An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 305

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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 304
Part 5. The Yongwang Closes Its Eyes (1)
Rumble.
Kang Hyung-seok brought the car to a halt on the Dirt Road and cut the engine.
The headlights dimmed, and the interior cabin light extinguished as well, yet he did not immediately exit the vehicle.
It was neither the cold nor the distance to the Village that gave him pause.
‘There are no people around.’
From inside the car, he spent considerable time observing whether anyone passed nearby.
Confirming the absence not only of people but also of cats or dogs, he stepped out of the vehicle.
Chime.
As he slung the bag over his shoulder, the Shaman’s Bell within chimed softly, yet Kang Hyung-seok turned his steps toward the Village.
The relentless sea breeze cut sharply, and clouds that had not existed during the day now shrouded the sky—it was 11 PM.
“Hah…”
Exhaling breath that frosted white in the winter sea wind, Kang Hyung-seok continued forward.
He had not precisely fixed a destination in his mind.
Yet his thoughts held a clear objective.
The place where the Yongwang Ritual had taken place.
He needed to verify it.
He harbored no doubt whatsoever that Lee Geum-kyung had succeeded, yet he held a faint hope—might there not be some connection to the silent Yongwang in that place?
Step, step.
Thus, with the Sea to his right, Kang Hyung-seok proceeded onward.
Whoosh!
A lantern’s beam rushed toward him like a prowling tiger, illuminating his figure.
***
“Ugh!”
Shin Jung-ah, who had just finished washing up at the Public Restroom, let out a shriek of horror at the sight of a thumb-sized centipede.
Bang!
Someone resting in another room kicked their door open, and Shin Jung-ah quickly covered her mouth and rushed back to her room.
Thud.
“Phew.”
Startled, Shin Jung-ah collapsed to the floor, trembling, while Lee Geum-kyung, who had finished showering earlier, regarded her with a sympathetic gaze.
“No, it’s not that I saw a ghost. It was a, a bug.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
“Ugh! Teacher, do we really have to stay here?”
This Guesthouse charged nightly rates comparable to a Motel in the Commercial District, yet its facilities were nowhere near the same standard.
“No, we shouldn’t. I expect we’ll hear from them by tomorrow.”
“Hear from… them?”
“There was a Shaman who performed the Yongwang Ritual with me.”
Why was she speaking in the past tense?
As Shin Jung-ah fell silent, rubbing her wet hair with a towel, Lee Geum-kyung continued.
“He wasn’t much of a talker, but he was a good man. Unfortunately, he passed away two years ago.”
“Ah…”
“He had a son, and that son is coming to the Village, so we should hear from him by tomorrow.”
It seemed the connection hadn’t been completely severed after all.
Shin Jung-ah felt relieved and plugged the hair dryer into the power strip.
“If he’s a son, then he must be a Shaman as well?”
“He inherited the trade, so yes, he’s a Shaman.”
Shin Jung-ah, about to turn on the hair dryer, paused.
Then, without a word, she shifted her gaze toward Lee Geum-kyung.
She couldn’t quite pinpoint the reason, but something about Lee Geum-kyung’s answer felt off.
However, Lee Geum-kyung’s lips were sealed so tightly that Shin Jung-ah couldn’t bring herself to ask, so she turned on the hair dryer.
***
I shielded my eyes from the lantern’s piercing beam with my palm.
Through the gaps between my fingers, I studied the person holding it.
A man.
One who appeared to be roughly fifteen years my senior.
“Who are you?”
“And you?”
The lantern light shifted to my chest, and I lowered my hand from my face to meet his gaze.
He was not from the Village.
I could tell because his skin bore the pallor of a city dweller.
“Didn’t you hear me? I asked who you are.”
The man pressed again, and my eyes drifted to the bag in my hand.
After confirming that the Shaman’s Bell remained silent, I spoke.
“I’m an outsider.”
“What brings you here?”
“Why would you ask such a thing?”
The light swept downward.
The beam that had illuminated my chest now fell to my feet, and the man began advancing slowly.
“If you came for no reason, leave. We’re in no position to welcome outsiders.”
It was then.
A clear chime rang out.
The Shaman’s Bell inside my bag had sounded.
Yet the approaching man showed no reaction, as if he hadn’t heard it at all.
“Don’t you understand? I said go.”
I studied his face for a moment before speaking.
“I came for a reason.”
“What…?”
“The Yongwang Ritual. I came to see that place.”
We stood close, and though the lantern pointed downward, its scattered light cast an eerie glow across our surroundings.
Thus I could see not only his face but his expression as well.
Though the upward-casting light created grotesque shadows, they did not distort his emotions beyond recognition.
“…Who are you?”
“I am a Shaman.”
“…”
“And who might you be?”
The moment he heard the word Shaman, his face hardened, and I continued in a low voice.
“What reason do you have to be wary of Shamans?”
“…”
“Are you a Shaman?”
A brief silence fell between us.
Then the man’s face gave a heavy nod.
“You don’t appear to be someone who has received the calling. Are you from the Hereditary Shaman Tradition, or the Learned Shaman Tradition?”
“Mm.”
“So you’re from the Hereditary Shaman Tradition.”
The man regarded Kang Hyung-seok with an ambiguous expression, hesitating before a deep furrow formed between his brows.
