An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 33

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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 33
Part 3. Waving the Ramie Cloth (1)
Upon arriving at the Warehouse, Kang Hyung-seok reached toward the passenger seat.
Clang!
The metallic clatter of ritual implements rolled within the ramie cloth seemed to urge him forward.
Without hesitation, he stepped from the car—and the first to greet him were darkness and a biting wind.
Within it lurked a stench so acrid it made my heart lurch.
Caw! Caw caw!
A flock of ravens, moving like sparrows in formation, cut across the night sky and perched on power lines, branches, and the Warehouse itself, their cries tearing through the air.
Seeing this, Kang Hyung-seok clutched the ramie cloth more firmly against his ribs.
Then he shifted his gaze from the ravens to the Warehouse.
The shattered window had been repaired, and the surface had been repainted.
Perhaps an attempt to prevent the contract from being voided—yet no amount of cosmetic work could dispel the aura of a Haunted House that emanated from it.
Caw caw caw!
Leaving the ravens’ throat-shredding cries behind, Kang Hyung-seok walked toward the Warehouse.
Countless thoughts became shackles, binding my ankles.
Step, step.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok pressed forward without hesitation.
Otherwise, Lee Jin-pyung would die.
This was the only window of time while Chung-geum held back the calamity.
Jingle, jingle, jingle.
The Shaman’s Bell within the ramie cloth seemed to cheer him on, clearing away the oppressive forces that blocked his path like a barrier.
It was then.
“Welcome, everyone! Hello to all my beloved viewers!”
A voice suddenly rang out, snapping Kang Hyung-seok’s attention.
“Yes yes, just started the broadcast. Come on in! Today’s content is a visit to the Abandoned Warehouse in Osan!”
He stopped mid-stride, staring at a young man holding a selfie stick near the Warehouse.
“…Sigh.”
A groan escaped unbidden.
Even at a moment like this, there he was.
“Thanks for the super chat, GhostLover! I love you!”
Kang Hyung-seok muttered a curse under his breath, then walked not toward the Warehouse but toward the man who appeared to be a BJ.
As the camera light on the selfie stick drew closer, the man’s features became increasingly distinct.
Late twenties?
Over his jeans he wore a five-colored robe, yet it carried none of the distinctive aura of a Shaman.
“Hey! You there!”
When Kang Hyung-seok raised his voice, the man flinched and whipped his head around.
His eyes widened as if he’d seen a ghost, and he stumbled backward.
“W-who are you?”
Kang Hyung-seok reached toward him without a word.
Then I grabbed the selfie stick and pulled it down, and the guy panicked, trying to snatch it back.
“Ugh, ack! What? What?”
Crack!
Kang Hyung-seok pressed down hard on the selfie stick and spoke in a low voice.
“What do you think you’re doing crawling in here?”
“What, what? Who are you? Do I know you?”
The guy was acting tough because of the camera, but I had no intention of playing along.
Thud!
Kang Hyung-seok twisted the guy’s collar and spoke through gritted teeth while staring into his eyes.
“I won’t say this twice. If you don’t want to get hurt, get out.”
The guy’s eyes widened in shock as he looked Kang Hyung-seok up and down.
Then he spotted the hemp cloth and opened his mouth in alarm.
“Oh, are you… a Shaman?”
Thinking this was something big, the guy started speaking rapidly toward his phone.
“Guys! This isn’t staged! Wait…”
His words hadn’t even finished.
Snap!
Kang Hyung-seok snatched the selfie stick and threw it away, then shook the guy’s collar violently.
“I don’t have time for this. Leave while you still can.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke with force.
Perhaps it was because I’d just finished making an offering and prayer.
Perhaps it was because I needed to sever the connection as quickly as possible.
Or perhaps it was because my guardian spirit was with me—my voice carried an irresistible power that was difficult to defy.
“Ugh, ah…”
“Get out!”
Kang Hyung-seok shouted loudly and released the guy’s collar as if throwing him away.
The guy, in an awkward stance, grabbed his selfie stick and phone that had fallen away, looked back at Kang Hyung-seok, and fled.
Kang Hyung-seok glared fiercely at the guy before withdrawing his gaze.
“Stupid bastard…”
A curse escaped naturally.
It felt like watching someone play with fireworks in front of a powder magazine.
Kang Hyung-seok placed his hand on the warehouse door and slowly pushed it open.
Since the cargo hadn’t been moved yet, the door wasn’t locked.
