An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 81

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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 80
Part 3. Why Must You Be So Cruel? (1)
A Coastal Rural Village.
Low buildings with blue roofs stood scattered at intervals, and the sea breeze carried a thick salt-laden scent.
No one passed by.
Yet it was not a town abandoned by population decline.
Judging by the clothes hanging on clotheslines in front of courtyards scattered throughout, people still inhabited this place, though not in great numbers.
“You have arrived at your destination. Navigation complete.”
“Stay in the car.”
As Kang Hyung-seok spoke, Shin Jung-ah blinked.
“Why?”
“Greeting him might take some time.”
There would be much to explain when meeting the Blacksmith.
Kang Hyung-seok stepped out alone and approached the Blacksmith’s Shop slowly.
‘Perhaps he has the day off.’
There were things that vaguely resembled a forge, and an anvil as well.
But neither the sound of metal being struck nor any heat emanated from within.
It felt precisely like a collector’s house with antiques scattered about the courtyard.
“Excuse me. Are you here?”
He walked around the courtyard, which felt devoid of presence, and called out, but no answer came.
‘This is awkward. It seems no one is here.’
It was then that he was rubbing the inside of his cheek with his tongue.
“Uuuuu.”
A sound so faint he would have missed it had the surroundings not been deathly silent.
Kang Hyung-seok narrowed his brow and whipped his head toward the source.
“Are you here?”
“Uuuuu.”
He had heard it correctly.
But why was the response like that?
Kang Hyung-seok furrowed his brow further and cautiously moved toward the direction of the sound.
It appeared to be a small warehouse, and the problem was a narrow glass window that was opaque, obscuring the interior.
“Sir? Are you here? This is Kang Hyung-seok, who contacted you by message.”
Strangely, the closer he approached, the more unease gripped him like a vice around his ankles.
Then he realized what was causing the sense of wrongness.
‘Iron bars…?’
Angular pipes clearly added deliberately.
They blocked the glass window from inside like iron bars.
As if to prevent someone from escaping within.
“Uuuu! Uuuuuuu!”
This did not feel right.
The bestial sounds emanating from within, combined with the suspicious door, conjured the atmosphere of a crime scene.
Kang Hyung-seok halted and exhaled slowly through the gap.
Doubt crept over me.
But after releasing a single sigh, Kang Hyung-seok resumed walking.
‘Let me just take a look.’
Thump!
A shadow burst from inside the door and engulfed the glass window.
Even through the opaque glass, the figure pressed against it was unmistakably visible.
A human face.
Abnormally large eyeballs rolled erratically, searching for Kang Hyung-seok.
“Hey!”
My heart was already racing.
When a voice called from behind, my heart nearly stopped.
“Huh?”
Turning around, Kang Hyung-seok saw a middle-aged man in shabby brown clothing.
The stench of alcohol.
Clothes that looked purchased from a street market.
Unkempt hair.
And a rusted sickle in his hand.
Observing the sickle, Kang Hyung-seok spoke with measured caution.
“I wasn’t trying to peek, sir.”
“Who are you, lurking around someone else’s Courtyard, you bastard?”
Alcohol had apparently destroyed even his gums.
The acrid stench that emanated from his words was unmistakable.
“My name is Kang Hyung-seok.”
“Don’t care. Get out! You punk! Shoo! Shoo!”
The man swung the sickle as if chasing away a dog.
Even as the rusted sickle whistled through the air, Kang Hyung-seok pressed on.
“I sent you a text message. Did you perhaps not receive it?”
If I could just keep him talking, perhaps I could learn something.
“A text?”
The man’s hand stopped.
“Yes. I was introduced by Lee Geum-kyung. I contacted you because I wanted you to craft a divine object.”
“A divine object…?”
The man’s gaze transformed.
No longer the clouded eyes of a drunkard, but the murderous glint of someone harboring deep resentment.
Why on earth?
Before Kang Hyung-seok could ponder further, the man curled his lips and bared his teeth savagely.
“Where did you hear about divine objects, you bastard? Come here! I’ll tear your limbs apart!”
Screech! Slash!
The man began running toward me, swinging the sickle in wide, aggressive arcs.
