An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 96

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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 95
Part 1. Please, Just Trust Me! (1)
Creak, creeeeak.
The stiff window shrieked as it began to open.
Kim Jae-sik’s face had turned ashen, his hands and feet frozen in place.
Terror bloomed in his wide-open eyes.
His mind screamed that he needed to run.
But his body had gone rigid, refusing to obey.
He had looked into the Tiger Spirit’s eyes.
Those gleaming, otherworldly eyes possessed a strange power that rendered flight impossible.
Creeeeeak.
The window swung fully open, and as Kim Jae-sik’s teeth chattered violently, the Tiger Spirit began to enter as effortlessly as leaping over a wall.
But then the Tiger Spirit’s advance halted.
It was the salt and blood that Kang Hyung-seok had scattered.
—A deep, rumbling growl.
Displeased by the obstruction, it attempted to clear the salt away using Changgwi’s hands.
But salt possessed the power to purify that which was unclean.
And there was something even stronger than salt—something that warded off evil.
A Shaman’s blood.
The blood Kang Hyung-seok had applied with the fervent wish to protect Kim Jae-sik now functioned like a talisman, repelling the Tiger Spirit’s approach.
“Ugh… uuugh!”
Kim Jae-sik barely managed to push himself upright and stumbled toward the door.
—A thunderous roar!
But as the Tiger Spirit’s cry erupted, strength drained from his legs and he collapsed back down. In that moment, additional limbs began to extend from the creature’s body.
Tap, tap, tap-tap, tap, tap.
Bloodstained hands covered the window.
Dozens of hands—each a different skin tone and size—belonged to those the Tiger Spirit had claimed, and among them was Jang Jun’s.
As the palms drummed and scraped across the glass, blood trails spread rapidly across the window’s surface.
Just as the window began to creak ominously,
Waralalalalarang!
The sound of a Shaman’s Bell rang out from beyond the window.
Kang Hyung-seok, who had rushed over, leaped from his car and shook the Shaman’s Bell frantically.
Waralang! Wararalang!
Morning. Outside the Motel.
Passersby regarded him as though he were some peculiar sight, then quickly averted their eyes and gave him a wide berth.
Even as they passed, Kang Hyung-seok desperately shook the Shaman’s Bell, his gaze fixed upward on the Tiger Spirit.
He dared not call it merely a malevolent spirit.
It was something close to divine.
What he perceived through his spiritual sight was something that could even slay gods.
Waralalalalarang!
So he dared not entertain the thought of subduing that Tiger Spirit.
He merely wished to remind it.
That now was not the time for it to roam freely.
Kang Hyung-seok shook the Shaman’s Bell with earnest intent, and the Tiger Spirit gazed at him for a long while with those golden eyes.
Then its form grew hazy, dissolving into wind before vanishing somewhere into the distance.
“Phew!”
Kang Hyung-seok exhaled the breath that had been trapped in his lungs.
He wiped the sweat from his face, glanced up at the window once more, tucked the Shaman’s Bell into his bag, and made his way toward the Motel.
Knock, knock.
After knocking, he opened the door with as composed an expression as he could muster.
“Professor?”
Kim Jae-sik, slumped on the floor, looked up at Kang Hyung-seok with eyes that seemed half-absent.
“Ah, Hyung-seok.”
“Why are you like this? What happened?”
Speaking in a soothing tone to calm the startled Kim Jae-sik, he helped support him onto the bed.
Then it came.
Grip!
Kim Jae-sik seized Kang Hyung-seok’s forearm and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“A tiger. I saw a tiger.”
Kang Hyung-seok suppressed the emotions rising to his face.
The Kim Jae-sik he knew was an ordinary man.
That said, it wasn’t as though he lacked intuition entirely.
The fact that Kim Jae-sik, who had majored in folklore and had poked around countless places throughout his years, had remained unharmed meant either his instincts were sharp or his guardian spirit was exceptional.
