An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 206

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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 205
Part 1. Annihilate the Vengeful Spirit (1)
A Goblin’s wrath burns like fire.
Capricious and stubborn, even the Shamans who receive a Goblin find its nature difficult to endure.
Formidable and fearsome.
Thus, not to be trifled with.
And now that Goblin’s fury was directed at the Oni.
“Ssssshhh.”
The Oni exhaled seething breath through gritted teeth, raising the Japanese sword high.
It was a threatening stance—as menacing as when the Oni was Tanaka Gunkichi and had severed three hundred necks.
The blade seemed ready to fall upon Park Mi-ryung’s crown at any moment.
“Tanaka Gunkichi.”
The name Kang Hyung-seok had dragged from the earth—the Oni’s true name.
The name the Great Goblin had revealed to Park Mi-ryung.
The Oni’s face went rigid.
The killing intent wavered, diminished.
“How does a mere Korean Shaman know…”
Park Mi-ryung could not understand the Oni’s words.
Yet she knew everything.
The name hidden beneath that mask-like lacquer, the reality, the emotions—all of Tanaka Gunkichi.
The Shaman’s Bell rang out from afar, shaken by Kang Hyung-seok.
And the incense burner, billowing smoke as Shin Yoseph purified the surroundings.
She was the Shaman who served the Great Goblin, and that Great Goblin was supreme among all Goblins of Gangwon Province.
Gangwon Province cradled the Baekdudaegan, the very spine of Korea, so the Great Goblin could rightfully be called the guardian of the nation’s land.
Park Mi-ryung, who harbored such a Great Goblin, gazed upon the Oni with quiet eyes.
“Do not beg for forgiveness.”
The Oni lunged to sever Park Mi-ryung’s neck, but the Great Goblin seized it, and the movement froze.
“Grrrr!”
The Oni’s eyes blazed with bloodshot rage, and Park Mi-ryung’s voice deepened into that of a coarser man.
“Bear the responsibility.”
The responsibility for the three hundred necks Tanaka Gunkichi severed.
The responsibility for the three hundred necks the Oni sought to offer on this land.
Bones and flesh twisted with a sickening crunch.
The Oni’s body contorted, wringing itself.
“Krrgh! Krrrrgh!”
Blood boiled and spilled from the Oni’s mouth, and cracks splintered across the Japanese sword’s blade.
The Oni’s vile miasma—that foul stench which had defiled the mountain’s essence—began to fade.
“Grrr! Grrrrr!”
Blood boiled up and overflowed from Oni’s mouth, and cracks formed on the blade of the Japanese sword.
The Oni’s energy, which had been defiling the Mountain’s essence with its foul stench and rancid smell, began to subside.
And so there was a sound that rang clearly in both Park Mi-ryung’s ears and the Oni’s ears.
Warang.
“The formless self is the natural self, the marked self is the eternal heaven. The Eastern Blue Emperor is the eternal treasure, the Southern Red Emperor is the cultural sage, the Western White Emperor is the mysterious vessel, and the Northern Black Emperor is the mysterious movement.”
It was Kang Hyung-seok’s scripture.
A wind and cloud exorcism to drive away spirits, and Shin Yoseph’s prayer rose in harmony.
“O Archangel Michael, leader of the heavenly armies and conqueror of the wicked dragon.”
Each of them stood in different places.
Yet they prayed with one heart for the Oni’s end.
Crackle!
The Oni, subjected to even greater pressure, glared at Park Mi-ryung with eyes that seemed ready to burst. Then, mustering every ounce of strength, I wrenched the katana upward.
If I could not sever the neck directly, then I would take the life itself.
It was the moment when the Oni, harboring such bitter resolve, was about to hurl the katana at Park Mi-ryung.
Crunch!
“Aaaahhh!”
The katana slipped from the Oni’s hand as its wrist shattered.
“Who gave you permission to move?”
The Oni’s trembling gaze turned toward Park Mi-ryung, who spoke in a low voice.
“You are one who has caused great harm, and you should not exist.”
The Oni’s eyes grew progressively wider.
“Now we beseech you: grant us true humility of heart, unwavering faith in the Holy Church, and strength to endure sorrow and calamity.”
