Chapter 14
Chapter 14
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Exorcist
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Exorcist.
A job you hear about often, but few people have actually met a real exorcist. There aren't that many cases of evil spirits causing trouble to begin with, and when occult incidents do happen, people usually turn to shamans rather than exorcists.
But what if the shaman you visit declares with absolute certainty that you're doomed to die? What if even a highly skilled shaman can't offer a proper solution? Who do you turn to then?
“Me.”
Lee Seo-ah said.
“I'm pretty well-known around here as an exorcist. I've even taken down evil spirits that shamans had given up on.”
“Wouldn't being famous be a problem? The Management Bureau keeps a close eye on that sort of thing.”
“The Management Bureau lets exorcists slide. It's the occult realm, not anomalies, to begin with. As long as you don't openly advertise yourself as a mage, there's no issue. If they suspected every exorcist, all the skilled shamans would have died out long ago.”
It made sense. Ian nodded.
The evening in Busan as the sun set.
The two walked down the street and entered a café where the client requesting the exorcism was waiting.
The staff greeted them with a sales pitch, and Lee Seo-ah checked her phone before heading up to the second floor. Ian followed her.
Maybe because it was dinnertime, the café was awkwardly crowded. The second floor, though, was fairly quiet. A few college students sat tapping away at their laptops.
As soon as Lee Seo-ah reached the second floor, she scanned the area and spotted a man shivering violently. She sat down across from him. Ian carefully took a seat beside her.
The man flinched at their sudden appearance. Once he confirmed they were human, he let out a sigh of relief.
“Lee Hyun-do, right? That's you?”
Lee Seo-ah asked.
Lee Hyun-do nodded with a haggard face.
“Yes, yes. That's me.”
“Straight to the point. You messaged that you think a ghost followed you after entering a haunted house. Can you tell us the details?”
“Ah, sure.”
This was his story.
He'd heard rumors of the most infamous haunted house—now abandoned—in Busan, a lone house in the mountains haunted by an evil spirit. He and his friends went there to film it for the internet.
At first, nothing seemed off. Like any other haunted house, the walls had drawings and indecipherable writing carved into them. The floor was littered with trash, and that was it.
But the moment they opened a wardrobe in the house, everything changed.
“The writing and drawings on the walls started moving in real time. And then the figure of a woman appeared clearly.”
A clear anomaly.
Ian thought as he downed the coffee he'd ordered.
“At first, I thought it was just a prank. B-but my friends who went with me froze like statues the instant they saw the picture that appeared. And... they started clawing at their own faces, screaming that they had to become like the picture.”
“Yeah. Keep going.”
“I-I had to drag those two out of the house. But the next day, one of my friends died. The cause of death was suicide.”
Lee Seo-ah nodded calmly, as if she'd expected it.
“That same night one of my friends died, a ghost appeared in my dream. It was that woman from the haunted house wall. The ghost stared right through me from above my bed and threw my friend's head at me. There was a '1' carved into his forehead.”
“A sacrifice.”
“Y-yes?”
“A victim. The evil spirit is killing you and your friends to build its power. It's connected to an evil ghost, so that's par for the course.”
Lee Seo-ah said, sipping her coffee. The man's face went slack.
“Th-then...!”
“You have a '3' written on your forehead. Looks like you're the third to go. How many of you went into the haunted house?”
“I-including me, four in total...”
“Ha. Four people, of all things.”
Lee Seo-ah let out a short laugh.
“Every condition fulfilled perfectly. Two guys, two girls who entered the haunted house. Right?”
“...! How did you...!”
“When exactly did your friend die? A few days ago?”
Lee Seo-ah ignored Lee Hyun-do's question and pressed on. He hesitated a moment before answering.
“...Six days ago.”
“One more will die tomorrow, then. Good talk.”
Clink.
Lee Seo-ah set down her black coffee cup and leaned forward slightly. The man shuddered under her sharp gaze.
“So? What do you want? Evil ghost exorcism? Or curse removal?”
“...C-can I have both?”
“Kill the evil ghost, and the curse lifts.”
“Th-then please exorcise it.”
“Cost is 6 million won. Please transfer it.”
Lee Seo-ah said with a smile. The man swallowed hard and immediately deposited the large sum into her account.
Payment confirmed.
Lee Seo-ah poked Ian's side with her finger and stood up.
“Thank you. The exorcism will be done by tonight, so don't worry and get some sleep.”
“I-is that really it?”
“Yes. We'll be going now. Come back if something like this happens again.”
Lee Seo-ah left those words and exited the café. Ian followed behind her.
He took a sip of his coffee and spoke.
“6 million won isn't as much as I thought. I hear shamans make over 10 million from a single ritual.”
“My pure profit is higher. I don't need any prep materials.”
Lee Seo-ah chuckled lightly and hailed a taxi.
She had a point.
Rituals rack up costs from fruit to all sorts of items. You need people and a rented ritual space.
