An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 309

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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 308
Part 6. Ahhh. Ahhh (2)
Zzzziiing!
Just as I was driving toward Lee Geum-kyung, an incoming call suddenly felt like a dagger thrust into my chest.
It was just three letters on the screen, yet it hit me like this.
‘Ko Jun-yeol.’
Kang Hyung-seok gnawed at his lower lip and answered the phone with a gesture heavy with hesitation.
(Hello?)
“Yes, this is he.”
(Is this Kang Hyung-seok?)
“Yes.”
My guarded tone stemmed from the fact that I couldn’t trust anyone in this village.
Even Ko Jun-yeol, the Hereditary Shaman’s son—the one person I could still rely on.
(About our lunch meeting today—I’m sorry, but something urgent came up.)
“Ah.”
I responded with lukewarm acknowledgment as I belatedly recalled the appointment with Ko Jun-yeol. His voice grew slightly slurred, as if he’d lit a cigarette, as he continued.
(Have you eaten?)
“I should. I’ve only been awake a short while.”
(You sound like you’re driving. Are you heading to see Lee Geum-kyung?)
Is this what it feels like to be the one defusing a bomb?
In that brief moment, I thought through countless possibilities before speaking.
“Yes. We’ll probably have a meal together there.”
(That’s fortunate. Actually, I have a difficult request to make.)
“Go ahead.”
(As you saw this morning, the villagers’ discontent is considerable. Distrust has taken root everywhere.)
Ko Jun-yeol had even been grabbed by the collar.
Some people had vented their resentment on him, while not far away, bereaved family members wailed toward the sea with lungs and vocal cords torn raw.
(The atmosphere won’t even allow mention of a shamanic ritual, so I thought it might be better to take the teacher away and return in a few months.)
I couldn’t even respond, drawing my lower lip inward.
What if Ko Jun-yeol’s call had come even slightly earlier?
What if I hadn’t witnessed the desecrated remains at Golmaekki Shrine? What if I hadn’t spoken with Kim Jae-sik?
Grrroooowwwl.
As I reduced speed and the engine roared louder in the cabin, I glanced at the bag on the passenger seat.
The Shaman’s Bell inside remained silent.
Silent enough to seem like an affirmation of my suspicions.
“I’ll speak with the teacher about this.”
(…I’m counting on you. I don’t want anything else terrible to happen in this village.)
The sincerity in his voice made it all the more terrifying.
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled as if sighing, said he understood, and ended the call.
***
Clang!
As Kang Hyung-seok stepped out of the car, words failed me.
I hadn’t been expecting anything in particular.
But I certainly hadn’t hoped for a scene like this to greet me.
“Oh? Manager Kang, you’re here?”
Shin Jung-ah, who had been heating up instant three-minute curry and ready-made rice using a burner in the courtyard, stood up, and Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth as he gazed at the small table near her.
“That is….”
“That? The teacher asked me to buy it, so I took a taxi to the next neighborhood and got it quickly.”
Shin Jung-ah’s eyes held no understanding whatsoever.
How could she possibly know?
That small table laden with jujubes, persimmons, three-colored vegetables, and blowfish was a ritual offering table for the village guardian spirit.
“Where is the teacher?”
“She’s inside, but you haven’t eaten, have you? I’ll put out another bowl of rice.”
The moment Kang Hyung-seok could respond, Shin Jung-ah dropped another instant rice into the boiling water.
Creak.
The door opened, and Lee Geum-kyung, who had been sitting just beyond it, revealed herself.
“Come in.”
Kang Hyung-seok bowed to Shin Jung-ah before stepping inside the house.
Even though I was visiting for the first time, I could tell.
“This is the Hereditary Shaman’s House.”
“My son cleaned it thoroughly.”
“Yes. He cleared everything out.”
I had heard that the Hereditary Shaman and Lee Geum-kyung had an acquaintance’s relationship.
So when I entered this neatly organized house, it was difficult even to imagine what she must be feeling.
Creak, thud.
Kang Hyung-seok closed the door and sat cross-legged, while Lee Geum-kyung raised one knee and rested her elbow upon it.
When her thoughts grew deep, Lee Geum-kyung often sat in such a manner.
“How was the village?”
“It was not easy. The Golmaekki Shrine had been desecrated as well.”
Lee Geum-kyung’s eyes held an “I knew it” expression as she clicked her tongue, and Kang Hyung-seok pressed his lips firmly together before speaking.
“There was a divine message.”
“A divine message?”
“The vessel was damaged, so it wasn’t conveyed properly, but it seems the village people are preparing for a human sacrifice.”
How should I interpret that look in her eyes?
Not contempt, not sorrow, not anger.
Her eyes held a complex tangle of emotions, and if forced to categorize them, it would be pity and lamentation.
“It will be dawn.”
“…Yes?”
“After calculating the auspicious day, the heavens will open from tomorrow dawn until daybreak. If they perform the human sacrifice, it will likely be then.”
….
Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze drifted unconsciously to the watch on his wrist.
There wasn’t much time left.
‘So that’s why. Why she told me to take the teacher out.’
I’d brought her to this house away from the village to avoid suspicion, but Lee Geum-kyung shouldn’t be here.
What should I do?
Call the police?
From the moment I entered this village, all the villagers had shown hostility.
If misguided beliefs like those of a cult had taken root among them, reporting this might only waste precious time.