Kang Hyung-seok hesitated for a moment before sprinting toward the car.
“Get over here! You bastard! Come on!”
As the car drew closer and the man’s shouts chased after me, the moment arrived.
The door flew open.
Shin Jung-ah thrust her ashen face out of the window.
“Get in, get in! Hurry!”
As if possessed by supernatural intuition, Shin Jung-ah had already started the engine.
Kang Hyung-seok threw himself into the driver’s seat and immediately shifted into gear.
Thud!
In that same instant, the man’s palm slammed against the windshield.
The engine roared.
Reversing rapidly, I pulled away from the Blacksmith’s Shop.
The man, apparently never intending to pursue us from the start, simply stood at a distance, breathing heavily.
“That lunatic! What the hell is he doing! Damn it!”
Shin Jung-ah, trembling with shock, clutched her chest and cursed at the man.
Kang Hyung-seok shook his head as the man receded into the distance.
I didn’t know either.
Why that man was behaving that way.
“Are you okay? Manager Kang, are you hurt anywhere?”
Kang Hyung-seok, gripping the steering wheel, answered that he was fine.
But something felt deeply wrong.
It was as though a stone pressed against my chest, and something large and repulsive writhed within me.
A sinister premonition that something remained hidden gnawed at me.
My grip tightened.
Kang Hyung-seok clutched at his suffocating chest.
The ruined Blacksmith’s Shop.
A warehouse where someone was imprisoned.
Part of me wanted to drive straight to the police station and report everything, yet an equally powerful instinct insisted that something crucial still eluded my understanding.
Kang Hyung-seok glanced back at the bag on the rear seat.
The bag containing the Shaman’s Bell seemed to regard me with an almost sentient gaze.
***
“Let’s just go back.”
The Bus Stop at the village entrance.
A rural village bus stop with only a chair and a roof draped in cobwebs, the faded bus route map bleached by the sun.
Shin Jung-ah, perched on the chair and smoking a cigarette, cast a worried glance toward Kang Hyung-seok.
“This time, let’s do things my way. Just go back.”
“Just a moment.”
“Manager Kang.”
“I have a lot on my mind right now. Just give me a moment.”
“We almost got hit with a sickle. It’s not like a ghost appeared. There’s nothing we can actually do about this.”
Shin Jung-ah’s words were right.
They certainly were, yet something felt oddly unsettling.
“Something feels off. The feeling, I mean.”
“What feeling? That man tried to strike you with a sickle, didn’t he? You almost got hit with it.”
“Please wait a moment. Let me think this through.”
It must have been his calm tone.
Even Shin Jung-ah, who had been ranting, fell silent and waited for Kang Hyung-seok to gather his thoughts.
“I’d like to ask about having a Shaman’s Bell made.”
“You’re still saying that?”
“Yes. Finding another blacksmith would be… difficult.”
Kang Hyung-seok turned his full attention to Shin Jung-ah as he continued.
“The Yunpyeol was something I received from my teacher, and not just any blacksmith can work with it.”
“I’ll search online. There must be more than one or two blacksmiths in Korea.”
“A Shaman’s Bell isn’t something anyone can make.”
That was the problem.
Blacksmiths capable of handling Yunpyeol and crafting a Shaman’s Bell were extraordinarily rare.
And among them, I needed someone trustworthy.
I needed assurance that he wouldn’t secretly pilfer the precious Yunpyeol, and for that, I needed someone as reliably vetted as Lee Geum-kyung’s introduction.
There might be only one blacksmith in all of South Korea who could meet every single one of these conditions.
“Seriously though, do you think that man can actually make it properly?”
Shin Jung-ah pointed at the Blacksmith’s Shop with her thumb while holding a cigarette, and I found it difficult to answer.
“There must be a reason.”
“What reason?”
“His attitude changed completely the moment he heard the words Shaman’s Bell.”
Before that, his demeanor could have been described as cautious.
But after hearing the words Shaman’s Bell?
It was hostility and resentment.
“It seemed like he’d experienced something terrible involving the Shaman’s Bell itself—or rather, Shamanism as a whole.”
Shin Jung-ah fumbled with her lighter without even lighting the cigarette.
