An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 254
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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 253
Part 2. What Must Be Faced (2)
Click.
It was an older doctor who opened the Morgue door.
His nameplate read “Professor Lim Yong-su,” and while his eyes held kindness, his lips bore the impression of a resolute man.
“Come in.”
Lim Yong-su spoke to Shin Yoseph standing behind him with a somewhat familiar tone.
Shin Yoseph nodded and stepped into the Morgue.
It was cool and refreshing.
Perhaps the stark white lighting made it feel even more so.
“I was quite surprised by your sudden contact. You came to confirm something, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“May I ask the reason?”
Lim Yong-su asked with a questioning gaze, but Shin Yoseph shook his rigid face.
“Not yet.”
“…I see.”
“I apologize. Thank you for accommodating such an unreasonable request. I always think that way.”
“There’s no need to apologize… but I do wonder if this is the right thing to do.”
Lim Yong-su placed a hand on Shin Yoseph’s shoulder.
“When the time comes, you must let go.”
Unable to find words, Shin Yoseph pressed his lips firmly shut.
My connection with Lim Yong-su ran deep.
It had begun on the day my senior died.
“I still see it clearly. How could I ever forget that day?”
Whoooosh.
The sound of the Morgue’s ventilation fan spinning sounded exactly like rain and wind—and it was no mere coincidence of feeling.
Years ago, during an exorcism ritual, I had carried my dead senior on my back and run to this hospital.
The medical staff had rushed over to attempt treatment, but it was already too late—there was nothing they could do.
Yet the image of me wailing, desperately pleading for them to do something, was so intense that it had never faded from their memory.
“I know I must let him go…”
Shin Yoseph swallowed hard and continued with difficulty.
“But the time hasn’t come yet.”
“This is related to the exorcism ritual, isn’t it?”
Shin Yoseph nodded heavily.
Call it pathetic lingering if you will.
The fact that I still hadn’t escaped that day.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
My senior’s death was an event that had changed my life, and even now, the memory of that day was slashing through my guilt and sense of responsibility with the cruelty of a murderer’s blade.
“Please give me a little more time.”
I had to find the Demon.
That creature who drove my senior to death still hides somewhere on this earth.
Only by sending that thing back to hell can I find peace and finally close this chapter.
Only then can I stop the rain falling in my heart.
“The Director understands, and the monthly payments have been reliable, so there’s no real issue.”
Lim Yong-su smiled bitterly, and Shin Yoseph gazed at him with apologetic eyes.
What the two of them had done was not, in principle, right.
No matter how much justification they offered, there were those who could never understand such actions.
The taste in my mouth turns bitter.
It is something that must be done, even if the entire world cannot understand it.
“It’s been a while. Let me introduce you.”
Lim Yong-su opened one of the many doors lining the wall.
As he pulled the handle, a chill swept through the air, and the corpse that had been resting inside slid along the rails into the light.
A body that remained on this earth despite the funeral having long since been held.
It was Father Leo.
***
“Hello? Yes, this is Yoon Sang.”
In the Men’s Restroom at the hospital, Yoon Sang sat on the toilet, speaking in a hushed voice with the informant.
“You say my voice echoes? There’s a reason for that.”
The hospital at the hour when daylight fades.
The time when consultations have ended.
Though not quite as empty as a school after everyone has left, the atmosphere feels desolate, as though outsiders should not enter.
With the very feeling of a covert infiltration, Yoon Sang cupped his hand over the microphone and could only gauge the attention of those around him.
“But about your report—you only mentioned seeing a ghost at the hospital, so I contacted you to learn more details.”
(Ah, yes.)
The voice of a young man.
Probably around the same age as Yoon Sang.
(I work in delivery. It wasn’t serious, but I was hospitalized after an accident.)
“I see.”
The restroom door suddenly opened.
Yoon Sang flinched at the sound.
It wasn’t as though being caught would cause any real trouble, yet somehow this made his heart leap into his throat.
(The first time I saw it was in the restroom.)
“…Yes?”
(The innermost stall of the Men’s Restroom.)
Yoon Sang could not respond and searched his memory.
Being a large hospital, there were many restrooms.
Yet somehow the feeling deepened that the place where he stood and the place the informant described were the same space.
(I was doing my business when I heard a knock from outside.)
Knock, knock.
The knocking from a distant stall captured Yoon Sang’s attention and gaze.
“…Yes.”
Yoon Sang murmured his response while looking toward the direction of the sound, and the informant’s voice continued.
(Of course, I could have misheard, but at that moment, I didn’t even think that way.)
Knock knock.
The sound came from a spot slightly closer than before.
Something felt wrong.
There was no knock in response to the knock.
That meant they were tapping on another stall even after confirming the toilet was empty.
Gulp.
Yoon Sang hugged his knees, making sure his feet weren’t visible from outside.
(Anyway, I was using the restroom and knocked back, but that person just kept tapping on the door.)
Knock knock.
The sound drew closer again.
Now only one toilet stall remained.
Yoon Sang clutched at his tightening chest, his face rigid as he brought the phone even closer to his ear.
He deeply regretted not bringing his Bluetooth earbuds.
(Then suddenly the knocking stopped. I suddenly felt a presence? A gaze? Something like that, so I looked up, and our eyes met directly.)
He should have called from somewhere else.
Desperately suppressing the urge to look upward, Yoon Sang trembled faintly.
Even as this happened, the informant’s voice continued.
(I thought I was going crazy. It looked like they had climbed up by stepping on the toilet in the adjacent stall, and their face was covered in blood, and their clothes were pitch black… wow.)
It was then.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.
The door right in front of Yoon Sang shook violently, rattling as a barrage of knocking sounds erupted.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.
