Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - Chapter 52
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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 52
The Ghost Radar clearly showed the spirit’s location within the pile of scrap cars directly in front of me, but when I shone the flashlight inside, the ghost’s form remained invisible.
Even with the light penetrating the darkness, there was no sign of the spirit.
“Move aside. Let me light some incense.”
Yerim spoke.
The moment I nodded and stepped back, a strange sound emanated from within the wreckage.
Screeeech—
The sound of fingernails scraping against metal car bodies.
The unpleasant noise sent chills racing across my skin.
Yerim and I turned our attention back to the gaps between the stacked vehicles.
Then, something stirred in the shadowed spaces between the rusted hulks.
Yerim illuminated the interior with the tactical light mounted on her submachine gun.
In that instant—a wrinkled female face suddenly emerged from the crevices between the piled scrap cars.
It was unmistakably the Old Woman Ghost.
Before Yerim could even raise her weapon, the Old Woman Ghost crawled rapidly through the gaps in the wreckage and advanced toward us.
Her speed was extraordinary.
Screeeeeeeech—
As she clawed her way up the metal debris, the hideous sound grew even more violent and piercing.
Yerim raised her gun and began firing while I immediately drew my blade and swung it.
Whoooosh—
But from within the pile of scrap cars, only a cold wind and dust billowed forth—the Old Woman Ghost vanished in an instant.
The blue dot on the Ghost Radar disappeared completely as well.
Yerim and I swept our gazes around us with heightened alertness.
Yet nothing was visible to the naked eye.
“What is this? What kind of response is that?”
I asked.
I had expected the spirit to suddenly burst out and attack, but instead it merely revealed its face before vanishing.
“…It seems she wants something from us.”
Yerim spoke quietly.
I widened my eyes and turned to look at her.
“Wants something?”
“Yes. She’s aware that we can see her. But she’s only revealing herself—she’s not actually attacking us.”
“Then what do we do? Should we listen to what the ghost has to say?”
“It’s more efficient to just eliminate her quickly.”
Yerim kept her finger on the trigger, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the surroundings.
Saaaaa— Saaaaa—
A blue dot appeared on the Ghost Radar at a point twenty meters to the side, then began circling around the area.
She was merely wandering nearby, not approaching us.
This was a different pattern from before.
“Is something showing up on the radar?”
Yerim asked.
Taewoo nodded.
“Yes. It’s being picked up on the radar. It’s circling around this area continuously, maintaining a distance of about 15 to 20 meters.”
“….”
Yerim pressed her lips together firmly.
For a moment, I wondered if the Old Woman Ghost had perhaps heard Yerim’s words.
If she truly had something she wanted to tell us, she wouldn’t want to dissipate right now.
That would explain why she continued to circle around us while remaining hidden.
And in such cases, I realized that the easiest way to exorcise her might not simply be to destroy her through force.
‘Is that why Director Bang prefers gentler exorcism methods?’
It seemed that sometimes a softer approach to exorcism would be necessary.
Jingle—
In the meantime, Yerim pulled out a bell and hung it beside the tactical light on her gun, then unfolded a small square incense burner on the ground.
Click—
As she placed the incense burner on the ground and lit the incense, a subtle fragrance drifted on the wind and spread throughout the area.
Whooooooo—
The cold wind blowing around us gradually intensified.
The thin wisps of smoke rising from the incense also began to sway more turbulently.
The spirits were responding.
Sssssssssss—
As the incense fragrance spread subtly, white forms began to reveal themselves around the junkyard.
Dozens of faint blue dots slowly emerged on my ghost radar as well.
Based on their form, they appeared to be class-one Wandering Spirits.
However, none of these spirits attacked; they merely revealed themselves and remained motionless around us.
I examined the spirits’ faces carefully.
The spirits appearing as white forms seemed somewhat blurred, but their facial features were faintly discernible.
However, their clothing was unclear—whether it was formal wear or traditional Korean dress, I couldn’t tell.
It felt too tight to be traditional dress, but their hands and feet hung limply as if they were formal wear, making their identity impossible to determine.
Despite having encountered Wandering Spirits before, I had never seen spirits in this form.
“What are these spirits?”
I asked, my eyes wide as I looked at the white forms that had appeared around us.
“They’re Wandering Spirits. They’ve existed as Wandering Spirits for such a long time that they’ve forgotten all their memories from when they were alive and any grudges they held. They simply drift between the Nine Heavens and this world. Spirits like these are as natural as the wind that blows through nature or fallen leaves.”
“But it seems like they don’t always appear like this.”
“There are a lot of cars here. Spirits like cars too.”
“Ah, I see. So should we dissipate these spirits as well?”
“That’s up to our discretion. However, spirits like these often become good prey for the Silent Spirit Ghost. Since they have no will or memories of their own, when the Silent Spirit Ghost appears, they naturally clump together as naturally as water seeping into a sponge.”
“So in the long term, it might be better to dissipate them.”
I said.
Yerim nodded and took a stance.
But even amidst all this, there was no sign of the Old Woman Ghost.
The blue dots multiplied around us, and the radar could no longer distinguish the Old Woman Ghost separately.
“Shall we go then?”
Yerim spoke.
Taewoo nodded and rushed toward the ghost, drawing the Guichaldo.
Swoooosh—
And I cut down the ghost.
The white-formed spirit offered no resistance whatsoever and was simply cleaved, dissolving into black smoke.
