An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 326

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 325
Part 4. If What We Do Is Truly Right (2)
It was April.
The cherry blossoms before Baeksa Village bloomed in profusion, their petals scattering like rain on the gentle spring breeze—a brilliantly clear day.
A season when all things in the world surrendered to leisurely warmth, shedding the suffocation that had gripped them throughout the winter.
Thud, thud.
Song Hyung-doo, who had set his sights on Kim Joo-seok’s family, arrived at this place with the spring air.
Knock, knock, knock.
At the sound of knocking, Kang Hyung-seok turned his head toward the door, and Kim Joo-seok, who had been sitting in this room watching political news on his phone, rose to his feet.
“Who is it?”
“Hello.”
“No, who are you?”
“I’ve come from the Temple. The Gunghyul Welfare Center referred me.”
“The welfare center…?”
“Yes. You visited the Gunghyul Welfare Center recently, didn’t you?”
“Well, I did.”
Kim Joo-seok narrowed the space between his eyebrows and rose from his seat, then opened the entrance door.
Creeeeak!
The hinges, still rusted as before, emitted an ominous and eerie sound.
And as Song Hyung-doo’s form came into view, I unconsciously held my breath.
He looked far too ordinary.
It wasn’t because of his neat formal attire.
His smile sat on his face like a mask, and objectively speaking, his impression was quite favorable.
A person like that had killed someone.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Song Hyung-doo.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
“It’s nothing special. I’ve become your assigned caseworker, so I’ve stopped by to introduce myself.”
Song Hyung-doo handed Kim Joo-seok a pack of thirty rolls of toilet paper.
It wasn’t expensive, but precisely because of that, it had the effect of easing his wariness.
To Kim Joo-seok, whose guard had lowered somewhat, Song Hyung-doo offered his business card along with a disarming smile.
“I’ll visit often from now on.”
And he did.
Song Hyung-doo came by once or twice a week.
Each time he brought side dishes like rice or kimchi, so his wife gradually lowered her guard and began to welcome Song Hyung-doo.
“What’s all this he’s brought wrapped up so carefully this time?”
“Apparently the Temple received a lot of things for the holidays. He said he’s distributing them to people like us.”
“My goodness, what is this? Pork ribs.”
“He said he went to great lengths to prepare it.”
Kim Joo-seok lifted the pork ribs, packaged in a gift set as though it were a trophy.
“Goodness, it’s heavy.”
At that moment, Kim Joo-seok had no idea.
Neither did his wife, nor his son and his son’s wife who visited once a month, nor his granddaughter.
What was mixed into that marinated pork ribs.
“Ugh!”
Kang Hyung-seok, his mouth covered against the stench of blood, shook his head as he watched Kim Joo-seok’s wife grilling the pork ribs in the kitchen.
Perhaps because she had already been entranced by the person and situation, she seemed oblivious to the smell of human blood cooking.
“Father, that person… I’m grateful, but isn’t he being a bit too considerate?”
“Don’t say such things. He’s someone we owe so much to.”
“To be frank, it’s not like the government is taking care of us. He says it’s a temple, but even you don’t know where it is, Father.”
“Think about it logically. If he were a con artist, he’d target a wealthier household. What would he possibly scam from a place like this?”
“I suppose that’s true, but…”
Only the son had been wary of Song Hyung-doo.
But even he came to trust Song Hyung-doo.
“What are you talking about? Why did the company let you go all of a sudden?”
“The company ran into trouble. They laid off all the contract workers, not just me.”
“Oh no…”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
It was Song Hyung-doo who helped when everything seemed to be falling apart.
“You should have told me if something like that happened.”
Song Hyung-doo, now closer than a neighbor, sat eating fruit directly in front of where Kang Hyung-seok stood.
“What good news would that be to share?”
“There are many people who run businesses among those who attend our temple. This worked out well. Let me call them right now, just a moment.”
Song Hyung-doo pulled out his phone and stepped outside the entrance.
Kang Hyung-seok followed him out of the house and soon spotted Song Hyung-doo at a distance, smoking a cigarette while talking on the phone.
“Yes, yes, this works out well. Yes.”
Song Hyung-doo wore an expression I had never seen before.
A face devoid of any smile.
I thought that expression and those eyes might be his true face.
“Get him employed at a suitable place. He seems like he can be used as a scapegoat too. Right. It’s good to keep him close. And once you get the family register, send it to us as well.”
Kang Hyung-seok breathed silently and stared at Song Hyung-doo.
Because I was in a state of possession, I could understand his intentions.
“He has a child, doesn’t he? Poor bastard even had a kid. How convenient. We can use the child as a scapegoat too and dispose of them later.”
The entire family had been used as scapegoats.
What he gave to Kim Joo-seok was an offering, and Kim Joo-seok’s family were living dolls like the mannequins in the abandoned school, alive but not truly living.
“Don’t worry about suspicion. I’ve cooked it all up with food. They didn’t even know what it was and eagerly ate it all. Ah, then I’ll deliver it that way right away. Yes, yes, thank you.”
Song Hyung-doo’s expression returned to what it was before after hanging up the phone.
Thump, thump.
Song Hyung-doo, his footsteps now light, passed by Kang Hyung-seok and went back into the house.
“It’s all arranged. He says to start work tomorrow.”
“Really, is that true?”
“Yes. A family relationship certificate, a resident registration copy, and a resume—that’s all they’re asking for.”
When I entered the house, what greeted me was Kim Joo-seok bowing repeatedly to Song Hyung-doo as though he’d just met his savior.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m truly grateful.”
Song Hyung-doo smiled brightly.
“It’s just my job, after all.”
In that smile—pure and untainted as a handful of dust—my eyes twitched.
