An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 70

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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 69
Part 7. He Lived a Good Life (1)
Whoooosh!
Water cascaded from Kang Hyung-seok’s clothes as he emerged onto the shore.
The time spent underwater had not been long.
At most, perhaps twenty minutes.
Thud, thud.
Yet Kang Hyung-seok’s footsteps were impossibly heavy.
“You’ve endured much. You’ve endured so much!”
Hong Kyung-soo steadied Kang Hyung-seok and reached for the urn. Reflexively, Kang Hyung-seok seized it, preventing him from taking it, and cast a suspicious gaze upon him.
“Is this your true purpose?”
Hong Kyung-soo’s head snapped up, his brow furrowing.
It was not an aggressive gaze.
Rather, it was one of bewilderment and confusion.
Those eyes troubled me.
“Sending me alone into the water, bringing me here, was it all for this urn?”
“Do I seem so untrustworthy to you?”
When Kang Hyung-seok answered with a nod, Hong Kyung-soo’s lips pressed firmly shut.
Then he instructed me to set the urn down first and stripped off his black shaman’s robe.
“The urn must be sealed first.”
As Kang Hyung-seok stood in silence, Hong Kyung-soo’s neck flushed with urgency.
“Don’t be difficult now that we’ve come this far! What will happen to the senior if we leave it like this!”
A voice so earnest it was startling.
Kang Hyung-seok set the urn down cautiously, and Hong Kyung-soo covered its opening with his robe.
Then he untied the white cloth bound at his waist and began binding both the urn and the robe together.
Crunch! Tight!
Watching him bind the urn so that nothing within could ever escape, Kang Hyung-seok also untied his white cloth.
‘What is his true intention?’
If his purpose was the urn, I thought I would have to seize it by force if necessary.
Crunch!
Having finished binding the urn, Hong Kyung-soo spoke.
“Deliver this to the teacher.”
“…What?”
“The teacher will resolve it. Then the senior will be able to depart without lingering attachment.”
Hong Kyung-soo crouched before the urn, looking up at Kang Hyung-seok.
“It’s the most important task. You can do it, can’t you?”
Kang Hyung-seok looked down at Hong Kyung-soo with a contemplative expression.
I had never wanted to see so deeply into another person’s heart.
Yet Shaman’s Bell did not ring.
Lee Geum-kyung’s words echoed—that because he was a dark shaman, he always employed deception.
Could it be because of that?
If so, how could I explain the expression on Hong Kyung-soo’s face when I saw him in the water?
Thud.
Hong Kyung-soo rose to his feet and thrust the urn toward me as if passing off a burden.
“I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not that kind of man.”
Hong Kyung-soo spoke with an oddly unburdened expression, then gestured toward the car with his chin.
I accepted the urn from him with a heavy sigh and walked toward the car together with him.
In any case, the urn now rested in my hands.
***
“That’s how it turned out.”
Lee Geum-kyung furrowed her brow as she looked at me.
We stood before the house where her friend lived, and the other Shamans were waiting nearby.
“Wait, where did the Shaman Hong go!”
The Male Shaman raised his voice sharply, and Lee Geum-kyung shook her head.
I had come alone.
We had traveled together by car until the main road, then parted ways.
I had naturally asked him to come along.
But he only said he needed to go to the Hospital and left by himself.
“He couldn’t have come. You know that as well as I do.”
“This damned… What will you do, Master?”
Lee Geum-kyung, receiving everyone’s attention, turned her gaze toward me.
“What was your impression of him?”
“I truly cannot say for certain.”
I kept my lips firmly pressed together, lost in deep contemplation.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I could not determine what kind of person he truly was.
If he harbored some foul intention, his act of pulling the burial cloth and relinquishing the urn without hesitation could not be explained.
“The one who accompanied him threw a curse at you.”
I looked at Lee Geum-kyung in surprise, and she continued speaking with a composed expression.
“I blocked the curse, but I don’t understand why he did it either.”
“Even you, Master?”
“The Shaman Hong will likely deny it if questioned. That’s the kind of man he is.”
Hong Kyung-soo would deny it.
He would never admit to it.
Even if presented with irrefutable evidence, he would only speak of severing ties with those who threw the curse.
“You’ve worked hard. Without you, we wouldn’t have found the urn.”
“No, Master.”
“Don’t say no! You suffered the most and accomplished the greatest deed—Heaven knows it and we all know it!”
The Shaman in the back raised his voice sharply, then fell silent upon receiving Lee Geum-kyung’s gaze.
Then came what followed.
“I’ll contact the Shaman Hong separately.”
“Do you happen to know anything about this?”
Lee Geum-kyung furrowed her brow in deep contemplation, then shook her head.
Her eyes clearly suggested she suspected something.
