An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 172

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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 172
Part 4. It Saw Me (1)
Pop!
Lee Nak-yul’s umbrella snapped open with a sharp sound.
Behind her stood Kang Hyung-seok and Kim Jae-sik, carrying a bag filled with shamanic implements, and further back sat a small table bearing three empty rice bowls.
“Professor, I’ll see you out then.”
“Yes, yes, be careful out there.”
“Of course. Just to be safe, please keep the door locked!”
“Do I look like a child to you? Well then, Lee Nak-yul, thank you so much. The meal was truly delicious.”
Lee Nak-yul smiled silently at Kim Jae-sik.
Kim Jae-sik then handed the umbrella to Kang Hyung-seok and told him to take care.
Click.
The door closed.
Kang Hyung-seok and Lee Nak-yul each held an umbrella as they walked through the darkened rural village.
Whoosh, whoosh, patter-patter-patter!
The rain fell in thick sheets.
The umbrella trembled so violently it seemed as though countless Victim Spirits were knocking upon it.
“Seeing you off was manageable enough.”
In that atmosphere and darkness, Lee Nak-yul’s soft voice reached him through the sound of rain.
“No, it’s what troubles me.”
“What do you mean?”
“The thought of you returning alone doesn’t sit right with me….”
Kang Hyung-seok paused before speaking again.
“And what you said in the kitchen earlier.”
Leave this village before the holiday ends.
Only then will you survive.
Those were the words Lee Nak-yul had given to Kang Hyung-seok.
“I meant every word.”
“Are you a Shaman?”
It was then.
Lee Nak-yul’s head turned toward Kang Hyung-seok with unnatural speed.
“Pardon?”
“You don’t seem to have received a divine calling, but I wondered if perhaps you were a Hereditary Shaman.”
The atmosphere emanating from Lee Nak-yul was far from ordinary.
Her words carried profound meaning.
Kang Hyung-seok was in South Chungcheong Province, and with the sea nearby, traditional ceremonies might be held here.
It was Hereditary Shamans who presided over such rituals.
“What makes you think that?”
“It’s in your eyes.”
The fate of a Shaman is a sorrowful one.
Even if there was a path I wished to walk, I had to let it go.
Especially with the Hereditary Shaman Tradition, where the craft is passed down through generations—one could say dreams are stolen the moment of birth itself.
“Heh heh.”
Lee Nak-yul shook her head with a low chuckle.
“I heard you were a remarkable Shaman, but it seems there are things you don’t know after all.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
Lee Nak-yul’s eyes still appeared sorrowful, yet they curved upward with a smile.
“I only heard a little, from childhood, that I had spiritual sensitivity.”
“So that’s why you told me to leave.”
“Yes.”
Lee Nak-yul spoke with a bitter tone and offered a wry smile.
“I have a bad feeling about this. It’s as if the rain is swallowing this village whole—everything will be consumed.”
“That would be the end of this holiday period.”
“Probably.”
Lee Nak-yul’s expression appeared pained.
“So leave as soon as you can. While there’s still a chance. Tonight would be even better.”
“….”
What must that feel like.
If Lee Nak-yul’s words were true, she too could die.
Yet she tells others to leave, while showing no signs of departing herself.
“You have no intention of leaving together?”
“Where would I go?”
Lee Nak-yul spoke bitterly, then turned her body toward Kang Hyung-seok.
“I will venture inside from here.”
“Go carefully.”
“Thank you for seeing me off.”
Lee Nak-yul bowed deeply to Kang Hyung-seok and walked away with the sound of her footsteps clicking.
Kang Hyung-seok watched until she entered her house, then turned around.
‘She is no ordinary person.’
In some ways, her situation might be similar to Shin Jung-ah’s.
Not necessarily a Shamanic Practitioner’s fate, yet destined to live a life similar to one.
That could very well be Lee Nak-yul’s burden.
“Whew—!”
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled deeply and touched the backpack slung across his shoulders.
The sacred blade and Shaman’s Bell inside clinked with a metallic sound.
Then Kang Hyung-seok shifted his gaze toward a single direction.
It was not the Village Community Center where Kim Jae-sik waited.
‘The coastline.’
The boundary between sea and land.
And when night falls and darkness descends, that boundary crumbles.
That is why the coastline is dangerous in the dead of night.
