An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 215

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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 214
Part 4. I Was Not Alone (1)
Flutter, flutter.
Inside the room where curtains swirled in the wind.
As Lee Jun-sang’s body grew cold and his unseeing eyes dried out, Jin-i stared at the photograph hanging on the wall with a face twisted by hatred.
It was Lee Jun-sang’s family portrait.
Swish.
She raised her arm and reached toward the children in the photograph.
The moment her fingertips touched the image.
Jin-i’s lips, which had been laden with malice, contorted.
It was not because of resentment.
“Aaah.”
Jin-i, murmuring through her severed tongue, placed both hands on either side of the photograph.
Then she brought her forehead closer to the image.
Her upturned eyes stared blankly downward.
It was the gaze of someone trying to recall something precious they had forgotten.
***
Wara-rang!
In the darkness, Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell.
He did not recite any incantations.
It was an act to cleanse the impurities around him and wash away the resentment that had become embedded in this land.
Wara-rang!
With each ring of the Shaman’s Bell, the energy surrounding the area grew clearer.
Baekseol’s gaze followed Kang Hyung-seok, whose expression had grown heavy with concentration.
What on earth was he doing?
That was what Baekseol’s eyes seemed to ask.
Swish.
Kang Hyung-seok lowered his arm holding the Shaman’s Bell and opened his mouth to Baekseol.
“Everyone has someone precious to them.”
-Woof.
Perhaps because he had spoken to her, Baekseol barked and wagged her tail.
Amused by her behavior, Kang Hyung-seok smiled, though the expression did not linger long.
The memory of Jin-i’s story from the vision still seemed to cling to his eyes.
“For you, that precious person would be Lee Jin-pyung.”
-Woof woof!
Baekseol barked more enthusiastically and wagged her tail even more vigorously, and Kang Hyung-seok continued with a melancholic smile.
“Jin-i had someone precious too.”
Not her parents.
They had sold young Jin-i away.
Not her husband either.
He was the source of young Jin-i’s terror and suffering.
Neither was the Mother-in-law.
She, along with the Administrator of the county, was the first to receive karmic retribution from Jin-i, who had become a Vengeful Spirit.
Jin-i was a person who had been exploited and tormented by everyone in the world.
Yet she was not alone.
‘My son….’
When Jin-i beheld her son cradled in the Mother-in-law’s arms, she had undeniably shown a glimmer of vitality, however fleeting.
The only being who had ever loved Jin-i.
The only being Jin-i had ever been able to love.
If only that emotion could endure.
If only resentment had not consumed everything.
Ding-ling-ling-ling.
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell, his lips pressed firmly together before parting.
“This humble disciple of the divine beseeches the Celestial Sovereign.”
I must halt Jin-i’s sorrow.
Thus I have no choice but to beseech the Jade Emperor and the divine spirits.
“There exists one who, consumed by resentment and sorrow, has become a Vengeful Spirit.”
Her name is Jin-i.
A soul ensnared by hatred for far too long, having lost herself entirely.
A woman in whose heart only darkness dwells.
Grant me the power to illuminate that darkness.
Open her eyes.
As they were when she beheld her son in the Mother-in-law’s embrace.
Let her know she was never alone.
I beseech you.
“In the realm of Saha, in the southern continent of Jambudvipa, in the Eastern Land of Joseon, in the Great Han, in Chungcheongbuk-do.”
The incantation to summon the soul began to flow from Kang Hyung-seok’s lips.
-Woof-woof!
Baekseol, who had been watching Kang Hyung-seok with her black lips pressed firmly shut, began to bark.
The bark of a three-eyed dog possesses the power to drive away malevolent spirits and calamity.
Knowing what Kang Hyung-seok was about to do, Baekseol aided him by purifying the surrounding spiritual energy with her own power.
***
Waralalarang—
A faint bell chime reached Jin-i’s ears.
