An Exorcist Magical Girl!

There’s no denying that Seo Jun is suspicious.

 

However, I chose Seo Jun purely because of the way she just acted.

 

Why would anyone want to be her partner after being treated so badly?

 

He’s trying to get revenge. Look at that. His eyes are rolling.

 

So, this is a choice for both of them.

 

If I let them team up again, they’re both going to get their asses handed to them.

 

I can’t keep them together, even if I know that she’ll make the wrong choice in the heat of the moment.

 

I don’t know exactly what happened to them, and I don’t think I can do anything about it.

 

I’m just trying to eliminate as much contact as possible between Yin Charang and Seo Jun.

 

It’s the best I can do right now.

 

“What happened on your last mission, Yin Charang?”

 

I know he’s not going to give me a straight answer, but I ask anyway, just in case.

 

After all, I’ve promised Seo Jun the next mission, so I might as well know what happened.

 

But Yin Charang immediately looked back at me with a glint of madness in his eyes, so I let it go.

 

“No, that’s it, that’s it, Charang, just go home.”

 

If I asked Seo Jun, I’m sure she’d have a similar reaction since she’s a part of it, and I don’t think the director would be willing to talk about the students behind their backs.

 

It’s no different than an exorcist who says he can’t tell you the details.

 

The students at the training center seem to know what’s going on, but should I ask them?

 

I’m not really close to any of them, since they’re all in mission teams.

 

Oh, Seon-yeo…?

 

Eh, I don’t know. I’ll ask them tomorrow.

  

***

 

And Thursday came.

 

Midterms started that had nothing to do with me.

 

School grades don’t mean anything to people like me, so the exam period is just a day to go to the training center early.

 

Yeo Seon-yeo’s school and mine have a vague overlap in midterms.

 

Theirs was from Monday to Friday this week, and ours was from today, Thursday, to Wednesday the following week.

 

So, we ran into each other at the training center earlier than usual.

 

I was about to call them over for a quick chat, but Yeo Seon-yeo opened her mouth first.

 

“Baek-iri, have you eaten?” “I ate…”

 

Her expression turned sour when I held up the empty sandwich wrapper to show her.

 

“So, what would you like to drink?” “Huh?” “Let’s go to the cafe. We’ve got time.”

 

Oh, opportunity walked into my lap!

 

“Oh, but it’s just the two of us.”

 

Seo Jun doesn’t seem to be interested in what we’re doing, let alone following us, but Yeo Seon-yeo insists.

 

I need to filter what she says. I’ve always been very reluctant to interact with Seo Jun.

 

“Seo Jun, do you want me to get you something?” “No thanks, I’ve got barley tea.”

 

I followed her out of the training center.

 

Within minutes, we found a small, private café.

 

“I was going to go out of my way to buy you a meal, but you ate. Of course, I’m not trying to make a living out of this. My parents will have their own stories, and as far as I know, the association pays me a stipend. Oh, I don’t know. Anyway, it’s just something I’m buying, so take your pick.” “Okay, then I’ll buy yours.” “Dude, what did you hear? It’s a thank you!” “Uh, I have something to rip off of you too.” “What?!” “Let’s call it a favor.” “Huh…”

 

With a dumbfounded look on her face, she grabbed the Americano I’d bought her and plopped down on the bench in front of the cafe.

 

“So, what do you want to know, Baek Iri?”

 

I took a sip of my grapefruit Ade and cut to the chase.

 

“Tell me more about Seo Jun. As objectively as possible.”

 

When I mentioned Seo Jun, she shot me a look that said,

“You didn’t even listen to me the last time I told you about her, and now you’re regretting it?”

.

 

“Because I didn’t just listen to you then,”

I said,

“I checked her left arm like you said. And there was nothing!”

 

I pleaded my innocence, and she turned her icy glare on me.

 

“Oh, yeah, that’s right, she used to have some kind of tattoo or knife mark or something on her left arm, but I don’t know when she got rid of it, but it was there, so I guess it must have looked like I was lying to you.”

 

She sighed lightly and began to tell her story.

