Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: The Traditional Exorcism
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Light pours down.
The honed blade flashes, slicing through with conviction.
A dance of sickles unfolds from both hands and the heavens.
Aaaaaah...!
Sickles rain down into the body of the centipede disguised as a defrocked monk.
These aren't the sparkling sickles that pierced Deputy Jinna-sol from the Dragon Palace, or the ones that targeted me in the dream incubation room—tools for subduing evildoers.
These are ornate sickles adorned with elaborate tassels and bells, at least twice the size.
Ceremonial.
Weapons meant to confront wicked 'existences'.
Uuuuugh...!
The twisted thing thrashes about—the one that preached worldly truths, or rather, merely muttered its horrific revelations, mimicking human speech to sow madness.
Each time it writhes, the human arms sprouting from it fall to the ground, crumbling to ash and finding release.
The rite of appeasement for the dead.
Thud.
The centipede convulses, collapsing the shrine's pillars and rafters.
Debris looks ready to cascade onto people's heads at any moment, but...
"No need to worry."
The bronze agent's firm voice rings out.
The transparent bullets from his glass handgun embed themselves in the air around the shrine, trapping the centipede in place.
Like talismans, the bullets engraved with fitting characters unleash their precise effects.
"It should be fine now."
"......"
"When ending supernatural disasters involving shamanic rituals like this, the most difficult and tricky part is that the hidden identity must be revealed."
I know.
You have to identify it to exorcise it.
And that's why the Disaster Management Bureau hadn't easily uncovered the Nameless Radiant Church missionary buried here in a jar, lending its strange power.
However...
I did it.
"You uncovered its true nature."
I looked up.
"You pulled it out from the shrine. And now that its identity is revealed..."
The bronze agent smiled.
"Ending this disaster is right in our wheelhouse."
Namely...
The Black Tortoise Team's specialty.
"Traditional evil. Its exorcism."
"Elder!"
A shout comes from the rooftop.
Agent Choi tosses the sickle into the sky while the goblin fire in his hand blazes like the sun.
Flames sweep across even the shattered foundation of the shrine.
Aaaaaah!
The dark, damp陰 ground prepared for the centipede burns away like paper, welcoming bright, warm陽 energy.
Auuuugh!
The centipede, having lost many human arms, opens its mouth again, but its revelations no longer form coherent human speech.
The systematized Black Tortoise Team exorcism methodically corners it step by step.
First. Purification of the ritual space.
Expel the environment favorable to the wicked thing.
And second.
Binding.
"Now!"
The bronze agent's bullets lock down the shrine.
The centipede, stripped of its human arms and exposed to blinding light, flails wildly.
But responses targeting its innate, elemental weaknesses sever its link to the indescribable wicked truth, leaving it vulnerable.
Thus, the final step approaches.
Third.
"Seal."
The final bullet fires from the bronze agent's glass handgun.
Forged with powerful incantations in a Bari-degi workshop by a cunning master artisan, it fits perfectly into the wicked thing's body.
Right on the forehead.
Plink.
And then.
From the hole where the bullet embeds in the centipede's body, its contents are sucked inward.
Into itself.
Ooooooh!
The centipede crumples with a bizarre implosion sound, contracting to a single point. No, not just the centipede—the shrine, the soil beneath, the jar, the entire domain corrupted by the centipede anchor—all sucked in.
Into the glass bullet.
Aaaaaah!
The centipede's voice wails in a death cry, then...
Stops.
......
Plop.
The blackened glass orb falls into the pit where the shrine once stood.
Now fist-sized, its surface bears an engraved image of the centipede.
The rough, bold carving flickers gold like a fragment of the Nameless Radiant Church's sacred scriptures, but soon fades, blocked by the sealing power.
The glass bullet's surface cools into a silver lump.
"......"
"......"
The bronze agent descends into the pit, picks up the silver orb, scans its front once as if confirming, then tucks it into his pouch.
And declares.
"It's over."
"Whew!"
Agent Choi slumps to the ground, still clutching the sickle.
"Everyone okay?"
"Yes. They're calming down."
The out-of-towners and villagers who'd endured the shocking experience were either unconscious, wandering dazed, or staring blankly into space.
Probably, with the centipede that force-fed them violent mad truths gone, they'd temporarily lost their wits to the void.
The pungmul troupe had vanished, leaving only instruments and clothes.
