An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 53

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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 52
Part 1. Release the Victim Spirit Bound to This Mountain (2)
In the Underground Chamber, Shin Jung-ah trembled uncontrollably.
The fear was so overwhelming, so suffocating, that she could barely endure it.
She wanted to flee immediately, but her legs refused to obey.
She wanted to close her eyes, yet doing so felt as though something terrifying would descend upon her.
“Hic! Hic! Hiiiiic!”
Finally, the terror she could no longer contain burst forth as tears.
Crash!
“Eek!”
One of the jars of preserved spirits on the shelf exploded, shattering violently.
The acrid stench of potent liquor permeated the air, and the decomposed carcass of some creature, its form liquefied, dripped down the shelf.
“Waaaaaah!”
And from the earthenware jar buried in the floor came the wailing of an infant.
“Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah!”
Shin Jung-ah covered her ears and curled into a ball, drawing her knees to her chest.
It was then that Kang Hyung-seok’s ritual of deliverance began.
Whoosh!
A sudden burst of light illuminated the Underground Chamber.
Startled, Shin Jung-ah lifted her head and saw the Burning Spirit.
Terror seized her so completely that she could scarcely breathe, yet the spirit inflicted no harm upon her.
Instead, it raised its charred hand and brought it to its lips.
As if pleading for silence.
“Ah, ah?”
Her face, drained of all color until it had turned a sickly blue, found itself nodding instinctively.
The Burning Spirit bowed its head toward her.
Then it crouched before the jar, extending its burned hand to cradle the infant submerged in the liquor as though lifting it to safety.
‘What… what is it doing…?’
It was the moment Shin Jung-ah’s mind formed this question.
—Hush now, hush, my little one.
Suddenly, a young woman’s voice singing a lullaby echoed within her mind.
—Sleep well, my little one.
It was a mother’s lullaby for her child.
A lullaby she had yearned to sing for so very long.
—Hush now, hush, my little one.
Sleep well, my little one.
Little rooster, do not crow.
You’ll wake my baby from sleep.
Little dog, do not bark.
Shin Jung-ah stared at the Burning Spirit with wide, astonished eyes.
The baby cradled in the spirit’s arms whimpered softly, not wailing with the violence one might expect.
Crash! Bang! Boom!
The bottles of alcohol arranged on the shelf continued to shatter and burst.
The stench of liquor grew acrid, and the spilled liquid seeped into the ground.
Yet Shin Jung-ah remained transfixed, her gaze fixed solely upon the Burning Spirit.
Somehow, the spirit’s emotions seemed to seep into her very heart.
-Hush now, hush now.
Hush now, my little one.
Sleep well, my precious child.
Clear tears streamed down the face of the spirit singing the lullaby.
As if apologizing for only now singing it.
That was how it appeared to Shin Jung-ah.
‘…So that’s why you appeared to me.’
This was the reason the spirit had manifested before her, not before Kang Hyung-seok.
Because she was someone who could understand the spirit’s sorrow more deeply.
A mother who had lost her child. A wife murdered by her own husband.
The same gender.
A similar age.
The Burning Spirit and Shin Jung-ah shared something in common.
Slowly.
Shin Jung-ah, still holding the baby, unconsciously raised both hands as she watched the spirit sing the lullaby.
Then, pressing her palms together, she prayed for their sorrows to be released.
That sentiment was surely profound enough to be called a prayer.
***
Ding, ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling-a-ling!
I rang the Shaman’s Bell, my gaze lowered as I opened my mouth.
“Victim Spirit, as we chant in unified devotion, may your karmic afflictions dissolve and prajna wisdom manifest. May you transcend the suffering of birth and death, achieve liberation and nirvana, and be reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss.”
Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!
The Shaman’s Bell rang high toward the heavens, and the path for guiding the spirit opened.
Flutter!
In place of the seven-star drum, I swung a cloth with seven knots tied upon it in a wide arc.
Then the wind came and made the cloth flutter.
Though the knots were tied loosely, they came undone easily in the breeze.
“The four elements and six senses are illusions that ultimately fade away. Do not cling to this flesh, but awaken to true principle and you shall transcend all suffering.”
Snap.
The second knot came undone.
