An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 18

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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 18
Part 6. The Charlatan Shaman Will Fear the Young Master (3)
“Turn left in 500 meters. Then turn right 200 meters ahead.”
Throughout the drive to the Shamanic Temple, Kang Hyung-seok said nothing.
Instead, his face clouded with thought as he kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
‘Damn it, what the hell was that bastard thinking?’
The more I thought about it, the hotter my forehead burned with rising anger.
A shaman’s duty is to protect people.
A shaman’s duty is to console the wronged spirits.
And yet that shaman used ghosts to push people into danger?
It was no different from those who received large sums of money to curse others or commit heinous acts to fill the void of lost shoes.
‘Just claim ignorance.’
Better to say he didn’t know and used such a talisman unknowingly.
Otherwise, I felt like I’d lay hands on that shaman bastard.
“Hey… lighten up a bit.”
Shin Jung-ah, reading the atmosphere, spoke with uncharacteristic caution, and Kang Hyung-seok merely nodded with his lips pressed firmly together.
“Turn right shortly. We’re approaching the destination.”
The heavy silence hung thick in the air.
The navigation announced we were nearing our destination.
Kang Hyung-seok leaned forward, peering ahead with eyes that questioned whether this was the right place.
“This is an Officetel, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. Why?”
Kang Hyung-seok answered with a subtle expression.
“No, it’s nothing.”
It could be called prejudice.
Tarot cards seemed more fitting for an Officetel than a Shamanic Temple.
‘Not an old Shamanic Temple, then.’
This made it obvious without even looking.
This shaman wasn’t the type to have a firmly established position like Lee Geum-kyung.
Shamans with strong reputations are never abandoned by the powerful and wealthy. That’s why when they establish temples, they often do so in areas where prices reach astronomical figures.
If Lee Geum-kyung had been greedy for money, she could have established several palatial Shamanic Temples in places like Cheongdam-dong.
Rumble, click.
After parking in the Underground Parking Lot of the Officetel, Kang Hyung-seok waited for the elevator with Shin Jung-ah.
Meanwhile, Shin Jung-ah continued making calls on her phone.
“No answer. Looks like she’s with a client.”
“Let’s go up anyway.”
Kang Hyung-seok stepped into the elevator with thoughtful eyes.
The bag containing the Shaman’s Bell was tucked at his side, and his casual attire gave him the impression of a private academy instructor.
So much so that a high school student who boarded on the first floor glanced at Kang Hyung-seok, wondering if he was a new teacher.
Ding.
However, Kang Hyung-seok got off not at the third floor where the academy was located, but at the fourth floor where the Shamanic Temple stood.
With long talismans and flags plastered on the door, it was unmistakably a shamanic establishment.
“Why don’t you call him out, Manager?”
“Me?”
Shin Jung-ah questioned with a look of incomprehension, but Kang Hyung-seok calmly explained his reasoning.
“No matter how I think about it, it seems he was trying to make you anxious. So it would be better if you called him out yourself.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Shin Jung-ah nodded with a face that didn’t fully grasp the meaning.
Avoiding the peephole in the entrance door, Kang Hyung-seok stepped aside as Shin Jung-ah raised her clenched fist.
Knock, knock.
Getting no answer, Shin Jung-ah pressed the doorbell, and soon she was even pounding on the door with her fist.
Excellent work, Manager Shin!
“Open the door! Shaman! Please open the door! It’s me, Shin Jung-ah!”
She threw a tantrum without being asked—impressive.
Beep! Screeeech.
Finally the door opened, and a young man in cotton clothing with only a shaman’s robe draped over it appeared.
“What’s all this commotion! Where do you think you are!”
I’d assumed the shaman was female, but he was male.
Kang Hyung-seok immediately revealed himself to Park Su, who was shouting.
He’d been hiding his body.
His gaze was not kind.
And when Park Su was startled by the hand extended toward him,
Thud!
Kang Hyung-seok seized his shoulder and shoved him inside.
It was right after Shin Jung-ah, who had followed him in, quickly shut the door.
“What, what is this? How dare you, whoever you are!”
“You wrote the talismans, didn’t you?”
