An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 149

“Not once or twice?”

 

 I asked dumbly, and instead of answering, Seo Jun gestured to a corner of the floor.

 

Seo Jun’s fingertips pointed to the spot where the hem of the hanbok and the core of the tinker had just been.

 

On the ashen concrete floor, a white chalk “wellhead” shape remained. It was smaller than the palm of her hand, and the lines weren’t sharp, so I wouldn’t have noticed it if Seo Jun hadn’t pointed it out to me.

 

 “It can’t be the first time this shape has been drawn on this spot, I guess…”

 

 Seo Jun crouches down and looks at the shape.

 

 “Twenty to twenty-five times, maybe?”

 

“What? That many?”

 

 I crouch down next to her.

 

 “What the hell do you know from looking at it?”

 

“Afterimages.”

 

 She answers, tracing a jagged white line with her finger.

 

 “You see it too?”

 

“An afterimage…? Ah.”

 

 The reason the line looks dull, like it was drawn in chalk, is because it’s made up of many thin, whitish strokes.

 

Some of the overlapping white strokes looked like they had been drawn a long time ago, so blurred that I could only make them out if I put my head down and stared.

 

 When I asked Seo Jun how she found it, she shrugged it off as no big deal and cupped her chin with one hand.

 

 “I can see the power in the symbols,” she says.

 

 It’s easy to see how much energy is in each stroke.

 

 “From the first time I saw the form, it looked to me like dozens of layers of energy.”

 

 She says she could feel the faded lines that had been drawn long ago, the semi-weakened lines, and the vibrant lines that had been drawn more recently.

 

This made it easy to see that there were multiple lines.

 

 “So what does this symbol do?”

 

 A simple shape of two horizontal lines crossed by two vertical lines.

 

I wonder what it means.

 

 “First, let me tell you what kind of power this symbol holds. It’s the power to “strengthen” something that already exists.”

 

 Seo Jun started to explain slowly. Her voice was indecipherable, as if she was relaxed or not.

 

 “So there’s a main and this square is just a sub?”

 

“That’s right. I can’t do anything with it alone. You have to give it something to strengthen it.”

 

“Reinforce what?”

 

My impatience shows in my question, but Seo Jun calms me down with the assurance that I’ll find the answer on my own and moves on to the next point.

 

 “It’s designed to unleash its power through the ghost’s core about two or three hours after the seal is drawn.”

 

“Through the ghost’s core? Oh, so the Tinker is…”

 

 His body was torn to shreds and his core was half melted, having been used in some unidentified ritual.

 

The ritual symbols had been drawn at least twenty times. This meant that there were at least twenty other ghost cores that had been sacrificed.

 

 “And maybe two or three weeks between the rituals.”

 

“Aha, that confirms it was Heo Kyung-wook.”

 

 If we assume that the damned ritual was performed twice a month for a total of 25 times, that would mean that the first ritual was performed around June last year.

 

 That’s about a year ago, right after the haunting of Mukgyeong Girls’ High School began in earnest.

 

 The pieces are slowly coming together.

 

All that’s left is a final conviction.

 

 “Do you remember what I drew during my defense? The squares mean trap.”

 

 I nodded and she continued.

 

 “And the fact that the corners don’t end at the apex, but extend further out, means that the force stays within the area to which it was applied.”

 

“So what you’re saying is, “We’re going to keep a certain area closed,” right? Oh, right.”

 

 The conclusion came quickly.

 

The layered, well-shaped markings on the floor reinforced the “what”.

 

 Seo Jun tapped her fingers lightly on the floor, casually picking up on my words.

 

 “That’s right. He realized that there was a barrier trapping souls in this school, and he’s been performing rituals to strengthen it for the past year.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Senior, I wonder if you have any problems…”

 

 At noon, Kim Hae-yoon, who was waiting for me in the vegetable garden, was surprised to see my expression.

 

 “Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry.”

 

 I glanced at my phone screen and noticed that my face was set in a grim line, so I quickly softened my expression.

 

I had been thinking about the events of the morning.

 

 I knew that Heo Kyung-wook was extremely reluctant to solve the ghost problem, but I didn’t realize that he was actually encouraging the ghost problem to continue for a long time.

 

It wasn’t enough that the son of the headmaster wouldn’t let me throw water on the fire, he poured oil on it himself.

 

 Whether Heo Kyung-wook has something to do with this or something else is something I’ll find out later, but for now it’s time to focus on the friend in front of us.

 

 I give her a friendly smile and Hae-yoon sneaks up on me, still cowering, which is kind of cute because she looks like a frightened hedgehog.

 

 “Why did you call me?”

 

 I ask, putting on my best deadpan voice so it won’t be mistaken for a “let’s see what the hell is going on and see if you want me to come see you” tone.

 

After apologizing in advance in case my text woke her up and rambling on about how she didn’t know if she should answer in the morning and how she didn’t feel like reading and chewing over her texts, she asked if I could spare a few minutes at school because she had something she needed to talk to me about, so we made an appointment for lunch.

 

 “It’s none other than…!”

 

 Hae-yoon hesitates for a moment, then holds up a piece of paper.

 

 “……?”

 

“Can you mentor me?!”

 

“What?”

 

 At the top of the paper, in big letters, it says “Application for Summer Vacation Mentor-Mentee Activity”.

 

 “See, I read that you don’t have to be a forensics major…”

 

“Don’t you usually do this with someone in the same class as you…?”

