Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - Chapter 54

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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 54

‘A spirit medium…’
Ye-rim fell into contemplation as she observed Kim Tae-woo’s figure from behind, his innocent gaze fixed on the monitor as he familiarized himself with his duties.
Commonly, people failed to distinguish between a “spirit medium,” a “shaman,” and an “exorcist.”
However, within Guihon Trading, these terms were rigorously differentiated.
All employees at Guihon Trading who dealt with spirits had either received divine possession or possessed spiritual sight, yet they did not practice shamanism as their profession.
They were merely “exorcists” who eliminated spirits through their individual abilities and spiritual tools.
Unlike “exorcists,” “shamans” served as conduits connecting the living and the dead, each fulfilling distinctly different roles.
While one could not declare superiority between them, within Guihon Trading’s conceptual framework, their respective roles were clearly delineated.
Bang Ji-seok, who conducted exorcisms through considerably gentler methods, ultimately remained closer to an exorcist focused on eliminating spirits.

And a “spirit medium” was an existence operating on a dimension far higher than shamans or exorcists.
They transcended merely connecting the living and dead through spiritual bonds—they could converse directly with the deceased and experience firsthand what the dead had witnessed and felt.
In short, possessing “spirit medium” abilities meant operating on a dimension higher than the “exorcism abilities” most Guihon Trading employees possessed, or the “shamans” employed by external contractors.
Yet Kim Tae-woo possessed not only superior combat prowess granted by the Ghostly Insight Blade’s will compared to other employees, but also the abilities of a spirit medium grounded in the Bloodline Severance Blade.
To summarize, it meant he could handle the deceased through diverse methods entirely on his own.
“In any case, continue working alongside him as you have been. His latent potential is exceptional—that’s simply fact. And he must learn about the company—that’s equally necessary.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Cha Jun-ho gestured for her to leave as he spoke.
Ye-rim bowed and exited the director’s office.
“Even the chairman didn’t seem to manifest spirit medium abilities to this extent.”
He murmured softly, watching the footage of Kim Tae-woo displayed on the monitor.

* * *

That evening.
Kim Tae-woo rode in the car driven by Ye-rim toward the Olympic Boulevard management office.
It was due to the follow-up work for case number 87528.
The two parked in front of the management office building situated on one side of a wide road like the highway and entered immediately.
Inside, men wearing identical jumpsuits were busily working.
One of the staff members approached with a puzzled expression at the sight of Ye-rim and Kim Tae-woo in formal attire.
“May I help you?”
“We’ve come to see Director Lee Jin-yong.”
Ye-rim answered.
“Ah, the director. Who should I say is visiting?”
“Yes. Please tell him it’s from ‘Guihon Trading.'”
“Guihon… Trading? Ah. Yes, I understand.”
The staff member tilted his head at the unfamiliar company name and headed off somewhere.
Ye-rim and Kim Tae-woo waited for his return while glancing around the office.
Large maps and computers, screens displaying accident status by section, and CCTV monitors.
It was a place commonly seen on the news.
“Ah, you’re from Guihon Trading. Welcome.”
Just then, a middle-aged man with a robust, imposing appearance walked over and shook hands with Ye-rim and Kim Tae-woo.
“Come to my office.”
He gestured for them to follow with a somewhat casual tone.
Ye-rim and Kim Tae-woo nodded and followed behind him.
Upon entering the director’s office, a stale tobacco smell wafted heavily through the air.
Seeing someone smoking in an office in this day and age, I found myself thinking he was quite the old-fashioned type.
“A different person came this time instead of the one who visited before. Well, that’s fortunate. But if problems keep occurring like this, doesn’t that mean the person who came last time didn’t handle it properly? Wouldn’t you agree?”
The director said.
Then Ye-rim straightened her posture, clasped her hands together, and spoke firmly.
“That’s not the case. After the matter was handled thoroughly, the Settlement Team also confirmed it, and at that time we determined with certainty that the spirit had been completely eliminated.”
“Well, but it shouldn’t appear again like this. Right?”
“Spirits are just like living people—even in restricted zones, some people cross over. Similarly, even after exorcism, other spirits are bound to find their way to such places.”
“Isn’t preventing that what Guihon Trading does?”
“In this case, we would normally need to receive a new estimate and proceed accordingly, but our department head said to handle it as a follow-up since it involves the industrial complex, so we came to investigate without a separate estimate.”
“Well, you’re speaking as if you’re doing us a favor with something obvious. Ha ha.”
The director laughed, but beneath that laughter lingered a somewhat aggressive undertone.
I glanced at Ye-rim as she spoke.
“Anyway, the area where the spirit appeared is under the South End of Seongsan Bridge. The spirit suddenly popped out there, and we’ve had two traffic accidents just this month alone. Go check it out for us.”
The director said.
With that, he handed Ye-rim a file folder containing photographs.
“That’s the spirit our patrol vehicle spotted at night. Take a look at it.”
“Understood. After confirming, if necessary, I’ll contact the Settlement Team right away to verify.”
“Well, your company can handle that as you see fit. All we need is for the spirit to be completely eliminated.”
The Director crossed his arms with a smug expression.
Ye-rim gestured sharply for Tae-woo to follow her out, then turned and left the Director’s office.
Tae-woo followed her out of the office and asked.
“Manager. I understand you know what our company does, but why are you being so aggressive about it? It’s really irritating.”
“When we take on work from government agencies and public institutions, these situations happen fairly often.”
“Really? Ugh.”
Tae-woo shuddered as he spoke.
In the meantime, the two of them exited the office and made their way to the parking lot.
“Once you’re in this line of work, you end up dealing with those people quite frequently. You need to get used to it.”
“Really? Government officials seek out our company that often?”
“Yes. You know, there are all sorts of government projects—reclaimed land development, school construction, military base construction, road projects, you name it. Whenever a spirit appears before a major construction project, they routinely contact our company.”
“Really? Seriously?”
This was news to Tae-woo as well.
“Yes. But since they can’t use official budgets to catch ghosts, they allocate funds under special activity expenses or emergency reserves and hire us. That’s how it works.”
“I see.”
“Since large sums of money are involved, they sometimes throw their weight around. You just have to let it go in one ear and out the other. Fighting back won’t help anything.”
Ye-rim waved her hand dismissively and settled into the driver’s seat.
‘So that’s why they deliberately sent Manager Bang when the subway ghost appeared before.’
I recalled that when it was a railroad corporation job, Director Cha Jun-ho had deliberately sent Bang Ji-seok.
I’d wondered how the company could generate hundreds of billions in revenue, but now it seemed entirely plausible.
“Let’s go check out the location first. We’ll do the actual work at night.”
Ye-rim spoke to Tae-woo, then started the engine.
Tae-woo nodded and fastened his seatbelt in the passenger seat.

