An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 203

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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 202
Part 7. Hide and Seek (2)
Beep beep beep.
Kang Hyung-seok called Shin Jung-ah while driving away from the restaurant.
Honk.
Park Mi-ryung sat in the passenger seat, while Shin Yoseph was in the car behind them, rudely honking the horn in short, impatient bursts.
Justifiably irritating.
The moment we arrived at the restaurant, I heard, “We’re moving now—follow us.”
“Sorry, but we’re in a hurry.”
Honk.
So please, just stop with the horn.
I was debating whether to raise my middle finger at them when the call came through.
(Hello?)
“Yes, Manager.”
(Where should I go?)
“Pardon?”
(I’ve been waiting anyway. You’re still in Gangwon Province, right?)
“Yes… well, technically.”
I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
(The teacher told me you’d need help, so she asked if I could lend a hand.)
“The teacher said that?”
(Yeah. So I left right away and just arrived.)
Behind Shin Jung-ah’s voice came the rumble of luggage and the ambient noise of a crowded space.
It sounded like the Intercity Bus Station.
(Sigh…)
“I’m sorry and grateful.”
(No, she said this is my destiny. Ugh.)
I could picture Shin Jung-ah’s pained expression, and I smiled wryly.
(Wait! No, actually, this paid leave is thanks to you anyway.)
“Still, I apologize.”
(Never mind. She said it’ll come back to me as a great blessing.)
“The teacher said that?”
(She said fortune has arrived, and to seize it, I have to go. Something about a major contract opportunity?)
The voice came through the Bluetooth speaker in the car.
I glanced unconsciously at Park Mi-ryung in the passenger seat, and she met my gaze, silently mouthing an “oh” shape.
Could Shin Jung-ah be talking about something related to Park Mi-ryung?
“Understood for now.”
(Then I’m heading to grab a taxi now—just send me your location.)
“Yes. Thank you so much, Manager!”
(Wait, are you going somewhere dark?)
“Isn’t that right?”
(Then I should prepare myself too. Understood!)
Shin Jung-ah hung up the phone, and in the now-quiet car, Park Mi-ryung opened her mouth.
“When you say ‘teacher,’ you’re referring to Lee Geum-kyung, aren’t you?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Ah, indeed….”
Kang Hyung-seok focused on driving while questioning Park Mi-ryung with only his eyes.
What exactly was this great contract fortune she spoke of?
Did she perhaps operate any businesses?
“Hmm.”
Park Mi-ryung took a deep breath through her nose and smiled faintly.
“Thanks to you, I received a new deity.”
“Ah!”
Understanding what she meant, Kang Hyung-seok exhaled a laugh.
“I see. You certainly do get many customers.”
“Even more so now that I’m enshrining a Goblin.”
Goblins are also connected to wealth and fortune.
There’s the characteristic that objects transform into Goblins, and there are stories that if luck is favorable at a Goblin’s dwelling, one can earn great sums of money.
“Word must have spread somehow.”
“You must have quite a few customers.”
“Yes. My bookings are full through the year after next. Most of them are people who operate businesses.”
A newly ordained Goblin Shaman.
For those who believed in Shamanism and operated businesses, the conditions concentrated on Park Mi-ryung were difficult to ignore.
“I’ve heard the gist of what you do.”
Park Mi-ryung continued, her eyes filled with gratitude as she looked at Kang Hyung-seok.
“I’d be happy to make introductions for you.”
It was welcome and heartening news to hear.
Especially now, when concerns about performance weighed so heavily.
“Are you certain?”
“You’re my savior.”
Had Kang Hyung-seok not helped, Park Mi-ryung would not be where she is now.
She would still be suffering at the hands of the Malevolent Goblin, screaming in agony every night in that dark, cramped warehouse of Park Sang-chul’s.
“I can only offer introductions, so I’m sorry I can’t provide more help than that.”
“No. That’s enough.”
Kang Hyung-seok smiled faintly.
Just as Park Mi-ryung was doing now.
“Still, it puts my mind at ease. It makes me feel like I need to see this matter through safely.”
Park Mi-ryung nodded in agreement.
We were going to catch the Oni.
We were going to catch the wickedness that had appeared in this land.
Otherwise, the sorcery will be completed.
There’s no telling what will happen.
Rummmble.
Two vehicles drove in tandem through an atmosphere as heavy as the sense of duty that weighed upon their chests.
Then Shin Yoseph received a call, and after saying he’d leave first, he drove off toward a different mountain.
Click.
Upon arriving at another mountain, Kang Hyung-seok dropped off Park Mi-ryung.
It was Gongjagsan, close to Amisan.
“I’m asking this of you. If anything dangerous happens, don’t push yourself—just get to safety.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke with an earnest tone, and Park Mi-ryung, gripping the car door, watched him with eyes that seemed somehow sunken.
“Is there something else you need to do?”
In that moment, Kang Hyung-seok’s expression darkened.
There was something he’d been turning over in his mind.
I had to exorcise the Oni decisively.
And I had to break the sorcery connected to it.
I needed to uncover its true nature.
“The elder told me to pass along a message—that things will work out, so you should just take care of yourself.”
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled a laugh and nodded.
“…Tell them I’m grateful.”
“They already heard that.”
Park Mi-ryung answered with a smile and closed the car door.
Then Kang Hyung-seok wiped the smile from his face and began driving.
Rummmble.
Park Mi-ryung watched the car’s taillights recede into the distance for a long time.
Then she began walking toward the mountain.
***
“Factory Owner, over here.”