Seok-woo still slept, and the moonlight shone clear and bright across the night sky.
The Mugho was broken, and the calamity dwelling on this mountain grew dim.
May the bound soul ascend and leave not a trace of lingering attachment.
Ding-a-ling!
“What gathers by karmic connection scatters by karmic connection. Birth is karma, and return is karma. What then is there to grieve?”
It was then.
-Uuuuuaaaaaah!
The roar of the Old Man in his youth shattered across the mountain as if to block the spirit’s ascension.
-You wretched woman! Bearing a beast of a child! You whore!
No, this cannot be.
The spirit must not be bound by sorrowful memories.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling!
“When one mind becomes pure, the entire world becomes pure. Repent of all karmic transgressions and return to purity. May the path the Victim Spirit walks be filled with radiance. May the path you travel, be it a thousand miles, lead to the Pure Land of Bliss.”
The place where afflictions and delusions vanish.
That place is the Pure Land—abandon the three poisons of mind.
“All emotions become burdens on the path forward. By the karmic connection of this chanting, release them all without remainder.”
Please remember that I and others pray for your ascension.
Ding-a-ling!
As the Shaman’s Bell rang clear, the Old Man’s reproach that had filled the heavens ceased.
And the third knot on the cloth, which I had not moved, came undone.
-My child, our precious child.
A soft woman’s voice.
A mother’s voice.
-Mother.
A clear boy’s voice.
The voice of a small child who should have been loved and cherished.
“Hold fast to good karmic connections and abandon bad ones, and when you are born again, you shall meet good karmic connections.”
They shall meet again.
The bond between mother and child that could not be forged in this lifetime would be rekindled in the next.
And it would be beautiful.
A soft tearing sound.
The fourth and fifth knots had come undone.
Only two remained.
Kang Hyung-seok poured every ounce of his will into reciting the next verse, determined to unravel these final two knots as well.
“Water freezes into ice, ice melts into water—thus life and death in this world are like water and ice. With purified karma, may they be reborn in paradise.”
A soft tearing sound.
Now only a single knot remained.
Kang Hyung-seok gazed upward toward the heavens.
The night sky was illuminated by a full moon alone.
Yet now, something else seemed to shimmer into view.
A young woman cradling an infant.
Kang Hyung-seok looked up at them and, in a hushed voice, recited the final verse.
“By the unified hearts of these souls chanting the sacred mantra, may the earthly realm crumble, the karmic bonds that were tied be severed, and may they be reborn together in the realm of paradise.”
A soft tearing sound.
The final knot had come undone.
Kang Hyung-seok kept his gaze fixed toward the heavens, his eyes closing gently.
In silence, he brought his palms together in reverent prayer.
No calamity remained dwelling upon this mountain.
The Mugho had been broken, and the Victim Spirit had been guided to the afterlife.
A gentle chirping filled the air.
The sound of crickets—unheard until now—began to sing.
It was the mountain’s way of announcing its return to the time before the Mugho had ever existed.
***
Creak.
Shin Jung-ah emerged from the Warehouse, her gaunt face etched with exhaustion as she turned to look back.
It had been a Warehouse brimming with alcohol.
A place where spirits had appeared.
But now nothing remained.
‘Farewell.’
She too had witnessed it.
The ascension of the Victim Spirit.
The image of a woman cradling an infant vanishing before her eyes.
The memory remained so vivid in her mind that she felt she could recall every detail with perfect clarity if she closed her eyes.
She would likely never forget it for the rest of her life.
‘That was… good, wasn’t it?’
She was smiling.
The infant nestled in her arms had been smiling radiantly as well.
In that moment of departure, the woman had bowed her head to Shin Jung-ah in gratitude.
May you find happiness.
Shin Jung-ah offered a silent prayer with her eyes closed.
Though she held no particular faith, she simply wished for the two of them to find peace in whatever place awaited them.
As her brief prayer concluded, she turned her steps toward the base of the Mountain.
“The moonlight is so clear.”
Murmuring to herself, she suddenly wiped at her moistening eyes with the back of her hand and pulled out her phone.
A signal that hadn’t reached her in the Underground Chamber now came through.
With a quiet laugh, she moved her thumb and sent a message to Kang Hyung-seok.
