An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 259

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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 258
Part 4. You Did This, Didn’t You? (1)
Friday evening—quitting time had arrived.
“Everyone worked hard this week!”
Namgoong Min-ah bolted out, while Gwak Young-ho gathered his things and cast a lingering, regretful glance toward the desks of Shin Jung-ah and Lee Jin-pyung, who were out on field assignments.
Then his gaze shifted to me, though that same wistful longing remained in his eyes.
“Kang, you did good work.”
“You as well, Manager.”
“It’s Friday night—got anything going on?”
His eyes suggested he hoped we might share a drink together.
Unfortunately, I had prior commitments.
“I apologize. I have an appointment.”
“No need to apologize. Go on, get out of here.”
“Then I’ll be heading out.”
“Yeah, rest well this weekend!”
Would I truly be able to rest this weekend?
The question surfaced unbidden, but I concealed it and made my way to the Underground Parking Lot.
Beep!
I called Yoon Sang on my phone, then started the engine after getting into my car.
(Yes, hyung!)
“Where are you?”
(At that station you mentioned before. I’m out on the main road.)
“I just left—should take about ten minutes. If you haven’t eaten dinner, grab a few triangle kimbap. I’ll send you the money.”
(Already got some! Don’t worry about it, hyung. Take your time getting here!)
“Got it. I’ll be there soon.”
I placed my phone in the dashboard holder and began driving.
A single word lodged itself in my mind like a thorn, refusing to dislodge.
The word that had haunted me all week was grave curse.
‘Is it truly a grave curse? Or could it be something else?’
If it was a grave curse, matters would become complicated.
I would need to resolve the root cause, potentially relocate the coffin with the Village Chief’s involvement, and appease the angered spirit of the deceased.
The procedures would grow intricate—hardly something resolvable over a weekend.
“Sigh…”
I soothed my troubled thoughts with a deep breath and headed toward the Subway Station, where I soon spotted Yoon Sang waving.
“Get in!”
“Thank you, hyung!”
Yoon Sang threw himself into the car without blocking traffic behind us, fastening his seatbelt as he spoke.
“Your body’s fully recovered now, right?”
“I’m telling you, I’m fine.”
“Now that I think about it, I’m worried I asked too much of you right after your discharge.”
“There’s no helping it, you know.”
If I could, I’d prefer to live more leisurely than before.
But this involves a graveyard, and if it’s truly a vengeful spirit, there’s nothing good about delaying.
“Hyung-seok, why don’t you eat this kimbap triangle while you drive?”
“Ah, thanks.”
Kang Hyung-seok accepted the kimbap triangle and took a large bite from the corner.
Following the navigation’s guidance, he turned the steering wheel toward Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, and the road was surprisingly quiet for rush hour.
A cleanly paved road.
Street lamps lining both sides.
Mountains surrounding the area.
Since the sun had set, the surroundings were dim, and no matter how clean the road was, it didn’t feel like a place one would want to walk on foot.
“What about the informant?”
“Ah, we’re meeting at the graveyard. They said they’d come with their father since they don’t have a car.”
“Is that so?”
Kang Hyung-seok shifted his gaze to the navigation.
The destination was deep in the mountains.
There would be plenty of sunny spots nearby suitable for establishing a graveyard, yet the destination gave the impression of being a remote mountain.
Crunch.
After taking another bite of the kimbap triangle, Kang Hyung-seok stared at the surrounding mountains with a contemplative expression.
That’s how mountains are.
During the day, they feel full of life, but once the sun sets, they transform like that mountain—into a mass of yin energy.
The mountain beside the road looked that way, and the destination mountain seemed impossibly remote no matter how I thought about it.
“Why would they place a graveyard in such a desolate location…”
“Pardon?”
When Yoon Sang reacted to my unconscious murmur, Kang Hyung-seok shook his head.
Then he quietly continued eating the kimbap triangle while focusing on driving.
‘You will arrive at your destination shortly.’
Upon reaching the destination, Kang Hyung-seok brought the car to a stop.
Click.
The moment he opened the car door, cold air rushed at him as if it had been waiting.
It wasn’t simply due to the season.
Being at the base of the mountain was part of it, but the energy felt in the air was far from normal.
“Brr, it’s cold.”
Yoon Sang, oblivious to anything amiss, rubbed his forearms and took out his phone to have a brief conversation with the informant.
“Seems like we just need to head up. They said we just follow the mountain road straight up.”
“Do you have the filming equipment?”
“It’s all here!”
Thump!
Yoon Sang patted his bag, and Kang Hyung-seok retrieved his own bag containing the Shaman’s Bell and an exorcism blade from the car.
Then, putting on a mask he’d purchased several days prior, he began climbing the mountain with Yoon Sang.
Whoosh!
As I turned my head toward the fierce flames erupting from behind, Yoon Sang held up the lantern with eyes seeking approval.
“You’re well-prepared.”
“I just bought it. It’s incredibly bright, isn’t it?”
“Let’s dim it a bit.”
“Of course!”
Tonight, this mountain harbored more than just the living.
A place so remote surely held Victim Spirits as well.
To avoid disturbing their rest, Yoon Sang reduced the lantern’s brightness to half or less, and I resumed climbing the mountain road.
That’s when it happened.
“Why are they taking so long to get here?”
“Just wait a bit longer. How long has it been since we called?”
“I… I really don’t know. I’m not even sure if this is the right thing to do.”
“Dad.”
