An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 194

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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 193
Part 4. I Will Carry On Your Will (3)
In that moment, time seemed to stand still.
Shin Yoseph’s eyes widened as he heard the name flowing from Oh Kyung-joo’s lips.
It was the moment Oh Kyung-joo had waited for across fifteen years—a miracle where past and present converged.
Upon hearing the demon’s name, Shin Yoseph’s gaze shifted, transformed, as he looked upon Oh Ju-young.
“Now I know your name.”
Speaking in a low voice, he raised the crucifix higher and revealed the demon’s name.
“Ose! In the name of the Lord, I command you! Come out from there!”
Shin Yoseph cried out loudly, striding forward with wide steps, and pressed his palm against Oh Ju-young’s forehead.
“I have seen Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”
Grrrrrowwwl.
The demon, borrowing Oh Ju-young’s voice, snarled.
The emotion contained within was rage and hatred.
And resentment born from failure.
It was the death cry of the vanquished.
“Behold! I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing shall harm you now!”
The most crucial element in an exorcism is discovering the demon’s name.
Names hold power.
And the exorcist priest speaks in the bishop’s name.
The bishop is the Lord’s shepherd, so the words of the exorcist priest Shin Yoseph possessed the strength to drive out demons like serpents that prey upon the flock’s heels.
“Come out from there! Ose!”
The power of his words pierced through the demon.
Grrrrrowwwl.
A leopard’s cry echoed loudly through the Sealed Room.
Shin Yoseph traced the sign of the cross and fixed his gaze directly upon the demon’s eyes.
“Through the Immaculate Virgin Mary, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, I command you in the name of Almighty God.”
Grrrrrowwwl.
“All evil spirits that torment me, depart at once. Leave me completely and be bound by the chains of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, our guardian angels.”
Grrrowwl.
The demon shrieked again, its eyes bulging.
Yet its force was not as before.
Shin Yoseph pressed his palm more forcefully against Oh Ju-young’s forehead and continued his prayer.
“Be trampled beneath the heel of the Immaculate and Most Holy Virgin.”
Grrrowl.
A small, fading sound from the throat.
Sensing the demon’s presence rapidly weakening, Shin Yoseph recited the final verse of his prayer.
“Fall into the eternal fires of Hell. Ose.”
It happened immediately after.
Oh Ju-young’s contorted lips went slack.
And she collapsed forward helplessly, Shin Yoseph catching her body.
Her warmth seeped through his arms.
Evidence of life.
Breath, breath.
The sound of breathing against his ear.
That alone brought relief washing over Shin Yoseph like waves.
A soft click.
Shin Yoseph released his hands from the cross and embraced the unconscious Oh Ju-young.
“…You’ve endured so much. Truly, truly so much.”
Just as Father Leo had done in this Sealed Room fifteen years ago, Shin Yoseph whispered deeply felt emotions to Oh Ju-young, who had been a Demon.
What if Father Leo had been here?
What would he have said?
Thinking such thoughts, Shin Yoseph held Oh Ju-young tightly.
***
Wee-woo, wee-woo, wee-woo, wee-woo.
The ambulance siren approached, illuminating the darkness.
Red and blue lights alternated rapidly across Shin Yoseph’s face as he sat in front of the Retreat Center Building.
Bang!
The ambulance doors flew open, and paramedics rushed out, loading Oh Ju-young onto a stretcher.
“Is, is she alright? She is alright, isn’t she!”
The Pastor, who had been praying in front of the Retreat Venue until now, asked urgently, and the paramedic’s dry voice came back.
“Transport comes first.”
“Ah, yes.”
The Pastor’s expression was grave.
Because of this, the paramedic examined Oh Ju-young on the stretcher briefly before speaking in a reassuring tone.
“Don’t worry too much.”
There wasn’t a single wound on her body.
Everything had been the Demon’s lies and illusions.
“…Ugh. Mmm.”
Just before being loaded into the vehicle, a moan escaped Oh Ju-young’s lips.
Though she remained unconscious, this became hope that comforted the Pastor’s heart.
“Thank you. Thank you, Lord.”
Watching the Pastor pray with his head bowed, Shin Yoseph lit a cigarette.
He flicked his lighter, watched the Youth Leader climb into the ambulance with Oh Ju-young, then inhaled from the filter.
“What’s with that look?”
When Kang Hyung-seok sat beside him, Shin Yoseph let out a short laugh.
“I thought you’d be gone a while longer, but you’re back already?”
“I was busy.”
“I figured.”
Shin Yoseph took another drag from his cigarette with a subdued expression, then rested his wrist on his knee.
“I heard it.”
“Heard what?”
Shin Yoseph answered Kang Hyung-seok’s question with a composure he had never displayed before.
“The voice of a soul.”
“I see…?”
“It told me. The demon’s name.”
He knew it too.
Kang Hyung-seok had been doing something beyond his line of sight.
That was how Oh Kyung-joo had been able to tell him the demon’s name.
“It’s thanks to you. I mean it sincerely.”
Under normal circumstances, Kang Hyung-seok would have deflected with a sharp retort. But Shin Yoseph’s expression and gaze made it clear this was not the moment for that.
“I saw Father Leo.”
“…What?”
Shin Yoseph’s gaze turned toward Kang Hyung-seok, and he spoke while watching the departing ambulance.
“The one who performed an exorcism here fifteen years ago was your senior.”
“…I see.”
“It seems everything has come full circle and ended here.”
Shin Yoseph pressed his lips firmly together.
Then, with eyes burdened by countless thoughts, he watched the ambulance cutting through the darkness, and brought a cigarette to his lips.
