Chapter 323

The man stared intently at Tokitaka, who was bowing his head and asking for help.

How long had he been staring?

Annoyance and contempt flitted across the man’s face.

“Ha, what the hell.”

He muttered a curse under his breath and took a few steps closer to Tokitaka.

Phew!

Then he twisted his body slightly and kicked Tokitaka right then and there.

Caught off guard, Tokitaka was thrown backward, unable to even scream, as his eyes rolled back as if the kick had made them do so.

However, the man scoffed at Tokitaka’s expression.

“What a pathetic sight, rolling your eyes around like that.”

A contextless remark.

Almost bordering on abuse.

An ordinary person would feel wronged or frightened by such words directed at them.

Indeed, an ordinary person would.

Tokitaka’s eyes rolled around.

Literally rolled.

Like a ball, they spun wildly with his eyelids open, while his unfocused gaze shook as if an earthquake was happening.

One would expect dizziness to come from that.

Yet, Tokitaka’s body remained still, only his eyes moving maniacally as if someone were playing with his eyeballs as a joke.

And soon, those spinning eyeballs came to a halt.

“How did you know?”

Tokitaka spoke without moving his lips.

It was as if he were ventriloquizing.

As he spoke, it looked like he was blinking, as if trying to move his eyelids instead, while his eyeballs rolled back and forth like he was wiggling his tongue. Thus, they returned to their place, glaring right at the man.

It was truly a bizarre sight.

“When you work at the Onmyoji, you see a truckload of humans like you.”

But the man seemed accustomed to such bizarre sights.

Instead of being frightened, he sighed deeply and even engaged in conversation with Tokitaka.

“Those guys that crawl into a haunted house and come out possessed are always like you.”

An odd feeling that wasn’t quite human.

The man said that and took out a cigarette.

He pretended to puff on the unlit cigarette a few times before just stuffing it in his mouth and chewing it. Soon, the strong scent of the smoke filled his mouth, mixing with his saliva.

The man gathered his saliva and spat it at Tokitaka.

Thwack!

What seemed to be a simple spit.

But the result was astonishing.

Chiiiiiing!

As soon as his saliva hit Tokitaka’s body, smoke began to rise, filling the air with a rancid odor. Additionally, it made a chilling sound as if it were melting something, causing Tokitaka’s mouth—already rolling its eyes like a lunatic—to snap open.

“Kughh!”

As Tokitaka opened his mouth and screamed, the man pulled out white paper wrapped salt from his briefcase.

“And judging by what you’re doing, it seems like I have an idea of how you got possessed. Not opening your mouth suggests you crawled in through it to get possessed; the method is right there in the manual!”

The man grasped the salt and force-fed it into the screaming Tokitaka’s mouth.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say he “shoved” it in.

Because the man’s actions appeared violent and forceful.

The salt shoved in filled Tokitaka’s mouth and jammed down his throat.

As if he were trying to pickle someone alive in salt.

“Kgh, kweaack!”

Tokitaka contorted, trying to spit out the salt.

But it seemed as if the salt was sticky, firmly sticking to his mouth, and with every twist of his body, it flowed further down his throat, causing him pain. Naturally, each time the salt entered his throat, Tokitaka twisted even harder, causing more salt to force its way in.

It was a vicious cycle.

Was Tokitaka trying to escape this vicious cycle?

He bent forward as if trying to vomit something out.

He gurgled with his stomach and esophagus, but oddly, instead of normal vomit, something like smoke was seeping out of his mouth.

“Hah! Annihilate!”

The man didn’t miss this opportunity and waved a talisman vigorously.

“Kughh!”

Could what Tokitaka vomited be the essence of the soul that was possessing him?

The smoke hit by the talisman engulfed in blue flames and burst into fire in an instant.

The soul screamed as if its ears were being torn apart and burned away, disappearing without a trace.

“Phew.”

The man watched as the ghost vanished, skillfully moving his hands to form a seal.

He was checking to see if the ghost had disguised itself and hidden somewhere.

However, with no presence felt, he nodded, convinced he had defeated the ghost.

“Tsk.”

