An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 163
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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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Episode 162
Part 1. You Thought It Was Light? (2)
Thud!
Jo Myung-sook’s entire body trembled violently as she scrambled backward while seated.
Whoosh.
Her Shaman’s Bell swayed alone atop the altar table, and the air seemed to flip inside out.
A young shaman had entered—just one.
But his spirit was far too immense.
It was a general spirit wielding a massive sword.
Jo Myung-sook couldn’t even breathe properly, as if that blade might fall upon her neck at any moment.
Then it happened.
Snap.
The blue and red threads bound to the mandarin duck figurine severed.
As if announcing that spirit marriages would never be performed again.
“Uh, uh-uh-uh.”
Crushed beneath the spirit’s weight, Jo Myung-sook crumpled, and Shin Jung-ah gestured for the frozen Lee Ha-yoon to get up.
“Why… why is she like that?”
“I don’t know.”
Shin Jung-ah signaled that someone was in the inner room, and Yoon Sang, breathing heavily, filmed the interior of the Shamanic Temple on his phone.
He had already sworn he wouldn’t use it for broadcast.
Footstep.
As Kang Hyung-seok stepped inside, Jo Myung-sook hesitated before desperately hurling her notebook at herself.
Click.
Yoon Sang’s phone, zooming in on the subject, captured everything with a shutter sound, and Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth.
“Is this the list of people used in the spirit marriage?”
“Ah, no. No, it isn’t.”
Jo Myung-sook, unconsciously speaking formally, clutched the notebook and shook her head vigorously.
“No! No, it’s not!”
“I already know everything.”
Kang Hyung-seok drew gradually closer to Jo Myung-sook.
At that, Shin Jung-ah grabbed Lee Ha-yoon’s arm and pulled her aside, leaving only the low altar table between Kang Hyung-seok and Jo Myung-sook.
“The short-haired woman who received a fortune from a young woman living nearby—she’s your daughter, isn’t she?”
He already knows everything.
Realizing this, Jo Myung-sook looked at the Guardian Spirit behind Kang Hyung-seok and burst into tears.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
Jo Myung-sook threw herself flat on the ground, her body convulsing as if in a seizure.
I could feel the fury radiating from my Guardian Spirit.
A spirit’s wrath is terrifying.
Unlike humans, it does not restrain itself.
“Ah, ah!”
The Guardian Spirit abandoned his post, leaving her utterly alone.
Lee Ha-yoon, unaware of the situation, watched her with eyes that screamed ‘What on earth is she doing?’, while Shin Jung-ah pointed urgently at the Inner Room with her finger.
The Short-haired Woman was in there.
Reading her intent, Kang Hyung-seok shifted his gaze from the firmly shut Inner Room door to Jo Myung-sook.
“You and your daughter have committed grave sins.”
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
“Give me that notebook.”
Kang Hyung-seok extended his hand, but Jo Myung-sook clutched the notebook even deeper into her chest.
“No, you can’t. You can’t. We’ve already formed a bond through betrothal—no matter how great a divine being you are, you cannot take this.”
Jo Myung-sook babbled desperately.
Then it happened.
“Your sins only grow heavier.”
It was a warning.
Jo Myung-sook and her daughter had indeed committed grave sins.
Jo Myung-sook’s Guardian Spirit had long since abandoned his post, as if he’d been waiting for precisely this moment.
If even the divine had forsaken her, what karma could Jo Myung-sook possibly bear?
“No, you can’t!”
Jo Myung-sook cried out loudly, her voice trembling with sobs.
Bang!
The door burst open violently, and Lee Ju-hyun came rushing out.
“You crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing!”
Lee Ju-hyun, a shaman’s daughter without spiritual sight, spewed curses even as she glared at Kang Hyung-seok.
At the sight of her, Jo Myung-sook’s face drained of all color as she shrieked desperately.
“Shut your mouth, you fool!”
“Mom!”
Lee Ju-hyun’s eyes gleamed as she stared at Kang Hyung-seok.
“What the hell are you doing here? Did she send you? Did that stupid, idiotic bitch send you!”
As Lee Ju-hyun spewed curses while mentioning Bu-yong, Lee Ha-yoon’s gaze shifted toward Shin Jung-ah.
‘We’re done for.’
Then she squeezed her eyes shut as if accepting defeat.
