An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 128

“Thank you for participating in the June formal evaluation. Now, everyone, dismissed!”

 

It’s 9:55 p.m., and it’s completely dark outside the window.

 

Mr. Kwang In-joo, the second-grade teacher at Branch 4, had dismissed the class exactly five minutes earlier than usual.

 

“Wow, Mr. Kang is giving a full lecture. Even high school students don’t do that… Hyaaaaah…”

 

Hwang Hanju ran down the stairs exhausted.

 

“Hey, that fat high school student had a class yesterday. You skipped school too.”

 

“Are you still so ignorant about In-joo? You must be very grateful to him for getting out five minutes early…”

 

Yeo Seon-yeo and Yin Charang walked past Hwang Hanju one by one and gave him a pin glass.

 

“You’re all worse than high school students…”

 

Hanju’s voice was full of frustration.

 

Seo Jun and I followed them down the stairs without saying a word. Unlike the rest of my friends who had time to relax and recharge yesterday, I was in no mood to say anything after spending the day in tension.

 

“See you tomorrow!”

 

“See you tomorrow…”

 

“You’ll see Hanju tomorrow, right?”

 

“I’ll be responsible for bringing him.”

 

After exchanging greetings as usual at the bus stop, Hanju, Seon-yeo, and Charang each got on a bus and left.

 

“We should go now, too.”

 

 It was Seo Jun’s and my turn to go home.

 

“Good thing I packed enough stuff for two or three days.”

 

“That’s true. Are your bags heavy? Do you need me to carry them?”

 

“No thanks.”

 

Now that Seo Jun has a defense, she doesn’t have to stay at my house.

 

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow, then. Be careful, Baek Iri.”

 

Seo Jun waves goodbye.

 

“Yeah, tomorrow… We’ll be able to go to school… tomorrow, right?”

 

“We should. Missing three days in a row is a bit much, don’t you think?”

 

“It is.”

 

“Well, if you don’t come to school, I’m going to use my lunch break and come to your house.”

 

“Dude, you don’t know my house, I know your house. Room 1504, right? Get ready, Seo Jun.”

 

We exchanged a few more words of encouragement and then headed home.

 

 

* * * 

 

 

Wednesday morning.

 

My eyes flew open at the second alarm.

 

“School!”

 

Ten minutes later than usual, but not enough to make me late if I hurried.

 

My eyes landed on the note I hadn’t taken off the fridge last night.

 

I hope I never need that again.

 

I felt strangely guilty for taking it off.

 

I wondered if I’d wasted the day’s resolve, or if I was still too nervous to put it away.

 

‘I’ll think about it after school, I’ll think about it after school.’

 

I had a premonition that if I started digging in the wrong direction, my thoughts would never end. I put the memorandum aside and went to school.

 

“What?! What the hell, you’re a truant!”

 

The first person to greet me at school was Hanbyul.

 

We met in the stairwell.

 

“Oh, Hanbyul, aren’t you…”

 

“Do you know how worried I was when I thought you had dropped out? What will the school do without you?”

 

“That’s why I’m here now.”

 

The voice hit my eardrums in such a squeaky way that I wanted to record it and use it as my morning alarm.

 

Listening to it, I realized I was back to my normal routine.

 

“Look how big the void was without you. It’s black.”

 

Cha Hanbyul pretended to cry exaggeratedly.

 

Hanbyul’s characteristic exaggerated reactions made me want to hug her.

 

“If anyone heard me, they’d think I spent my vacation alone. I only had two days off.”

 

“Dude, it’s been two weeks for us.”

 

“What happened while I was away…”

 

Hanbyul began to talk excitedly, as if she had been waiting for me.

 

“There was a huge puddle of water on the floor of the science lab. I wiped it off, I didn’t know where it came from, but it just kept coming back up. It was like a water park. The classroom was gurgling!”

 

A leak?

 

Is she really going to tell me everything that has nothing to do with me?

 

“You don’t really think I can fix the water problem, do you?”

 

“No, I’m just saying I don’t think it’s a water problem. Most of us, including me, thought it was just water, but some of the kids were a little…”

 

Hanbyul continued with an air of arrogance, as if the mere mention of it automatically made her frown.

 

“Some of them said that the water smelled like iron or fishy, and some of them said that the color of the water was off. At first, I thought it was aggro, but they weren’t the kind of kids who would play around with things like that… Oh, and one of my teachers also said that the water was strangely colored. I think it was my first-grade science teacher, but whatever.”

 

“When did this happen?”

 

“Well, it’s been like that since the third period yesterday, and it still hasn’t been fixed. She just gave up because it leaked again when she wiped it down, so she’s probably got a giant piece of plastic over it now.”

 

“Oh… it looks like a crime scene.”

 

“Yeah, if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was a murder scene. Oh, right. Something happened last night.”

 

Two days in a row.

 

“Huh, what a shitty school…”

 

“That’s what I always say, what a shitty school.”

 

“How did you live before I transferred?”

 

“Well, we just got by somehow, but they were pretty good about letting us leave early for sick days and stuff, so it was okay.”

 

I was almost moved to tears by her resigned, almost nirvana-like tone.

 

“Oh, I think she quietly took care of our class and the library once or twice.”

