An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 5

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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 5
Part 2. Walk the Righteous Path (2)
Vroom.
Kang Hyung-seok sipped coffee from a tumbler as he drove.
Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
He passed through an industrial complex area and ventured into a secluded region, then navigated past a construction site before taking a mountain road.
Thump, thump.
A concrete road soon appeared before him.
As I climbed the narrow, heavily rutted path, I checked the time.
It was approaching eight o’clock.
‘Did I sleep too long?’
What was supposed to be a brief nap at the rest stop had turned into deep sleep.
Still, I considered it fortunate.
Rumble.
I must have been halfway up the mountain.
Suddenly, a flat clearing appeared—not particularly spacious, but level—and I parked in a corner before stepping out of the car.
Lee Geum-kyung’s Shaman House.
It was a traditional Korean house with a temple-like atmosphere, yet instead of entering immediately, I gazed upon the Courtyard.
‘Every time I come here, those memories return.’
The recollection of kneeling in the center of that Courtyard, receiving the Shin-nureom ritual.
Though it had been twenty years, the memory remained vivid as yesterday, and I found myself unable to tear my gaze from the Courtyard.
It was then.
“What brings you here?”
A young woman’s voice reached me—standard Korean inflected with a strong Jeolla accent.
As I turned, I saw a young woman dressed in athletic wear from a sports brand.
She eyed me warily while rubbing her nose.
“You reek of malice. What is your purpose in coming?”
I nodded slightly.
Though I’d never seen her before, I sensed who she was.
“You’re her disciple, aren’t you? I’ve come to see my teacher.”
This woman was a shaman.
In crude terms, what one might call an apprentice shaman—someone learning everything from how to live as a shaman to how to perform rituals, much like an intern.
“It’s late. You should leave.”
“I have something I must ask her in person.”
“I said leave.”
The woman’s expression grew increasingly fierce.
“From the looks of it, you’ve ventured into some haunted place and picked up something unwanted, yet you have the audacity to come seeking help. Why do you deliberately walk into such places?”
Burdened by frustration, the woman unleashed words like machine-gun fire.
To her, I must have appeared like someone who recklessly climbs a mountain where hiking is forbidden, then calls 119 for rescue.
But I was not the person she imagined.
“I’m Kang Hyung-seok.”
“And?”
I’d spoken as if hoping she would recognize me, but her response was dismissive.
Kang Hyung-seok closed his lips, then opened them again as if exhaling a sigh.
“If I tell you that the one who failed to become a son has come, you’ll understand.”
It was a hypothetical, of course.
If he had received divine descent instead of divine suppression.
Lee Geum-kyung and Kang Hyung-seok would have become divine mother and divine son.
A bond as deep and unbreakable as blood kinship.
That was when it happened.
The woman’s eyes widened in surprise, and her crossed arms loosened.
“Oh? Are you the young master?”
“…Young master?”
“I’ve heard much about you. You should have sent word before coming. The journey must have been arduous—you’ve endured quite a hardship.”
The woman’s demeanor toward Kang Hyung-seok transformed entirely.
Her voice became far more reverent than how she treated Lee Geum-kyung’s other visitors, and her expression softened.
There were several reasons for this.
His relationship with Lee Geum-kyung, and his divine patron spirit.
If Kang Hyung-seok were to properly undergo the ritual and accept the divine, he would become a great shaman revered by all shamans.
And this Kang Hyung-seok had maintained a close connection with Lee Geum-kyung for the past twenty years.
No one in the Shamanic Community could afford to treat him carelessly, knowing who he was.
“But what is that foul stench emanating from you?”
“That’s actually why I’ve come.”
“My goodness, you’ve been afflicted by something vicious. For something to harm the young master to this degree, it must be no ordinary entity.”
Kang Hyung-seok nodded with a bitter expression, and the woman stopped before the wooden door covered with mulberry paper.
“Master, we have a visitor.”
“Come in.”
At the elderly woman’s voice from within, the woman stepped aside.
