An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 222

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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 221
Part 6. When Evil Lurks (2)
“Hyung-seok!”
Yoon Sang arrived three hours later.
Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph, who had been waiting at the Intercity Bus Terminal, rose from their chairs.
“Have you eaten?”
Kang Hyung-seok asked, and Yoon Sang answered cheerfully with a smile.
“I grabbed something on the way here! But who is this person…?”
Shin Yoseph was meeting Yoon Sang for the first time.
So when Yoon Sang showed unfamiliarity yet displayed the strong curiosity characteristic of a broadcaster, Shin Yoseph extended his hand.
“I’ve heard much about you. I’m Yoseph.”
“Ah, yes. I’m Yoon Sang, an internet broadcaster.”
Yoon Sang shook his hand somewhat awkwardly.
Had there been time and peace of mind, I would have waited patiently for the awkwardness to fade.
But lacking such luxury, Kang Hyung-seok pulled out his phone and spoke.
“I got a text. The house is nearby, right?”
“Ah, yes!”
Yoon Sang answered as if delighted by Kang Hyung-seok’s words, and immediately pulled out his phone as well, turning his body toward him.
“You saw the text, right? We had a good conversation. I let him know I was coming, and for now I told him to wait at the house, hyung-seok.”
“He wasn’t trying to leave the house?”
“Of course not!”
Yoon Sang furrowed his brow and shook his head as if fed up.
“He keeps saying he’s scared and making a fuss, yet he’s constantly trying to go outside. I mean, how did he even sleep?”
“He probably slept at home.”
Thinking it was a joke, Yoon Sang laughed with a subtle expression.
But it wasn’t a joke.
It was correct to recognize him as both a vessel and the possessed, and if so, normal thinking would be difficult.
In that house he so desperately wanted to escape, during the Hour of the Demon when spirits are most active, he would inevitably be compelled to remain.
“Let’s go for now.”
“Yes!”
Yoon Sang, whose mind was most at ease, took the lead with vigor.
***
Vroom!
They traveled in Shin Yoseph’s car.
Kang Hyung-seok sat in the passenger seat, while Yoon Sang occupied the back seat alone, carrying a large bag on his shoulders, his expression quite remarkable.
He must have been surprised.
Though there was a disposable bag containing a convenience store meal in the back seat, Shin Yoseph’s car was rarely seen.
What on earth did this man do for a living?
Kang Hyung-seok shook his head while meeting Yoon Sang’s questioning gaze.
“Turn right in a moment.”
Following the guidance from the phone in his hand, Kang Hyung-seok pointed toward the alley.
Shin Yoseph carefully checked the steering wheel to ensure no one would suddenly emerge, and the vehicle drew steadily closer to its destination.
The remaining distance on the navigation display dwindled with each passing moment.
With each update, the expressions of both Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph grew more rigid.
“Potent.”
I could already sense the atmosphere of the place.
Shin Yoseph, too, felt something damp and heavy in the air, causing him to click his tongue silently.
Yet it was not a place easily found.
It was eight kilometers away from the Shamanic Temple they had visited first.
‘How desperate must they have been.’
Despite there being so many Shamanic Temples nearby, they had sought out one so far away.
“We’ve arrived near the destination. Navigation complete.”
“Get out first.”
Click.
Kang Hyung-seok and Yoon Sang exited first, while Shin Yoseph parked the car in a nearby Public Parking Lot and followed.
A bag, apparently retrieved from the trunk, hung from his hand.
“Ah, I’ll lead the way.”
Noticing the heavy atmosphere, Yoon Sang took the lead while checking the address on his phone.
An old apartment building.
Red brick exterior walls and exposed metal stairs leading to the rooftop.
Without anyone saying a word, the gazes of both Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph naturally fixed on the 3rd Floor.
They knew instinctively.
It was right there.
“Hyungs, please wear these.”