Here and there, bones and dirt peeked from under collapsed garments...
My eyes, surveying it all, returned to Agent Choi's back.
"......"
The agent sat still.
Gazing at the depression left by the vanished shrine.
'...What is he thinking?'
A spy who'll die in a month without intel from the Disaster Management Bureau.
He nearly got dragged down too.
Yet this agent rushed down here in a day, fully prepared, risked his life fighting the centipede to save that spy...
What must he be thinking?
"......"
I didn't want to know.
The thoughts I'd have, the things I'd need to do after realizing it, felt too exhausting.
That's how it was.
But now...
For a flash, just a moment...
I kind of want to hear the answer.
What he's thinking.
"...Grape."
"......!"
"Wanna come over?"
Without thinking, I walked toward him.
Agent Choi didn't turn around.
But as I approached, he extended a hand behind him.
Toward me.
"All done. Let's head back."
......
......
I took his hand.
Agent Choi pulled me up lightly to my feet.
"Up you go!"
His face, now turned to me, bore the same smile as before.
And he started fussing.
"Aigoo, my poor back. Just one day off and the kid goes missing. See? Can't rest."
"Sorry."
"Not your fault, Grape. The requester was out of their mind—unforeseen stuff happens."
"......"
"Still, don't do anything too reckless next time."
As if there's definitely a next time.
That's how he talks.
"......Yes."
It felt strange, but somehow the situation seemed a bit better.
Even though nothing was resolved or progressed.
"......"
My head felt a little clearer.
"Good. That's Team Black Tortoise 1 for you!"
Agent Choi patted my back and headed toward the bronze agent, who'd secured the orb.
I took a deep breath in and out.
'Yeah.'
I survived today, at least.
And I got to see Disaster Management Bureau agents seal a bizarre entity from a ghost story with traditional exorcism...
Maybe it's not such a bad day after all.
'And everyone survived.'
...My heart felt much lighter.
The goblin fire that blazed so brightly was gone, but the sun shone sparkling in the sky.
'Hm.'
Lowering my gaze, I saw the three people who'd served as my human palanquin, collapsed beside the empty shrine area.
Only three.
'Baek Saheon.'
I turned my eyes to where the rescue requester had stood.
Baek Saheon, one of the human palanquin bearers, had been on the left side of the shrine originally, but...
'Hm.'
He was gone now.
Seemed like he'd bolted the moment things went south.
'Not surprising.'
No, in this case, it was probably the wisest choice.
Still, with my energy returning, it irked me a bit.
'That bastard shoved me into the spot where he'd have died instead and made me suffer like a dog...'
But he did risk getting caught to share village knowledge all night, which helped.
'He won't have to come back here now.'
According to what Baek Saheon said at dawn, villagers had to visit Jisan Village periodically to escape the 'worldly truth' madness.
No matter how much they pickled the centipede in liquor, weighted it with a millstone, and enshrined it—even so, too much exposure.
But now the source, the centipede monk, is gone, so things should improve, probably.
'Hm.'
I started to look away, then spotted something odd.
Something at Baek Saheon's spot.
"......"
I shifted slightly and picked it up.
A note... no, a small paper boat folded from paper.
'Left it behind?'
I'll check it later, I thought, pocketing it.
Turning, my eyes met Agent Choi's, who'd been watching me.
"......"
"......"
Agent Choi turned away with his smiling face and said casually.
"Good thing we weren't late. We rushed here right after prepping."
"If you hadn't been at Seoraksan, we'd have come faster. Why take a day off to go there?"
"Hahaha... To recuperate in fresh air and clean water? Ah, anyway—there she is! The MVP who got us to Grape on time."
Agent Choi pointed to a spot.
At the end... Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je!
"Yes. She immediately told us the shrine's location."
"...!"
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je had waited at the village entrance and directed them straight to the shrine upon spotting them.
Thanks to her, the agents arrived before I was fully enthralled and turned into one of its arms...
'...She's busy with work too.'
I was grateful.
I tried not to stare blankly.
"You recognized Bronze. Oh, she's greeting us."
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je nodded slightly as our eyes met, then vanished into the crowd.
Or so she thought—and I accepted it that way—but apparently not to someone with freakishly sharp eyes.
She moved with clear purpose amid the dazed, soulless crowd.
"Shh."