* * *

As we drove, I unfolded the documents the facility director had handed me.
“Ugh.”
The moment I saw the photograph, a chill ran down my spine.
The spirit had appeared beneath the red steel framework of the Seongsan Bridge’s support pillar.
The photo was terribly blurred due to the nighttime darkness and shadows cast by the bridge structure, but the pale face framed by long hair was unmistakably visible.
The spirit hung upside down beneath the pillar, its gaze fixed precisely on the passing vehicles.
The long hair stretched downward so far it nearly brushed the roofs of tall vehicles.
“If a spirit like that suddenly appeared while you were driving, you’d definitely be startled out of your mind.”
Yerim glanced at the photo from beside me and muttered.
“What kind of spirit is this?”
I asked.
“The photo’s too blurry to say for certain, but spirits that appear on roads are typically those who died in traffic accidents.”
“Right?”
“Spirits appearing on roads like this often manifest in a form similar to water spirits.”
“Water spirits…?”
“Drowned spirits. Water spirits.”
“Ah. Water spirits.”
“Water spirits pull people into the water and drag them to their deaths. Spirits appearing on roads often take on that same form—they drive other drivers to their doom. That’s why once a spirit appears in a location, it keeps manifesting there repeatedly.”
“I see, I see.”
I nodded in understanding.
“Ah, so spirits like that are usually what rank?”
“Actually, spirits appearing on roads often aren’t particularly high-ranked. Since they die so suddenly in traffic accidents, they frequently appear without even realizing they’re dead. These aren’t cases where they died with special resentment or harbored deep grudges—nothing like that. Typically, they’re around rank 1 or 2.”
“Then this shouldn’t be too difficult. This case.”
“Who knows. That’s just the typical pattern. We won’t know until we actually see it.”
Yerim answered while keeping her eyes on the road.
I nodded and flipped to the next photograph.
This photo was equally dark with shadows, and again showed the spirit hanging upside down beneath the bridge’s steel framework.
I stared intently at the spirit in that photograph.
I was trying to memorize its appearance in greater detail.
That was when it happened.

Flicker—

The ghost’s eyes in the photograph blinked as if captured on video.
I jerked my head back in surprise.
‘Did I see that wrong?’
I rubbed my eyes and looked at the photograph again.
This time, the eyes, nose, and mouth had all vanished.
Only the long, trailing hair and the pale outline of a face remained visible.
‘What was that just now?’
This was the first time I’d encountered such a phenomenon in a photograph.
I stared intently at the image once more.
But now, the strange occurrence from moments before did not reappear.
“We’re almost at Seongsan Bridge.”
Yerim said.
I nodded and turned my gaze toward the windshield ahead.
And there it was—Seongsan Bridge with its distinctive red steel girders came into view.
That was when it happened.
Hanging upside down from the steel girder was a ghost without facial features, its long hair cascading downward as it stared directly at our car.
“Manager! Above!”
I pointed straight up.
Yerim leaned forward slightly to confirm what was above the girder.
“There it is. I see it.”
Yerim nodded.
The moment she looked ahead—the car in front of us slammed on its brakes.

Screeeeeech—

Yerim immediately hit the emergency brake.
Our bodies lurched forward violently.
Crash—
The car behind us rammed into Yerim’s vehicle.
Unable to brake in time from the sudden stop ahead, the driver behind us caused the collision.
“Ugh!”
Yerim and I were struck by the impact in an instant.
Screeeech—
Our car was pushed toward the sound barrier and guardrail on the side.
Boom!
As we collided with the guardrail, the airbags deployed.

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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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