An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 202

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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 202
Part 7. Hide and Seek (1)
Crunch, crunch.
Descending the mountain, Kang Hyung-seok’s face bore the pallor of one who had witnessed death itself.
An Oni. An Oni.
A Japanese yokai had appeared on the Korean Peninsula and claimed human lives.
‘What in the world is this?’
It resembled a human, yet could not be called human.
A mind brimming with hatred and murky spiritual energy.
There was no other way to describe it—crude and malevolent.
How could such a thing have emerged not in Japan, but in Korea?
What was the sorcerer’s purpose, and what was the true nature of this Oni that it severed human necks as it roamed?
A chill.
A sudden thought grazed my mind, and I turned to look back.
Darkness falls swiftly in the mountains.
Though no rain fell, dark clouds blanketed the sky, and shadows descended faster and deeper than usual.
Thus, nothing appeared in my field of vision, yet my eyes pierced through the darkness toward the hermit’s cabin concealed between the trees.
‘…An Oni that claims human lives.’
It was no mere fancy that a hypothesis too terrible to imagine surfaced in my mind.
I had already witnessed it once.
The act of offering the deceased as a sacrifice.
Hitobashira.
The original purpose of that sorcery is to offer the living as a sacrifice.
‘…Japan, the neck-severing Oni.’
And that number the Onmyoji had spoken of in the dream—three hundred.
Three hundred heads seen in the kiln.
Severed heads.
“Damn it.”
Goosebumps erupted across my forearms.
I was beginning to understand the Oni’s purpose.
Hitobashira has not ended.
Just as a cicada spends long years beneath the earth building its body, crawling up a tree to reach maturity, the Oni’s emergence is not an ending but a beginning.
When the Oni claims three hundred living souls, Hitobashira is completed.
The meticulously concealed and hidden sorcery reaches its culmination.
It was then.
A resonant chime.
The Shaman’s Bell rang of its own accord.
With nerves already on edge, I hastily drew the sacred blade.
Deep in the mountains where even moonlight was swallowed by thick clouds.
Had it been a beast, the Shaman’s Bell would not have alerted me—so I stared into the darkness, gripping the sacred blade with all my strength.
The dull blade grew sharp as if responding to its master’s will.
Clang!
Shaking the Shaman’s Bell, Kang Hyung-seok chanted the incantation in a low, rapid voice.
“By the Chakgui Scripture, I invoke the Six Celestial Generals, the Six Jiapsin Generals, the Qimen Generals, the Eight Gate Generals, the Five Directions and Five Spirits Generals, the Six Paths War Method, the Four Desert Generals, and all the True Names—I establish the formation in all four directions by the Great Divine Generals.”
Then Kang Hyung-seok lowered the hand holding the Shaman’s Bell.
At that same moment, the sharp blade of the spirit sword dulled once more.
“Who are you?”
It was after Kang Hyung-seok called out into the darkness.
Clang!
As if to reveal that they too were a Shaman, the figure shook a Shaman’s Bell in response.
Then, with soft footsteps, they began approaching Kang Hyung-seok.
Not an Oni.
Not something malevolent—but a person.
Kang Hyung-seok stared at the form drawing closer, and just then a cloud drifted away on the wind, revealing the moonlight.
A bow.
The woman approaching Kang Hyung-seok with a respectful bow was unmistakably a Shaman.
She wore shamanic robes and even held a Shaman’s Bell in her hand.
But what captured my attention most was not her tools or garments—it was her face.
The young woman’s face seemed somehow familiar.
“I thought you might be here.”
Her voice was unfamiliar.
As Kang Hyung-seok furrowed his brow studying her, the woman smiled, her lips curving upward.
Her overall expression was kind, yet her thick eyebrows and sharp, commanding gaze made her far from ordinary.
“Wait…”
Kang Hyung-seok let out a small exclamation at the aura emanating from her body.
It was an aura difficult to forget.
And precisely because of that, it felt so familiar.
More so than her face.
“So you were the Great One.”
Only then did the woman’s lips rise and her head nod.
“It’s been a while—if I may say so. Thank you for saving me last time.”
“Not at all. It was simply what had to be done.”
Kang Hyung-seok extended his hand toward the woman.
It was Park Mi-ryung, Park Sang-chul’s daughter.
