An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 225

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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 225
Part 7. A Plea to the Heavens and Earth (2)
Splash!
I pulled it up from the depths.
Water droplets scattered from my drenched sleeve.
The putrid stench that permeated the air suggested water long since corrupted.
Drip, drop.
As I unclenched my fist, pouring thick droplets like blood, what lay in my palm was finally revealed.
But it was caked in mud, so I immediately plunged it back into the water and shook it vigorously.
Splash! Splash!
The current began to wash away the sediment.
Once all the mud had fallen away, I retrieved my phone and shone its light upon it.
Then I exhaled a heavy sigh that rose from the depths of my chest.
Suddenly, Jo Un-su’s words came back to me.
‘A baby disappeared from the village, you see.’
The baby that the Mentally Ill Man had thrown into this well so very long ago.
Drip, drop.
What fell from my hand like tears was a small fragment of bone.
The remains had been recovered, but a single piece of bone that had separated from the body had been buried in the mud.
I twisted my lips as I gazed upon the bone that had never fully decomposed.
“How long have you been here?”
Drip.
As if in response, a droplet fell from the bone, and I clenched my fist, tucking the fragment deep into my pocket.
Then, with a grave expression, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Now that I have found the source of this spiritual defilement and resentment, I shall begin the rite of resolution.”
Clang-clang-clang!
From the depths of the well, I shook the Shaman’s Bell with great force.
***
At the same moment.
“Hyung-seok! Hyung-seok!”
Yoon Sang leaned his head into the well and shouted at the top of his lungs.
He then shone his phone’s flashlight down, but for some reason, the light couldn’t penetrate far into the darkness.
“If you can hear me, please answer! Hyung-seok!”
Yoon Sang, who had been screaming until his voice grew hoarse, finally collapsed into a sitting position as silence answered him.
“I’m going to lose my mind. Damn it!”
His gaze turned toward the rope.
If I pulled that rope, I could know for certain.
Whether Kang Hyung-seok had fallen, or if he needed help.
But the possibility that an empty rope might come up made me unable to reach for it.
“Argh! I’m losing my mind!”
It was then that Yoon Sang groaned, gripping his hair.
Vrrrrroom.
The sound of an approaching vehicle and the glare of its headlights captured his attention.
***
Clatter!
The chair Park Jo-hyuk had been sitting in came to a stop.
It had been thrashing about moments before, and Park Jo-hyuk remained slumped limply in the chair.
In the suddenly silent house, Shin Yoseph breathed heavily.
He then wiped beneath his nose with his sleeve, but no blood came away.
‘…Could it be.’
He immediately approached the window and pulled back the curtains.
Whoosh! Crackle!
After tearing away every damned newspaper blocking my view, I exhaled a breath tinged with the scent of blood.
“Phew.”
The night scenery comes into view.
Ordinary and mundane—the lights of an alley you could see anywhere.
Someone would be having dinner, someone would be dragging their weary body to play games, and someone might be watching television.
Confronted with such remarkably peaceful and serene everyday life, Shin Yoseph shifted his gaze to Park Jo-hyuk.
I can feel it.
Something sinister draining from his body.
The things that dominated this house fading away.
“The Lord has mercy and abundant salvation.”
No voice interrupts the prayer.
And so Shin Yoseph could continue the prayer with a peaceful heart.
“He alone will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.”
Lord.
Grant eternal rest.
Shine eternal light.
May all those who have departed from this world find peace and rest through God’s mercy.
“Amen.”
Shin Yoseph ended his prayer in a deep, solemn voice and made the sign of the cross.
Then he closed his eyes, pressing his palms together.
***
Clang-clang-clang!
I shook the Shaman’s Bell while standing waist-deep in the water of the Well.
Each time the bell rang, the sound echoed through the darkness.
The Shaman’s Bell was a sacred instrument connecting gods and shamans, while the divine blade in my other hand could cleave through all manner of malevolence.
Clang-clang-clang! Whoosh!
The Shaman’s Bell and the divine blade.
As I wielded both to dispel the toxic miasma from the Corridor and drive out the corrupted energy, my gaze grew increasingly profound.
I felt the Guardian Spirit entering my body.
“Spring’s three-month spirits, summer’s three-month spirits, autumn’s three-month spirits, winter’s three-month spirits, the twelve Lion Spirit Guides, the three Lion Spirit Guides, the eastern Lion, Jang Won-baek, the southern Lion, Jang Won-bok.”
Those who have not yet departed—begone.
Go to the place where you must go.
“The western Lion, Jo Gong-myung, the northern Lion, Moon Seok-gong, the central Lion, the southern Lion, the female Lion, the southeastern female Lion, the First Court of the Ten Kings, King Chin-gwang, the Second Court, King Cho-gang, the Third Court, King Song-je.”
Clang-clang-clang!
“The Ten Kings and the main Lion Spirit Guides, the main spirit of union—having received resolution without obstruction, may you be reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss.”
This is the land of the living, and you have no place here.
“The twelve earthly branches—Lion Spirit Guides.”
I recited the same passage twice more, then raised the divine blade high.
Then I swung it down forcefully toward the bottom of the Well.
Boom! Splash!
Putrid water shot upward, then fell like rain.
Drenched in the water, I twisted the divine blade lodged in the Well’s bottom.
Soil churned upward as the black water grew even more turbid, and a foul stench rose from the depths.
“The Lion Spirit Guides shall depart this day and hour, traveling far and wide, journeying ten thousand leagues away.”
Om, hurried, swift, by the law. Svaha.
It was right after my low, heavy voice fell silent.
Plop.
A water droplet fell from the Well’s wall, creating a clear sound.
Everything was not yet finished.
Yet the Well that had roiled with corrupted energy seemed to have returned to its original state.
