Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - Chapter 71

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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 71

As Tae-woo adjusted his stance and focused in that direction, Cha Jun-ho also reacted.
“What is it? Did you see something?”
“I’m not sure. Something moved in the darkness, but…”
Tae-woo furrowed his brow as he answered.
Then, something moved in the darkness once more.

Shhhhhhh—

Cha Jun-ho immediately raised his gun toward the source of the sound.
The tactical flashlight mounted beside the barrel flooded that direction with light.
Yet all that was visible was an ordinary forest floor blanketed with fallen leaves and trees—nothing else.
“What is it? I could have sworn I saw something too.”
Cha Jun-ho’s eyes narrowed.
That was the moment.

Waaaaaaaahhhhh—

A sharp, piercing cold surged violently from that direction toward where the three of us rested.
“It’s coming.”
Cha Jun-ho’s finger moved to the trigger.
In that instant.
A spirit with long hair dressed in mourning clothes burst from the darkness and rushed toward us at tremendous speed.
Its hair billowed in all directions as if underwater, its eye sockets were hollow voids, its nose and mouth twisted grotesquely like a skull, yet its skin was deathly pale.
The spirit charged at us with both arms extended forward at an incredible velocity.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—
Cha Jun-ho immediately pulled the trigger at the spirit.
From the subsonic rifle fitted with a suppressor came a dull, rapid succession of muffled shots as if absorbed by sound-dampening material.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack—
Trees and branches struck by bullets splintered and shattered, sending fragments scattering in all directions.
But the spirit teleported, moving up, down, left, and right in an instant, closing the distance to within twenty meters of Tae-woo’s radar range in mere seconds.
“This one’s fast!”
Cha Jun-ho immediately retreated backward and shouted.
At the same time, Ji-seok hurled a talisman.
Whoooosh—
The card-shaped talisman flew in a straight line toward the spirit.
But the moment the spirit saw the talisman, it snapped its head sharply to the side.
Thunk—
The card flew through the air and lodged itself in the tree.
In that instant, the spirit that had closed the distance lunged at Cha Jun-ho with a violent leap.
It must have jumped at least three meters high.
Cha Jun-ho immediately raised his rifle barrel upward.
Bang—
At that moment, Tae-woo jumped far higher than Cha Jun-ho’s height.
Then he swung the spirit-slaying blade upward with tremendous force from below.
Screeeeeech—
The spirit’s waist that had leaped into the air to strike Cha Jun-ho was severed, splitting the creature in two.
Sssssssss—
It then transformed into black smoke that engulfed Cha Jun-ho.
Thud—
Tae-woo landed and sheathed his blade to the side.
Cha Jun-ho, his vision obscured by the black smoke, slowly turned his gaze toward Tae-woo with narrowed eyes.
Watching Tae-woo land and sheathe his sword, I couldn’t help but admire him inwardly.
I already knew he possessed the spirit-slaying blade and was the Founder’s grandson, so I had no reason to doubt his abilities, but I hadn’t anticipated he would be at this level.
He had dodged the rifle bullets, closed the distance in an instant, predicted the spirit’s trajectory, leaped to the perfect height, and severed its waist with a single blade strike.
“Are you alright, sir?”
Tae-woo asked, looking at Cha Jun-ho.
“I’m fine.”
He answered casually and patted Tae-woo’s shoulder.
It was a gesture of approval.
“That seemed like a Wandering Spirit just now. Is this starting already?”
Ji-seok asked.
Cha Jun-ho shook his head.
“That wasn’t a Wandering Spirit. Not by the way it moved. At minimum, a Grade 2 Intelligent Spirit, possibly higher.”
“An Intelligent Spirit?”
“Didn’t you see it dodge when I fired? If it were a Wandering Spirit, it would’ve been hit several times before reaching us and dissipated.”
“Wow.”
“I don’t know about anything else, but this mountain… the energy here is far from ordinary.”
He gazed into the darkness with a serious expression, then gestured for them to move.
“We can’t waste time. Let’s move quickly. Kim Chief, keep a close eye on the GPS route.”
“Yes, understood.”
At his words, the three resumed their climb.
Tae-woo checked that his blade was properly sheathed, then grabbed the LP player bag and GPS device he had brought down, and followed behind the two.

