Exorcism Specialist Company: Ghost Soul Trading - Chapter 90

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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 90

Whiiiiing—
Despite the bitter cold, a strange damp wind blew across the mountain.
Tae-woo observed the mold covering the signpost and found himself recalling the Jinang Apartment field from just moments before.
“There it is.”
Ye-rim shone her flashlight to the side of the signpost as she spoke.
When Tae-woo turned his gaze in that direction, he finally laid eyes on the Mysterious Pond—a place he’d only heard about in stories.
Despite the treacherous terrain they’d traversed to get here, the Mysterious Pond sat on surprisingly level ground.
The pond appeared to be roughly thirty meters in diameter, though its depth was impossible to gauge.
And directly beside the Mysterious Pond stood a vertical cliff face about ten meters high.
“Sigh—”
Ye-rim and Tae-woo approached the Mysterious Pond, sweeping their flashlight beams across its surface.
The water’s surface was frozen solid—it didn’t look like it would break easily.
A small waterfall cascaded down the cliff beside the pond, though even that hung frozen solid like an icicle, sharp and menacing.
The entire pond appeared utterly suspended in time.
“Tae-woo. You absolutely cannot enter that pond.”
Ye-rim gazed at the Mysterious Pond before speaking quietly.
“What?”
Tae-woo’s eyes widened as he turned to face her.
She continued her explanation.
“The Water Ghost is truly dangerous. Once caught, it’s nearly impossible to escape.”
“Understood.”
Tae-woo swallowed hard as he replied.
When I thought about it, it made perfect sense.
Though frozen now, if I considered this place as water and imagined that specter dragging someone down into the depths, neither the victim nor any ally present would be able to respond effectively.
Ye-rim and Ji-seok’s weapons wouldn’t even be able to strike it.
Even Moon So-ryeong’s spiritual power would be powerless to restrain the Water Ghost.
And even if Cha Jun-ho used live ammunition to shoot the specter, without clear visibility and with the refraction effects of water, there was a real danger of hitting the person being dragged under.
In every conceivable way, this was one of the most difficult specters to confront.
“What grade is the Water Ghost typically?”
Tae-woo asked, still gazing at the Mysterious Pond.
“At minimum, Grade 3. Like bound spirits, Water Ghosts claim rivers and ponds as their territory, killing living people to create new specters, and sometimes trapping wandering spirits nearby.”
Ye-rim provided the explanation.
As she said, the Water Ghost—commonly known as a water specter—was at least Grade 3.
Some Water Ghosts, as people commonly knew, would drag living people to their doom, transform them into specters, and then ascend to heaven themselves. But there were also cruel Water Ghosts that continuously dragged living people to their deaths and imprisoned their souls within the water.
Based on what the Abbot had told me and the stories connected to this place, the latter seemed far more likely.
“Let’s begin.”
Ye-rim spoke one last time.
Tae-woo nodded and removed the LP player bag from his back.
“Do you have any other songs besides classical music like Beethoven or Mozart?”
Ye-rim asked.
Tae-woo flipped through the LP records in the bag quickly and pulled out one.

[Gayageum Concerto Heard at the Temple]

As Ye-rim saw the LP cover, she immediately gave a thumbs up.
Tae-woo immediately connected the gayageum concerto to the player and started playing it.

Ding— kyoooong— kyiiiing—

The mournful concerto of the gayageum, daegeum, and ajaeng began resonating through the surroundings.
Whiiiiing—
A cold wind swept through violently, and tree branches shook loudly.
At the same time, scattered fallen leaves surged into the air, beginning to dazzle the senses.
Beep—
Tae-woo’s smart glasses reacted as expected.
The UI flickered momentarily, and the ghost radar became completely covered in blue dots.
It was almost pointless to even look at the information showing where the spirits were.

