The Ex-Hero Is Too Good at Exorcism

148.

a few weeks after that.

The boring summer is over and autumn is slowly approaching, and it has been just over a year since I became a police officer.

Today at the office, I was being handed information about a new case from team leader Seo In-na.

“A request from the court?”

“Yes, it is an official request for cooperation.”

Saying so, Seo In-na showed the case data sent from the courthouse.

It contained information about the monster that had to be exorcised this time.

“You pay?”

“To put it simply, it is a Buddha possessed by a demon. Did you hear?”

“I’ve heard the name.”

“It’s not a very common monster. They say it was discovered in Korea after almost 20 years.”

Then, Seo In-na added an explanation about the demon.

Ghost Buddha is a kind of monster that takes the form of a Buddha statue and imitates Buddha.

Beyond simply dazzling with words, she possesses some degree of supernatural power, granting the wishes of those who pray to her.

After that, it eventually lures the person who made that wish and eats it.

“It seems that one of the apostate monks was gathering followers in a small temple using demons. However, due to the delayed identification of the incident, there have been quite a few deaths.”

It was also included in the case documents.

About a year ago, Apostate set up a site in an abandoned temple and placed a demon statue there.

However, because he was so cautious, his true identity was not easily revealed.

Because of that, it was said that more than 30 ordinary people were sacrificed by demons.

“Besides, the location of the demon has not been identified. It ate away the followers of the temple as well as the Apostate monk who controlled it and disappeared. Because of that, the investigation is still in the middle of the day.”

“hmm… There must be an uproar.”

In South Korea, where public security for exorcism is relatively good, it is not very common for an individual, not an organized crime, to cause such a loss of life.

Besides, isn’t the culprit the Apostate monk?

Regarding the investigation and punishment of the apostate monks, the court has priority over the police.

But with every right comes an obligation.

If the crimes of the Apostate Monk were not properly prevented, the Dharma Party also had to take responsibility.

“okay. That’s the real reason the court sent a request for cooperation. It is said that it is burdensome for any legal party to arbitrarily handle a case involving such casualties.”

I nodded.

If the law party insists on taking care of it on its own, and the investigation is delayed even by one chance, it will not be able to avoid the criticism.

It was said that he wanted to avoid such a situation even if he called a police monitor himself.

“then… I need to see the scene of the incident first.”

An abandoned temple that was originally said to have housed a ghost.

Whatever it was, the investigation had to start there.

And the location was a certain mountain at the end of Chungcheongbuk-do.

a few hours later.

Arriving near the site, I got out of the car and looked around.

Deep in the woods, deep in the mountains.

The only road leading from the outside to here was a mountain road where only one car could pass.

Also, at the point where even the mountain road was cut off, there was Iljumun, which symbolized the entrance of the temple.

Behind that door, I could see a high stairway leading up the mountain.

The scene… is it up there

Meanwhile, another vehicle and a person were standing next to one gate.

That was the staff of the court that was waiting for me.

As if she knew I was coming, she greeted me with a smile.

“Long time no see. Inspector Kang.”

It was Cha Seo-hyun who passed on the Buddhist tradition to me.

I also briefly greeted her and approached her.

“Did Cha Seo-hyun come out of the courthouse?”

“yes. It’s not enough, but please take care of me today.”

“By the way, did you know I was coming?”

“Yeah… I heard that we requested that. Isn’t it?”

Cha Seohyun said so naturally.

It seems that the court nominated me and asked for my cooperation.

“I can’t get there. But why do you want me… ?”

“Aren’t you good at investigations? Even in the courthouse, Inspector Kang’s skills are quite well known. He said he solved the case quickly and easily.”

It was like a loan advertisement phrase.

But it didn’t sound like a joke, so I just nodded.

“then… Let’s go to the scene.”

“yes.”

After that, we headed to the temple where the incident took place.

The name of the temple was unknown.

What the hell happened, it was because the door where the name of the temple was supposed to hang was smashed.

“… … ”

I stepped over the remains of such a door and stepped into the temple.

But there, too, the situation was similar.

Most of the few buildings were shattered, and above them were full of bloodstains.

“This… It’s a bit strange.”

