An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 156

The fourth floor was now as dark as an alleyway in the early evening without streetlights.

 

 “I’m safer with Seo Jun and Baek Iri here than I am with you guys,” Jiyoon said, barely dismissing her friends, who hadn’t been able to leave the iron gates of the third floor stairwell.

 

 “Good job.”

 

 Seo Jun offered Min Jiyoon dry encouragement.

 

 “Knocking on the door doesn’t open it. The authority of the class president has fallen to the ground. In the old days, all they had to do was say, “Shut up!” and it was quiet.”

 

 Min Jiyoon chuckled at how much she misses the power of the old days.

 

 “Ah, if this is the way it is, there’s no point in being the class president. Power, power, it tastes like it should be!”

 

“If you like power so much, should I cosplay as a servant for you?”

 

“A servant cosplay? How would you do that?”

 

“Hmm, I’ll answer everything you say with one of three responses: “No, sir”, “Please enlighten me”, or “Please kill me”?”

 

 Seo Jun, who was listening from the side, muttered, “That’s a badass b*tch.”

 

 “Well, there are only three of us in the second year class four here right now, so why don’t you put down your class president baggage and enjoy being king. We’ll escort you.”

 

 If Seo Jun’s pep talk was a pep talk, mine was this.

 

 She’s probably the one who’s scared of this situation. My own pep talk to Min Jiyoon, who never whines because she’s the president.

 

 I know I just made a joke about power being good, but as a member of the fourth class of the second year of Mukgyeong Girls’ High School, Min Jiyoon is a president who is more responsible than powerful.

 

She was different from the many students I saw in my previous school who were not capable but coveted the name of president just so they could write a line in the yearbook.

 

 The student council was the same, and so were my friends who were president or vice president.

 

The more I look at it, the more I realize that there are a lot of good people in this shitty school.

 

 “Hey, guys!”

 

 Just then, the student council friend from earlier came running back to us.

 

 “Oh, it’s a disaster, guys! The staircase iron gates are all—”

 

“They’re locked. We know.”

 

 Min Jiyoon quickly answered, followed by Seo Jun, who asked straightforwardly.

 

 “Do you have any idea how many people are left on the fourth floor right now?”

 

“There are three classes left: 1, 2, and 6.”

 

“Only three and a half?”

 

 There was positive panic in Jiyoon’s voice as she repeated the question. She was glad that there were fewer friends in trouble than she thought.

 

 “There are quite a few traveling classes, and there are some that escaped as quickly as yours. Oh, and the teachers are all from those three classes. No one’s in the Life Safety office or the sophomore office. I think they went down to check on the administration because of the power outage and never came back up.”

 

“Ha, the student government rocks…”

 

 I can’t believe she was able to get a headcount in that short amount of time.

 

My friend from the student council smiled with pride as I exclaimed.

 

 “I’ve been talking to the student council after yesterday’s incident about what we can do if something similar happens again.”

 

 There are two things the student council wants to do perfectly, she said, and they’re trying to figure out an efficient way to do it: make sure they know the exact number of people so that no one is left behind, and have a way to make announcements without the broadcasting department.

 

 On second thought, there’s too much talent in this shitty school for it to be worth it.

 

 “Why don’t you guys join our class? It’s better if we’re all together.”

 

 My student council friend led the way.

 

 “What’s her name?”

 

 I took the opportunity to ask Min Jiyoon for the name of the reddish-brown-haired student council friend.

 

 “Choi Jeon. She’s the vice president of the whole school. She’s in class 6.”

 

“Aha, Choi Jeon… Is she an only child?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Our conversation must have been overheard by the girl walking ahead of us, because she turns her head and says, “Nice name, huh?” and smiles.

 

She’s the kind of person you’d expect to see everywhere. It’s not that she’s easygoing, but rather that she’s charismatic. She is the kind of person that her friends would have followed from a young age.

 

That’s why she’s the vice president of the school.

 

 “By the way, I’m worried about Song Ju-kyung.”

 

“She’s too good to be true. She keeps taking on problems she can’t solve.”

 

“Ha, the teachers should take that responsibility.”

 

 Min Jiyoon and Choi Jeon walked side by side and started whispering about a new topic.

 

 “Song Ju-kyung…? Ju-kyung?”

 

“She’s the school president.”

 

 The names in their conversation sounded eerily familiar, so I repeated them to myself, and Seo Jun quietly echoed them back.

 

 “I thought I’d heard of them before. You’re a big fan of this school, aren’t you?”

 

“Surprised? About what?”

 

“That you know the student council president’s name, Seo Jun.”

 

 Seo Jun chuckled at the half-joking remark.

 

 “It’s not like I’m that out of touch.”

 

“Really? You don’t even know the names of all the first-year kids in the library department yet?”

 

“Do I need to know?”

 

 She asked so confidently that I was speechless for a moment.

 

 “Then why do you need to know the name of the student council president?”

 

“Well, there’s a difference between not needing to know and not knowing deliberately.”

 

 Seo Jun shrugged and turned on his cell phone’s flash.

 

By now, it was dark enough that we couldn’t see anything without the flashlight. It wasn’t even 4pm yet, but it was pitch black, like the middle of the night.

 

It felt a little strange to walk down a hallway that I pass every day, every hour, and still be in total darkness.

 

I slowed down from walking as fast as I could.