Especially on a night like this, when torrential rain pours down relentlessly.
Squelch.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok pressed forward toward the coastline.
‘I must confirm it.’
What killed the cattle.
What is harming not just livestock, but human lives.
What is trying to swallow this village whole.
I need to see it with my own eyes.
***
Squelch, squelch.
The closer I drew to the coastline, the more the ground became waterlogged and treacherous.
The sand had become saturated with rainwater and seawater alike.
Pitter-patter-patter-patter-patter!
Kang Hyung-seok, sheltered beneath an umbrella that drummed ceaselessly under the downpour, made his way along the coastline.
As he walked, he gazed out at the sea, yet could discern no shoreline.
The boundary between sea and sand was equally indistinguishable.
With the weather in such a state, no fishing boats ventured out, and the sea lay completely submerged in darkness.
“Tae Sang Yul Hwang Cheon Ji A, Hwang Ji Jae A, Il Wol Jo A, Sung Sin Young A.”
Muttering a protective incantation beneath my breath, I withdrew my gaze from the sea.
Then, walking along the coastline, I pulled out my phone.
“Je Seon Geo A, Sa Myung Young A, Tae Eul Rim A, Og Sin Do A, Sam Gwan Bo A.”
The cattle in the livestock farm had fallen like dominoes.
Something had descended upon them, and they had been slaughtered by it.
“O Je U A, Buk Sin Sang A, Nam Geuk U A, Geum Dong Si A, Og Nyeo Bae A.”
What could it be?
“Yug Gap Jig A, Yug Jung Jin A, Cheon Mun Gae A, Ji Ho Tong Sa, San Taeg Yong A.”
Could I find it?
“Gang Ha Do A, Pung U Song A, Roe Jung Sun A, Pal Gwae Jun A, Gu Gung Dun A.”
That which harms both cattle and human alike….
“Eum Yang Jong A, O Haeng Bu A, Sa Si Sung A, A Myung Chag A, Tae Chung Hyun Seog.”
Could I face it?
Squelch.
The sand gave way softly beneath my feet, clinging to my shoes.
Kang Hyung-seok checked the map on his phone once more, then turned his bag to the front.
And he withdrew the Shaman’s Bell.
Jingle-jingle-jingle.
The moment he shook the Shaman’s Bell.
Flash!
Lightning struck the nearby sea, briefly illuminating the surroundings before vanishing into darkness.
Crack!
Thunder roared in its wake, shaking both body and air with savage fury.
Whoosh.
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell, surveying his surroundings.
The terrain glimpsed in that fleeting moment of lightning remained etched in my mind.
‘Where is it? Where did this originate?’
As I shook the Shaman’s Bell to search the coastline for the source of this calamity, another bolt of lightning struck.
Boom!
The delayed thunder made the umbrella tremble violently.
And my gaze fixed upon a single point.
‘A cave.’
A Natural Cave—one that nature had surely crafted with meticulous care over countless ages—stood not far from here.
Splash, splash, splash!
The cave lay above.
Breaking free from the sandy beach, I sprinted rapidly toward the rocky slope where the cave awaited.
Crack! Crack!
What did such savage thunder portend?
A warning?
Or divine command to hurry?
“Huff! Huff!”
Running any faster meant the rain assaulted my respiratory passages, making even breathing a struggle.
Yet I pressed onward toward the cave, finally arriving at its entrance.
Sacred rope cordoned off the cave’s mouth.
Crack!
The rope was so ancient it was nearly impossible to touch.
Hermit crabs crawled across the blackened, discolored rope, while the white cloth tied to it had faded to gray or vanished entirely in places.
I cast my gaze into the cave’s depths.
‘What is this? This place….’
Potent.
There was no other word for it.
Something dwelt within—something so thick and heavy that hesitation seized me before entering.
Gulp.
As I swallowed the rainwater that had entered my mouth along with my saliva, I moved to extend the Shaman’s Bell forward.
Mooooooo!
The anguished cries of cattle echoed from afar.
“Damn it!”
It had begun again.
Death at the Livestock Farm.
I turned toward the sound and began running desperately in that direction, yet my mind remained fixed upon the cave.
The most suspicious cave showed no response.
‘What is it? What exactly is the problem?’
This was maddening.