Whoooooooooooooong—

That was when it happened.
The Spirit-Slaying Blade at Tae-woo’s waist vibrated loudly.
The vibration transmitted precisely through his waist.
“….”
The Spirit-Slaying Blade didn’t produce sound or transmit words directly into Tae-woo’s mind like telepathy, yet he could understand what the vibration meant.
It was a warning to be careful.
Of course, there was no logical explanation for how he understood it.
‘Well, since coming to Guihon Trading Company, when has anything made logical sense?’
He shook his head and continued walking, checking the GPS periodically.
As they climbed for quite some time, no other spirits appeared.
Ji-seok grew increasingly exhausted, and Cha Jun-ho’s pace gradually slowed as well.
Then Cha Jun-ho raised his fist high as if he’d discovered something.
He exchanged glances with Ji-seok and Tae-woo in turn, then pointed ahead between the trees.
Two tents were pitched there, with a campfire burning between them.
“I heard there are some people backpacking in this area. These must be them.”
Ji-seok whispered softly.
Cha Jun-ho didn’t answer and simply gestured for them to follow while gazing at the site.
“Manager? If we meet civilians like this while armed, we could end up with a police report filed against us, couldn’t we?”
Ji-seok asked with a puzzled expression, but Cha Jun-ho didn’t respond and moved forward.
The moment they reached the tents, he immediately scanned the surroundings.
The campfire was clearly burning, and cooking pots and water cups lay scattered around, yet there was no sign of people.
“Where did everyone go?”
Ji-seok peered around the tents with a confused expression.
But the tent entrance was zipped all the way up, making it impossible to see inside.
Right then, Cha Jun-ho felt his nerves suddenly tense.
It meant the situation wasn’t normal.
Cha Jun-ho, who had been examining the surroundings, raised his gun barrel slightly and spoke quietly.
“Damn it. It’s an illusion.”
“Sir?”
“Everyone snap out of it. It’s a trap.”
At those words, Tae-woo and Ji-seok exchanged glances.
A Grade 2 Illusory Spirit could create hallucinations.
But Cha Jun-ho’s sudden mention of an Illusory Spirit in this situation didn’t make sense.
Tae-woo’s radar hadn’t detected anything either.
“A trap, sir?”
Tae-woo asked with a bewildered expression.
“Man, don’t you feel the presence? Get your head straight and focus.”
Cha Jun-ho took aim, pointing his gun barrel around the surroundings as he spoke.
Ji-seok slightly furrowed his brow and slowly closed his eyes.
He was trying to maximize his spiritual perception.

Whooooooosh—

My Ghost-Sensing Compass began wailing loudly once more.
That was when it happened.
I felt a sharp, biting chill brush across the nape of my neck.
It wasn’t the wind.
No one had touched me.
It was merely a thread-thin, razor-sharp coldness—like ice itself—that had grazed the back of my neck and passed.
Ji-seok must have sensed it too, for he slowly opened his eyes.
“It’s lurking nearby, targeting us.”
Ji-seok said quietly.
“And here I thought you’d become a manager. How are you supposed to learn anything if you can’t even sense this? What will Kim Chief learn from you?”
“I apologize.”
“This kind of chill is ‘killing intent’—the murderous aura a spirit releases while hiding and targeting our lives. It lured us here through illusions.”
Cha Jun-ho glanced sideways at me and explained.
I nodded and drew my Ghost-Sensing Compass.
“Turn on that LP player. Put on something with lots of strings—any piece will do.”
Cha Jun-ho said.
I hastily set up the LP player beside the campfire and opened it.
After selecting a record, I put on Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 8”.