Looking at it, I said

Ghosts are originally monsters that seduce people, make them sacrifice themselves, and eat them secretly.

Also, just as a Buddha statue cannot move, a ghost Buddha cannot move his body easily.

At most, it was all about changing that expression or changing the place where my body would be placed with magical powers in the middle of the night.

Therefore, the only way to subjugate demons in legends is to bring them out and burn them in broad daylight.

It means that even if you are dragged by a person’s hand and thrown into a fire, you will not be able to resist and will be burned away.

But the scenery unfolding before my eyes… It was as if a giant monster had passed by.

“We are also wondering about this. The tradition that the ghost Buddha exercised this level of physical force was not confirmed even in the Buddhist temple. However, according to the testimonies of people who came and went to this temple in the past, it is clear that there was a demon Buddha.”

When I explained the strange thing, Seohyun Cha replied like that.

I also saw that in the case materials.

Everyone who has visited this temple at least once said that they had seen a mysterious statue of Buddha.

So, the court designated Goi as a ghost, and I also thought that was a conclusion that there was nothing strange about it.

Seeing the scene in person, I couldn’t help but tilt my head at the word ‘gwibul’.

“Not only does it move on its own, but with this level of destructive power… ”

Maybe it wasn’t a ghost.

Also, even if it is a ghost Buddha, it means that it is never an ordinary ghost Buddha.

I opened my mouth as I looked at the thick wooden pole with the middle broken.

“You wouldn’t use something like a Tathagata kidney, would you?”

“That won’t be it. The Tathagata Kidney is a tradition that can be used only in the past 7 dollars in the temple, beyond Myeongwang. No matter how unique a ghost Buddha is, it would be difficult to implement that level of tradition.”

It was a joke, but Cha Seohyun’s answer was extremely serious.

By the way, Tathagata really had kidneys.

Engraving the knowledge I gained by chance into my head, I turned on the navigation function of the quest to begin the investigation in earnest.

“How long has the field investigation been?”

“It’s just been tidied up.”

As she said, the scene had been cleaned up once.

The cumbersome wreckage of the building was cleared to one side, and the floor of the building beneath it was visible.

A situation where only the minimum conditions necessary for an investigation are met.

But that was enough.

I followed the arrow and walked.

“Here… ”

The first place we arrived was a small building.

Compared to other buildings, there are not many broken places, so it is a building that maintains its original shape.

“Are you investigating from here? Daewoongjeon Hall where the ghost was located is over there… ”

Seohyun Cha said so.

Wouldn’t it be right to investigate from the place where the ghost was, that’s what he was thinking.

Unfortunately, the arrow pointed to this building first.

“Let’s start from here. But what are you doing here?”

“This is Yosachae… So, this is the place where the apostate monk who was eaten by demons stayed.”

I nodded and looked inside.

As Cha Seohyun said, various miscellaneous household items were visible.

But the highlighted ones are… It was a notebook with nothing special on the outside.

I unfolded it.

Then, the first thing I saw was a crooked letter.

“Is this a random notebook?”

The notebook is quite old.

In addition, the contents written there were inconsistent, such as a diary, someone’s phone number, unknown Chinese characters, and even a list of shopping carts.

Usually this… Isn’t it written on a smartphone?

“Has Apostate been a bit old?”

“you’re right. I heard that he was over 70. So I would have tried to use the ghost. I am too old to fight on my own.”

Did he stay as a demon until he was old, and eventually get eaten by the monster he was trying to use?

Indeed, it was an end befitting an old devil.

by the way… Do you have any information about ghosts here?

I flipped through my notebook.

There was no need to look closely.

The information you need will be highlighted anyway.

“Do you have speed reading skills?”

Looking at me like that, Cha Seohyun asked curiously.

It must have seemed that he had a special ability to slurp through a messy notebook without looking at it properly.

“what… It’s not even speed reading, just skimming is fast.”

“Isn’t that speed reading?”

Come to think of it, yes.

However, with good timing, the necessary contents in the notebook caught my eye.

“Ah, here. There is a record of the ghost.”

It was the diary of the first time Apostate found the demon.

In the first paragraph, it was written that Apostate found a ghost in the deep sea.