 

“Aha, I see.”

 

When Hanbyul caught her breath from sobbing, I wondered if I should ask her what happened yesterday or where she was going.

 

“By the way, Hanbyul.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Weren’t you on your way down to do something? Isn’t it okay to kill time here-“

 

“That’s right, the broadcasting department!” 

 

Hanbyul became thoughtful in an instant.

 

“We’ll talk more later, sorry!”

 

It’s a good thing she got that out first. She ran down three flights of stairs and was out of sight in three seconds.

 

I was about to go upstairs to the classroom when I stopped.

 

“Let’s check out the science lab.”

 

It sounded like rotten blood from the description, but I wanted to see it for myself, to see what it looked like under the plastic cover.

 

“Is the science lab open at this time…? Oh, no. Let’s go to the library first.”

 

I was about to go to the science lab, but I changed my mind and decided to go to the library. I wanted to make sure that Seo Jun, the library’s morning supervisor, had arrived at the school.

 

The hallway was quiet because not many people used the library in the morning.

 

“Uh, good morning.”

 

I greeted the librarian quietly and slipped inside.

 

*Thump, swoosh. *

 

I heard the faint sound of someone moving behind the bookshelves.

 

“Seo Jun?”

 

“……?”

 

A familiar face poked its head out of the pile of books.

 

It was Seo Jun. Damn, she made it to school on time!

 

“Good morning. Why are you in the library?”

 

“To see if you’re in school.”

 

“I got a text.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Seo Jun smiled at my stupid answer.

 

“Well, while you’re here, say hello to Doryung.”

 

“Ah…!”

 

Sure enough, there was Doryung in the library, a ghost Seo Jun was friends with.

 

A ghost with a blue core and no memory of her former life.

 

“This way.”

 

“Ah.”

 

I’ve been saying “ah” a lot lately, but that’s probably because I’m in a bad mood.

 

“Are you awake?”

 

“I think so. I’m speechless, ugh.”

 

“I can see that.”

 

Seo Jun led me to a window seat in the corner of the library where the grimoires were kept.

 

“Ah, it’s been a while.”

 

Doryung greeted me with the same cheerful voice as the first time we met. Of course, she was still dressed in her cozy winter clothes.

 

“Come visit me sometime or I’ll forget your face.”

 

“I will. I’ll come often.”

 

It was almost curfew, so I had to go.

 

“See you later.”

 

“Mmm, see you.”

 

“Seo Jun, you better get organized. The morning class is going to start.”

 

I gave a last wave to Doryung, who was lazily enjoying the early summer sunshine, and went to the classroom.

 

The teacher was already in the classroom before we started.

 

“Good morning.”

 

“Are you feeling well?”

 

She asked formally. She must have realized that Seo Jun and I weren’t really sick.

 

“Oh yeah. Haha.”

 

“Sore?”

 

“Well, my muscles are sore… Yeah.”

 

Let’s not be long-winded.

 

“For two whole days?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You and Seo Jun and both of you?”

 

“Yes… No, she, Seo Jun, has a sore throat…”

 

“Okay, sit down.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Fortunately, he seemed to look away.

 

“Does Seo Jun have a body ache or a cold, is it the third day?”

 

“No. She’s in the library, her, uh, shift.”

 

“Oh, the library? Tell her to leave her bag in the classroom from now on. I get confused whether she’s here or not.”

 

“Okay.”

 

That was the end of our attendance problems.

 

Seo Jun and a few other late students came to class late, and the usual routine followed.

 

“Who has the empty seat?”

 

“Hanbyul. Broadcasting department…”

 

“Oh, okay. Good luck in first period, and don’t sleep.”

 

The teacher just checked the attendance and went back to the office with her usual advice.

 

As soon as the teacher left the classroom, half of the students banged their heads on their desks, almost like a mantra.

 

Only Hanbyul’s eyes shone brightly. Her raylike gaze was fixed on me.

 

“Well, let’s talk outside, everyone’s asleep.”

 

“Yeah!”

 

We had some time before the first period bell rang, and we picked up where we left off in the stairwell, far away from the classroom.

 

“Where were we?”

 

“Just tell me what happened on Monday.”

 

“Oh, right! Yesterday, that was Monday…”

 

Hanbyul took a breath.

 

“……?”

 

I listened with bated breath as the mood suddenly turned serious.

 

But the next words out of her mouth were, “On Monday, I was on…, but I don’t know exactly what happened.”

 

I was stunned.

 

“What?”

 

“Some third-year girls just asked you to do a request. They said something must have happened to you and about something falling…”

 

“Oh, come on. I thought you knew everything.”

 

“Oh, sorry. I was acting as their liaison.”

 

A liaison?

 

“I’ll let the third-grade class president know when you go to work. Oh, and Mr. Jang Jin-cheol!”

 

“Huh? Mr. Jang is looking for me too?”

 

“Uh, Monday.”

 

Oh, come to think of it, I didn’t keep in touch with him. I realized that I had a pile of unread texts and messages.

 

I quickly pulled out my phone and scanned through the backlog of messages.

 

“Oh, shit.”

 

Monday morning.

 

There was a text message from Mr. Jang.