The man clicked his tongue as he looked at Tokitaka, who had collapsed on the ground, unconscious. With slow movements, he took out his smartphone, contacted the police, briefly explaining his location and a person lying down, then gathered his briefcase and moved.

What an idiot, possessed by a ghost without knowing it.

To investigate the House of Death.

*

“Excuse me? You’re saying no?”

“Yeah. You can’t go into that house.”

The man wanted to investigate the House of Death.

Just as he had done every time since starting work at the Onmyoji.

But what he received in return was a firm refusal.

“I remember the danger level… wasn’t that high. Has the danger level increased or something?”

“No, it’s not that.”

And the rejection didn’t stem from a special reason, such as an increase in ghosts or evil spirits or his lack of skill.

The reason was rather simple.

“It’s illegal to go in.”

It was just a very ordinary reason that it would be breaking the law to enter.

“Excuse me?”

The man blinked, confused by his senior’s words.

Illegal?

Illegal, you say?

The House of Death was clearly a haunted house, and the Onmyoji had the authorization to investigate haunted houses as they deemed fit.

Yet suddenly, it was illegal to enter? What in the world does that mean?

“We can only enter places legally designated as ‘haunted houses’. You know the definition of a haunted house, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

The Onmyoji had the authority to enter and investigate haunted houses without a warrant.

However, various conditions were required for a place to be designated as a haunted house.

It had to be uninhabited for a certain period, abandoned without management, have a higher geomagnetic reading than the surrounding area, and several Onmyoji or legally classified ‘Spiritual Capable People’ had to designate it as a haunted house.

And that’s not all.

Many small and complex conditions were added to this.

Only then could the place be legally classified as a ‘haunted house.’

And wasn’t this just about legal issues?

No, it wasn’t.

Once a place was designated as a haunted house, something else followed suit.

A drop in property value.

Designating a place as a haunted house meant that the government was effectively saying, “This is dangerous,” “This house is a cursed object.”

Naturally, the residents around the house or people living in the area would froth at the mouth to prevent it from being designated a haunted house.

There wasn’t a single good thing about having such a thing known to be near or in their area.

For that reason, it was quite difficult to designate a haunted house unless it was considerably certain.

If there was even a hint of a problem, the residents would jump in and latch onto it.

The House of Death had successfully passed these complicated processes to be designated as a haunted house.

Yet suddenly, saying it wasn’t a haunted house, that they couldn’t enter.

It made no sense.

“That place, the designation as a haunted house has been canceled.”

“What? How can that be…?”

The man blinked in confusion at his senior’s words.

He had just been dispatched to this area recently.

Even when he was sent out, he had memorized where the haunted houses were, their locations, and their danger levels…

And now, in this short span of time, the haunted house had been canceled!?

“It’s hard to designate a haunted house, but it’s also hard to release that designation, right?”

A haunted house is designated as a hazardous material, or a potential hazardous material.

Naturally, it requires a complicated process to lift that designation.

Geomagnetic readings need to be checked, spiritual beings need to be explored, ritualistic measures need to be taken, verified by government-recognized experts, and physical land and house purification, among other tasks…

The list of things to do was enormous.

“Yeah, that’s true, but… hmm, this is a bit unusual.”

“Unusual, how?”

“Recently someone bought the House of Death. The buyer was from a shrine, you see?”

“A shrine, you say?”

Shrine.

A place where gods are enshrined and divine powers are exercised.

One of the few groups in Japan that can perform rituals, and a gathering of professionals adept in spiritual abilities.

The only significant difference from Onmyoji is that Onmyoji is associated with the government, while shrines are not.

“When the shrine took over from the previous owner of the House of Death, they promised to conduct purification work and continuous management. And after the villa was purchased, local officials confirmed that the geomagnetic readings returned to normal.”

“Confirmation, you say?”

“Well, the documents are a bit crushed and hard to read. But from what I can decipher, it seems satisfactory, indicating the geomagnetic readings and the safety of the area. Everything has been resolved.”

“Then, who is this idiot possessed by a ghost in the House of Death?”

If his senior’s words were true, it was peculiar.

If everything had been settled and the geomagnetic readings had returned to normal…

Why in the world was the person introducing himself as Yasaki Tokitaka possessed?

---