An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 265

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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 264
Part 6. Human Affairs (1)
Ding ding ding!
The Shaman’s Bell shook urgently.
Swish!
A divine blade swung in resistance.
And the lantern held in the same hand scattered its light.
As the direction of light illuminating the Vengeful Spirit shifted, my vision darkened.
I ceased every movement and breath, my eyes alone darting about.
I had clearly seen it lunge forward.
‘Where is it.’
Yet it concealed its presence as if evaporated, leaving me alone in a desolate silence and darkness as though cast into the void.
‘Where could it be.’
I tightened my grip on the Shaman’s Bell but could not shake it.
I understood the moment I saw the Vengeful Spirit.
A Vengeful Spirit that one Shaman—no, an entire household—had kept firmly sealed.
So it would not spread through bloodlines.
So family would not suffer harm.
‘It was not that they failed to perform the ascension ritual.’
They could not perform the ascension ritual.
Korean spirits are known to differ in nature from those of China or Japan.
There is an image that they do not lunge at everything visible, nor do they attempt to consume vital energy.
Yet not all Korean spirits are thus.
Korea harbors quite a number of spirits sealed away because they could not be ascended, and the Vengeful Spirit I witnessed in this attic was one such entity.
I was in this attic alongside something a Shaman should never encounter.
Huff, huff, huff.
Breathing sharply through my nose, I stared into a corner of the darkness.
Unlike my surroundings where nothing could be sensed, my mind churned with thought.
Yet I did not dwell long.
I knew well there was no luxury for that.
Scrape scrape scrape scrape!
Just as the Vengeful Spirit had crawled toward me in a lunge, I crawled toward the jar it had been clutching.
Grab!
I seized the jar and began crawling backward.
It was then.
Thud.
Something landed upon my back.
Followed by rapid murmuring right beside my ear—a thought immediately struck that I must not understand it.
Scrape scrape! Scrape!
Dragging the jar, I crawled out of the attic, my legs first breaking free to the outside.
I kicked off the wall and wrenched myself free, hugging the jar as I fell backward onto the floor.
“Brother!”
“Get out!”
At Kang Hyung-seok’s urgent shout, Yoon Sang seized Kim Il-hong by the arm.
Then, unable to tear his gaze from the jar, he dragged Kim Il-hong out of the room.
Thud!
Thank goodness for Yoon Sang’s quick reflexes.
I set the lantern on the floor, illuminating the entire room.
“Guido rajae guido rajae cheongsaeng manmin pilsu gijik.”
Waralalalalarang!
“Cheonwi ya jiwi ya awi ilwol myo seongje taein bokroe chacho geumgang sinjin eon.”
Chagapjang shin yuggap gujang cheonwon jibang
Sajung wiye cheonha daepi bang dang aja sa pia ja saeng
Geumiil chulhaeng jwacheongryong ubaekho namjujak bukheonsmu
Waralalalalarang!
“Jejilbyeong geumtang dae okdang dae geumdae cheonchuk wol chuksasaek sagil mansa.”
As I chanted the exorcism incantation like someone who had forgotten how to breathe, I felt my hands growing heavier and heavier.
‘It’s meaningless.’
The scripture meant to drive away spirits was not working.
Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle.
The jar began trembling on its own, and the lantern’s light flickered faintly.
It was as if whatever lay inside—whatever had been bound within that jar—was trying to break free into the world.
“…Ageom bisang ji geom ado bisang ji do geumgwi chwishin.”
I stared down at the paper sealing the jar’s opening.
The paper was torn.
Torn with a small hole pricked through it as if by a needle.
“Seongje bulje cheonjang pyo.”
Even knowing it was meaningless, I continued chanting the exorcism because this was all I could do in the moment.
“Om geupgeup yeoryul ryeong sabaha.”
Immediately after, the lantern flickered.
The lantern, which had been ominously blinking on and off, finally died completely, and the room was plunged into thick darkness.
Crash!
A loud sound erupted from outside the room.
Bark, bark, bark, bark!
The creature barking with a voice that tore at the throat—was it someone’s pet dog, or a wild stray?