I couldn’t grasp what was entangled with this village, nor could I even begin to understand what was flaying the flesh from the people.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
A man in a yellow raincoat flinched in alarm as I crossed through the village.
“P-Park Su, sir? How did you come to be here…?”
The man was the Youth Leader.
“Never mind that—I just heard cattle lowing. Where is it?”
“Y-yes! P-please, follow me!”
The Youth Leader splashed through the rain in an awkward gait, his boots cumbersome, while I followed close behind, gripping the Shaman’s Bell tightly.
The livestock farm was in a different direction from the one I’d seen before.
I bounded up the stone steps as if flying, leaping over sections that had turned to mud in the downpour.
“Hah! Huff!”
The Youth Leader, who had fallen behind, gasped for breath and gestured urgently for me to go ahead.
I nodded and rushed toward the distant livestock farm.
Creak!
Mooooooooo!
If hell existed, it would be here.
The interior of the livestock farm was horrific enough to inspire such a thought.
“Uh… uhhhhh.”
The Cattle Shed Owner stood with vacant eyes, tears streaming down his face, while the collapsed cattle heaved their bellies with labored breaths.
Their eyes rolled back, their tongues extended grotesquely as if they’d been hanged.
Every single one—whether full-grown cattle or newborn calves—without exception.
They were dying.
“Ugh!”
I reflexively covered my mouth against the rising bile.
A putrid stench filled the air.
A fishy reek, distinct from the smell of decay.
The same fishy odor I’d detected in the livestock farm before.
“D-do something, anything, please.”
The Cattle Shed Owner’s hollow murmuring helped anchor me to my senses.
Clang clang clang clang!
I shook the Shaman’s Bell frantically and quickly drew the Ritual Blade.
The Shaman’s Bell alone wouldn’t suffice.
Whoosh!
Gripping the Shaman’s Bell and Ritual Blade in both hands, I began chanting the incantation rapidly.
“Namu Dongbang Cheongje Buin Dalseong Jewang Shin, Namu Nambang Jeokje Buin Dalseong Jewang Shin.”
Clang clang! Clang clang! Slash!
“Namu Seobang Baekje Buin Dalseong Jewang Shin, Namu Bukbang Heukje Buin Dalseong Jewang Shin.”
As the incantation flowed forth, the stench that had saturated the livestock farm grew progressively fainter.
“In the center of the tree, the Empress of Heaven, the Sovereign Spirit of Dalsong. In the east of the tree, the Azure Emperor, the Sovereign Spirit.”
The cattle’s breathing gradually eased, and the Youth Leader who had arrived late no longer gagged from the odor.
“In the south of the tree, the Crimson Emperor, the Sovereign Spirit. In the west of the tree, the White Emperor, the Sovereign Spirit.”
The dead cattle could not be saved.
But those that could be saved—I saved them.
“Uh, uh-uh! Uh!”
As the calf, which had been thought dead, stirred and moved, thick tears streamed from the Cattle Shed Owner’s eyes.
“Ahhh! Hhhhgh! Hgh!”
Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
The Cattle Shed Owner seemed to be thinking exactly that, yet Kang Hyung-seok bolted frantically from the livestock farm.
“Uh, where are you going!”
The Youth Leader hurried after Kang Hyung-seok and stood beside him.
Jing-jing-jing-jing.
Kang Hyung-seok continued shaking the Shaman’s Bell, surveying the surroundings.
Something had flown in and scattered a potent malevolence throughout this livestock farm.
Where was it?
Now, immediately after the incident, I could find it.
‘Reveal yourself.’
Come on, come on, come on, come on!
Jing-jing-jing-jing!
It was right after Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell with a forceful downward motion.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
With the sound of the sky tearing open, a thunderstorm swept in.
And Kang Hyung-seok, who possessed spiritual sight, saw it.
Crack-crack! Rumble! Rumble-rumble! Crack-crack!
Torrential rain.
Raging lightning.
Deep darkness.
A mountain overlooking the village.
Coiled atop that mountain, so massive it covered the peak entirely, was a serpent.
Crack-crack-crack-crack! Boom-boom-boom!
A colossal serpent, its form illuminated each time lightning struck, gazed down upon the livestock farm and Kang Hyung-seok.
Kang Hyung-seok murmured soundlessly, as if groaning, the name of the serpent’s true form.
It was an Imoogi.

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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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