Lee Seo-ah, on the other hand, needed none of that. Just her body, and she could summon and kill any evil spirit.
The efficiency and profit margins were insane. No wonder she made exorcism her trade. If she could pull at least 6 million per job, it explained why she kept that fancy workshop.
‘Maybe I should try being an exorcist.’
The thought crossed his mind, but Ian shook his head inwardly.
He had zero talent as a shaman.
Even if he could somehow deal with evil spirits, he couldn't track down ones deliberately hiding. He couldn't yank them out by the hair like Lee Seo-ah, so his earnings wouldn't match hers.
‘For now, let's check out that Cartel request first, then decide.’
As he mulled it over, the taxi Lee Seo-ah called arrived. It sped toward their destination.
True to Busan taxi form, it arrived near the haunted house much faster than estimated. The two paid the fare, climbed the mountain, and stood before the haunted house.
The place was already half-collapsed. It was a tiny brick house, barely qualifying as one. The fact it still stood in this era was miraculous, but its existence left no room for doubt. Ian gripped his grimoire and flipped through the pages.
“I'll handle the exorcism. It's a pretty strong evil spirit, so I'm bottling it up.”
“Ah, okay?”
Ian closed the grimoire at her words.
“Nothing I need to help with?”
“Nope. Just watch.”
“Alright then.”
Ian tucked the grimoire back into his bag and followed Lee Seo-ah, who led the way into the haunted house.
“......”
A chill swept over his body the moment he crossed the threshold. A coldness undetectable to ordinary people—only those sensitive to anomalies could sense it.
Looks like the evil spirit rumor was true. Ian let out a low groan and watched Lee Seo-ah stride purposefully into the master bedroom.
She seemed used to this, showing no reaction as she stood in the center of the room.
The walls were covered in the drawings Lee Hyun-do had described.
But they weren't a normal woman's face—they depicted a woman's smiling face, twisted and crumpled in rage. The area around it was red like it had been painted in blood. A large '1' on the ceiling had a line slashed through it.
The meaning was obvious. The first sacrifice had been claimed.
Lee Seo-ah gave the room a quick once-over and muttered softly.
“Stronger evil ghost than I thought.”
“Exorcism impossible?”
“It would be for a regular occult exorcism.”
Lee Seo-ah smiled and pulled a jar of bone dust from her pocket.
“But I'm a mage.”
Click.
The jar opened. Lee Seo-ah reached in, grabbed a handful of finely ground bone dust, and tossed it onto the floor.
Whoosh—the bone dust scattered like salt. In the dark, blood-red room, it sparkled like starlight.
“You who devour humans, malevolent spirit.”
Lee Seo-ah began chanting. Ian stepped back, and the guardian spirit that always stood behind her pulled the knife from its forehead and gripped it. Drops of the guardian spirit's blood fell onto the scattered bone dust.
At that instant, the bone dust clumped together, forming a circle on the floor. Lee Seo-ah stared at it coldly and extended her hand to the side.
“I summon you myself—cast off the shadows and reveal your form.”
The guardian spirit lightly slashed Lee Seo-ah's arm. As the fresh blood dripped onto the circle, the spinning bone dust halted and gathered at the center. Then, something was yanked out from below.
[Aaagh!!]
The evil spirit, seized by its hair amid the bone dust, slowly emerged headfirst. Lee Seo-ah deftly stanched her bleeding and glanced at the guardian spirit.
The guardian spirit nodded and swung its knife.
Slash!
With a gruesome sound, one of the evil spirit's arms flew through the air. The spirit's eyes bulged as it glared at Lee Seo-ah and bellowed.
[You're a human child! You've gone mad wanting to die! Fine! I'll curse you myself!!]
Lee Seo-ah ignored it and reached into her coat pocket.
Slash!
The knife struck again. One leg flew off.
[Aaagh! Why! Why can't I move! No, how are you even handling me like this! I'll kill you! Tear you to shreds!!]
Slash!
[Stop! Stop cutting! Aren't you afraid of what I'll do later! Know your place, you little bitch!]
Slash! Crunch!!
[P-please, let's talk first. Why start by cutting off my limbs? We haven't even spoken! Sniff!]
The evil spirit, now limbless, collapsed to the floor wailing.
Only then did Lee Seo-ah approach, squat down, and face it.
“Broke already?”
[Y-yes?]
No answer came. Lee Seo-ah promptly uncapped a large glass jar she'd brought tucked in her waistband and pressed the opening to the evil spirit's head.
“Get in.”
[S-suddenly what, cl-clothes?! Oooh! Hooo!]
Before the spirit could finish, its body melted gooily and got sucked into the jar. Lee Seo-ah confirmed the swirling form inside, smiled in satisfaction, and sealed the lid.
She turned with a refreshed expression and walked over to Ian.
“Exorcism done. Let's head back.”
“...Yeah.”
Ian gave a wry smile and followed her out.
The exorcism ritual had ended far quicker than expected.
The two lingered at a nearby café, chatting leisurely, before returning to the workshop.