An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 280

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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 279
Part 3. Three Are Needed (3)
Flesh is like an arrow.
Swift and violent, sharp and sinister.
“Kang Hyung-seok!”
Shin Yoseph cried out urgently, sensing something amiss, and Kang Hyung-seok turned to face the Goblin before shaking the Shaman’s Bell with all his might.
“Celestial Jade Palace, Heavenly Venerable, Celestial Jade Palace, Great Primordial Celestial Worthy, Three Thearchs and Seven Stars, Celestial Generals of Great Virtue.”
He chanted the Eight Directions Scripture rapidly, and Shin Yoseph prayed as well.
“O glorious commander of the heavenly host, the great Archangel Michael, protect us in our struggle against powers and violence.”
Both were prayers of protection.
Clang-clang-clang!
The urgent ringing of the Shaman’s Bell spread through the quiet night, and the voices of the two intertwined as if becoming one.
“Protect us in our battle against the rulers of this dark world and the demons beneath the heavens. Come to aid humanity, created in God’s image and redeemed at great cost from Satan’s oppression.”
“Twenty-Eight Mansions, Celestial Generals of the Six Heavenly Stems and Ten Earthly Branches, Dunjia Celestial Generals, Heaven and Earth’s Harmony, Wind and Rain Celestial Generals, Jade Pivot Twenty-Eight, Ten Thousand Celestial Generals, Eighty-Four Thousand Celestial Generals, Golden Register Taoist, Sun and Moon Celestial Generals.”
Though the form of prayer was the same, the religions and their objects differed.
Yet that mattered not.
Clang-clang! Jingle-jingle.
The Shaman’s Bell and the silver cross trembled.
The tools used in prayer were as different as their religions, but even that was irrelevant.
They shared the same purpose.
To break the curse.
Screech!
The Goblin dwelling within Shin Jung-ah’s body harbored the same intent as it retrieved the jar.
“Left and Right Unified Spirits, Eight Swift Ones and Eight Gates, Celestial Generals of Proximity, Summoning Earth and Earth Traversal, Four Life Celestial Generals, Earth Sickness and Ghost Plague, White Horse Celestial Generals, Obedient Messenger, Great Celestial General, Eliminate White Horse, Great General.”
“Therefore, great Archangel Michael, we beseech the God of peace to crush Satan’s forces beneath our feet, so that Satan may no longer dominate humanity nor harm the Church.”
Someone had committed an unspeakable act.
A vile and terrible curse had been wrought.
The dead had been desecrated, people had been killed, all for one person’s selfish security.
It had to be broken.
Squelch-squelch-squelch.
Two meters.
The distance between flesh and human.
The flesh, closing the distance with terrifying speed, radiated a malevolent and sinister aura.
Black hose-like protrusions drummed against the ground, seized Kang Hyung-seok’s wrist, and grasped Shin Yoseph’s ankle.
“Dragon King of the Four Seas, Celestial General, Four Seasons and Twelve Directions, Celestial Generals, Mountains, Forests, and Vegetation, Curse Celestial Generals, Yama’s Subordinates, Exorcist Celestial Generals, Paradise Realm, Buddha-Protecting Celestial Generals, Eastern Sea Divine Command.”
“Let the mercy of the Lord swiftly descend upon us, and carry our prayers to the throne of the Most High.”
Yet the two continued their prayers, resisting the flesh that bore down upon them.
And at this moment,
Screech! Crack-crack.
The Goblin began to extract the jar that had been buried in the murky earth.
***
A flash of light.
That was when the Old Man’s eyes snapped open.
The Middle-aged Woman attending to him flinched in surprise and called out his name.
But the Old Man gave no response, instead drawing his skeletal arms across his chest.
This was a man who normally struggled to move even a single finger.
Yet his hands moved with terrifying speed, weaving mudras with supernatural precision.
From the Bodhisattva Samadhi mudra to the Great Diamond Wheel mudra, from the outer earth mudra to the inner lion mudra.
From the outer palm mudra to the inner palm mudra, through the earth seal, the wheel seal, and into the silver form and treasure form seals.