She had suffered under the Malevolent Goblin for three years, regained her mind with Kang Hyung-seok’s help, and had now become a Goblin Shaman serving the Great Goblin.
Firm.
Park Mi-ryung’s grip in the handshake was strong.
“How has your health been?”
“Thanks to you, I want for nothing.”
Whether it was her expression or her manner of speaking, Park Mi-ryung somehow reminded me of Chung-geum.
Still, the difference was unmistakable.
A shaman possessed by a Goblin felt entirely different from an ordinary shaman.
Shamans are vessels for the divine, and they bear the profound influence of the spirits they receive.
Park Mi-ryung, who had taken in the Great Goblin towering like Mount Tai itself, possessed such formidable strength in her hands that it was hard to believe she was the same woman who had been imprisoned in that warehouse.
“What brings you to this place?”
“We likely share the same purpose.”
Park Mi-ryung glanced past Kang Hyung-seok toward the direction where the hermit’s cabin lay, and clicked her tongue.
“An elder gave me guidance to come here.”
“Ah.”
Kang Hyung-seok nodded slowly in understanding.
Now that I thought about it, Park Mi-ryung’s home wasn’t far from here.
The Great Goblin who protected Park Mi-ryung was the foremost among all goblins in this region, so he would have sensed the Oni before anyone else.
“Something wicked walks these mountains.”
“You’ve seen it yourself…?”
“No. I was informed of it.”
Park Mi-ryung nodded and cast another troubled glance toward the hermit’s cabin.
“Let’s descend for now. This isn’t the place for such a conversation.”
“Very well.”
Kang Hyung-seok began descending the mountain alongside Park Mi-ryung.
The oppressive atmosphere made lingering here unbearable, so both of them hurried down the mountainside with purpose.
Snap!
Along the way, Park Mi-ryung broke off a branch to fashion a walking stick for me, but I declined with a smile.
***
It was a reunion after a long time.
Thinking it only right to share a meal together, I drove around searching for a restaurant with Park Mi-ryung in the car.
It wasn’t an easy task.
There was the matter of Park Mi-ryung’s attire, and I also genuinely wanted to have a meaningful conversation with her.
“That place over there looks nice.”
Park Mi-ryung spoke while gazing at a restaurant sign visible in the distance, and I furrowed my brow as I looked in that direction.
“Would that be alright?”
“I prefer such places.”
Then it should be fine.
I drove toward the Gukbap Restaurant marked as open 24 hours and parked in the parking lot.
Zzzzzing.
As my phone rang, I asked Park Mi-ryung for her understanding and immediately answered the call.
“Oh, Shin Yoseph.”
(I just arrived in Gangwon Province—where should I go?)
“Here at the Yangpyeong hangover soup restaurant.”
(Yangpyeong…?)
“No, I mean the Gukbap Restaurant.”
Even I found it confusing that an authentic Yangpyeong hangover soup place, operated for three generations, existed in Gangwon Province.
Still, it was the sort of thing that could happen, so I continued speaking in a calm tone.
“I’ll send you the address.”
(Wait, is that place open 24 hours?)
“Yeah.”
(I found it in the search. It’ll take about 30 minutes. Just send me the location to be safe.)
“Oh, and I’m here with a Shaman right now.”
(Doesn’t matter. Go ahead and eat. I’ll be there soon.)
As the call ended, Park Mi-ryung’s gaze immediately fixed on me.
Her eyes asked who it was, but I simply said it was a friend.
“Let’s have our meal first.”
“Yes.”
I entered the restaurant with Park Mi-ryung and ordered two bowls of gukbap and one serving of steamed pork.
Clatter.
The steamed pork arrived first, and the gazes of other customers eating in the restaurant briefly focused on us, but no one approached to speak.
“Isn’t your attire… uncomfortable?”
“I don’t wear it because I want to.”
Her voice carried a subtly pitiful tone.
A Goblin Shaman faces many restrictions.
No matter how magnanimous the Great Goblin might be, a Goblin is still a Goblin, and what he demands of Park Mi-ryung would not be insignificant.
Just the basics. Only the basics.
I don’t even complain about shoes, do I?
But no matter how times change, a Shaman should dress like a Shaman. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Had he perhaps said such things to Park Mi-ryung as well….
“Boss!”
Kang Hyung-seok raised his hand toward the person who had brought the food and ordered a side of seasoned aralia shoots.
