An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 171

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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 170
Part 3. As the Mist Rolls In (4)
Crash!
A downpour crashed down on Kang Hyung-seok’s head as he bolted from the Village Community Center.
Without even a moment to grab an umbrella, I rushed toward the False Shaman, and behind me, Kim Jae-sik’s voice called out as he opened an umbrella.
“Hyung-seok!”
I didn’t respond, just kept running toward the False Shaman.
Splash, splash, splash!
The drainage was poor, and muddy water soaked my shoes thoroughly.
With brown droplets splattered up to my knees, I hurried to stand before the False Shaman.
Splash, splash, splash!
Kim Jae-sik caught up, breathing heavily, and held the umbrella over me.
Meanwhile, I silently observed the False Shaman standing before me.
‘…He’s been possessed.’
Standing barefoot without shoes, the False Shaman looked anything but normal.
His complexion was pallid, as if a corpse had just been pulled from a coffin, his clothes were torn to shreds, and deep lacerations from thick branches marked the backs of his hands.
“What? What’s happening!”
Was it the commotion?
Or had they sensed something?
The villagers who had been peering through windows began pouring out one by one.
“What, what is this! Hey, why is he like that!”
The Youth Leader tried to grab the False Shaman’s body.
Snap!
But I caught his wrist, and silently fixed my gaze on the False Shaman.
“Don’t touch him.”
A fishy stench emanated from him.
That same reek I’d detected at the Livestock Farm—it was radiating from this False Shaman’s body.
“Is there a doctor in the village?”
“Wait, just a moment. K-Kim! Sir! Please go fetch the doctor right away!”
“Y-yes, yes, yes!”
Someone hurried off, and I carefully extended my hand toward the False Shaman.
Even without Shaman’s Bell, I could recite the scriptures.
“Gakhang jeobang shimmi gi duu yeoheo….”
That was when it happened.
The False Shaman, his eyes clouded and vacant, suddenly moved and seized the hem of his robe.
Before anyone could stop him, he lifted it, exposing his abdomen.
“What the—”
Whoooosh!
In the center of the village, where an eerie atmosphere clung stubbornly even against the torrential rain, the villagers froze pale at the sight of the False Shaman’s exposed belly.
“Huff, huff…”
It started the moment I saw the False Shaman’s abdomen.
My breath began to crystallize white as it left my lips.
Squelch!
The False Shaman’s abdomen moved.
“Ugh! Uuuuugh!”
“What, what, what, what is it! What is it!”
“P-Park Su, that thing, uuuugh!”
The False Shaman’s abdomen writhed so grotesquely that the villagers gasped in terror.
As if a massive snake coiled within his belly, something undulated along his intestines, visible rippling across the skin of his abdomen.
That writhing movement crept steadily upward.
And then,
“Guuuuuurgh!”
It emerged from the False Shaman’s mouth.
“Aaaaaaahhh!”
The Youth Leader, standing closest, recoiled in shock.
“Ahhh! Aaaahhh!”
“Uuuuaaahhh!”
The villagers all shared the same reaction.
What came from the False Shaman’s mouth was a pitch-black snake.
Slither! Slither!
Even Kang Hyung-seok and Kim Jae-sik stumbled backward, their faces drained of color at the horrific sight.
Yet the snake continued, and continued, pouring from the False Shaman’s mouth.
“Uuuaaaaaahhh!”
As the snake approached the man who had collapsed, he convulsed.
And soon after, the snake’s tail slipped free from the False Shaman’s mouth.
Sssslither, sslither.
The black snake crawled through the rain.
It moved in the direction the False Shaman had come, as if returning to where it belonged.
“Uuh, uuuaaa!”
The Youth Leader cried out in despair while casting a desperate look toward me.
What should be done about that snake?
Shouldn’t it be captured?
Or please, couldn’t I do something about it!
His eyes conveyed such desperate pleas.
But I remained still, merely watching the snake disappear into the distance.
‘Don’t touch it.’
A snake that spreads calamity.
If I carelessly provoked it, everyone gathered here would die.
Sssslither.
The black snake vanished through the muddy water.
And from afar, the man who had promised to bring the Doctor returned on a four-wheeler ATV.
But it was already too late.
Far too late.
Thud.
The False Shaman collapsed to his knees.
Viscous mucus and crimson blood flowing from his gaping mouth mingled with the rainwater on the ground.
Witnessing this, Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth softly.
“Yeo-si-a-mun il-si bul jae-sa-wi-guk gi-su-geup-go-dok-won.”
Splash, splash, splash.
The Doctor rushed toward the False Shaman, who was already dead.
“Yeo-dae-bi-gu-seung cheon-i-baek-o-sip-in-gu gae-si dae-a-ra-han jung-so-ji-sik jang-ro sa-ri-bul ma-ha-mok-geon-ryeon.”
As the Doctor hurriedly examined the False Shaman, Kang Hyung-seok’s low chanting continued.
***
A person had died.
Again, right before my eyes.
Naturally, the Police Officer came, and statements were taken from all witnesses, though not at the Police Station or a substation.
Whether because most of the witnesses were elderly or because there were simply too many, the proceedings took place at the Village Community Center.
“No, I saw it clear as day with my own two eyes! A Snake!”
The Youth Leader shouted vehemently, but the Young Man Police Officer’s expression suggested he wasn’t listening intently.
“Yes, yes.”
“Hey, you bastard! Don’t you listen to me anymore!”
“Sir, why are you cursing like that?”
A Rural Village that should have been peaceful.
Everyone knew each other through one degree of separation, neighbors all.