Creeeeak.
An unnaturally cold air rushed in.
Kang Hyung-seok stepped inside and began unwrapping the hemp cloth tucked at his side.
Boom!
The door slammed shut loudly, as if shaking my consciousness.
But Kang Hyung-seok focused on unwrapping the hemp cloth and whistled.
“Whiiiiiii.”
It was the first time I’d ever attempted something like this.
But I had to mobilize everything I knew.
“Wheeee. Wheeeeeee.”
As the whistling joined the desolate and dark warehouse, the heavy, chilling atmosphere grew even thicker.
But I couldn’t stop whistling.
If I stopped, the others would die.
Holding only this thought, I directed the whistle toward the staircase where I’d glimpsed flesh before, and finally—I felt something.
‘I’ve got it.’
A strange sensation, one that could be called a connection.
Kang Hyung-seok felt his skin crawl as he lifted the Shaman’s Bell, wrapped in burlap.
Clang-clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!
“Wheeeeeee!”
Though my body was inexperienced and unskilled, the Shaman’s Bell was a sacred instrument. It was an object given to me, guided by my tutelary spirit, and imbued with spiritual power.
Clang-clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
It was right after the spiritual force spread through the warehouse, riding the sound of the bell.
It revealed itself.
‘Ugh.’
Kang Hyung-seok covered his nose and mouth with the hand holding the bell, assaulted by a stench that felt like it was gouging into his brain.
But soon I lowered my hand and gazed upon it.
‘Two? No, it’s one person.’
Two semi-transparent shadows overlapping into a single form.
One twisted its limbs ceaselessly in agony, as if rapidly replaying a person burning in hellfire.
The other sat collapsed on the ground as though resigned to everything, hands pressed over its eyes, sobbing.
“Can you hear me?”
When Kang Hyung-seok spoke, it stopped moving.
With lips drawn thin and pressed firmly shut, I stared at it and continued.
“I’ve come to release your resentment.”
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
The bell rang as though it would shatter of its own accord.
The stench became sharper, and my skin stung.
Kang Hyung-seok swallowed hard and trembled as the thing crouching there lifted its head and removed its hands from its face.
It had no eyes.
Whether gouged out by its own hands or not, where the eyes should have been was nothing but emptiness scarred with wounds.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
Despite the Shaman’s Bell suppressing it, the force that came through made Kang Hyung-seok breathe heavily and ragged.
At that moment,
Drip, drop.
Blood flowed from his nose.
Kang Hyung-seok shut his eyes completely and took a deep breath. Each time, the stench rushed in and turned his insides upside down, but I fought to regain my composure.
‘I can feel it.’
How far had this malevolent spirit’s flesh extended?
***
—Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
Spitz barked fiercely, but the grotesque thing passed through the door.
It was the Hospital Room door where Lee Jin-pyung lay.
Spitz rushed in after it, and what greeted his eyes was the grotesque thing standing atop the Hospital Room bed.
Beep, beep, beep.
Lee Jin-pyung lay there, draped with IV lines, while the cardiac monitor sounded its rhythm.
The grotesque thing swayed its body left and right atop the bed, extending its hands.
Squelch.
The moment it plunged its hand into his abdomen, Lee Jin-pyung’s body convulsed.
Simultaneously, the cardiac monitor began to wail erratically.
Beep! Beeeeeep!
The cardiac monitor fell silent, its graph now jagged and unstable.
—Woof! Woof! Woof!
The medical staff could no longer intervene.
Spitz barked with ferocity and lunged at the grotesque thing, which withdrew its hand from Lee Jin-pyung’s abdomen when disturbed.
For a moment, the agony contorting Lee Jin-pyung’s face eased, but the thing did not depart.
—Woof! Woof! Woof! Grrrrrowl!
Spitz attacked relentlessly, attempting to drive it away.
In that instant, the grotesque thing seized Spitz by the head and waist.
—Yelp! Yowwwl! Screeeech!
Spitz’s eyes bulged as if they might burst from their sockets, his tongue stretching long and thin.
At last, Chung-geum’s Exorcism Dance arrived to halt its movements.
***
Hisssss.
Lee Mi-suk, clutching a coffee kettle from which white steam rose, staggered forward as if she had not yet awakened from sleep.
Creak, click.
Her hands twisted the doorknob.
Even breathing mingled with the silence.