「Kang, come down to the base of the Mountain. I’m cold.」
“Achoo!”
She coughed, her pace quickening as she made her way down the Mountain.
***
Tick, tick.
Uncle glanced anxiously at the wall clock, his leg bouncing with nervous energy.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes from nights without proper sleep, and his skin had grown dull and rough.
Ever since the fermented liquor incident, he hadn’t been able to sleep properly.
Clink.
Sliced apples and tangerines were placed before him.
A gesture of care from Park Jung-im, Kang Hyung-seok’s mother and Uncle’s older sister.
“Just get some rest, you stubborn thing.”
“Sister! What’s with calling me that? I’m your brother!”
“What’s the matter?”
“And isn’t he your son? People have no heart. He hasn’t even called at this hour.”
“If you weren’t worried, you wouldn’t be a mother.”
Park Jung-im sat beside Uncle and pressed her thumb into the dimpled crown of a tangerine.
She split it in half and peeled away the skin with an expressionless face.
Yet anxiety she could not hide filled her fingertips.
“What else can I do besides trust him?”
….
“I’m not saying he’s my son, but he’s not a failure. Hyung-seok isn’t.”
Uncle noticed the dark circles beneath Park Jung-im’s eyes.
She said nothing and showed no sign of it.
Yet surely Kang Hyung-seok’s mother was the one whose insides were rotting away with worry.
“Since he’s received a great calling, he’ll be safe. There’s no major incident, so there’s no call. That’s how we think of it and wait.”
“Sister.”
“Eat the apple first. When I cut it earlier, it didn’t look in good condition.”
“Ugh! Seriously.”
Just as Uncle was about to complain, even shifting his hips in exasperation.
Bzzzzzzt!
A sudden phone call made both of them scramble to pull out their mobile phones in alarm.
The call had come to Uncle.
But it was not from Kang Hyung-seok.
“Yes, yes, wait a moment.”
Kim, who had been hospitalized.
A call from the man who had lost consciousness after drinking the fermented liquor.
Before Park Jung-im’s startled gaze, Uncle hurriedly answered and brought the phone to his ear.
“Hello? Kim? Kim?”
(Oh my, sigh.)
“Say something, Kim!”
(Safety manager, what is all this?)
A voice like someone whose memory had gone blank from drinking.
It brought tears welling to Uncle’s eyes.
“Hey, are you alright? Nothing hurting anywhere?”
(This is a hospital. Wait, what on earth happened? Why am I here?)
“Phew! We almost had a real disaster. You really came close to something terrible.”
(Good grief. What’s going on?)
Beep beep beep!
“Hold on just a moment. I’m getting another call from somewhere else, so I’ll call you right back.”
(Yes… yes!)
Uncle answered the incoming call immediately.
“Hello? Yes, yes!”
(Safety Manager.)
“Oh my! Oh my, how’s your body feeling?”
It was a call from someone admitted to a different hospital.
And during this call too, another one came through.
Park Jung-im watched her uncle juggling calls in bewilderment at first.
But soon, as his face grew increasingly brighter, she found herself smiling along with him.
She could feel it.
The sense that something had been resolved.
Click.
Uncle turned to Park Jung-im with a face that was both flustered and joyful.
“S-sister.”
“They all woke up?”
“How can something like this even happen?”
Uncle looked like someone who had just witnessed a miracle.
It was only natural—people who had been admitted on the same day at the same time were calling in, all having regained consciousness simultaneously.
“Whew, stretch stretch stretch!”
Uncle’s gaze followed Park Jung-im as she stretched grandly.
“Well, you should get some rest too. I need to catch a few winks.”
“You’re going to sleep?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“No, well, you should sleep, of course.”
Park Jung-im glanced at the wall clock, her lips curled upward in a smile.
She was thinking of preparing a late-night meal for Kang Hyung-seok, who would be returning soon after a brief rest.
“Sister.”
“What?”
It was after Park Jung-im turned her head toward Uncle, who had suddenly spoken up.
“Do you think gods really exist?”
Park Jung-im blinked at her uncle’s words—he who believed in neither gods nor shamanism—then burst out laughing.
“You just hope they do, that’s all.”
With that, Park Jung-im entered the bedroom where her husband lay sleeping.

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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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