An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 161

A feeling of despondency weighed heavily on me.

 

“Oh no, it was fine until just now, why…”

 

 Soo-yeon played the video over and over again to see if she couldn’t believe it.

 

It didn’t make any difference.

 

 “Guys, don’t be so discouraged.”

 

 It was Song Ju-kyung who told her to cheer up.

 

 “It’s not like all the sound was lost, and the students’ voices are still there, so that’s enough to convey the situation…”

 

 She wasn’t wrong. The cries of surprise and the way they moved cautiously with their cell phone flashlights on, as if they couldn’t see where they were going, were all there in the video.

 

 “They’re not going to look at this and say we’re acting as a group. Right?” Ju-kyung said, flipping through the video.

 

 “And it might be different if you look at it through the eyes of an exorcist. When the time comes that we need this video, let’s have an exorcist analyze it.”

 

 Ju-kyung’s sincere encouragement finally revived Choi.

 

 “Sure, that’s fine. Maybe we can restore the broadcast content or something later. Right?”

 

“Yeah, you guys went through a lot, and I think it’s really great that you didn’t forget and tried to document it on video.”

 

 The current student body president’s ability to find just the right words at just the right time was her specialty. Cheering when they needed cheering, answering when they needed answering.

 

In this quiet way, Ju-kyung keeps people’s spirits up and leads them.

 

 “Haha… Speaking of which, our festival.”

 

 Ju-Kyung changes the subject.

 

 “How about we don’t open the school grounds and use the gym and playground instead?”

 

 The festival has been the biggest problem plaguing the Mukgyeong Girls’ High School Student Council lately.

 

The festival, which is held every year in the second semester of the school year at the transition from late summer to early fall, was in danger of being scaled back or canceled altogether this year.

 

 Ever since two first-year broadcasting students nearly died in the study hall, teachers have been concerned about the festival. At 7th period today, three entire classes were locked down on the fourth floor, which surely added to the negative opinion of the festival.

 

 Some of the suggestions they had were to keep the festival just for the students and not let other schools in at all, or to cancel all the booths and just have a few club performances and call it a day.

 

 The attitude was that if the festival was smaller, the problems caused by ghosts would be smaller.

 

 It’s not that the teachers didn’t realize that if they hired an exorcism company to exorcize the ghosts, they wouldn’t have to worry about the festival at all. They were powerless to solve the underlying problem, but they needed to show that they cared about the safety of their students, so they said something about the most innocuous of festivals.

 

 When they first heard about the idea, student members were dismissive, saying it was the same idea as closing schools as a solution to school violence.

 

‘If They’re going to do that, don’t have a festival at all.’

 

“If they don’t do it at all, they’re just going to have a festival because it’s embarrassing to the rest of the school.” 

 

“Is this just the performing arts club? Other clubs are working hard to plan exhibits and hands-on booths.”

 

“What’s the point of having a festival if they don’t invite other schools? It’s not like it’s an elementary school festival.”

 

Why have a festival at all? They should exorcize the whole school. They’d think that festivals are the root of all evil.

 

“They’re so worried about the things that will happen at the festival, but they don’t see the students running around with fear every day?”

 

 When the students reacted strongly, the teachers tried to play down the situation, saying that nothing had been decided yet and that it was more likely that the festival would be held normally.

 

At that time, Ju-kyung even pretended to understand them.

 

Now that another major incident had occurred, it was possible that the school would push hard to reduce the festival regardless of the complaints. It might even be canceled altogether.

 

 That’s why six members of the sophomore council hurriedly gathered at the cafe when they realized that the festival was in danger of being canceled.

 

Song Ju-kyung and Choi Jeon, who were desperate to do something, sat down without knowing what to do.

 

 “Let’s play first. Pretend to make some concessions.”

 

 The student council came up with a plan to reorganize the festival before the teachers did.

 

They decided that this was the only way to save the festival.

 

 Originally, the festival was held in the gym (auditorium) and the main school building, which were completely open to the public. Each club was assigned one or two classrooms to set up booths, and events organized by the student council were held on different floors.

 

The playground would be used as a shelter for those fleeing the chaos of the festival and as a last-minute practice area for the dance teams before their performances.

 

 Song Ju-kyung’s idea was to use the playground for the main event this year.

 

 “Only our students should be allowed to go in and out of the school building because we need a place to leave our luggage and eat lunch, but our student council will patrol the school regularly to make sure everything is okay.”

 

 If a ghost were to cause a disturbance, it would be much easier to deal with outside on the playground than inside. There’s no risk of being isolated, as was the case today, and they could easily jump over the wall.

 

 The only drawback was the size of the playground.

 

With the available space shrinking from the entire building to just one floor, the amount of booth space allocated to each club would be drastically reduced compared to last year, but it was the best way to maintain the minimalist form of the festival.

 

 Ju-kyung went on to explain.

