An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 284

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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 283
Part 5. Take Pity on Me (1)
Thud.
When Gwak Young-ho returned after finishing ice fishing, Shin Manager sat on the wooden floor wearing a lightweight padded jacket beneath a garishly floral vest.
“Shin Manager, what’s with that outfit?”
“There were enough of them inside for everyone?”
“Oh, that’s what my mother used to wear.”
Gwak Young-ho still found it difficult to fully grasp the sensibilities of a rural vacation.
“Did you catch a lot of smelt?”
“No joke. The moment I cast the line, they just kept coming.”
When Gwak Young-ho excitedly opened the cooler, he revealed smelt writhing in such abundance they seemed to outnumber the water itself.
“What? You caught this much in such a short time?”
At Shin Manager’s astonished reaction, excitement surged across Gwak Young-ho’s face.
“Incredible, right? Namgoong Min-ah can’t bait the hooks, but she’s the best at actually catching them.”
“Wow.”
When Shin Manager cast an admiring glance toward Namgoong Min-ah, she laughed bashfully yet proudly, her expression radiating satisfaction.
“All right, everyone must be freezing. Go inside and warm up. I’ll fry these up and make some tteokbokki to bring to you.”
Gwak Young-ho rummaged through the box of ingredients with the air of someone about to showcase his culinary prowess for the first time in ages.
Then he paused, exhaling with evident disappointment.
“Manager, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, I bought the wrong thing.”
It was then that Kang Hyung-seok furrowed his brow and approached Gwak Young-ho.
“I should have bought tempura flour, but I got pancake flour instead. Ugh.”
It was truly unfortunate that Gwak Young-ho was the one who had purchased the ingredients.
Kang Hyung-seok checked the time on his wristwatch, then glanced at his car with furrowed brows.
“There’s no help for it. I’ll run to the nearby supermarket and grab some.”
“It’ll be quite a distance. Should we just use the pancake flour?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Manager. The taste will be different.”
Kang Hyung-seok knew this too, though he wished he didn’t—using pancake flour for frying results in something soggy and limp rather than crispy.
“I’ll be back soon. You should rest in the inner room, Manager. You must be cold too.”
“I feel terrible about this.”
“It’s fine.”
Kang Hyung-seok picked up his car keys and was about to get in when Gwak Young-ho, feeling bad about letting him go alone, glanced around at the others.
Everyone looked cold, but there was one person who seemed to feel it less.
“Yes, understood. I’ll go with you.”
As Shin Manager answered while removing the floral vest, Gwak Young-ho opened his mouth apologetically.
“No, you don’t have to.”
“I need to buy some cigarettes anyway.”
“But you use an electronic cigarette?”
“Just in case—I’ll grab a pack. Should I pick up some for you too, Manager?”
“Oh! Then I’ll cover three packs with my lighter.”
Shin Jung-ah checked Gwak Young-ho’s cigarettes and climbed into the car with Kang Hyung-seok.
Click.
Kang Hyung-seok smiled faintly as he watched Shin Jung-ah fasten her seatbelt, then turned the steering wheel sharply and began driving toward the nearest mart.
Whether the Village Supermarket wasn’t registered in the navigation system or not, the closest mart was a full 3.5 kilometers away by car.
“Wow, how do people even live in a place like this?”
“Manager, are you feeling better now?”
“Hm? Better about what?”
“About riding in my car.”
Shin Jung-ah pressed her lips together and let out a small groan.
“I, I just need to get used to it. It’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry. I won’t mention it again.”
“No, no. Really, it’s not that. It’s not polite to complain when I’m borrowing Manager Kang’s car.”
Shin Jung-ah rested her elbow against the passenger window and leaned her head against her fist.
“And now the smell is… huh?”
Suddenly, Shin Jung-ah narrowed her brows and turned to look at the back seat, inhaling deeply through her nose.
“Is it because of the smelt? Why does it smell fishy?”
“Fishy?”
“Yeah. Manager Kang, you don’t smell it?”
