Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - Chapter 51

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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 51

Approximately one year had passed since I first began work at Guihon Trading, and now summer had arrived.
The Scrapyard Owner had sent his employees home and was finishing up the day’s remaining tasks.
As the sun set and night fell, the owner finally dusted off his hands and prepared to leave.
That was when it happened.

Beep— beep— beep—

A horn sounded from where the scrapped vehicles were stacked.
“What the hell. Again?”
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and stepped out of the office.
Occasionally, mischievous kids would sneak into the junkyard to cause trouble.

Beeeeeeeep—

The horn blared several times before suddenly stretching into one continuous, unbroken wail.
The Scrapyard Owner’s brow furrowed deeply as he headed toward the source of the sound.
As he approached the area where the scrapped vehicles were piled, the horn abruptly ceased, as if by some eerie force.
“Hey! Who’s there? Come out!”
The owner swept his flashlight across the vehicles, shouting into the darkness.
But no answer came back.
He paused for a moment, considering the possibility of thieves, and grabbed an iron rod that lay nearby.
Then he began moving forward step by step toward where the horn had sounded.
Crunch— crunch— crunch—
With each step across the sandy, gravel-covered ground, his footsteps echoed.
The owner swallowed hard and advanced slowly.
That was when it happened.
Crunch-crunch— crunch-crunch— crunch-crunch—
Despite being alone in the junkyard, he heard another set of footsteps from very close by.
The Scrapyard Owner stopped in his tracks.
Silence—
The other footsteps ceased as well.
When he resumed walking, the footsteps overlapped with his own.

Crunch-crunch— crunch-crunch— crunch-crunch—

It felt like someone was right behind me.
The Scrapyard Owner gripped his club and spun around sharply.
But there was no one there.
He tilted his head in confusion and looked forward again.
There was no one ahead either.
That was when it happened.
Thud—
From beneath the wrecked car in front, a shriveled, wrinkled hand suddenly shot out and seized the Scrapyard Owner’s ankle.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!”
The Scrapyard Owner screamed and fled in panic.

* * *

“After that, several more strange incidents occurred, or so he said.”
The Scrapyard Owner’s wife clasped her hands together and spoke with a sorrowful expression.
Tae-u nodded slowly while observing Ye-rim.
She was jotting down notes when she immediately asked a question.
“What kind of incidents were they, mainly?”
“He was working in the office here when he saw some old woman watching from outside the window, or a person’s head visible between the stacked cars, things like that.”
“So you called the Taesan-dang Mudang again?”
“Yes. We called the Taesan-dang Mudang and had her examine this place again. She said a ghost with very strong resentment had newly arrived. She said she’d look into it. Then she—contacted us saying she’d send someone to drive the ghost away.”
When the Taesan-dang Mudang investigated further, it turned out the Grandmother Ghost was the mother of a son who had died in an accident a year ago, and she had made an after-service request to Guihon Trading.
“It must be a heartbreaking story, but… how did your husband come to meet such a fate?”
Ye-rim closed her notebook and asked.
“Sigh—”
The Middle-aged Woman exhaled a long breath before continuing.
“Starting around when the Taesan-dang Mudang left, my husband couldn’t sleep properly. He had no energy.”
“Did he say anything else in particular?”
“He kept saying we shouldn’t have taken that accident vehicle, that wrecked car. That it was because of that this happened. Then one day, after work hours passed and he didn’t come home, I called him but he didn’t answer. So I went to the office, and the lights were off, and this was left on the desk.”
The Middle-aged Woman placed a torn page from a notebook in front of Ye-rim and Tae-u.
Rough handwriting in red pen was scrawled across it.

[I’m sorry.]