Agent Choi, hand to mouth, peering at her, narrows his eyes slightly.
"Heading to the abandoned houses. Hm."
He sheathes the sickle and straightens his clothes quickly.
"Let's follow. Odd destination... A reporter?"
"That's right."
"Handy job for infiltration..."
Chilling deduction.
'Can't let the deputy get exposed too.'
I didn't want to get her in trouble, nor push Agent Choi further into Director Ho's grasp.
That'd be total disaster.
"Hm."
Agent Choi, chatting with the bronze agent, turns to me. Scans me carefully, then says.
"Grape... You can head out and rest."
No.
"If it's okay, I'd like to come along."
"Yeah. Let's go together."
"......"
Did he notice?
Even if not, his kindness twisted my gut.
Anyway, I hurried after the moving agents.
And shortly after.
We found Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je peering into a well, half the wooden cover pried off.
"...Not it."
She muttered.
"Ma'am? Looking for something?"
She looked up from the well bottom, saw us, and made a dumbfounded face.
"Now you act like regular civil servants... Come on. Aren't you guys like... from comics? That stuff."
"Comics..."
"How about 007? Haha, this agent's into that vibe!"
"...Ha."
Agent Choi clowns around, slapping the bronze agent's back, then puts a finger to his lips.
The bronze agent squeezes his eyes shut. Agent...
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je shrugs at the sight.
"Anyway, no plans to blab. Don't worry."
"Thank you!"
But I saw the agents exchange subtle glances.
Soon, Vermilion Bird Squad agents from the Disaster Management Bureau will swarm this village for 'cleanup,' including mass memory wipes harmless to people...
Hope the deputy leaves before that.
Cold sweat.
Meanwhile, the agents got to the point.
"So, why the well?"
"Heard rumors of a weird legend here. Connected to some mystical place, they say."
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je reaches into her pocket for a cigarette, then quickly puts it back.
"Came cuz of stories about bizarre happenings during the village festival..."
She taps the well with a finger.
"Eh. Doesn't seem special."
"Aha."
Agent Choi nods, pulling a light source from his pocket as if to help her investigate.
A lantern possessed by a goblin.
Its red flicker momentarily illuminates the well's shadows.
"Here, let me light it up!"
"...With that?"
"Yep yep."
Agent Choi grins.
"Plus, this lantern detects danger too!"
"Aha."
"See? Color changes. Like this red blinking."
"Means?"
"Something non-human nearby."
"......"
"......"
"Who are you?"
Silence.
"The one who guided us earlier was definitely human. But you're not."
"......"
The thing in Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je's form lifts its head.
A slightly softer smile on that face.
"Sharp eyes."
"......!"
"Hello, Agent! We know each other, right?"
"Agent Choi!"
The bronze agent moves to defend hastily, but Agent Choi gestures him down.
Even so, the 'deputy' speaks with an unusually gentle, kind expression she'd never make.
"Ah. I asked her to do something else, but she headed somewhere weird, so I'm helping personally."
Director Ho.
Disguised or possessing—unclear, but it was him.
Director Ho stood before us in Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je's form.
"Anything to say to me?"
No.
'He's baiting on purpose!'
Can't keep talking to Director Ho here. Bronze agent is present.
'Too high chance Agent Choi breaks the taboo...!'
Even otherwise, it might drag in the bronze agent. Or the deputy.
Repeating again.
'No.'
I gritted my teeth, timing my interruption. Just as I tried to speak.
"Perfect timing. Makes it easier. ...If I know who it is."
Agent Choi raises the sickle and points.
...At me.
"...?!"
"Grape."
"Agent Choi, what are you..."
Clink, clink.
"You've had it rough, huh?"
"......"
"It'll be okay now."
Clink, clink.
"Your taboo."
"......!?"
What the hell? No, saying it like that now...
......
'...Wait.'
I realized.
Right. Agent Choi can't tell anyone about last night due to the taboo.
That I'm a spy.
Planning to steal intel from this Disaster Management Bureau.
Even that he's tabood.
'All forbidden.'
But.
"Thought about it... And there's something I can do."
The taboo on me is an exception.
'Our team agent has a strange taboo from a supernatural entity'—that's not covered by the taboo.
Attempts to lift it are fair game.
"...!"
"Really struggled finding a shaman at Seoraksan."
Agent Choi looks up at the sky.
"They're here."