An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 137

The window was covered to keep the monster out of sight, so we didn’t get any visual information, but we did get a vivid sense that things were going badly.

 

*BANG! Pow! Pow! BANG!*

 

The sound of rapid-fire magic assaulted our eardrums.

 

 “You…, back off! I’d rather… out and survive…  from…!”

 

*Bang, Bang!*

 

*Thud, thud, thud!*

 

I think she just told them to back off, but the gunfire didn’t stop. Whoever it is, she’s a dirty, stubborn magical girl.

 

 While I was listening to the sound coming from beyond the door, Yang Ji-won tapped me and Seo Jun on the shoulder and showed me the screen of her cell phone.

 

─Did you hear that?

─It looks like magical attacks aren’t working at all.

─They’re retreating.

─What’s going on? Are we going to get out of here alive?

 

It was a text message from Kwon Yuri.

 

By the way, my friends from the drama team of the drama club said they would stay and try to guess the sum today.

 

Self-study at night hadn’t resumed yet, but clubs, project-related activities, and subject-specific makeup work were allowed until 6:00 p.m.

 

 As of today, it looks like all of that will be forbidden.

 

 By the way, my magic attacks aren’t working.

 

What does that mean?

 

I stare at Yang Ji-won with narrowed eyes and shake my head in confusion.

 

I look around, hoping for answers, but the others seem to know nothing except that hope is dying.

 

 They clasped their hands together, huddled into a ball, or wrapped their arms around their faces as if holding on to something would calm them down.

 

 “Uh…”

 

 Yang Ji-won, tired of the vibrations that were clearly transmitted through the walls and floor, pulled her knees together.

 

She scribbled something on a notepad and showed it to me.

 

—Hanbyul went home, right? She didn’t answer, which made me wonder.

 

Hanbyul?

 

I saw her running out excitedly with her bag, saying she didn’t have to work in the broadcasting department today.

 

 Yang Ji-won nods that she thinks so, and she looks relieved.

 

Ji-won is stuck in the middle of a battle between a magical girl and a monster, helpless, and worried about her friend.

 

I wonder if she cares more because she knows better than anyone that Hanbyul is not a child.

 

 If Hanbyul had stayed at school, she would have rushed to the broadcast room to make an announcement.

 

“There are monsters roaming the school, so don’t make a lot of noise and evacuate or hide.” or something like that.

 

Hanbyul wouldn’t have hesitated, even though she didn’t know how many monsters there were, because broadcasting is something that only officials and broadcasters who know how to use the device can do.

 

 Cha Hanbyul was the kind of person who would jump into the middle of danger without hesitation with her characteristic clarity and determination.

 

Whether it was following me and Seo Jun into the rift during the all-school first and second place play or handing her student ID to a ghost during the all-night study incident not long ago.

 

 It was something completely different from the mission of the student council.

 

I put my fears aside and do what I can.

 

The toughness that lay beneath her sunny personality often manifested itself like this.

 

 “…back here.”

 

 Seo Jun whispered so that only I could hear her.

 

 “Huh?”

 

“What did she just say, why doesn’t she have an attack spell?”

 

 Knowing that I was once a wannabe magical girl, Seo Jun seemed to expect a clear explanation from me.

 

 “Uh, well. I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

 

“You were a magical girl.”

 

“I’ve been a magical girl for seven years, and I’ve never heard of anything like this, not even once.”

 

 I’ve had countless problems with my magic not having enough firepower, not doing enough damage, and not being efficient enough,

 

 “Damn…, it doesn’t work at all…, that’s why I said ….!”

 

 It’s the first time I’ve ever seen an attack with zero damage.

 

All I could hear was the constant sound of the magical girl firing her attack magic, but I never felt the impact of the attack when it landed on the monster.

 

The light that constantly flashed through the cracks in the paper taped to the window was also caused by the casting of the spell, not the explosion of the spell as it accomplished its purpose.

 

To use an analogy, the flame on the fuse of a bomb burns brightly, but the flames that explode when the bomb detonates are non-existent.

 

 “This is not working. I need to see it with my own eyes.”

 

 I stood up as slowly as I could so as not to startle my friends.

 

 “……?”

 

 Everyone held their breath, careful not to turn their heads, but such a big move was enough to draw attention.

 

 “I’m just going to take a peek outside. Don’t worry, I won’t open the door.”

 

 I lifted myself up on my heels and cautiously approached the hallway window, my whole body telling me this wasn’t a rash move.

 

I could feel sixteen pairs of eyes following my every move. I must have stepped up to the plate, because the sounds of battle were so loud and clear that I couldn’t look away.

 

What is this sudden burden, eh?

 

Burdened with the task of spying, I scraped off the paper and the tape that had frozen the window frame.

 

*Tick, tick, tadat─*

 

The slightest sound of my nails hitting the window frame made my hair stand on end.

 

 The battlefield wasn’t far from the student council room.