He cut straight to the point, throwing out only the essence.
Yet Park Su’s shoulder flinched, as if he’d grasped the context.
Watching him twist his mouth into a smile afterward, I could see what he was thinking.
“It seems you’ve been having trouble because of ghosts. Didn’t I tell you? If talismans don’t work, you need to perform a ritual.”
That’s when it happened.
Two forms became visible to Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes.
One was an elderly man in the room with the altar, bewildered and at a loss, and the other was a child fleeing in panic.
The old man was human.
But the child was not.
“There is someone who arrived first. I will listen to everything, so sit and wait.”
Park Su tried to brush away the hand gripping his shoulder, but Kang Hyung-seok only applied more pressure. As he pressed Park Su down, he turned his head toward the bewildered old man.
It was visible to him as well.
The circumstances of one who would seek help even from such a charlatan shaman.
The charlatan shaman’s nonsense had squeezed out circumstances that didn’t exist.
After observing the Old Man for a while, I felt my mouth opening.
“Your daughter’s surgery will go well.”
The Old Man’s eyes widened greatly, and Park Su looked flustered, glancing back and forth between Shin Jung-ah and me.
Before them, I continued speaking calmly.
“You must have suffered greatly. You thought yourself a father who couldn’t provide fine clothes or good food. Yet you never once apologized—instead, you only reproached her. You even said that raising a daughter was pointless, that she was useless once married off.”
Like a shaman reading fortunes, I gazed into the Old Man’s past and present.
That was why I emanated an overwhelming presence.
But the Old Man’s stillness—standing like a stone monument awaiting his beloved’s return—came from more than just atmosphere.
“So you believed your daughter’s grave illness was your own fault, didn’t you? No, you need not think that way. The guilt you’ve carried your whole life, the tears you’ve shed alone, the self-reproach—all of it has reached heaven.”
Now Park Su seemed unable even to think of releasing his grip.
Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, the Old Man stared at me as I comforted him, his mouth slightly agape.
“Those tears have served as your offering. Your daughter’s surgery will succeed, and once she regains her strength, visit the National Cemetery. You must go with your daughter.”
The Old Man gazed at me as though he had received the counsel of a lifetime.
His lips trembling, breathing heavily, he twisted his mouth and let out a sound—a choked sob.
It didn’t take long before tears gathered and fell from the corners of his deeply wrinkled eyes.
“A-are you a priest?”
“No. I am not such a person.”
“Th-then how…?”
“I am simply someone who walks the path that the Divine Guide shows me.”
Park Su, whom I held, looked up at me in great surprise, and Shin Jung-ah’s expression became subtle.
To Shin Jung-ah’s eye, I appeared to be something far superior to any ordinary shaman.
“There are words that must be conveyed to humans, not spirits. The words in your heart right now—you must tell them to your daughter. She will understand and accept everything.”
The Old Man nodded, his face trembling as he held back his sobs.
Then he bowed deeply to me.
“Thank you. Thank you.”
“Go now.”
“Th-the payment…?”
“Use it for taxi fare.”
The Old Man, his face still bearing the shock of it all, nodded vigorously.
His mind was already filled with the thought that he must go see his hospitalized daughter immediately.
Once the Old Man left, offering repeated thanks, only I, Shin Jung-ah, and Park Su remained in the Shamanic Temple.
It was right after this.
Thud!
I slammed Park Su against the wall.
But unlike before, Park Su neither shouted nor cast an arrogant gaze.
Though I had declared myself not a practitioner of shamanism, he had recognized that I was someone of a different caliber.
“W-who are you?”
“Why? Didn’t your familiar spirit tell you?”
Park Su’s mouth fell open wide before he hung his head low.
“Your spirit fled long ago. No, it was never a proper spirit to begin with.”
The moment I entered the Shamanic Temple, I witnessed a Child Spirit fleeing.
What had run away upon seeing Kang Hyung-seok’s body-protecting spirit was a false spirit.
When the descent of spirits goes wrong, false spirits can enter instead.
Could such a Park Su truly be called a legitimate shaman?
No!
At best, he was a charlatan shaman.
From what Kang Hyung-seok could discern, this Park Su was a charlatan shaman possessed by a false spirit.
