An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 200

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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 199
Part 6. Three Hundred (3)
Rustle.
Shin Jung-ah began unwrapping the box she’d received via courier in front of Lee Geum-kyung.
It was Lee Geum-kyung’s Shrine.
The sun tilting westward was pouring down oppressive heat, and inside the shrine, Lee Geum-kyung and Chung-geum watched the box being methodically opened.
Flutter.
Shin Jung-ah pulled out a burial shroud and spread it across the floor.
Then, with a cautious demeanor, she gauged the reactions of Lee Geum-kyung and Chung-geum.
We’d been fortunate.
Had the timing been even slightly different, the fire would have prevented us from receiving this shroud.
An oppressive atmosphere so heavy that such words could scarcely be spoken weighed down the shrine.
“…Hmm.”
Lee Geum-kyung twisted her lips and picked up the shroud, bringing it close to her nose and drawing a deep breath.
With her concentration so intensely focused, Shin Jung-ah and Chung-geum could only exchange cautious glances.
Then it came.
“Remarkably meticulous and cunning.”
“…Is something wrong?”
“There’s a faint spiritual taint. That girl wasn’t wrong to say something felt suspicious.”
Lee Geum-kyung, speaking as if muttering to herself, set the shroud down on the floor with evident displeasure.
Then, with her lips pressed white, she glared at the shroud.
“Excuse me, Master.”
“Sigh…”
Lee Geum-kyung exhaled a long breath and looked at Chung-geum before speaking.
“Send word around. If anyone at the funeral discovers even the slightest spiritual taint on a shroud, have them swap it for another.”
“…Yes.”
Chung-geum left the room, and Lee Geum-kyung ground her teeth as if swallowing a curse.
‘What kind of madman…’
There was nothing to say but that it was extraordinary.
Shrouds are only seen at funeral halls or during shamanic rituals.
Both environments are inherently saturated with spiritual taint, and because it’s so faint, one would pass right over it without paying attention.
“Is this… very bad?”
“The spiritual taint itself isn’t a major problem.”
Lee Geum-kyung didn’t even glance at Shin Jung-ah as she examined the shroud.
“They deceived heaven and deceived earth. Something was done in secret.”
“Kang Hyung-seok mentioned it sounded like sorcery.”
Lee Geum-kyung nodded and looked at Shin Jung-ah, shifting only her eyes.
“It’s more troublesome than expected. How long ago was this made?”
“Twenty years.”
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Lee Geum-kyung clicked her tongue heavily and brushed off her hand from the shroud as if she’d touched something filthy.
“That inhuman creature has been desecrating the deceased for twenty years.”
“Then what should we do about this…?”
At that moment, Lee Geum-kyung’s gaze lingered briefly on Shin Jung-ah.
There was no reason for an ordinary person like Shin Jung-ah to concern herself with such matters.
Yet seeing her offer her heart anyway made it clear that her fate was anything but ordinary.
“Don’t worry yourself too much.”
Watching Shin Jung-ah, whose spirit still seemed dampened, Lee Geum-kyung adjusted her posture to sit more comfortably.
“Curses can be broken once you understand them.”
“Is that possible?”
“Curses always have a purpose. Thwart that purpose, and the binding naturally severs itself.”
The world follows the law of causality.
Because this exists, that exists, and through that, something else can come to be.
Curses are acts of manipulating this causality to create advantage or achieve one’s will.
‘I don’t know who it is, but this is no ordinary person.’
The more Lee Geum-kyung turned it over in her mind, the more the meticulous and vicious nature of the act made her jaw clench.
Even though the target was deceased, it was a curse using a living person as its medium.
What could possibly be the goal?
Lee Geum-kyung frowned as she examined the shroud, which bore a faint trace of ghostly essence.
***
(Yes, hyung!)
Kang Hyung-seok glanced out the car window as Yoon Sang’s voice came through the vehicle speaker.
It was a desolate empty lot far removed from the factory, yet his heart still raced inexplicably.
(Huh? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?)
“Yeah, I can hear you.”
(I’m sorry, hyung! My phone was acting up for a moment. I couldn’t hear your voice.)
Huh.
Kang Hyung-seok let out a bitter laugh as he exhaled.
“It’s fine. And hey, remember what I mentioned before? Hitobashira.”
(Yes, yes!)
“Do you happen to know anything else about it?”
Kang Hyung-seok murmured his question while gazing at the bluish sky beyond the car window.
(Actually, I did some research on it myself?)
“Really?”
Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes shifted toward the vehicle speaker, and a tone of self-satisfaction came through.
(Of course! I’m pretty good at this, you know.)
“…”
(Hitobashira has a pretty broad range, you see? There’s the meaning of ‘take my sins away,’ but powerful people also use it for the purpose of maintaining their authority.)
“…Maintaining?”
(Huh? Oh, yes.)
For some reason, only that single word Yoon Sang had spoken seemed to burrow into my ears.
(In the beginning, it appeared to take the form of human sacrifice. But gradually, it seemed to concentrate on the foundation itself. Like when you watch apartment construction—the way they lay the groundwork.)
Kang Hyung-seok silently turned over the keywords surfacing in his mind, one by one.
‘Hitobashira, human pillars, foundation, groundwork.’
