An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 143

The ghost of a monster that suddenly reappeared after being dead for two months.

 

We don’t know where he’s been hiding all this time, but it makes sense if he hasn’t come out of that “somewhere” yet.

 

 That means we only have one soul to deal with for now.

 

While this is hopeful news for the moment, I don’t feel very hopeful about the long term.

 

We don’t know when the other one will reappear.

 

 The amulet led us to the vegetable garden at the back of the school where the girl statue is located.

 

The central garden was a long rectangle surrounded by buildings on three sides, while the kitchen garden was more of a square. A short corridor connecting the main building to the annex served as the boundary between the two gardens, so that windows on either side of the corridor could look out into each garden.

 

 “There’s…”

 

 Seo Jun murmured quietly.

 

Outside the corridor window, in the vegetable garden, was the ghost of a monster.

 

 “Ah, ah. Can you hear me? We found a ghost in the garden, but the building is safe.”

 

—Yes. I’ll evacuate the main building first.

 

“And don’t go near the garden.”

 

—Yes, sir.

 

 After radioing the monster’s location, we carefully opened our accounts and entered the vegetable garden.

 

The monster was sitting in the middle of the lettuce garden with his back to us, growling. I immediately got goosebumps, as if I had stepped into a giant tomb instead of a vegetable garden.

 

 There was no sign of Narea.

 

 “Come on…”

 

 Sensing my approach, the monster slowly rose from its seat.

 

I squeezed my eyes shut in case I could see a tangle of pink hair under his body.

 

 “Hey, Baek Iri, come here. Your friend isn’t here.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“There’s this trail instead.”

 

 Seo Jun pointed to the glass window of the annex staircase, some distance from where we were standing.

 

 “Ah, bloodstains…”

 

 There was a thin, long line of blood on the staircase window that looked like someone had deliberately smeared it. Like a red thread stretched out to keep from getting lost in a maze.

 

 It was a thread that Narea had left behind as she fled from the monsters, marking the end of her path, telling them that I was at the end of the path and to come find me, marking her path as she screamed for blood.

 

 Somewhere upstairs in the annex, Narea is waiting.

 

 “Seo Jun. There’s only one of them anyway, don’t you think you can handle it?”

 

“Mmm.”

 

“Don’t you think it would be more efficient if we split up here? I’ll take care of this and you find the magic girl. How about that?”

 

“Efficient?”

 

 Seo Jun frowned for a moment.

 

 “If you want efficiency, we’d better swap roles, because I have a “defense”.”

 

 Her deep navy blue eyes searched my expression intently.

 

“……Aha.”

 

 She lets out a short exclamation and looks away. It’s a sign that she knows what I’m thinking.

 

 “Since it’s your boyfriend’s nemesis, you feel you have to take matters into your own hands, don’t you?”

 

“Hey, we don’t know if she’s dead or alive yet-“

 

“Whatever. I’m going to find your girlfriend, who I still don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”

 

Seo Jun waved her hand and went back into the annex.

 

 “What was her name again?”

 

“Narea.”

 

“Okay, you too, don’t waste too much time.”

 

 With this mumbled request, Seo Jun left the room without looking back in search of Narea.

 

 I wonder if she complies with these ridiculous demands because she thinks she owes me trust.

 

Now that she’s told me the whole story of the lies she told me, all I owe her is the right to hear my story, not a debt.

 

 Seo Jun doesn’t know much about me.

 

Unjustly.

 

 I’m grateful for the favor of not pressing her for details.

 

And since I’m not sure how long I can rely on this favor, I offer a silent apology.

 

 “Not today.”

 

I grab my baseball bat and stare straight into the monster’s glowing eyes.

 

It was just the right challenge to send the complex thoughts flying to the edge of consciousness.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“She got pretty far.”

 

 Seo Jun muttered to herself as she followed the blood trail to the second floor of the annex.

 

She had expected to find her in the stairwell between the first and second floor.

 

The blood trail continued up the stairs to a classroom at the end of the hall. The red trail on the wall, which had been flat when she’d fled, now curved diagonally downwards and dropped sharply from the middle of the hallway.

 

 Seo Jun hurried to the classroom door and pulled it open,

 

 “Ah.”

 

 A scene reminiscent of a crime scene unfolded in front of her.

 

Inside the classroom, a few feet from the front door, the desk legs and the floor were covered in bright red handprints.

 

A pink-haired girl lay dead in the middle of the pool of blood.

 

 Fortunately, the flat rise and fall of her chest and the slow blinking of her eyes spared her the panic of having to check her limp body to see if she was still breathing.

 

 Deep navy blue eyes met deep navy blue eyes.

 

 “Hey, buddy?”

 

“Yes?”

 

 Narea replied in a weak voice.

 

 “It’s Narea, isn’t it? Can you wake up?”

 

 Seo Jun asked, adding an awkward “yo” to the respectful answer.

