An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 294
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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 293
Part 1. With You Beside Me (2)
Shin Yoseph’s pupils trembled as he gripped the Polaroid photograph.
The damp wind continued to blow, and the moon shone with an almost cruel brightness from the sky, illuminating them both.
The wind swept through Shin Yoseph’s hair as it passed.
There was work to be done immediately, and the Mountain Cabin stood right beside them.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok couldn’t bring himself to speak because Shin Yoseph’s eyes were lost in memory.
Crackle.
Shin Yoseph’s fingers trembled as he gripped the corner of the stiff Polaroid photograph with force.
The vivid memory replayed rapidly in his mind.
On a night as dark as this one, Shin Yoseph had clung to a streetlamp in the shabby Villa District’s alley, retching violently.
“Ugh! Uuugh!”
Father Leo, dressed in priestly robes, approached him as he vomited until his stomach seemed to tear apart.
Then, with those thick hands, he patted his back firmly while smoking a cigarette.
“You foolish boy. Does vomiting like that kill you?”
“Gasp, gasp.”
“Still, for a first time, you did well.”
“Father, have you been doing things like this every time?”
Shin Yoseph stared at Father Leo’s hands as he smoked.
The blood dried black was not from the Possessed Person.
It was blood that had flowed from teeth marks and fingernails that had fallen out during the exorcism ritual.
It must have been terribly painful, yet Father Leo calmly continued to burn his cigarette.
“Why? Are you afraid?”
“Aren’t you afraid, Father?”
He had heard every curse the Demon spewed right beside him.
Even though those words weren’t directed at him, Shin Yoseph trembled with such terror that he wanted to collapse.
“I’m afraid.”
“Then why are you so calm about it?”
“Look.”
Father Leo exhaled a long plume of cigarette smoke and gestured to their surroundings.
Following his finger, Shin Yoseph’s gaze moved, but there was nothing brilliant or impressive about what he saw.
A streetlamp reeking of stale urine.
An entrance piled high with flyers.
Waste paper and cardboard boxes stacked neatly in front of the Villa.
Garbage bags reeking of rotting food.
All of it was ordinary and trivial.
“These are the people who live in places like this. Demons prey on people’s weak hearts. That’s why people living in places like this suffer more from demons than those who live wealthy or abundant lives.”
For Shin Yoseph, who had lived in wealth, these words did not come easily.
Ashamed, he lowered his gaze, and Father Leo’s voice continued.
“How could I turn away from such people?”
“Then, Father Leo, you will continue to work for those suffering because of demons.”
Click.
Father Leo drew deeply on his cigarette and exhaled a large plume of smoke like a sigh.
“I’ll do it even in death.”
I don’t remember what expression the past version of me wore when hearing those words.
I probably didn’t smile then, but the current me offered a faint smile.
‘How admirable.’
It was no mere oath of words.
Father Leo did not rest even in death.
Scritch, scriiitch.
I began sweeping the soil from the ground with my foot.
As leaves tangled with the dirt scattered away, I placed the cigarette between my lips.
Whoosh! Crackle.
Carefully controlling any elements that might ignite the surroundings, I lit the cigarette as though exhaling a sigh.
For some reason, the act resembled performing a solemn ritual.
“Shin Yoseph.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke to me, and I nodded with the cigarette still in my mouth.
“Dragging this out won’t help anyone. We settle this once and for all.”
This isn’t just our problem anymore.
Father Leo is still fighting the demon right now, holding it so it cannot flee elsewhere.
Let us grant that spirit peace.
Kang Hyung-seok conveyed his intent through his gaze and tone, and I drew deeply on the cigarette before exhaling.
“How… could we possibly do that?”
“We’ll find a way.”
“….”
“I’ll handle anything that gets in the way. You finish the exorcism ritual.”
Nod.
I looked down at the cigarette in my hand.
It was one I’d just lit and taken only a couple of drags from.