 

 ❰Skill: ‘Light only visible with eyes closed’ activated❱

 

 The black aura scattered far and wide, but I hadn’t detected any ghosts strong enough to wreak havoc on this scale.

 

It only touched the ghosts that hadn’t yet escaped from the fourth floor, like the three second-year classes.

 

 “Let’s get back to the point, Baek Iri, do you think this is an extension of the study hall?”

 

 The power outage occurred right after the ghost from the mysterious place that may or may not be real reappeared on campus, so I was almost convinced that it was the study hall ghost.

 

 But now I’m not so sure.

 

 It’s not the same bartering pattern that the ghost has always followed, and I can’t find anything in common between this and the study hall ghost.

 

 Maybe it was just a matter of timing.

 

I jumped to conclusions when the only thing that connects it to the study hall ghost is timing.

 

 “I think it’s more likely that it’s not right now…?”

 

 I asked vaguely, and Seo Jun nodded in agreement.

 

 “Me neither,” I said, “there are no similar corners.”

 

 As we continued on in the dark, I saw a classroom with cell phone lights glinting in the windows.

 

The kids from class 6 were waiting for us inside with their lights on.

 

 “This is class 1, what about class 2? Is everyone in their own classrooms?”

 

“Yep. I thought it would be dangerous for them to be too crowded in one place.”

 

 Min Jiyoon replied, “That’s true, too,” and opened the front door of class 6.

 

 *Squeak*

 

 “Does anyone have a charger? I think mine is broken.”

 

 That was the first thing I heard when I walked into the classroom.

 

 “It’s not broken, The power’s out, it will not charge.”

 

“Oh, right.”

 

“Oh, right. Hey, aren’t you the president of the science club?”

 

“You’re too advanced.”

 

“Hey, Moon Soo-hee, what if you’re the vice president and you’re hurting the club’s reputation?”

 

 Oh, by the way, Moon Soo-hee, the vice president of the science club who asked us to exorcize the water ghost in the science room, was also in class 6.

 

 “Is she worth it? She’s full of shit.”

 

 Min Jiyoon giggled and sat her ass down at a random desk.

 

 The atmosphere in class 6 was better than I expected. The presence of an unwilling but grown-up teacher and the presence of more than twenty other students seemed to calm her fears.

 

 “Girls, we have captured the president of Class 4 as a prisoner. From now on, Class 4 is ours.”

 

“Eh, honorable members of Class 6. We owe you.”

 

 With Choi Jeon and Min Ji-yoon’s witty remarks, I felt the tension ease a little more.

 

 “Hey, is the iron gate on the stairs really stuck? Does that mean we can’t use the stairs at all?”

 

“No, I can go up and down the stairs, but I can’t go to the third and fifth floor hallways.”

 

“Oh…”

 

“You can’t even open your door?”

 

“Sung-eun, why can you break the windows in the science room, but not the steel doors?”

 

“That’s right, Sung-eun. Why are you being discriminatory? We should be equal.”

 

“Uh, okay. But can I throw the ball at you instead this time?”

 

“Oh, crazy. Sorry.”

 

 It felt a little forced to try to maintain a casual atmosphere by deliberately throwing in a joke, but it was much better than being completely rigid and shaking.

 

 “The other classes should be like this.”

 

“I know.”

 

 I muttered worriedly, and Seo Jun responded with her usual grimace.

 

 “Seo Jun, you didn’t see anything when you came, did you?”

 

“Nope. I didn’t see or hear anything.”

 

“Me neither. Nothing in the skill either.”

 

 We still hadn’t detected the ghost that caused the blackout and confinement.

 

 “Well.., it doesn’t mean the ghost has to be on the fourth floor.”

 

“Now that I think about it, I’m getting really pissed off. It’s not like we’re locked up and Ziggy’s out there jigging around.”

 

“I didn’t mean to piss you off.”

 

 Seo Jun smirked and leaned against the window sill.

 

The window was pitch black and she could see nothing.

 

 The low, quiet voice continued.

 

 “Isn’t it funny? The school traps ghosts, and the ghosts trap us.”

 

“…What are you trying to say?”

 

“I didn’t mean anything in particular.”

 

“Then what makes you say it so meaningful?”

 

“Haha.”

 

 Seo Jun brushed her hand away, as if she hadn’t meant it at all.

 

 “I’m going to see if I can find a way out.”

 

“Do you want me to come with you?”

 

“No, thank you. I’m just going to try my skill again.”

 

“The detection dog skill?”

 

“Yep. I should have enough information about the room by now.”

 

 She storms out of the classroom.

 

 “Uh, where are you going?!”

 

 Min Jiyoon jumped up in surprise.

 

 “A quick survey.”

 

 Seo Jun replied shortly and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.

 

At the same time, all the remaining pairs of eyes turned to me.

 

 “I’m not coming.”

 

 Having driven the wedge in, I look away, relieved.

 

 “It’s a condition…”

 

 I was alone in the corner of the classroom, lost in thought.

 

The barrier surrounding the music room during the Head Collector had been inscribed with a condition that prevented all but spirits from entering.

 

 I wondered what the “condition” was that isolated the fourth floor. It seemed to be similar to the situation in the first and second grade play.

 

 I suppose it’s not a bad idea to rack my brains until Seo Jun figures out the answer.

 

There’s nothing I can do about it right now anyway.

 

 I leaned back against my locker and crossed my arms.

 

 ─…song drip …The announcements drip.

 

 The speaker over the blackboard crackled and began to blare.