“The Eastern Sea God is Aming, the Southern Sea God is Chulyu, the Western Sea God is Geosung, the Northern Sea God is Yonggang. The original form and fixed form are heaven above earth. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are the strength of human nature.”
“And protect us in the judgment of God’s court.”
“Heaven and earth are our parents, the sun and moon are our siblings, the stars are our servants.”
As prayers and scriptures echoed faintly from distant places, Park Mi-ryung raised high the hand gripping the Shaman’s Bell.
“I send you to the Wheel-Turning King; in the Hell of Equal Torment, purge your sins.”
Then I brought my hand down with tremendous force, as if driving a stake into the earth.
Warang!
The Shaman’s Bell rang out loudly, and in that instant, the Oni sensed what was about to befall it.
“Josenjing.”
It was after the Oni’s voice, muttered low like a final testament, had ceased.
“Cast Satan and the demons into hell by the power of God.”
Shin Yoseph’s prayer came to an end, and
“By the thousand gold, let the ten thousand ghosts of the upper form be utterly destroyed.”
Kang Hyung-seok’s scripture also reached its conclusion.
The Oni’s eyes closed.
The Great Goblin gripped it firmly and extended its other hand.
A palm like Mount Tai pressed down upon the Oni.
That hand, like divine punishment fallen from heaven, instantly shattered the Oni’s form.
Whoosh.
When the Great Goblin’s hand lifted from the ground, nothing remained.
Only the blackened earth remained, bearing silent witness to the malevolence that had once dwelled here.
***
Crack.
Kang Hyung-seok stared down at the shattered box before him.
The spell had been broken.
The Oni was gone.
The Hitobashira ritual—prepared for twenty years—would remain eternally incomplete.
‘…What was its true purpose?’
The Oni’s disappearance brought no sense of closure.
Several unanswered questions lingered in this place, much like the scattered remnants before me.
“Harming people couldn’t have been your only objective.”
Tanaka Gunkichi.
I murmured while reading the name etched into the military uniform.
“There had to be a true purpose. What were you really trying to accomplish…?”
The figure I’d seen in my dream was a Japanese Onmyoji.
There must have been a reason the Onmyoji planted the Oni in this land.
I couldn’t even begin to guess what it was.
All I felt was an ominous premonition—that something terrible lay beyond my comprehension.
Bzzzzt.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, pulling my gaze away from the military uniform.
I took it out and checked the caller ID.
Click.
“What is it?”
(It’s really over, right?)
Shin Yoseph’s voice came through, barely masking his exhaustion.
“Yeah.”
(Then hang up and call me back. Let’s grab some food—we’ve all earned it after tonight.)
“We just ate.”
(Tsk!)
His sharp reaction made me laugh out loud.
“I’m joking. Let’s get a drink instead.”
(Aren’t you coming in tomorrow?)
“Didn’t I mention it? I’m taking a paid day off.”
(I don’t know. I’m exhausted.)
I turned my attention to the broken box and the military uniform scattered across the ground.
Rustle, rustle.
Fallen leaves and dust blown by the wind covered the uniform.
“Just one drink then. My treat.”
(Fine, okay.)
“Wait at the mountain entrance. I’ll pick up Shin Manager and head right over. It’s Amisan, right?”
(Right.)
Beep.
Kang Hyung-seok hung up the phone and slipped it into his pocket, then opened his bag to organize the ritual implements.
After that, he stared at the military uniform and the box for a while, then turned his back on them.
‘Don’t let your thoughts bind you.’
It’s finished.
It’s already over.
No answer will come from worrying about it.
The Japanese Onmyoji failed, and this land has regained its peace.
‘His karma is heavy.’
Even if I do nothing, will heaven abandon him?
Won’t the most unwanted form of death find him?
I only hope he doesn’t resent that punishment as unjust.
That he accepts his karma.
That he suffers as retribution for the suffering he inflicted on others.
Thud, thud.
Kang Hyung-seok moved away from the box.
Then the box, as if finally permitted to vanish, crumbled to dust along with the military uniform in the wind, leaving not a trace behind.
***
Trill trill trill.
