An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 159

 ─Ju Kyung-ah, I’m listening to a broadcast from the fourth floor. Is this real? Please check with the broadcast room.

─Yay, you’re in the broadcast room???? Are you broadcasting?

─Hanbyul, what are you doing in the broadcasting department right now? The sound is coming from the fourth floor, and it’s really loud, so please reply quickly.

─Is it also broadcasting on the 2nd floor?

─Just now I heard an announcement, did you guys hear it too???

─Suddenly, it’s the voice of the broadcasting department, right?

 

 

Six people sent different messages to their friends on different floors.

 

But the replies were all the same.

 

 

─Yes, it’s broadcasting now.

 

 

We only shared the fact that we had heard the confirmation, but we didn’t look at each other’s replies, so we didn’t know until now. We were too busy to do so.

 

 It wasn’t until the truth came out that the subtle inconsistencies started to become apparent.

 

 “Wow, she’s so damn quick to answer, she’s not like that.”

 

“Yeah, there’s no way Hanbyul would say that so calmly…”

 

“Hey, Jiyoon, as soon as I saw this, I thought, “I can feel the politeness between the words. You’re not Hanbyul.”.”

 

“And you didn’t even notice that she’s missing her signature emoji?”

 

“I thought it was a serious situation, so of course she’d refrain from using it.”

 

“No, use it if you’re Yeon-seo. She doesn’t care.”

 

 In my impatience, my judgment was clouded, and I couldn’t afford to think of such a small detail as strange, so I had already decided on the answer I wanted.

 

No one criticized me for being complacent.

 

Everyone was relieved that they were safe, but they couldn’t quite make sense of this ridiculous situation.

 

 And it was Seo Jun who gave a short definition to the mess.

 

 “…We’ve been completely tricked by a ghost.”

 

 Seo Jun, who was now so close to us, threw the words with a cold, deadpan tone that made everyone in the room stiffen.

 

 She was right. There was no danger in the classroom, in the hallways, or anywhere else. This was just a ghost toying with us, enjoying watching the students trapped on the fourth floor scream in terror.

 

To get them to believe that the directions they heard were real, and then to get them into pointless confrontations.

 

 Thanks to this bullshit prank, one of them had to bang on the door with all her might, calling her friend’s name, while the other had to ignore her friend’s desperate cries with all her might.

 

All the while feeling like they might actually die.

 

 “That… means that what the kids in classes one and two heard was a fraud, right…?”

 

“All three classes were fooled by a fake broadcast.”

 

“Why? No, why? It’s just gonna watch our asses get f*cked, really?”

 

“It’s the one who got the broadcasting to make an impression just to make fun of people. Kiyaa, It’ll have to play its trick several times.”

 

 The students, realizing the true nature of the horror that had briefly taken over the fourth floor, were embarrassed.

 

 “Hahaha, holy shit.”

 

 I couldn’t help but laugh.

 

I couldn’t believe that the reason they had all these people chained up on the fourth floor was for this silly prank.

 

As if to confirm my suspicions, a tearing laugh erupted from the speakers after a long silence.

 

 The ghost was still imitating the voice of the broadcasting teacher, even at this moment when everything was out in the open. It was determined not to let me hear its real voice until the end.

 

 “Oh, that XXXX…”

 

“Wow, what a dog.”

 

 The sudden outburst of laughter caused the kids, who were initially stunned, to start shouting insults into the air.

 

 Half of them were directed at the school.

 

 “Oh, yeah, that’s right, it’s like “communicating how to deal with it”! There’s no way my school would act so quickly!”

 

“I was expecting them to call an exorcism company or something, you f*cking Xs!”

 

 I felt doubly betrayed because I believed the broadcast was meant to convey ways to protect oneself in isolation.

 

 “I guess we should be glad it wasn’t meant to hurt people.”

 

 Seo Jun muttered.

 

Her tone was calm, but her eyes were not. There was a chill in their pupils, even more so than usual.

 

 “Are you pissed off too?”

 

“Am I?”

 

 Her voice was still devoid of emotion.

 

 “Well, I’m not mad, but.”

 

 Seo Jun stammered.

 

 “Just a little annoyed.”

 

 Oh, boy, that’s a scratch.

 

I’ve never seen Seo Jun like this before.

 

 “Seo Jun.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Listen to what I’m saying and repeat after me.”

 

“……?”

 

“On the honor of an exorcist, I will not forgive you!”

 

“Exorcism—, what?”

 

“Oh, just do it once. I swear on the honor of the Fourth Branch Training Institute, I’ll kick your ass, and I’ll show you who wins!”

 

“…….”

 

 It’s not often that I get to see her, so I thought I’d tease her for once.

 

 “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to beat anyone in my life.”

 

“But?”

 

“Well, this time, for some reason, I’m feeling a little…, like I want to beat you.”

 

 Gee, maybe it’s the mood.

 

I could hear the grinding of her teeth.

 

 I didn’t realize that gentle anger could be so scary. To be honest, I was still seething with pride a moment ago. Looking at Seo Jun, I feel like my scratches are nothing.

 

 “So, Seo Jun, calm down. Let’s get out of here and then we’ll kill it.”

 

“It’s already dead.”

