An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 49

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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 48
Part 8. The Cave (2)
The car hummed as it sped forward.
Inside the moving vehicle, I glanced at the navigation screen.
Shin Jung-ah sat in the passenger seat beside me, and beneath the navigation display, the destination name glowed on the screen.
Cheongdeok Mountain.
The place where the alcohol containing misfortune was being made.
And where the one who sought to harm my Uncle was hiding.
The laces tightened with a sharp sound.
Shin Jung-ah adjusted the laces of her new hiking boots—the fresh scent wafting from them unmistakable—and reached for the other boot’s laces before speaking.
“Is there anything I should be careful about?”
“Since it’s a mountain, you should be cautious about wildlife and the mountain trails as a matter of course.”
“And?”
I pressed my lips together firmly, then opened them.
“If you encounter anyone, contact me immediately.”
“Got it.”
I stole a glance at Shin Jung-ah’s profile.
Her voice had wavered, and sure enough, her body was tense.
She was nervous.
“Are you really going to be alright?”
“Of course I will be!”
Her response was brimming with false bravado, and I felt the corners of my mouth lift briefly before falling again.
Then I focused my gaze forward and concentrated on driving.
I was grateful, but I wondered if this was truly acceptable.
Still, searching the mountain alone would be far inferior to having two people—it was overwhelmingly better this way.
‘I hope nothing goes wrong.’
As my thoughts deepened, my eyes grew more intense, and I concentrated fully on the road ahead.
Thud, thud!
Two large bags loaded in the back seat collided with each other, creating a sound.
Water, energy bars, backup batteries—these were the supplies necessary for the mountain.
At regular intervals, they made noise as if urging me forward.
***
I parked the car a short distance away from the Mountain.
In such a remote place, there were no police officers coming to issue parking tickets, so honestly, I parked wherever was convenient.
We each carried one backpack, and the appearance of Shin Jung-ah and Kang Hyung-seok seemed like oil and water—completely at odds with each other.
“I should have bought you some proper clothes too.”
“It’s fine. This is enough.”
Kang Hyung-seok wore ordinary everyday clothes.
Shin Jung-ah was dressed in full hiking gear.
Separately, they would have been fine, but standing side by side, it felt like we were a couple of people who had no business being here.
Crunch, crunch.
As we entered the Mountain, the two of us fell silent.
When you travel by car, you often see unnamed mountains catch your eye.
Some of those mountains must be places like this.
Desolate, far from any houses, with an aura that somehow warns you not to enter—a place where such an atmosphere lingers close by.
That aura clung to every speck of soil and leaf, creating an unsettling feeling so overwhelming it was suffocating.
“Ugh!”
Shin Jung-ah’s face struck a spider web, and she flailed her arms—at her feet lay the desiccated corpse of a large spider, crumbled like dust.
So this is what kind of Mountain it is.
Kang Hyung-seok stopped walking as he spotted a fork in the path ahead.
“We need to split up here.”
“…Which way are you going?”
The left path was at least wider, with well-packed soil.
The right path was narrow, overgrown with dense vegetation, and looked utterly impassable for any person.
“I’ll take the right path.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If anything happens, just text me right away.”
If a call came through while I was pursuing that person, it could create a difficult situation.
Understanding my intention, Shin Jung-ah nodded heavily, and I split off to the right, asking her to watch my back.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Branches lashing at my face.
The path swallowed by undergrowth.
But I had no time to walk leisurely.
The sun always sets faster in the mountains than in the city.
I watched the sun visible through the dense branches draw closer to directly overhead, and I adjusted my backpack.
Then I pulled out the Shaman’s Bell and held it in my right hand.
‘Guide me. Show me the path I must take, the direction I must go.’
I believed in the power of the Shaman’s Bell.
It had always protected me from danger with its mystical power and warned me of approaching threats.
And it had guided me along the path I needed to walk.
Mindful of when the Shaman’s Bell would ring, I continued forward.
That was when it happened.
Ding-ling!
Suddenly, the Shaman’s Bell chimed.
Kang Hyung-seok stopped in his tracks, extended his arm holding the Shaman’s Bell straight ahead, and turned a full circle where he stood.
Ding-ling!
The bell rang from the right side of where he was standing.
Though the ground beneath his feet hardly resembled a path, that direction felt like pure mountain wilderness.
Swish, swish!
Yet Kang Hyung-seok pressed forward without hesitation into the tangle of weeds that had grown to his knees, their dry stalks crackling beneath his feet.
Ding-ling, ding-ling.
The bell continued its song, but he stopped walking.