In the worst case, even the police might share the same thinking as these villagers.
I knew better than anyone how cruel and terrifying a closed-off community could become.
Whoosh.
Lee Geum-kyung straightened her posture and fixed me with a deep gaze.
“You do what you must. I won’t be leaving.”
“…Teacher.”
“This is a matter of people. One must do what can be done.”
“I saw that you’ve prepared the Dangsanmajeot ritual table.”
I spoke carefully, gauging Lee Geum-kyung’s reaction.
“Are you planning to perform a ritual, teacher?”
“This is a matter entangled with shamanism.”
Ko Jun-yeol is the son of a Hereditary Shaman, and Lee Geum-kyung is also a Shaman.
The root cause of this incident is the Dragon King’s silence, and the purpose of the human sacrifice is to replace the Dragon King.
“One must do everything that can be done.”
Lee Geum-kyung didn’t tell me exactly what I needed to do.
There was no need.
What advice could she possibly offer to me, already a disciple serving a great deity?
“Understood. Please take care of yourself as well, teacher.”
I answered with a heaviness that matched the weight in my heart.
Knock, knock.
The door was tapped, and both our gazes turned toward it.
“Teacher, the meal is ready.”
At Shin Jung-ah’s voice piercing through the door, Lee Geum-kyung smiled bitterly and shifted her gaze to me.
“Eat before you go. You haven’t even managed proper meals.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I rose from my seat and began preparing the meal with Shin Jung-ah.
Since everything was instant food, there wasn’t much to prepare grandly.
Clink, clink.
While eating in the inner room, I kept glancing at the small table beyond the door.
The Dangsanmajeot ritual table was, literally, a table to welcome a deity.
“Manager Kang, have some kimchi too. You don’t like the stir-fried kind?”
I shifted my gaze toward Shin Jung-ah.
Despite not being a shamanic practitioner, Shin Jung-ah sat confidently in her place and continued eating.
“What? Why that expression?”
“It’s nothing.”
Kang Hyung-seok, who had been watching her with apologetic eyes, glanced at Lee Geum-kyung’s reaction and shook his head.
Then he pushed the kimchi toward Shin Jung-ah.
It wasn’t that I disliked stir-fried kimchi.
But it felt right to yield it to her for now.
If my suspicions were correct, she too had much work ahead of her.
Just as much as Kang Hyung-seok and Lee Geum-kyung.
***
A tense sigh echoed through the darkened room.
A tense sigh echoed through the darkened room.
It was a house located at the Village Outskirts, with a large window facing north, but thick curtains blocked out the light.
“How does it look?”
Ko Jun-yeol, peering through binoculars in the gap between the curtains, waved his hand.
The five or so people gathered in the room held their breath carefully, and soon Ko Jun-yeol lowered the binoculars from his eyes.
“Tsk.”
His expression and reaction conveyed much.
The Village People’s complexions darkened as much as the shadowed room, and Ko Jun-yeol tucked the binoculars into his pocket and turned away from the window.
What was visible through the narrow gap in the curtains was a house on a hill.
Once it had been his mother’s house, and now it was where Lee Geum-kyung, Shin Jung-ah, and Kang Hyung-seok were eating.
“It doesn’t seem like it will work out well.”
“Then should we reschedule for another day….”
“That won’t do.”
Ko Jun-yeol spoke coldly and shifted his gaze to the person who had spoken.
The man’s neck shriveled like a turtle’s at the chillingly cold stare.
“We’ve received an auspicious date. We must proceed exactly as planned.”
His voice was colder than the chill that filled the room.
“Gather people discreetly and set sail from the promised location. Since what will happen occurs at sea, there will be no problems if we simply keep quiet.”
“…But there are outsiders.”
“We still have time, so let’s wait a bit longer.”
“What if they notice and try to interfere?”
A man who appeared at least five years older than Ko Jun-yeol asked respectfully, and Ko Jun-yeol’s face darkened with conflict.
“Then there’s nothing we can do. We’ll have to clean it up.”
Shadows fell across the people’s faces.
When human sacrifice was first mentioned, they had worn similar expressions.
But they had concluded that sacrificing one person was better than having their livelihood cut off and losing lives one by one every time they went out to sea.
For people who had lived ordinary lives, it was a conclusion that took a long time to reach.
But now that the possibility of harming more people had been raised, it felt as though a stone had been placed directly on their chests.
“Sigh…”
“We just need to pull out one person each. We’ll dispose of them properly and dump them in the sea, so let’s not overthink this.”
When someone in control during chaos projects unwavering confidence, it becomes a source of strength for others.
As Ko Jun-yeol spoke without hesitation or wavering, the faces of the Village People grew somewhat calmer.
“Yes, we’ll do that.”
“Have a solid dinner, and avoid contact as much as possible so they don’t notice anything over there.”
It was the moment Ko Jun-yeol was about to leave.
The oldest man among them, who had remained silent until now, finally opened his mouth after a long hesitation.
“Will it really be all right?”
His voice trembled faintly, and it caught Ko Jun-yeol’s heel.
“Really, truly all right? You’re sacrificing your own daughter.”
Ko Jun-yeol, his lips pressed firmly shut, stood motionless for a moment before nodding his head firmly.
Then, without a word, he left the house with hurried steps, like a man fleeing from a god.

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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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