More than half remained, but I extinguished it without hesitation against the eye of the snow mound.
Then I carefully trampled the surrounding area and turned my head toward the Mountain Cabin.
Step, step.
Kang Hyung-seok followed as I led the way.
And when I grasped the doorknob, I felt an odd heat emanating from it.
It was as though it were issuing a warning.
Get out.
Don’t come in.
Creeeeak.
Yet I twisted the doorknob and opened it.
A foul stench mixed with the smell of sulfur assaulted us menacingly.
At the same time, things that should not coexist unleashed a venomous warning upon them.
Ssssshhhhh!
A viper with a triangular head bared its fangs at them.
Whoooosh!
Intense flames that were invisible from the outside now engulfed the coffin.
The floor was teeming with scorpions and spiders alongside the snake, giving the impression that a piece of hell itself had been transplanted here.
“Beginning now.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke in a subdued voice, and Shin Yoseph gripped the cross.
It happened immediately after.
Clang clang clang!
As I shook the Shaman’s Bell vigorously, the viper’s mouth snapped shut, and the spider froze.
“Taisho Watsu Kouten Chi A, Koji Sai A, Ichigetsu Cho A, Seisin Ei A, Teisen Kyo A, Shimei Ei A, Taiotsu Rim A, Gyokushin Do A, Sankan Ho A.”
As I recited the Taiotsu Guardian Spirit Scripture to protect my body, the spider began moving toward the window.
“Oji U A, Hoku Shin Sho A, Nankyoku U A, Kindo Shi A, Gyokujo Hai A, Rikkoku Shoku A, Rikkoku Shin A, Tenmon Kai A, Chi Ho Tsu Sha, San Taku Yo A.”
Shin Yoseph recited his prayer in harmony with my solemn, low-pitched incantation.
“O glorious commander of the heavenly armies, great Archangel Michael.”
“Kyogo Do A, Fuyu U So A, Rai Sho Jun A, Hatsu Kwa Jun A, Kyu Kyu Ton A.”
“Protect us in our struggle against powers and violence, and shield us in our battle against the rulers of this dark world and the demons beneath the heavens.”
A prayer seeking protection.
The difference in faith mattered not.
There existed only a fervent heart united for the same purpose.
“Onyo Sho A, Gyogyo Fu A, Shiji Sho A, Amei Shaku A.”
“Come to aid humanity, created in the image of God and redeemed at great cost from Satan’s oppression.”
Squeeze.
The hand of Shin Yoseph, gripping the cross, trembled.
It was a prayer I had recited countless times during exorcism rites.
Yet never had my heart been so desperate as it was now.
“The Holy Church reveres you as our protector, and God has entrusted to you the souls He has redeemed, to guide them to the joy of heaven.”
Father Leo is in that coffin.
Holding back the demon.
Memories of when the two of us performed the exorcism rite together seeped into my consciousness.
“Therefore, great Archangel Michael.”
He had been alone for so long.
But now there was someone at his side to aid him, and though it was not a Catholic prayer, there was one beside him praying with him nonetheless.
“Taisei Gensei Sho Kyu Sho A, Shoka Orai Mukyuu Fusshoku, Kinhan Gyokusho, Koko Kai Chi.”
Kang Hyung-seok, quietly reciting the incantation, began moving toward the coffin.
The Shaman’s Bell was gripped in my left hand, while my right hand wielded the spirit-slaying blade.
Clang clang clang.
With each step I took, the air churned and transformed, and the flames surging from within the coffin writhed and danced.
One who stands against evil.
Shin Yoseph watched Kang Hyung-seok’s back and recited a prayer with reverent devotion.
“Let the mercy of the Lord swiftly descend upon us, and carry our prayers to the throne of the Most High.”
Hisssss!
The snake hissed threateningly toward Shin Yoseph, but soon fell silent.
It turned its head and began retreating into the shadows, fleeing toward the darkest corners where light could not reach.