“There was something I heard from Father Leo long ago.”
“What was it?”
“He had been to prison once.”
Oh Kyung-joo, now deceased.
That would be the reason.
The law does not recognize beings like Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph.
Exorcism or whatever else—when a death occurs, terrible punishment follows.
“I asked him if he regretted it.”
Shin Yoseph continued speaking, his voice taking on the quality of a soliloquy.
“He said his only regret was his own inadequacy.”
Kang Hyung-seok had witnessed that emotion too.
If I had been better, if I had done better, Oh Kyung-joo would not have died.
Father Leo’s heart, as he wept while clutching the corpse, held only that thought.
“Such a man passed away because of me.”
Shin Yoseph, revealing a past he had never disclosed before, let his gaze fall between his knees.
“I lived my entire life in guilt, but now I understand. The mindset with which my senior lived, and how I must live from now on.”
“Yoseph.”
“Walking into the flames—that is my life.”
It felt like the conviction of a martyr.
I could not say it was wrong.
‘So that was what my teacher meant.’
Punishment lingers in the heart.
And helping those who seek to escape that punishment is also my calling.
Lee Geum-kyung had told me this.
Now I could understand what it meant.
“Does your heart feel a bit lighter?”
Shin Yoseph smiled, drawing up his lips, and nodded.
“Yeah.”
Exhaustion lingered in his voice.
His eyes still held the weight of an unshaken past.
Yet Shin Yoseph answered with a tone and expression that had grown closer to serenity than before.
“That’s good.”
Kang Hyung-seok brushed off his clothes and stood.
Then he extended his hand to Shin Yoseph.
“Let’s go. We need to return.”
We are people living ordinary lives, so we must return to our respective workplaces.
“Should I give you tomorrow off?”
Shin Yoseph spoke as if he could do such a thing, and Kang Hyung-seok let out a soft laugh.
Then Shin Yoseph laughed along with him, grasped his hand, and rose to his feet.
He looked exactly like someone awakening from a long nightmare.
***
Creak.
A grilled pork belly specialty restaurant in an old dining district.
It was early morning, just after sunrise, so the restaurant was not yet open, but a man in priestly robes entered through the door.
“I was surprised you called ahead.”
“Father.”
Shin Yoseph, who had been sitting at a round table, rose from his seat.
The man who had entered the restaurant extended a weathered hand, and Shin Yoseph shook it lightly.
“What happened?”
It was Father Hilario.
Someone who had known Father Leo in the past.
Because of this, he could notice the changes from before.
“We performed an exorcism yesterday.”
Father Hilario sat down and looked at him with a stiffened face, and Shin Yoseph also sat, pressing his lips firmly together.
Then he spoke with a cautious tone.
“It was a matter connected to Father Leo in the past.”
“…I see.”
“The exorcism was successful.”
Father Hilario’s eyes narrowed.
An exorcism is not something to be performed carelessly.
One must first confirm that the possessed person is genuine, and only after careful deliberation can official approval be granted.
Although Father Hilario had performed an exorcism without following proper procedure, he could not rebuke Shin Yoseph for it.
“I believe you would not have acted so rashly.”
Shin Yoseph was not a man given to hasty decisions.
“…Thank you.”
“The person must have needed help, so you extended your hand willingly.”
Shin Yoseph conveyed his gratitude through his eyes to Father Hilario, who understood him.
“If I must face discipline for this, I will accept it gladly.”
“Who would hold you accountable?”
Shin Yoseph laughed bitterly, and Father Hilario smiled warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“You mentioned Ignatius and something related to Father Leo, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why your expression has become more at ease than before?”
Shin Yoseph nodded slowly with a smile that barely lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Yes, that is so.”
“I am glad.”
“…It simply brought many thoughts to mind.”
Father Hilario posed his question with only his eyes, and Shin Yoseph fell silent for a moment before speaking.
“I wondered what Father Leo would have said if he had been here beside me. That is what I thought.”
“What do you think he would have said?”
Shin Yoseph’s gaze shifted to the seat beside Father Hilario.
Its meaning was unmistakable.
Long ago, when Father Leo was alive, the three of them always sat in the same places at this restaurant.
The place Shin Yoseph was looking at was Father Leo’s seat.
“I think he would have said, ‘You have done well.'”
“He surely would have.”
“It is strange, is it not? We have not yet found the one who did this to my senior, and yet my heart has found some measure of peace.”
Father Hilario laughed bitterly, while Shin Yoseph smiled with a gentler expression.
Yet his eyes still bore the mark of sorrow.
“Now I intend to live for more people.”
“Ignatius.”
“The Lord surely would have spoken thus as well.”
There are those who need God’s protection.
There are many such people.
Those who suffer at the hands of demons, those who groan in agony.
There are far too many in this world whom human strength alone cannot aid.
“I will bear Father Leo’s burden as well.”
Though his voice was quiet, Shin Yoseph spoke as though making a declaration, and Father Hilario found himself unable to say anything.
“Now I think I shall rise.”
“Yes.”
Shin Yoseph stood from his seat first.
It was time to head back to the Company; there was no way around it.
“Whenever you need someone to talk to, please reach out.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Shin Yoseph bowed respectfully to him before leaving the Restaurant.
Left alone, Father Hilario drew a deep, expansive breath that filled his chest.
Then, gazing at the spot where Shin Yoseph had vanished, he spoke quietly.
“May the Lord’s glory accompany your path ahead.”
It was a blessing offered to Shin Yoseph, who had finally, after long wandering and prolonged suffering, managed to lighten the burden upon his heart.

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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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