An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 328

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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 327
Part 5. The Grand Shaman (1)
Warang, warang, warang.
The Shaman’s Bell tolled slowly.
The spiritual miasma deepened.
The landscape within the Temple transformed.
Drip.
The moment blood tears streamed from the Buddha statue’s eyes, Kang Hyung-seok instinctively held his breath.
“So the wronged Victim Spirits were hidden all along.”
Walls, ceiling, floor.
Human bodies hung suspended from every surface, and blood and tears cascaded downward like a typhoon in full fury.
Now I understood completely.
Song Hyung-doo was merely a puppet.
-Curse commissions start at five million won. You needn’t worry about karmic backlash. There’s someone to bear it instead.
-We can even extend your lifespan. Simply make merit offerings.
-Your business struggles because misfortune has attached itself to you. The most effective way to handle it is to pass it on to someone else.
-Past karma chains you to the present.
-What do you fear? You don’t even know the other person’s face.
-Prioritizing yourself is human nature. There’s no shame in it.
Many had come and gone from this place.
There were no shortage of those like Song Hyung-doo seeking someone to bear their misfortune instead, nor were the victims few in number.
This place had simply been abandoned once it outlived its usefulness.
The evil karma had never stopped, and the victims had never disappeared.
Thud.
As I walked deeper into the Temple, I raised the Shaman’s Bell to chest height.
Aaaaaaaah.
A wail like a scream of anguish wrapped around the Temple’s interior, and a metallic stench choked off my breath.
There were so many.
Both the lives lost here and the misfortunes passed on.
Aaaaaaaah-!
I exhaled shallowly as I gazed upon the faces of men, women, the elderly, and children—all weeping blood tears, consumed by resentment.
There is no grave without a story, and no Victim Spirit without one either.
With such bitter tales and so many spirits, their presence bore down upon me like a mortar, crushing me alive.
Shuuung.
My Spiritual Blade responded to the vicious resentment, its edge sharpening keenly, and the Shaman’s Bell vibrated with a resonant toll.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I opened my mouth, accepting the sorrow and suffering of the Victim Spirits through my ears and nose.
“Go Jin-suk of Gyeonggi Seongnam. You took a curse meant for a stranger and fell.
At that moment, one of the faces on the ceiling stopped weeping blood.
“Cha Geon-woo of Gyeongnam Changwon. You bore the karma of someone you never knew and were struck down by a vehicle.
This time, the Victim Spirit’s wailing on the ceiling ceased,
“Seoul Gangbuk, Kang Ji-won. They’ve gone to the great karma.”
Each time Kang Hyung-seok called out a name, the Victim Spirits’ cries ceased.
These were Victim Spirits whose very existence had been obscured by sorcery even in death.
These were Victim Spirits whose lives had never gone smoothly, who had endured only grueling days.
Finally, someone had come to acknowledge their stories and their existence.
Warang!
After calling out every Victim Spirit’s name, Kang Hyung-seok slowly opened his mouth.
“I, this Shaman, shall resolve the unjust and wrongful deaths, so please, Victim Spirits, release your resentment.”
I will wipe away each and every sorrow of yours.
I will ensure that all karmic debts are repaid through your ascension.
Sheeeeek!
A blade-like wind swept in as if to block him.
But Kang Hyung-seok, who scattered the wind with a single shake of the Shaman’s Bell, turned his gaze back toward the Victim Spirits.
“I shall begin the Scripture for Guiding the Deceased.”
A scripture to comfort and resolve the deceased.
The scripture they needed most.
“The Ten Kings guard and escort the departed. Seventy years in human life is but play, eighty years is mere amusement.”
As he recited the scripture, the Victim Spirits quieted, listening intently.
But in stark contrast, the air in the space began to roil and churn violently.
As if rejecting Kang Hyung-seok’s scripture.
***
Crack!
The sound of a tree branch snapping echoed.
Yoon Sang swallowed hard and clutched his chest.
He couldn’t tell what it was, but he had the distinct feeling that something unwelcome was happening.
Tap! Tap!
The windshield just a few dozen centimeters away was being struck repeatedly.
Each time, Yoon Sang flinched in alarm.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
‘What, what is it? Who is it? What’s happening?’
It was too distinct to be a hallucination, and the sound was far too rhythmic to be coincidence.
If it were a dangerous person, there would have been attempts to open the door.
But it only struck the windshield, doing nothing else.
Yoon Sang trembled violently as he picked up his phone.
He prepared to call Kang Hyung-seok at any moment, then lifted his head.
Tap!
Just then, a small branch fell from the tree above and touched the windshield.
“Whew! Scared me half to death. Damn!”
Realizing it was neither ghost nor person, Yoon Sang’s face immediately stiffened.
Tap!
Branches fell again.
Without any wind, the branches snapped off on their own and piled thickly where the wipers were.
“…Huh.”
Yoon Sang’s face hardened rigidly at the unnatural situation.
Crack!
As if something were sending him a signal, another branch fell.
***
Snap!
A crack appeared on the Buddha statue’s face.
“Faint and lost, where shall the wandering soul turn for solace? In the silent mountains shrouded in Mist, the lonely spirit drifts helplessly.”
Kang Hyung-seok’s chanting continued unbroken, while the Victim Spirits’ cries had ceased.