 

 “Also, the teachers are worried that the kids will stay up late decorating their classrooms the night before the festival.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“But they don’t have to do that if they set up tents and booths on the playground, because there’s much less to decorate than in a classroom.”

 

 In other words, as long as the location was on the playground, the teachers wouldn’t have much to complain about.

 

 “Doesn’t that sound good?”

 

 Yang Ji-won, who had been listening, replied positively.

 

 “We can have club booths, performances, and visitors from outside, so what’s the big deal about the sandy wind?”

 

“That’s right, and if we limit the number of outside visitors, it won’t be so cramped.”

 

 It won’t be as big a festival as last year.

 

But it’s better than a festival in name only, where only students from their school sit in an auditorium, watch three or four stages, and then it’s over. Obviously.

 

 “But won’t we run out of tents?”

 

 Soo-yeon asked, and Ju-kyung replied that she had already thought about it.

 

 “I was worried about that too, but if we take out all the tents we used for the sports day and borrow some more from Sungjeon Girls’ High School, we won’t run out.

 

“Sungjeon Girls’ High School?”

 

“Yes, they borrowed folding chairs from us last time.”

 

“Oh, right. Yes, my friends, it’s about time they pay back.”

 

 Now all that was left was to ask the other student members for their opinion and make a formal proposal to the school, but they had to act quickly before the school made the first announcement about the festival.

 

The last thing they want is for the student council to try to change a decision made by the teachers. They would never listen.

 

 In fact, it would have been easier to just do what the teachers said. They wouldn’t have to argue with the teachers, and there would be a lot less to prepare and clean up before the festival.

 

Some might ask why they deviated from the honey-sucking path.

 

 But that’s not what they joined student government for.

 

They wouldn’t be sitting here in the first place if they were just doing what was comfortable.

 

 The pride of creating the best festival that will be remembered for years to come as “fun” was deep in their hearts.

 

It was a greed and goal that any student organization should have.

 

 “Hey, Song Ju-kyung, you’ve been thinking a lot.”

 

 Choi Jeon patted the tired-looking student council president on the back.

 

 “Listen to the others first.”

 

“You also need to time your suggestions well. You know, not too late, not too early.”

 

“That’s right, we should all keep a close eye on the teachers for now.”

 

“Let’s just ask Mr. Jang, a quick question. What do you think of the playground?”

 

 For a moment, the atmosphere was like a group of spies making a resolution, but only for a moment.

 

The serious talk had come to a close, and one by one, they rose from their seats in anticipation of tomorrow’s circle time.

 

 “Well done, everyone.”

 

 Song Ju-kyung sent her friends off with another pep talk, and by the end of the day, only Song Ju-kyung and Choi Jeon remained in the cafe.

 

 “Haha…”

 

 When it was just the two of them, Ju-kyung flopped down on the table with a sound that was hard to tell if it was laughter or a sigh.

 

 “It should be good…”

 

“Ju-kyung, you’re thinking too much.”

 

“I can’t help it, I was hired to think.”

 

“Eh, I couldn’t have done it all day.”

 

 Choi mumbled, shoveling the rest of the honey bread into her mouth.

 

 Despite what Song Ju-kyung herself might think, Choi Jeon still thought it was a good idea to put Ju-kyung in the position of student council president.

 

The rule for student council elections was that the candidate for president and the candidate for vice president ran as a team.

 

And the two hadn’t been that close before they ran for president.

 

It was Choi’s insistence that they teamed up that led to them walking around chanting “Kyung and Jeon” and picketing.

 

She was the one who suggested that they team up first, and she was the one who insisted that Ju-kyung should be the president.

 

Ju-kyung was understandably puzzled, thinking that Choi had suggested the team because she wanted to run for president, but she was firm.

 

 Sometimes people would say that it would have been better for Choi to be president and Song Ju-kyung to be vice president, but Choi didn’t even pretend to hear them.

 

 She’s been confirmed time and time again that her choice was the right one.

 

 “Ju-kyung, I have some drinks left, do you want to go play something?”

 

“Okay.”

 

 They put their drinks and desserts aside and pulled their books out of their bags.

 

 Their heads were spinning from so many things happening at once lately, but they had to fulfill their duties as Vice President and Presidential Student Council, as well as their duties as high school sophomores facing their final exams.

 

 Soon, the only sound on the table was the rustling of papers.

 

 

***

 

 

“Hey, hey, hey. Where’s Seo Jun? I thought she came with you guys.”

 

 When Seo Jun still hadn’t come in ten minutes into class, Seon-yeo whispered to me.

 

 “Oh, Seo Jun?”

 

 I glanced toward the hallway and replied.

 

 “She’s studying in the next classroom.”

 

“Self-study?”

 

“Uh, she said she has some work to do.”

 

 Seo Jun had locked herself away in the large classroom, drawing dozens of amulets in the name of self-study.

 

 Amulets to give the ghost back the dishonor of the day.