His face hardened as he stared down at the earth.
A presence rising from the ground.
Something the soil could not fully contain shimmered upward like heat haze.
“…Damn it.”
With a sinking feeling, Kang Hyung-seok crouched down and tore away the weeds with rough, urgent movements.
Soil emerged, and he grasped a large handful, lifting it into the air.
The blackened earth reeked with a putrid stench.
Like soil saturated with congealed blood, so thick it could no longer be contained.
Like earth where blood had rotted away.
It was then.
“Who’s there?”
An unfamiliar voice from behind seized his attention completely.
***
“Huff, huff!”
Shin Jung-ah trudged up the mountain path, her breathing labored and ragged.
The trail was somewhat flatter than the route Kang Hyung-seok had taken.
Yet for an ordinary office worker like her, it remained rough and grueling terrain.
‘I should have brought a walking stick.’
Perched atop a jagged boulder that jutted from the earth, she wiped the sweat trickling down her chin, then retrieved a water bottle from her bag and drank.
Deep within the mountain.
Chirp, chirp.
The cry of some nameless insect.
The chirping of birds, the rustling of branches in the breeze.
The cool wind that swept across her skin made the exertion feel surprisingly bearable.
“Right. I’m just out for a hike. A simple hike.”
Not like those dreadful mountain excursions her insufferable former boss had forced upon her every Saturday.
Once her sweat had cooled, she swallowed hard and surveyed her surroundings.
Then she withdrew an electronic cigarette from her pocket, placed it between her lips, and took a few leisurely drags.
“Ahhh.”
A sense of comfort washed over her—as if she might dissolve into nature itself.
But Shin Jung-ah steeled her resolve and scanned the area once more.
‘I need to find it first.’
Kang Hyung-seok always carried some burden in his heart, and that’s why she’d come along.
This time, she had to be truly useful to him.
Shin Jung-ah rose from the boulder and slowly examined the surroundings while smoking her electronic cigarette.
That was when it happened.
“…Burnt smell?”
She whipped her head around, her eyes widening in disbelief.
She was using an electronic cigarette, not a conventional one.
There was no source of fire anywhere nearby.
Yet before her eyes blazed a towering inferno and thick black smoke.
And something equally impossible was there as well.
Thud.
Shin Jung-ah collapsed without thinking, her gaze fixed on the pillar of flame roaring just ten meters away.
This was no ordinary fire.
A figure stood upright within the blaze.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Crackle!
Black smoke billowed above the figure’s head.
Contrary to the bright flames, the person at the center was charred pitch-black.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter!
Her upper and lower teeth chattered rapidly as Shin Jung-ah stared at the figure within the inferno, unable even to think of fleeing.
She couldn’t move a single fingertip.
Though the face was obscured, she sensed that the figure was also gazing directly at her.
‘A ghost, a ghost.’
It was broad daylight.
Even deep in the mountains, this was a time when every object around me was crystal clear.
The figure that suddenly appeared in such conditions made me think of a ghost rather than a person.
Whoooosh.
Within the flames that left the surrounding vegetation untouched, the burning figure slowly raised its arms.
Charred ash crumbled away with a soft patter, and coal-like fists unfurled as blackened fingers stretched outward.
Thus the burning figure pointed toward a single location.
“Ugh! Uuugh!”
Unable to bear the crushing terror, Shin Jung-ah made strange sounds as her eyes squeezed shut and snapped open.
And just like that, everything vanished like a phantom.
The crackling of flames, the smell of char, the burning figure—all of it gone.
Shin Jung-ah gasped for breath, stared toward where the burning figure had been, then bolted away in panic.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!’
At first she ran down the mountain, but she stopped herself.
Then, with a pained expression, she turned back toward where the ghost had been.
“Ugh! This is infuriating!”
She was terrified enough to be infuriated.
But she couldn’t flee—not when she had come here to help Kang Hyung-seok.
Tap tap tap tap.
After sending a text to Kang Hyung-seok, she resolved to walk toward the direction the ghost had pointed while waiting for his reply.
Her trembling legs kept her pace slow.
***
Clink.
A glass filled with an unfamiliar cold drink was placed before Kang Hyung-seok.
“Please, have some.”
The one offering the glass was the middle-aged man who had called him.
The location was a temple not far from where I had discovered the blackened soil, and I acknowledged his kindness with a slight bow before lifting the glass.
And I found myself smiling unconsciously at the warmth that arrived with the fragrance.
Green tea with the rich aroma of roasted brown rice.
Yes, this was the tea that carried the essence of the mundane world.
“I apologize that it is not finer tea.”