Kang Hyung-seok bowed respectfully as he passed through the space she had cleared.
“Master, I am Kang Hyung-seok.”
“I know. Come in.”
Kang Hyung-seok smiled faintly, offered a silent bow to the woman, and moved toward the door.
Knock, knock.
As he knocked politely and opened the door, the fragrance of incense that had accumulated within greeted him first.
Then the Buddhist statues and altar welcomed him, while an elderly woman in white hanbok sat on the floor with a faint smile.
“It’s been a while, Hyung-seok.”
A woman in her late sixties.
White hair, untouched by dye.
Eyes that held strength and lips that revealed an unwavering resolve.
From a distance, she appeared elderly, but up close, she seemed younger than her actual years.
Lee Geum-kyung embodied the quintessential image of a shaman with formidable spiritual presence.
“I hope you’ve been well, Master.”
Lee Geum-kyung pulled her crimson lips into a smile and gestured to Kang Hyung-seok.
“Come in. And Chung-geum, would you bring us some tea?”
“Yes.”
The woman standing outside the door bowed deeply before departing.
“It seems she’s your newly accepted disciple.”
“She doesn’t make mistakes with you.”
“The first impression didn’t seem favorable.”
“Understand—she’s possessed by a General Spirit, so her temperament differs from ordinary people.”
Whatever the case, there was clearly an amusing story to unravel here. I could tell from the way Lee Geum-kyung pressed her temples and exhaled a weary sigh.
“Yet there must have been a reason you accepted her as a disciple.”
“She said you reek of beasts.”
Kang Hyung-seok looked at Lee Geum-kyung with startled eyes, then offered a bitter smile.
“So you knew.”
“The stench wafts so openly—it would be strange not to notice.”
Lee Geum-kyung’s gaze held the clarity of one who grasped the situation.
She was a shaman skilled in divination.
Her tutelary spirit must have revealed everything to her from the moment I arrived on this mountain.
Perhaps it was still revealing things even now.
I glanced behind Lee Geum-kyung, but saw nothing.
“But don’t you have something to tell me?”
I pressed my lips together, then opened them.
That was when it happened.
“Master, I’ve brought the tea.”
The voice from beyond the door cost me the moment to speak.
Chung-geum entered carrying a small table with two cups of green tea, setting one before Lee Geum-kyung and one before me.
Lee Geum-kyung gestured for Chung-geum to sit in the corner of the room.
Silence settled once more.
Gulp.
My mouth felt strangely parched, so I took a sip of green tea before speaking.
“You must know that Changgwi has been pursuing me.”
Lee Geum-kyung maintained her grave expression, answering only with a look in her eyes.
A brief sigh passed across Chung-geum’s face like wind.
The true nature of the stench was far more sinister than expected.
“I received aid from my tutelary spirit and came to possess a shaman’s bell.”
“You’ve received a spirit?”
“Yes.”
Chung-geum was more flustered than before.
She had always assumed that if Kang Hyung-seok were to receive a spirit descent, it would naturally be from Lee Geum-kyung.
‘Does the young master have a different divine mother?’
The thought that I had received the divine descent from a shaman other than Lee Geum-kyung filled me with a profound sense of betrayal, and my brow furrowed.
Yet even now, Lee Geum-kyung showed no sign of disturbance.
“I do not have a divine mother, teacher.”
“I know.”
Chung-geum flinched without realizing it, glanced at Kang Hyung-seok with a bewildered expression, then felt Lee Geum-kyung’s gaze upon her.
Lee Geum-kyung sent only a look telling her to remain still.
There exists a world and a realm you do not know.
So remain silent.
Having read the message in those eyes, Chung-geum settled back into composure, her mind churning as she fixed her gaze upon Kang Hyung-seok.
“While being pursued by Changgwi, I heard the sound of bells. Following that sound, I found a shaman’s bell, and the moment I grasped it, I felt my body’s divine spirit enter within me.”