The conversation of two men of different ages reached my ears.
Likely a father and son.
I checked that my mask was covering my face properly, then moved toward the source of the voices.
“Oh? They’re here. I think they’ve arrived.”
The son, who had noticed our presence through the light first, spoke, and soon after came the sound of his father clicking his tongue.
Tap, tap.
“Hello. I’m Yoon Sang!”
Yoon Sang revealed his identity through his voice.
And the four of us faced each other in the mountain darkness that had settled so deeply.
The soft, dimmed lantern light illuminated us more brightly than the moonlight itself.
“Um, hello there.”
A young man who appeared to be around Yoon Sang’s age bowed his head to him, yet couldn’t take his eyes off me.
The legendary hyung from the rumors.
The Shaman frequently mentioned on the broadcast, whose abilities had brought Yoon Sang to this very location.
A person ordinary viewers had never seen stood before him now, despite the mask covering my face.
His eyes held reverence that transcended mere curiosity, while his father’s expression conveyed displeasure and unease with the entire situation.
“Sigh.”
Even in the mountains, the father pulled out a cigarette and walked off to the side.
Since there was clearly no welcoming atmosphere, Yoon Sang spoke carefully with an awkward expression.
“That’s your father, isn’t it?”
“Yes. He came with me.”
“Ah, yes.”
I observed the middle-aged man smoking in the corner with an air of suffocation, then withdrew my gaze.
‘I understand the situation.’
This was the man who had erected a grave in this place.
He might be the type who rejected not only feng shui but also shamanism and even the concept of an afterlife itself.
And so this man came all the way here to meet with a Shaman and someone who ran the Horror Broadcast.
I understood the displeasure, but there was one thing that simply didn’t make sense.
‘Why wasn’t she cremated…?’
There are several ways to send off the deceased.
Among them, traditional graves are more complicated than cremation, and if there’s no ancestral mountain, additional costs arise.
I couldn’t understand why they would go through such trouble to create a grave.
“Hey, could you take a look at the grave first?”
“Yes, yes. Sir.”
It was the moment Yoon Sang signaled for him to come along.
The middle-aged man smoking a cigarette shifted his gaze toward Kang Hyung-seok.
When their eyes met, Kang Hyung-seok turned his body toward Yoon Sang.
First, I would examine the grave.
Only then could I understand this contradictory situation, and whether their request for help stemmed from grave wind or something else entirely.
Crunch, crunch.
The Son, leading the way while treading on grass damp with the night air, stopped before the gravestone.
Jo Myung-ja.
As Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes narrowed upon confirming the deceased’s name, the Son began his explanation while gazing at the grave.
“It’s our grandmother. She passed away about half a year ago.”
Both Yoon Sang’s and the Son’s gazes concentrated on Kang Hyung-seok.
Both pairs of eyes held anticipation.
Eyes that harbored the hope he might resolve the matter in one go.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok kept his gaze fixed solely on the grave’s swollen mound.
“Sir?”
As the silence stretched, Yoon Sang spoke again, and Kang Hyung-seok shook his heavily sunken face.
“You said you’re the son, correct?”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
“Bring your father.”
“What?”
“I need to ask him something, so bring him here.”
The Son’s face showed he wanted an explanation, but Kang Hyung-seok said nothing more.
“Ah… yes.”
As the Son left without hiding his bewilderment, Yoon Sang immediately spoke up.
“Sir, what’s going on?”
Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze remained fixed on the mound.
“Wait. Not now.”
“Uh….”
“It’s not grave wind.”
It was after Kang Hyung-seok withdrew his gaze from the graveyard as if he couldn’t bear to look.
“Why are you telling people to come and go!”
The Son of the grave’s owner and father of the informant approached with heavy strides, his irritation evident.
But the moment Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze fell upon him, his eyes softened, if only briefly.
“Ah, no, what…? Why on earth…?”
“You’re the deceased’s son, aren’t you?”
The Middle-aged Man simply scanned Kang Hyung-seok up and down without answering.
“I’m asking seriously. Are you truly his son?”
“No, why would you…?”
“You are his son, aren’t you?”
Oppressed by the strange turn of the conversation, the Middle-aged Man glanced nervously before nodding his head.
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled a long breath and approached the grave mound.
“Wait, what? Hyung-seok!”
Thud! Thwack!
Yoon Sang was startled as Kang Hyung-seok tore into the grave mound, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop him.
There had to be some reason for this, but he couldn’t even begin to guess what it was.
Thwack! Thud!
The amount of earth being excavated increased rapidly.
“W-what are you doing? You’ve lost your mind!”
“Dad, Dad!”
Just as the startled father and son tried to pull Kang Hyung-seok away.
Kang Hyung-seok stopped and turned his head sharply toward them.
“Did you really not know? There was something like this embedded in your mother’s grave, and you truly didn’t know?”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke coldly, then swept his fingers through the excavated soil as the bewildered father and son watched, clearing away the dirt.
He grasped the hard object buried within, wrenched it free with all his strength, and held it up so the two could see it clearly.
Clang!
The iron stake that fell to the ground made a heavy sound.
“…What, what is this?”
The Middle-aged Man’s face went pale as he stumbled backward, Yoon Sang shone his lantern on the dirt-covered iron stake, and Kang Hyung-seok withdrew from the grave.
He then fixed his gaze upon the Victim Spirit of an elderly woman perched atop the grave.
It was a spirit bearing the distinct mark of a large stake driven through its eye.

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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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