, there had been a revelation from the Guardian Spirit.
There exists one serpent-like. Therefore, sever the serpent’s tail so that the serpent may hide.
With that serpent’s tail writhing before my eyes, I couldn’t possibly retreat now.
(And collect all the receipts. I’ll reimburse you separately later.)
“More than that, could you smooth things over with the Manager?”
(That goes without saying.)
Kang Hyung-seok chuckled and nodded.
“I’m hanging up.”
After ending the call, he stared down at the now-cold blood sausage soup.
It was the same soup and rice I’d been eating so deliciously just moments ago.
But my appetite had vanished entirely, and now the swollen grains of rice looked like maggots, while the radish kimchi broth resembled blood.
“Tsk.”
I was pushing the blood sausage soup to the side with a complete lack of appetite.
“Hyung-nim, who… were you talking to on the phone?”
Since Shin Yoseph’s identity was a secret, I thought for a moment before offering an appropriate answer.
“A priest.”
“A priest? Catholic?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, really, how do you know someone like that? He’s not an ordinary priest, is he?”
“He’s someone who can’t appear on broadcasts even more than I can, so don’t get your hopes up.”
If Shin Yoseph ever appeared on Yoon Sang’s broadcast, just imagining the fallout terrified me.
“Ah, I understand. Of course, hyung-nim.”
“The rice is getting cold. Eat up.”
“I’m already done eating.”
Whether Yoon Sang was genuinely full or not, he began cleaning up without hesitation.
He transferred all the leftover food into a large bowl and wiped the area clean with wet tissue.
“By the way, hyung-nim.”
“What?”
“You’ve changed a lot since the last time I saw you.”
I looked at him with a puzzled expression, wondering what he meant.
“I thought you were amazing before too. But now it feels like you’ve powered up?”
“What?”
“Before, you felt like an incredibly impressive Shaman. But now it’s hard to describe. It feels like you’ve reached a higher dimension?”
His expression was grandiose, but I understood what he meant.
“I’ve just gotten more accustomed to things.”
“Pardon?”
“Just various things.”
The biggest difference would be the divine spear.
I had seen Yoon Sang even during the Tiger Spirit incident, but back then I wasn’t accustomed to it.
But after experiencing various large and small incidents since then, the divine spear felt more comfortable than before.
“But how do we dispose of this?”
“We just need to clean up properly before we leave.”
“Is that so? What time do we need to check out?”
“They said to vacate by 11 AM.”
It was about time to leave then.
I prepared to leave the Motel and stepped out of the room with Yoon Sang.
***
Vroom, vroom.
Inside the car heading toward the address Shin Yoseph had sent, I sipped my coffee.
An iced Americano I’d bought from a cafe along the way.
“Shhh, shhh.”
Yoon Sang lay sprawled across the passenger seat, sleeping soundly—and I had no complaints about it.
He must be exhausted.
Even for a streamer who frequents places like haunted houses, he’s still just an ordinary person.
He’d witnessed things back-to-back that an ordinary person would struggle to endure.
The mental fatigue must be considerable, and I knew it wouldn’t wash away easily with a bowl of soup and a single night’s sleep.
Slurp.
I set the coffee down in the cup holder after drinking through the straw and lowered the navigation volume.
Since I just needed to drive straight along the road, the directions weren’t particularly important.
Let me see. How much time was left…?
About ten minutes, roughly.
In the quiet car, my mind churned with countless thoughts.
What was the reason?
Why turn his mother into Rokurokuби and use her as a shikigami?
And why had he even constructed such an altar in the factory?
“Tsk!”
Suddenly, that old saying came to mind—when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you.
That factory owner would have realized by now that someone was pursuing him.
The altar’s jar had shattered, after all.
Perhaps he’d learned of it through Rokurokuби.
So that factory owner would try to find me.
Which would be faster?
Him stopping me?
Or me uncovering his intentions and smashing them to pieces?
“Nngh…”
Yoon Sang whimpered in pain as if caught in a nightmare, his arm flailing restlessly.
I adjusted the position of his hair that had slipped down across his shoulder, and his expression eased considerably.
Crack, crackle.
I twisted my neck left and right to shake off the stiffness.
A thought struck me—brooding wouldn’t yield answers.
Crunch!
I gripped the steering wheel hard, biting my lower lip until it turned white.
Right. Worrying was pointless.
For now, I needed to meet the Former Employee and extract whatever information I could about whoever was controlling Rokurokuби.
“You will arrive at your destination shortly.”
The navigation whispered its guidance, volume reduced.
An ordinary-looking residential district.
It was 1:10 PM, and since work was off, he would surely be home.
Kang Hyung-seok parked the car near the Former Employee’s house.
After taking one last look at Yoon Sang, who was deeply asleep, I stepped out of the vehicle.
Crunch, crunch.
Approaching the Former Employee’s house with deliberate caution, I clenched my fists.
The moment I knocked, a man opened the door as if he had been waiting.
“You’re… the one I was expecting, right?”
“I was referred to you.”
An elderly man of short stature.
The man looked up at me with unusually large eyes, nodded, and gestured for me to enter his home.
As I stepped inside, he immediately shut the door behind me.
Creak, thud.
The sound of the door closing echoed with an oddly resonant volume.

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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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