Yoon Sang pulled two masks from his bag and handed them over, drawing a questioning look from Shin Yoseph.
“Since I do internet broadcasting, my face is already known anyway, but yours aren’t.”
Shin Yoseph put on the mask as if understanding, and only after seeing Kang Hyung-seok don his as well did Yoon Sang climb the stairs.
Then he gently knocked on the 3rd Floor door with his loosely clenched fist.
Knock, knock.
It happened immediately after.
Click!
“Whoa!”
The door suddenly swung open, startling Yoon Sang into a stumbling retreat, while Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph’s gazes snapped toward the man in the doorway.
It was Park Jo-hyuk.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
Whatever the urgency, Park Jo-hyuk examined the three figures before him while catching his breath in ragged gasps.
Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph watched him in return.
‘Extraordinary.’
It was rare for a living person to emit such a pungent stench of decay.
The mask he wore felt like a mercy.
“Why, why are there two of you? No, anyway—you’re them, aren’t you? Right?”
The moment Park Jo-hyuk spoke, even Shin Yoseph’s expression hardened.
‘Maldor.’
The reek of rotting flesh that emanated from the Malevolent Spirit also poured from Park Jo-hyuk’s mouth.
The stench of decay and Maldor.
Park Jo-hyuk, tormented by both the Malevolent Spirit and the Demon, turned his bloodshot eyes toward Yoon Sang, who swallowed hard and nodded.
“Uuuuuuh!”
Park Jo-hyuk collapsed to his knees, bowing his head.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Only Yoon Sang stood bewildered as Park Jo-hyuk muttered rapidly.
Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph peered into the house visible beyond him.
Despite the daylight, the interior was shrouded in darkness.
Beyond the drawn curtains, newspaper had been plastered across the windows themselves.
Combined with the damp, oppressive atmosphere that permeated the space, Park Jo-hyuk’s home felt almost like a cave.
‘Severe.’
This didn’t seem to be Park Jo-hyuk’s own doing.
This too must be one of the abnormal behaviors exhibited by the possessed.
“Park Jo-hyuk.”
As Kang Hyung-seok spoke, Park Jo-hyuk’s head snapped up abruptly.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Yes, yes.”
Park Jo-hyuk shuffled into the house as if his legs had given way, then flung the entrance wide open.
“Come in.”
It was suffocating.
A gaunt man crouched down, his eyes glistening, beckoning them into the murky depths of his home.
Thud.
Shin Yoseph moved first, with Yoon Sang following cautiously behind.
Whoosh.
Before stepping inside, Kang Hyung-seok scattered salt across the entrance threshold.
Then he closed the door.
Skitter, skitter, skitter, skitter, skitter.
The sound of insects fleeing echoed throughout the entire house.
I had only just stepped in front of the shoe cabinet.
Yoon Sang swallowed hard enough that his Adam’s apple bobbed visibly, while Shin Yoseph adjusted his mask and made the sign of the cross.
“You remember the promise you made to me, don’t you?”
Park Jo-hyuk’s gaze turned toward Yoon Sang.
His eyes held clear displeasure.
But Yoon Sang spoke with equal firmness, his expression showing he would not back down.
“Just to be safe, I’ll check if there are any cameras.”
“Do you really have to?”
“You promised.”
Kang Hyung-seok had never seen Yoon Sang speak with such intensity since their first meeting.
“I’ll check.”
“Ugh.”
Park Jo-hyuk buried his face in his palms and let out a sound like a wounded animal. In that moment, Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Yoseph exchanged their thoughts with nothing but a glance.
This doesn’t look good, does it?
It’s serious.
Can you handle this?
We’ll have to try.
And then, Yoon Sang turned off all the lights in the house and pulled a sheet of red cellophane from his bag.
He held it against the back of his phone and turned on the flash, meticulously checking for any hidden cameras.
The action felt like it was pulling my consciousness back to reality, even if only slightly.
Click, click.