Now that it had become an ordinary Well again, I shook the Shaman’s Bell once more.
One task remained.
To send forth the Victim Spirit of the Baby who was murdered in this Well.
Clang-clang-clang!
Guiding the spirit of a voiceless baby to salvation is not easy.
For it harbors no lingering attachments, and thus no resentment either.
The Baby Spirit remained trapped like bones buried in mud because someone was holding onto it.
Splash! Screech!
Kang Hyung-seok, swinging his ritual blade as if to sever what needed severing, froze mid-motion.
Then he caught a foul stench and slowly turned his head to look behind him.
“…You were the cause.”
A naked man crawling along the well’s wall.
This was the culprit—the one who had given meaning to a Demon summoning ritual that should have failed.
It was that man.
Watching the Malevolent Spirit who had thrown animals and the baby into this well to their deaths, Kang Hyung-seok tightened his grip on his ritual blade.
***
Thud!
Yoon Sang froze as he watched the elderly man step out of the car.
A man who had come to this isolated well in the dead of night.
The car’s headlights, still running, illuminated him from behind, and Yoon Sang’s heart chilled at the sight of the man’s unnatural prosthetic eye.
“W-w-who are you?”
Jo Un-su shook his head at Yoon Sang’s question and stood before the well.
“Did he go inside?”
“Who are you!”
Yoon Sang, judging this man could potentially be a threat to Kang Hyung-seok, cried out while suppressing his fear, and Jo Un-su released a sigh like a lament.
“I know Kang Hyung-seok. I told him about this well.”
“Ah…?”
“He really did go inside!”
Yoon Sang nodded with a bewildered expression, and Jo Un-su, gripping the well’s edge, collapsed as if his legs had given way.
“S-sir?”
The startled Yoon Sang rushed over to support him.
Jo Un-su shook his head vigorously and knelt before the well, pressing his palms together.
Then, as if he had been waiting for this moment his entire life, he began to recite a sutra.
“Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita, perceived that all five aggregates are empty and was freed from all suffering.”
The Heart Sutra.
It helps one transcend suffering, attain enlightenment, and live a true life.
“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than form.”
Jo Un-su’s recitation of the Heart Sutra was reverent and desperate.
Watching his clasped hands tremble slightly, Yoon Sang silently sat beside him.
‘I really have no idea what’s going on.’
He didn’t even know who Jo Un-su was.
But he hoped this act held some meaning.
That it would help Kang Hyung-seok.
With that wish, Yoon Sang pressed his palms together like Jo Un-su and closed his eyes.
***
Shhhhh.
As the Malevolent Spirit crawled across the Well wall like a spider, Kang Hyung-seok exhaled slowly.
It was a Malevolent Spirit that had existed for decades, and its aura was far from ordinary—likely due to the dark sorcery and demonic summoning ritual performed in this place.
Yet that was no reason to hesitate.
“Six-six, six-four, six-three to twenty-six-four, the celestial generals stand guard at every corner, the Shaman’s Bell vibrates with resonant sound.”
Kang Hyung-seok recited the exorcism sutra while gripping the Divine General’s Blade with all his strength.
The Malevolent Spirit’s lips, which had been smiling, trembled, and its face contorted.
“Before the white horse and the great general, as the flag flutters, those bound spirits and malevolent entities that leap from the carriage shall be shackled and vanquished, brought before the celestial general for retribution.”
It was a scripture rarely recited from memory.
“East, west, south, north, and center—look around in all eight directions. Where can you go? If you wish to flee eastward, the eastern Azure Dragon general commands the eastern formation, so you cannot escape to the east.”
The Malevolent Spirit, which had been attempting to climb the Well wall to escape Kang Hyung-seok, froze.
Splash, splash.
As Kang Hyung-seok approached the immobilized Malevolent Spirit, he raised the Divine General’s Blade high.
This was the moment countless souls had desperately wished for.
The animals slaughtered by the butcher.
The baby slaughtered by the butcher.
And their families.
To finally grant closure to this moment that all of them had yearned for, Kang Hyung-seok raised the Divine General’s Blade.
“With the celestial sword, split the belly and disembowel; with the heart-piercing spear, sever the neck; with the fifty-pound iron hammer of the fire furnace, grind the bones; with the luminous pearl, knead it together.”
Kang Hyung-seok swung the Divine General’s Blade toward the Malevolent Spirit’s back.
Ordinarily, the Divine General’s Blade had a dull edge.
But now it had transformed into a razor-sharp weapon capable of severing all things.
The Malevolent Spirit, and all the entangled sorrows bound to this place.
Shhhhk!
The blade pierced into the Malevolent Spirit’s back, and as Kang Hyung-seok withdrew the Divine General’s Blade, he continued the scripture.
“Wrap it round and round with elm wood, bind it with five-colored iron mesh, and cast it into the depths of the great sea, letting it sink and drift. When the aeons pass—”
The Malevolent Spirit, dislodged from the Well wall, plummeted into the black water, and Kang Hyung-seok swung the Divine General’s Blade at its neck.
“Even if ten million years pass, the spirit shall never rise again. By the fire and water seal, exorcism and vanquishment, swift and absolute—Svaha!”
Splash!
A great spray of water erupted.
The waves surged toward the walls and then crashed against Kang Hyung-seok.
And when even those waves had stilled, Kang Hyung-seok lifted his head, breathing heavily.
‘It’s over.’
Only the stench of rotten Well water lingered in the air.
The oppressive aura and the presence of the Malevolent Spirit were gone.
The gateway to the afterlife had closed, and the Malevolent Spirit had been annihilated.
In the now-tranquil Well, Kang Hyung-seok slowly closed his eyes, then opened them.
A form was beginning to take shape before him.

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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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