An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 252

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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 251
Part 1. Did You Not Know Pain Could Touch You Too? (3)
Night fell that day.
Drip, drip.
Intravenous fluid descended through a transparent tube, drop by drop, and Kang Hyung-seok lay on the bed with his right sleeve rolled up, perspiration beading cold against his skin.
“Mmm.”
The groaning came from the dream.
The dream was far too vivid.
Yet it was not a revelation.
It was closer to witnessing someone’s memory ensnared within the space itself.
Whoooosh.
It was a late autumn night when torrential rain poured down.
Splash, splash, splash!
A man in black clothes ran through the night road with a limp figure strapped across his back.
‘Who is this…?’
The face was not visible.
The surroundings were too dark, and the white breath billowing from the man’s mouth was thick like cigarette smoke.
Instead, his emotions were unmistakably vivid.
Guilt and despair.
“Aaaahhhhh! Aaahhhhh!”
What anguish drove such anguished cries.
Crunch.
Kang Hyung-seok unconsciously clenched the front of his hospital gown.
The man’s emotions were so crystalline they threatened to shatter the heart of the observer.
“Aaahhhhh!”
The gazes of pedestrians passing along the street.
Raindrops shattering against the man’s shoulders and head.
Torrential rain and biting wind.
The sky, moonlight obscured.
Splash, splash, splash!
Everything seemed to embody despair itself, yet none of it was as thick and dark as the man’s emotions.
Boom!
All eyes turned toward the man who burst into the Hospital as if tumbling through the entrance.
In stark contrast to the darkness outside, the space flooded with bright fluorescent light was the Hospital’s Emergency Room.
“Hey, hey! What’s happening here!”
A Police Officer who had been dealing with a drunk in the Emergency Room rushed over with a startled expression.
The man’s mouth, drenched as though submerged in water, opened wide, and in that moment, Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes snapped open.
“Gasp, gasp!”
Breathing heavily, Kang Hyung-seok blinked and surveyed his surroundings.
A Nurse who had come to replace the intravenous fluid watched him with startled eyes, and Kang Hyung-seok swallowed dryly and shook his head.
“Are you alright?”
“…Yes.”
Kang Hyung-seok answered in a hoarse voice, then rested his head back against the pillow.
“Are you absolutely certain you’re okay?”
The Nurse pressed further, but Kang Hyung-seok couldn’t even respond, only staring up at the softly lit ceiling.
My mind felt numb.
It wasn’t because of the damned shingles.
‘Damn it, what….’
It was because of the dream that still lingered vividly in my retinas, flickering at the edges of my vision.
Click, click.
As the IV bag was replaced on its stand and the Nurse adjusted the drip rate through the regulator, Kang Hyung-seok unconsciously turned his gaze to the side.
A fruit basket sat there.
“Sigh.”
A breath escaped between my strangely twisted lips.
I was beginning to understand whose memory I had witnessed in that dream.
***
Click.
Shin Yoseph set down his glass.
This was his bedroom.
An imported Italian lamp on the nightstand cast warm light across the room, while the pristine white bed—not a speck of dust upon it—awaited his presence.
Yet sleep eluded him.
“Tsk.”
Was it because he’d visited the hospital?
Or because he’d seen the ambulance?
He’d experienced countless sleepless nights before, but tonight felt unusually torturous.
Beep.
Shin Yoseph left a voice message for Secretary Jo through his phone.
“I won’t be coming in today. Use whatever excuse you see fit.”
He was a trustworthy man, Secretary Jo.
When he returned the next day, the secretary would hand him a warm cup of tea as if nothing had happened and ask if he’d slept well.
As he always did….
Rustle.
Shin Yoseph pulled the blanket up high and curled into a fetal position like a child.
Then, eyes closed, he took a deep breath, desperately seeking sleep that wouldn’t come.
***
(Brother! You said you were in pain!)
The next day, as I strolled around the hospital, I held my phone to my ear and let out a sigh.
“Who told you?”
(Who else? Your sister!)
“Shin Manager?”
(Yes! That sister! But why didn’t you tell me? You were even hospitalized!)
