An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 101

“Seo Jun, why are you so…”

 

Hearing my panicked voice, Seon-yeo and Hanju, who had run up to me, swallowed hard.

 

“What the…? Is it that bastard Koo Young-chun?! Is she attacked?”

 

“No, why is she bleeding so much?! Ah, this is not the time. Make an emergency call─”

 

Seo Jun grabbed Hanju’s arm.

 

“Ah!”

 

Hanju froze as he tried to manipulate the ring.

 

It was the first reaction he’d ever seen from the previously immovable Seo Jun. 

 

Beneath her fluttering eyelids, her blood-red eyes glowed with a shape-shifting light.

 

It was unfamiliar. Seo Jun is so sharp. She hadn’t been this sharp when she had been eaten by the man-eating ghost at the Rapid Transit station, or when she had been trapped in the mirror in the park.

 

When Hanju completely removed her hand from the ring, Seo Jun’s grip on him loosened.

 

But her eyes still glowed fiercely.

 

“Seon-yeo, Hanju, can I ask for the first aid kit? I’ll stay with Seo Jun.”

 

I couldn’t keep them here, two people who had no idea what was wrong with Seo Jun.

 

I pointed to her hand, which was dripping with blood, and asked for a first aid kit from one of the kits placed around the assessment center.

 

“…Yes. Let’s go, Hanju.”

 

Seon-yeo and Hanju walked out of the trailer. When I was sure their footsteps were far enough away, I opened my mouth again.

 

“Should I help?”

 

Surely it would take more than S-class power to close the door to the other dimension completely.

 

But Seo Jun didn’t answer my question. No, to be more precise, she can’t answer.

 

Her bloodshot lips twitched slightly, but no voice came out.

 

It looked like a desperate attempt not to break her concentration.

 

Seo Jun reached out a trembling hand and gently tugged at my arm, then placed my right hand on top of the one holding the amulet.

 

She didn’t say much, but I could tell she wanted me to help her activate the amulet.

 

Perhaps the bloody hands were meant to maximize the amulet’s effectiveness.

 

I remembered Seo Jun’s blood on the amulet during the Rapid Transit Station mission, and I energized my hands.

 

Beyond the shimmering mirrored surface, I could see the sky, stained a bright red.

 

It was the color of a sunset, a stark contrast to the midnight sky. 

 

There was no breeze, but the leaves rustled and made a cool sound.

 

I wondered what kind of space was in this mirror.

 

I was about to avert my eyes from the eerie sky.

 

Hmph─

 

The amulet under her clasped hands began to burn black.

 

“……!”

 

Seo Jun’s eyes lit up with a glow that was somewhere between hope and horror.

 

At the same time, the surface of the mirror stopped shimmering, and the red landscape in the mirror faded away.

 

Instead of a sunset sky, the smooth glass reflected Seo Jun and me clearly.

 

The door to the other dimension had closed completely.

 

“Phew, that’s a relief. That should do it.”

 

I’m relieved that the door is closed, or so I thought.

 

“Seo Jun…?”

 

Despair.

 

That was the only emotion I could read on Seo Jun’s face.

 

A sound like a muffled scream escaped her lips.

 

“Aaaah…, aaaah, no. You can’t do this, how can you, how long have I been…”

 

Thick tears began to drip from her red, bloodshot eyes.

 

There was no will to cry, no will to hold back.

 

They seemed to spit out of her body as naturally and effortlessly as blood flowing from a wound.

 

“I thought I could really make it this time… If only I had a little more, if only I had a little more time… Please, please give me that chance again. Oh, no, no, no, no…”

 

The anger and frustration in her voice was palpable, but Seo Jun didn’t tear her hair out, shake her head, kick or scream.

 

Seo Jun, who had always maintained a range of emotions that could be considered dry, spat out a torrent of misery.

 

The biggest problem was that I had no idea why this was happening.

 

Wasn’t her goal to close the door to this room, and she did, just as she wanted.

 

So why is she acting like she was just confronted with something that wasn’t supposed to happen?

 

I couldn’t help but ask, “What’s happening with you?”

 

But my inability to speak wasn’t just because I didn’t know how to comfort my friend who had uncharacteristically lost her cool.

 

“…Don’t lie.” I said, as if closing the door on that room was my life’s work.

 

But that was just a fancy way of saying it to fool me. I can assure you.

 

The Seo Jun a moment ago hadn’t even tried to close the door.

 

At first, I assumed that the amulet Seo Jun held in her hand was meant to lock the door to that room, but it was not.

 

I believed this even though I hadn’t had a chance to really observe the amulet in her hand.

 

Seo Jun struggled to close the door.

 

When I entered this caravan, I didn’t have the possibility to doubt Seo Jun.

 

I had just seen what the amulet was.

 

Bloodied and half burnt, the amulet had been painted with a symbol that was supposed to summon certain demons.

 

It was the same amulet she’d used to summon a straw doll dressed as a child on my first day at Mukgyeong Girls’ High School.

 

 

***

 

 

“How did Seo Jun get hurt like that? Did she have a fight with Koo Young-chun?”