That such a man could see it meant the creature’s presence was unmistakably vivid, and it meant that thing had set its sights on Kim Jae-sik’s life.
Even someone who has never seen a spirit before will experience sleep paralysis or hallucinations if they move into an ill-fated house.
“Professor, a tiger, you say?”
Kang Hyung-seok spoke in a gentle voice to ease Kim Jae-sik’s anxiety, yet his eyes grew tense.
“I saw it. I saw it, I’m telling you. I really did see it.”
“You must be mistaken. You’re exhausted right now, after all.”
“Professor Jang Jun saw it too. I really did see it, Hyung-seok.”
Kim Jae-sik gripped Kang Hyung-seok’s arm even more firmly.
This was not good.
The very fact that he was displaying such behavior was already proof that he had been bewitched.
He was beginning to fall under its influence, and at any moment, the Tiger Spirit could come for Kim Jae-sik.
‘Or the professor might go looking for it himself.’
Those who are bewitched always lose the capacity for rational judgment, committing acts that make no sense.
Watching Kim Jae-sik, who seemed ready at any moment to say they should go search for the Tiger Spirit together, Kang Hyung-seok opened his mouth.
“Professor, you know my circumstances, don’t you?”
Kim Jae-sik furrowed his brow in both anxiety and confusion, directing it toward Kang Hyung-seok.
“What circumstances?”
“I had received that Shin Num-reum Gut ritual.”
“…I know.”
Meeting Kim Jae-sik’s gaze as he muttered like a groan, I spoke in a low voice.
“That’s why I’ve always had such a keen interest in Shamanism, and why I wanted to study folklore as well. You remember that, don’t you?”
Kim Jae-sik nodded slowly but decisively.
His attention, which had been fixed on the Tiger Spirit, was gradually shifting toward me.
“I know a little about such phenomena. I won’t outright deny what you saw, Professor. But if you continue to dwell on it, it could become dangerous.”
Perhaps it was because of my measured tone.
Kim Jae-sik remained anxious, but his eyes were beginning to regain their light as he seemed to regain his composure.
Swallowing a sigh of relief internally, I removed Kim Jae-sik’s hand from my forearm and continued.
“I’ll look into it myself. You should stay here.”
“What, what?”
The Motel where he saw the Tiger Spirit.
At my suggestion to stay in such a place, Kim Jae-sik flinched as if having a seizure.
“You saw the Tiger Spirit, yet you’re unharmed now, aren’t you?”
“B-but… how could…”
“It couldn’t get inside, Professor.”
Recalling the Tiger Spirit again, Kim Jae-sik turned his anxious face toward the Window.
Those hands that had covered the Window.
The momentum as if it would burst through at any moment.
Yet the Tiger Spirit had clearly not been able to enter this Motel easily.
“This place is probably the safest. So please don’t worry too much.”
“…Hyung-seok.”
“You said you’d hold Professor Jang’s funeral. For that to happen, you can’t get caught up in strange matters either, can you?”
Kim Jae-sik clenched his teeth in silence for a long moment before nodding slightly.
“You’re right. Your words make sense.”
Kim Jae-sik seemed to be breaking free from his fear of the Tiger Spirit.
Exhaling a deep breath through my nose, I opened my mouth as I looked at the Window with its curtains drawn back.
“Professor, do you happen to know anything about the Tiger Spirit?”
“The Tiger Spirit…?”
“Yes.”
I had to drive out the Tiger Spirit.
To do that, I needed clues to track it, and above all else, I needed Kim Jae-sik’s knowledge.
“Even small details would help. Is there anything that might be useful to me?”
“Wait. Wait a moment, Hyung-seok.”
Kim Jae-sik rubbed the corner of his mouth and fell into deep thought.
Displaying fierce concentration in that brief moment, he scratched his lower lip with his thumb.
It was a habit that appeared whenever he was trying to figure something out.
“What on earth am I getting myself into…”
Shaking his head vigorously as if his mind was in turmoil, he pulled out a bottle of water from the Motel refrigerator, drank from it, and then spoke.