Since her university days, Shin Jung-ah had been notorious for her vicious temperament.
Her eyes were beginning to shift with the same murderous intensity as when she’d dislocated her stalking senior’s jaw.
“You bastard! Put that phone down!”
Lee Ju-hyun shouted at Yoon Sang, then pointed accusingly.
“That person cried,” Kang Hyung-seok said.
Lee Ju-hyun’s venomous gaze turned toward him.
“So what? What does it matter to me that she blubbered!”
Kang Hyung-seok’s eyebrows twitched, and Lee Ju-hyun’s lips twisted into a vicious smile.
“To be blunt, she had the Solitary Fate curse attached to her destiny—without me, she wouldn’t have even gotten married. That dead boyfriend of hers probably died because of her cursed fate too, who knows!”
As Kang Hyung-seok watched Lee Ju-hyun steadily accumulating karma with her venomous tongue, his eyes opened with fierce intensity.
“Where the hell do you get off looking at me like that? Get lost, you bastard!”
Lee Ju-hyun locked eyes with Kang Hyung-seok and pulled her phone from her pocket.
Just as she was about to hurl it at him,
“Hey.”
Shin Jung-ah spoke in a low voice, and the moment Lee Ju-hyun’s gaze shifted toward her,
Thwack!
Shin Jung-ah’s front kick drove straight into Lee Ju-hyun’s abdomen.
It happened so fast no one had time to stop it.
“Ha!”
Lee Ha-yoon’s face screamed “It’s finally happening!” while Yoon Sang urgently swung the camera away and pressed the microphone hard with his thumb.
Boom!
Lee Ju-hyun flew all the way to the wall, her back slamming hard as she crumpled to the ground, staring up at Shin Jung-ah.
“Ugh… Argh!”
Her insides felt like they were tearing and she couldn’t breathe, yet Lee Ju-hyun’s face showed more shock than pain.
But soon she crawled awkwardly toward where the ritual implements and sacred tools were arranged.
“You… you, damn it!”
Lee Ju-hyun grabbed a ritual knife from among the sacred tools, and Jo Myung-sook let out a piercing scream.
“Ju-hyun, no!”
At that moment, Shin Jung-ah, her face completely enraged, lunged at her.
Smack! Clang!
The poorly gripped ritual knife flew from her hand as Shin Jung-ah struck her arm.
Crack!
A knee drove into her abdomen,
Whoosh, Thud!
Grabbing her lowered head and waist, she flipped her to the side.
Then, like a serpent binding its prey, Shin Jung-ah swiftly wrapped her entire body around Lee Ju-hyun’s arm, restraining her.
Crunch!
The sound of ligaments stretching from her bent elbow echoed out.
“Aaaaagh!”
“Ju-hyun! Ju-hyun!”
Jo Myung-sook hastily grabbed a ritual object and was about to throw it at Shin Jung-ah when
Snap!
Kang Hyung-seok grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
Even as he did, Lee Ju-hyun’s screams continued pouring from her mouth.
“Aaaaagh! Mom, mooooom!”
“Manager!”
“Hey!”
Kang Hyung-seok shouted loudly, and Lee Ha-yoon rushed over to pry Shin Jung-ah away.
“Let go, let go! That’s enough.”
“Aaaaagh! Argh!”
“Hey! If you go any further, there’s nothing I can do for you!”
As Lee Ha-yoon struck her arm repeatedly, Shin Jung-ah finally released Lee Ju-hyun.
“Ugh! Sob, sob.”
Shin Jung-ah stood up, watching Lee Ju-hyun whimper while clutching her elbow, her expression one of utter disgust.
“Sob, sob, sob.”
“Ah, ah, ah.”
The atmosphere in the Shaman’s House had become utterly desolate with Lee Ju-hyun pouring out tears and sobs, and Jo Myung-sook standing there in a daze.
The air felt suffocating and heavy, yet there was no sympathy to be found.
Everyone knew exactly what these two mother and daughter had done.
Click.
It was the moment Yoon Sang switched from video to camera mode and captured the figure sprawled on the floor.
“Ah, no matter what we’ve done in the past.”
Jo Myung-sook embraced Lee Ju-hyun, her eyes darting around with a vicious glint.
“This isn’t it! This can’t be it!”
“What?”
When Shin Jung-ah spoke with a face as terrifying as an angry deity, Jo Myung-sook and Lee Ju-hyun flinched.