For an ordinary person, she had experienced quite a lot.
Yet Shamanism remained a world far too distant from her.
“The bus is coming.”
Kang Hyung-seok muttered as he watched the small bus approaching in the distance, while Shin Jung-ah tucked her cigarette back into the pack.
It was a bus that came roughly once every hour if you were lucky, or once every half-day if you weren’t.
The scenery of the Coastal Rural Village seemed to mesh perfectly with this rhythm, lending an oddly poetic quality to the moment.
Whoosh.
Shin Jung-ah’s gaze followed as Kang Hyung-seok rose to his feet.
“What for?”
“I’m thinking of asking the passengers who get off.”
The Blacksmith’s Shop was far too conspicuous.
If I asked the other villagers, perhaps they could tell me something useful.
Hisssss!
The rear door of the bus opened with the sound of hydraulics, and two people descended.
An elderly man and a young man.
The young man was carrying a large bag, which made him look unmistakably like an outsider, so Kang Hyung-seok approached the Old Man instead.
“Pardon me. I’d like to ask you something.”
“Huh? What?”
The Old Man looked wary, his eyes scanning up and down, and Kang Hyung-seok pointed toward the Blacksmith’s Shop before speaking.
“I’m asking about the blacksmith in the village. Is it still operating?”
“Why would an outsider ask about something like that?”
“It’s because I have a favor to ask. I caught a glimpse of it earlier, and it seemed like it wasn’t operating, so I thought I’d inquire.”
It was likely due to his polite and respectful demeanor as a proper businessman.
The Old Man’s wariness gradually softened, and he lit a cigarette before speaking.
“Nothing worth seeing there. Ever since that fellow’s daughter went mad, he hasn’t picked up a hammer in ages.”
“…His daughter?”
The Old Man made a circular gesture with his finger around his temple.
“Her mind just snapped like that. She used to be quite a skilled Shaman, too. Anyway, don’t go poking around over there.”
My lips felt dry, so I ran my tongue over them.
I had a feeling that he’d shown caution the moment Shamanism was mentioned.
“Did something happen to the Shaman?”
“Wait, who are you anyway? What do you do?”
The Old Man’s wariness became pronounced.
Kang Hyung-seok considered for a moment the best answer that would allow him to brush past this smoothly without arousing too much suspicion.
“I’m a person of Shamanism.”
“What?”
Before the surprised Old Man, Kang Hyung-seok placed his hand on his chest with an earnest expression.
“I am one who has received the divine, and I have come here under guidance.”
Though it was Lee Geum-kyung who had guided me here.
Shin Jung-ah began sending him a look of disbelief, but there was a reason for Kang Hyung-seok’s demeanor.
“Ah, so you’re a… Shaman, then…?”
The Old Man, who looked considerably younger than Kang Hyung-seok, began showing him a respectful attitude.
If it’s a matter of prejudice, there’s nothing more to say.
But the influence and standing that Shamanism holds in a remote village like this far exceeds that of the city.
“I was looking into it, wondering if it might somehow help.”
“No, well, you don’t really look like a Shaman.”
“It seemed like the kind of matter that required careful handling.”
Kang Hyung-seok adjusted his bag to the front and subtly revealed the Shaman’s Bell.
“Oh my, oh my! So you really are a Shaman.”
Perhaps to the Old Man, Kang Hyung-seok appeared as a young Taoist who had come at the will of the divine to aid the unfortunate Blacksmith and his daughter.
In any case, his wide-open eyes brimmed with admiration and reverence.
“Please help that household. It’s been three years like this, and it’s unbearable. Every night he wails like a beast—I can’t tell you how it drains the blood from a person’s face. It’s truly awful.”
“I understand. Thank you for the valuable information.”
Kang Hyung-seok even took the Old Man’s hand.
The Old Man then repeatedly stroked the back of his hand while repeating his pleas for help.
“Go now. I will pray for peace in your home.”
“Oh, thank you so much.”
The Old Man nodded repeatedly and disappeared toward the Village.
Then Kang Hyung-seok avoided Shin Jung-ah’s gaze.
Manager Kang, you can do this sort of thing too…?
Her stare was sharp enough to pierce him.

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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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