An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 339

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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 339
Part 2. What Did I Do Here (1)
Kang Hyung-seok returned home, showered, and settled onto his Bedroom.
He’d certainly eaten plenty of meat.
The charcoal and meat aromas wafting from the jacket draped over the chair were proof enough.
His stomach was full, the hour was late, and having prepared for bed, his body felt pleasantly drowsy.
Yet the relentless ticking of the wall clock seemed to urge him forward.
‘Don’t I have something I need to do right now?’
“Phew!”
With a deep exhale, he retrieved his phone to check the real estate registration certificate.
‘The address, the address…’
Finding the address of the Building where the ghost appeared wasn’t difficult.
The navigation system still held the Vinyl Factory’s address in its recent destinations, and since the haunted Building was right next to it, simply opening the map application gave him all the detailed information he needed.
Tick, tick, tick.
Every step of the process unfolded with meticulous care.
Tick.
After paying the fee and pulling up the real estate registration certificate on his screen, he began reading through it slowly.
‘Kim San.’
A two-character name that stuck easily in memory.
Based on the first digits of his resident registration number, he’d be eighty-five this year.
Not a young age.
Wondering if the man might already be dead, Kang Hyung-seok checked the registered address.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“…What?”
It was close.
Not far from where the Vinyl Factory stood.
Since that area was desolate with nothing particularly noteworthy, Kang Hyung-seok quickly opened the map application and entered the address.
He set it as his destination, with the Vinyl Factory as his starting point.
Thirteen minutes by car.
Woof, woof, woof, woof!
The sudden, ferocious barking of a dog seemed to brush against his ears.
Tick.
He hastily tapped the Street View option and placed his phone on his lap, drawing in a breath.
Though the Street View was taken a year ago and the season differed from now, it remained vivid in his memory because he’d seen it recently.
A house captured in the Street View photo with a dog barking at a vehicle.
Vines that seemed deliberately planted had grown wild, obscuring the house entirely.
‘What on earth is this?’
Kang Hyung-seok rubbed his lips, studying the house in the Street View intently.
For some reason, the dog and vines seemed to be protecting the house.
As if it were something that shouldn’t be revealed to the world.
***
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
The next afternoon.
Just as lunch hour ended, Lee Ha-yoon rapped on the door of the Real Estate Office.
True to an area devoid of New Apartment Complexes or Commercial Buildings, the Real Estate Office was shabby and ancient.
Creak.
As I stepped inside, the Real Estate Office—which felt half like someone’s home—welcomed me.
The aroma of kimchi stew wafted through the space, as if the owner had just finished eating, deepening that homey atmosphere even further.
“Oh my, what brings you here?”
The Real Estate Agent, who had been wearing earbuds and staring at her phone, rose awkwardly, and I offered an uncomfortable smile.
“Hello. I came to inquire about some properties.”
“Yes, yes. Have you had a look at any listings outside?”
“Well, I’m not in a rush to move just yet. I thought I’d stop by while I was in the area.”
Disappointment flickered across the Real Estate Agent’s eyes, though she made an effort not to show it too openly.
“I see. Do you have any particular preferences in mind?”
“What are the current monthly rental rates around here?”
“It depends on the condition of the place, but there are cheap ones around 400,000 won, and some semi-jeonse options too.”
I made small talk with the Real Estate Agent and then settled into a chair, surveying the surroundings.
Then, on a hunch, I opened my mouth to address her.
“By the way… do you happen to know someone named Kim San?”
“Kim San?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you ask?”
Both recognition and wariness flashed across her face simultaneously.
One misstep could have gotten me thrown out, but I possessed the ability to navigate such situations smoothly.
“Actually, I’m a lawyer.”
“A… lawyer?”
While everyone in the world had their quirks, I had rarely encountered a Real Estate Agent who welcomed a lawyer with open arms.
Swish.
The moment I pulled out my business card and placed it on the table, the Real Estate Agent stood up and brought me a cup of instant coffee.
Clink.
“…What about that person?”
“He lives around here, doesn’t he? I haven’t been able to reach him.”
“Ha! That fellow must have gotten himself into some kind of trouble after all.”
I took a sip of the instant coffee and raised one eyebrow, while the Real Estate Agent shook her head as if exasperated.
“He’s famous in this area. Well, not famous exactly. That man isn’t even worth calling a person.”
“Is that so…?”
“I’m telling you. You know that census thing?”
“A resident registration verification?”
“Yes, that one.”
The Real Estate Agent’s eyes gleamed with the look of someone thinking, ‘Ah, as expected of a lawyer—they know quite a bit,’ and he continued speaking.
“Was it last year? An investigator went to that house looking into it and got bitten by a dog—it was absolute chaos. I heard the bites were so severe that bone was exposed.”