Creak— creak— creak—

At that very moment.
A bizarre sound began to emanate from the darkness along the path we had just ascended.
It was the sound of joints snapping—the telltale noise of a specter.
Tae-woo and Ye-rim turned their heads toward the source, sweeping their flashlights across the darkness.
Shhhhhhh—
A woman in peculiar attire materialized within the beam of harsh light.
She wore a pale pink coat, black shoes, and an unusual hat, her face painted an ashen white.
Her ensemble bore a striking resemblance to the fashion of wealthy women from the 1930s to 1940s.
She stood motionless, holding a kerosene lantern in one hand.
There was no indication whatsoever that she intended to charge or attack.
As Tae-woo observed her, he detected something profoundly anomalous.
It was the kerosene lantern she held.
When struck by the flashlight beam, the lantern glowed brightly as though its wick were ablaze, yet when the light moved elsewhere, it dimmed as if extinguished.
The kerosene lantern in her grasp was not an object of reality either.
Bang!
Ye-rim, standing with her back to the Mysterious Pond, launched the first assault.
She pulled the trigger, aiming at the specter.
Simultaneously, the bullet streaked toward her target with lethal speed.
Ting—
But the specter vanished in an instant.
“She’s gone!”
I had been watching the exact spot where the specter stood, yet she simply disappeared.
Then she reappeared on the opposite side of the Mysterious Pond.
Ye-rim pivoted her body and pulled the trigger once more.
Bang!
But again, the specter vanished without a trace.
In that very instant—!
The specter holding the kerosene lantern materialized behind Tae-woo’s back.
Thud—
She shoved his back with tremendous force.
“Wha—!?”
Before I could even react, my body slid forward uncontrollably.
Whoooosh—
I crashed down onto the ice.
Searing pain erupted across my body, and a biting cold surged through me.
“Ugh!”
I groaned in agony.
“Tae-woo!”
Ye-rim immediately swung her gun toward the specter and fired.
Bang! Bang!
But the specter deftly dodged the bullets, weaving through the Mysterious Pond.
“Damn it.”
Tae-woo furrowed his brow and slowly pushed himself up on his elbows.
And as he looked down at the ground—he realized he was lying on the frozen surface of the Mysterious Pond.
In that instant, Ye-rim’s words from moments before echoed in his mind.
“Tae-woo. You absolutely cannot go into that pond.”
Before she could even finish speaking, he’d already collapsed face-first onto the frozen Mysterious Pond.
“This damnable—”
The moment Tae-woo muttered those words, he was startled once more.
Beneath the ice, the ghostly pale face of a woman had become visible.
“Ugh!”
Tae-woo tried to scramble to his feet in shock, but the ice was slick, and he slipped again.

Screeeech—screeeech—

A grotesque sound began emanating from beneath the ice.
Tae-woo swallowed hard and looked down.
The Water Ghost beneath the surface was clawing at the frozen water with her fingernails.
“Tae-woo! Get out of there!”
Ye-rim screamed.
At that very moment—
The specter holding the lantern appeared before Ye-rim, seized her by the throat, and threw her down.
It had closed the distance in an instant while she’d glanced back at Tae-woo.
“Damn it!”
Tae-woo, realizing he was becoming a liability, raised his Guichaldo and struck the frozen surface.
Crack—
Then, using the blade as a crutch, he pushed himself to his feet.

Screeeech—screeeech—

Even amid the chaos, the sound of clawing ice grew louder and louder.
Soon, the sound of the ice fracturing joined the cacophony.

