An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 134

Why did a water ghost that had been haunting the science lab for months, if not longer, show itself to people for the first time just yesterday?

 

 I was able to come up with a plausible explanation for this question.

 

When I shifted my perspective from why it hadn’t appeared to why it “couldn’t” appear, the answer came quickly.

 

 The second science lab was on a different floor and along the same line as the third-grade classroom.

 

In other words, I could intuitively see the “Tinker” falling out of the window in the second science lab as well as in the first.

 

 And that meant that the science lab, like the first classroom, was under the influence of a very powerful spirit.

 

 It couldn’t afford to invade people’s senses because it was too busy fighting the Tinker.

 

 Both the tinker and the water ghost in the science lab were much stronger than most ghosts. Since their territories overlapped, it was inevitable that there would be a clash of forces.

 

The stronger of the two, the Tinker, could easily enter the human audiovisual system, but the weaker Water Spirit would have had a hard time fighting the same spirit.

 

That’s why I was able to make my presence known to the people in earnest the day after the Tinker’s sudden disappearance.

 

 I’m 99% sure that I was right.

 

The only thing left to do was to confirm it to them,

 

 I thought it was…

 

 

* * *

 

 

*Shatter! *

 

“What was that?”

 

 The sound of shattering glass was enough to shake the lazy afternoon peace.

 

 “Oh, what a surprise…”

 

“Is our school finally going down?”

 

“Look at those assholes waking us all up, pissed off. Seriously, it’s ridiculous.”

 

“So what?”

 

 The words I uttered in surprise were soon drowned out by the bell.

 

 “Is this the end of class…?”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s go see!”

 

“Where is it? Who broke it?”

 

“Hey, hey, it’s the second floor, the second floor!”

 

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a school window broken. I think it’s been since middle school.”

 

“How did it break in middle school?”

 

“The boys in the next class were fighting, and I hit them. Hehe, it would be funny if someone got into a fight today.”

 

“Crazy.”

 

 Except for a few people who had no interest in what was going on in the world, everyone was intensely interested in this rare event, and the five or six of us who had any energy left insisted on seeing it for ourselves and rushed out of class as soon as it was over to find the source of the incident.

 

The hallway quickly became a hive of activity as onlookers poured in from every class.

 

 “Did the ghost wake up?!”

 

“No!”

 

 Several people shouted here and there.

 

 “If it wasn’t a ghost, then what was it, a real fight, Baek Iri, don’t you want to know?”

 

 Seo Jun asked casually as we waited for the crowded hallway to clear.

 

 “I’m curious, but not enough to chase after them like that. Oh, and I should probably get back to my exorcism.”

 

“That’s too bad. If you were free, we could watch it together.”

 

“No, I’m not curious enough to go, I’ll ask Hanbyul to tell me later.”

 

 I actually tried to sneak by on my way to the exorcism and hear what was going on in real time, but I was stabbed and denied it outright.

 

‘Was this just Seo Jun’s way of making sure I didn’t go off on a tangent?’

 

 “Go.”

 

“Bye.”

 

 Seo Jun waved lightly and collapsed on her desk.

 

 “Ugh, so many people.”

 

 The usually noisy hallway was even more crowded today.

 

As she pushed through the clusters of chattering students and made her way down to the second floor where the science labs were located, an ominous premonition struck her.

 

 “Wait. Why does it get more crowded the closer I get to the science labs? Oh, no.”

 

 I was right.

 

The glass must have shattered on the second floor.

 

 “At least it wasn’t the science room next door. You were in class.”

 

“Yeah. It’s too bad no one was on this side. What if someone had been hurt?”

 

 It was the second science room’s window overlooking the playground that was shattered.

 

As I pushed my way through the milling crowd, I saw a gym teacher and two students working hard to clean up the shattered glass. I couldn’t get a good look at them over the heads of the onlookers, but I could tell the window was pretty badly shattered.

 

 “……?”

 

 But wait, it’s the science room, so why is the gym teacher cleaning up the mess and not the science teacher?

 

As I desperately searched for someone to explain the situation, a very familiar voice caught my attention.

 

 “Oh, come here! You’re here too, aren’t you?”

 

“Ha-Hanbyul…!”

 

 It was Cha Hanbyul, the Mukgyeong Girls’ High School’s yard dog and one of the most popular girls, who never misses a fun event.

 

‘Oh, I see. There’s no way Hanbyul would miss such an unusual event.’

 

Before I could even ask her, she started reciting all the stories she had seen and heard.

 

 “No, we’re in the second grade and we’ve been playing tag in gym class lately. I was just in sixth grade, and did you know that there’s a girl in sixth grade named Sung-eun who sings “Sung-eun is coming down to earth”?”

 

“I’ve never heard of her.”

 

“Have you really never heard of Sung-eun? She’s famous for her strength. She won first place in arm wrestling at the track meet this year.”

 

 It started as a catch, but before I knew it, we were talking about Sung-eun’s status in 6th grade.

 

 “Honestly, even in the tug-of-war, Yoo Sung-eun had this hard carry.”