 

 “Ahaha, as you can see… I have no strength in my body…”

 

 Narea could barely move her lips as she remained in a slumped position, unable to hold her head up. Her fingers twitched occasionally, but it didn’t result in any meaningful movement.

 

It was a wonder how she’d made it this far.

 

 “What about your mind?”

 

“I’m fine, but I feel a little sleepy… and maybe a little…”

 

“You shouldn’t fall asleep.”

 

“Hahaha, yeah…”

 

“Hang on.”

 

 Seo Jun fumbled in her pockets and clicked her tongue slightly when she realized that she was out of paper.

 

From the wastebasket at the back of the room, Seo Jun pulls out a relatively large sheet of white paper. She quickly scribbles something on it and pushes it into Narea’s hand.

 

 “……?”

 

“This will make you feel better. You know you’re cursed, right?”

 

“Ah… the curse. That was the curse…”

 

 The five fingers that barely covered the paper on her palm gradually grew stronger, and soon she could make a fist.

 

 “Thank you… I don’t know what it is, but I feel a little better…”

 

“You don’t look like you’re ready for a long speech yet. Just say half a sentence, we’re the same age.”

 

 Unable to stand the awkward respect, Seo Jun let go first.

 

 “It’s going to take a while, so just hang in there.”

 

“Ahaha, yeah…”

 

 Seo Jun’s eyes clearly saw the shape of the curse around Narea’s neck.

 

It was definitely not an intentional curse, but one that was carefully and elaborately designed. The monster’s soul wouldn’t even know the concept of a curse.

 

 Unlike a normal curse, which involves many intricate steps from preparation to execution, with malice carefully pressed into place, this was more like a momentary burst of raw, colorful rage unleashed with great power.

 

 Yet it is called a curse because it was the very nature of the curse that brought Narea down.

 

 When the spirit of the hunted animal confronts the hunter who killed it, the rage quickly takes shape and direction.

 

 “Oh, it was a monster I killed? Ha, ha, ha, kind of…”

 

 Narea chuckles weakly at Seo Jun’s short explanation while she carefully removes the curse from around her neck.

 

 “I’m a little confused as to whether you started this to save people or because you wanted to get your hands dirty…”

 

“Well, you’re talking a lot more, so I guess you’ve gotten a little better.”

 

“Thanks to you.”

 

 Before, her upper and lower lips had just twitched together, but now the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, as if she’d regained some energy.

 

 “You’re an exorcist too, aren’t you? Did she send you here?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I see. Are you close to Iri?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wow, that’s nice…”

 

 Seo Jun didn’t understand the envious tone, so instead of letting the conversation end there, she asked.

 

 “Weren’t you also close to Baek Iri? She used to be a magic girl too.”

 

“We’re pretty close now… But back then, when I really wanted to be close, I wasn’t. I was just “name and face” to her.”

 

‘I don’t think so.’

 

Seo Jun started to retort, but then changed her mind and fell silent.

 

Thump! Thump! Wham!

 

 The sound of a curse being gently peeled from sticky skin, as if it had become a part of it, and the echoing sounds of a battle in a vegetable garden filled the air of the deserted classroom.

 

 “Is that Iri fighting?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I want to see it… I’ve never seen Iri fight a real monster before…”

 

 Does the soul of a dead monster count as a “real monster”? Only its appearance is that of a living monster, all other attributes belong to the realm of exorcism.

 

Seo Jun asks inwardly.

 

 “Narea, are you usually a talkative person?”

 

“Ahhhh… do you want me to be quiet?”

 

“No, thank you. Can you turn your head?”

 

“Oh, a little.”

 

“A little to the right.”

 

 It was to remove the curse on her neck. Narea slowly, with difficulty, turned her head to the right.

 

 “Can you do that?”

 

“Like this?”

 

“What you’re doing now.”

 

“Ah.”

 

 The basis of curse removal is to tap into the power of the curse with the spiritual power of the exorcist.

 

Depending on the type and form of the curse, there are different ways to counteract or destroy it. Some curses have specific destruction conditions, such as the need to maintain good health or the need to watch for secondary damage, so there are different things to consider for each curse.

 

Of course, if you have overwhelming spiritual power, you can break any curse, no matter what it is. It’s just that you’ll be a bit of a wreck because you didn’t choose the right curse removal method.

 

 “I don’t know if she’s ever done it before, but even if she hasn’t, she’s probably good at it if you ask her.”

 

“I see.”

 

“There’s nothing an exorcist can’t do.”

 

 S⁺-grade talent.

 

Seo Jun stared at her disheveled pink hair for a moment, then spoke.

 

 “That doesn’t mean I’m going to risk your neck for Baek Iri right now, so can you just relax? I don’t know if you’re expecting or worried…”

 

“Haha, why?”

 

“Because Baek Iri… doesn’t really seem to want to see you like this.”

 

“What does that mean?” Narea mumbled almost inaudibly.

 

Seo Jun knew she wasn’t asking a question, but she spoke anyway.

 

 “It means that unlike the human Narea, the magical girl Narea is stuffed.”