Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - 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

This was an Abandoned School that had opened in 1958 before being shuttered approximately twenty years ago and left to decay.
While the precise reason for its closure wasn’t documented online, I had come here after reading several bloggers’ accounts of visiting this place only to collapse or lose their minds.
The moment I arrived, I could feel an indescribable, suffocating dampness permeating the air.
The Schoolyard was overgrown with weeds that reached up to my waist, the iron bars and jungle gym positioned to one side were corroded and grotesque, and even the statue of King Sejong beside the Announcer’s Platform was so ensnared in vines that its true form was barely discernible.
I passed through the school gate and walked toward the Schoolyard, allowing the cold wind brushing against my body to wash over me.
“Shhh—”
I took a short, deep breath and did my best to suppress my mounting tension.

That was when it happened.

“One, two, friend of mine, one, two, come and play, one, two, friend of mine, one, two, come and play—”

A soft, melodic voice—that of a young girl—began to drift through the air.
This was the first time I’d heard singing like this.
When I’d visited a few days ago, there had been no sound.
I turned my head slowly toward the source of the sound, my expression startled.
A dark silhouette was swaying back and forth on the iron bar.
Gulp.
I drew my sword and slowly approached the figure.
Creak, creak, creak—
With each sway of the shadow, a metallic screech emanated from the rusted iron bar.
The sound was slow and rhythmic.

“One, two, friend of mine, one, two, come and play, one, two, friend of mine—”

As I drew closer, the singing grew louder.
I swallowed hard and shone my flashlight toward the figure.
I could see the back of a young girl in a skirt, suspended from the iron bar by her knees, swinging like a pendulum.
Her clothing resembled a two-piece outfit from a wealthy family in the 1970s.
What was peculiar was that despite hanging upside down, her clothes didn’t flip inside out.
Instead, her hair was disturbingly long, trailing down to the ground in a limp cascade.

“One, two, friend of mine, one, two, come and pl—”

In that instant, the song ceased.
The wavering shadow stilled as well.
The rhythmic metallic sound that had been echoing stopped.
At the same moment, Tae-woo’s advancing footsteps halted.
That was the instant it happened.
Everything unfolded in the blink of an eye.
Thump—
The girl who had been hanging from the iron bar dropped with a dull sound, then lunged at Tae-woo on all fours like a wild beast.
In that same moment, the girl’s face was revealed to be anything but human.
Rather, there was no face to speak of at all.
I had been seeing her from behind, yet even as the spirit rushed forward, her front appeared identical to her back—nothing but hair visible.
No facial features could be seen from any angle.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—

With an eerie patter of footsteps, the spirit lunged violently toward Tae-woo.
Whoosh—
In an instant, Tae-woo swung his sword horizontally with full force.
Screech—
The charging spirit was cleaved in two and launched into the air.
At the same moment, Tae-woo’s eyes met those of the bisected spirit.
A sudden instinct washed over him—it hadn’t dissipated yet.
Flash—
Tae-woo immediately followed up, drawing his blade upward from below in a vertical slash.
Whoosh—
The spirit’s body, already split horizontally and suspended in mid-air, was now bisected vertically as well.
The spirit, now severed into four pieces, transformed into black smoke that swirled around Tae-woo.
Hiss—
In that moment, he felt distinctly the sensation of cutting something with his blade.
I looked around.
There was no corpse of the spirit to be seen anywhere.
It truly felt as though I had severed a soul itself.
When I had cut down the spirit at the school gate, I had done so almost by accident and hadn’t felt it clearly, but this time I could sense the sensation precisely.
“Oh.”
Tae-woo gazed down at the Guichaldo with fascination.
The fear that had gripped me seemed to wash away in an instant.
“That was excellent.”
He glanced over the UI elements displayed on his smart glasses and nodded.
Everything was operating normally.
Since these UI screens would be recorded as well, when I played back the footage at home, it would display like a first-person game screen.
And according to Tae-woo’s ‘prediction’, a ghost would have suddenly burst forth from the empty iron bar and attacked, all captured on camera.
That was how Tae-woo had envisioned it.
A mission to film this place.
And the mechanism where ghosts become visible on camera the moment they recognize the living.
This space teeming with ghosts.
Combining these elements—the order to film the second floor of the Abandoned School was essentially no different from being told to capture ghosts on film.
Only then did Tae-woo grasp the true meaning of his assignment.
“Alright. Let’s do this. Just a bit more.”
He turned his steps toward the Announcer’s Platform.

Thud—thud—thud—
Swish—swish—swish—

The faint sound of weeds brushing against his arms and clothes reached his ears.
Whether from heightened nerves or something else, even those sounds seemed to ring louder to Tae-woo.

Thud—thud—thud—thud—
—thud—thud—thud—thud

Then, another set of footsteps echoed.
When Tae-woo stopped walking, those footsteps ceased as well.
And the moment he resumed, they returned.
After repeating this exchange several times, Tae-woo spun around sharply.
But there was no one there.
“Must have imagined it.”
He tilted his head in confusion.
That was the moment.
Flicker—
The smart glass display flickered for an instant.
“Is it malfunctioning?”
Just as he turned his gaze forward and reached to adjust the smart glass—
A ghost suddenly materialized before him and lashed out with its hand.
In the same breath, Tae-woo instinctively threw his body backward, evading the ghost’s strike.
Clang—
But the ghost-slaying blade he was holding collided with the ghost’s hand and flew to the side.
Thump—
The blade buried itself in the overgrown weeds.
However, thanks to its synchronization with the smart glass, the blade’s location was marked with a red dot on the display.

Kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee—

The problem was that I couldn’t go there right now.
The specter before me had a swollen, bloated face with long hair hanging limply down, eyes devoid of whites that gleamed with an eerie luminescence, and thick, dark liquid oozing from its nose and mouth.

Kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee—

As that repulsive mouth twisted into a grotesque smile, its gray teeth were laid bare in their entirety.
Simultaneously, the viscous liquid coagulated and dripped down in thick globs.
I couldn’t fathom what kind of spirit this was.
Kyaaaaaaa—
The specter hurled itself at me.
I sidestepped and drew my Blood-Water Short Blade.
“Hey—even so, you must have been human once. Let’s talk this through, shall we?”
I spoke while keeping the blade at the ready.
The specter’s lips moved rapidly as it regarded me.

Sigh-go-sah-go-soo-go-sigh-go-sah-go-soo-go-sigh-go-sah-go-soo-go—

From that mouth came a whisper-like, grotesque sound.
It was profoundly unsettling.
Merely hearing that sound filled me with a nauseating sensation, as though I’d been drenched in filth from head to toe.
Kyaaaaaaak—
In an instant, it lunged at me again.
“Hah!”
I quickly dodged to the side, my eyes wide open.
In that moment—I naturally felt the distance at which I could strike the specter while wielding the Blood-Water Short Blade.
‘Distance perception.’

Just as in actual swordplay, distance between combatants was crucial when designing games.
The effectiveness of an attack was determined by the weapon’s range and the character’s vulnerable points!
Especially with a short blade like the Blood-Water Short Blade, that distance was even more critical.
That’s why characters wielding short blades had to focus on mobility skills and critical strike rates.
That sense of distance was being calculated naturally in my mind.

Swooooaaaaaak—

The moment the calculation finished, I slashed past the burning ghost’s flank.
Sssssss—
Black smoke curled lazily from the ghost’s wounded side.
The cut was barely more than a scratch.
The ghost snarled in fury, its long arms sweeping through the air in wild arcs.
There was no opening to exploit.
‘I need better reach!’
To subdue this ghost easily, I needed a weapon longer than the Hyeolsudanbo.
Which meant I had to retrieve the Guichaldo I’d just dropped, no matter what.
Braving the ghost’s assault, I hurled myself toward the red dot marking where the Guichaldo lay.
Thud—
I snatched up the blade, rolled once, and dropped into a low stance.
In that instant, the ghost spread both arms wide and lunged at my head.
Staying low, I raised the Guichaldo vertically and slashed upward through the descending ghost.
Craaaaaash—
The ghost’s body split down the middle, dissolving into black smoke that vanished.
Whoooosh—
Simultaneously, the oppressive dread that had clung to me dissipated like morning mist.
“Done. It’s done.”
A spark of confidence ignited within me.
The ghost—once a terrifying force—had become something I could cut down, a target to be eliminated.
I sheathed the Hyeolsudanbo and gripped the Guichaldo firmly once more.
Then I crossed the Schoolyard again, heading back toward the school building.

* * *

The Announcer’s Platform, positioned before the school building, drew steadily closer.
Beside it stood what appeared to be a statue of King Sejong, but vines had consumed it so thoroughly that it looked utterly grotesque.
I advanced cautiously, my high-powered flashlight on, scanning the surroundings constantly.

Squelch— squelch— squelch— splash—

Suddenly, something wet gave way beneath my foot.
At the same moment, my smart glasses flickered with that familiar sensation.
I recalled the ghost I’d encountered the last time I was here.

That ghost with its face emerging from the ground!
That ghost that had stuffed insects down my pant legs!
That ghost that had seized my ankle and brought me crashing down!

He immediately lowered his gaze downward.
Sure enough, a spirit with remarkably tiny pupils was staring at me from within the weeds, its eyes wide open.
“Hraah!”
I didn’t hesitate—gripping the sword in reverse, I thrust it downward at the ground.

Crack!

I had been aiming to crush the spirit’s head.
But the spirit vanished in an instant, and I only struck the dirt floor.
I furrowed my brow and looked ahead.
There stood a spirit that appeared to be roughly two meters tall, with hair cascading down to its knees, motionless and imposing.
Just like the one I’d seen before, it had ashen skin and pupils the size of beans, and it wore a black one-piece dress that gave off an aura eerily similar to that of a reaper.
“I can strike that one too. I can strike that one too.”
I muttered under my breath, gripping the sword tightly.
In an instant, the spirit’s mouth gaped wide open, and it spread its hair in all directions with a sudden flourish.
Like Medusa herself, the hair extending outward in every direction writhed with a grotesque, sickening motion.

Guihon Trading Company: Exorcism Specialists Chapter 5

Author
Cha Woo Renz
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yoon Tae Ri
Cover Art
Lee Chi

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260318158.0005

ⓒ2026, Cha Woo Renz

※ This e-book is protected under the copyright laws of the Republic of Korea.
No part or whole of this work may be reproduced or modified in any form without the permission of the author and publisher.

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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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