 

 After the athletic meeting, whenever there was hard work in 6th grade, Yoo Sung-eun was mentioned. “This is hard even for Yoo Sung-eun” or “Yoo Sung-eun can do it”. Apparently, Yoo Sung-eun had become a symbol of strength, a standard, a measure, or something.

 

 “Uh, so what happened to the, uh, window?”

 

“Oh, the window? I was just playing catch again, and it was like, “Meteor praises the power! Woo! Woo!” Yoo Sung-eun threw the farthest ball ever.”

 

 Hanbyul explains enthusiastically, even pretending to throw a baseball.

 

Hanbyul, who is the first in the whole school because she is cute and cheerful… Shouldn’t she be in the drama team instead of the broadcasting team?

 

She was so eager to get to the point that I couldn’t stop her, so I meekly let my brain be carried away by this huge stream of chatter.

 

 “Yeah, that girl Sung-eun must be really strong.”

 

“They said the ball sounded different when it flew. The kids were just talking about how she could throw a baseball like a meteor and knock down a building.”

 

“…? That’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

 

“Sung-eun used her arrogance award to say something that made sense at first, but now she’s given up and just enjoys it, so these ridiculous treats are the norm in 6th class.”

 

 Unfortunately, Yoo Sung-eun’s friend had already become a meme in her own right.

 

 “But you know, I don’t think any of us realized what we were joking about would turn into something so big. That’s kind of what started the whole thing, the whole building-breaking thing.”

 

 Oh, finally, to the point.

 

 “They were bored, so they decided to do it themselves. She said that even if the building didn’t actually fall down, at least one brick would fall out. Honestly, you’re curious, aren’t you?”

 

“Oh, so they hit a baseball against the school building?”

 

“Yeah, that’s right, she said she aimed for the brick part of the exterior wall, but unfortunately it hit the second-floor window.”

 

‘…What’s with all the crazy stories?’

 

 “Anyway, so now Sung-eun, her catching buddy, and the gym teacher are repairing the damage.”

 

“Aha.”

 

 But who’s supposed to pay for this window?

 

“Don’t you think it’s a little pitiful for Yoo Sung-eun to pay for it alone? Honestly, I think the kids who coaxed her should chip in a buck or two.”

 

“No, that’s not the point.”

 

 “Hey…, it’s the science lab. Oh dear.”

 

 Hearing my sighing muttering, Hanbyul’s eyes lit up and she spoke again.

 

 “Really?! Why the science room?! Wow, now that I think about it, it’s really weird, really, really weird. The second science room here must be on a bad foundation.”

 

 There’s also the possibility that a ghost prompted her to throw the ball that way, but wait…

 

 “Hanbyul, what did you just say?”

 

“What? I said that the second science room is on bad ground.”

 

“No, before that.”

 

“The window broke right after the water problem was fixed…? This?”

 

“Yeah, that one.”

 

 I don’t know what expression I’m making right now. I hope it doesn’t look like I’m angry.

 

 “When I came in to clean up the glass, I saw that the water had already been cleaned up, but I thought you took care of that?”

 

 The water was cleaned up…?

 

The water ghost is gone? It’s gone? What am I going to do now?

 

 For a moment, I thought I’d lost it forever, and my heart raced, but I quickly calmed down and regained my senses.

 

‘What’s wrong with you, stupid heart? He’ll be dragged back here in less than five minutes.’

 

 This was just a shallow evasion by the bastard who expected me to be here around this time.

 

I guess it’s hoping that I’ll get tired of its shenanigans and leave it alone so it can try to escape somehow… ‘Haha, no way. I’m going to chase it as far as I can.’

 

 “Excuse me, I’m coming through.”

 

 I push through the crowd of onlookers and step into the science lab.

 

 “Don’t come in. I haven’t finished cleaning the glass yet—”

 

“I’m sorry, sir. I just need to check something.”

 

 I didn’t go any further, my eyes scanned the inside.

 

As Hanbyul had said, the floor was bone dry, without a single drop of water.

 

 The water ghost had escaped by trying to replace the glass as soon as it broke.

 

I don’t know if it found its own way out by aiming the orb that way, or if it just happened to see an opportunity to escape.

 

 I’ll just wait it out, why go to all that trouble…’

 

 I felt my brow furrow.

 

‘Half-man, half-frog, if you’re going to be dragged back here, please come after the onlookers have left. Don’t make a big fuss.’

 

 If he suddenly drowned again, everyone would go crazy, and there would be a lot of commotion. It was obvious.

 

But luckily they’re digging it up now. The glass shards were almost all cleaned up, and the crowd of students lost interest and went back to their classes.

 

 “Come on, let’s go.”

 

“Yes.”

 

 I let Hanbyul drag me by the hand, but I kept my eyes on the back corner of the science lab.

 

There, the “something” that had been swapped with the water ghost lay in a heap.

 

I was the only one who could recognize it, given that no one else had mentioned it – not the cleaners, not the onlookers, not Hanbyul, not anyone else.

 

 It was an arm.

 

The arm of a ghost that had been torn off, along with part of the collar of a white Hanbok.