(Hello? Hello?)
The informant called out, as if urging the silent Yoon Sang to respond.
Yet Yoon Sang couldn’t even answer, his gaze fixed on the door.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.
He felt as though the door would open the moment he blinked.
(What is it? Can’t you hear me? Hello.)
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.
Yoon Sang swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Terror gripped him, and his breath came shallow.
Yet he couldn’t stay here forever, so he carefully reached out his hand.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock.
And still, he couldn’t be sure.
It could be a person.
There might be nothing to see at all.
Creak.
With desperate hope in my heart, I pushed the door open.
And regret came immediately.
Through the slightly ajar door, I glimpsed black fabric.
Thud.
It wasn’t human.
Instinct seized me and I grabbed the door, but it was useless.
Squelch.
It took another step through the gap.
Then, with fingers slick with blood, twisted and broken, it grasped the door and slowly extended its head toward me.
A face like clay, bones crumbling and falling away.
“Ahhh! Aaaahhh!”
I scrambled onto the toilet and hurled myself into the adjacent stall.
Crash!
I landed on my back, but there was no time to feel pain—I bolted from the bathroom.
I glanced behind me, but the bathroom was empty.
“Ahhh! Ahhh!”
Medical staff and patients passing through the corridor watched me, but I focused only on escaping the bathroom.
I didn’t know what it was, but in that moment, I felt with bone-deep certainty that something definitely existed in this hospital.
***
“Do you need more time?”
Ignoring Lim Yong-su’s question, Shin Yoseph stared down at Father Leo lying on the metal table.
No trace of vitality could be felt in his pallid skin or lips.
Of course not.
Shin Yoseph was directly responsible for this man’s death, and he was the one who most desperately wished him alive.
And it was Shin Yoseph who had confirmed Father Leo’s death.
Whoosh.
As I extended my hand, the cold emanating from the skin tickled my palm.
Unable to bring myself to touch Father Leo’s body, Shin Yoseph gazed down at him without blinking.
His eyes swept across Father Leo’s entire form, his nose carefully drew in the air to catch any scent, and his tongue tasted the flavor of the air itself.
‘There are no traces. No whispers, no sulfurous smell, no foul odor.’
After concentrating on Father Leo for a long while, Shin Yoseph shook his head slightly.
“That’s enough.”
“What do you—”
“I’ve confirmed it sufficiently.”
Kang Hyung-seok was right.
The ghost appearing in this hospital was not Father Leo.
Nor was it the work of a Demon connected to Father Leo.
That was a relief.
I had worried whether it might be the Demon’s mischief upon discovering that Father Leo had not been buried.
Whirrrr, click.
Shin Yoseph personally pushed the rail, sliding Father Leo into the Morgue, then closed the door as well.
Then he met Lim Yong-su’s gaze.
“There are a few things I’d like to ask you.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Shin Yoseph looked at the wall where Father Leo lay sleeping, then sucked in his lips.
Then he led Lim Yong-su outside, and they began conversing in the dimly lit Corridor.
“Have there been any bodies brought in recently that left an impression?”
It was something he couldn’t ask in a place where the deceased rested.
“Why would you….”
“There’s a reason for it.”
Lim Yong-su knew who Shin Yoseph was and what circumstances surrounded him.
But providing unapproved information about the deceased was such a sensitive matter that he couldn’t easily speak of it.
“…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked something so presumptuous.”
For someone who had asked so seriously, Shin Yoseph backed away far too easily, and a bitter smile spread across Lim Yong-su’s lips.
“My apologies.”
“No. I’ll find out the rest somehow, so don’t worry about it.”
Even if the situation was blocked, I wouldn’t give up.
Seeing the light in Shin Yoseph’s eyes, Lim Yong-su nodded slightly, thinking this man truly doesn’t change with the passage of time.
“There are many people here who need rest. This Hospital.”
“I understand.”
“Just try not to make too much of a disturbance.”
Lim Yong-su was not someone who believed in ghosts or had any religion.
Instead, he believed in the human heart.
Sometimes what seemed like superstition led unexpectedly to miraculous results.
If such a miracle occurred and brought peace of mind, there was no reason to stop it.
“I owe you a great debt.”
It was after Shin Yoseph bowed deeply to Lim Yong-su and turned to leave.
“Let me know when it’s all finished.”
It didn’t have to be about this matter specifically.
If he resolved to remove Father Leo—who had remained buried for years—from this place, he hoped Shin Yoseph would return whenever he wished.
Bow.
Shin Yoseph bowed once more to Lim Yong-su before completely leaving the Morgue.
And it was right after stepping out beneath the night sky where cool air descended.
Vrrrrr.
A call from Yoon Sang vibrated his phone.
Click.
“What is it?”
(Hey, hyung.)
“What’s going on? Did something happen?”
Shin Yoseph’s eyebrows drew closer together as he heard the trembling voice of someone speaking as if they’d witnessed something they shouldn’t have.
(Yes! I did see it, and I got additional information too!)
“What are you talking about? What happened?”
Shin Yoseph’s face hardened as he wondered if Yoon Sang had somehow received a tip from a ghost.
(No! What I saw, I saw. But this is separate. One of the hospitalized patients is apparently a friend of one of my viewers. Since they’re a long-term patient, they seem to know quite a lot.)
“…What?”
(I’ll wait in the Lobby. Please hurry!)
Yoon Sang’s voice sounded as though he were terrified of being alone.
“Got it. I’ll be there soon, so wait for me.”
(Yes! Please wear a mask when you come!)
Click.
After hanging up, Shin Yoseph began running toward the Hospital Lobby.
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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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