Yet she seemed reluctant to voice it aloud, choosing instead to hold her tongue.
“…I understand.”
“In any case, you must never make contact with Hong Kyung-soo. You didn’t give him your contact information, did you?”
“No. He never asked for it.”
“Good, then.”
Lee Geum-kyung exhaled in relief and accepted the earthen jar from Kang Hyung-seok.
It contained water from Anmok Reservoir.
It must have been heavy, yet she did not set it down, instead caressing its surface.
Her expression was deeply troubled.
“What a stubborn fool…. Tsk, tsk.”
Kang Hyung-seok understood her feelings.
That jar was an attachment.
It was the stubbornness of a Shaman who tried to shoulder burdens beyond her abilities.
A symbol of a friend who had lived that way her entire life.
It was something that could be called sublime in itself.
Swish, swish.
After caressing the jar for a long while, Lee Geum-kyung spoke in a hushed voice.
“I must perform a resolution ritual.”
Lee Geum-kyung’s gaze turned toward Kang Hyung-seok. Understanding what she sought, he nodded silently in agreement.
Vroom.
They traveled in the car of the other Shamans.
Though Kang Hyung-seok’s clothes were still damp, the Shamans showed no concern whatsoever.
They all knew.
What a great deed he had accomplished.
The only one who didn’t fully grasp this was Lee Geum-kyung’s friend’s son.
So he kept glancing at Kang Hyung-seok from the passenger seat, and though he didn’t understand the details, his eyes reflected the knowledge that Kang Hyung-seok had endured tremendous hardship.
Click.
The Shamans exited the car and immediately began preparing for the ritual.
The jar was placed in the center, the surroundings were swept clean with a broom, and rice flour was scattered generously.
Clink, whoosh.
Kang Hyung-seok held the broken ritual knife and Shaman’s Bell, watching the beginning of the ceremony.
As Lee Geum-kyung, now dressed in white ritual robes, stood before the jar, the Male Shaman holding the drum began to chant the sacred verses.
“Jisim gwimyeong jeongryae gongyang.”
The chant, begun in a slow, measured tone, was an invocation to the Mountain Spirit.
Deep in the night, beginning a ritual on the mountain—it was a plea for permission to proceed.
“Namu dongak daeryeong changgwang samyeong jingun namak gyeonghwa jagwang jusaeng jingun.”
Boom boom boom boom!
“Western Peak, fulfill wishes and clarify virtue, Great Ming True Sovereign. Northern Peak, weeping beauty and flowing grace, Ultimate True Sovereign. Central Yellow Origin, vast radiance, True Sovereign of the Photograph. Layer upon layer of white stone paths.”
As the Mountain Spirit’s prayer of reverence concluded, Lee Geum-kyung swept around the jar with the five-colored flags.
And just as the traditional Korean instruments were about to play, Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell.
Clang clang clang.
The startled gazes of the Shamans.
Those who drew sharp breaths.
Those who even turned their heads to look at him.
What captured their attention was not merely the sacred aura of the Shaman’s Bell.
“The Underworld speaks: virtue sustains heaven and earth, wordless divinity. The Way transforms all things, without malice.”
It was Kang Hyung-seok himself, reciting the sacred scripture.
His words carried a profound power that made it difficult to believe he was a young Shaman.
“If the living lack virtue, the dead bear guilt; if the dead lack virtue, the living face separation.”
Boom! Boom boom!
One of the Shamans began striking the drum in rhythm with Kang Hyung-seok’s recitation.
Soon the gong rang out, and the flute followed in its wake.
Boom boom boom boom! Trill trill, clang clang clang clang clang!
“When life and death possess virtue, then joy descends from heaven. Evil spirits and malevolent deities are transformed by the Way—let the evil spirits be purified and the malevolent deities be dissolved.”
Clang clang clang!
Kang Hyung-seok raised the Shaman’s Bell high and shook it.
Lee Geum-kyung, watching gratefully, picked up the broom and swept around the jar. At the same moment, her friend’s son clasped his hands together without realizing it.
That jar was unclean, yet it was a trace of my father’s life.
And it was the good deeds my father had bestowed upon the world.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom! Clang clang clang clang!
The sounds of the traditional instruments rose to a crescendo, and Lee Geum-kyung’s eyes closed deeply.
Swish!
As if casting off impurity, the broom swept across the surface of the jar.
With each sweep, one Victim Spirit fell away.
Swish, swish.
Lee Geum-kyung did not cease her sweeping until everything dwelling within the jar had fallen away.
Each time, sacred words were recited in between, and fist-sized pieces of pork were scattered upon the ground.
Clang clang! Clang clang! Clang clang clang clang!
