An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 24

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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 24
Part 8. Spirit, Spirit, Spirit (2)
A vivid image suddenly crystallized in Kang Hyung-seok’s mind.
It was not something the spirit had conveyed to him.
It was knowledge from his studies in folklore and his research into Shamanism that had revealed it.
“A salt corpse…?”
The woman was definitely thinking about creating a salt corpse.
If the woman had actually been standing before him, he would have stopped her by the collar or with his fists if necessary.
‘So Ha Jang-seo’s illness was because of you.’
A salt corpse is a shamanic tool that creates a living corpse.
The materials are a bamboo tube and a Child Spirit.
The child is confined and starved, and when the child’s obsession with food grows intense, a bamboo tube filled with food is presented.
When the child reaches out, the hand is severed, and both the spirit and the salt are sealed within the tube.
It is a shamanic tool that employs a vengeful ghost, and merely possessing it grants a shaman miraculous and supernatural powers.
Among these, the most formidable ability is to make people fall ill and die.
Swishhhhh.
As the surroundings sank into darkness and shifted into another vision, Kang Hyung-seok shook his head at the sight of the Greedy Woman.
***
Rustle, rustle.
Though it was late at night, Ha Jang-seo could not sleep and rummaged through his wardrobe.
“Honey, what are you doing?”
“We decided to go hiking tomorrow.”
Even as his wife lying in bed grumbled, Ha Jang-seo pulled out his hiking clothes with an excited expression.
“Stop it. You’re not even well.”
“I didn’t suggest it.”
“Go to the hospital. What mountain, really.”
Knowing she was right, Ha Jang-seo laughed sadly. His hands paused for a moment, but soon he resumed moving them.
“How could I refuse? An old man with all his vigor drained, asking me to hike with him.”
At Ha Jang-seo’s subdued tone, his wife could only lower her eyes without speaking.
“I’m truly grateful. Grateful. It’s not easy to find such kindness in this world these days.”
After mentioning that he would quit farming, Kang Hyung-seok had surprisingly suggested a hike.
Though Ha Jang-seo had always welcomed him, part of him had attributed it to his sales position.
So Kang Hyung-seok’s suggestion was surprising and deeply appreciated.
“If you’re so grateful, then recover your health quickly. When you’re well, you can farm steadily, and you can even put in a good word for him with your boss.”
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”
Ha Jang-seo laughed, his sun-tanned face creasing deeply.
“Of course, that’s how it should be.”
Ha Jang-seo touched the hiking clothes he had pulled out after so long, then stripped off his upper garment.
Where the sunlight had not reached, his skin was pale white.
And beneath the clothing, red stains were revealed.
A hideous crimson stain that even doctors at major hospitals couldn’t diagnose covered Ha Jang-seo’s entire back.
His wife couldn’t bear to look at it, her face growing heavy with anguish.
***
Crumble, crumble.
The altered vision began with the sound of stones collapsing.
Deep within a dark mountain—a place as lightless as the bean field where Kang Hyung-seok stood.
Crumble, crash!
As the pile of stones cleared away, moonlight spilled in, revealing the face of the Greedy Woman.
“Baby, mommy’s here. Are you hungry?”
The Young Girl, bound at her hands, feet, and mouth, was skeletal and gaunt, her eyelids barely fluttering.
“Mommy’s here, I said? You brat, if you see mommy, you should greet her.”
The woman was giggling as if something amused her greatly.
Yeom-mae.
An act that the Shaman should never commit.
Yet the woman was using this very act on her daughter, blood-related or not.
Shhhhh.
The woman thrust a bamboo tube through the gap in the stones.
It was as long as a forearm and thick enough for a human hand to fit inside.
“Mommy brought you rice. Rice. I brought your favorite kimchi pancakes.”
I watched the woman’s hands from outside the cave.
A hand axe gleamed with an icy blue sheen in the moonlight—sharpened to a razor’s edge.
“Come eat quickly. Oh, that’s right. That’s right! Good girl.”
The child squirmed and moved.