Jin-i’s head, which had been standing before the family photograph, turned toward the window, and her feet soon followed.
Jin-i’s face as she approached the window was a tangle of conflicting emotions.
Confusion, hatred, longing.
Yet she could not even discern what that longing was directed toward.
“Ahhh.”
Unconsciously, she murmured.
But she could not understand what she wished to say.
Waralalarang. Kangkangkang.
The sound of the Shaman’s Bell and the barking of the three-eyed dog echoed once more.
The bell was a summons calling her forth, while the dog’s barking was a sound driving away the profane from her.
Jin-i listened blankly to the sounds before murmuring again.
“Ahhh… ahhh.”
Her voice grew steadily stronger.
As if she were gradually understanding what she wished to say.
Waralalarang!
“Ahhh.”
Jin-i stared into the thick darkness visible through the window and released her voice once more.
“Ouiahh.”
Her pronunciation was unclear because her tongue had been severed.
Yet she could understand what she herself was saying.
“Ouiahh….”
Our son.
Tears spilled from Jin-i’s eyes and traced down her cheeks.
***
Whoooosh!
“I summon the spirit bound to the twenty-sixth district of Danyang County, the spirit tied to the administrative division, the spirit of Jin-i’s departed soul. Return through the three gates of the celestial realm, cross the five barriers of the spirit world, and descend to this place.”
Baekseol lifted her head, watching Kang Hyung-seok intently.
Yet she did not open her mouth.
She knew that if she called out, the spirit she sought might retreat in fear.
“Return to the hall of reunion. Return to the chamber of meeting. If the waters run too deep and you cannot cross, if illness binds you and you cannot come.”
I had to summon the son.
The bond severed by fate—I had to restore it here in this very place.
“If you lack garments, wear the robes of the bereaved. If you lack a staff, take the staff of mourning. If you lack shoes, don the straw sandals of the grieving and return.”
I will pave that path for you.
“If your flesh has decayed and you cannot come, I will seize your essence at the hundred-li boundary. If words fail you, borrow the shaman’s voice and return, even for a moment.”
Fly swiftly through the air and come to this place.
“Reflecting on ages past, even emperors turn white-haired. Death alone is inescapable.”
May you find reunion here.
The mother’s spirit, who abandoned her child and departed.
The child’s spirit, who lost her mother.
May these two souls meet in this place, shed their sorrow and suffering, and ascend the path to eternal bliss.
Whoooooosh!
Kang Hyung-seok rang the Shaman’s Bell loudly and gazed into the darkness.
It was to the north, near the road.
Whiiiiiii—!
A whistle escaped from Kang Hyung-seok’s lips.
The whistle, yearning and desperate as if calling to someone beloved, pierced the quiet night and soared far, far away.
Then it happened.
Shhhhaaaa—!
A powerful wind swept through where Kang Hyung-seok stood.
Rustling branches created a sound like crashing waves, and Baekseol closed her eyes.
Kang Hyung-seok, by contrast, kept his eyes open, staring into the darkness.
A faint silhouette appeared before him in the shadows—visible even to his spiritual sight.
It was the Victim Spirit who had arrived long ago with the Lion Spirit Guide.
“…You have come.”
The Victim Spirit who, pitying her mother, could not ascend the wheel of reincarnation and waited desperately.
The Victim Spirit who, due to the shaman’s failed rituals and slander, could not reunite with her mother even in death.
Jin-i’s Son.
***
Rummmmmble!
It was then that the Yeolnyeo-gak within the pit began to shake.
A structure that should have symbolized Yeolnyeo.
Yet the decrepit, crumbling Yeolnyeo-gak—which had come to symbolize Jin-i’s very resentment—wailed with a deafening roar.
Crack-crack-crack.
The main beam trembled, and tiles caked with earth shuddered.
It was collapsing.
As if it should never have existed from the beginning, the Yeolnyeo-gak was destroying itself.