 

I would have been relieved if it had been a monster that had pushed me towards the stairs. Unfortunately, with the monster and the magical girl facing each other, it was the monster that was closer to the student council room.

 

 “…Fetter?

 

 Coincidentally, the monster’s species was also called Fetter.

 

The same monster that was destroyed by Narea the last time it invaded the field.

 

Was it just a coincidence? Or is there something about this school that attracts the Fetters?

 

‘I hope not the latter.’

 

The possibility of the latter flashed through my mind, and goosebumps broke out all over my body.

 

If that’s the case, it would mean that we’d be seeing a lot more of the same in the future.

 

 This school is not only haunted, it’s also infested by monsters.

 

Well, there’s nothing more to see. It’s going to be closed before we can do anything.

 

 The magical girl took a moment to catch her breath from her furious attack, so I didn’t get a chance to see why the magic was not working.

 

Whether the magic hit the monster’s epidermis and bounced off, or whether it lost its power and disintegrated into thin air before it even reached the monster, or whether it was deflected by some unknown force and missed its target, it was still unknown how or why attack magic was being negated.

 

 “No more… I’m going to… it.”

 

 The magical girl, who had been expressing her bewilderment with her whole body during the entire confrontation with the monster, now seemed to have given up and was about to retreat.

 

*Thump, thump, thump, thump*

 

 

The monster chased the magical girl out of the student council room.

 

I caught a glimpse of the monster’s backside as it disappeared down the stairs, then quietly returned to my seat and collapsed.

 

 “How was it out there?”

 

 Yang Ji-won asked aloud, speaking for all of us. Her voice was lighter than before, as if she could breathe easier now that the monster was gone.

 

 When I hesitated, unable to come up with something uplifting to say, Seo Jun poked me in the knee.

 

 “We all know things aren’t good,” she said, “but we’re going to be worried anyway, and it’s better to be worried and know what’s going on.”

 

 The others around the table nodded in agreement.

 

Insubstantial fear can absorb the human imagination and grow to infinite dimensions, but fear that’s been exposed doesn’t eat away at the psyche as much.

 

I suppose that’s why they chose to listen.

 

 I understand the feeling, but I’m not sure… You shouldn’t expect much.

 

All you’re waiting for is the news that we still don’t know why the Magical Girl is being pushed around helplessly and that Mukgyeong Girls’ High School is one step closer to being closed.

 

 “…It looks like the Magical Girl who’s been holding out on the second floor is retreating as well. I guess she’s decided that she doesn’t stand a chance right now. I didn’t see her fight, so I don’t know what the problem is, and…”

 

 I deliberately didn’t give her a chance to despair.

 

 “That monster in the hallway, it’s the same species as the one that showed up on the field in April. His name is Fetter, you’ve heard of him, right?”

 

 Some of the students just stare at each other, some squint, some bob their heads up and down, trying to make sense of it all.

 

Soo-yeon and her short-haired friend sitting next to her exchange a word or two and then say, “It’s true, isn’t it?” with a certain amount of conviction.

 

 Yang Ji-won gestured for them to say it out loud for everyone to hear.

 

“It’s nothing, it’s just that I remember hearing that there’s a monster called Fetter that travels in packs… and I was wondering if it’s from the group that got killed last time and it’s here to take revenge…”

 

 Well, that really didn’t help.

 

 “Revenge? Now?”

 

 Yang Ji-won tilted her head.

 

It was a plausible scenario, but it was still a bit strange for the rest of the group to show up after all this time.

 

 “That aside, what are we supposed to do now…”

 

 Someone muttered, and everyone’s jaw dropped at the last word.

 

*Tick, tock, Tick, Tock*

 

 The second hand of a clock makes its presence felt in the silence.

 

*Tick, tock, Tick, Tock*

 

 A passing cloud obscures the sun, sending a streak of rain into the fluorescent-lit classroom.

 

I wonder if we’ll never get out of here until nightfall.

 

 I wonder if we’ll make it to the point of total darkness in the first place.

 

The summer days are long.

 

 “Gaaaaaaaaaah…!”

 

“Kiiiiiiiit…!”

 

“Keeeeeeeeee, keeeeeeeeee! Keeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

 

The howls of the monsters echoed, overlapping from all directions.

 

At least three of them.

 

One quickly chased the magical girl down to the ground floor, one was somewhere upstairs, and the other,

 

 “…this is crazy.”

 

 They were climbing up the outside wall of the school building.

 

A huge shadow fell on the blinds covering the central garden window.

 

* Koo-woo-woo.*

 

The window frame vibrated as if it would shatter with each heavy footstep.

 

*Thump, thump, thump*

 

The monster climbs the wall to the third floor and stops moving.

 

 The head tilts around as if searching for something, then turns greedily.

 

I wish this was some kind of shadow play where the audience inside the classroom and the stage outside would never mix, but unfortunately, this is real life.

 

Fucking reality.

 

 “…guys.”

 

 I managed to say through my burning throat.

 

 “Get out.”