Kang Hyung-seok frowned slightly, glanced at Shin Jung-ah for a moment, then looked away.
‘What is this?’
There was no reason for a fishy smell to be present.
All the fishing equipment was newly purchased, and the smelt were thrashing about alive inside the cooler.
Given the cold season, there was no way a fishy odor could have clung to anything, yet Shin Jung-ah was saying she detected a fishy scent.
“…Could it be coming from me?”
“Hm? What were you doing?”
Kang Hyung-seok raised his right arm instead of answering.
The gesture seemed to invite her to smell it, so Shin Jung-ah leaned in closer with a puzzled expression.
“Oh? Yeah, that’s it. It’s coming from Manager Kang.”
“…You’re quite perceptive.”
“What is it? Why?”
Kang Hyung-seok shook his head without answering.
My mind grows complicated.
The fishy smell Shin Jung-ah detected was not the scent of smelt.
“Just tell me straight. What is it exactly?”
“I’m hesitant because you might be shocked.”
“Come on, what shock could a fishy smell possibly cause?”
Kang Hyung-seok pressed his lips together, then opened his mouth carefully.
“The smell you detected, Manager. I suspect it might be the scent of a ghost.”
“…What?”
“I saw something strange on the way to the Reservoir. A spirit’s scent may have attached itself to me then.”
Shin Jung-ah, completely frozen, said nothing and slumped against the passenger seat’s backrest.
Her forehead would grow hot.
The fact that she, not even a shamanic practitioner, could detect a spirit’s scent.
“…I couldn’t sense it before.”
“You’ve been through some things recently. It’s bound to have an effect.”
Gulp.
Shin Jung-ah swallowed hard, her eyes wide with terror as she turned them toward Kang Hyung-seok.
“Then… then do I have to receive a spirit like you do, Manager Kang? Experience spirit sickness, see ghosts?”
“No.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke with absolute certainty, shaking his head.
“That won’t happen. Your fate doesn’t extend to receiving a spirit.”
I can be certain of this.
If Shin Jung-ah truly had the destiny to receive a spirit, she wouldn’t be living as she does now.
She wouldn’t have harbored a divine entity in her body, wouldn’t have experienced possession, and malevolent spirits wouldn’t cling to her so easily.
A spirit chosen to watch over her would have protected her.
But without such a spirit, Shin Jung-ah had to protect herself with talismans and bracelets.
“A-are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Kang Hyung-seok tilted his ear toward his bag, but the Shaman’s Bell didn’t ring.
The Guardian Spirit didn’t deny it either.
It felt as though they were saying Shin Jung-ah would never become a shaman until her life ended.
“Phew.”
Relieved, Shin Jung-ah exhaled a long sigh, her body going limp, and Kang Hyung-seok smiled bitterly.
“Do you dislike becoming a shaman so much?”
“No! It’s not that—honestly, I just don’t have the confidence to live like you do, Manager Kang.”
“Why me?”
“You overworked yourself before and even got shingles.”
With nothing to say, Kang Hyung-seok drove silently toward the Mart.
It was a food ingredient mart with its own parking lot, and just as Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah, who had purchased frying powder, beer, and cigarettes, were about to get into the car.
Both of them stopped moving.
Vrroooom.
A vehicle passed them and parked in an empty space, shopping carts rattled at the checkout counter, and from a corner came the voices of credit card promoters soliciting customers.
It was a moment that captured the ordinary, everyday life of a typical rural mart like a picture in a frame.
“…Manager Kang.”
Yet Shin Jung-ah, frozen in the posture of opening the passenger door, was sending an anxious gaze.
“Is this a spirit’s scent too?”
Standing before the driver’s seat, Kang Hyung-seok nodded silently.
Then he signaled to Shin Jung-ah to never look back under any circumstances, and opened the driver’s door as naturally as possible.
Click.
As soon as Shin Jung-ah climbed into the car, Kang Hyung-seok retrieved a bottle of salt from the small compartment beside the steering wheel.