 

 I remembered two of my friends from middle school, who were the top math and English students in their class, respectively, giving each other heated lectures to help each other understand algebraic equations and relative pronouns.

 

 “Ha, they said it didn’t matter that they were in different grades!”

 

“Huh, I see. So, what are you trying to teach me…?”

 

“What?! What are you talking about, of course you should teach me!”

 

 Kim Hae-yoon gets angry and sulks for making a joke.

 

 “That’s right. Calm down and tell me. What do you want to learn?”

 

“…….”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I want to learn about exorcisms.”

 

 Her voice was so low that I could barely hear what she was saying, but I could see the determination in her eyes.

 

 “It’s because of Idamin. You told me she’d be in danger if she stayed at that school.”

 

“I did. It’s best for her to transfer.”

 

“But Idamin can’t transfer.”

 

“What?”

 

“Well, I can’t go into details, but there’s a family situation… She originally wanted to use it as her first choice for another school, but she was forced to take the closest one.”

 

“Aha.”

 

 An exorcism-related talent that she has had since childhood, but had left untapped.

 

Kim Hae-yoon wanted to use this talent, which she had never used in her life, to protect her friend.

 

 Being an exorcist is not about protecting people.

 

The essence of exorcism is to drive out the evil that disturbs the order of life and death.

 

 But…

 

 “Please help me to do something for them, Senior.”

 

 That’s no reason to stifle a blossoming talent.

 

 “Okay. I’ll let you know.”

 

 Kim Hae-yoon’s face lit up as she readily agreed.

 

I’m a beginner myself, but I can teach her what she needs to know to drive away the ghosts that are coming for her.

 

 “But why are you waiting until summer vacation to start?”

 

 I ask, pointing to the mentor-mentee application.

 

Is she afraid I’ll leave in the middle of the tutoring session?

 

Even though it’s not in the contract, I’ll tell her everything she needs to know.

 

 “Oh, well, I thought it would be nice if you could put a line in your biography that you were a mentor, so it would look good on your application next year… Oh, ho, I’m sorry if you were thinking about your coursework or thesis!”

 

“No.”

 

“I’m sorry if you were thinking about the Time Warp!”

 

“No, no, I mean, I appreciate the gesture, but I’m not going to college. Exorcists go straight to work after graduation.”

 

“Ah.”

 

 By the way, my goodness, what a sweet kid. If I were a college student, I would have collapsed from emotion.

 

 If I had a piece of candy in my pocket, I would have wanted to give it to her right away, but Kim Hae-yoon, who didn’t know my true feelings, immediately became thoughtful.

 

I wondered if she was thinking, “How dare I say something to you when I don’t even know you.”

 

 “Oh, Hae-yoon, if you’re fooled by me, how will you defeat the ghosts in the future? When you’re dealing with ghosts, you have to pretend that you’re not fooled.”

 

 Needless to say, I can see why the exorcism-related talents were left hidden in the status bar.

 

Look at the way she’s already popping up like an aspen tree at the mention of the word exorcism… If it were my daughter, I wouldn’t let her be an exorcist even if her talent was an A.

 

What if she’s an S?

 

Even if it were my daughter or my neighbor’s daughter, I’d chase her around and ask her to try it just once.

 

 “I thought you said you didn’t let your talent blossom?”

 

“Yes, the raw talent initially listed in the status window was ‘Sensitivity.'”

 

“Sensitive?”

 

“Oh no, I don’t mean personality, I mean I’m sensitive, but that doesn’t mean I just go around throwing tantrums and being annoying!”

 

“Uhhh, I know you’re an albino when I see one.”

 

“Hee, are you an albino?”

 

“Um, no. Keep talking.”

 

“Well, they say I’m good at picking up details that other people don’t see, but they also say it involves a little bit of spirituality… so it could blossom into art, or it could blossom into exorcism.”

 

“Aha.”

 

 I nodded, adding an appropriate amount of flirtatiousness.

 

 “Well, those two eventually split apart, so now I’m trying to get into art school by blooming only the artistic sensitivity, and the sensitivity related to spiritual things, well, I don’t have any use for it, so naturally…”

 

“Hmm, so that’s how it happened.”

 

 I feel like a teacher giving career counseling.

 

 “So, how about we meet here every lunchtime from now on? I know it’s hard every day, so let’s try to coordinate on a day when we’re both free.”

 

“Yes, yes! Thank you so much for your time, Mentor.”

 

“I don’t want to be called like that forever. You can just call me sister.”

 

 I was tempted to tell her to stop talking, but I thought she’d faint if I did, so I suggested the name change first.

 

 “Oh, no, no, no…! How can I call you sister if it’s not enough to call you sister?”

 

“Okay, whatever.”

 

 That didn’t work either.

 

 “Lunch is…, in less than ten minutes. I have to stop by the third-grade classroom today, so we’ll start the real work tomorrow. Okay?”

 

“Sure!”

 

 I started to walk away, but Kim Hae-yoon grabbed me.

 

 “Hey, senior, do you think there’s anything I can practice by myself…?”

 

“Practice? Well, for now, like I said last time, just pat Idamin on the back or shoulder once in a while.”

 

 I thought for a moment, then remembered something I thought Hae-yoon might need.

 

 “Oh, like watching horror movies to build up your courage?”

 

“……!”

 

 There was a long pause, but I gave Hae-yoon a thumbs up for her determined response.

 

 Then I walked slowly toward the third-grade classroom.