An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 285

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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 284
Part 5. Take Pity on Them (2)
The engine rumbled.
On the drive back, Shin Jung-ah said nothing.
Swish, swish.
All she did was occasionally sweep the salt scattered across the dashboard with her palm and flick it out the window.
She must have had a lot on her mind.
After all, she’d encountered the Dog Spirit during a time that should have been nothing but harmonious and peaceful, and she’d discovered she could even sense the presence of spirits.
“Sigh.”
She grumbled like she was sighing, but Kang Hyung-seok had no words to offer in response.
The engine rumbled on.
And so the car became filled with the heavy drone of the engine and the vibrations of the rough rural road surface, settling in firmly.
It was the kind of thing that squeezed the breath right out of you.
Gulp.
Shin Jung-ah swallowed hard enough to make an audible sound, then opened her mouth while staring at the grains of salt clinging to her palm.
“Will we… see it again?”
“I can’t say for certain.”
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”
Dizziness washed over Shin Jung-ah as if she were actually spinning in place, and she tilted her head back, pressing her eyes shut.
Then came the next question.
“From your perspective, that was definitely a Malevolent Spirit, right?”
“Well, yes, but I’m still not entirely certain.”
Shin Jung-ah’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
If it was a Malevolent Spirit, what else could it be?
“There’s no grave without a story behind it. And that’s even more true for animal spirits.”
Kang Hyung-seok recalled the appearance of the Dog Spirit he’d seen in the parking lot.
Its mind was so twisted that even its form had become grotesquely distorted—there was certainly some story behind it.
And because I sensed what that story might be, I felt both more afraid and more pity.
“What kind of story…?”
“It was probably an abandoned dog.”
“Ah.”
Shin Jung-ah, who had encountered an abandoned dog right after arriving here, furrowed her brow in understanding.
The taste in her mouth turned bitter.
It was both pitiful and unsettling to realize that a Malevolent Spirit had been born because of humans.
The thought that it was a being that could only harbor hatred for people was deeply disturbing.
“We should do what we can.”
“…Do you have a plan?”
“I should try using a ritual prayer, and I need to scout the area around it.”
That’s what Gwak Young-ho had said.
That we should spend our nights with free time.
And he also told them to pair up in groups of two or more whenever they went outside.
Though Kang Hyung-seok couldn’t turn his gaze away from the road while driving, he spoke to Shin Jung-ah through his silence.
“Got it. I’ll go with you.”
“I’m always sorry for the trouble.”
“No need. Besides, I can handle detecting spirits now too.”
Shin Jung-ah pulled an electronic cigarette from her pocket with an expression that suggested she wasn’t sure whether to be pleased about this or not.
She watched silently, and her eyes betrayed exactly what she was thinking.
“We’re almost there.”
When he indirectly asked her to manage her expression, Shin Jung-ah nodded heavily.
Kang Hyung-seok slowed the car and parked it in front of the rural house where everyone was waiting.
“Phew! You’ve all worked hard, managers!”
As they got out of the car, Gwak Young-ho, who was setting a pot on the burner, was the first to greet them.
Crinkle.
Kang Hyung-seok handed him a plastic bag containing tempura batter, and Gwak Young-ho accepted it with an excited face, then pointed to the wooden platform.
“Have a seat. I’ll fry them up in no time.”
“Is there anything we can help with?”
“This won’t take long. You know how it is. Just coat them in batter and fry them.”
Gwak Young-ho pushed Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah toward the platform, unwilling to trouble those who had already made the trip to the mart.
“Manager, please rest.”
Namgoong Min-ah, who looked somewhat tired, offered her seat, and Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah sat down next to Lee Jin-pyung.
“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”
Gwak Young-ho prepared a thin tempura batter, dipped the smelt thoroughly, and placed them in the oil-filled pot.
At first glance, nothing seemed amiss, but there was something discordant about it, something that felt off.
“Manager, do you normally remove the innards when frying smelt?”
Shin Jung-ah, who had noticed the source of the oddness, asked, and Gwak Young-ho shook his head as if fed up.
“Don’t even mention it. We used maggots as bait when we caught these, remember?”
“Ugh.”
Shin Jung-ah recoiled at the thought of wriggling maggots, and Gwak Young-ho continued in a grumbling tone.
“So Min-ah said she couldn’t eat the innards. She said it felt like she’d end up eating the maggots too.”
“So you removed all of them?”
“What else could I do? Our team members couldn’t eat them otherwise, so we had to.”
It seemed that caring for team members wasn’t something only Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah did.
“We all removed them together.”
“There were quite a lot of smelt, though?”
When Kang Hyung-seok asked Namgoong Min-ah, who looked pleased, Lee Jin-pyung spoke up.
“With so many people, it went quickly.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yes.”
Kang Hyung-seok nodded with a faint smile at Lee Jin-pyung’s matter-of-fact response.
Then his gaze shifted from the smelt, which was cooking with a savory aroma, to Baekseol, who sat in the corner of the courtyard.
-Woof! Woof! Woof!
Perhaps it was due to the Dog Spirit’s nature.
Despite the peaceful atmosphere, Baekseol barked sharply at Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah, her guard raised to a keen edge.
A chill ran down my spine.