Park Mi-ryung, catching his intention, smiled faintly, and Kang Hyung-seok poured water into a glass and set it before her.
“I understand. You’ve been coming here for a long time, after all.”
“…Yes.”
Seeing her eyes grow sad again, Kang Hyung-seok felt he had spoken carelessly.
“In any case, did the Great Goblin say anything else?”
“He said I would become a stake.”
“…A stake.”
Kang Hyung-seok drew his lower lip inward, lost in thought.
I could sense what the Great Goblin was thinking.
A vile creature that had invaded this land.
And of all things, an Oni.
He likely intended to tear it apart with meticulous care, drop by drop.
“But it seems he’s having difficulty finding it.”
Park Mi-ryung’s words made sense.
An Oni deliberately and thoroughly hidden away.
Simply detecting its existence could be called a miracle, yet finding where it actually was seemed far from easy.
“We’ll need more people. We should spread out and search.”
“Do you have any idea where to look?”
Clatter.
Before Kang Hyung-seok could answer, food began appearing before them.
Two steaming bowls of gukbap and one serving of seasoned aralia shoots.
Kang Hyung-seok nodded in gratitude and, picking up a spoon, turned on his phone’s screen.
“It would be the mountains.”
“The mountains….”
“Mountains have their own characteristics, and above all, there’s likely a reason the first victim came from the mountains.”
Trees symbolize yin energy.
A yokai wouldn’t wander through places brimming with yang energy just because it had consumed medicine—it would surely prowl through places saturated with yin energy.
For that reason, no other location came to mind besides the mountains.
Click.
Kang Hyung-seok opened the map application and, finding the nearest mountain, zoomed out the view.
Park Mi-ryung watched silently as he adjusted the screen to display the mountains, then continued speaking.
“There are five mountains.”
Garishan to the northeast.
Gongjagsan to the southeast.
Bangtaesan to the northwest.
Gyebangsan to the north-south.
And at their center, Amisan.
The location of the mountains themselves carries significance, and the number five seems to hold meaning as well.
Among shamanic implements, there are five flags called the Obangi, and there are five directional guardian spirits known as the Obangsinjang.
The Blue Emperor Guardian of the east, the White Emperor Guardian of the west, the Red Emperor Guardian of the south, the Black Emperor Guardian of the north, and the Yellow Emperor Guardian at the center.
“To drive out the Oni, it appears we’ll need at least two more people.”
The Hitobashira must not be completed.
I must capture the Oni before any other victims emerge.
So we need to station one person on each mountain, but unfortunately, it seems difficult to fill all five positions.
Still, with four people, we can send one each to the mountains excluding Amisan at the center.
“We must perform an exorcism.”
To put it differently, it’s much like a game of tag.
Kang Hyung-seok didn’t know it, but in Japan, tag is also called Oni Gokko.
Literally translated, it means the Oni game.
However, the roles of the Oni and humans are reversed.
By inverting the form, this too could become a form of sorcery.
“One person on each mountain excluding Amisan at the center. Ideally, Park Mi-ryung would directly confront the Oni, but it’s best not to have too high expectations.”
“It could appear and disappear mysteriously….”
“Exactly. Still, as we apply pressure, it will head toward Amisan.”
“Yes.”
Park Mi-ryung lifted her eyes from the map and met Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze.
“What about the possibility of it fleeing elsewhere?”
A question that struck at the heart of the matter.
Kang Hyung-seok pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
“If the number five truly holds meaning, it won’t be able to go anywhere else.”
And there was one more thing I believed in.
“Heaven will aid us.”
The strange weather I experienced on the mountain.
Thunder and raindrops that seemed to assist Kang Hyung-seok.
All of this brought someone to mind.
‘Lee Nak-yul….’
If she, now a dragon, is watching over Kang Hyung-seok, she will help prevent the Oni from going elsewhere.
“The friend who’s coming—they’re not an ordinary person, are they?”
Park Mi-ryung asked quietly, as if she’d already sensed it.
Kang Hyung-seok sealed his lips, swallowing his answer, while Park Mi-ryung continued, thinking this friend was not a shamanic practitioner like herself.
“What about the other person?”
“There is someone… but I’m not entirely sure.”
Someone who can participate in this task.
Someone who can rush here immediately.
And someone who can protect their own body from spirits.
There was indeed someone who met all these conditions.

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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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