An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 306

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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 305
Part 5. The Dragon King Closed His Eyes (2)
Shhhhheeeeek!
The wind that swept across the landscape was fierce enough to destroy everything in its path.
My thick coat fluttered and clung to my body, while the withered branches of trees snapped and scattered in the gale.
Kang Hyung-seok stood shoulder to shoulder with Ko Jun-yeol, facing the sea.
“Haa!”
A sharp breath escaped because I understood the source of this wind.
This was no ordinary gale conjured by a malevolent spirit or lesser entity.
It was divine wind.
A phenomenon born from a divine being, and its intent was savage.
Crash!
Gazing at the presence hovering above the surging waves, I turned my bag toward my chest.
Then I withdrew the Shaman’s Bell and raised it toward the heavens.
In this moment, in this fleeting instant, I cannot express how desperately I had wished for this.
For the Shaman’s Bell to ring.
Clunk, clunk, clunk.
The bell shook, but only a dull sound emerged.
I clenched my eyes and lips, and shook the Shaman’s Bell with earnest devotion.
“Taisho Yaku Koten no Chi Aku Koten Sai Aku Ichigetsu Cho Aku Seishin Ei Aku Teisen Kyo Aku Shimei Ei Aku.”
Ko Jun-yeol’s gaze turned toward me, and the wind intensified as if to disrupt my incantation.
“Rikkou Shoku Aku Rikutei Shin Aku Tenmon Kai Aku Chiko Tsusha Sanzetsu Yo Aku Koka Do Aku.”
The bell still refused to ring, and the foul-smelling wind continued to obstruct my possession.
“Onyo Shu Aku Gogyo Fu Aku Shiji Sei Aku A Mei Shaku Aku Taisei Gensetsu Shokyu Sho Aku Shoka Oro Mukyuu Fusshoku.”
But I did not stop the incantation.
If you are truly a divine spirit and the Dragon King, please hear my plea.
Please lend your ear to this humble servant’s voice.
“Shoko Jaseisho Shoi Jigou Shoyoku Jaseisho Shushushuhenge Yodo Goushin Karyou Fufuku.”
As my earnest heart seemed to reach the heavens and grow,
Clunk, clunk, and a clear ring.
The Shaman’s Bell rang, if only for a moment.
“Hasai Kongou Shinten Rokuhyaku Shosai Abo Shusetsu Hofu Yo A Doyuu.”
Ring, ring, clunk! Ringing! Ringing, ringing!
The Shaman’s Bell began to ring properly, growing stronger.
In that instant, as possession took hold, I stared at the presence above the sea with a grave expression and completed the Taiyi Protective Spirit Incantation.
“Jinen Fukujuu Jinen Reikenken Manzu Dojou Ichiichi Yoho Meirei Houkougyou Issai Mui Gengen Yoshi Kyukyuu Yo Ritsurei.”
Ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing!
The Shaman’s Bell rang so loudly it even overwhelmed the continuing siren sound.
And I opened my mouth while holding the Shaman’s Bell high.
“Divine spirit, hear me!”
Wail, wail, wail!
“Let the fierce downpour subside and calm the turbulent heart, purifying body and spirit! I humbly beseech you to hear this shaman’s small plea!”
Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze remained fixed upon the entity hovering above the sea.
Whether it was the Dragon King or not, he could not discern.
Though it vaguely resembled human form, its movements were like a flag fluttering in the wind—there was something so grotesquely unsettling about it that merely witnessing it felt like inviting a curse.
A tremendous crash!
“Calm this wind, I beseech you, and silence the roar of the waves, bring forth tranquility across the waters, and protect the lives of all!”
In that moment, the air itself changed.
Kang Hyung-seok’s face went rigid, and Ko Jun-yeol’s complexion shifted as well.
A hereditary shaman who had never received a spirit.
A shaman without spiritual sight.
So while Kang Hyung-seok could see the entity before him, Ko Jun-yeol could not—yet something else became visible to him instead.
A shattering roar!
Waves surged violently, accompanied by a sound like something being torn asunder.
And the lights from the fishing boats that had been working the sea vanished from his field of vision.
They were dead.
Torn apart.
Devoured alive by the sea itself.
Wail, wail, wail!
As the disaster siren continued its relentless wail, Kang Hyung-seok stared blankly at the entity floating above the waters.
What could possibly bring it such delight?
It writhed and billowed like one seized by uncontrollable laughter, then vanished from sight.
***
People who had gone out to sea had gone missing.
A report was filed with the Maritime Police Agency, and boats were deployed, but helicopters were grounded due to severe winds.
Kang Hyung-seok watched the entire search operation unfold at the Beach alongside Ko Jun-yeol.
“Aaaahhh! Aaaaaaahhh!”
The screams of the missing persons’ families were horrifying.
A high school student stood with a completely vacant expression.
Unable even to cry, he simply stared out at the Sea.
Family death. Disappearance.
Waves rolling endlessly.
Life rings being hurled in, the Maritime Police narrowing their search radius.
Whoosh, whoosh.
As the black Sea fell silent as if nothing had happened, I clenched my teeth.
My heart churned in direct opposition to the calm waters.
What could it be?
What was causing the Yongwang Ritual to fail, what was killing people?
Could it be the Dragon King itself?
If not, why does the Dragon King remain silent?
As thoughts swarmed like starving Snakes, clouding my mind, someone approached Ko Jun-yeol.
Grab!
The man seized his collar, his eyes wild with bloodshot rage and tears as he glared terrifyingly at Ko Jun-yeol.
“You bastard! You said everything would be fine!”
“H-hey!”
“What are you doing? Let go!”
