An Exorcist Magical Girl! Chapter 82

As soon as I heard the call for help, I knew it was going to be a long one, so I hid in a stall at the far end of the bathroom.

 

As expected, the call with Hae-yoon lasted a few minutes after the third period bell rang.

 

And now the call is over.

 

Still hiding in the bathroom, I was thinking about the details of the call.

 

Hae-yoon’s friend, Lee Da-min, had fallen asleep in the middle of the first period.

 

Of course, she didn’t fall asleep, she was out of body.

 

The out-of-body experience was probably caused by the nursery rhyme in the hallway. 

 

I say probably, but I’m almost certain. I think the song possessed her soul.

 

I heard it too about halfway through the second period.

 

The second period song haunted the soul of a sophomore in my class.

 

Unlike my freshman friend’s story, which didn’t reach my ears until about a period later, my sophomore classmate’s news spread very quickly.

 

This is because everyone in the classroom witnessed the moment she disembodied, and there was an immediate commotion.

 

My classmate was in the middle of a presentation on the blackboard when she disembodied and fell face down on the table.

 

It was a bizarre situation where a person just collapsed right in front of you, and no one knew who it was, so there was a lot of commotion.

 

I’m told that even the teacher in the next class ran out of class to help.

 

Anyway, thanks to all the yelling and screaming, the news of the whole situation in class 2 quickly spread to our class.

 

After hearing the story, my classmates immediately realized that out-of-body experiences and memory distortion had occurred.

 

They had experienced it themselves on CPR training day, so they couldn’t help but recognize it.

 

Our class president, Min Jiyoon, wanted to run to class 2 to stop them from calling 911, but was relieved to hear that her friend’s body was in the clinic.

 

First a freshman in the first period, then a sophomore in second period.

 

So it was clear that a third grader, now in third period, would be the target.

 

I grabbed a mop bag from the bathroom and instead of going back to our classroom, I went to the third grade classroom.

 

I was afraid that someone would find Da-min and call 911, but I had no choice.

 

If an ambulance came to the school, I would have to rush downstairs and explain to them not to take her.

 

“There is no one in this hallway.”

 

I had to move around as much as possible, avoiding the teachers’ eyes.

 

With my nerves on edge, not knowing when or where the singing would come from, I hid behind a fire door a few feet from the third grade classroom and watched the hallway.

 

At the same time, I had to make sure I didn’t hear an ambulance coming from the playground.

 

How much time had passed.

 

“Class has started, what are you doing?”

 

A low, hushed voice came from behind me. Goose bumps formed on my arms.

 

I spun around to see Mr. Jang standing there.

 

Mr. Jang, the teacher of Magic and Ethics and advisor of the Student Council.

 

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, hello…? Ha, ha, ha, ha…”

 

Shit, I lost.

 

“I thought I asked you what you are doing.”

 

“Oh, that-that…”

 

A cold sweat ran down my back.

 

Should I say I was on my way back from the bathroom, or should I say I was running an errand? Oh, or should I say I got lost?

 

My head was spinning, but my jaw wouldn’t drop.

 

If you asked me what the scariest thing is at Mukgyeong Girls’ High School, I’m sure all the other students would say ghosts, but I’m different. I would say Mr. Jang Jin-cheol.

 

“Baek Iri, a transfer student in the second grade.”

 

Mr. Jang said my name slowly.

 

I wondered if this is how someone feels who is 10 seconds away from execution.

 

I was waiting for the bell to ring to tell me to go back to class, but the next sentence was completely unexpected.

 

“Second year, second grade, is third grade next?”

 

“……!”

 

Mr. Jang knew what I was doing wandering around the third grade hallway.

 

With his usual stern tone, Mr. Jang continued.

 

“I was told not to move the body far in such a situation, so I took the second grader to the clinic. I convinced the health teacher.”

 

“Sir, how did you manage to…”

 

“Yang Ji-won, the class president of the 3rd grade, told me that when she had a similar incident, her friends prevented her from being taken to the hospital. It was lucky that I was in the third grade of the second year.”

 

The teacher who ran out of the next class was Mr. Jang Jin-cheol.

 

“Take this.”

 

Mr. Jang handed me one of the filing cabinets he was holding.

 

“Uh, uh, what?”

 

“If you see other teachers, tell them you’re on an errand for me.”

 

“Oh, uh, thank you…?”

 

I grunted and took the folder.

 

“You don’t have to be so afraid. I just want to help you a little.”

 

With that, he didn’t answer my questioning look, but walked slowly towards the staff room.

 

“We’ll talk about it when I get the file back.”

 

As if there was nothing more to say.

 

“Mr. Jang…”

 

I grabbed him. He had just said that he really wanted to help me.

 

“…Mr. Jang, there was a first grader in class 5 before the second grader incident.”

 

He stopped walking and looked at me.

 

“The same thing happened in the first period, a first grader in class 5. Her name is Da-min and I think she’s still in the classroom.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll get her to the clinic safely.”

 

“Thank you, Sir.”

 

Mr. Jang understood me right away.

 

I was still worried about Lee Da-min who had been asked by Kim Hae-yoon, but I was glad to have someone to back me up.

 

After the teacher left, I was able to focus solely on the out-of-body experience that would occur in the third grade.

 

“Hey, what are you doing outside of class? The atmosphere at school is bad these days, and you shouldn’t be wandering around alone in class.”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just running an errand.”

 

Halfway through, another teacher spotted me and tried to send me back to class, but thanks to Mr. Jang, I managed to get through.