“Imbyeongtuja gaejin yeoljeonehaeng imbyeongtuja gaejin yeoljeonehaeng imbyeongtuja gaejin yeoljeonehaeng imbyeongtuja gaejin yeoljeonehaeng.”
Faster than his hands was the Old Man’s mouth.
His voice was low.
Yet as he stared upward at the ceiling with wide, bulging eyes, muttering the incantations with frantic speed, the Old Man radiated a superhuman aura that defied belief that a man at death’s door could possess such power.
“Six roots purified, urgent as the law, all sentient beings liberated, urgent as the law.”
It was a display bordering on madness.
The Middle-aged Woman swallowed hard without realizing it, then slowly lifted her gaze.
Where her eyes fell, hundreds of paper talismans hung suspended in the air.
The door and window were sealed shut, so no breeze should have entered.
Yet strangely, the paper figures cut in the shapes of humans and animals swayed and trembled as if caught in an invisible wind.
***
Screech, screeeech!
As the Goblin exerted its strength, the jar began to wrench free, shrieking as if in agony.
The blood-soaked earth clung to the jar as though refusing to release it, the soil congealing and adhering with stubborn resistance.
Yet the jar continued to emerge, as though its extraction were a fate decreed by heaven itself.
Drip.
That was when blood began to trickle from Kang Hyung-seok’s nose.
His vision darkened as though struck by a physical blow, and a searing pain pierced through his chest.
Thud!
Shin Yoseph’s grip on the wavering Kang Hyung-seok was iron-strong.
Just a little more—just a little more strength, I silently urged.
Shin Yoseph’s eyes too were bloodshot with that same desperate plea.
“Haah! Haah!”
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled ragged, blood-tinged breaths, then nodded vigorously.
Gripping the ritual blade tightly, he began to chant another scripture.
“In the center of emptiness dwells the natural self, vast as the heavens—the Eastern Azure Emperor commands, the Southern Crimson Emperor governs.”
It was Kang Hyung-seok that the malevolent force was hunting.
To resist it, to sever it and drive it away, Kang Hyung-seok began to recite the Wind and Cloud Livestock Farm scripture.
“The Eastern Sacred Mountain spirit Moon-riding Dragon, the Southern Sacred Mountain spirit Tan Jin-yeong, the Western Sacred Mountain spirit Soo Il-kwon, the Northern Sacred Mountain spirit Jin So-seong, the Central Sacred Mountain spirit Ho Yeol-soo.”
The malevolent force’s movement grew sluggish.
Bit by bit it retreated, its form beginning to dissolve and diminish like mist melting into the cold air.
Whoooosh! Whoosh! Screeeech!
Two divine objects purified the surrounding air, severing the twisted and malevolent energy as I turned my gaze backward.
The Goblin stood holding an earthen jar it had excavated from the soil.
“Hahahaha, hahahaha!”
What could possibly be so amusing?
The Goblin wore a paper mask—stark white with a crooked mouth painted across its cheeks—and laughed with unbridled mirth.
“I’ve pulled it out! I’ve finally pulled it out!”
The Goblin, having wrenched the jar from the earth where it had been driven like a stake, held it aloft with unmistakable pride.
Then, eyes gleaming, it began to unseal the jar.
Crackle! Crackle-crackle!
It severed the cord binding the jar’s mouth, shattered the mud-hardened lid, and tore away the paper seal that had been wrapped tight around the opening.
A staggering reek of fish and putrefaction assaulted us where Shin Yoseph and I stood.
It was the stench of whatever lay within the jar, rotted and decomposed over decades.
“Ugh!”
As the foul odor was so repugnant that even Shin Yoseph gagged, the Goblin brought the jar to the mouth of its paper mask.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
In the silence where the scriptures and prayers had ceased and even the wind dared not blow, only the sound of the Goblin drinking from the jar echoed loudly.
Shin Yoseph stared at the Goblin with wide eyes, while I grasped and pressed down on his wrist.
This was a necessary step.
“Shin Manager is…”
“Not actually drinking.”
Splurt, splurt!
