An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 190
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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 189
Part 3. This Is What Lee Geum-kyung Meant (2)
Splash, splash.
“Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.”
The Youth Group Members, leading the children through what was supposed to be a courage-building experience but was anything but, sang a hymn.
The path was merely dark—an ordinary mountain road—and with so many people present, adults included, fear had no purchase in their hearts.
With the hymn sung in unison, there was no room for terror to take root.
So they felt reassured, complacent.
And so,
Something loomed.
Even as the anomaly unfolded, no one paid it careful attention.
“Glory, glory to the King of Kings….”
A female Youth Group Member walking at the very back, following along with the hymn, felt something amiss and turned her head.
The friend who had been following behind until just moments ago had stopped walking and now stood far back.
“Ju-young?”
The girl who called out to Oh Ju-young thought something was wrong and adjusted her lantern grip.
She walked slowly toward her, and the cheap lantern’s orange-tinted light illuminated Oh Ju-young’s feet, knees, and chest in succession across the dirt ground.
Only when the light reached her face did she see.
“…Ju-young?”
Slack facial muscles.
Shoulders and arms drooping like a puppet with severed strings.
Her knees were slightly bent, but the most disturbing thing was Oh Ju-young’s pupils.
There was no white of her eyes.
Abnormally dilated pupils filled her entire eye sockets.
“What?”
One of the Youth Group Members turned around, the lantern’s light wavering anxiously toward Oh Ju-young, and the children too stopped singing and watched her.
It happened immediately after.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
Oh Ju-young suddenly lunged forward with both arms extended.
A piercing scream tore through the darkness.
A piercing scream tore through the Mountain.
***
Fluttering wings beat the air in rapid succession.
Birds took flight, their exodus casting an ominous shadow.
Kang Hyung-seok, seated in the passenger seat, immediately threw open the door, and Shin Yoseph moved with equal urgency, bolting from the vehicle.
Both men’s gazes fixed upon the same direction.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes.”
The source of the scream.
Where the children had gone for their courage trial.
“Damn it. Damn it.”
Shin Yoseph clenched his teeth and pulled out his phone.
In that same moment, Kang Hyung-seok witnessed the profound terror etched into Shin Yoseph’s features.
For some reason, I sensed that the source of this fear was not solely rooted in demonic activity.
Beep, beep, beep.
As Shin Yoseph struggled to manipulate his trembling fingers across the screen, an incoming call suddenly redirected the display.
Click.
“Yes, Nun.”
The urgency in the voice that came through was terrifying, causing Shin Yoseph’s expression to harden further.
Kang Hyung-seok, observing from beside him, felt his eyes narrow.
Whenever matters involved demons, Shin Yoseph always trembled with fear and tension.
Yet this moment felt far more severe than usual.
“…I understand.”
Shin Yoseph spoke as though exhaling a sigh, his body quivering faintly as he forced himself to ask further.
“Who is the possessed one? Surely not a child?”
Kang Hyung-seok understood what terrified Shin Yoseph.
Recalling Shin Yoseph’s smile offered to the children at the Orphanage, I felt my own heart constrict involuntarily.
“It’s the Youth Group. …I understand for now.”
Shin Yoseph ended the call.
His shoulders sagged, and the atmosphere became too heavy for Kang Hyung-seok to breach with words.
Who could possibly speak?
To say it was a mercy that it wasn’t a child?
“Shin Yoseph.”
Kang Hyung-seok placed a hand upon his shoulder and spoke, causing Shin Yoseph to flinch.
Then he turned his gaze toward Kang Hyung-seok.
“What.”
“Gather yourself.”
“I know.”
Though I had not yet confirmed it with my own eyes, someone had undoubtedly become afflicted.
Only we could help them.
“Can you do it?”
“Then who will?”
What a relief.
I truly meant it.
Shin Yoseph, who had been drowning in fear, now wore an expression of steely determination—fear crushed beneath the weight of resolve.
“Let’s gather our things first. If you have anything to prepare, do it quickly.”
I nodded heavily and began pulling bags and Shin Yoseph’s belongings from the car.
It was then.
In the distance, lantern light flickered frantically.
“Ju-young! Ju-young!”
Youth Group Students came rushing toward us, supporting a woman between them.
“Pastor! Pastor!”
“Ju-young, snap out of it. Ju-young!”
Slap! Slap!
The female student striking Oh Ju-young’s cheek was covered in blood.
She had been attacked and was bleeding, yet she remained focused on Oh Ju-young’s condition. The male students gripping her arms and legs breathed in panicked gasps, their faces etched with terror.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
“Mom, mooooom!”
The cries of the Boys Group Members mingled with the chaos, as if a battlefield had erupted.
As the atmosphere grew too frenzied to maintain composure, the Pastor burst from the Retreat Venue.
“W-what’s happening! What’s going on!”
He had already received word.
But knowing something in your mind and witnessing it with your own eyes are entirely different matters.
“Good heavens, what is this…?”
The Pastor gasped upon seeing Oh Ju-young, and the Youth Group Members, drenched in sweat and tears like the younger children, rushed to speak.
“Ju-young. Something’s wrong with Ju-young.”
“Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?”
“You said it would be fine!”
One of the Youth Group Members cried out in a voice heavy as a seizure, and the words crashed down upon the Pastor’s heart, crushing it.