With her bound hands, she awkwardly reached toward the bamboo tube and grasped it.
That was when it happened.
Crash!
The woman toppled the remaining stones, and I clenched my eyes shut.
Thud!
“Uuuugh! Uuuugh!”
The sound of something snapping, and the Young Girl’s scream with her mouth still bound.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
In the end, yeom-mae was being performed here.
Crunch, crunch!
I ground my teeth to avoid hearing the relentless sound of the axe continuing to swing.
Crack! Thud! Squelch! Thud! Thud!
Yet the damned, unceasing sound of the axe pierced my ears.
My trembling face turned toward the woman, and I slowly opened my eyes.
It was not a human face.
That woman’s visage was absolutely not human.
“Hehehehe! Heheheck! Uheheheehaha!”
The vision faded as the woman sealed the bamboo tube with clean mulberry paper, laughing like a madwoman.
Chirrrr, chirrrr!
The sound of grass insects that had been inaudible returned, and the noise of cars traveling on the distant highway became audible.
Above the dark Bean Field, Kang Hyung-seok gasped for breath and retched.
His arms and legs trembled from witnessing something terrible.
But it didn’t last long.
“Hah, hah, hah!”
Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes gleamed as he lifted his head.
This was no time for despair.
The salt burial had been performed here—in this very Bean Field.
And Ha Jang-seo had said his health deteriorated after purchasing this field.
“I have to find it.”
I must locate the salt burial in this Bean Field and free the Young Girl’s spirit.
Swish, swish! Swish!
Kang Hyung-seok advanced through the dark Bean Field, leading with the Shaman’s Bell and a cheap lantern.
***
“…What happened to her mother?”
Namgoong Min-ah, her head wrapped in a towel, spoke in a low voice to her friend on the other end of the phone.
(It’s been so long that I’m not entirely sure….)
“Tell me anyway. I don’t know anything about it.”
Unlike the always-cheerful Namgoong Min-ah, her voice was far too subdued.
Seo Jin-ah let out a sigh at the unmistakably heavy tone and began to speak.
(I don’t know the exact details either. It was so long ago, and all I know is what my parents told me.)
“It’s fine. Just tell me whatever you know.”
(You know her Stepmother, right? She died.)
“…What?”
Namgoong Min-ah lifted her head, which had been hanging low, as Seo Jin-ah’s voice continued.
(I heard about it from my mom too. Apparently the parents had some kind of contact network. My mom said your friend’s father got a call….)
Namgoong Min-ah rubbed her forehead, her expression deeply troubled.
Her friend’s disappearance, her mother’s death.
It was rare for circumstances to become so tangled.
Most bewildering of all was not knowing what expression to wear.
(Actually, though they called it a disappearance, it seems her mother was a suspect. But after her mother died, the investigation just fizzled out.)
“Ah….”
(I don’t know exactly how she died. It’s not something you’d tell children about.)
Namgoong Min-ah nodded with a bitter expression.
***
Crunch, crackle, crunch!
Kang Hyung-seok dashed through the bean field, sweeping his lantern back and forth.
“Huff, huff!”
His breath came in ragged gasps, and sweat beaded on the hand gripping the lantern.
It was grueling work—unearthing a salt doll buried in this field over a decade ago.
Yet I couldn’t stop.
Ha Jang-seo’s health was a concern, but I had already witnessed the young girl’s end with my own eyes.
Whether the salt doll had succeeded or failed, the girl’s spirit was trapped within a bamboo tube.
Only I could free that spirit.
Jingle-jangle!
I shook the Shaman’s Bell and parted my pale lips.
“Taishanglao Jun shuo ling huang miao zhen jing taisang yuan ji da dao taisang sanshiliubu zunJing taishanglao jun yu huang da di hou tu zun shen.”
I continued the incantation with a heart seeking aid from all the celestial spirits of heaven and earth.
“Bei ji zi wei da di zi wei zhu sheng da di zuo yi zhen jun du jiang zhen jun san guan zhen jun si xing zhen jun.”
That was when it happened.
Jingle-jangle!