 

I stopped and pretended to clean up the mess, and I apologized and walked away.

 

About five more minutes passed.

 

“…paper tinkle tinkle tinkle.”

 

I heard the faint sound of singing in the distance. It was the same chorus I’d heard earlier in the second period.

 

“Come on, let’s gather. The teacher is waiting for us.”

 

The singing came closer and closer.

 

“The school bell is ringing. Come on, let’s gather.”

 

Where is it coming from?

 

I knew it was coming this way, but I couldn’t see who was singing.

 

I have my account open at 85%, why?

 

“The Teacher is waiting for us.”

 

It wasn’t until the mysterious choir sang the next verse that I realized I’d been looking too high.

 

The singing was coming from the height of my calf.

 

***

 

In the distance, something golden and approaching from near the floor of the hallway flashed in the fluorescent light.

 

It was the missing trophy head.

 

Following the trophy head, a line of lifeless heads marched forward.

 

Behind the trophy head, the heads of wooden dolls, and behind them the heads of stuffed animals, moved in unison, singing a nursery rhyme.

 

All the heads that were missing from the school.

 

I thought the heads were just floating in the air, but they weren’t.

 

It was hard to hear, drowned out by the singing, but if I listened closely, I could hear the sound of footsteps.

 

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that each one had a body of transparent slime attached to its head.

 

They looked like transparent people, about 20 to 30 centimeters tall, each with a different scalp on their head.

 

“School bell tinkle tinkle.”

 

The procession of heads with new bodies was already marching down the hallway in front of the sixth grade classroom, past the fourth and fifth grade classrooms, singing the nursery rhyme.

 

And it was in the sixth grade that the song caught on.

 

“Come on, let’s get together.”

 

The last doll in the procession passed through the front door of Class 6.

 

With a whimper, a ghost appeared through the classroom wall and joined the back of the procession.

 

“So that’s how you… possessed a soul and took it away?”

 

But it wasn’t time to attack yet.

 

I had to follow them and capture the bodies that drove them.

 

The “Head Collector” body, which attached new bodies to the heads it collected, took the souls of freshman Da-min and my sophomore classmate.

 

Before the procession passed my fire door, I climbed up to the windowsill, sat down, and held my breath.

 

From what I’ve observed so far, those heads don’t hang around.

 

Even when the ghost of a sixth-grader followed the procession, it didn’t look back, only forward.

 

They couldn’t see me on the windowsill from their level.

 

I held my breath so they would never recognize me.

 

By the way, holding one’s breath is quite useful in the case of bug resurrection, and still is.

 

It wouldn’t fool the very strong, but it was enough to fool the right spirits for a while.

 

“The Teacher is waiting for us.”

 

As usual, the heads didn’t notice me.

 

They were so simple that I wondered if the only pattern they’d been programmed with was “sing and move forward”.

 

I crept along at the back of the line.

 

After a long walk, the procession finally reached the music room.

 

No classes were supposed to use the music room during the first semester, but there was a constant stream of singing coming from inside.

 

As the trophy head at the front of the procession opened the door to the music room, I followed closely behind.

 

“Don’t go in there.”

 

I grabbed the sixth-grader by the back of her head and pulled her away from the procession so she couldn’t enter the music room.

 

Even then, not one head in the procession looked back.

 

I let her go because I didn’t want them to return to their home base without a ghost following them, but if I’d known they’d be so indifferent to possessed ghosts, I would have cut him off right in front of the classroom.

 

“…?”

 

The senior’s soul was clouded with loss of self.

 

Gradually, light returns to her eyes.

 

“Grade, class, name, do you remember?” I ask in a low voice, and the senior’s mind slowly nods and answers.

 

“Sun Yeon-woo, 3rd grade, class 6.”

 

“Good, now go back. Right now. Oh, and cover your ears as much as possible, her singing seems to attract people.”

 

“What’s that…?”

 

“Senior Yeon-woo, I don’t have time to explain it now. If you’re curious, you can come to Class 4 later, but for now, go away.”

 

I sent Sun Yeon-woo’s spirit back.

 

Then I pressed my face to the window and looked into the music room.

 

The music room was set up like a college classroom in a drama, with the teacher’s desk at the bottom and a cascade of bookshelves.

 

There was a piano right next to the table, and there were rows of observation tables by the window.

 

The two souls in the front seats were the ones who were singing earlier.

 

They must be Da-min and the two second-year disciples.

 

The heads quickly took their seats in an orderly fashion in the back row behind the two spirits and soon joined the chorus.

 

“Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaah!”

 

What the hell is that song?

 

I instinctively covered my ears as the song suddenly grew ten times louder.

 

***

 

A voice twice as loud as the loud song rang in my eardrums.

 

From the front door, hidden by the wall, someone walked toward the piano with a noble gesture.

 

It was a headless, transparent body that looked at least two meters tall.

 

❰Skill: ‘Simple Clairvoyance’ is activated.❱

 

A reddish core hovered above its neck, where its head should be.

 

❰Skill: ‘A Craftsman Wears No Tools’ is activated.❱

 

The mop bag I’d held tightly earlier was enchanted by my aura.

 

Ambush > Open the door > Blast it > Get the kids out. All in 15 seconds.

 

Quickly organizing the sequence in my head, I yanked the door open with all my might and threw myself inside.

 

BANG!

 

“Huh?”

 

Something was wrong.

 

It wasn’t the sound of the door opening.

 

It was the sound of my body hitting an invisible wall behind the door.