Whoosh, swish.
His gaze remained fixed outside as he sprinkled fine grains of salt over Shin Jung-ah and the surrounding area.
Thud, thud.
A black Dog Spirit was entering the parking lot.
Even from a distance, it had seemed massive.
Now that it was closer, I could properly gauge its size—and despite having witnessed countless spirits since childhood, I had never seen a Dog Spirit this enormous.
What kind of Dog Spirit was the size of a compact car?
Thud, thud.
The black Dog Spirit’s form, moving between the parked vehicles on ox-like legs, was as alien as its sheer size.
It had two eye sockets, but they were crammed with dense, crimson eyeballs. One nose. Three tails.
Looking closer, it had five legs.
“Is it… gone?”
“No.”
Kang Hyung-seok answered in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the Dog Spirit.
“Stay still.”
This was no ordinary Dog Spirit.
Distorted dog skulls were embedded throughout its body, marking it as a Malevolent Spirit.
Since it was already a difficult animal spirit to confront, and now a Malevolent Spirit on top of that, unnecessary provocation was best avoided.
“Huuuuh.”
Sensing something was wrong, Shin Jung-ah covered her mouth and released a trembling breath, while Kang Hyung-seok watched the creature’s every movement as if searing it into his retinas.
That was when it happened.
Thunk.
The Dog Spirit pressed its head against a parked car and peered inside.
Then it repeated the same action on another vehicle.
It was searching for something.
I didn’t know what, but the acrid stench of malevolence, the reek of decay, and the sinister killing intent radiating from it made its purpose clear.
It intended to cause harm.
Jingle.
As if confirming my thoughts, the Shaman’s Bell in the bag on the back seat trembled.
Thud, thud.
The Dog Spirit approached the front row and pressed its head against a white sedan.
Then it suddenly raised the fur along its back and began moving viciously, and immediately a sharp scream erupted from inside the car.
Yelp! Yelp-yelp!
The ear-splitting cry was no auditory hallucination.
Startled, Shin Jung-ah lifted her head, and Kang Hyung-seok’s lips twisted as he identified the source of the screams.
A small dog left alone in the car was being mauled by the Dog Spirit.
Yelp-yelp-yelp!
-Growl, growl!
“What the—?”
“Grab the dog, grab it!”
“What’s happening?”
The startled bystanders rushed to the car and peered inside, but without spiritual sight, all they could perceive was the dog thrashing about on its own.
“Kang…!”
Shin Jung-ah turned hastily toward Kang Hyung-seok but fell silent.
“Bae Cheong Bon Sa Wee Oh Chuk Yeom Mi Jo Sa Wee.”
Kang Hyung-seok had pressed his palms together in reverence and was reciting a sacred incantation.
“Oh Chuk Yeom Mi Chil Jo Seon Sa Wee Oh Chuk Yeom Mi Ok Nyeo Wee Oh Chuk Yeom Mi Yeom Hwa Dong Jong Mi Hwa Chul Ja.”
He carried neither the Shaman’s Bell nor a divine blade in his hands.
Yet with the Guardian Spirit at his side, Kang Hyung-seok recited the Yeom Mi incantation to banish the malevolent spirit, and the Dog Spirit’s movements froze as if taxidermied.
“Hyung Shin Ak Sal Gwang Gwee Cheon Ri Geo Cheon Sal Gwee Cheon Ri Geo Ji Sal Ji Dang Hyung Shin Ak Sal.”
The Dog Spirit released the dog and withdrew its head from the car.
The creature then fixed its gaze upon Kang Hyung-seok’s location before bolting from the parking lot.
“Gong Gwee Seo Bang Ap Song Toe Shin Chul Wae Bang Shin Byeong Shin Jang Hwa Geup Geup Yeo Yul Ryeong.”
Having finished the incantation, Kang Hyung-seok watched the Dog Spirit recede into the distance.
Dissatisfied with something, the creature kept glancing back at the car Kang Hyung-seok occupied, its hideous fangs bared in a snarl.

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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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