 

 Damn it, I’m still holding onto my sanity, which makes me even more terrified.

 

I was about to break down the door with force at any moment, and I was even more terrified that the momentum was only silently shaping itself into a shape that would be imperceptible if I didn’t look carefully.

 

I grabbed Seo Jun in a panic, not knowing when she would explode.

 

 “Hey, listen to me for a second.”

 

“……?”

 

“You know, the four-letter key you need to get out of here.”

 

 I had a vague idea.

 

 “Why? Do you know what it is?”

 

“Not that.”

 

“So?”

 

“Maybe it’s more “out there” than we thought.”

 

 It seemed like a situation created just to pick people out, so there was no point in digging into it like a code combination.

 

 “This darkness.”

 

 I squinted at the fluorescent ceiling lights and cut to the chase.

 

 “Do you think they kept it dark on purpose to hide something?”

 

 Seo Jun’s eyes lit up at that.

 

 “You have a point.”

 

“Well, there are plenty of people, so we’ll find it.”

 

 On the wall, on the ceiling, on the floor, on the chalkboard.

 

Somewhere on the fourth floor, a four-letter word would be scrawled in bold letters.

 

That was my guess.

 

 There are over 60 people in this room. It shouldn’t take long to search an entire floor, no matter how big it is.

 

 I was about to order my schoolmates to search the fourth floor when I stopped.

 

 “What’s wrong?”

 

Seo Jun asks, not really curious, but willing to feign curiosity out of politeness.

 

 “No, I thought you had the right person for the job.”

 

 I replied, keeping my eyes locked on Choi Jeon.

 

Orders are best given by the one wearing the cowl. If I had to deal with a demon directly, I wouldn’t even bother, but right now, I have a little time to spare.

 

I also personally wanted to establish the authority of my friends in the student council. I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of the student council lately, and at a time like this, having nothing to do would feel like a burden.

 

Understanding my meaning, Seo Jun nodded.

 

 Feeling my gaze, Choi Jeon walked over.

 

 “Come here, there’s something we want to talk about.”

 

 The short bird was quite tired from talking to the teachers.

 

From what little she’d heard, it sounded like they were just repeating the same clichés about trying to contact the other floors again and staying together for easier headcounts instead of spreading out.

 

 “I’d like to ask you a favor.”

 

“What is it?”

 

 I tugged on Seo Jun’s arm as she tried to move aside. There’s a certain amount of modesty in keeping things to myself, and I’m not about to let anyone else know what I’ve discovered, no matter how small. No matter how small.

 

 “Ouch.”

 

“She did some research earlier, and she said we need to figure out the password to get out of here. Right?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Okay, how many characters did she say it was?”

 

“…Four characters.”

 

“Okay, wait a minute. A password? Four characters? What is that? Do I have to type it in somewhere?”

 

 Choi whined and asked questions instead of listening to the explanation.

 

I told her my guess that there were a bunch of letters somewhere in the darkness and added that if Seo Jun could figure out the password, we’d figure out the rest.

 

 “It’s a big place, so I hope we can find it together…”

 

 As I finished my sentence, Choi’s eyes lit up. She looked genuinely happy to be able to contribute to the progress of the situation.

 

 “Leave it to me!”

 

 She rushes out into the middle of the hallway and focuses dozens of pairs of eyes on me.

 

 “Hey, hey, hey, guys, focus for a second!”

 

 Choi quickly explains, then divides the fourth floor into zones and assigns personnel.

 

 “Oh, is the annex too small? Su-yeon, I need you to go with me. Also, does anyone have a dead cell phone battery? How much? Oh, yeah. She’s got an X-pad, go with her. Hey, restroom and staircase teams, if you have time, please join us in a nearby classroom.”

 

 Thanks to Choi and the rest of the student council, who moved as quickly as if they’d been waiting for me, the search got underway quickly.

 

 I headed to the classroom that Seo Jun and Min Jiyoon and I had been assigned to cover.

 

The team in charge of the restroom by the stairs was about two or three meters ahead of the three of us.

 

 “I’ve got them, I’ve got them, I’ve got them!”

 

 Soon after, a shout erupted from the annex.

 

Soon after, Lee poked her head out from the other hallway and shouted.

 

 “It was written in red on the side of an empty classroom trash can! It’s big enough to read at a glance, but don’t look too closely!”

 

 I was worried that it was written the size of my fingernail on a corner bin where the light didn’t reach.

 

Once I realized I didn’t have to look at every single lock button, the search began to pick up speed.

 

 “Efficiency is the name of the game. Good job.”

 

 Jiyoon stuck her tongue out as she shined her cell phone’s flash on the door of the janitorial toolbox.

 

 “Uh, hey, look.”

 

 Then she spotted a red letter the size of a human face on the inside of the toolbox and exclaimed.

 

 “I found one, too. I’m going to scream. Yay! I found it!”

 

 Min Jiyoon stretches out into the hallway and yells that she found a letter.

 

The letter she found was “i”.

 

 So far, she found “b” and “i”.

 

She’s already halfway there after less than 10 minutes of searching, which is pretty good.

 

Of course, we still don’t have a clue what the final combination of the four letters will be.

 

 “b and i…”

 

 I mumbled half of the unfinished word and moved on to the next classroom.