“Are you, by any chance, a disciple of Lee Geum-kyung?”
“And you are?”
“Sigh.”
The man exhaled a long breath through his teeth, shifted the lantern to his left hand, and extended his right hand in greeting.
“I’m Ko Jun-yeol. My mother performed the Yongwang Ritual together with Lee Geum-kyung.”
So he was indeed from the Hereditary Shaman Tradition.
Kang Hyung-seok nodded and grasped Ko Jun-yeol’s hand, shaking it briefly.
As expected of someone not engaged in fishing in this village, his palm was soft, unmarred by calluses.
“Forgive my rudeness on first meeting. So your mother and Lee Geum-kyung knew each other?”
“She’s passed now, but she spoke of the teacher often.”
Ko Jun-yeol answered in a manner that blended informal and formal speech, and Kang Hyung-seok released his hand and slung his bag over his shoulder.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you guide me to where the Yongwang Ritual took place?”
“Why?”
“I heard the Yongwang Ritual has been failing repeatedly. That’s why I’ve come.”
“Sigh.”
The Yongwang Ritual seemed to weigh heavily on Ko Jun-yeol as well.
He exhaled a breath that frosted in the cold air, his gaze laden with countless emotions and concerns as he looked at Kang Hyung-seok, then extinguished the lantern’s flame.
Darkness enveloped their surroundings, and Ko Jun-yeol pocketed the lantern before turning away.
“Follow me.”
He seemed like a rather taciturn person.
Kang Hyung-seok watched Ko Jun-yeol’s receding figure before beginning to walk.
They walked for quite some time.
Without anyone speaking, Kang Hyung-seok came to a halt first.
The coast was near, and the lights of fishing boats out for night operations glimmered across the sea like starlight.
“Is it there?”
Kang Hyung-seok pointed to a tree on the hillside overlooking the sea.
Ko Jun-yeol turned around with a startled expression and nodded, while Kang Hyung-seok fixed his gaze upon the tree.
It was an ancient, gnarled tree.
It was so lush and thick-trunked that it would be fitting to call it a sacred tree, yet it somehow felt hollowed out.
‘He said his mother had passed.’
The Hereditary Shaman Tradition maintains the Yongwang Ritual across generations.
The predecessor had lost their life recently.
Perhaps because of this, the tree had grown so weakened in spirit that it appeared merely ancient.
“Do you understand why the Yongwang Ritual has failed?”
“The Ritual Ground’s spiritual energy is diminished. The Dragon King values rules and procedure greatly, so there must be a reason his heart has been wounded.”
Kang Hyung-seok looked at Ko Jun-yeol.
A Hereditary Shaman Tradition practitioner—a shaman in name, yet one who had neither received a divine calling nor properly inherited the craft. His eyes betrayed a wealth of negative emotions.
In a way, his gaze resembled that of someone envying Kang Hyung-seok.
“This is maddening. Even if we perform the ritual, it won’t help.”
“I think we should start with purification rites.”
I sensed something murky in the air, though I couldn’t quite identify it.
It seemed paramount to first cleanse that murky energy through ritual washing, then drive away the impurity with purification rites, and only then prepare to receive the divine presence.
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and let my gaze drift beyond the sea.
My mood was far from good.
The peaceful-seeming winter sea felt hollow and dark, as if the absence of the divine had hollowed it out entirely.
“For now, I’ll contact the teacher as soon as the sun rises.”
Ko Jun-yeol’s voice didn’t reach my ears.
It flowed past my ear and spilled to the ground, and I ground my lower lip as I stared at the sea.
It was then.
“Excuse me, but I have one question.”
“Hmm?”
“The overall situation doesn’t seem right.”
Lee Geum-kyung had once said that circumstances create emotions.
“Is there perhaps something else I’m unaware of?”
I shifted my gaze to Ko Jun-yeol, and just as his expression stiffened subtly,
Uuuuuung.
A massive vibration like that of a whale resonated ominously through the air.
In an instant, my gaze turned toward the source of the sound, and a siren standing tall like a totem pole entered my field of vision.
Weeeeeng!
The siren’s noise, thick with static, swallowed the entire Village.
At the same moment, a fierce wind swept in.
The wind originating from the sea was ominously damp and vicious.
Flap, flap!
With no time to heed the billowing fabric of our clothes, Ko Jun-yeol and I turned our bodies toward the sea.
Rumble! Rumbling!
This was impossible.
The sky that had been calm just moments ago was now raging.
Splash! Splash! Weeeeeng!
The distant sound of waves tangled with the siren, and the lights of fishing boats danced up and down.
The sea dances, and the sky wails.
Weeeeeng! Weeeeng!
Listening to the siren’s cry as if it would swallow the world, I exhaled a trembling breath between my lips.
It wasn’t a hallucination, but a strange smell I couldn’t quite describe in words.
It was an odd scent—part fishy sea smell, part the metallic tang of blood.
“Oh no.”
Ko Jun-yeol muttered with a sigh, and Kang Hyung-seok glanced at him briefly before returning his gaze to the Sea.
And he saw it.
A grotesque form hovering at the midpoint between sky and Sea.
Splash! Splash!
Kang Hyung-seok rubbed his lips as he watched that thing looming over the boat, which seemed as though it might sink at any moment.
The air was heavy and damp, yet strangely his lips were parched and dry.

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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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