I exhaled a breath that had turned white with cold and shifted my gaze toward the outside of the house, when Yoon Sang’s voice suddenly rang out.
“H-hey, Brother! Brother!”
Clang, clang, clang!
The door handle rattled, but the door itself remained motionless, rooted like a tree.
“You’re in there, aren’t you? You’re definitely in there, right? Brother, please answer me! Brother!”
What is this situation?
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled sharply and shifted his gaze toward the jar.
“Did you do this?”
“It’s Kim Il-hong. Kim Il-hong is acting strange!”
Yoon Sang, consumed by fear, cried out in a trembling voice, but Kang Hyung-seok kept his eyes fixed on the jar.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Brother!”
“What connection do you have with Kim Il-hong and his family?”
Clatter.
The jar shook of its own accord, as if answering.
Ding.
My Shaman’s Bell also rang by itself.
And from the narrow crevice of the jar, a sound began to emerge.
-Waah waah waah waah! Waah waah!
A baby’s cry that sounded like that of a cat.
Kang Hyung-seok slowly approached the jar.
Then I lifted the jar and brought my eye close to the tiny hole.
I had to see.
What was inside this.
And just before my eye touched the hole.
Rip!
Paper tore and something like a black insect crawled out.
Looking closely, it wasn’t an insect—it was a finger.
The finger moved busily, widening the hole in the paper sealing the jar. And as the finger disappeared, a baby’s cry resumed from within.
Gulp.
Kang Hyung-seok swallowed hard and brought my eye close to the hole.
The surroundings were dark, and the sky filled with dark clouds made the world even darker.
Ordinarily, the interior of the jar should not have been visible, yet Kang Hyung-seok could see it clearly.
That was because I was seeing it not with ordinary sight, but with spiritual vision.
Thump thump thump thump! Crash crash crash!
“Broooother!”
As Yoon Sang’s anguished scream pierced the air, Kang Hyung-seok murmured like a groan.
“So it was you.”
Inside the jar was a small metal container.
I thought I understood what that thing, which vaguely resembled bamboo, actually was.
A child spirit vessel. Or a salt-sealed spirit.
A shamanic tool made from a child.
Clatter.
The metal container inside the jar shook as if in fury.
It seemed to be telling me that my assumption was wrong.
It seemed as though he was crying out that even if others didn’t understand, I couldn’t afford to fail him.
“Haa.”
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled sharply and removed his eyes from the jar.
His face remained contorted with shock, contempt, and fear.
“A child chosen by the spirits.”
A Shaman who had just received the spirits.
A child chosen by the spirits from birth, a Shaman since birth.
The salt-sealed spirit inside this jar was not a vengeful spirit—it was a Shaman Spirit.
A salt-sealed spirit made from a Shaman.
-Aaaaaaaagh!
-Hahehehaha!
-Hihihik, hahahaha! Hahahak!
-Uaaaaa! Ahuuuh! Uuh!
The sounds of weeping and laughter echoed from all directions, just as they had when I first entered this room.
Kang Hyung-seok lifted his head and gazed up at the ceiling of the Sealed Room.
I was drawing closer to the truth with each passing moment.
The secrets of Kim Il-hong’s family were being revealed one by one.
And because of this, I could understand.
“There’s more than one or two.”
-Hahahaha!
-Hihihihi! Hiiii- iiiii!
-Uee, ueeaaa!
Each cry belonged to a different spirit.
It meant that more than one or two spirits had been trapped within this jar.
A chill ran down my spine.
Not because of what I could see, but because of the history—if it could even be called that—entangled here was terrifying.
Everything stemmed from bloodline.
It spread through blood.
It had begun with blood.
‘They must have made a mistake while trying to create a spiritual vessel.’
The jar was solitude itself.
A solitude and spiritual vessel created by placing not one or two Shaman Spirits into a salt-sealed spirit made from a Shaman.
“Don’t you dare set foot in this room!”
Kim Il-hong’s Mother’s voice struck my eardrums like a whip.
“Don’t make loud noises! Why do you go around making footsteps so recklessly?”