I rubbed away the inexplicable goosebumps rising on my forearm with my palm.
Was this chill from the cold?
Or was there another reason?
I couldn’t tell.
***
The engine rumbled to a stop.
Not far from the mart that Kang Hyung-seok and Shin Jung-ah had visited.
A car came to a halt at what seemed like the beginning of a road connecting the village’s outskirts to elsewhere.
It was the same vehicle in which the Dog Spirit had rammed its head and torn at the small dog’s throat.
The door swung open.
A young couple stepped out.
“Honey, where are the snacks?”
“They’re in the bag.”
The husband opened the rear door.
He reached toward the small dog, but it seemed to sense something was amiss.
It kept dodging his hand, trying to retreat deeper into the car.
“This little guy never acts like this. What’s wrong?”
“Hurry up. It’s cold.”
“I said I would.”
The husband grabbed the leash and yanked the dog out forcefully.
Yelp!
The small dog, gasping for breath, thrashed as it hit the ground. The man glanced around, then pulled a utility knife from his pocket.
“Honey, hold it for me.”
“Really? Can’t you do it alone?”
“It’s pitiful. And this is the last time.”
“Unbelievable.”
The wife, her brow furrowed in irritation, held the dog’s body as the man’s fingers worked at its neck.
Then he sliced open the skin with the utility knife.
A sickening tear of flesh.
Yelp! Yelp! Yelp!
The dog thrashed in agony as its flesh was cut, and the couple’s expressions darkened, but the utility knife did not stop.
A wet sound.
The man extracted the identification chip embedded beneath the skin and stood, leaving the bleeding puppy behind.
“Daddy’s sorry.”
The man meant it sincerely.
It was a dog he had raised since before marriage, but circumstances had become what they were.
The new house he was moving to didn’t allow dogs, and there was no one to leave it with.
Being an old dog, no one would take it even if he tried to give it away.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to have it euthanized after all the affection he’d built with it, so abandonment seemed like the only option left.
*Sigh.*
He pulled out a handful of treats the dog usually loved from his bag, set them on the ground, then turned away.
Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
The dog began to run.
Ignoring the treats it would normally devour mindlessly, it chased after the master who had just inflicted wounds upon it with a utility knife.
*Slam!*
The man quickly shut the door, afraid the dog might jump in, and cast an apologetic gaze backward.
“Dad is so sorry. Please live well. Please, just live well.”
“Honey, let’s go.”
The man’s face crumpled as he exhaled a heavy sigh.
*Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!*
He pressed the accelerator, leaving behind the dog clawing at the driver’s side door.
The car pulled away.
Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
The dog began to run, dripping crimson blood drops onto the asphalt road, but the distance between it and the car only grew wider.
When it finally understood it could chase no further, the dog stopped.
*Pant, pant, pant, pant.*
With its tongue hanging out and breathing heavily, the dog opened its mouth wide in a yawn.
*Whimper.*
A car passed dangerously close, but the dog didn’t budge, instead pacing the area restlessly.
Its eyes glistened with moisture, and anxiety seeped from every movement, yet the car never returned.
Now this dog had become an Abandoned Dog.
For months to come, it would wait in that spot, and whenever a car resembling its master’s appeared, it would drag its emaciated body forward and chase after it until its breath gave out.
But its master would never return.
It would never go home again—instead, it would meet its end through illness, being struck by a car, becoming a Wild Dog, or being devoured by other dogs.
*Yawn.*
The dog, its anxiety and stress reaching a peak, opened its black lips wide in a great yawn, then huddled down on the cold asphalt.
It was at that moment.
The dog’s pupils shifted to the side.
There stood a Dog Spirit.
The Dog Spirit, grotesque and hideous as if multiple dogs had been fused together, fixed its gaze upon the dog like an awl, leaving it frozen and unable to move.
Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
The Dog Spirit stared down at the dog, which was now bristling with caution and baring its teeth.
Then it opened its jaws wide and clamped down on the dog’s neck.
*Yelp! Yelp! Yelp!*
Cries of agony burst forth, but the Dog Spirit refused to release its grip, savagely holding on.
It was an act born of compassion.
-Grrrrr! Grrrrrowl!
Yelp! Yelp! Yelp!
Die. Just die. Die already.
All that remains of life is suffering—better to perish here than endure it.
Don’t weep with the sting of betrayal, don’t long for a master who will never return, don’t tremble in the cold, don’t writhe in hunger, don’t cling to existence in this hell, don’t flee from wild dog packs—just die.
It would be kinder.
I know because I’ve lived it.
I know because I am your past.
-Grrrowl! Yelp!
The Dog Spirit, once an abandoned dog itself, tore into the creature’s throat with savage cruelty.
The dog’s breath ceased.
A cold wind swept past, rustling the dead dog’s fur gently.
The Dog Spirit lingered in that spot, exhaling a low, mournful breath into the void.
Then it gazed hollowly toward the distant treat.
Nothing in this world was more abhorrent.
-Grrrrring.
The Dog Spirit growled, its throat vibrating, and fixed its gaze on the direction the car had vanished.
Then it began to run on five legs.
As if to judge the one who had abandoned the dog, the Dog Spirit pursued the scent and aura of the vanished vehicle, dispersing a thick, murderous intent like smoke.

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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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