“Release me! You rotten—let go!”
Startled onlookers tried to pry him away, but the man clung desperately to Ko Jun-yeol’s collar.
“You said it! You said everything would be okay! That one ritual would fix everything! How much longer do we have to wait? How many more have to die before it’s fixed?!”
The man’s roaring and the wails of the missing persons’ families tangled together, creating a horrifying chaos.
Ko Jun-yeol stood trembling with his eyes squeezed shut—a sight almost unbearable to witness.
“I said let go!”
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Unable to contain himself, another man kicked the aggressor in the stomach, sending him rolling across the sand.
“You think you’re the only one frustrated? Huh? You think you’re the only one?! Damn it!”
The man who had kicked him forcibly hauled him up and smashed his face into the sand.
Violence spread like wildfire in an instant, and the villagers split into two groups—those throwing punches and those desperately trying to separate them.
Wheeee!
A Maritime Police officer came running with a whistle, but the brawl didn’t stop. Ko Jun-yeol grabbed my shoulder.
“Let’s go. Come on.”
Thud! Crack!
I nodded heavily, watching the chaos unfold before me.
Then he turned back to look at the Sea with resentment, as if blaming it for driving people to such desperation.
Splash, splash.
Gentle waves and boats of varying sizes swayed up and down as if urging them to disappear.
***
Beep, beep, beep.
Back in his car, Kang Hyung-seok called Lee Geum-kyung.
He had parted ways with Ko Jun-yeol at noon to meet again, so he was alone in the car.
Beep, beep, beep.
The time was late dawn.
He knew he shouldn’t be calling at this hour, but his mind was too confused to help himself.
The divine had abandoned humanity.
Facing something that could only be interpreted this way, as a Shaman who served the divine, I felt like a sailboat caught in a storm at sea.
Beep, beep, beep.
I had to tell her.
She had to know.
Lee Geum-kyung, who had overseen the Yongwang Ritual, needed to know about this situation and the absence of the divine.
Click.
The call connected. Just as Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth to apologize hastily, Lee Geum-kyung’s voice came through first, cutting him off.
“You’ve had a rough time.”
“….”
“Did you meet with your son?”
“…Yes.”
In the cold car with no interior lights on, Kang Hyung-seok answered in a subdued voice.
“I saw the news about someone falling into the Sea. What did you see?”
Kang Hyung-seok cast his gaze toward the direction of the Sea through the driver’s side window.
But the window tint and the darkness of night blocked his view, leaving only deep darkness visible.
“I saw something, but I have no idea what it was.”
“Hmm.”
“Did you perhaps see it too, Teacher? What exactly is that?”
“I haven’t seen it myself.”
Lee Geum-kyung’s gentle voice reached Kang Hyung-seok, whose lower lip trembled.
“Why do you think you saw it and I didn’t?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Because I know the Dragon King.”
The Yongwang Ritual wasn’t conducted by the Hereditary Shaman Tradition alone.
Lee Geum-kyung was also a Shaman who had offered prayers to the Dragon King alongside the Hereditary Shaman Tradition in this place, this land, this Village.
“Then….”
“I’ve been sensing its presence. It came slowly, like the moon waxing full, but it’s not someone I know.”
Lee Geum-kyung addressed it with an honorific.
Her tone suggested she understood it was an entity not to be taken lightly.
Kang Hyung-seok felt a profound energy emanating from it as well, leaving him no choice but to agree.
“Sigh…”
(What was the Son like?)
“We agreed to meet again at noon. He didn’t say anything particularly helpful.”
(No.)
“Pardon?”
(I was asking what kind of person he seemed to be.)
The chill permeating the car was palpable even in Lee Geum-kyung’s voice.
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled a crystalline breath through his nose, and after a moment of deep contemplation, he opened his mouth.
“He’s a very cautious person.”
Working in sales, I could tell.
I pride myself on having a good eye for people, which allows me to quickly pick up on subtle shifts in expression or tone of voice.
So despite spending only a few hours with Ko Jun-yeol, I’d had the chance to converse and be in his presence.
“He seems to be hiding something, but I can’t quite tell what it is.”
(Hmm.)
“What’s your impression, Teacher?”
(The previous practitioner didn’t tell me much about him.)
Though the response seemed vague on the surface, I could read the unspoken meaning beneath it.
If Ko Jun-yeol had simply been a good person and son to the previous practitioner, wouldn’t they have mentioned him to Lee Geum-kyung multiple times?
There must have been something awkward about him, so they simply glossed over it as having a son.
“I’ll look into it a bit.”
(It won’t be easy. We may know the depths of ten rivers, but we cannot know the heart of one person.)
If Ko Jun-yeol had used a curse, even a shamanic practitioner’s eyes would have difficulty seeing through who he truly is.
Kang Hyung-seok let out a long sigh and nodded.
“I understand, Teacher.”
(How will you sleep?)
Suddenly Lee Geum-kyung spoke in a voice like a grandmother’s concern.
She was worried about Kang Hyung-seok, who must be exhausted from the long drive yet was still awake and moving at this late hour.
I knew how warm and precious that care was, yet I could only manage a bitter smile.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to sleep in the car.”
(If you can, come inside and rest.)
“There’s something weighing on my mind.”
Kang Hyung-seok turned his gaze eastward.
They say the darkest hour comes just before dawn.
Indeed, the eastern sky was so pitch-black that I couldn’t even tell where to look.
“I think I need to make the most of the time available.”
If night belongs to the divine, then day belongs to humanity.
Even though the days have grown longer past the winter solstice, winter is still winter—the daylight remains brief.
I must move carefully, making use of every moment I can.

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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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