An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 127

“Wow, look at the time…”

 

Seo Jun sat up, still not quite out of bed.

 

“What are you thinking about first thing in the morning?”

 

“Me? I wasn’t thinking and it’s not even morning anymore.”

 

“Oh, it’s lunchtime…”

 

It was a sharp point, but the half-assedness of it was enough to get through me.

 

“You seem upset.”

 

Seo Jun mumbled to herself and went to the bathroom, obviously not intending to bite, and that was the end of the conversation.

 

“Are you feeling better?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

“What do you mean? You woke up and your body feels better? Just be clear?”

 

“My mind feels fine. My body… almost fine.”

 

“Why?!”

 

“I think I caught my shoulder while stretching…”

 

Seo Jun patted her left shoulder.

 

“Do you want me to step on it?”

 

“Thanks but no thanks.”

 

Even though the life-threatening situation hadn’t changed, the feeling of victory and relief of having averted a crisis and having a reliable defense had a profound effect on her psyche.

 

I couldn’t believe that I could return to my normal life after such an extraordinary event.

 

Of course, just because I was more relaxed didn’t mean that I had turned off my mind. My head was spinning in contrast to my calm heart.

 

“One thing is for sure.”

 

Seo Jun wiped the water from her face and spoke again.

 

“That the master of the room can only open the door to a “masterless” mirror.”

 

“……?”

 

“Think about it. The reason Choi Hee-young showed up at the empty lot every week was to pay for her soul, right?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“If he wanted to use a mirror as a medium, why would he choose a specific place? A single gourdwood is about the size of a hand mirror. It’s impossible that the master of the space didn’t realize that if they kept meeting in the same place, their tails would eventually get stepped on.”

 

Having a set meeting place means there’s a routine to a serial killer on the run. It was undoubtedly a disadvantage for Choi.

 

But it’s not all good for the owner of the room either, as a local resident actually called the exorcism association after seeing the spherical dummy wandering around.

 

As Seo Jun explains, it would have been much easier and safer to carry a hand mirror and communicate in real time.

 

“He can’t make a door in a private mirror, that’s for sure.”

 

Seo Jun added nonchalantly.

 

“He didn’t even have to break Choi Hee-young out of prison, he could have just sent three or four dummies with knives to the full-length mirror in her room and it would have been quick and easy.”

 

“You’re so…, you say scary things so casually.”

 

“Because saying it carefully doesn’t make it any different.”

 

The words were cold, but somehow they calmed me. It wasn’t the first time that Seo Jun’s tone was dry.

 

“That’s true. It doesn’t make any difference.”

 

I nodded in agreement.

 

“I still don’t understand how you can wake up before school. Is it some kind of instinctive sense of danger?”

 

“I woke up hot. If it were winter, I’d probably sleep in until dinner.”

 

“Oh, me too. It was really hot. Maybe I should have slept with the fan on.”

 

“No, I wouldn’t have gotten up.”

 

Seo Jun mumbled that waking up sweaty and groggy was better than waking up cool.

 

“I think I know why they treat you like a nerd, dude.”

 

Despite the fact that she had taken such an active role in the mission, Seo Jun was considered a model student, an honor student, by the kids in Branch 4.

 

In fact, except for her behavior on the mission, Seo Jun was the perfect model student.

 

She has a calm demeanor, doesn’t swear much, has always been at the top of her class except for April this year, and participates in class and training.

 

That’s why Seo Jun’s reckless behavior in every mission was treated like a second person.

 

Either she was hiding her mad scientist tendencies under the guise of being a model student and only comes out during missions.

 

I saw her at school every day, but I didn’t feel like she was a nerd.

 

“You’re not a good girl, you’re an idiot.”

 

Seo Jun grumbled quietly.

 

“If we’re both late or skip out, Yin Charang will pester us about what’s going on until we’re blue in the face.”

 

“For the last time, I’ll ask you, do you really like Yin Charang?”

 

“For the last time, I’ll tell you no. Are you a goldfish?”

 

Seo Jun gets fed up.

 

“The first time you asked me that question, I said, “Well, I don’t think so,” and now I’m saying, “No, I’m not.” Are you a goldfish?”

 

Yes, I’ve asked her a few times in my spare time.

 

“Sorry.”

 

“I told you, I’ve never met a person more unfit for a relationship than him.”

 

A deep sigh, followed by her usual comment.

 

“We’re somewhere between business and friendship.”

 

“Dude, can’t you just call it friendship? You’re friends.”

 

“We’re not friends.”

 

“Well, you say hi when you see each other, you eat together sometimes, and you have a chat room.”

 

“We’re not friends.”

 

Seo Jun can be strangely stubborn sometimes. The kind of stubbornness that makes it hard to argue back.

 

“Yes, have it your way.”

 

“I’m sure he’d say the same thing to me, he’s got nothing but competition in his head.”

 

“You said it right. I’ve been asking myself the same thing. He’s already beating the entire first and second grade, so who the hell is he competing against?”

 

Seo Jun clenched her jaw.