(A strong foundation is necessary to build a sturdy structure, isn’t it? The larger the objective, the larger the foundation needed.)
Kang Hyung-seok rubbed the inside of his mouth with his tongue.
Twenty years. Two decades of cursing the dead through sorcery.
And three hundred heads—still no thread of clue in sight.
Yet listening to Yoon Sang’s words, something seemed to crystallize.
Like something sinister moving faintly beyond that distant, thick darkness.
“Yoon Sang.”
(Yes!)
“Could hitobashira possibly be connected to food spirits as well?”
My Guardian Spirit had warned me through the bells.
That what I must confront was not human.
Something other than a person.
(There’s no direct connection. But hyung-nim, it’s sorcery, isn’t it?)
“That’s true…?”
(Powerful people commit these acts for their own purposes, and food spirits are tools they wield. Couldn’t you say there’s a connection point when you look at it that way?)
Even if hitobashira wasn’t directly related to food spirits, ultimately it was something performed by the powerful for themselves—so indirectly, there could be influence.
Sss.
I turned my head to look beside the driver’s window, and the headrest and the back of my head rubbed together with a small sound.
Beyond the car window, there was nothing to see.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok, fixing his gaze toward where the Factory had been, pressed his lips firmly shut, then opened them.
“I need to investigate.”
(Yes? Oh! You’re going to move personally, hyung-nim?)
“Don’t follow me this time.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke firmly, his unblinking eyes fixed on the car window as he continued.
“My gut feeling is terrible. If you get involved, things will become genuinely dangerous.”
Even as I spoke, worry gnawed at me.
What if Yoon Sang moved in secret?
What if he clung to me persistently?
(Ah, hyung-nim! I wouldn’t dream of disobeying you.)
But it seemed my concern was unfounded.
Yoon Sang’s voice was remarkably unbothered, almost anticlimactic.
(I have some sense, after all! If you’re speaking like this, hyung-nim, it doesn’t seem like a place for me to be involved.)
“I’m sorry.”
(There’s nothing for you to apologize for, hyung-nim! And if you ever need my help, just call me anytime like you did now!)
Ah, this bastard.
As waves of apology and gratitude washed over Kang Hyung-seok, I found myself touching my temple.
(Brother, could you do me a favor….)
“What is it?”
(Later, I can share the story on the broadcast. Once everything’s done, could you just organize it and send it to me…?)
Kang Hyung-seok laughed like someone who’d been completely drained.
Yes, this was Yoon Sang.
And fortunately, it wasn’t a difficult request.
“Got it. Then I’m counting on you too.”
(Yes! I’ll actively gather tips from viewers! It’s the Gangwon Province area, right?)
The Factory was located there.
So receiving tips from that region would work out well.
“That’s right. Hang in there.”
(Of course! Then take care, and make sure you eat well!)
Beep.
The call with Yoon Sang ended.
Only then did Kang Hyung-seok realize he hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet.
Even though lunchtime was already passing.
“Tsk.”
He’d been too preoccupied.
Kang Hyung-seok glanced down at his suddenly growling stomach and started the engine.
‘Let me grab something to eat first.’
Vroom!
As he drove, he scanned for a decent restaurant.
He didn’t search for famous restaurants on the navigation.
‘A place where I can eat alone….’
Kang Hyung-seok drove while looking for anywhere that wasn’t a Gukbap Restaurant, and finally spotted a shabby-looking sign with faded lettering reading “Eojjim.”
Screech.
Kang Hyung-seok parked in front of the restaurant and went inside.
The distinctive musty smell of an old rural house greeted him, and he took a seat before ordering a bowl of eojjim.
Glug glug.
Kang Hyung-seok poured water directly from the old-fashioned water purifier and prepared to eat alone.
Clink.
After an unusually long wait, the eojjim finally arrived in a stone bowl.
Kang Hyung-seok bowed slightly to the elderly woman who appeared to be the Restaurant Owner, expressing his gratitude, and picked up his spoon.
It was right then.
Click!
The Restaurant Owner went into the Inner Room attached beside the Kitchen and turned on the TV, and sound began flowing out like a radio.
It was common enough that Kang Hyung-seok paid it no mind and lifted his spoon.
‘She uses quite a lot of Sichuan pepper powder.’
The seasoning was good, and all the other ingredients were fine, but the spices were overpowering.
Kang Hyung-seok took a large spoonful of eojjim with a somewhat melancholic expression and put it in his mouth.
“The Police have announced they are investigating the possibility of a premeditated crime,” the news anchor reported.
Another incident had occurred somewhere.
Kang Hyung-seok took a sip of water, troubled by the report, while the Restaurant Owner turned up the volume further.
“…Evidence has emerged showing brutal mutilation of the victim’s body. Such inhumane acts have transcended the sensationalism of crime itself, delivering a profound shock to society.”
‘Mutilation of the body?’
The news was chilling enough to ignore.
Worse still, I found myself remembering the severed head inside the box from my nightmare.
Clatter.
I set down my spoon, my gaze drifting toward the Inner Room.
The Restaurant Owner was clicking his tongue in disapproval.
And at that moment, my phone rang.
It was Shin Yoseph calling.

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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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