Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - Chapter 73

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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 73

Whiiiing— whiiiiiing—
The iron gate that had been forcefully opened now rattled loudly as it swung shut again.
Clang—
Cha Manager kicked the closing iron gate open once more with his foot.
“Playing tricks, are we?”
He muttered to himself and strode purposefully inside.
Ji-seok and Tae-u followed in his wake.
“Light the incense.”
The moment those words left his lips, Ji-seok unfolded a portable incense burner and placed it near the iron gate.
As the incense smoke rose, an eerie sound echoed from the darkness.

Grooooooan— grooooooan—

Ji-seok paid it no mind, lit the incense, and fell back in step behind Tae-u.
“But the iron bars have so many gaps. Can such an iron gate really become a passage for ghosts?”
Tae-u asked cautiously.
“That’s right. Any door, window, iron gate, or glass door that humans can pass through—spirits must stop before them as well.”
“But surely ghosts can fly through the sky, leap over obstacles, and pass through walls, can’t they?”
“You’ve experienced it yourself, but most ghosts carry the habits of their living days like inertia. When they become agitated, they may thrash about wildly, but otherwise they move exactly as they did in life. That’s why ‘doors’ matter. Don’t go smashing glass doors just because the path seems blocked, like you did.”
Ji-seok narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
Tae-u nodded in understanding, but his mind drifted back to Cha Manager kicking open the lock with his gun and forcing the door open moments ago.
‘What’s actually correct here?’
From what Ji-seok was saying, he seemed to emphasize very orthodox procedures for exorcism and spirit pacification.
Yet Tae-u had experienced fieldwork himself, and situations never unfolded strictly by the book.
‘How does the Manager actually conduct exorcisms when he goes out alone?’
He made a mental note to review Ji-seok’s field report once they returned.

As Tae-u pondered these thoughts while walking, the three of them finally arrived at the Unclaimed Persons Cemetery, which was constructed in terraced levels.
Cha Manager stopped in his tracks and swept his flashlight from the nearby graves to those in the distance.
Thanks to the high-lumen flash, he could illuminate even the distant tombs with its light.
However, all of them were overgrown with weeds and trees, making it difficult to discern their shapes.
“Damn bastards.”
Cha Manager muttered a curse, then crouched down and squeezed the soil beneath his feet.
The earth was remarkably damp.
“Even if there are no relatives, what kind of insane bastards build a communal cemetery in a place like this? Living people would get sick and leave in a place like this.”
Tae-u also touched the ground.
Despite the cold, dry weather that should have left the soil parched, it felt strangely moist.
Cha Manager had discerned this characteristic the moment they arrived at the site.
He quietly rose to his feet and turned his head to the side.
A small concrete building came into view.
It appeared to be the Management Office of the Unclaimed Persons Cemetery.
“Let’s check that place first.”
“Yes, understood.”
The three of them slowly approached the Management Office.
The single-story building with its firmly shut door appeared to be less than 200 square meters.
On one side was a bathroom, and on the other side was an iron door leading into the Management Office, slightly ajar.
At that moment, Tae-u felt a chill brush across the back of his neck once more.
Simultaneously, he confirmed that dozens of blue dots had begun appearing on his radar.
As he walked toward the Management Office and looked around, he still couldn’t see anything with his naked eyes.
Cha Manager, walking in that direction, pointed toward the bathroom to Ji-seok.
It was a hand signal to check that area.
Ji-seok slowly approached the unisex bathroom.
Whoosh—
He held a fan and talisman in both hands, taking cover beside the bathroom door and nodding.
Meanwhile, Cha Manager and Tae-u stood before the Management Office door, exchanging glances.
“Open it.”
Cha Manager spoke while aiming his gun at the door.
As Tae-u slightly opened the door, Cha Manager placed his finger on the trigger and aimed inside.
Nothing was visible in the line of sight he was covering.
Creak—
In the meantime, Ji-seok also opened the bathroom door and peered inside.
There appeared to be nothing there either.
Cha Manager exchanged a glance with Tae-u before stepping into the Management Office.
It was at that very moment.
The instant Cha Manager’s foot crossed the threshold, something emerged from the darkness and forcefully shoved him.
The force was so powerful that Cha Manager flew beyond the Management Office door by 3 meters before crashing down.
Crash—
Rolling to his feet, Cha Manager immediately trained his weapon on the doorway and squeezed the trigger.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-

In that instant, a massive arm burst forth from the open doorway.
Each bullet that struck it caused the arm to flinch, but it refused to dissipate.
“What the—!”
Tae-woo, standing beside the door, cried out in shock.
He had never seen an arm like this before.
Every ghostly arm he’d witnessed until now had been a ‘thin’ appendage of gray or black.
Even the arm he’d seen at the Jangdok Training Ground had been massive only because multiple souls had condensed together.
But the arm now before Tae-woo’s eyes resembled that of a plump ‘infant’—flesh swollen and bloated.
The fingers too were extraordinarily thick.
The nails, however, were roughened and scarred, their entire surface discolored to black.

Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah-

Then it began to emit a harsh, grating cry.
Tae-woo stared at Cha Manager in alarm.
He had never encountered a ghost like this before.
“Gack!”
Simultaneously, a groan echoed from within the bathroom.
It was Ji-seok’s cry.
Tae-woo rushed to the bathroom entrance and peered inside—hair gushing from the ceiling had coiled around Ji-seok’s neck, lifting him bodily into the air.
“Manager!”
Tae-woo shouted.
At that, Cha Manager smiled and issued an order.
“Kim Chief. You save Chief Park. I’ll handle this one.”
With that, Cha Manager turned his weapon toward the arm and pulled the trigger.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-

The infant’s arm convulsed violently under the gunfire, then began to transform grotesquely.
The blackened nails extended with nauseating slowness, growing longer and longer.
“Ugh—!”
Even as this unfolded, Ji-seok’s groans persisted.
And the ear-splitting wail of the infant never ceased.

Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah- Waaah-waaah-

Tae-woo hurled the GPS terminal and LP player onto the floor, then rushed into the Bathroom with the Guichaldo in hand.
That was the moment.

Crash—bang—bang—crash—

Every stall door in the Bathroom violently swung open and shut in chaotic succession.
From within emerged ghosts with crimson eyes, stumbling forward with unsteady gaits.
They seemed intent on blocking any approach to Ji-seok.
“Release Cha Manager.”
Tae-woo spoke his final words before thrusting the Guichaldo forward.
Shhhhhhh—
The flash from the smart glasses illuminated the ghosts with crystalline clarity, and the shadows cast behind them became equally vivid.
In that instant, Tae-woo witnessed crimson eyes materializing even within the shadows behind the ghosts.
Screeeech—
Not only that—hair began spreading across every ceiling and wall surface, and from those very places, ghosts with blackened skin clawed their way out.
Their numbers seemed to easily exceed twenty in this cramped space.
“Get out of my way!”
Tae-woo bellowed, taking a forceful step forward.
Simultaneously, he lowered his upper body and unleashed a powerful horizontal slash.
Whoooosh—
Blade energy erupted forth, severing the waists and legs of every ghost in his path.
Screeeech—
The ghosts dissolved into black smoke, vanishing on the spot.
Tae-woo’s assault never ceased.
He pivoted to the side and slashed diagonally upward.
Whoooosh—
The ghosts emerging from the adjacent wall were simultaneously obliterated by the blade energy.
He spun to face the opposite direction and unleashed another horizontal slash.
This time, the ghosts crawling from the stalls were simultaneously annihilated.
Crash—
But there was more.
The plywood stall partitions were cleanly severed and collapsed to the floor.
Rumble—
Plywood fragments tumbled down with a deafening clatter.
Soon, the squat toilets came into view.
Tae-woo immediately spun backward, dropping his stance low.
Whoooosh—
At the same moment, the arms of ghosts attempting to seize his neck grasped only empty air.
Tae-woo had sensed the ghosts approaching from behind.
As he pivoted and swung his blade, the legs of the ghosts advancing from behind were severed, their bodies tilting sideways.
Crackle, crackle, crackle—
I spun faster, completing another full rotation as I swung my blade with greater ferocity.
The ghosts, already tilted sideways with severed legs, bore fresh sword marks across their bodies before being cleaved cleanly in two.
Whoooosh—
My sword energy didn’t merely bisect the ghost; it tore through the bathroom door frame itself, sending splinters flying outward.
A deep, resonant hum—
The bathroom filled entirely with black smoke.
Though my vision was obscured, I thrust my blade forward once more, guided by the radar I could perceive and the primal instinct emanating from my Ghost Sense.
Slash—
Thud—
The hair strangling my neck was severed, and Ji-seok’s body collapsed to the floor.
In that very instant.
A female ghost with long hair, dressed in a white mourning robe, burst through the black smoke and seized both my shoulders, hurling me forcefully outside.
Crash—
I was dragged out of the bathroom, held fast in the female ghost’s grip.
Thump—
As I fell backward, the female ghost mounted me and looked down with hollow eyes.
Tiny pupils and whites of her eyes filled with burst capillaries.
Hair matted and disheveled like tangled straw, and a mouth torn grotesquely to one side.
I grimaced, feeling the ghost’s powerful hands pressing hard against my shoulders.

Screeeech, screech, screech, screech, screech—

Once again, the ghost emitted that bizarre sound—like crumpling newspaper—from its mouth as it lowered its head toward me.
Long strands of hair brushed lightly against my face.
In that instant, those hairs writhed like octopus tentacles, attempting to force their way into my eyes, nose, and mouth.
“Ugh!”
I tried to counterattack with the Gwichalddo, but the weight pressing down on my shoulders prevented me from moving freely.
Instead, I fumbled for the Hyeolsudanddo at my waist and drew it.
Then I drove the blade into the ghost’s ribs.
Thunk—
Black smoke erupted from the ghost’s side.
The pressure on my shoulders weakened instantly, and I slashed the ghost’s face with the Hyeolsudanddo.
Screeeech—
The ghost’s head snapped violently to the side as the wound opened across its face.
Once my shoulders were completely free, I raised the Gwichalddo and severed the ghost’s neck.
Screeeech—
The ghost’s head tumbled to the ground beside my face.
Looking to the side, the ghost stared at me with eyes full of resentment.
Ssssshhhhh—
Both the head and body dissolved into black smoke and vanished.
“Kim Chief! Are you alright?!”
Ji-seok rushed out from the bathroom to check on me.
“I’m fine.”
I waved my hand and looked toward Cha Manager.
The baby’s cries had ceased by then.
Cha Manager had also eliminated his ghost; black smoke billowed from the Management Office as he reloaded his weapon.

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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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