 

“Now it’s you, but before you went on a mission with me…”

 

“Before?”

 

“…There’s a guy named Kang Soun. S⁺ class, branch 1. He’s a year older than us.”

 

“First branch? Oh, you know, the one the kids always call the First Branch’s brother?”

 

“Yes, you knew about him.”

 

“I vaguely knew he existed, but I never heard his name before. Kang… what is his name?”

 

“Kang Soun.”

 

“Ah, Kang Soun.”

 

I said the name and Seo Jun chimed in.

 

“By the way, Yin Charang never beat that guy.”

 

“Oh… how did his personality hold up?”

 

“That’s how it holds up…, he’s freshly enraged every time.”

 

“Wow, I wish I could have seen that in person.”

 

Maybe the semi-compulsory break from judging in April wasn’t the best thing for him, but it was probably good for his mental health.

 

Sometimes it’s best to walk away from a stressful situation. They say enjoy the ride if you can’t avoid it, but if you can avoid it, why not avoid it as much as possible?

 

“Oh, this is before the…”

 

“Yeah, yeah. I won’t talk about it. I have my own things to notice.”

 

Yin Charang looked uncomfortable at the thought of another person sharing Seo Jun’s past. 

 

If I dared to provoke him by mentioning his devastating defeat, he would go crazy.

 

I get goosebumps every time I see him open his eyes like that.

 

In fact, more than being afraid of him, I don’t want to act desperate because I can’t scratch the surface.

 

I understood this when I met Choi Hee-young. I realized that the way she tries to bite down on everything she can get her hands on is really unhelpful, annoying, plastic, and ugly.

 

Seo Jun gave me a confused look and I gave her a friendly smile.

 

There was no point in staying at home, so we decided to go to the training center early.

 

“What about food?”

 

“Are you hungry?”

 

“Mmm… my stomach is empty, but I don’t feel like eating.”

 

“Me neither. I have no appetite.”

 

“Well, let’s order some jajangmyeon later, around three or four o’clock. For a snack.”

 

It was lunchtime, but I had just woken up and didn’t feel like putting food in my mouth. I definitely wasn’t hungry. Was this fake hunger?

 

As for meals, we can always grab a bite to eat in the break room of the training center or in an empty classroom. Even if there’s no restaurant near the institute, there’s at least a Chinese restaurant.

 

“I don’t want jjajangmyeon…”

 

“Jjamppong?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“Well, we’ll just go further away. We have plenty of time.”

 

There were quite a few restaurants when we left the training center.

 

I usually don’t have time to go there, but today it was worth a try.

 

“Oh, before we go to the training center, let’s stop by the park from yesterday. Let’s see if Choi Hee Young is still there.”

 

“Yeah.” Seo Jun replied curtly and followed me out of the house.

 

The park where we left Choi yesterday wasn’t far from the house. It would take me less than five minutes to get there if I could catch the pedestrian crossing signal.

 

“Seo Jun, you found this park yesterday as well.”

 

No matter how close it was, it would have been difficult to find the right park in a new neighborhood.

 

Seo Jun replied in a nonchalant tone. “Oh, that spatial ability you mentioned helped me.”

 

“Was that a skill that applied to real space?”

 

“No, not really. It’s just that my brain has adapted to it, and I’m better able to remember directions once I’ve seen them. It’s a side effect.”

 

In short, she remembered the location of a park she’d glimpsed while dozing off in a taxi yesterday morning.

 

“Wow, human navigation. Human sphere maps. Human street view. So, Seo Jun, can you just close your eyes and find your way around? By feeling?”

 

“I don’t know, but I guess it’ll come in handy when I get my driver’s license.”

 

“Oh, does getting a driver’s license have anything to do with memorizing directions?”

 

“I think it’s more useful than memorizing directions.”

 

“Oh, I see.”

 

“You have to get a driver’s license.” 

 

“If you can get a second license. What’s the point of getting one?” 

 

“No, you can get two.” 

 

Before we knew it, we were outside the park.

 

“Nothing.”

 

Choi Hee-young disappeared into a black box.

 

“I was expecting this, but it’s strange to see her in person. Where did she go and how did she get there?”

 

“The toilets in the park have mirrors.” Seo Jun said, looking at the place where the black box had been placed.

 

“I don’t know if they called a doll or something.”

 

Then she stomped off to the restroom in the corner of the park.

 

“Ah, there it is. Look, there’s a trail here.”

 

On the outside wall of the restroom building, on the surface of the full-length mirror between the entrances to the women’s and men’s restrooms.

 

On it was a fragment of a pattern.

 

I didn’t bother opening the door to see what was left of it.

 

I wouldn’t cough up blood like Yin Charang, but we weren’t prepared for that.

 

Seo Jun’s memory of March would still be fresh in her mind, and I was still not sure if I could stay sane there.

 

We were already involved, there would be another chance.

 

Seo Jun pulled a pen and notebook out of her bag and began to copy and draw the symbols.

 

“…Honestly, I don’t see the point in writing it down.”

 

The scar on her left arm, where she had removed the illusion spell, glowed red.