Crrrrraaaaaash!
As the Yeolnyeo-gak groaned louder and began to crumble, that was when—
Tap, tap.
Jin-i walked along the road in front of the Yeolnyeo-gak.
Where Kang Hyung-seok was. Where her son had come.
Toward the road at the city’s edge.
***
Clang-clang-clang!
Gazing up at the moon through wildly overgrown branches, Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell.
Then he released a voice filled with all his conviction.
“Come forth.”
Jin-i.
The Vengeful Spirit who became Yeolnyeo against her will.
Clang-clang-clang!
Shaking the Shaman’s Bell once more, Kang Hyung-seok whistled again.
Wheeeeee—!
A whistle so piercing it seemed to reach the city itself—a minor incantation.
A summons searching for Jin-i.
Wheee!
The whistle did not cease.
Blown toward all four directions—north, south, east, and west—it was Kang Hyung-seok’s desperate cry seeking Jin-i.
Wheeeeee—!
When the twentieth whistle ended—
Baekseol’s closed eyes trembled faintly.
And Kang Hyung-seok turned his head toward the opposite side from his son.
“…Welcome.”
A Vengeful Spirit.
After such an eternity, reason had long since faded, leaving only emotion.
An existence with deep-rooted resentment lodged firmly in her chest—yet Jin-i did not lunge at Kang Hyung-seok.
Instead, she simply stared at one place.
Toward the Victim Spirit standing with the Lion Spirit Guide, behind Kang Hyung-seok.
Whoosh.
Kang Hyung-seok shifted to the side, positioning himself so that Jin-i and her Son could see each other.
Words were unnecessary.
What could words possibly convey?
A soft footstep.
Jin-i began moving toward her Son.
Toward the child who had been cradled in his Mother-in-law’s arms on the day her Possessed Husband died.
Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze shifted to the Lion Spirit Guide standing beside her Son.
The Lion Spirit Guide—a hazy black form like mist itself—waited motionless for Jin-i’s arrival.
Ding.
The Shaman’s Bell rang of its own accord.
It sounded as though it were ringing specifically for Jin-i and her Son, reunited after centuries.
Ding-ding-ding!
Kang Hyung-seok shook his wrist, making the Shaman’s Bell ring louder, and closed his eyes.
He felt his Guardian Spirit drawing ever closer.
With the possession complete, Kang Hyung-seok could sense everything.
Even the emotions of Jin-i and her Son.
Ding-ding-ding.
He shook the Shaman’s Bell in quick, measured rings, his gaze fixed upon the Lion Spirit Guide.
It waited.
Waiting for Kang Hyung-seok to perform the ritual of ascension for her.
‘Not yet….’
Just a moment longer.
Kang Hyung-seok watched Jin-i approach her Son, and finally, her hand touched his.
In that instant, he felt the deep resentment emanating from her body begin to fade.
“Ahhhhh.”
Was she calling out to her Son, or was she wailing?
With soil-stained hands, Jin-i embraced her Son with all her strength, her voice resonating with profound sorrow as she wept.
“Ahhhhh! Ahhhh!”
Jin-i wept, sorry that she could only hold him now, and her Son’s hands moved to her back.
The sorrow was not hers alone.
In life, he had misunderstood his mother, having heard countless curses from his grandmother—Jin-i’s Mother-in-law.
During his childhood, raised through the hands of relatives, that resentment had only deepened.
He learned the truth only after death, but only after Jin-i’s spirit had been buried beneath the Yeolnyeo-gak.
A soft embrace.
Now, as if apologizing for finally understanding and embracing his mother laden with such sorrow, her Son held her just as tightly.
‘The resentment fades.’
Humans are wounded by humans and healed by humans.
Even Victim Spirits are no different.
As their hearts, reunited after such a long time, comforted one another, Jin-i’s resentment was beginning to dissolve.
At last, the preparations for her ascension were complete.

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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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