An Exorcist Magical Girl!

“Good luck next week.”

 

The bell rings, signaling that it’s five minutes before fifth period, and the gym teacher finally lets us dismiss.

 

As we all headed back to our respective classrooms.

 

Yang Ji-won whispered quietly as she passed by me.

 

I nodded nervously, making sure only she could see me.

 “Everything is according to plan.”

 

The class three girls have only one chance at revenge, and they’ve really picked the perfect time to make the most of it.

 

I mean, they could have figured out the group practice schedule if they wanted to.

 

It’s not like this is some kind of secret.

 

I was in charge of staging, propping, and casting a show with the entire second grade, but I didn’t think,

“Why do I have to do this?”

.

 

Because this morning, I heard the worst thing the teacher had ever done.

 

Ms. Park Eun-kyung, that crazy teacher, was talking about home education when she was punishing a kid in class three, and she was talking about someone in front of the whole class. But honestly, the whole home education thing was way over the top.

 

It was right before the midterms.

 

The class three students, who had been quiet until now, probably decided to take revenge after this incident.

 

For the record, I heard this story from our classmates, not Yang Ji-won.

 

Yang Ji-won hadn’t told me this story until now, out of respect for the friend who had been punished.

 

I walked back into the classroom, mentally applauding the scale of the plan that Yang Ji-won and her classmates had come up with.

 

Rummaging through my locker, I thought about what I had to do.

 

In this case, there was nothing I could do

“ahead of time”

except to catch the ghost.

 

Two things happened at the exact right time: Ms. Park freaking out and the students witnessing the scene.

 

Both of these things need to happen at the right time to make the request successful.

 

The purpose of this request is for a moment’s relief, even if it means hours of torment.

 

There’s no use in freaking out the teacher when the students aren’t looking.

 

So, the ghost will remain in my locker for the next week, trapped in the wood

 

The most appropriate time to take it out and place it in the right place will be next Friday morning, the day of the execution. It would be best to wait until a few days after our surprise event to complete the exorcism.

 

The exorcism should be done as soon as possible, as the effect of the hearing will wear off once the demon is gone.

 

I’ve heard that the hallucinations last for two or three hours, but if we’re lucky enough to get a few days, that’s even better, right?

 

I glanced at the timetable taped to the inside of my locker door.

 

Getting to school early in the morning to get work done was out of the question.

 

I’ll run into a lot of teachers who drive to work, and who knows, maybe Ms. Park will be there smoking early in the morning.

 

There is no information about where or what she does at other times, except that she hides behind the rooftop door close to the faculty office during breaks and comes down to the first-floor parking lot for a walk and smokes during lunch.

 

Therefore, the ghost in the parking lot had to be set up during the morning break.

 

There’s no way to overlook the parking lot from behind Ms. Park’s favorite rooftop door, so there’s no need to arouse suspicion.

 

Let’s see, the second period is over, and the third period is a traveling class, so I’ll grab my stuff, walk to the parking lot, and then to the classroom.

 

“What are you doing?”

Seo Jun asked me out of nowhere.

 

“Oh, just checking the timetable.”

 

I had been asked to keep the request a secret from Seo Jun, so I stammered.

 “Not that.” “Huh?” “What do you need that for?”

 

Seo Jun’s gaze, as she asks, is directed at the gourdwood lying on the corner of my locker.

 

“Oh, you’ve seen that before.” “So, you’re not going to tell me what it is?” “Uh, it’s not a training center business, it’s personal.” 

As I trailed off, Seo Jun made a mouth like,

“Request?”

.

 

She’s quick on the uptake.

 

I responded with a slight twitch of my chin.

 

Then Seo Jun said something unexpected.

 

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.” “What? Suddenly? Are you trying to get something out of me again?”

 

I tried to play it off as a bit of a joke, but the cold glare returned.

 

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding… Please laugh…” “It’s just that I owe you a favor.” “Eh? No, didn’t I make it clear the other day, I’m not doing this to get something in return from you.”

 

I wonder if she feels pressured by the fact that I’ve offered to continue helping her on future missions.

 

I knew Seo Jun was a stickler for give-and-take.

 

She’d given me a lot of credit on our first meeting, with the idea that she’d pay me in advance for using me later.

 

Still, not everything in this world is give and take.

 

For some reason, I felt bitter inside.

 

It must have shown on my face, because Seo Jun rolled her eyes in disbelief.

 

“I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not it.” “It’s not?” “Huh… You said the other day you were going to let me pick the next mission.” “I thought that was a done deal.” “No, it’s not. The playground isn’t haunted, and I don’t approve of you bashing it for bringing me a twig.” “Well, if you say so, then what? You’re weirdly suspicious.”

 

I grunted and let the situation pass.

 

Whether it was Seo Jun’s debt or mine, I wanted to settle it quickly and just be friends.

 

The kind of friend who gives and receives help purely as a favor.

 “Maybe if there’s yogurt in our lunch later, I’ll ask for that. If that’s not enough, I’ll ask for a grapefruitade.”

***

  

The week flew by, and it was Friday again.