Straddling the sleeping Gwak Young-ho, Lee Mi-suk prepared to pour the scalding water into his ear canal.
And just as the water tilted from the kettle’s spout, ready to spill—
Thud.
Chung-geum’s Exorcism Dance froze her hand in place.
***
I opened my eyes and gazed upon the Vengeful Spirit.
After steadying my resolve.
So even as it drew near without warning and stood directly before my face, I felt none of the terror from before.
Instead, I sensed a sacred energy settling within me, bringing a profound sense of peace.
Receiving divine descent alone would be enough to make one a shaman.
Lee Geum-kyung had spoken of me in such terms—a powerful guardian spirit had begun to dwell within me for my protection.
“Namo rata danadata raya a namak aria.”
Face to face with the Vengeful Spirit, I chanted the Unflinching Heart Dharani.
“Baragi je saebaraya moji sadabaya maha.”
As my mind grew even more serene and strength surged through me, I draped the ramie cloth across my shoulder. Then, with my other hand, I grasped another sacred implement that Chung-geum had prepared for me.
Shhhhring.
A blade fifty centimeters in length slid free from its sheath.
It was the Divine General’s Sword—a sacred tool bestowed upon Chung-geum who had received the General Spirit.
The Vengeful Spirit’s malevolent aura, which had filled the surroundings, began to gradually dissipate.
Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
With the Shaman’s Bell added to the mix, the Vengeful Spirit exhaled a metallic breath and slowly retreated backward.
Yet seeing it still refuse to leave the warehouse, I brought the Shaman’s Bell down with tremendous force.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
“Ten Kings guard and escort the departed. Humans live seventy years in joy. Eighty years in pleasure. With karmic fortune spanning a hundred lifetimes, the light of glass shines eternal. One hundred sinners, thirty debts—these are karmic debts.”
Unified with the divine, I began to understand.
Who this person was, what they had endured, why they had become a vengeful spirit consumed by resentment, their flesh stripped away.
Flutter!
I cast the ramie cloth draped across my shoulder so it unfurled at length, then opened my mouth toward the Vengeful Spirit.
“Kim Soon-hee. Age twenty-five. Burned to death, wandering the nine heavens.”
It was then.
The Vengeful Spirit’s form, which had been split in two, drew closer as if to merge into one.
“How pitiful. Pushed by your parents into the Textile Factory, treated as less than human.”
The Vengeful Spirit’s form drew ever closer, overlapping into singular.
“Even in death, no one came searching. Parents and siblings abandoned you, leaving only bitterness and injustice.”
Even the Raven before the warehouse fell silent, closing its beak. It was then that I achieved complete unity with the divine.
Like a true shaman.
A shaman is one who prays and pleads on behalf of others.
Even for a Vengeful Spirit that had sought to bring harm to me and those around me.
Clang-clang-clang! Whoosh! Shhh!
Wielding the Shaman’s Bell and Divine General’s Sword to drive away the lingering energy, I grasped the end of the ramie cloth.
This long ramie cloth was also a sacred implement I had requested from Chung-geum.
A Seven-Star Cord with seven knots tied at intervals along its length.
“Go forth in peace. Untie the knots. Let us untie them together, dear spirit.”
Speaking in a slow, melodic rhythm like a funeral dirge, I gazed upon the Vengeful Spirit with compassionate eyes.
“Tell me. Your sorrow, your resentment—I shall hear it all.”
The fire at this Abandoned Warehouse broke out in 1997.
From that moment until now, the Vengeful Spirit—who had never found anyone to hear her anguish—slowly raised her hand.
And she pointed toward the warehouse door.
At the same time, a psychic impression from the Vengeful Spirit played like a video inside Kang Hyung-seok’s mind.
Whoooosh!
It was footage of the fire that had occurred in this Abandoned Warehouse when it was a Textile Factory back in 1997.
Whoooosh! Crackle! Rumble!
The flames, gorged on textile oil, climbed the walls and licked at the ceiling.
Machinery was consumed and devoured by the inferno, the air thick with hellish heat.
The scene was so horrific that even witnessing it through Kang Hyung-seok’s senses made breathing difficult.
In the center of that burning warehouse stood the Vengeful Spirit—Kim Soon-hee as she had been then.
“Save me! Save me! Ahhhhhhh!”
As Kang Hyung-seok watched Kim Soon-hee thrashing about with flames consuming her hair and clothes, he felt the blood drain from his entire body, turning ice-cold.

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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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