Perhaps for that reason, the Police Officer’s gaze before departing was troubled.
“Sigh, tsk.”
The Police Officer passed by Kang Hyung-seok as if he were the perpetrator rather than a witness.
Resentment?
Or contempt for believing in superstition?
Either way, that gaze made my heavy heart all the more troubled.
“Once everything is done, head home. Be careful going in, and Kim, be careful not to slip. You were badly injured last time.”
“Understood, understood.”
Once the Police Officers had all withdrawn, the others began rising one by one.
Then they sent silent glances toward Kang Hyung-seok.
The difference in emotion and warmth in those glances likely stemmed from whether they believed in Shamanism or not.
“We’re counting on you.”
An Elderly Woman, whose scalp showed between strands of white hair despite a vigorous perm, bowed her hands in prayer toward Kang Hyung-seok.
When Kang Hyung-seok answered with a slight bow, the Elderly Woman sniffled and left the Village Community Center.
They disappeared one by one, and aside from Kang Hyung-seok and Kim Jae-sik, two more remained.
“You should rest too, Leader.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
Beside the Youth Leader, who answered as if his soul had half-departed, sat a young woman.
Her face was expressionless, her eyes deep and penetrating, her hair neatly tied back.
“We should… go. We should go.”
The Youth Leader stood, then suddenly remembered something and turned his gaze toward the woman sitting beside him.
“Lee Nak-yul, make sure you take good care of these gentlemen. When it’s time for meals, prepare food for them inside.”
“Yes.”
The woman called Lee Nak-yul nodded in response, and the Youth Leader approached Kim Jae-sik and Kang Hyung-seok.
“She’ll be attending to your needs.”
“Ah, no, that’s not necessary….”
In this day and age.
Kim Jae-sik, uncomfortable, shifted his weight, but the Youth Leader’s eyes showed he didn’t understand the hesitation.
“She prepares meals for the children at school. She’s quite skilled.”
“No, but…. Is there no one else? Or perhaps you could just show us where the cooking utensils are….”
“No. Just let her take care of you, and do what you can.”
Before another person dies….
The sincerity embedded deep within the Youth Leader’s words was enough to silence Kim Jae-sik’s lips.
“…Why does it rain so much.”
The Youth Leader gazed out the innocent window and left his seat.
“Sigh!”
Kim Jae-sik, who let out a heavy sigh in the now-silent Village Community Center, sent an apologetic look toward Lee Nak-yul.
“It’s fine.”
Lee Nak-yul, speaking indifferently, stood from her seat.
Right after, Kang Hyung-seok also stood.
“Let me help.”
The gazes of Kim Jae-sik and Lee Nak-yul concentrated on him.
“If you prepare alone, it will be difficult. Let’s finish quickly together, then you can rest inside.”
After all, with the Youth Leader’s request, there was no way to leave even if I wanted to.
So I thought it was right to lend a hand and send her back as quickly as possible, but Lee Nak-yul looked at Kang Hyung-seok as if surprised.
“Will it be uncomfortable for you?”
“No.”
“I can handle a knife reasonably well.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke with a smile, and Lee Nak-yul laughed heartily before heading toward the inner area where the sink was located.
“Should I help too?”
Kim Jae-sik stood awkwardly, but Kang Hyung-seok immediately asked him to sit back down.
“I’m better at this than you are, Professor.”
“I can do a little.”
“I’ve never seen you cook anything other than instant noodles.”
“No, I make soup well and cook rice well too.”
“You mean heating it in the microwave, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Just have a seat, Professor.”
Kim Jae-sik awkwardly settled down, and I headed toward where Lee Nak-yul was.
Lee Nak-yul had already begun pulling ingredients from the refrigerator.
Kimchi, ham, anchovies, and bean sprouts.
Rice in a plastic bottle.
“Are you planning to make budae jjigae?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll prepare the ingredients.”
Lee Nak-yul gave me a questioning look, but I’m actually quite skilled with a knife.
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.
While Lee Nak-yul rinsed the rice, I sliced the kimchi, added the prepared ingredients to the pot, and poured in the rice water.
Then I tossed in the dried anchovies with their innards removed.
“Will this work?”
“…Yes.”
Lee Nak-yul answered, realizing there wasn’t much left to do, and I turned up the heat on the gas range before washing my hands at the sink.
Whoooosh.
Even as I did, the loud patter of rain continued to seep through the tightly closed window.
‘When exactly will this rain stop?’
Could I resolve everything before it did?
Lost in thought, I found myself staring blankly out the window.
“Where are you from?”
“Pardon?”
“Your hometown.”
I lifted the corners of my mouth while Lee Nak-yul watched intently.
“I live in Gyeonggi Province.”
“I see.”
“Yes.”
Lee Nak-yul thrust her hands into her pockets and leaned her back against the sink.
Some people reveal their entire life story simply through their presence.
Lee Nak-yul was precisely that kind of person.
A face worn down by life beyond her years.
Weary features.
Eyes that seemed all the deeper for it.
Somehow, it seemed as though Lee Nak-yul had spent no small portion of her life in days like this one.
“I’m saying this because you don’t seem like a bad person.”
“Pardon?”
Lee Nak-yul’s eyes, which had been staring blankly at the floor, turned toward me.
“Leave this village before the holiday ends.”
“…What do you mean?”
“That’s the only way you’ll survive.”
Whoooooosh.
The sound of rain filled the air.
No other sounds could be heard.
Lee Nak-yul watched Kang Hyung-seok in silence, saying nothing.

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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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