Shin Jung-ah, who had arrived at the mountain Kang Hyung-seok had indicated, pulled a card from her wallet and handed it to the taxi driver.
“This is the right place?”
The taxi driver’s eyes were filled with concern.
A young woman had come alone to the mountain in the dead of night.
So when he’d first heard only the destination, he’d even wondered if Shin Jung-ah might be a ghost herself.
“It’s fine. I arranged to meet a friend up ahead.”
Only after Shin Jung-ah spoke with such composure did the taxi driver process the card payment and hand it back.
Click.
Closing the taxi door behind her, Shin Jung-ah drew in a deep breath.
The entrance to Gyebangsan.
The air was pleasant, yet the darkened mountain loomed before her with a menace that seemed ready to swallow her whole at any moment.
“Phew!”
That black mountain seemed to issue a warning.
Who did she think she was, daring to insert herself into this affair?
She wasn’t even a shamanic practitioner—what could she possibly accomplish with nothing but a single protective talisman?
Yet Shin Jung-ah was as prepared as she was resolute.
Rustle.
She withdrew a lantern from her bag—slightly thinner than her forearm—and connected it to a portable battery.
Snap!
At this intensity, even an Oni would be startled into fleeing.
Such was the brilliance of the light that suddenly blazed before her.
‘I’m glad I rushed to get this.’
Having confirmed the lantern’s power—purchased hastily from Yeongeun Market—she plunged her other hand into her bag.
From it, she withdrew a bracelet and fastened it around her wrist.
It was a bracelet carved from lightning-struck jujube wood, each link inscribed with a demon-warding incantation.
A gift from Lee Geum-kyung, it was a talisman so potent that even the most formidable malevolent spirit dared not harm her.
Gulp.
Steeling herself with tension, Shin Jung-ah stepped forward into the mountain’s depths.
***
Screech.
Kang Hyung-seok descended from the bus at the base of the mountain, shouldering his bag.
The first thing to greet him was the cool night air.
The forest’s scent permeated the darkness, and with it came that peculiar spiritual essence that only a mountain locked in night could emanate.
“Haah.”
I exhaled deeply and began walking along the path without hesitation.
Was heaven truly aiding me?
Or was it simply the hour—the dead of night?
Not a single soul was present.
‘Please, let no more victims fall.’
I gazed upward earnestly, imploring the Guardian Spirit.
Though clouds obscured the sky, moonlight miraculously pierced through, illuminating the path without obstruction.
‘If you truly protect me, I beseech you—grant us the power to capture the Oni.’
Having offered prayers to Lee Nak-yul as well, I withdrew two sacred implements from my bag.
Then, walking toward the mountain’s summit, I shook the bell.
Clang-clang-clang!
“I, a humble disciple of the divine, earnestly beseech you—spirits of this mountain, hear my plea.”
My voice, prayer-like, resonated through the empty mountain.
“A malevolent force that harms human life roams these slopes. Grant us the power to capture it, and reveal its true nature to us.”
What I had glimpsed in the Oni’s face was resentment.
I harbored no intention of resolving the grudge of something that was no longer human.
Yet if I could only unveil its true nature, it would surely aid me in destroying the creature.
“If those who practiced dark sorcery concealed it upon this mountain…”
There remained something I had yet to discover.
The head inside the box.
‘With Rokurokuби, the source of the sorcery was also buried.’
Perhaps even that had been a sorcerous act.
An attempt to sever or defile the spiritual essence of this land.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
“I humbly implore you.”
Speaking with conviction, I continued in a deeper, heavier tone.
“Grant us the ability to find it. Guide our path.”
Then I began reciting the sacred incantation.
“Tai Shang Lao Jun shuo ling huang miao zhen jing, Tai Shang yuan ji da dao, Tai Shang san shi liu bu zun jing, Tai Shang Lao Jun, Yu Huang Da Di, Hou Tu Zun Shen.”
A powerful wind surged forth.
The gale swept across the mountainside.
“Bei Ji Zi Wei Da Di, Zi Wei zhu sheng da di, Zuo Yi zhen jun, Du Jiang zhen jun, San Guan zhen jun, Si Xing zhen jun, Xiao Zai zhen jun, Jiu Gao zhen jun, Zuo Bao zhen jun, You Bao zhen jun.”
My hair and robes billowed in the tempest.
I continued the incantation, eyes closed in serenity, shaking the Shaman’s Bell.
“Yue Pai zhen jun, Bao Ming zhen jun, Jiu Yao zhen jun, Tai Yang zhen jun, Tai Yin zhen jun, Mu Xing zhen jun, Huo Xing zhen jun, Tu Xing zhen jun, Jin Xing zhen jun, Shui Xing zhen jun, La Hu zhen jun, Ji Dao zhen jun.”
A prayer to invoke the aid of all celestial spirits across heaven and earth—the Yellow Tomb Scripture.
“Eastern Dipper General, Western Dipper General, Southern Dipper General, Northern Dipper General, Central Dipper General, Southern Dipper Six Generals, Northern Dipper Seven Stars General, Twenty-Eight Mansions General, Twelve Original Generals, Directional Generals, True Name General.”
As the incantation continued and the Guardian Spirit drew ever closer to me, possession taking hold, I opened my eyes.
Immediately after, the Shaman’s Bell began to ring of its own accord.
Clang-clang-clang.
At the same moment, the direction of the wind shifted.
The wind pushed against my back as if urging me toward that place.
“…Thank you.”
I moved forward in that direction without hesitation.
And at that very moment, a blazing fireball trailing smoke was tearing across the sky.

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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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