An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 231

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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 230
Part 2. This Much Proves Something’s There at Daejeong Materials (1)
When lunch hour arrived, Kang Hyung-seok headed toward the Underground Parking Lot.
“Oh? Taking another half-day this afternoon?”
Namgoong Min-ah called out to him, but Kang Hyung-seok shook his head with a bitter smile.
“No. I’m going out to scout the area.”
“Ah! Please be careful out there!”
Namgoong Min-ah bowed her head politely in farewell, though Kang Hyung-seok felt a twinge of conscience.
This outing wasn’t really about scouting.
Tap, tap, tap.
Descending the Emergency Stairwell toward the Underground Parking Lot, Kang Hyung-seok checked the text message Shin Yoseph had sent on his phone.
There were two messages.
One was an address, and the other contained a brief note that the ring appeared to have been made there.
‘Terrifying. Shinjin Construction.’
Money might open any door, but I had to admit their information network and execution were impressive.
Beep, beep!
Once in the car, he set the navigation destination to Pyeongtaek, placed his bag on the passenger seat, and called Shin Yoseph.
The call connected just as his car pulled out of the parking lot.
(Now you’re calling without texting first?)
Shin Yoseph’s voice flowed through the Bluetooth speaker, and Kang Hyung-seok exhaled a sigh through his nose before speaking.
“So you can’t talk?”
(If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have answered.)
He must be in his office.
The sound of a pen clicking was audible in the background.
“I’m heading out now. Anything else unusual?”
(You’ll find out when you get there.)
His voice was heavy.
“…Why?”
(The Factory Owner is dead.)
Kang Hyung-seok cursed silently.
His mind was already complicated enough.
But hearing that the Factory Owner had died made him wonder what on earth was happening.
“What are you talking about? Dead?”
(A few days ago, he hanged himself inside the factory. A suicide note was found, so the investigation wrapped up quickly.)
“Ugh…”
His gaze unconsciously shifted to his hands gripping the steering wheel.
The destination was near Pyeongtaek Port.
Even driving fast, it would take about an hour, and if the Factory Owner was dead, this trip might well be pointless.
(But then again, who knows. If you go, you might see something.)
“What?”
(There must be a reason. The fact that he filed for closure the day before hanging himself says it all.)
Things ordinary people couldn’t see might be visible to Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes.
Such anticipation was subtly woven into Shin Yoseph’s voice.
“Do you know anything?”
(I didn’t have time to learn much, but it seems like he was planning to pass the ring to anyone—not necessarily your company.)
“You’re sure?”
(Near Pyeongtaek Port, he set up a box and just smoked for several days.)
Kang Hyung-seok sucked his lower lip inward and nodded heavily.
An image formed in my mind.
A Factory Owner resigned to death, waiting endlessly near Pyeongtaek Port where the sea was visible, holding a box containing a ring, hoping for someone to join his plan.
“Thanks. I’ll handle the rest.”
(Should I come with you?)
“Better alone. But I might ask for your help later.”
Though unintended, my voice had grown heavy.
(…Help with what?)
Shin Yoseph’s returning voice was also low and weighted.
“Our Security Guard didn’t show up for work. From the circumstances, it seems he got caught up because of that ring.”
A ring hastily discarded.
Perhaps the Security Guard had stolen the ring, likely from the box itself.
It was a metal ring.
He might have thought he could earn enough for a drink or two.
I still don’t know whether he kept just one, or if destroying the ring caused him to bear the full curse.
“I gave my business card to the substitute. If a call comes while I’m away, go check on it instead.”
(Even the Security Guard…. What a mess.)
“So you’re not going?”
I asked a question whose answer I already knew, and the expected response came back exactly as anticipated.
(I have to go.)
Perhaps because they lived similar lives, their thoughts were alike as well.
In the end, it was someone else’s problem, and contracting a curse was like setting fire to one’s own body.
But I couldn’t leave it alone.
It was about saving a life, and I believed it was the right thing to do.
“Thanks. I’ll call you later.”
(What about food?)
“I’ll eat on the way.”
(Eat something good, something good. Stop eating that convenience store junk so much.)
“What’s wrong with convenience store food?”
In fact, Kang Hyung-seok, who had been thinking about the newly released convenience store bento box, answered curtly before hanging up.
***
Click.
Kang Hyung-seok stepped out of the car upon reaching his destination.
It was a factory near Pyeongtaek Port.
The wind carried the scent of the sea, and during the drive here, I’d seen massive trucks passing without pause.
Crunch, crunch.
As I approached the factory where someone had died, I felt the surroundings growing increasingly quiet.
It wasn’t merely a feeling.
‘The metallic stench.’
I’d recognized it from when the ring was crude.
It was a ring that seemed prone to rust accumulation.
The factory where the ring was manufactured dealt with metal, and beyond the glass windows, I could see presses for making steel plates and machines that engraved with lasers.
Creak.
Kang Hyung-seok carefully withdrew the pencil case containing the Shaman’s Bell while surveying the factory.
It was broad daylight, and occasionally vehicles and pedestrians passed by in the vicinity.
‘I hope you understand this is unavoidable. I’m truly sorry.’
Whoosh.
A passerby’s gaze briefly followed Kang Hyung-seok as he shook the Shaman’s Bell along with the pencil case.
I knew shaking the pencil case looked strange.