 

Seon-yeo muttered to herself.

 

“I don’t know. Even if she was defenseless, she’s an A⁺ class, it doesn’t make sense for her to be injured like that.”

 

Hanju looked unconvinced. Seo Jun’s bloodstains were still clearly visible on his arm.

 

He thought for a moment, then spoke again.

 

“Was there a problem with the amulet…?”

 

“Eh? What problem? Are you saying that Seo Jun drew the amulet wrong?”

 

“Well, maybe she accidentally put an extra point or drew an extra line. Either way, something went wrong with the amulet and the attack was fired backwards.”

 

“Oh, so you’re saying that the amulet Seo Jun made attacked her herself?”

 

“Yes! Honestly, that’s the only other explanation, Kiyaa, I’m so smart.”

 

Hanju is very proud of his hypothesis and says, “This is what thinking is all about.” but Seon-yeo immediately throws cold water on it, saying, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“A girl majoring in amulets would make such a fundamental mistake?”

 

“Why not? you make mistakes like that sometimes.”

 

“Me? When?”

 

“Oh, Seon-yeo, did you really forget, or are you pretending to forget?”

 

“You’re just wasting my time because you have nothing to say, right?”

 

“Wow, no, because you really don’t remember that time last year when you went on a rampage with your halo beam ignorance and almost blinded yourself in the mirror?”

 

“Oh, don’t bring that up!”

 

Seon-yeo exclaimed as she was confronted with a black piece of history she had forgotten.

 

“That’s why I bought you those sunglasses, to protect your eyesight. Where are they? I bought them for you, but you never wear them.”

 

“Who wears these damn alien sunglasses, for Christ’s sake?”

 

“My grandmother wore them.”

 

“Ah…”

 

After letting the mood settle, Hanju came back to the point.

 

“Seo Jun, when I saw her in the caravan, she looked really nervous, like something was chasing her. Anyway, people make mistakes when they’re in a hurry.”

 

“Is it possible… that dhe actually drew the wrong amulet, Seo Jun?”

 

Seon-yeo stopped.

 

“…No.”

 

“Then what else is it?”

 

“Think about it. According to what you said, how can that stupid bastard Koo Young-chun, who can’t even make a decent attack on Seo Jun, separate the core by himself?”

 

“Huh? Really?”

 

“There must be another being stronger than him hiding in the mirror, something more than just a ghost. Seo Jun was attacked because she stayed alone.”

 

Hanju and Seon-yeo had come to the end of their reasoning.

 

A mysterious entity had taken control of Koo Young-chun’s soul.

 

They came to the conclusion that the mysterious being was the one who hurt Seo Jun. Which was half right in a way.

 

 

***

 

 

That didn’t mean they’d catch the lunatic right away and try to find out the truth.

 

“…now.” Seo Jun spoke first.

 

“What kind of person do you see me as right now?”

 

What a question, I thought, knowing that nothing good would come out of my mouth in this situation.

 

“A liar, a cheat, a person who I may or may not know anything about.”

 

“Exactly. Thank God.”

 

“Why are you glad?”

 

“I’m glad you’re not stupid.”

 

“Hahaha, you’re crazy.”

 

With this conversation, Seo Jun had just admitted that she had fooled me.

 

But instead of being cheeky, she sounded like she had let go.

 

She could make excuse after excuse, but either she doesn’t feel the need or she’s completely resigned to it. ‘You’re consistent, Seo Jun.’

 

“What there is to hide, I’ll show you.”

 

With that, Seo Jun closed the distance between us.

 

SHe’ll make me see with both eyes that everything I’ve seen is an illusion.

 

Well, I honestly don’t know if I deserve to be disappointed when she does.

 

Maybe I was a little hurt that day in the park when I explained my innocent intentions to help her.

 

Yes, if I had really practiced the noble virtue of generosity and sworn to help Seo Jun in her time of need, I’d feel betrayed right now.

 

But that was just the result of her own unfulfilled heroism as a magical girl.

 

I couldn’t save others with my paltry D-class talent, so I wasn’t given the chance to save anyone.

 

I wanted to be the savior of Seo Jun, the loner, and feel like I was doing something good.

 

If I feel betrayed, it’s because I trusted her with an ulterior motive in the first place.

 

Everybody says, “She did something crazy to her arm. She’s a bloodthirsty freak.'”

 

“Seo Jun, you… care more about rumors than I thought.”

 

She didn’t deny it.

 

“If you don’t believe me, look at her left arm tomorrow. See what that crazy kid has done to her arm.”

 

“She used to have some kind of tattoo or knife mark or something on her left arm, but I don’t know when she had it removed, but it’s there.

 

Even after Seon-yeo’s warning, I had heard enough stories about Seo Jun.

 

Still, I hadn’t expected to hear Seo Jun address the subject in her own words.

 

“Me? I don’t really care.”

 

“You seem to know a lot about it.”

 

“Well, it’s my rumor, it’s my reputation, how could I not know?”

 

Seo Jun slowly lifted her left arm.