An Exorcist Magical Girl!

The bugs’ commotion was over for the day.

 

There were a few more bugs found hiding in the corners that didn’t die, but only once or twice.

 

The school was quiet, as if nothing had happened.

 

On the outside, it was.

 

The students inside were freaking out, while those outside were trying to keep things quiet.

 

That day, I suddenly remembered what Cha Hanbyul had said before the commotion.

 

The school doesn’t care if kids run out of the classroom because of ghosts.

 

Still, the scale of this incident was too big, so the school made a minimal move before shutting up completely.

 

They called in SeXco.

 

It was the bare minimum of showmanship.

 

If they really wanted to do something about it, they should have hired an exorcist.

 

I realize that it’s in my best interest for the school to keep quiet, but I can’t help but feel a little creeped out.

 

I saw the anger in the faces of my classmates who were affected.

 

What I read in their expressions of anger was

“fed up

”.

 

Fed up with circumstances and situations that they can’t change, and decision makers who don’t seem to care to listen.

 

It’s hard to sympathize with a school that makes hundreds of students feel so powerless.

 

But now I have a chance to multiply that feeling tenfold.

 

“Come here, you’re going to the office.”

 

A teacher called me in and said,

 

“You know, you can’t post whatever you want on the hallway bulletin board.”

 

What a shitty thing.

 

That’s the kind of thing you say to someone who’s supposed to be doing the dirty work for you?

 

Why don’t they like it?

 

This school was even more clueless than I thought it would be.

 

I walked out of the faculty office, shaking with the stench of a private school.

 

***

  “Are you seriously not thinking about the broadcasting club?”

 

It was Friday, the day of club activities.

 

Cha Hanbyul had been trying to persuade me to join the broadcasting club since the morning.

 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t join the broadcasting club.”

 

What kind of club is the broadcasting club?

 

It is a club that receives applications separately, goes through a second interview, and finally selects members.

 

It’s unlikely that such a club would have vacancies, and even if they didn’t have enough people in the first place, they wouldn’t accept transfer students.

 

Hanbyul, you’re from the broadcasting club, don’t you know best?

 

Besides, what does the broadcasting club do?

 

I don’t know exactly what it does, but I do know that it’s very busy.

 

They have to play a song every lunchtime, and they’re stuck at festivals.

 

“Yeah. The Department of Broadcasting doesn’t even pay me.”

 

I don’t like annoying clubs that are called without even trying.

 

I just want to focus on exorcism.

 

If I spend my time on the club and neglect my exorcism business, I’ll be in trouble, right?

 

I swallowed the news that the broadcasting department had put the club on the second priority list, and managed to calm down Cha Hanbyul’s disappointment.

 

“There can’t be a nap club… Oh, don’t they have a knitting club? That’s the only other club I can think of that’s as honey-sucking… Anyway, I just want it to be a chill, laid-back, no-work club.”

 

I flipped through pages of textbooks I’d never look at anyway, letting my hope circuitry run at full blast.

 

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d actually be knitting.

 

 

***

  

Second period recess.

 

My homeroom teacher stopped by the classroom to tell me which club I’d gotten into.

 

After explaining that there was only one club left in the whole school my name was automatically put on the list, the club she mentioned was the Creative Theater Club.

 

The troupe?

 

Somehow, the name of the club was ominous.

 

“What the hell is that?”

I blurted, hoping I’d misheard.

 

“It’s not a theater company. It’s a theater club.” “Ooh, wow.”

 

But what came back was a confirmation shot.

 

I’m in the drama club?

 

By the way, the theater club was ranked third on the list of clubs to avoid.

 

The second place was the broadcasting club.

 

The long-awaited number one was the student council. 

 

I’ve seen the teacher going in and out of the faculty office because of the bug scare. It seemed like they had enough trouble.

 

Anyway, the teacher didn’t notice my panicked expression.

 

“Let’s see, the teacher in charge is Ms. Kim Hee-kyung, and the place is… Oh dear, I can’t find the classroom for the club.”

 

The teacher furrowed her brow and stared at the paper for a long time.

 

It looked like she didn’t want to go back to the office.

 

“Oh, what a hassle. Come here, I think you should ask the teacher in charge directly. Ms. Kim is in the staff room somewhere… Oh, right.”

 

She suddenly remembered something and clapped her hands.

 

I could almost hear a

“Eureka!”

sound effect.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Yuri was in the theater club, right? We can ask her. Kwon Yuri!”

The teacher called out to Yuri in a squeaky voice.

 

Yuri rushed over in surprise.

 

“Yuri, Iril has joined the theater club. You’re in the same class, so take good care of her. Take her to the club room after lunch. She doesn’t know where the club room is.”

 

I was left in the care of Kwon Yuri, the only member of the theater club in our class.

 

“I’ll be in your care Yuri.” “Okay, let’s go together later, Iri.”

 

I started asking her questions. What does she do, what are the people like, is she busy, that sort of thing.

 

Finally, I brought up my biggest question so far.

 

“But isn’t the theater club also a popular club? Why is there an empty spot?” “Oh, because one person dropped out at the beginning of the semester’s plays and another transferred a few weeks ago.”

 

Yuri trailed off, as if the topic wasn’t something she wanted to talk about.

 

I didn’t probe further. I didn’t want to know more about a nameless, faceless person who dropped out and changed schools.