But believing it would look less strange than someone shaking a Shaman’s Bell, I slowly circled the factory.
“Yirirsesin Iwolryeonhyung Seonin Bugi Oknyeosuhang Isippalsu Yeoomhapyeong Cheonsumanye Chuksueichung Geupgeupyeolyulryeong.”
Then, with my gaze fixed beyond the glass window, I recited the incantation in a low voice.
“Taesangtaesin Eungbyeonmujeong Gusabagmae Bomyeonghosin Tongdalseonryeong Jihyemyeongjeong Simsinannyang Samhonyeonggo Baekbulsangyeong Geupgeupyeolyulryeong.”
Just as I, having recited the Purification Body Incantation and the Purification Heart Incantation, was about to recite the Pure Land Earth Incantation.
Creak.
A sound pierced through the glass window and reached my ears.
A thick rope.
A human body suspended beneath it.
An overturned chair.
None of it was real.
These were the events that had occurred in this factory, visible to my eyes.
“…Danjangtoji Sinjichwiyeong Tongcheondalji Churipyuumyeong Wioojeonju Budeusyujeong Yugongjiil Myeongseosangyeong Geupgeupyeolyulryeong.”
Kang Hyung-seok recited the Pure Land Earth Incantation, washing away the defilement of the place and its surroundings while observing the corpse, and the interior of the factory began to transform.
Clang clang clang clang clang clang!
Rings poured from the rapidly spinning machinery.
The factory was vast, yet only one person inspected the rings.
The man who had hanged himself.
With an exhausted and weary expression, he examined the rings one by one with his gloved hands.
“Yeongbocheonjon Anwisinheung Jejahonbaek Ojanghueonmyeong Cheongryongbaekho Daejangbuneun Jujakseonmu Siwisinbyeong Geupgeupyeolyulryeong.”
Five Directional Deities.
Guard against malevolent spirits and evil entities.
Keep danger away and protect me.
This was the meaning of the protective incantation that Kang Hyung-seok had recited.
Yet as the Factory transformed once more before him, he reflexively clenched his teeth.
Splash!
“Aaaahhhhh!”
The molten metal danced.
Shimmering heat waves distorted his vision, and the piercing screams ravaged the souls of all who heard them.
Within the Factory, now consumed entirely by crimson hues, only the blast furnace melting steel seemed to exist.
“Aaahhh! Uwaaaaa!”
“M-Manager! Manageeeeer!”
The Factory Employees’ screams had transformed the interior into pandemonium, and the chaos gripped his vision without mercy.
Kang Hyung-seok watched, unable even to blink, as a man thrashed within the blast furnace.
Within mere seconds, the man’s movements ceased, and he melted into the molten metal while clutching a transparent pillar.
“…No way.”
Kang Hyung-seok looked down at his own hand.
The hand that had touched the ring.
And the ring was what the Guardian Spirit had warned him about through the Shaman’s Bell.
“S-Stop! Shut down the machinery!”
The Factory Owner, who appeared several years younger than when he had taken his own life, screamed until his throat tore.
But it was already too late.
“A ring made from a person who melted.”
A sudden accident.
Molten metal that had consumed a human.
A ring forged from it.
An incantation inscribed within the ring, a Security Guard who had failed to show up.
Click.
Kang Hyung-seok reflexively covered his mouth, the machinery halted, and they hastily pulled the person from the now-silent blast furnace.
What difference did it make?
Drip, drip, drip.
He had already become one with the molten metal.
“Ughhhh! Gwaaack!”
A Factory Employee retched at the horrific sight, while the Factory Owner wailed like a beast.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
“P-Please, calm down!”
“We’re all going to die like this!”
“Let go! You bastards! Let go, let go! Damn it! Let go!”
The Factory Owner’s overwhelming emotions pressed down heavily.
The suffocating heat and the terror felt by the Factory Employees choked off breath itself.
‘…What is this?’
Two distinct emotions occupied the space.
Relief faintly dissolving within despair.
It was an emotion I shouldn’t have felt in this situation, yet my eyes narrowed slightly.
The landscape before me shifted, and only the hollow, chilling interior of the factory remained visible.
Clang.
The Shaman’s Bell rang as if declaring its role complete.
I gazed at the Shaman’s Bell with a face trembling faintly, then looked back at the factory interior.
My gaze lingered on the machine that stamped out rings.
“The ring….”
A ring forged from molten metal mixed with human remains.
What possible intention lay behind passing such a ring to Daejeong Materials?
What story could there be?
The thought suddenly struck me—could this be deliberate murder?
‘No, it can’t be that simple.’
If it were, why would they have taken their own life?
And what was the purpose of that curse?
Crash!
I drove my fist against the factory wall, my teeth grinding with a sickening sound.
Then I began sprinting urgently toward my car.
‘There’s no time.’
Now that I understood the ring was far more sinister than I’d thought, I couldn’t afford to hesitate.
Beep beep!
As I pressed the button on my car key, the headlights flickered as if urging me forward.
Click, buzz buzz buzz, beep.
“Shin Yoseph!”
The moment the call connected, I asked him to go see the Security Guard immediately and climbed into my car.
(What’s the address?)
“The Security Guard at the Company should know it now! Send me the address once you find it!”
Vroom!
I began driving toward the Company’s location.
It must have been because I’d witnessed something horrific.
My hands gripping the steering wheel were trembling faintly.

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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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