It was drinking through the paper mask’s mouth, not Shin Jung-ah’s actual mouth.
Blackened blood and chunks of flesh dripped down Shin Jung-ah’s body, clumping as they fell.
Gulp, gulp.
Yet the sound of something being consumed continued, and the malevolent stench and toxicity saturating the surroundings began to diminish.
Since the jar was the source of the curse, as the Goblin consumed its contents, the curse itself was breaking.
Gulp-gulp-gulp.
As the curse neared its end, the jar’s bottom gradually tilted toward the sky.
And when the jar’s bottom pointed completely upward,
Splatter!
The contents pooled at the bottom poured out in a single mass.
Bones and putrefied flesh.
And feathers and fur.
The carcass of an animal.
“Haaaaah.”
The Goblin, its entire body now covered in rotten blood and flesh, heaved its shoulders with satisfaction.
“Hahaha! Hahahaha! Ahahahahaha!”
Is this what the laughter of one who has finally achieved their long-cherished desire sounds like?
With such a thought crossing my mind, the Goblin laughed with unbridled exuberance.
“It’s gone! It’s gone! I finally destroyed that cursed thing completely!”
The curse anchored deep into the ground.
The Goblin’s eyes gleamed so brightly in the darkness that I could see them clearly, satisfied at having severed the sorcery entirely.
“Hahahaha! Ahahahahaha!”
The laughter continued for a long moment.
Gradually, the Goblin’s aura emanating from Shin Jung-ah’s body began to fade.
“Manager!”
Kang Hyung-seok rushed forward, and Shin Jung-ah, who had begun to stumble, collapsed into his arms.
Thud!
As I caught her body, my gaze lifted skyward.
My eyes followed the pitch-black silhouette dancing grotesquely as it fled down the road connected to the Factory.
The Goblin, with its two arms and two legs like a human, was performing a bizarre dance as it returned to its territory.
I looked down at Shin Jung-ah, my breathing ragged, her body caked with rotting blood and flesh.
She remained unconscious.
But her breathing was shallow and steady, so I exhaled heavily and bowed my head.
“Is she going to be alright?”
Shin Yoseph asked, glancing toward where the flesh had been, and I lifted my gaze to the dim road ahead.
“The rest will take care of itself.”
It had been a curse meant to harm human life.
With the curse broken, the caster would not escape unscathed either.
No amount of preparation could shield them from heavenly retribution.
Crunch.
I stared at the place where the flesh had been, my jaw clenched tight.
***
Slice!
The paper figure’s neck severed as cleanly as if cut by a razor-sharp blade.
The Middle-aged Woman, watching the paper figure flutter and plummet, urgently lifted her gaze upward.
Slice, slice, slice, slice.
The paper figures shaped like beasts were tearing apart.
They were talismans the Japanese Onmyoji had woven to shield his own body.
Slice!
Though it appeared he was desperately protecting the Old Man, there were far too many paper figures splitting open.
As the paper figures descended like white autumn leaves tumbling from the sky, the Old Man’s incantation ceased.
“It’s, it’s alright….”
The Middle-aged Woman’s mouth clamped shut mid-sentence.
Her eyes widened in horror, and her trembling hand flew to her lips.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah!”
Blood was pouring from the Old Man’s mouth.
“Cough! Hack!”
The violent coughing that followed sprayed blood across the ceiling in crimson arcs, while the paper figures continued to fall away.
And the moment a bestial groan tore from the Old Man’s throat,
Clatter.
The Old Man’s teeth fell beneath the bed.
“Gahhhhh!”
His head lolled back with a strangled, gasping sound.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The heart monitor connected to him displayed an erratic graph, and the Middle-aged Woman’s face drained of all color.
“No, no! This can’t happen!”
Gripping the unconscious Old Man’s shoulders, she fumbled for her phone with trembling hands.
Then she began calling the medical staff in urgent desperation.
Hurry, please send someone right away.
The Old Man’s life could not end today.
Not today, at least.
The Middle-aged Woman poured out her pleas into the phone, then fought with all her strength to pull the Old Man’s consciousness back from the abyss into which it was sinking.

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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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