“In the sea… It’s amazing.”

Cha Seo-hyun, who saw the contents, said.

If it is not a temple, it is a cave or a mountain.

It was common to take a seat in a place that seemed mysterious yet passable by people.

But it’s under the sea.

In addition, it was written that the apostate monk who discovered it was originally looking for a sacred god sunk in the sea.

“hmm… ”

And for a while, the record of the ghost continued.

Gwibul was not alone.

There were several small relics and sacred things around the ghost, and there was a list of them in the notebook.

If you look at the number written next to it… It seems that Apostate took all of them and sold them all.

But looking at the list alone, I couldn’t figure out what this artifact meant.

Then Cha Seo-hyun reacted.

“This… ”

“Do you know what this is?”

“These are Buddhist relics that were plundered by the Japanese army during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. I thought it was lost as it had never been seen since then… It must have been sleeping in the sea.”

I nodded my head at her explanation.

It’s the Imjin War.

Suddenly, a story from a long time ago came up, but after hearing her words, it seemed that the situation was aligned to some extent.

“… I wonder if the ghost is a lot older than I thought.”

The ghost Buddha raised by Apostate seemed to be from the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592.

The Japanese soldiers, who probably thought it was an ordinary Buddhist statue, plundered it and loaded it onto a ship.

After that, something happened and their ship sank, and they slept in the sea for a long time, and now they must have been discovered together with some artifacts.

“It is not good news. That’s because it means it’s dangerous. The Imjin War was a war that took place in the 1590s. So, it means a demon who has survived for over 400 years, but I have never seen such a demon in the records.”

Cha Seohyun hardened her expression and said that.

It was as she said.

Hemp that is old and has a deep history is just as powerful.

Even though it was sunk in the sea that no one knows about, it must have been a state of extreme starvation from the ghost’s point of view.

Even that was after everything was resolved now.

The fact that such a dangerous ghost has been sitting quietly in this temple for the past year.

It must have been to secretly eat people to fill my stomach and regain that power.

“We will continue our investigation.”

I closed the notebook with the highlighting gone.

Now, the arrow was pointing to the Daeungjeon Hall, where the Demon Buddha was located.

“hmm… ”

Arriving in front of Daeungjeon, I drool.

Contrary to Yosachae, Daeungjeon Hall was destroyed most loudly among other buildings.

The roof as well as the floor of the building were smashed, and even the site did not remain properly.

But I picked up a small piece of stone from there.

There was a weak, but clear, black light shimmering in that piece of stone.

“What is it?”

“It is precious.”

At my words, Seohyun Cha opened her eyes wide.

“Honey… ? Are you saying something like that was here?”

“yes. It looks like a piece that fell from an ear bud.”

“How did you do that all at once… ?”

Cha Seohyun looked around.

Of course, there were countless stone fragments similar to this in the Daeungjeon Hall, which was shattered into pieces.

It seemed strange to her that I found this out of so many stones as soon as I set foot in Daeungjeon Hall.

“It is my ability.”

“I knew that, but I didn’t expect it to be this much. You are amazing.”

My ability to detect spiritual power is known to the outside world, even if it’s not the police.

In fact, there were many cases where we found ghosts and dealt with them ourselves.

So she simply nodded and continued.

“If you have this, wouldn’t you be able to use Keng Keng’s tracking magic?”

Cha Seo-Hyun asked if he remembered using the tracking spell before.

Of course I thought so too.

So I nodded lightly.

“Keng!”

He immediately called Keng Keng and used the tracking spell with the stone fragment as a clue.

Then, the map on the smartphone marked the point where we needed to go.

however.

“Here… ”

The place marked on the map was also deep in the mountains.

However, the slope is rough and there are no hiking trails nearby, so it is an unfavorable place for ghosts who need to lure people.

Do you really think the ghost is here?

“Is this right?”

“Keng!”

So I asked, but Keng-Keng replied vigorously as if there was no problem.

then… I have no choice but to go see it myself.

“Then let’s move.”

So I immediately headed to the tracking point with Seohyun Cha.

Where I arrived,

“hmm… ?”

The remains of the ghost Buddha, which had been shattered into pieces, were all over the place.