Ding— Ding-ding— Ding— Ding— Ding— Ding-ding-ding—

The beautiful piano melody of Beethoven began to spread through the surroundings.
The three of us quietly observed our surroundings.
Moments later, a fierce cold wind swept in from all directions.

Whoooosh— Whooooooosh—

It was impossible to tell from which direction the wind was coming.
Cha Jun-ho, Ji-seok, and I all took our stances, our faces flushed with anticipation, ready to vanquish the spirit.
That was when—

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaagh—

A scream that seemed to tear through eardrums pierced the darkness as a Wandering Spirit came rushing out.
Simultaneously, Tae-woo’s radar began displaying an enormous number of blue dots.
Wandering Spirits were converging from all directions.
Pap, pap, pap—
Cha Jun-ho immediately pulled the trigger at the Wandering Spirit charging toward him.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
It was certainly far more powerful than Ye-rim’s attacks.
The Wandering Spirit struck by Cha Jun-ho’s bullets flew backward and dissolved into black smoke.
Pap, pap, pap, pap—
He fired in controlled bursts at the approaching Wandering Spirits, methodically eliminating them one after another.
Ji-seok was doing the same.
With a fan in one hand and talismans in the other, he threw the talismans at the range where the Wandering Spirits were approaching.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—thud!
The Wandering Spirits with talismans embedded in their chests or heads turned to black smoke and were sucked directly into the talismans.
Meanwhile, Tae-woo had nothing to do.
All the Wandering Spirits were being eliminated before they could reach near this campfire.
“Incredible.”
What was truly astonishing was Cha Jun-ho’s skill.
In the nearly two months since joining Guihon Trading Company, I had never witnessed his abilities—they were in a league of their own.
Though his movements resembled Ye-rim’s, they were far superior.
He never missed a Wandering Spirit, eliminating each with just one or two shots.
His targeting speed and marksmanship were certainly on a level far beyond Ye-rim’s.
That wasn’t all.
It was also remarkable that he had sensed the trap that neither Ji-seok nor I had noticed, relying purely on intuition.
He was clearly no ordinary person.
‘Well, he’s a manager anyway, so calling him ordinary would be ridiculous.’
I knew that Ji-seok and Ye-rim were also far from ordinary.
Since they were his subordinates, it was only natural that he would be even more exceptional.
That was when it happened.
Zip—
The sound of a zipper being pulled down came from the tent.
Tae-woo turned his body in alarm toward that direction.
Thump—
A gray arm suddenly jutted out from inside.
Then the upper body of a Wandering Spirit appeared, dragging across the ground as it emerged from the tent.

Sssssssss—

The ghost’s fingernails, scraped across the floor, flipped backward.
Tae-woo’s expression hardened as he immediately drew his sword and severed the neck of the ghost crawling toward him.
Squelch—
Thud—
The ghost’s head fell to the ground.
Ssssshhhhh—
The ghost dissolved into black smoke.
But it wasn’t over.
From inside another tent nearby, something stirred—the tent began to thrash violently.
Tae-woo aimed his Guichaldo at the tent and crept closer, step by step.
Splash—
In an instant, the tent’s side turned crimson as blood seemed to pour down, and then a gray arm suddenly erupted from the ground beneath Tae-woo’s feet, seizing his ankle.
“Ah!”
Startled, Tae-woo yanked his foot back hard, and the ghost was torn from the earth.
Shocked by the sight, I quickly regained my composure, reversed my grip on the Guichaldo, and brought it down hard on the ghost’s back as it emerged.

Thud—

With a dull impact, the ghost became black smoke that burst outward in all directions with a sharp crack.

Ssssshhhhh—

As black smoke spread low across the surroundings, a shout rang out from Cha Jun-ho.
“A long-necked ghost!”
At that cry, I turned around.

Kehehehehehe!!

From the darkness, a female ghost with an grotesquely elongated neck came rushing forward, her drooping shoulders and dangling arms flailing hideously.

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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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