In that instant, I recalled Grandfather’s records and immediately fixed my gaze upon the blade.
Ssssshhhhh—
I could clearly see some of the black smoke scattering into the air seeping into the Guichaldo.
It was a phenomenon I had never noticed before, having been completely unaware of it until now.
Bang— bang bang— bang bang—
Yerim likewise fired her trigger briskly, causing the spirits to vanish one after another.
The white-formed ghosts that had filled the open field in the center of the Junkyard disappeared sequentially.
Bang bang bang bang—
Yerim moved with measured, shortened strides, dispatching the spirits with remarkably tactical movements.
Like special forces soldiers executing controlled bursts to eliminate enemies closing in from all sides, she fired at the ghosts with her torso slightly bent, moving with swift precision.
She demonstrated the art of extracting maximum efficiency from minimal motion.
Meanwhile, I continued to cut down the spirits with large, ornate movements that blended the techniques of the curved saber and the Japanese sword.
Moving so swiftly that my feet became invisible, I closed the distance, then with deliberate strikes raised my blade to cleave shoulders, necks, and flanks.
When traversing longer distances, I even sheathed my blade before charging forward, unsheathing it mid-dash in a swift draw technique.
Thwack—
When approaching a spirit atop the piles of scrapped vehicles, I leaped upward by treading on the towering wrecks, striking from mid-air.
It was an extraordinarily magnificent and flamboyant display of technique.
Yerim paused her gunfire to glance at me, clicking her tongue.
Though the space was different, for some reason I felt noticeably stronger than I had been at the Incheon Yeongan Wharf or the Ilsan Mart field.
‘My wounds shouldn’t be fully healed yet.’
It was precisely that moment Yerim was thinking this.
Thump—
A wrinkled arm suddenly shot out from beneath my feet as I leaped off the scrap piles, seizing my ankle.
As I attempted to sever the arm with my blade, the sword plunged instead into the depths of the scrap pile.
Simultaneously, I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground.
In that instant, the pain of my reopened wound caused me to lose my footing.
“Ugh!”
Wincing from the pain, I rose to my feet with a groan.
Beep—
My ghost radar detected a blue dot.
Looking to the side, I saw the Old Woman Ghost in a cardigan over a skirt, both arms extended forward, rushing toward Yerim.
At first glance, it appeared as though she meant to embrace her.
Though her appearance wasn’t particularly threatening, the problem was that Yerim was firing her gun while looking elsewhere.
“Manager!”
At Taewoo’s shout, Yerim finally turned to look behind her.
The moment she spotted the Old Woman Ghost rushing toward her, she immediately opened fire.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang—
Though she fired rapidly, the Old Woman Ghost teleported and dodged every bullet.
In an instant, she appeared right in front of Yerim’s face, and Yerim drew her pistol, shooting at the old woman’s waist.
Bang—
At the same moment, the Old Woman Ghost vanished again.
Despite being at a distance where she could have attacked Yerim, she disappeared right before her eyes once more.
‘This ghost is definitely different from the ones I’ve encountered so far.’
A sudden intuition struck Taewoo—he wouldn’t be able to subdue this Old Woman Ghost through force alone.
No matter what attack was launched, the old woman merely revealed herself before disappearing, never engaging in direct combat.
Because of this, no proper opening for a decisive strike ever presented itself.
She vanished right before the attack could land.
‘How am I supposed to capture this ghost?’
In that moment, several thoughts flashed through his mind.
From tactical imaginings of how to wield his sword to methods of using Yerim’s items to capture her.
He rapidly ran through various simulations in his head.
Yet despite all this, nothing clear came to mind.
Then, one thought crossed Taewoo’s mind.
The Blood Crimson Blade.
If the Old Woman Ghost was moving this way because she wanted something, then listening to her story and resolving her resentment might be more important.
According to the materials Taewoo had reviewed, if you stab a ghost with the Blood Crimson Blade stained with Cheon Dong Bosal’s blood, you could resolve their resentment.
Since he’d used the Blood Crimson Blade almost by accident at the Jangdok Training Ground Parade Field last time, this time he resolved to deliberately apply that method.
He set down the Ghost Slayer Blade and drew the Blood Crimson Blade.
He then slightly cut his index finger and smeared blood onto the blade.
Shhhhhhh—
As blood touched the edge, the Blood Crimson Blade trembled subtly alongside a cold wind.
Simultaneously, the sword’s hilt felt as cold as ice.
Clearly, some kind of reaction was beginning to occur.
“Taewoo!”
At that moment, Yerim shouted, looking at Taewoo.
As Taewoo quickly turned around, the Old Woman Ghost was now rushing toward him at tremendous speed.
When Yerim fired at her, she dodged the bullets through teleportation, advancing toward Taewoo in great strides.
“Hah!”
Taewoo roughly estimated her trajectory and hurled the Blood Crimson Blade at her.
Whirrrrrr—
The Blood Crimson Blade spun rapidly as it flew.
Meanwhile, the Old Woman Ghost continued teleporting to evade Yerim’s bullets.
It happened in that very instant.
She turned her body to meet the incoming Bloodwater Blade, taking the strike directly with her form.
Thwack—
The Bloodwater Blade pierced straight through the Old Woman Ghost’s solar plexus.
She had not dodged the attack—it seemed she had deliberately accepted the blow.
I had never witnessed such a response before.
I clenched my fists tightly and watched to see what phenomenon would unfold.
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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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