That was when it happened.
“Shimsa Yeongji Asim Jeongmun Mugung Johwa Geumilje Byeoksa Gyeong Jungangcheongjeong Cheonji Daewang Geuknak Daewang Cheongje Daewang Byeokryeok Daewang.”
Kang Hyung-seok’s incantation changed.
From the Taeul Guardian Spirit Scripture to the Heavenly Ascension Mantra.
Reciting the incantation to expel malevolent spirits, I drove the Shaman’s Blade into the gap between the coffin lid and frame.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The coffin lid trembled as if dozens of palms were pounding it from within.
Shin Yoseph’s face grew pale, and I clenched my teeth as I twisted the Shaman’s Blade.
The Shaman’s Blade—a sacred implement.
An object of spiritual power, symbolizing the authority of shamans and the divine spirits they serve.
Moreover, the Shaman’s Blade symbolizes the Guardian Spirit.
Creak!
My Guardian Spirit is the General Spirit.
The General Spirit is a military deity, and military deities symbolize strength.
A spirit that repels calamity and drives away evil—capable of standing against any malevolent force.
Creak! Creak!
Like a general wielding a sword against enemies, I pried open the coffin lid with the Shaman’s Blade, pushing against the malevolent energy that filled it.
Creak!
The nailed-shut lid gradually opens.
Flames surged forth with greater intensity, yet they could not harm Kang Hyung-seok, and the shadows cast upon the floor, walls, and ceiling writhed like a malevolent spirit’s convulsions—chaotic and formless.
“Bind the dragon and the ancient serpent, demons and Satan himself, in chains and cast them into the abyss, that your people may be tempted no longer.”
Shin Yoseph concluded his prayer, facing my back.
“Amen.”
In that instant.
Creak!
The nails tore free and the coffin lid burst open.
At the same moment, Shin Yoseph and I beheld it.
Flames that shot up to pierce the ceiling.
And the form completed by those flames against the ceiling.
If hell existed, would it look like this?
-Aaaahhhhh!
-Kyaaahhhhh!
-Ahhh! Uaaahhhhh!
-Uheaaahhhhh!
Victim Spirits whose skin had turned red and black from the intense flames writhed together, screaming in agony.
A vicious aura poured down like rain, and I felt sweat trickling down my spine.
Because I had achieved possession, I could perceive it.
The pain they felt and the reason they had become this way.
Whoooosh!
These were spirits the Demon had dragged up from hell.
Those who had sinned in life through their tongues, their hands, their eyes.
The Demon hid among them.
“The Ten Kings’ Spirits escort and send forth.”
Whoooosh!
“Humans live seventy years in joy, and eighty years in play.”
Like Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, who vows to save all suffering beings across the six realms, I recited the Sutra for the Dead to console and resolve the countless Victim Spirits trapped in the Demon’s grasp.
“With forms and pleasures spanning a hundred years of new life, the glass light shines bright—a hundred sinners, thirty sources of resentment are original sinners, seventy sources are untimely deaths, and as untimely violent deaths collapse.”
I had to free them from the Demon’s grip.
Tear them away.
Make the Demon reveal itself.
-Ahhhhh!
-Kyaaaah! Grraaaah!
-Grrrrgh! Kraaaah!
Amid the anguished screams filling the Mountain Cabin, my serene chanting continued.
“Worldly affairs are like floating clouds, human pleasures flow like water. Dim is the path of life—whom shall I pursue to rely upon? In the desolate mountains shrouded in mist, I become a wandering ghost helplessly, pitiable and forlorn.”
As the Shaman’s sutras resonated, the screams of the Victim Spirits suffering in the flames gradually subsided.
And as their forms grew increasingly blurred and faded away, Shin Yoseph stared at a single point on the ceiling with eyes wide open.
“…Senior.”
Among the Victim Spirits trapped and suffering in the Demon’s grasp was Father Leo.
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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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