An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 81

It’s Friday, first period, fifth grade, freshman year.

 

Sitting in the back row of the second section, Kim Hae-yoon strained her eyes, trying to concentrate on the lesson.

 

It was morning, so her eyes kept closing, and her handwriting was so messy that she couldn’t tell if it was letters or worms.

 

It was hard to resist dozing off in the back of the class, away from the teacher’s gaze.

 

“Now, let’s move on to the eponym ‘da.’ ‘Da’ is a private eponym, and compared to the ‘go’ and ‘I’ eponyms, it’s a long one…”

 

The teacher’s voice became lower and lower, as if a shutter was closing in her ears at the same time her eyelids were closing.

 

“…underline…fill…format…that…chain…poem…speaker…hearing.”

 

Kim Hae-yoon couldn’t control his head anymore.

 

She must have dozed off for a long time.

 

“…He is waiting for us!”

 

The sudden singing woke Kim Hae-yoon with a start.

 

“Hmph, I’m drooling…”

 

Kim Hae-yoon wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and gently lifted her head, which was tilted at a right angle.

 

The back of her neck was stiff from sleeping in a strange position.

 

“And this part is also where the enumeration method was used.”

 

Except for the teacher’s voice slowly explaining, the room was silent.

 

First period was always like this.

 

There were only a few students taking notes with their eyes wide open. 

 

There were about 20% of the students who were willing to listen to the lesson, but their bodies didn’t follow suit, so they sat like corpses with their eyes wide open, while the other 60% dozed off or lay on their stomachs for a good night’s sleep.

 

“Did anyone hear anything?”

 

Kim Hae-yoon slowly turned her head to check on her friends. None of them woke up like she did.

 

It seemed that she was the only one who heard the song.

 

***

 

Hae-yoon felt creeped out and decided not to think about it anymore.

 

“That’s right, I just dozed off and had a dream.”

 

Deciding to pay attention in class, Kim Hae-yoon sat up stiffly and stared at the blackboard.

 

‘Uh, when did Da-min fall asleep? Wow… I’ve never seen her fall asleep in class before.’

 

Sitting at the front of the class, in the second row of seats, was Da-min, a student from the same middle school as Kim Hae-yoon.

 

Da-min, who was clearly awake earlier, had fallen asleep with her face on her desk.

 

They had been in the same class from second grade until high school, but Hae-yoon had never seen her sleep in class before.

 

Not even once in over two years of being in the same class.

 

As far as Hae-yoon knew, Da-min was never late for school.

 

She always came to school 30 minutes before the bell and studied quietly, and even in the traveling class, she always arrived in the classroom two minutes before the bell and was ready for class.

 

If she fell asleep in class, she must have been unbearably tired.

 

Such a conscientious and kind girl. ‘Didn’t she sleep well last night, is she sick?’

 

This was actually the third time they had been assigned to the same class, but Kim Hae-yoon and Lee Da-min were not very close.

 

They just exchanged pleasantries.

 

Since they were in different groups, they didn’t interact much, so they didn’t talk to each other much.

 

However, Kim Hae-yoon really liked Lee Da-min.

 

When Hae-yoon was in the third grade of middle school, Da-min was the only one who took care of her when she was separated from the group and traveled alone.

 

She woke her up when she went to a traveling class, and when she ate snacks, she would ask her, “Do you want some?” 

 

These small gestures have stayed with her as grateful memories.

 

‘When she wakes up later, I’ll give her some vitamin jelly…’

 

Kim Hae-yoon fumbled with the bag of vitamin gummy bears she kept in her desk drawer.

 

But Da-min didn’t wake up.

 

Even though the break was over and the second period had already started.

 

Finally, the second period ended and Hae-yoon decided to wake Da-min up.

 

“Da-min, we have P.E. next period. You have to change your uniform. Da-min, wake up…”

 

But Da-min didn’t move.

 

Suddenly, Kim Hae-yoon has an ominous thought and puts her finger on the tip of Da-min’s nose.

 

Fortunately, Da-min was still breathing. “She is still alive, but… Hey, Min-joo, is she sick? Have you heard anything…?”

 

“Huh? What? I don’t know?”

 

She asked Park Min-joo, who was sitting next to Da-min, but the answer was more silent than she could have imagined.

 

It wasn’t that the question bothered Min-joo, but rather that it had nothing to do with her.

 

“What, she’s your seatmate and you don’t even care that she’s sleeping like the dead next to you…”

 

Kim Hae-yoon grumbled to herself and shook Da-min gently.

 

“Da-min, are you sick? Do you want to go to the hospital? Oh, or I’ll call the nurse, I don’t want you to leave early…”

 

But Da-min still didn’t get up.

 

“Hey! Kim Hae-yoon, what are you doing so late? Don’t you have gym class?”

 

“If you don’t come out in two minutes, we’ll go to the gym first.”

 

Hae-yoon’s friends urged, leaning against the front door.

 

“No guys, it’s not about the gym, she looks really sick…”

 

Slightly annoyed by their continued indifference, Kim Hae-yoon pouted, “She’s sick,” she replied.

 

“Sick? Who?”

 

“Why, who’s sick?”

 

“Who do you mean? She’s been sleeping since earlier, and she won’t wake up even if I wake her up. Didn’t anyone notice?!”

 

Kim Hae-yoon suddenly looked around the classroom and raised his voice.

 

But her classmates just stared at her blankly.

 

Hae-yoon realized that something was seriously wrong.

 

Kim Hae-yoon’s freshman class, Class 5, was the only class that had remained peaceful from the day of enrollment to the middle and end of the first semester.

 

In other classes, there had been many fights, both big and small, and the group had changed several times. 