“Have you heard of the novel Hojil?”
“Yes. I’m familiar with it.”
Kim Jae-sik nodded with a look of relief.
Hojil was a short story by Yeongam Park Ji-won that dealt with a Tiger Spirit and Changgwi.
“The depiction of Changgwi in that story was strikingly similar to the Tiger Spirit I saw. Though it wasn’t a living tiger, mind you. Damn it, how do I even explain this?”
Kim Jae-sik scratched his head vigorously, and Kang Hyung-seok waited for his thoughts to settle.
“Phew! Anyway, in Hojil there’s mention of creatures that devour tigers—things like Biwei, Jikwu, Bak, the Five-Colored Lion, Jabaek, Pyogyeon, and Chui.”
All imaginary beasts.
And beings just as rare to encounter as a Tiger Spirit.
Perhaps they existed in the past, but they may have vanished after tigers went extinct on the Korean peninsula.
“Do you have any other information?”
Kim Jae-sik let out a strained groan and rubbed his forehead.
“Tigers have long been called the Mountain Lord, you see. Also known as Mountain Spirits. They’re objects of fear, but also depicted as beings that test one’s courage.”
Kang Hyung-seok, recalling several similar legends, nodded silently.
Though the repertoire differed, there were quite a few stories of scholars encountering tigers and either escaping through wit or, conversely, defeating them.
“In any case, our people feared tigers while recognizing them as beings of higher status than mere beasts. That’s why they’re called Mountain Lords or Mountain Spirits, and structures were even built for them….”
Kim Jae-sik’s voice trailed off before he suddenly remembered something and pulled out his phone.
He then opened a web browser and spoke rapidly.
“It’s called the Mountain Spirit Shrine. Just a moment.”
Kim Jae-sik searched for Mountain Spirit Shrine and showed it to Kang Hyung-seok.
It was a smaller structure than expected.
The roof was tiled in black, four wooden pillars were painted red, and the doors and walls were painted in colors reminiscent of dancheong.
The fact that the floor was elevated above ground and its small size made it clear this was not a building meant for people.
“The Mountain Spirit Shrine is a Buddhist structure. And here in Yeongdong, North Chungcheong, there’s a temple imbued with Tiger Spirit energy.”
Speaking quickly and with conviction, Kim Jae-sik seemed to have already reached a conclusion.
“Banyasa Temple.”
“Banyasa Temple?”
Kim Jae-sik nodded emphatically and searched for Banyasa Temple on his phone to show him.
It was a large temple.
But what caught the eye was the mountain behind the temple.
‘Tiger Spirit. Mountain Lord.’
Behind Banyasa Temple, a tiger shape with its tail raised was so distinctly visible that it would be difficult for someone to have created it intentionally.
Kim Jae-sik added that it was a place imbued with powerful Tiger Spirit energy.
“Thank you. I’ll head there right away.”
“Wait, hold on a moment, Hyung-seok.”
Kim Jae-sik hurriedly grabbed Kang Hyung-seok as he turned to leave.
As a result, the Shaman’s Bell in my bag chimed softly, though Kim Jae-sik didn’t seem to hear it.
Instead, his face full of thought, he hesitated before speaking.
“Yes?”
“Did you perhaps receive a divine calling?”
Why would Kim Jae-sik ask such a question?
Kang Hyung-seok watched him in silence, then weakly lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile.
“I didn’t receive formal training.”
Unable to continue lying to Kim Jae-sik, Kang Hyung-seok answered this way.
Then a torrent of emotions flickered across Kim Jae-sik’s face.
“You….”
“Please, stay here for now.”
Kang Hyung-seok bowed respectfully and immediately left the Motel.
Left alone, Kim Jae-sik stared at the window frame with eyes that held both bewilderment and confusion.
The curtains were drawn back, and the handprints that Changgwi had left on the window had vanished without a trace, yet something caught his eye.
Salt scattered across the window frame.
It was the salt Kang Hyung-seok had sprinkled there.

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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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