Craaaaaack—crack—

Finally, a pale white hand broke through the ice and shot upward.
Against skin as cold as frost, blackened nails made for a grotesquely unsettling hand.
A flash—
Then eyes snapped open on the back of that hand.
On the hand emerging from the depths, an eye with bloodshot whites and a pinprick pupil had materialized.
“What is this—”
The moment Tae-woo opened his mouth, the entire pond began to fracture.
Crack—crack-crack-crack—
From where the hand had erupted, the ice shattered outward in all directions.
Witnessing this, Tae-woo’s eyes went wide with shock.
If I remained here, I’d be sucked straight into the water.
I drew my Gwichalddo and bolted away from the Mysterious Pond.
But the ice beneath my feet offered no traction.
Crack-crack-crack-crack—
Even as I fled, thick shards of ice launched skyward.
Simultaneously, a pale white arm shot out, grasping for my ankle.
A sharp whistle—
In that instant, I vaulted into the air and executed a tumble.
And I flew directly toward where Ye-rim lay collapsed beside the pond.
“Gagging!”
The specter wielding the lantern straddled Ye-rim’s body, strangling her relentlessly.
I twisted my torso to the maximum, channeling rotational force as I swung my blade.
A brilliant arc—
Like a yo-yo, I landed behind the specter’s back.
A soft thud—
Just before impact, I drove my Gwichalddo upward, piercing through the specter’s neck.
A sickening crunch—
The blade passed through the specter’s throat and embedded itself in the ground beside Ye-rim’s ear.
Had I struck even slightly to the side, Ye-rim’s face would have been run through by my blade.
A fading hiss—
As the specter between us dissipated, only Ye-rim lying there and I remained, my Gwichalddo planted directly beside her head.
It looked, at a glance, as though I had attempted to kill Ye-rim.
“My apologies, Manager.”
I immediately offered my apology and withdrew my blade.
As I helped Ye-rim to her feet, she smiled and nodded.
“It’s fine.”
She brushed the dust from her clothes without concern.
Then she turned her gaze toward the Mysterious Pond, where the ice had completely shattered and only fragments bobbed on the surface.
“The ice is broken. Now the real work begins.”
Ye-rim said.
Tae-woo nodded and gripped the Ghost Compass tightly.
“Light the incense.”
“Yes, understood.”
Tae-woo immediately unfolded the portable incense burner and lit the incense.
“We don’t catch the Water Ghost by going into the water ourselves. We have to catch it when it comes out of the water. As I mentioned, it’s far too dangerous a specter—we can’t enter its territory.”
Ye-rim watched the incense smoke rise in a thin stream and murmured.
“How do we lure it out? Even with the song and the incense burning now, it doesn’t seem to be responding.”
Tae-woo asked.
“It’s definitely being stimulated right now. If tapping gently doesn’t provoke a response, we need to strike harder.”
Ye-rim answered and pulled two smoke grenades from her belt.
Ting—
She pulled the safety pins and detonated the smoke grenades in the direction of the wind.
Shhhhhhhhh—
The fragrant smoke billowing from the grenades swept on the wind, engulfing the entire Mysterious Pond.
Tae-woo and Ye-rim, weapons in hand, carefully watched the surface of the pond.
Shhhhhhhhh—
Then, through the smoke, a Female Ghost in a traditional hanbok with her hair unbound appeared.
As expected, she had pale white skin and her eyes were closed.
The hanbok’s color had faded considerably, but it still carried the unmistakable air of nobility—the garment of an aristocratic household.
Click—
Ye-rim aimed her gun at the specter.
But she didn’t pull the trigger immediately.
Recalling how the specter with the kerosene lantern had evaded noisily and counterattacked, she decided to observe its movements first.
Uuuuuung—
At that moment, a faint vibration emanated from the Ghost Compass.
Tae-woo turned his head briefly toward the Ghost Compass.
In that instant—the specter hovering in the center of the pond opened her eyes wide and began gliding forward without moving her legs, rushing rapidly across the water’s surface.
The way she approached swiftly without moving her limbs, as if flying, was deeply unsettling.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
As she moved, the exposed skin on her hands, face, and neck—anywhere her clothing didn’t cover—peeled away grotesquely, as if it had been waterlogged and bloated for far too long.

Guihon Trading Company – Chapter 90

Author
Cha Woo Lens
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yoon Tae-ri
Cover
Lee Chi

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260318158.0090

ⓒ2026, Cha Woo Lens

※ This e-book is a copyrighted work protected under the Copyright Law of the Republic of Korea.
No part or all of this work may be reprocessed in any form without permission from the author and publisher.

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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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