“I… uh…”
“You said it yourself! That it would be fine! That it was all just rumors!”
“No. I… I wasn’t certain, so…”
The Pastor’s face drained of all color, turning a sickly blue as he struggled to swallow.
“…Let’s bring her inside first. Get Ju-young inside, and the Deacons, where are the Deacons?”
“They’re coming behind with the children!”
“I’ll contact the bus driver, so let’s prepare to send the Boys Group Members home first.”
“Should I gather the luggage?”
“Yes. Calm the children first, and contact the Deacons!”
It was then.
“Pastor!”
An urgent, sharp female voice rushed toward me like an assault.
It was the Deaconess who had been with the children.
Of all people, she was the first to come running.
What on earth had happened now?
The Pastor’s pupils trembled violently at the thought.
“Right now, I’ve already contacted someone who can help us?”
“What, what is it?”
“Get Ju-young inside first! We can talk later!”
The Pastor’s eyes pleaded for an explanation, but the Deaconess pushed him back as if there was no time for that.
It was only after the Youth Group Students had taken Oh Ju-young into the Building that she spoke.
“May the mercy of the Lord swiftly descend upon us, and I beseech You to convey our prayers to the throne of the Most High.”
Not far away.
There, Shin Yoseph, now dressed in priestly vestments, stood with a silver cross clutched in his hand, finishing his prayer.
“Bind the dragon and the ancient serpent—nothing but demons and Satan—in chains and cast them into the abyss, that Your people may be tempted no longer.”
Amen.
With his prayer complete, Shin Yoseph opened his eyes quietly and gazed upon the Building.
“Let’s go.”
At Kang Hyung-seok’s words, Shin Yoseph moved forward.
Watching his receding back, I nodded silently.
There was no hesitation in his stride.
His body was filled with a resolve as unshakeable as his steadfast faith.
***
The door burst open!
Oh Ju-young was ushered into the empty room and laid upon a makeshift cot by the youth group members.
It was the Pastor’s personal folding bed, but this was hardly the time to quibble over such details.
“Uuugh! Uuuugh!”
As Oh Ju-young thrashed violently and unleashed a deep, masculine voice, everyone froze in unison.
Her hair lay disheveled and wild.
Her eyes were wide and gleaming with an unsettling sheen.
This was not the Oh Ju-young they knew.
It felt as though something had donned her skin like a garment.
There had been rumors of a student possessed by a demon.
That rumor had materialized before their eyes, and the horrifying realization that it was someone they knew sent chills down their spines.
“…Who were you referring to just now?”
At the Pastor’s question, the Deaconess swallowed hard.
Yet she could not bring herself to speak.
“Who did you call for? Surely not a Shaman? Deaconess?”
“No, no.”
The Pastor’s features twisted with anxiety as he rubbed his face and spoke with difficulty.
“If you’ve summoned strange people, that would be absolutely unacceptable. So please, tell me. Who exactly did you call for?”
“…It’s just…”
“Or should we call an ambulance first! Deaconess, how could you trust people who can’t even speak properly!”
The Deaconess’s face hardened with bewilderment.
Footsteps echoed—quick and deliberate.
The sound drew closer to them.
The Pastor, the Deaconess, and the Youth Group members turned their gazes toward the approaching figure, their expressions stiffening at the sight of Shin Yoseph’s attire.
It was a Catholic priest’s cassock.
“…Deaconess?”
“They’re trustworthy people. The former Pastor had connections with them as well.”
“No, no, how could you…”
As the Pastor’s face registered betrayal, Shin Yoseph stepped past the Deaconess and stood before Oh Ju-young.
“Come out.”
When Shin Yoseph spoke in that low tone, his voice carried profound resonance and power.
The Youth Group members held fast to Oh Ju-young’s arms and legs, watching the Pastor’s expression before proceeding.
“Everyone out!”
The Deaconess’s voice shattered the suffocating tension that had settled over the room.
“Deaconess!”
“Just a moment, Pastor. Just a moment.”
The Deaconess clung to the Pastor with a desperate expression.
“What are we to do about Ju-young! She can’t return to the Church like this!”
“Sigh…”
The Pastor looked at the Deaconess, and her gaze turned toward Kang Hyung-seok.
My mind was spinning as if I were going mad.
And for the possessed woman, someone’s help was desperately needed.
“Right now, it doesn’t seem to matter what religion anyone belongs to.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke in a low voice, as if trying to calm the turbulent atmosphere.
“That…!”
The Pastor tried to say something, but the Deaconess immediately seized his wrist.
“Please consider that we have gathered here by divine guidance.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke again, and the Pastor’s face, clenched with frustration, trembled slightly.
Then, seeing Oh Ju-young’s complexion growing increasingly pale, he nodded with difficulty.
“Can you do it?”
“Yes.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke firmly, as if to end the meaningless conflict.
“…What should we do?”
The Pastor squeezed out his words, and Kang Hyung-seok pointed to one side of the corridor with a grateful expression.
“I ask for your prayers.”
“Hah!”
“And the rest of you as well.”
It was right after Kang Hyung-seok turned his gaze toward the Youth Group.
Shin Yoseph sent him a look of gratitude, and the Youth Group Members released their hands from Oh Ju-young’s arms and legs.
Thus, the preparations for the exorcism ritual began.
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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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