 

***

 

 

Lunch passed and it was the fifth period.

 

I was guided by Yuri into the audio-visual room where the theater club was holding its activities, and after a brief self-introduction, I was assigned to the art team.

 

I wanted to play a role that stood still in the background, like a tree or stone, if possible.

 

I never thought I’d be the one

“making”

the background, like wood or stone.

 

Oh, and how did knitting come about?

 

“Hi, we’re the art team, and we’re going to knit.”

 

We’re supposed to yarn all the trees and stones and stuff in the background.

 

“Why?”

 

The head of the art team handed me a large needle and yarn, saying that since the title of the upcoming play was

“A World Ruled by Spiders”

I would have to knit most of the props myself.

 

I was the worst at knitting jobs!

 

Still, it wasn’t a bad atmosphere.

 

Before I came in, there were three people in the art team. Including the team leader.

 

In addition, the art team had an unprecedented amount of work to do in this play, so the art team members were understaffed.

 

That’s why they welcomed me without any pretense.

 

“We’re so glad you joined the art team as a transfer student.” “No, honestly, it would be unconscionable to take away from other teams. Sound and lighting have enough people, the writers are almost done, and the actors are missing one person, but it’s not like they’re short-handed.” “I mean, if we didn’t have this, we’d have to pull an all-nighter to make this. “Why would we pull an all-nighter? If we’re behind, we’ll get the writers to do it.” “Why the writers? “Because they wrote the script that requires this shitty background.” “But they’re busy, too. The teacher told them to fix the script.” “Ugh, no other club is as busy as ours. All the other clubs are studying for exams right now.”

 

This was the general mood of the art team.

 

And Yuri, the only familiar face here, was not in the same team as me, but she often came to the art team’s work area to see how I was doing.

 

Oh, Kwon Yuri was on the actor team.

 

From the way she was practicing, it seemed like she had a lot of lines, so I sneakily asked a friend of mine who was on the art team, and she said she was a candidate for the lead role.

 

“The role hasn’t been finalized yet. We have to audition for each role.” “But Yuri isn’t the only one who could play the heroine.” *What if she dropped out?” “Well, I’d still pick Yuri.” “Do you think Yuri would have been the lead even if “she”–?” “Who? The one who dropped out?” “Oh, I don’t know, there’s a girl who dropped out to join an acting agency.”

 

The

“girl who dropped out at the beginning of the semester drama”

that Yuri mentioned earlier must have been a girl who was preparing to make her acting debut in earnest.

 

Compared to that girl, who has a sense of protagonist that is second to none?

 

I didn’t have any connection with Yuri except that we were in the same class, so what is this feeling of pride?

 

It reminds me of how I felt when I was in elementary school and a kid in my class won first place in a race.

 

“Wow, why am I so proud of her? Like I raised her?” “But with what you’re doing now, she’s raising you, come on.”

 

The club time passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for the last 10 minutes of sixth period.

 

“Come on, let’s clean up. Put your used stuff back where you found it and pick up the trash!” 

The club president stepped to the front of the room to get everyone’s attention.

 

“Yuri, I need you to invite them over here to the chat room. And I’ll be posting a vote on the audition schedule tonight, so reply back, acting team!” “Yay.” 

The sound of the club finishing up could be heard outside, and the door to the audio-visual room slid open.

 

Students from other clubs were waiting in the hallway for their drama club friends.

 “They finished fast.” “We’re going to be late.”

 

The head of the theater club shouted a cool

“Dismissed!”

and the students with their bags packed scurried out into the hallway in search of my friends.

 

I did the same.

 

As I said goodbye to my knitting friends and left the audio-visual room.

 

“The theater club is over just in time.”

 

Seo Jun was waiting for me, having finished her library club activities early.

 

“When did you guys finish?” “Fifteen minutes ago.” “What? Great. You blew off half of the sixth period. I’m jealous.” “We don’t always finish early either.”

 

On Fridays, we only have sixth period, so we have a little more time than usual.

 

So we decided to skip the cafeteria on Fridays and take our meals to go from a restaurant near the school.

 

“Where are we going today?” “Are cafes okay?” “Very good.”

 

Seo Jun, who was familiar with the geography around the school, took the lead. I followed behind, muttering to myself.

 

“Somehow, there’s nowhere to eat near the training center.” “That’s why there aren’t many schools in the neighborhood.” “Kyah, you’ve made a unique choice.”

 

The cafe Seo Jun mentioned wasn’t that far away.

 

We arrived, chose our menu, and were waiting when my cell phone rang.

 

I pulled my phone out of my bag pocket.

 

The caller was the director

 “Hello. Director–” “It’s Mr. Zhang, the director of Branch 4.”

 

The director cut off my greeting and spoke urgently.

 

“I’m sorry, but I need you to do something urgently.”

 

Before I had a chance to respond, he continued.

 

“I’m sorry, but I need to take you somewhere else today. I have an urgent need for an exorcist of rank S or higher.”

 

Seo Jun looked back at me, wondering what I was talking about, so I quickly put the call on speakerphone.

 

“I’ll text you the location, and you come right away okay?!” “Uh, Director. What do you mean?”

 

Busy footsteps sounded from the other end of the phone.

 

The Director’s words cut through the sound and pierced my ears.

 

“Your team is in danger.”