An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 238

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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 238
Part 4. Don’t Trust Your Ears (1)
Brrrring, brrrring.
As Park Su-il stepped out of the poultry farm, he still clutched his phone in his hand.
“Ah, they’re not picking up.”
His eyes betrayed the shock that he hadn’t expected the call to go unanswered.
And desperation flickered across his face.
But there was nothing I could do to help him.
“Report it to the police.”
“Huh…?”
“File a report first. Say that someone has disappeared.”
I knew that look in Park Su-il’s eyes would haunt me for a long time.
“Ah, understood. Yes, yes!”
With a face drained of all color, Park Su-il began trembling as he dialed the police station.
While he did, I circled around the perimeter of the poultry farm.
Crunch, crunch.
‘The chickens died at dawn, he said.’
It would have been just as dark then as it was now.
With no streetlights or bulbs nearby, darkness enveloped everything.
On the outskirts of the village with no light and few people passing through.
“No, I’m telling you, I don’t see anyone! What are you asking me to wait for! The calls aren’t going through, that’s true. Ugh!”
Park Su-il’s angry voice reached me—apparently the police weren’t understanding him.
It was a tragic situation.
This country had a complacent attitude toward adult disappearances.
Unless the missing person was elderly with dementia or had serious issues, they wouldn’t launch an urgent search.
Thud, thud.
Searching for any possible clues, I moved forward slowly with focused attention.
Then, at a spot where the stench was particularly pungent, I stopped and slowly turned my head.
There, the pitch-black mountain locked in darkness at night loomed down at me.
“Alright, yes. Then just file the report for now.”
Park Su-il’s voice after ending the call sounded strangely distant.
It was because my mind had become entirely fixated on that dark mountain.
‘Mountain, white fur, that stench.’
No, no.
This couldn’t be.
‘First a dog died. Then chickens.’
But the deeper my thoughts went, the more an ominous and sinister conclusion crept inexorably closer.
‘The missing person.’
I looked down at the hand that had grasped the fur.
Then, with a twisted expression, I gazed at the mountain once more.
‘A dog and chickens.’
Both were creatures that awakened human consciousness through sound.
I killed the dog first to hide my presence, and the chickens to draw closer to the village.
Chirr, chirr, chirr.
The sound of grasshoppers grew closer like a madman wielding a scythe, yet my gaze remained fixed on the mountain.
An ordinary mountain.
A mountain that had to be ordinary.
Yet that mountain was watching me.
Something within it, hidden between the trees, was looking down at me.
That was the premonition I felt.
Clang!
The sudden ring of the Shaman’s Bell seized my attention.
‘…I understand.’
Do not look at the mountain.
That was unmistakably what the Shaman’s Bell was telling me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my back to the mountain, walking toward Park Su-il.
***
Plink, plink.
I watched Park Su-il’s back as he prepared tea at the sink.
We were inside Park Su-il’s House—a single-story dwelling with two rooms.
“Do you have no family?”
At my careful question, Park Su-il’s lips curved faintly upward.
“Well, that’s how it is.”
His answer seemed laden with multiple meanings.
Fearing the atmosphere would grow awkward if I pressed further, I remained seated at the living room table, waiting for Park Su-il to return.
Clink.
Park Su-il returned with a glass cup—the kind you’d find anywhere—filled with green tea.
“What a lovely fragrance.”
“Yes. I brewed it myself with rosemary I cultivated.”
“Thank you.”
I offered a faint smile and brought the cup to my lips.
The distinctive warmth of rosemary spread across my palate, and soon the hot tea soothed the emptiness within.
Thus, peace seeped into me along with the rosemary tea.
“Ahh.”
With the tension eased from my face as I gazed at the cup, I lifted my head and met Park Su-il’s eyes.
“Were you acquainted with the Poultry Farm Owner?”
Park Su-il’s face and hand suddenly stiffened as he was about to bring the cup to his lips.
“It sounded that way when you reported it to the police.”
“Ah….”
Park Su-il laughed bitterly, set the cup down on the table, and exhaled a sigh through his nose.
“Just a friendly neighbor, nothing more.”
“I see.”
“Yes. Um, there shouldn’t be any trouble, right?”
Park Su-il believed Kang Hyung-seok to be a shaman.
So this question was far from simple.
He wanted confirmation from the shaman.
“I’m not certain yet either.”
“Ah…”
“There shouldn’t be any trouble. That’s why I came.”
Kang Hyung-seok took a sip of tea and pulled out his phone.
There were a few spam messages, but that wasn’t what he was looking for.
Click.
He opened the map app, set his current location as the destination, and Jangsan as the starting point.
The distance was shorter than expected.
While Jangsan wasn’t visible to the naked eye, it was certainly close enough for a beast to traverse.
Jangsan was closer than he’d thought.
“Is there anything you haven’t told me?”
“Pardon?”
Park Su-il asked in surprise, and Kang Hyung-seok turned off his phone screen and met his gaze.
“Even small, trivial details are fine. I’m just wondering if there’s something I might have missed.”
“That is… well…”
Park Su-il rubbed the back of his neck like someone being strangled by a ghost, struggling to continue.
“Some villagers apparently called another shaman.”
“Another shaman?”
Kang Hyung-seok’s brow furrowed, and Park Su-il faltered, worried he’d offended him.