As I read that brief message, I felt something was off about it.
It didn’t seem like the kind of words someone would leave for a spouse, family, employees, or acquaintances.
“Since my husband isn’t the type to share every little detail about what’s going on, I wonder if something happened. I’m not sure.”
She spoke while wiping away her tears.
Yerim nodded and folded the paper, tucking it into her pocket.
“Yes, I understand. We’ll look into it. You’re welcome to return home.”
“Ah… yes. But why does this have to be done at night?”
“Spirits hidden away tend to emerge more readily at night.”
Yerim replied.
The middle-aged woman nodded and rose from her seat.
Given that she frequently visited the Taesan-dang Mudang, she readily accepted Yerim’s explanation.
“Then I’ll leave this in your capable hands.”
The middle-aged woman bowed politely and left the office.
I watched her depart and turned my gaze toward the corner of the office.
The truth was—
there was something that had been nagging at me since earlier.
The Scrapyard Owner’s ghost.
He had been standing in the corner of this office from the moment I first entered.
His face was deathly pale, his tongue hanging down to his chest, and his pants were covered in filthy traces as if soiled by excrement.
He stood like a mannequin, staring at his wife as she spoke about him for quite some time.
“Should we dispel him?”
I asked quietly.
“He doesn’t seem like the type of spirit who would flee anyway. Once we dispel the Scrapyard Owner’s ghost, he might be able to ascend to the afterlife on his own. Let’s observe for a bit longer.”
Yerim answered and gestured for us to leave.
We both stepped out of the office immediately.
Whiiiing— whiiiing—
A biting wind was howling fiercely outside the office.
The sand scattered across the ground swirled up in clouds of dust.
Yerim glanced at the junkyard once and shook her head, walking toward the vehicle we’d arrived in.
“The spirit is angry, isn’t it?”
I asked.
“You’re starting to develop spiritual sensitivity. That’s right. Actually, everyone possesses a degree of spiritual intuition. So to some extent, anyone can feel it. The difference is whether you interpret it as a spirit’s presence or not. People with spiritual sight naturally have much more acute sensitivity. You’ve been experiencing spiritual intuition all this time without realizing it—now you’re beginning to distinguish it.”
Yerim answered as we walked.
“Really? Everyone feels it?”
“Haven’t I mentioned this before? That feeling when you’re standing still and sense someone watching you, or when your spine suddenly tingles, or when a cold breeze brushes past your sleeve or the nape of your neck—all of that is spiritual intuition and spectral presence. Most people dismiss it as nothing, but people like us recognize that a spirit is nearby.”
She answered while opening the trunk.
As expected, the trunk was loaded with Yerim’s weapons.
While she filled the magazine with gas and refined airsoft pellets, I also equipped myself with the smart glasses, the ghost-cutting blade, and the blood-draining sword.
“That’s actually terrifying when you think about it.”
I said as I booted up the smart glasses.
“The dead were no different from us—they simply existed where they shouldn’t. There are countless spirits watching over the living this way. If we tried to capture all of them, our entire staff would never sleep.”
“Ah. I suppose that’s true.”
“We need to be careful of spirits whose resentment is so intense they harm the living. As for the others, there’s no need to fear them excessively.”
“But why did so many of them come at me like that? Spirits kept shoving their faces at me constantly—it was exhausting.”
“Because they knew you could see them, so they were delighted. Some were probably just playing around.”
After answering, Yerim loaded her weapon.
Click—
Tae-woo also took a deep breath, holding the Guichal Blade in one hand.
“Shall we head in if you’re ready?”
Yerim closed the trunk and moved toward the Junkyard.

* * *

The Junkyard was quite expansive.
A large open field occupied the center, with crushed vehicles stacked around it in various locations.
Vehicles that still retained their original shape were positioned throughout, and several were in the process of being dismantled.
It appeared they were also filtering out usable parts separately.
Yerim and Tae-woo slowly made their way toward the central open field of the Junkyard.
Tae-woo glanced at Yerim before asking carefully.
“Um, Manager. May I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
She answered while walking ahead, her eyes fixed forward.
“At the Jangdok Training Facility. I wanted to ask what happened when you fell into that Controller Ghost’s illusion.”
“Back then?”
Yerim repeated the question quietly.
Tae-woo thought she might not want to discuss it, but it seemed essential that he understand.
If a situation like that occurred again without a superior like Moon So-ryeong present, he would need to be the one to provide support.
Yerim remained silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before finally answering.
“I’m not sure if you knew, but I lost my parents early and raised my younger brother alone. Well, if I start talking about that, we’d be here all night… My mother was supposed to receive a divine calling, but she refused and rejected it. So she died in a traffic accident. And that divine affliction passed down to me. The Founder released me from it and hired me at the company. But not long after I started working, my brother was seduced by a vengeful spirit and took his own life.”
“A vengeful spirit.”
“Yes. My brother had a slight divine affliction too, so perhaps that’s what happened. After that, my brother became a vengeful spirit and kept whispering to me to come with him. Manager Moon and Manager Cha personally performed a ritual to guide him to the afterlife.”
Only after hearing this did Tae-woo understand the things Manager Moon So-ryeong had said earlier.
“But then my brother suddenly appeared, crying and saying how much it hurt, how difficult it was… Anyway, I’m sorry, Tae-woo. As your senior, I must have looked pathetic.”
“Not at all.”
Tae-woo didn’t look down on or disrespect Yerim for what he had witnessed.
Rather, Yerim herself—already sensing that Tae-woo’s exorcism abilities had surpassed her own—was privately worried whether she might be looked down upon because of what he’d seen.
Yet despite this, she had answered his question honestly because, having already broken down mentally, she felt it was better to speak boldly than to hide.

Hoot— hoot hoot— hoot— hoot hoot—

That was when it happened.
From somewhere, the sound of a woman’s sobbing drifted on a cold breeze.
Tae-u and Ye-rim tensed slightly, lowering their stances as they surveyed their surroundings.

Crrrreeeeak—

From another direction came the screech of metal grinding against metal, echoing from between the towering piles of junked vehicles.
Tae-u glanced at the Ghost Radar display on his smart glasses.
A faint blue dot was emanating softly from between the scrap piles to their right.
Tae-u pointed toward the right and advanced with his sword raised, gesturing for Ye-rim to follow.
Shink—
Ye-rim kept her gun trained in that direction, slowly trailing behind Tae-u.
Crunch— crunch— crunch—
The sound of their footsteps echoed through the junkyard.
Then suddenly, another set of footsteps joined theirs.

Crunch-crunch— crunch-crunch— crunch-crunch—

Three people were walking.
Yet Tae-u didn’t break stride, even as he heard it clearly.
According to the Ghost Radar, the spirit wasn’t behind him—it was ahead.
Whoosh—
He stopped before the stacked vehicles and tilted his head slightly to peer through the gaps.

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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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