#0 Exorcist Association, Request

Exorcists exist.

They aren’t widely known, but they aren’t so secretive as to be shrouded in mystery either.

When people usually think of exorcists, they often imagine mediums or shamans who exorcise ghosts, and while such individuals do exist, that’s only a very small part of their original duties.

The true enemies that exorcists target are beings called Yokai.

They emerge in hidden places, grow by feeding on people’s negative emotions, and eventually gain physical forms, causing significant harm to their surroundings.

This harm isn’t merely physical. While there are Yokai that inflict physical damage, that’s only one type of means, not their ultimate goal.

They inflict damage upon the soul, which is responsible for human emotions.

They suck out people’s souls, or they implant their traces into those souls, continuously siphoning various emotions and energies from them.

People who bear the traces left by Yokai become increasingly influenced by the Yokai that left the traces as time passes, eventually being swallowed by the negative emotions resulting from it.

As a result, some completely lose the will to live and become lethargic, others lose control of their emotions and become filled with rage in every situation, some exhibit symptoms of mental derangement, and still others become terribly addicted to lewd things, unable to live normal lives anymore.

There isn’t no way to treat people whose souls have been wounded in such a manner.

In fact, the Exorcist Alliance has a separate department solely dedicated to healing souls.

However, this isn’t a very efficient method. Rather, it’s merely a temporary measure.

Healing one person’s soul requires a lot of time and effort.

Furthermore, even after healing a soul, it’s often the case that they fall victim to the same Yokai again.

Therefore, the most efficient treatment method is none other than directly exorcising the Yokai that caused the harm.

By directly exorcising the Yokai that wounded the soul, the wound will no longer grow.

After that, even without taking separate measures, as long as nothing major happens, the wound on the soul will heal on its own. Just like a well-disinfected wound heals with time and new flesh grows.

Thus, they directly seek out and defeat the Yokai, who are the root cause of everything.

That is the work of Kyuwol-ryeong, an exorcist belonging to the Exorcist Association.

* * *

Today, I got into some fucking shitty trouble again.

To be sexually harassed openly in broad daylight. And by some stinky old man at that.

I did get my revenge, but that doesn’t mean the terrible memory I experienced has vanished.

“I told you to just take a taxi.”

The Exorcist Association’s meeting room.

As I, summoned there, lamented and spat out what had happened on my way, that was the answer I received from the Section Chief-nim.

A taxi. A taxi, huh.

I’d love to take one. It’d be great if I could just drive a car myself.

But there’s a huge problem.

“I can’t, I need to save money. If they’d cover it as expenses, I’d take one….”

“That’s not possible.”

“Oh, come on…! I’m coming here because the Exorcist Association called me…!”

“Then come back as a member of the Exorcist Association. We can’t process expenses for freelance outsourced personnel, you know?”

Ugh, I swallowed a groan in my mouth.

Due to circumstances, I had left my affiliation with the Exorcist Association and was working freelance.

Certainly, becoming a full-time employee would grant various benefits, but as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, so I’d also have to deal with various troublesome tasks.

Seeing that I clearly had no intention of returning, the Section Chief-nim wore an incredulous expression.

“No, Wol-ryeong, you’re someone who earns good money, why are you like this?”

“I need to save more when I can earn. You know my personality. …Besides, because of that incident before, I’m completely struggling right now.”

The Section Chief-nim shook their head, saying, “You brought it upon yourself.”

My butt might be kneaded a hundred times without wearing out and it’s free, but taxi fare isn’t.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I want to give it away for free either.

“More importantly, you’re wearing a tracksuit to the office. Given our line of work, we don’t strictly restrict attire, but still, you’re too casual.”

“You know all about my situation.”

“…It’s not that I don’t understand….”

The Section Chief-nim, who was listening to me now, was one of the few people who knew my circumstances. That’s why they understood immediately without me having to explain in detail.

“The ‘Lust Demon Curse,’ huh? You really got into some troublesome business…”

As the Section Chief-nim said, I was afflicted by the ‘Lust Demon Curse’.

The trigger was a request to subjugate a Lust Demon, which I received as an outsourced job about a year ago.

At the time, numerous exorcists, including myself, participated in the Lust Demon subjugation, but despite cornering it to a near-death state, we ultimately let it escape.

Most of the exorcists at that time were so severely affected that they still haven’t recovered to this day, and I myself had the curse left by that Lust Demon etched onto my body.

Immediately after the curse was etched, I was weak and couldn’t control my body for about half a month, but since I quickly recovered afterward, I thought there was no problem.

However, the dormant curse suddenly activated about two weeks ago, completely overturning my life.

When I woke up in the morning, I had become a woman, and what’s more, I had developed a constitution that indiscriminately stimulated the lewd thoughts of those around me just by standing still.

While I can suppress it to some extent by trying to reduce exposed skin area, people with strong yin energy, like the old man I met today, will be enchanted no matter what.

Thanks to this, things are incredibly troublesome in many ways.

This constitution that indiscriminately charms people around me is one thing, but more than that, my gender suddenly changed, making identity verification itself difficult.