The Shaman’s Bell rang out, as if pointing me toward my destination.
Without hesitation, I bolted toward that spot, gripping the lantern firmly.
Why would the salt doll be here?
Had it failed?
Or had the woman who created it hidden it away in this bean field because she couldn’t bear its presence?
Either way, the fate of the woman who made the salt doll could not have been kind.
‘Even if she received divine punishment a thousand times, it would be deserved!’
A shaman’s purpose is to help people.
That this shaman had harmed someone meant she received divine retribution, and her end must have been unimaginably horrific.
I desperately hoped her death had at least soothed some of the murdered girl’s resentment.
I pressed forward in the direction the Shaman’s Bell indicated, my heart full of longing.
Crunch! Crackle, crunch!
The low-growing bean stalks wrapped around my ankles like the desperate spirit of the girl crying for salvation.
A cool night breeze descended from the dark mountain, sweeping across my body.
I had to find it.
I had to unearth it.
I had to find and free the spirit bound to this field for over a decade.
Only then would the misfortune entangled in this field be lifted, and Ha Jang-seo would recover.
Jingle-jangle-jangle!
The Shaman’s Bell rang out loudly.
I dropped to my knees, set the Shaman’s Bell beside me, and immediately tore up the beans by their roots.
It was a spot slightly removed from the field’s center.
Thud! Thud!
I dug into the cold earth, my hands trembling.
The source of that strange sensation I’d felt in the field was undoubtedly here.
The more soil accumulated beside me, the closer I felt to grasping the truth.
Please, please, please.
Suddenly, I wondered what exactly I was praying for.
Did I hope to find the vengeful spirit here, or did I hope not to? I couldn’t even tell myself.
If the vengeful spirit was here, I would have to confront it.
I would face the vengeful spirit that scattered calamity and afflicted people with illness right before my eyes.
Scrape!
Having come this far, what was there to hesitate about?
With that resolve, I dug forcefully into the earth.
The soil, which had been soft at first, gradually hardened, so I inverted the lantern.
Scrape! Crack! Scrape!
As I jabbed and scraped the earth with the back of the lantern, the light flickered and died.
Complete darkness enveloped my surroundings, but I didn’t stop my hands.
I continued digging for some time.
Waaaaarang!
The Shaman’s Bell rang violently, driving away the malevolent energy.
I paused, breathing heavily, then resumed clearing away the soil.
Clunk!
At that moment, my fingertips touched something solid.
Its surface was smooth and rounded—nothing like a stone.
I pulled out my phone and turned on the LED light from the camera, illuminating it.
What lay there was a bamboo tube, its exterior blackened with age.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
As I exhaled heavily, I clenched my teeth and held my breath.
Then, with careful movements, I extracted the bamboo tube, firmly buried in the earth.
The opening, which the woman had sealed with mulberry paper, remained exactly as it was.
“…Men live seventy years, and women eighty—both fleeting pleasures.”
I recited the Sutra for the Deceased, which brings peace and solace to the departed, and moved my hand toward the mulberry paper.
“The soul scatters in confusion, pitiful and lost; the moon is white, the wind clear, and all is sorrowful. How pitiful. O wandering spirit, to whom shall you turn for refuge?”
Is not the changing of evil into good the salvation of wandering spirits?
The flowers that fall in the spring wind bloom again in the bright season.
The green grass where kings once walked remains verdant through all the ages.
Whoosh.
I looked up at the moon gazing down upon me.
Deep within my eyes lay the fervent wish that the vengeful spirit within this bamboo tube would be soothed and accepted.
“Three, five—the bright moon has waxed full, yet it wanes again.”
I grasped the mulberry paper sealing the bamboo tube.
“Between heaven and earth, all beings drift; human life spans but a hundred years.”
Upon clouds of white mist, I journeyed to the fragrant realm of the deceased.
May you return to the Pure Land and be reborn in the cycle of transmigration.
Crunch.
Kang Hyung-seok squeezed his eyes shut with such force that it made a sound, then tore away the paper door.

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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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