 

As soon as the bell rang for the end of second period, I grabbed my things and sprinted to the first floor.

 

My luggage consisted of the textbook for the next class, a haunted gourd, and a shawl I had stolen, or rather, borrowed, from the cicada ghost of the lamppost in front of the training center last week.

 

Oh, this shawl is invisible to others.

 

I can’t even recognize the scarf unless I have my account open between 3 and 40%.

 

It’s not a ghost, it’s just a ghost’s object.

 

It can be perceived by human senses through the power of its owner, the ghost, but the shawl itself has no ability to invade human senses.

 

“Look at this, my summer and winter fashion.” “…What do you want me to look at?”

 

Seo Jun, with her eyes closed, obviously didn’t see anything, so I was treated like a weirdo.

 

I rushed to my destination and picked up the gourdwood, flicking off the twisted grain.

 

The ghost separated from the wood and flew toward the streetlight in the corner of the parking lot.

 

Hmm, I feel like I know it.

 

The ghost slammed its back into the lamppost and fell to the ground like a drunk who’d lost a fight with a lamppost.

 

“Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.”

 

I quickly grabbed the ghost by the scruff of the neck and pulled it to its feet. Then I wrapped my shawl around its body and tied it to a lamppost. It knew that if I left it alone, it would run away.

 

To do this, I watched the

“Tie a knot that won’t come undone”

video on YouTube 30 times.

 

The ghost squirmed and squirmed, but it couldn’t get out of its bindings.

 

Two of its arms were too tightly secured by the shawl to wiggle, and the third arm, a substitute for a tongue, wasn’t long enough to reach the knot behind the streetlight.

 

The ghost of Banho Shopping Street had withstood even the strongest of gourdwood’s manpower with that flimsy knot.

 

This knot is much more elaborate and should be able to withstand more than this weakling’s struggles.

 

“Good luck with that, then.”

 

I bowed my head in greeting, hoping to show the ghost some courtesy.

 

But then I paused at the words on the sign peeking through the bushes behind the streetlight.

 

“The school is a smoke-free zone…?”

 

You’re telling me the teacher is excited to smoke a cigarette in front of a sign like this? She’s a courageous teacher.

 

I knew she was shameless, but I didn’t realize she had no conscience.

 

She was a teacher beyond my imagination until the end.

 

I was staring at the sign in the same position as when I greeted her, and the ghost took advantage of the gap and grabbed the back of my head.

 

It was a tearful scene where she was still doing her job even though her position was changed.

 

I sent Yang Ji-won an emoji of a cat flicking a baton and went to my third period class.

 

I could hear her for about 30 seconds and then it stopped.

 

Apparently, it didn’t work on the S⁺-rank exorcist.

 

I felt bad about locking it up for a few days, so I was willing to put up with its hearing for an hour or so, but it was over pretty quickly.

 

Third and fourth periods flew by, and lunch came quickly.

 

The sophomores were all gathered on the field again, just like last week.

 

I glanced out at the parking lot.

 

I couldn’t see anything with my account closed.

 

【Talent: Exorcist (Aspiring)】【Status: Utilized】【Link-Open: ▾■■■■■■□□□□ …60% ▾】【Skill ▸】 

With a small wave of my hand, I opened the crystal circle to 60%, and the ghost was now fully visible.

 

I was worried that I was showing myself to everyone as a way to get what I wanted, but I was relieved to see that I was still pursuing a bargain.

 

“Hey, Seo Jun.”

I whispered to Seo Jun, who was standing right next to me.

 

“If you want to see something fun, open up your account.”

 

Puzzled, but obedient, Seo Jun opened it, followed my gaze, turned her head, and soon spotted the ghost.

 

“Uh, I did something.” 

Seo Jun casually turned to face forward again and chuckled.

 

It was a ridiculous scene, even for someone who didn’t know the circumstances.

 

The ghost was strangely exhausted and tied to the spot where it had been yesterday.

 

Its long tongue stuck out of its mouth, and its arms flailed limply and limply.

 

It looked as if the grass was dead, as if it wanted to pull our hair, but couldn’t get out of its place.

 

But this pitiful appearance was short-lived.

 

As soon as the ghost found someone to torment, the corners of its mouth twitched upward, and it began flailing its arms with an expression that made it hard to tell whether it was amused or possessed.

 

As the ghost’s state changed, the tension in the normally casual class three became palpable.

 

The ghost and the class.

 

They were both reacting to the same person.

 

Ms. Park Eun-kyung.

 

The teacher appeared in the parking lot.

 

Ms. Park Eun-kyung, who never misses a day, came to the parking lot for her cigarette break.

 

What a regular life.

 

The P.E. teacher was shouting

“hot two-three-four, two-three-four”

at the top of his lungs, but no one in class three was paying attention to the group exercise.

 

Everyone in class three was squinting at the parking lot, flailing their arms and legs in time with the chant.

 

Ms. Park nervously lit a cigarette. It was extremely routine behavior.

 “Oh, there.”

 

Someone from class three spoke up impatiently.

 

The ghost tied to the lamppost right behind Park Eun-kyung, mouth agape, swung its arm.