Fortunately, the Exorcist Association is somewhat aware of my situation, and there are many skilled individuals who can discern others by their souls.

Thanks to this, I was able to somehow prove that I was myself, but there’s still no sign of the curse being lifted or me returning to normal.

“So, you should have checked and performed the curse removal right when you got cursed. Why did you neglect it and let the problem grow?”

“…I couldn’t help it. Curse removal costs money too.”

“Seriously, what are you going to use all that saved money for?”

“For my dream, for a comfortable retirement.”

For my dream. For a comfortable retirement. That’s why I have to save every penny.

However, after my body ended up like this, I ended up commissioning the most expensive course of curse removal, which resulted in me being fleeced several times… no, dozens of times more than it would have originally cost.

Even after spending all that money, the curse wasn’t lifted. If anything, it feels even stronger. It’s truly lamentable.

“More than that, please tell me about the request. Is what you told me true? That there’s a way to lift the curse?”

This dreadful curse that has disrupted my life and completely derailed my comfortable retirement plans.

Because I heard there was a way to lift this curse, I came here.

The Section Chief-nim, who accepted my request, placed a tablet and several documents in front of me.

* * *

Provisional designation: [Mysterious Fog].

That is the target of subjugation for this request.

About half a year ago, an area on the outskirts of Seoul became enveloped in a fog of unknown origin.

Initially, the fog only covered about one district, but as time passed, it grew larger and larger, eventually encompassing an entire mountain adjacent to it.

If this had just been ordinary fog, it wouldn’t have even been brought up to the Exorcist Association.

However, it was discovered that this fog was emitting a special energy, albeit faint, similar to what Yokai emit.

Furthermore, some people within the fog-enveloped village had gone missing at some point.

All of those who went missing were young women.

And even though they had vanished in such an inexplicable manner, the people around them didn’t even realize they were gone. Not even their own families, with whom they saw face-to-face every day.

The disappearance of the young women only came to light because a family member of one of the Exorcist Association (Exorcist Association) employees lived in the area where the fog occurred.

One day, when they tried to contact them, their family member was gone, but the family themselves not only had no idea about it but had even forgotten the existence of their vanished family member.

The fortunate thing was that the ‘cognitive distortion’ that made people forget the missing individuals only affected memories, having no impact on various documents or data.

Thanks to this, they were able to identify the missing individuals by checking existing data. And they learned that dozens of young women had gone missing. Among them, only two people from the surrounding area had realized the disappearances and filed missing person reports.

“Dozens of people disappeared, yet the subjugation rank is B….”

As I mumbled while examining the given documents, the Section Chief-nim adjusted their thin-rimmed glasses and added.

“Because it didn’t have a significant impact on actual society. It meticulously used cognitive distortion to reduce its ripple effect on society. In fact, even with this many people disappearing, not a single news article appeared. Both the Association and the country judged that it wasn’t something to be handled urgently.”

“However,” the Section Chief-nim added.

“The subjugation priority is B, but the subjugation difficulty is potentially considered A+ or even higher. Considering circumstantial evidence such as the fog’s range, the method of cognitive distortion caused by the fog, and the intelligence required to achieve it, it’s clear that a high-level Yokai is involved.”

In fact, the Exorcist Association had already selected and dispatched several exorcists.

However, not a single one has returned yet. While their survival was confirmed through some means, there was no way to know where they were or what their situation was, having gone missing inside the fog.

Thanks to this, the compensation for undertaking this mission also significantly increased.

Examining the documents and confirming the newly assigned compensation amount, I involuntarily let out an “Oh…” of exclamation.

With this much money, I could more than cover the amount I spent on the previous special curse removal request.

It was definitely not the compensation for a subjugation request of rank B.

“For this request specifically, several sponsors have come forward. They seem to be relatives of the missing people, or perhaps their businesses were affected by this fog…”

It wouldn’t be just that.

The reason I decided to accept this request was because I heard that it might be possible to lift this dreadful ‘Lust Demon Curse’.

“One of the sponsors is quite an important figure to our Exorcist Association. That’s why the Exorcist Association decided to add more compensation. Instead of monetary compensation, they decided to open the doors of the tightly sealed ‘Special Storage Warehouse’.” 

The Section Chief-nim turned on the tablet and showed a list of photos from the gallery.

It was a list of special artifacts stored by the Exorcist Association.

These artifacts are never revealed to the outside world, nor can they be bought or borrowed no matter how much money is offered; they are special tools owned by the Exorcist Association.

And the Section Chief-nim selected one of the photos and displayed it on the screen.

What appeared on the screen was a large, teardrop-shaped gem.

This is─

“The ‘Tears of the Sea Dragon’. It’s an artifact that can lift any curse, but only three times. If you succeed in this request, in addition to the existing compensation, we’ll also provide you with the opportunity to use this. How about it, isn’t that enough to entrust a request to the special-grade exorcist Kyuwol-ryeong-nim?”

There’s no way it’s not enough.

Besides, there’s nothing else I can think of to lift my curse, which even special-grade curse removers couldn’t break.

In the end, I decided to accept the request, saying, “What the hell, I’ll give it a try.”