“Ah….”
From the Real Estate Agent’s expression alone, I could vividly imagine how horrific that situation must have been.
If it was last year, it would have been around autumn.
When the mountain’s vegetation turned sallow, there would have been piercing screams and the growl of a large dog.
And I could picture the dog, maddened by the reek of blood, shaking its head with cruel ferocity.
“The screams were so loud that a passerby in a car reported it—thank goodness for that, or that person would have died right there.”
“And this man Kim San…?”
“He just watched, apparently? Maybe?”
I had already received materials from Kang Hyung-seok, and Lee Ha-yoon had also separately looked up the property registration certificate for Kim San’s building.
So I could get a sense of just how elderly this Kim San was.
Though I didn’t know Kim San’s face, I could picture an elderly man with age spots standing expressionless while a dog tore into him.
“In any case, he’s that kind of person. He’s never been close to anyone around here, and when he came to this real estate office asking to sell a building, it felt very unsettling.”
“Ah, so he was a client here?”
At those words, the Real Estate Agent’s eyes showed he realized he’d said too much.
“In any case, well, yes.”
As the agent waved his hand to indicate he wouldn’t say more, Lee Ha-yoon nodded heavily.
“Thank you.”
Just as I was about to stand, the Real Estate Agent cautiously spoke to me.
“But, um. Why exactly are you asking about that person?”
“Because there’s someone who suffered harm because of him.”
“My goodness, so someone else got caught up in something….”
“I appreciate your help.”
It was just as Lee Ha-yoon was about to leave.
“Oh, but you see.”
“Yes?”
As Lee Ha-yoon turned her head, I could see the Real Estate Agent hesitating.
“That Kim San person—there’s a rumor he’s dead.”
Lee Ha-yoon’s facial muscles went slack.
Despite his advanced age, I hadn’t imagined he might actually be dead.
“…Is that so?”
“Yes.”
The Real Estate Agent seemed worried that Lee Ha-yoon might be making a wasted trip.
“I understand. Thank you.”
So Lee Ha-yoon could only say this and leave the real estate office.
***
It happened that night.
The ears of a dog lying limp in the Courtyard twitched in its sleep.
Soon it opened its eyes without a sound and quietly watched the direction from which it sensed a presence.
It was a breed commonly called a spirit dog, and though it had a leash, it was not secured.
Crunch, crunch.
As someone approached through the darkness, treading on the green grass just beginning to sprout, the dog prepared to lunge at any moment.
But as a person entered its field of vision, the dog relaxed its vigilance and lowered its head again.
Creak.
When the man opened the door, a foul stench wafted out.
“Father, I’ve arrived.”
In the dark house that offered no reply, the man wandered through the rooms.
The interior was as cramped as it appeared from outside, and there was not a single piece of furniture that should naturally exist in a lived-in home.
Instead, there was a bowl heaped with rice, a Ritual Platform, and a photograph covered with cloth.
“You have nothing to say today either. How is your body?”
The man checked that the items in the house were undisturbed, then shifted his gaze to the center of the Sealed Room.
“You already know, don’t you? Someone died there, they say.”
In the center of the room lay a thick quilted blanket.
Naphthalene to prevent insects was scattered around the quilt, the center of the blanket bulged upward, and it was stained black.
“A foreign worker, they say. A foreign worker. Was it a Pakistani? A Thai? Anyway, now that people have started dying, they’ll go one after another.”
Rustle.
The man sat cross-legged in front of the blanket.
Then he gazed at the blanket stained black as if covered in ink, and carefully reached out his hand.
“My father will achieve everything he desires. That’s why I brought him here, after all. So please. Just let me see your face once.”
The man lifted the blanket.
Then a musty stench that even naphthalene could not mask burst forth and filled the entire house.
For an ordinary person, it would have been difficult to maintain consciousness, but the man laughed like a child, beaming.
“You look wonderful! There’s a radiance about you! You truly are my father. I can feel that it won’t be long now!”
Clap, clap, clap!
The man even clapped his hands in delight.
But the decomposed corpse within the blanket was not smiling at all.
Lips curled back.
Gums collapsed inward.
Teeth grotesquely enlarged as a result.
The eye sockets were sunken, and maggots writhed within them.
Snatch!
The man seized the corpse’s face.
“Ah! Ah! Father, Father, Father! My father!”
Then, as if mad with love for the corpse, he buried his face in its chest and rubbed against it.
Bark, bark, bark, bark!
As the dog tied in the Courtyard barked, a desolate wind blew.
And the wind caused the cloth upon the Ritual Platform to slip away.
A black and white photograph was revealed.
It was a photograph of Kim San in life, dressed in pristine white hanbok like an immortal.

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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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