Whiiiiing.
Like a candle snuffed out by a sudden gust, the luminous surroundings crumbled away, revealing the rental house’s true darkness beneath.
A stench hung thick in the air, and Yoon Sang trembled in the cold and chill that permeated the space.
I opened my mouth as I watched Kim Joo-seok before me, tears of blood streaming down his face.
“You consumed what should never have been consumed, and accepted what should never have been accepted.”
Uuugghhh!
Aaaahhhhh!
Ugghhh, ahhhhh.
Tears of blood flowed even more profusely from the eyes of Kim Joo-seok and the other Victim Spirits.
The anguish of being mocked and ridiculed was overwhelming.
To be betrayed by someone you believed to be good—this is what it feels like.
Belated regret follows, and you come to hate and resent your former self.
I clenched my lips tight against the Victim Spirits’ emotions that seeped into my very bones, then spoke.
“Song Hyung-doo is dead.”
Starting with Kim Joo-seok, the Victim Spirits’ cries gradually subsided.
“He cast a curse upon you, but the ritual went wrong and he suffered a backlash instead, which ended his life. Now he wanders the nine heavens as a Vengeful Spirit.”
I felt the Victim Spirits’ anguish ease somewhat.
Wounds are not healed by comfort alone.
Wounds are also healed when the one who inflicted them falls into misfortune—such is the nature of humans and Victim Spirits alike.
“Since his fate has become worse than yours, I urge you to ascend beyond the heavens and achieve salvation.”
I sensed hesitation among the Victim Spirits.
Understanding the reason, I continued in a quiet voice.
“The bonds of family will continue into the next life.”
Because you both desire it.
The ties forged by blood will endure.
“Song Hyung-doo will descend into the Eight Great Hells—the Hell of Excrement, the Hell of Knives, the Hell of Fire, the Hell of Screaming, the Hell of Great Screaming, the Hell of Blue Lotus, the Hell of Red Lotus, and the Hell of Great Red Lotus.”
He mocked the poor and powerless.
He disguised greed’s grasp as benevolence.
He exploited and abused the weak, and ultimately took their very lives.
His sins are far from light.
“Ascend to salvation.”
I spoke with conviction, and one by one, the other Victim Spirits nodded in agreement.
Yet Kim Joo-seok alone gazed at me with eyes glistening with tears of blood.
“…Your sin is not your own.”
It was Kim Joo-seok who opened the door to greet Song Hyung-doo.
The guilt he couldn’t confess to his family even in death was so overwhelming that he couldn’t easily leave this world.
“The evil ones are those who deceived and exploited. Why does the deceased feel such guilt?”
Huh, huh-huh.
“Please release all your sorrow and guilt. Your heart must be light to walk the path of ascension.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke in a comforting tone and reached out his hand.
Because of the relationship between the living and the dead, his hand couldn’t touch Kim Joo-seok.
Yet the intention was conveyed, and Kim Joo-seok placed his hand over Kang Hyung-seok’s, his head dropping heavily.
-One promise, just one. Shameless as it is, just one, I beg you.
Kim Joo-seok spoke with great difficulty, his words breaking apart syllable by syllable.
“Speak.”
-Please ensure that people like us… never appear again.
Hearing the words laden with sincere emotion, Kang Hyung-seok nodded gravely.
“I promise you.”
Then a sigh-like breath burst from Kim Joo-seok’s lips.
His shoulders trembled, and blood-tinged saliva dripped down.
Kim Joo-seok wept.
Waralalarang!
All eyes turned to Kang Hyung-seok as he shook the Shaman’s Bell.
Yet without a word, Yoon Sang stepped back, and Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth with his gaze lowered.
“I now perform the rite of ascension for Kim Joo-seok’s entire family. Accept this sincere offering and ascend to paradise, reborn in the cycle of existence.”
It wasn’t just one person who needed to ascend—it was an entire family.
Though there was much to cleanse and guide, Kang Hyung-seok simply shook the Shaman’s Bell, hoping that Kim Joo-seok’s family would ascend peacefully.
Waralalarang!
“Today I perform the rite of ascension for the Victim Spirits with utmost sincerity, chanting and reciting sutras. End your karmic ties to this world, Victim Spirits, and depart for the realm below.”
The sutra for the Victim Spirits’ ascension that Kang Hyung-seok chanted was sorrowful.
“Through the merit of chanting, free yourselves from the three poisons and dissolve the karmic obstacles of ignorance, escaping the suffering of birth and death. Through the merit of chanting, reveal the wisdom of transcendence—the subtle dharma for the Victim Spirits.”
The Victim Spirits slowly gathered before Kang Hyung-seok.
Kim Joo-seok and his wife.
Their son and his wife, and their children.
Whoosh.
Yoon Sang silently closed his eyes and pressed his palms together in prayer, while Kang Hyung-seok continued the sutra.
“Ascend to the Pure Land of Paradise and achieve Buddhahood, all of you. What gathers by karma disperses by karma—coming is karma, departing is karma. Why cling to anything? Why grieve for anything?”
The presence of the Victim Spirits gradually dispersed.
The stale stench lingering in the house grew lighter, and the strange oppressive atmosphere that had weighed on the space began to shift.
As everything lightened and what needed to depart began to leave, Kang Hyung-seok continued the sutra with a heavy heart.
“All things are impermanent—those born must perish. Birth and death are the nature of all life.”
It must be for that reason.
The Temple that Song Hyung-doo had belonged to.
It had lodged itself deep in his heart like a grain of sand in murky water.
Whoooosh!
That was when it happened.
As Kim Joo-seok’s departing figure faded, his finger pointed in a single direction.
As if telling me to look there.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————