Hong Kyung-soo stood inside a public phone booth at an old apartment complex where a banner reading “Final Safety Inspection Passed” fluttered in the breeze.
Right at the complex entrance.
On the quiet road, vehicles moved leisurely, and on the shoulder, a single car belonging to Hong Kyung-soo was parked.
Click, whoosh!
A high school student’s gaze followed him as he lit the cigarette between his teeth.
But seeing Hong Kyung-soo’s sinister eyes, the student quickly lowered his head.
Trill trill trill.
“Sigh—!”
As the call waiting tone dragged on, Hong Kyung-soo chain-smoked relentlessly.
Moments later, the call connected, and heavy silence came through the line.
As if the person on the other end was waiting for him to reveal his identity.
“It’s me. Hong Kyung-soo.”
(Young master.)
An elderly woman’s voice.
Hong Kyung-soo, his expression darkening with displeasure, scratched his eyebrow with the hand holding the cigarette.
“What the hell—don’t call me that. I told you to stop.”
(But….)
“Never mind that. What about that bastard?”
(….)
“Clever of you. How did you manage to move without me knowing?”
(Young master….)
Hong Kyung-soo’s face hardened as he slowly drew on his cigarette.
“Call me that one more time, and I’ll end your life. Remember that.”
(…Matsuo.)
“Hong Kyung-soo. Hong Kyung-soo!”
Thud! Thud!
Hong Kyung-soo drummed his palm against the inside of the Public Phone Booth, his voice dripping with murderous intent.
“I may owe you a debt, but there are limits. What you gave, you gave—but not out of kindness, were you?”
Hong Kyung-soo filled his lungs with cigarette smoke, then exhaled it like a sigh.
“In any case, tell that old bastard clearly.”
The voice on the other end fell silent.
Yet Hong Kyung-soo continued speaking, staring into the darkness beyond the Public Phone Booth.
“Your schemes are finished. Where did you dare to defile this land with such corruption? You’re a dying man—did you think no one was watching?”
(But that was….)
“Don’t tell me it was for my sake. A man cast out from his own country—where does he get the audacity to play the sage?”
Crackle!
Hong Kyung-soo tore the filter from his cigarette with his teeth.
He drew in thicker smoke and spoke in a lower voice.
“It was all about shedding that old body and claiming a new one, wasn’t it? Tell me—is there a single word I’ve spoken that’s false?”
Soul transference.
That was Hitobashira’s true purpose.
To escape the cycle of reincarnation ordained by heaven and claim a new body, one had to deceive heaven’s eyes.
And mine as well.
“I don’t know what else you’ve done, but I pray you haven’t set up anything similar.”
(….)
“If you have, I’ll kill you myself.”
(Did you… kill the Factory Owner too?)
“Did you think you’d get away with it?”
Hong Kyung-soo’s face twisted like a beast’s, teeth bared.
“The one who wanted that factory! The one who wove a cursed shroud and burned the bones! Did you truly believe there would be no judgment for such wickedness on this land? Eh?”
(That was, that is—!)
“You know better than anyone what I am.”
The air grew heavy as the cigarette smoke in the Public Phone Booth began to settle.
In the Van parked nearby, the Dharma Master who followed Hong Kyung-soo clicked his tongue and raised one eyebrow, while Hong Kyung-soo crushed the burning cigarette between his index and middle fingers.
“This is my final warning.”
(….)
“Don’t let me see you again.”
Hong Kyung-soo spoke in a voice even heavier than the air itself, then hung up the phone.
He stepped outside and lit a fresh cigarette.
“Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
“Siiiiigh.”
“What’s with the heavy sigh?”
“I’m not sure.”
Vroom vroom!
As the Dharma Master started the engine, the entire van trembled and prepared to move. His voice followed Hong Kyung-soo, who was smoking a cigarette in front of the vehicle.
“Are you alright?”
“Who?”
“Tsk.”
The Dharma Master clicked his tongue with an expression that said there was no point explaining, then fastened his seatbelt. Soon after, Hong Kyung-soo climbed into the passenger seat.
Vroom vroom.
The van rumbled away from the apartment complex with the heavy growl of its engine.

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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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