“Why broadcast good news all over the neighborhood?”
(Still, brother!)
I settled onto a nearby bench and shoved both hands into my coat pockets.
I’d wedged the phone between my shoulder and cheek, but the posture felt awkward, so I eventually had to pull one hand free to hold it properly.
“It’s nothing serious. Not worth worrying about.”
(But I heard it was shingles? I looked it up, and there’s all this talk about it being one of the three worst pains and such.)
“Is that so…?”
(Yes!)
I had been in considerable pain, admittedly.
I pulled out a plastic bottle of beverage I’d purchased from the convenience store inside the hospital and took a sip.
It was before lunch.
Still, befitting a major hospital, the place was teeming with people, and taxis lined up at the parking lot entrance, so there was nothing remotely quiet about it.
(How’s your body feeling?)
“Much better.”
That wasn’t an exaggeration.
The hospital medication really was effective.
Until yesterday I could barely keep my wits about me, but now I could manage a light walk without issue.
(I’ll stop by to visit you sometime today.)
“What? Don’t bother. There’s no need to visit.”
(I’ll just pay my respects while I’m at it.)
“Sigh.”
(Don’t worry. I’m not going to turn on the camera, obviously. I’ll leave all the broadcast equipment behind.)
“Do as you please. As you please.”
Telling him not to come wouldn’t stop him anyway.
(Okay! I’ll call you again later!)
“Hey, come empty-handed. Don’t bother buying drinks or anything like that.”
(Uh… can’t I bring something?)
“No, you can’t.”
If I didn’t say this, Yoon Sang would definitely show up with something wrapped up.
Beep.
After hanging up, I used the IV stand as a cane to push myself to my feet.
Damned illness.
It felt as though it severed every muscle in my body and wrung my bones dry.
“Phew.”
Still, I had come outside for a reason, and I couldn’t simply return without seeing it through.
Clatter.
Dragging the IV stand behind me, I emerged into the Parking Lot and surveyed my surroundings, recalling the dream.
When I first arrived at this Hospital, it had felt purely luxurious, but now it appeared entirely different.
Someone’s despair, sorrow, and anguish seemed to overflow like rainwater, and I slowly turned my head.
‘The Emergency Room….’
Clatter.
I moved my steps toward the Emergency Room.
The dream had ended in the Emergency Room.
Whoosh.
Passing through the automatically opening doors and entering the Emergency Room, I twisted my lips into a bitter smile.
The Emergency Room I saw with my own eyes differed somewhat from what I’d seen in the dream.
From the atmosphere to the name badges of the medical staff.
This wasn’t something that had happened recently, and so I could be certain.
Of who the man in black clothing I’d seen in the dream was.
‘It’s Shin Yoseph.’
Tears that even rainwater couldn’t conceal came to mind.
It was horrific.
The feeling of having to carry a senior who died because of my own mistake all the way to the Hospital.
For an ordinary person, it would shatter the mind and become a trauma that would haunt them for life.
“What brings you here?”
A Nurse approached and asked as I stood quietly observing the Emergency Room.
I answered by shaking my head.
Then I turned and moved my steps toward the exit of the Emergency Room.
The Nurse had probably tried to help. But it wasn’t necessary.
I had confirmed everything I wanted to confirm.
***
Whoosh.
Back in the hospital room, Kang Hyung-seok carefully retrieved the Shaman’s Bell.
His taste buds felt as bitter as if he’d licked gall.
Now I understood Shin Yoseph’s sorrow and circumstances.
That’s why my palate felt even more unsettled, and the hand gripping the Shaman’s Bell grew heavy.
‘A Curse of Dwelling Misfortune might have attached itself.’
A Curse of Dwelling Misfortune.
Broadly speaking, possession; narrowly speaking, malevolent energy.
Harshness calls forth harshness, and sorrow draws in sorrow.
That’s why Haunted Houses teem with Malevolent Spirits, and unholy places swarm with Demons.
“Sigh….”
Shin Yoseph’s situation was truly pitiful.
Because of that, it felt all the more melancholic and sorrowful.
The emotions he must have felt were so immense and heavy that a Curse of Dwelling Misfortune might well have taken root.