Yoon Sang opened every drawer and even held his finger up to the mirror, then proceeded to unplug every outlet in the house.
“That’s it.”
“Phew.”
Park Jo-hyuk, who had been waiting anxiously the whole time, nodded with an expression of relief.
From his demeanor, it was clear he hoped everything would be resolved as quickly as possible.
“I have a few questions for you.”
Park Jo-hyuk’s eyes moved from Kang Hyung-seok to Shin Yoseph.
His gaze suggested he wasn’t sure which of them was the “hyung” Yoon Sang habitually referred to.
“Both of us are people who can help you, Park Jo-hyuk. From now on, you need to answer our questions honestly.”
“Yes.”
Park Jo-hyuk answered eagerly, and all eyes turned to Kang Hyung-seok.
In the dim room, where the motor of an old refrigerator could be heard humming in the otherwise silent house, he spoke quietly.
“Why did you perform the Demon summoning ritual?”
“To… to live.”
“To live? You mean you’ve been suffering from something all this time?”
Park Jo-hyuk twisted his lips and shook his head.
“To live like a human being.”
I already knew Park Jo-hyuk’s circumstances from what Yoon Sang had told me.
But words are what they are.
There is a vast difference between hearing something secondhand and hearing it directly from the person involved.
Park Jo-hyuk had been desperate.
Desperate enough to take interest in and actually attempt a demon summoning—something an ordinary person would dismiss as foolish.
“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but it was half a joke! I didn’t harm anyone!”
Park Jo-hyuk curled into himself, tears streaming down his face.
“But why do I have to suffer like this? What did I do wrong!”
Kang Hyung-seok swallowed a sigh, his chest heavy with conflicted emotion.
In truth, Park Jo-hyuk had harmed no one.
He hadn’t even intended to.
He had simply done what he shouldn’t have, only to face consequences far beyond his expectations.
But Shin Yoseph’s perspective was different.
“A demon dwells in the heart.”
As a priest, he could not look favorably upon Park Jo-hyuk’s attempt to summon a demon into this world.
Park Jo-hyuk felt as though a blade had fallen against his throat, and Shin Yoseph’s voice turned cold.
“If you were truly innocent, the demon would not have responded.”
“I, what did I even—”
“Ask your own heart.”
Shin Yoseph answered as though he already knew the truth.
Envy, jealousy, sloth, wrath.
The ugly sins that dwelt within Park Jo-hyuk.
He had committed four of the seven deadly sins and even attempted to summon a demon—Park Jo-hyuk was merely receiving the karmic retribution he deserved.
“You must atone for your sins yourself.”
Shin Yoseph surveyed the house before continuing.
“For now, I will sever the connection.”
Park Jo-hyuk exhaled a trembling breath, his tear-filled eyes clenching shut.
Shin Yoseph turned, holy water bottle in hand, while Kang Hyung-seok placed a hand upon Park Jo-hyuk’s shoulder.
“Listen carefully to what I say from now on.”
Park Jo-hyuk looked up at him and nodded vigorously.
“No matter what happens, do not let your heart grow weak.”
“Yes, yes. I will do as you say.”
Crunch.
Kang Hyung-seok gripped Park Jo-hyuk’s shoulder firmly before turning away.
In the darkened house where Yoon Sang displayed both fear and intense curiosity, they moved in unison.
Whoosh.
Kang Hyung-seok scattered salt while Shin Yoseph sprinkled holy water throughout the space.
The most generous application was upon Park Jo-hyuk’s bed.
It was the space where Park Jo-hyuk would have spent the longest hours in the dead of night.
Crackle.
As Shin Yoseph pulled back the bedding, he murmured as though in pain.
“…Did he do this intentionally?”
“You must have done it without knowing.”
Kang Hyung-seok sprinkled salt across the mattress.
As if attempting to bury the filthy mattress—soiled with excrement—beneath a blanket of white salt.

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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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