Yet conversely, the air enveloping the Temple’s interior grew heavier and vibrated.
Snap, crackle! Thud!
The cracks on the Buddha statue’s face widened further, and a large piece broke off and fell.
At the same moment, a massive black centipede crawled out from within the statue.
“Panicked and wretched, how pitiful and sorrowful. O wandering spirit, where shall you turn for refuge?”
Sensing the atmosphere turning strange, Kang Hyung-seok turned to look behind him even as he continued chanting the sutra.
Nothing was visible.
Yet I distinctly felt that something was there.
Something unseen from that place was watching me.
Whoooosh!
A powerful wind swept in and engulfed me.
It was a wind reeking of fish.
Aaaaagh!
Shrieeeek!
Haaaack! Screeeech!
Grooooan! Waaaail!
The Victim Spirits’ cries, which had stopped, grew louder, and another piece broke off from the Buddha statue’s face.
I could not continue the chanting like this.
Something was blocking the salvation ritual and obstructing me.
Kang Hyung-seok stopped chanting and lifted the Shaman’s Bell.
Ring.
As the gently shaken Shaman’s Bell drove away the malevolent energy and toxins filling the surroundings, moonlight trapped behind clouds was revealed to the world.
The moonlight entered through the Temple’s broken Window and dimly illuminated the interior.
Thanks to this, I could see.
The black form standing in the distance.
A shadow-like Victim Spirit, pitch-black, gazed at me from within the faint darkness.
Ring-a-ling!
Shaking the Shaman’s Bell vigorously, Kang Hyung-seok glared at the shadow and opened his mouth.
Shaking the Shaman’s Bell vigorously, Kang Hyung-seok glared at the shadow and opened his mouth.
“So you’re connected to this Temple.”
The shadow’s silence confirmed my suspicion.
The author was also one of the dead, like Song Hyung-doo.
An existence that had outlived its usefulness and been discarded, just like this Temple, yet still attempting to repeat the deeds of their living days, much like Song Hyung-doo.
“Don’t interfere.”
With that clear warning, I gripped the ritual knife tightly.
“You are Victim Spirits who have caused suffering to others. If you have any conscience, do not block the path they walk.”
Clang clang clang!
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell vigorously.
At the same moment, the shadow began lunging toward him.
***
Thud!
A branch fell before Yoon Sang’s eyes.
Leaning heavily against the passenger seat, Yoon Sang gasped for breath and repeatedly jabbed the call button.
Yet only a message about being outside the service area appeared, and the call wouldn’t connect. Yoon Sang turned his phone off and on again, muttering silent curses.
Crack!
As a thicker branch fell, Yoon Sang shielded his eyes with his arm.
“Please save me. Please save me. I’ve lived a good life.”
At the whimpering voice, the branches stopped falling.
But the moment Yoon Sang cautiously lowered his arm, branches fell again. He quickly shielded his eyes once more and pulled his knees up toward his chest.
“Ugh! Please save me!”
Again, the branches stopped.
Yoon Sang lowered his arm from his eyes, swallowed hard with a salty taste in his mouth, and breathed heavily.
Then he forced out words.
“A-are you… saving me?”
Crack.
“Ahhhhh!”
Yoon Sang shrieked and roughly wiped away his tears.
“Really! Stop scaring me! Use words instead!”
Crack.
Yoon Sang looked at the branches piled near the windshield wipers and breathed through his nose.
Somehow, though he didn’t know what this was, the feeling that it meant to harm him had subsided.
If it intended to threaten him, wouldn’t it have done something far worse already?
With that thought, Yoon Sang swallowed and opened his mouth.
“Is there something you want?”
Crack.
“W-what is it? What do you want?”
Thud!
This time, a branch fell right near the passenger seat.
Startled, his shoulders trembling, Yoon Sang glanced at the passenger window before shifting his gaze to the tree dropping the branches.
“Come out?” I asked.
Crack.
I felt like I was losing my mind.
Yoon Sang trembled as he held that expression, then opened his mouth.
“H-hey, just one question, please.”
Crack.
“M-my hyung. The person who came with me. He’s… he’s okay, right?”
Yoon Sang waited quietly, but no branch fell.
“Ugh, seriously! Damn it!”
Gritting his teeth and squeezing out tears, Yoon Sang scrubbed his eyes roughly with his sleeve.
Then he yanked open the passenger door and stumbled out.
Somehow, he felt he had to do this.
“Y-you’re not going to hurt me, right? You’re trying to help me and my hyung, right?”
Crack!
A branch fell directly in front of Yoon Sang.
Exhaling trembling breaths, Yoon Sang clenched his fists so hard his fingernails dug into his palms.
“W-what do I do? What should I do?”
That was when it happened.
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
Leaves moved as if an invisible Snake were crawling through them.
A terror that threatened to turn his hair white washed over him.
Yet Yoon Sang slapped his own thigh hard and began to move forward.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The leaves moved ahead of him as if guiding his way.
‘I’m really going to lose it.’
Yoon Sang followed the leaves with trembling legs.
It was a mercy that, without spiritual sight, he could see only the leaves.
Drip, drip, drip.
The Victim Spirit—its eye sockets hollowed out, blood and foam spilling from its severed tongue and gaping mouth, its arms and legs grotesquely twisted and bent—dragged itself forward, guiding him.

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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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