“Not at all. It is more than sufficient.”
I conveyed my gratitude with proper courtesy and took a sip of the tea.
“But what brings you to such a place?”
At the Monk’s question, I wiped away the tea clinging to my lips with the back of my hand and opened my mouth.
“I came because there is something I need to find.”
“You do not seem like someone here to gather medicinal herbs or mushrooms. You appear to be someone with a story—would you share it?”
At that moment, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.
「I saw a ghost.」
I retrieved my phone and confirmed the message from Shin Jung-ah, then shifted my gaze to the Monk.
“Forgive me for a moment.”
“Please, feel free.”
I moved my thumb rapidly to send a reply.
「A ghost? What are you talking about?」
Zing!
The response came quickly, as if she had been waiting eagerly for contact.
「It’s a Burning Spirit, but I don’t know either. Right now I’m moving in the direction it showed me.」
Isn’t this dangerous?
Then how exactly should I respond?
As I was growing flustered, the Monk sitting across from me opened his mouth.
“It will be fine.”
“…Pardon?”
The Monk spoke as if he knew the contents of the message without ever seeing it.
I studied the Monk with my lips pressed firmly together.
‘A peculiar person indeed.’
It was strange that a temple existed in such a remote place.
It was strange that he would show such kindness to someone he had met by chance.
This was neither an ordinary person nor an ordinary meeting.
Yet I did not sense any danger.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
I left a reply to Shin Jung-ah, telling her not to overexert herself.
Then I met the Monk’s gaze.
“Monk.”
“Speak freely.”
“…Do you happen to know anyone in this area who brews alcohol?”
“Alcohol?”
The Monk’s brows furrowed, and Kang Hyung-seok nodded heavily.
“Yes. Someone who brews alcohol using beasts.”
“My, what business do you have seeking such a person?”
Kang Hyung-seok brought the teacup close to his face.
But sensing an odd discomfort, he opened his mouth without drinking.
“People are in danger.”
“Hmm.”
“Three people are hospitalized, and if I leave that person alone, I don’t know how many more will be harmed.”
Kang Hyung-seok watched the silent Monk.
I couldn’t be certain, but I had the feeling this person was no ordinary man.
Yet that didn’t make him unpleasant or unsettling.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
“You could simply ignore it and turn away.”
The Monk’s sudden words made Kang Hyung-seok’s face harden.
“Are the hospitalized people your family?”
“They are not.”
“Then they are strangers’ affairs. You could ignore and turn away, could you not?”
“Monk.”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke with force, but the Monk’s face remained expressionless.
“Go back down. It would be better for you.”
“If you know something, tell me. I cannot leave like this.”
“What is your reason?”
Kang Hyung-seok pressed his lips shut, then opened them after much deliberation.
“I have already given you the answer.”
If I give up, others may be hurt.
Had I not known, I would not have climbed this mountain as I do now.
But this is what I believe to be right.
It is not because someone else told me to—it is what I believe is just, and if I surrender, the harm will only grow.
“Your eyes are clear.”
The Monk, who had been gazing into Kang Hyung-seok’s eyes, dropped his expressionless mask and offered a faint smile.
“You follow righteousness over personal sentiment. It is said that heaven does not turn away from such people.”
This was when Kang Hyung-seok’s brows furrowed even deeper.
The Monk drew a long breath through his nose, then exhaled and turned his gaze toward the upper reaches of the Mountain.
“I have seen a person carrying a sack several times.”
“A sack?”
“A sack that reeked of decay. That seems to be the person you seek.”
“Thank you.”
Kang Hyung-seok rose from his seat, ready to move immediately.
The Monk, still seated, lifted his gaze and looked up at Kang Hyung-seok.
“Be careful.”
“Yes.”
“Your mind will waver.”
As Kang Hyung-seok reached for the bag he’d set down, his face grew tense as he looked at the Monk.
“…What?”
“It will continue to try to shake you. Do not waver, no matter what.”
This Monk clearly knows something.
Kang Hyung-seok held the Monk’s gaze in silence for a moment, then nodded heavily.
“Thank you for the tea.”
With his bag slung over his shoulder, he began walking swiftly in the direction the Monk had indicated.
When he had gone considerably far from the Temple, the Monk’s voice reached him from behind.
“Trust in your precepts. For today, heaven walks with you.”
Kang Hyung-seok nearly stopped in his tracks.
But with a resigned expression, he continued walking silently forward.
The Temple behind him stood empty.
Only an old, abandoned teacup remained, watching over Kang Hyung-seok’s retreating figure.

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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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