“Once night falls, you should return home immediately, not wander about.”
“I’m saying this for your own good—why don’t you understand?”
A family heirloom passed down through generations, though not quite an heirloom.
Kim Il-hong’s Mother had spent her entire life protecting her family through this jar.
Now that I understood this much, the jar suddenly felt unbearably heavy.
It was the weight of the souls contained within, the weight of resentment and hatred compressed over centuries.
“Ugh!”
Nausea surged up my throat.
This jar was dangerous.
Especially for a Shaman.
For any Shaman who wasn’t its master, merely touching it could cost them their life.
“Ugh! Uuuugh!”
Kang Hyung-seok, his insides churning, curled into a ball and retched violently for a long moment before glaring at the jar with bloodshot eyes.
Then, as the jar grew heavier in my hands, I set it down on the floor and swung the Shaman’s Bell and the divine general’s blade in wide arcs.
Clang clang clang!
The small Shaman’s Bell collided with itself, producing a sharp, piercing ring.
“I, a humble disciple dwelling in this world, earnestly beseech the divine general to grant my wishes and fulfill my prayers.”
It was the Divine General’s Scripture.
A prayer asking the divine general to unravel the things that had been blocked.
Clang clang clang!
Thus, Kang Hyung-seok, who had received the divine general, could appeal to his Guardian Spirit for aid through this prayer.
“Untie the knots of the heart, release what has been bound—noble divine general, harmonious divine general.”
Swoosh!
Kang Hyung-seok swung the divine general’s blade over the jar, his voice deep and resonant as he continued the prayer.
“In one hand a great sword, in the other arrows, riding a swift white horse, the divine general who harmonizes sun and moon, the divine general who harmonizes heaven and earth, the Blue Emperor Divine General of the East.”
Hear me, divine general.
Many Shamans have been bound here and become Vengeful Spirits—with your great blade, sever all their attachments and sorrow.
“Born into the human world, unable to live out their destined span, unable to enjoy their destined fortune, unable to witness all of human life, resentment became sorrow.”
Clang clang clang!
As Kang Hyung-seok swung the Shaman’s Bell and divine general’s blade, the air began to grow lighter.
I looked up at the ceiling.
Though the surroundings were dark, the faces covering the ceiling were starkly visible.
“All those bound by sorrow and resentment—divine general, accept my sincerity this day, release the resentment, release the sorrow, untie all the knots of hatred.”
Thud!
“H-hey, hyung-nim! Hyung-nim! Kim Il-hong, Kim Il-hong…!”
Damn it, there’s no time.
Yoon Sang’s voice from behind the door seemed to urge me to hurry.
Kang Hyung-seok squeezed his eyes shut and focused on continuing the remaining prayer.
“Leaving behind those you loved, entering the next world—heaven and earth collapsed, mountains and streams wept. How could I not know that resentment?”
No matter how powerful a Vengeful Spirit, it is still a being that harbors sorrow.
In Korean Shamanism, resentment must be released, and what is needed in that process is dialogue, lamentation, and the Shaman’s spirit and ritual.
Clang clang! Swoosh!
Drawing closer to his Guardian Spirit with the divine general’s blade and Shaman’s Bell, Kang Hyung-seok spoke to the Vengeful Spirits in a voice full of depth.
“This Shaman is ready to listen—pour out everything you wish to say.”
“Wait, wait just a moment! Kim Il-hong!”
Yoon Sang’s voice suddenly pierced through the air like a scream of anguish.
Then urgent footsteps fled in haste, fading into the distance, before the direction shifted and returned.
Kang Hyung-seok, tracking the sound with his eyes, twisted his lips into a grimace.
“Is this what you truly desire?”
Genuinely?
When nothing will be resolved?
When there is no escape from the suffering?
CRASH!
A deafening sound erupted from the area near the Window.
Through the shattered Window, Kim Il-hong slowly thrust his head forward.
Blood streamed down his forehead, and with possession taking hold, his eyes rolled grotesquely as he grinned hideously at Kang Hyung-seok.

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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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