Kang Hyung-seok also shook the Shaman’s Bell, purifying the surroundings.
Thus the jar’s grievance was resolved, and Lee Geum-kyung, dressed in white ritual robes, proceeded with the cleansing ritual.
A cleansing ritual that should have ended while the sun still shone.
Without any interference.
Without any obstruction.
Lee Geum-kyung completed the cleansing ritual, earnestly praying that her friend could pass into the next world with a peaceful heart.
Boom boom boom!
As the ritual ended, the drum’s final sound resonated widely across the Mountain as dawn broke.
***
[Broadcast starting in 3… 2… 1]
Pop!
“Hello, everyone! Seems like we’re meeting sooner than usual, doesn’t it?”
BJ Yoon Sang, a horror and fear specialist streamer, launched his broadcast with unusual energy.
[Ooooooh.]
[It’s an outdoor broadcast. Outdoor!]
[Did he really go? Really to Anmok Reservoir?]
[Lmaooo he’s actually going to Anmok Reservoir.]
The viewers’ reactions burned hot, given the notorious location.
Donations were flooding in, yet conversely, Yoon Sang’s insides felt like they were ablaze.
That Anmok Reservoir—the very place famous for ghost sightings.
“Wow, I’m genuinely terrified. Everyone, if you see anything even slightly strange on screen, you have to tell me right away, okay?”
[Do you have any companions? ㅠ]
[Oppa, why are you alone again? ㅠㅠ]
[???? Did he really go alone?]
[He’s lost it lol what a madman.]
hahahahaha
[Bet he’ll see a ghost and panic then end the stream lmaooo]
He should have laughed along, but given the location, a genuine smile simply wouldn’t come.
So Yoon Sang forced the corners of his mouth upward with a rigid expression.
“Everyone, wow, seriously. I’m turning off voice messages. I’m genuinely so terrified I think I’m losing my mind.”
[Hahahahaha]
[If we played horror movie BGM he’d probably lose it.]
[But isn’t it good to be cautious at Anmok Reservoir?]
[Yeah, that place is somewhere even Shamans warn people away from.]
Yoon Sang knew this fact well.
So even as he moved forward, he let out groans of distress—which ironically became an entertaining point for his viewers.
As he drew closer to Anmok Reservoir, he activated his high-performance lantern.
[So bright lmaooooo]
[How much was that?]
[I saw the receipt he posted before—it was 200,000 won.]
[Even ghosts would get exorcised by that light.]
hahahaha
“Don’t tease me so much. Without something like this, how could I even come here?”
Yoon Sang trembled as he swept the lantern across his surroundings.
With such a high-performance lantern, every spot the light touched became bright as midday.
Yet even so, as he moved cautiously forward, his brow gradually furrowed.
“What is this?”
[What’s wrong???]
[Oppa, what did you see? ㅠ]
“No, well, Anmok Reservoir is pretty famous, you know? But the vibe doesn’t feel like it’s that serious….”
Perhaps it was because I’d visited so many haunted houses.
Yoon Sang had come to understand that truly dangerous places felt different from the start.
I couldn’t detect spiritual presences like a Shaman or see ghosts with spiritual sight.
But I’d developed enough discernment to distinguish between genuinely dangerous places and merely somewhat dangerous ones.
“That’s strange. This place was even featured on broadcasts.”
[OO]
[It’s even been counted as a legendary horror story.]
[This place is pretty famous for being a man-eater.]
“But it doesn’t feel like it’s that serious….”
Yoon Sang glanced around and spotted distinct tire tracks clearly imprinted on the ground.
Marks so fresh they looked like they’d been made just hours ago.
As Yoon Sang broadcast the tracks, his frown deepened even more.
[Looks like someone came and went?]
[Could it be that person Yoon Sang is looking for?]
[????]
[For real????]
[That person just joined recently, who are you talking about?]
[The office worker who goes around exorcising demons.]
Everyone thinks alike.
So Yoon Sang was harboring the same thoughts as his viewers.
“Nah, no way.”
I denied it with my words.
But maintaining a smile was becoming difficult.
The person Yoon Sang so desperately wanted to see again was Kang Hyung-seok.
I couldn’t shake the thought that these tire tracks might somehow be connected to him.
“No way. No, no. How could that be? That’s a stretch. Really.”
It’s not the facial expression lol
Hahahaha (laughing so hard)
“Hey oppa, don’t cry lolololol”
hahahaha
That’s crazy lolololol
[Look around quickly. He might be nearby.]
After reading the last chat message, Yoon Sang cursed under his breath and took off running without hesitation.
I’d come all the way to Anmok Reservoir, but instead of searching for ghosts, the broadcast had shifted to searching for Kang Hyung-seok.
Still, no one seemed to mind.

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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
—————