And Lee Ha-yoon met Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze.
Thanks to Lee Ju-hyun’s venomous tongue, I had come to fully understand the gravity of the situation.
“What will we do?”
“Since this involves shamanism, legal punishment may be difficult to pursue.”
At that moment, Lee Ha-yoon’s eyes gleamed.
“Could we pursue charges under privacy violation laws or something similar? Attorney?”
“So you’re saying they married off the people who came for fortune readings to ghosts?”
“Yes.”
“Marriage fraud wouldn’t technically apply, but we can certainly file a complaint one way or another.”
“…Would that be possible?”
Lee Ha-yoon nodded gravely.
“Shamans are people too, after all.”
Society is composed of people.
Since shamans are also people, they cannot escape society’s rules and laws.
Proof may be difficult, but once evidence is established, there is no escaping the judgment of the law.
“This is my first case like this, so I’ll need to research precedents, but I think we can tie it together with fraud charges and privacy violation laws. I’ll help you as much as I possibly can.”
Lee Ha-yoon’s eyes were resolute.
She seemed confident, and it appeared she had already calculated exactly how to proceed.
“Thank you for your help.”
“Hey! You got the recording, right?”
Yoon Sang, holding his phone, nodded vigorously in surprise, and Lee Ha-yoon approached him, extending her hand.
“Let me see.”
She then quickly scrolled through what Yoon Sang had recorded on his phone.
The Shaman’s notebook and the personal information written inside it.
Lee Ju-hyun’s shrill cry echoed in my mind.
The kidney knife she had raised to strike Shin Jung-ah.
Everything could be weaponized in some way.
“This is my business card. Could you send it to this email address?”
“Y-yes. Of course.”
Yoon Sang accepted the card, his eyes widening in surprise.
When Kang Hyung-seok had called her a lawyer, he’d been uncertain, but the card clearly stated her profession.
‘Divorce specialist?’
The inscription on Lee Ha-yoon’s card carried a profoundly ominous weight.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled slowly, observing the two women before me—mother and daughter—lying motionless like corpses.
“Humans must resolve human matters. We will attend to our own affairs.”
Jo Myung-sook’s head trembled, then bowed downward.
“Mom.”
Lee Ju-hyun called out desperately, but Jo Myung-sook only gasped for breath.
She resembled a condemned prisoner awaiting execution.
“No, no.”
I extended my hand toward the muttering Jo Myung-sook and spoke softly.
“It’s already over.”
“Ugh, uuuugh! Uuuugh!”
Beside the bestial wails of Jo Myung-sook, Lee Ju-hyun glared at me with eyes burning with fear and rage.
I addressed her as well.
“Your karma will return to you as it is.”
“Hraaaaagh!”
Jo Myung-sook, drowning in terror, clutched her head and collapsed, while I continued speaking to Lee Ju-hyun.
“Your karma is equally grave.”
Now I would go about my work.
I would go to Chung-geum and perform rituals throughout the weekend.
The victims listed in Jo Myung-sook’s notebook.
I would sever one by one the souls bound by the spirit marriage covenant.
“Suffer for the rest of your lives.”
Where would those souls go?
Where would the hatred of the Victim Spirit—the woman who lost her husband—extend?
To whom would the Victim Spirit—the man who lost his wife—direct his blame?
The hatred would be borne by both mother and daughter, but the burden of responsibility would fall upon the younger Lee Ju-hyun.
The terror and calamity Bu-yong endured.
Karma numbering in the dozens to hundreds would be hers to bear in full.
‘Spirit marriages originally bind spirit to spirit, after all.’
Lee Ju-hyun’s life and afterlife would be consumed by suffering.
“No, no. Please, not our daughter! Please!”
Jo Myung-sook clung to Kang Hyung-seok’s ankle.
But he silently extracted his foot and spoke with a sigh.
“You understand, don’t you?”
“Ah, ah…”
“The people you harmed were someone’s children too.”
Jo Myung-sook’s mouth snapped shut as if an axe had fallen on her neck.
Her eyes, by contrast, widened—a look that mirrored the hopelessness of the Vengeful Spirit.
Perhaps that was why.
Swish.
As Kang Hyung-seok reached for his notebook, Jo Myung-sook offered no resistance whatsoever.
Lee Ju-hyun was the same.
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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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