“It must not have been easy to make that decision when you picked up the bell?”
Kang Hyung-seok’s lips curved upward silently.
“It is strange. It was a moment I had waited for so long.”
“It was a matter upon which fate itself hung, so it is only natural.”
Lee Geum-kyung watched Kang Hyung-seok in silence for a moment.
Her gaze was not harsh, yet it pierced through a person.
It was also the eye of a shaman who glimpses into the past.
“There was someone at your side.”
“Yes. It was my workplace superior.”
Lee Geum-kyung had divined what I had not spoken.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok continued speaking as though it were a natural matter.
“He was greatly frightened because of Changgwi. Frightened enough to decide to resign.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Lee Geum-kyung clicked her tongue, her expression showing she understood just how terrified Noh Su-chul had been.
Yet there was no pity in her eyes.
“Will some measure need to be taken?”
“You worry for someone who treated you poorly?”
Kang Hyung-seok glanced briefly at Lee Geum-kyung, then offered a faint smile that mirrored the one she wore.
“He reminds me of myself when I was young.”
There had been a time when I, startled by a ghost, pulled the blanket over my head and would not even go to school.
Though Noh Su-chul was an unpleasant person, I could understand the magnitude of the terror he must be experiencing.
“It is not your concern. He was merely frightened.”
“Is that so…?”
“However, it will take time for him to dust himself off and rise again. Having endured such a harrowing ordeal and collapsed, he will surely reflect upon his past.”
Why did I have to experience such a thing?
Did I do something wrong?
Is this punishment for carelessly wagging my tongue in daily life?
These were the thoughts that must be filling Noh Su-chul’s mind.
“Only through deep reflection and genuine remorse will he find freedom.”
“…This won’t be easy.”
Given Noh Su-chul’s temperament, it could take years.
Perhaps he would spend his entire life trembling at the thought of encountering spirits again.
“Such is karma. It cannot be borne by another in your stead, so there is no need for you to concern yourself.”
“I understand.”
Kang Hyung-seok nodded, his expression bitter.
“What did it feel like when you received the divine presence?”
He closed his lips and recalled the moment he had expelled Changgwi.
It had felt as though someone was guiding his body.
Yet it was not unpleasant.
Rather, it felt as though I had become whole.
“It was a mystical experience.”
A union with the divine.
In that moment, the spirit guardian was Kang Hyung-seok, and Kang Hyung-seok was the spirit guardian.
“Though I had never seen a shaman’s bell like that before, it felt like a part of my own body. Even the sacred incantations I had only memorized until then felt like they became truly mine.”
“Do you still have that shaman’s bell?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see it.”
Kang Hyung-seok unfastened the bag he had been carrying and retrieved the shaman’s bell.
“Here it is.”
Lee Geum-kyung and Chung-geum.
Neither of them could speak.
The unusual aura emanating from the shaman’s bell made it clear that this was no ordinary object.
Lee Geum-kyung extended her hand, and Kang Hyung-seok passed the shaman’s bell to her.
The moment the shaman’s bell rested in Lee Geum-kyung’s palm, Chung-geum’s brow furrowed.
‘What is this? Something feels off…’
The aura that had been emanating from the shaman’s bell vanished.
More strangely still, the bell’s sound could not be heard.
Clunk, clunk.
Lee Geum-kyung, having noticed the same phenomenon, shook the bell, but it produced only a dull metallic sound.
“It is no ordinary object.”
Lee Geum-kyung examined the shaman’s bell carefully, her voice filled with wonder.
“It is a divine artifact. My spiritual mother spoke of such things, but this is the first time I have seen one with my own eyes.”
“A divine artifact?”
“An object that chooses its master.”
Lee Geum-kyung returned the shaman’s bell to Kang Hyung-seok.
Ding.
Unlike when she had held it, the shaman’s bell now rang with a clear, crystalline tone. The aura that had vanished returned, filling the room completely.
As if to prove that Kang Hyung-seok alone was the true master of the shaman’s bell.

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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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