“With shallow tricks, you might have glimpsed the past. But that was the extent of it, wasn’t it?”
Divine divination is about conveying the words of spirits—something a charlatan shaman cannot do.
Park Su’s face flushed with shame.
Yet he could not muster a word in response, desperately avoiding Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze.
“Speak for yourself. Why did you use such a talisman?”
Kang Hyung-seok released Park Su with a dismissive gesture.
But Park Su still could not open his mouth, his eyes fleeing from Shin Jung-ah’s stare.
“Speak!”
Finally unable to contain himself, Kang Hyung-seok roared, and Park Su clenched his teeth with a groan.
Crack!
This time, Kang Hyung-seok seized Park Su’s collar completely, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper.
“Should I make sure you never practice shamanism again?”
Only then did Park Su’s eyes widen, his trembling face lowered in submission.
While Kang Hyung-seok’s words held no concrete basis, they seemed entirely plausible coming from him.
After all, the false spirit that had barely enabled Park Su to practice shamanism had fled the moment it saw Kang Hyung-seok.
With eyes squeezed shut, Park Su trembled violently, his gaze finally meeting Shin Jung-ah’s.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
His tone was that of an ordinary person, not someone mimicking a shaman.
He continued, confessing words he found difficult to utter.
“I don’t know what you experienced, but that talisman wasn’t meant to drive away spirits. It was…”
Shin Jung-ah posed a silent question to Kang Hyung-seok with her eyes alone.
May I press him further?
Kang Hyung-seok answered with a wordless nod.
Do as you wish.
With permission granted, Shin Jung-ah crossed her arms and fixed him with a piercing stare.
“Tell me straight. What kind of talisman was it?”
“A talisman that opens the passage through which spirits travel… It summons spirits.”
“…Why?”
Shin Jung-ah asked again, barely restraining her temper, and Park Su moistened his parched lips before speaking.
“To… to perform a ritual…”
“A ritual?”
“I-I wasn’t planning to charge much! I was going to remove the talisman during the ritual. And I didn’t even know if that talisman would work! I truly acted without knowing what I was doing!”
“You crazy bastard!”
Kang Hyung-seok clenched his fists at the shameless excuse.
He felt like he’d regret it forever if he didn’t throw a punch at this guy right now.
Just as he was about to strike Park Su across the face—
“Hey, you son of a bitch!”
Shin Jung-ah suddenly lunged forward.
Crack!
Shin Jung-ah’s shin connected with the side of Park Su’s thigh.
It all happened too fast to stop.
“Aaaaagh!”
Park Su clutched his thigh and tried to collapse, but Shin Jung-ah pivoted and drove her foot into his chest.
Thud!
With his head hitting the ground, Park Su looked up at her with eyes mixing fear and bewilderment.
Then Shin Jung-ah, her composure completely shattered, began slapping his cheeks repeatedly.
Crack! Smack! Crack!
It wasn’t easy to produce sounds like that when hitting someone.
Even with combat training, only those who’d trained deliberately could manage it.
Crack! Crack! Smack!
“Ugh! Gack! Hack!”
“Damn it! Because of me! That! Because of that!”
With each punch landing, Park Su’s expression shifted—first shock, then disbelief, then sheer horror.
Fearing Park Su would become a Victim Spirit at this rate, Kang Hyung-seok hastily grabbed Shin Jung-ah.
“Stop! What are you doing right now?”
“Let go! Won’t you? I’m gonna kill this bastard today and go to hell! Because of you! Ghosts! Ghosts, damn it, one after another—!”
Shin Jung-ah lifted one foot as if to kick again, then set it down.
If she’d been wearing shoes, she probably would have thrown them.
“Please! Just stop! Please!”
“Argh!”
Even if Kang Hyung-seok had beaten Park Su, could he have gone this far?
Shin Jung-ah’s fury was so intense it was terrifying.
Kang Hyung-seok quickly signaled Park Su with his eyes.
The message was clear: if he didn’t want a funeral today, he’d better prostrate himself and beg.
Click!
Understanding the signal, Park Su immediately threw himself flat on the ground.

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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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