“Yes, yes. I didn’t call them. It’s just that, well, with all these ominous incidents occurring, it seems they sought help from another shaman as well.”
“Did they discover anything?”
“Only that it doesn’t seem to be human work…”
Kang Hyung-seok had already determined that much himself.
He exhaled heavily and rubbed his eyes.
He didn’t know who this other shaman was, but if luck favored him, they might actually help each other.
“I understand for now.”
“Please sleep in the inner room.”
Looking in the direction Park Su-il indicated, I could see what appeared to be a clean inner room.
My heart felt grateful.
But it wasn’t time to sleep yet, and there was more I needed to verify, so I shook my head.
“No. I’ll take a look around this area first.”
“Ah, no, at this hour?”
“You mentioned you sought help from another shaman, after all.”
Park Su-il looked up at me with a puzzled expression as I stood, and I continued while gathering my bag.
“A proper Shaman would have set up protective wards. I’ll check them myself and reinforce anything that seems lacking.”
“Ah!”
“Please get some rest first.”
I had no idea what Park Su-il did for a living, but he certainly wouldn’t be commuting to an office in formal attire.
He likely worked with crops or livestock—that kind of work started early in the day.
“No, please. I can at least guide you.”
“These days, everything’s on your phone anyway. Don’t worry—just rest first.”
“But still….”
“I prefer moving alone.”
I spoke with deliberate firmness, making it clear I didn’t want interference.
It seemed the only way Park Su-il could truly relax.
“Yes….”
A pang of guilt stabbed at my conscience, but I moved toward the shoe rack anyway.
As I did, I watched Park Su-il slip on his shoes with both hands respectfully clasped, and before opening the entrance door, I paused in thought.
‘If, unlikely as it is, the Jangsan Tiger actually exists….’
The Jangsan Tiger mimics human voices.
It enchants people.
It devours them.
“Park Su-il?”
Park Su-il blinked, and I smiled at him, pulling my lips upward.
“Could you give me the door lock password?”
“Ah, yes! It’s 48858282.”
I repeated the password silently several times, then met Park Su-il’s gaze.
“I’ll come in quietly. So no matter who calls for you, you absolutely must not open that door.”
“…Yes?”
“I have a bad feeling about this. Keep the door locked and your ears closed. Just sleep.”
This wasn’t idle talk.
If the Jangsan Tiger—that urban legend—actually existed, the possibility of it targeting Park Su-il couldn’t be dismissed.
“Promise me.”
As I regarded him seriously, Park Su-il nodded heavily.
“Yes.”
I looked at him with gratitude and stepped outside.
The night air was cold.
Click.
After carefully closing the door, I circled Park Su-il’s house once, shaking the Shaman’s Bell.
“Simsayoungji asimujeong mugungjoahwa geumilchebiyeokgyeong jungangcheongjeong cheonjiday wang.”
Whirrrring.
“Geungnak daywang cheongje daywang byeokryeok daywang jeokje daywang baekje daywang heukje daywang hwangje daywang sugeuk daywang okhwang nim seonbul daywang.”
A celestial incantation.
It held the power to drive away malevolent spirits.
If the Jangsan Tiger was truly a tiger, it might be able to handle the Malevolent Spirit and guide it to where Park Su-il was. I desperately hoped that wouldn’t happen.
“Minseonnae-jaeyeom-poong-daewang minkannae-jaeseon-jiji-daewang sesang-naewang konryun-daewang jap-gwi-deung-sal sok-geo-toessan.”
Please, let nothing of the sort occur.
Kang Hyung-seok finished the prayer with fervent hope.
“Om geup-geup yeoryul-ryeong sabaha.”
***
Patter, patter.
Walking through the Village in the dead of night, Kang Hyung-seok even controlled his breathing carefully.
At first glance, it appeared to be a peaceful Village.
Yet there was a nagging sensation that something could burst forth from anywhere at any moment and snatch at the nape of my neck.
Mountains were visible wherever my eyes could reach.
‘Damn it.’
Even after shaking my head to dispel the thoughts, a sticky sensation like a gaze continued to cling to me.
In times like these, I had to keep my wits about me.
So Kang Hyung-seok tried his best to think about who the Shaman was that someone else had called upon.
‘It wouldn’t be a Shaman that the teacher knows.’
If it were, Lee Geum-kyung would have given me a hint.
But since Lee Geum-kyung said nothing in particular, she surely wasn’t someone with whom this person had a close relationship or connection.
Yet it wouldn’t be a False Shaman either.
‘The protective barriers are properly set.’
I had already confirmed the presence of salt scattered throughout the Village.
It wasn’t merely salt—prayers had been offered over it, and a subtle different scent was mixed in as well.
‘Incense.’
Who could it possibly be?
Would I encounter them while pursuing the Jangsan Tiger that appeared in this Village, or whatever else it was that I didn’t understand?
It was then.
Woof woof woof woof!
The sound of a dog barking came from behind.
This was a Village without dogs.
Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof woof!
Yet from far behind Kang Hyung-seok, a dog barked ferociously.
The sound was utterly ordinary, but in this Village, it was anything but ordinary.
Because they had all died.
Feeling my insides grow cold as if I’d swallowed ice, Kang Hyung-seok slowly turned my head toward the rear.

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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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