Whoosh.
To dispel any Curse of Dwelling Misfortune that might have attached, Kang Hyung-seok began reciting the Curse-Breaking Incantation.
“By the Jade Emperor’s essence, all things bear dwelling curses; in this land, the royal curse; in heaven, the lightning curse; on earth, the earth-movement curse.”
Upon the Heavenly Emperor, the teaching curse; upon the Earthly Emperor, the bestowal curse
In each village and each town, the dwelling curses once honored
The marriage curse, the moving curse to distant lands
The manure curse at the village chief’s stable; the Palmun Scripture curse in the three-calamity room
The local deity curse at the neighborhood shrine; human impurity and wayward spirits
The wayfarer’s impurity on the roads; the mountain god’s curse at the mountain deity’s altar
Whoosh-a-la-la.
No matter how private a VIP hospital room was, it still existed within the hospital.
So Kang Hyung-seok continued the Curse-Breaking Incantation as quietly and solemnly as possible.
It was then.
Ding!
The phone on the bed chimed.
Kang Hyung-seok stopped his recitation and checked it—a text from Yoon Sang asking which way to go from the hospital entrance.
Tap, tap-tap-tap.
He sent back the room location, and a reply came immediately.
「Hyung-nim, by the way, I ran into that hyung-nim from before.」
Tap-tap-tap.
「What hyung-nim?」
「The hyung-nim who was driving that luxury car before.」
“What?”
Tap-tap-tap.
「Where?」
「In the Lobby. I’ll head up with him now.」
Yoon Sang and Shin Yoseph had met before.
At the well where the Baby Spirit had died, where the demon summoning ritual had taken place.
Back then, the two of them hadn’t even properly conversed, yet somehow they seemed to recognize each other.
‘There was no way they wouldn’t recognize each other.’
I could imagine what expression Shin Yoseph must have worn standing alone in the Lobby, so I shook my rigid face and tidied up the Shaman’s Bell.
And shortly after, Yoon Sang and Shin Yoseph entered my Hospital Room.
“Hyung-seok!”
As Yoon Sang rushed forward and called out, I immediately furrowed my brow.
“This is a hospital. Keep it down.”
“Oh, sorry about that.”
Looking at him, I thought Yoon Sang bore some resemblance to Namgoong Min-ah, so I shifted my gaze to Shin Yoseph.
Even in his usual casual clothes and stoic expression, something seemed different—probably because of the dream.
“Aren’t you busy? You come by often.”
“An investor wants to check on their investment. Why?”
“An investor?”
“I paid your hospital bills.”
They hadn’t exchanged a single word on the way here.
The awkward atmosphere between Yoon Sang and Shin Yoseph was thick and palpable.
“Anyway, thanks for coming.”
“How’s your body feeling?”
“A bit better than yesterday.”
“That’s good to hear. Still, don’t overdo it. If your immunity drops, you’ll collapse again.”
Startled by the word “collapse,” Yoon Sang’s eyes went wide, but I shook my head.
“Geez, hyung-seok. Please take care of yourself.”
“Is the Horror Broadcast okay? You didn’t come because you’re busy?”
“Today happens to be my day off.”
Yoon Sang’s eyes sparkled as he spoke cheerfully.
Unsettlingly so.
“Why?”
“Actually, I did some investigating before coming here.”
Yoon Sang scratched the back of his head sheepishly and laughed.
“There were reports of something being spotted at the hospital. Some of our viewers even knew about this place.”
“What…?”
“Of course, I have no intention of broadcasting! I just thought I’d take a look around while I was here.”
To prove he truly had no intention of broadcasting, Yoon Sang turned his pockets inside out to show they were empty.
“For about a month now, there have been sightings of a dark-clothed figure wandering the Corridor in the early morning hours.”
I reflexively shifted my gaze to Shin Yoseph.
Dark clothes, a spirit in the Hospital.
No. It couldn’t be what you’re thinking.
In the quiet, eerie silence, I shook my head, but Shin Yoseph was looking at Yoon Sang.
My face had gone rigid, as though an icy blade had been driven straight into my heart.

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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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