 

But in the fifth class, they had been able to get along with each other without much fuss.

 

If someone was sick, they would take care of them like best friends, even if they weren’t in their group.

 

And Da-min had a good reputation among them.

 

So there was no way they could have been so oblivious to her illness. 

 

It was normal for Kim Hae-yoon to run over and ask why she wasn’t up and if she was okay before she even said anything.

 

“Hey, guys…?” Kim Hae-yoon replied almost crying,

 

“Da-min?”

 

“Who is that?”

 

It was a cold question.

 

Kim Hae-yoon was even more frightened than when she found the muddy rabbit head back in its place.

 

She could tell by the looks on her classmates’ faces that this wasn’t a prank to trick them.

 

“What class is sleeping there? I’ve never seen them before.”

 

“Uh, yeah. Who is it?”

 

“Hey, Park Min-joo, the girl next to you, how long has she been there?”

 

“I don’t know, she just got here.”

 

Soon, Da-min was a complete stranger, erased from everyone’s memory.

 

No one knew who Da-min was. Until this morning, they had been in the same classroom together.

 

“F*cking crazy. I’ve got a dick in my gym pants!”

 

“If only your crotch wasn’t torn.”

 

“She’s just telling me these aren’t her clothes. Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

 

“Hae-yoon, we’ll go first. She can go to the clinic or her class by herself. Hurry up!”

 

When everyone left, Hae-yoon panicked as she was left alone with the motionless Lee Da-min in the classroom.

 

***

 

 

“Da-min, you’re crazy, how can you turn a good friend into a bad one? What should I do? What should I do now? Should I go get the teacher? What if the teacher says he doesn’t know Da-min?! No, I should call an ambulance first…”

 

Kim Hae-yoon, who was about to call 911, paused for a moment.

 

She remembered how a senior named Seo Jun had told her not to call 911 when a senior suddenly collapsed in the hallway.

 

“Hae-yoon, stay calm.”

 

Kim Hae-yoon took a deep breath and dialed another number.

 

Piii… piii… piii─

 

The person on the other end of the phone picked up shortly after.

 

─Hey, Hae-yoon, what’s going on?

 

Kim Hae-yoon, who was still nervous, let out a squeaky voice.

 

“Senior Baek Iri! Senior, help me!”

 

─Hae-yoon, what? Oh, no.

 

Baek Iri spoke before Kim Hae-yoon could get to the point.

 

─She’s in your class too?

 

“Yes! yes?”

 

─The one who doesn’t move even when you wake her up. You don’t recognize her, and you don’t know how long she’s been sleeping there. Isn’t that why you’re calling?

 

“That’s right, nobody remembers who she is but me. I’m the only one who remembers. But when I tried to wake her up, she didn’t move…”

 

─Kim Hae-yoon, do you remember this friend?

 

Baek Iri was a bit surprised.

 

“Yes, her name is Lee Da-min, she’s my middle school classmate, we were in the same class for two or three years, but we weren’t that close…”

 

─Can you tell me more about what happened, even if it’s just the little things, just tell me everything you thought was weird.

 

At Baek Iri’s request, Kim Hae-yoon explained in detail how she heard a strange song in the middle of first period, how her friend suddenly fell asleep in class, and how they forgot who that friend was.

 

─A song? Was it the “school bell tinkle tinkle”?

 

“School bell tinkle tinkle?”

 

─School bells tinkle tinkle, let’s gather. The teacher is waiting for us. Don’t you know the nursery rhyme?

 

“Uh, uh, uh, that’s right, I only heard the end, and that’s it. He’s waiting for us! That’s the only part I heard.”

 

─Okay. Hmm, so what’s next, third grade…

 

“Next?”

 

Kim Hae-yoon asked in a panic, but Baek Iri told her not to worry, that it was nothing.

 

“…Senior, does this also have to do with ghosts?”

 

─Yes. That’s right.

 

An unknown feeling of uneasiness enveloped Kim Hae-yoon.

 

It wasn’t because the word “ghost” frightened her again.

 

It was an instinctive premonition of what would happen to her.

 

Hae-yoon took a pen from her pencil case and wrote a name on the back of her hand.

 

“Lee Da-min.”

 

But the name on the back of her hand quickly faded and was soon erased without a trace.

 

Li Da Min.

 

‘ ㅣㄷ .

 

‘ .’

 

She wrote the name again and again, and again and again it disappeared from the back of her hand.

 

Not even a trace remained.

 

Faced with the disturbing premonition, Hae-yoon’s lips trembled.

 

Before it was fully realized, Hae-yoon had to speak.

 

“Senior. I’m really, really grateful and sorry to have to ask you twice, not only on Wednesday, but also now, but please, please help Da-min. Please.”

 

Kim Hae-yoon stammers, asking for help again and again.

 

“Even if I can’t remember Da-min like the others, can you remember her and help her like you did with Senior Soo-yeon?”

 

The curse of forgetfulness had not escaped Kim Hae-yoon.

 

It just came a little later.

 

“And if you have a moment, please… please tell her to remember me, to tell me just once that I was a very good friend. Please, Senior Baek Iri.”

 

She wrote this on an anonymous piece of paper before she graduated from middle school, thanking Da-min for reaching out to her when she was lonely, but she doesn’t know if it came out right.

 

If she knew this was going to happen, she should have said it in person.

 

‘I mean, we see each other every day, so why did it take me until now to say?’

 

“Uh, uh, oh, my God. Why didn’t I hear the doorbell? How many minutes late are you? Tsk, I’m scared of the gym teacher… I’m in trouble…”

 

“Hey, hey! The bell rang, you go to your class, I don’t care if you get in trouble for sleeping in…!”

 

Bang!