 

“Seo Jun’s always been a bit of a brute, and when she goes on a mission, she just does what she’s told and goes home, so why bother making things difficult, which is why the kids don’t like to go on missions with her. But they kept teaming up with her because she kept getting into trouble.” “What kind of a job was that?” “Well, when she was out with me a couple years ago, she pissed off a ghost that had nothing to do with the mission, and it wasn’t a mistake, it was on purpose. You know, she had to touch something that she could have just avoided. You know, it’s like that with all the other kids. They’ll just pick up anything that comes their way. Does it make sense if I tell you it’s not about the mission, it’s about the thrill?” “Thrills? Is that why she’s called bloodthirsty or something?” “Oh, that was pretty recent.”

 

She sighed, and then continued.

 

“It was probably a mission to exorcize a ghost in a doll. I honestly don’t know the details of what happened there, but when we didn’t hear from her long after the mission was supposed to be over, the teachers went to the location.”

 “Yeah…” “And there it was.”

 

She gulped down her drink, her stomach burning just thinking about it.

 

“There?” “Yin Charang was lying on the ground with blood all over him, and next to him, Seo Jun was frantically stabbing a doll with a kitchen knife.” “…What?” “That’s what the training center assistant instructor who went to look for them said she saw.”

 

I didn’t realize that almost killing someone literally meant

“almost killing someone”

.

 

I honestly thought there might have been some exaggeration involved.

 

No, wait.

 

Stop, stop, stop.

 

We haven’t even heard who was at fault yet.

 

She didn’t get an overview of the incident, just a single scene that people saw at the time.

 

It’s pretty creepy in isolation, but there’s no reason to assume that Seo Jun is the culprit, is there?

 

And if it was entirely her fault, wouldn’t the training center have kicked her out sooner?

 

That’s not to say that I don’t understand Seon-yeo’s conviction that Seo Jun is the culprit.

 

There’s a reputation that she’s been building up, and she’s the most likely culprit.

 

To be honest, I’m also bothered by Yin Charang’s cheap reaction.

 

“Seon-yeo, you don’t know the whole details, do you?” “They don’t tell us normal students that, they just told us that he’s been hospitalized, he’s been released, he’s going to take some time off, he’s going to come back, and so on, but it’s pretty obvious.” “Mmm…” “Same thing with the exorcism mission at the Rapid Transit Station. There was one weirdly dangerous thing on the list that I didn’t want to do, but Seo Jun picked it, and that’s why I stopped you.” “Seon-yeo, wait. Was it an exorcism mission when you saw it?” “What are you talking about?”

 

Seon-yeo looked at me incredulously.

 

“No, you didn’t see it as a scouting mission, you saw it as an exorcism mission.” “Oh, that’s what I was going to say, too! Yesterday, that exorcist… Shin? Shinji?” “Shin Ji Woon.” “Yes, Shin Ji Woon! Anyway, when that exorcist from the association said it was a reconnaissance mission, I thought what kind of bullshit was that? I was scared shitless of him, didn’t you notice? You can’t just make things up like that! All of us at the academy saw it, so why is he lying? I remember it for sure, the list of tasks given to the academy said “exorcism”!” “Calm down—” “Hey, ask the others. They didn’t like the idea of letting kids exorcize a ghost that caused a missing person’s death. No, if it was just a scouting mission, many of them would have signed up. It’s not dangerous, it’s just a bunch of bullshit.”

 

Seon-yeo continued to criticize the association’s deceptive behavior.

 

“Hmph, hey, look at the time. I’m going crazy, let’s go.” “Oh-uh, thanks for the grapefruitade.”

 

As I sprinted back to the training center, I realized that the only way to get to the bottom of this was to fry the director.

 

***

 

 

“Hey, if school got out early, you should have thought of practicing during that time, you cheat! Seon-yeo, are you becoming more like Hwang Hanju?”

 

As soon as Seon-yeo opened the door to the classroom, the yelling erupted from inside.

 

Seon-yeo half-crawled in, saying

“I’m sorry”

over and over again.

 

Mr. Shin, who teaches her, won’t be there until later in the evening, so there’s no one to scold her now.

 

She sat in the empty lecture hall and finished the assignment Mr. Shin Wook had given her.

 

She thought of finishing it and then going to the director’s office after.

 

But Mr. Shin arrived earlier than usual, and class began as soon as she finished, so she didn’t have time to see the director.

 

After class, she thought of breaking into the director’s office.

 

But that didn’t happen either.

 

At 18:30, shortly after the evening class started, all the students of the training center were called to the counter in the lobby.

 

“Teachers, is everyone here? I need a headcount, please.” “Yes, Director.” “The second-grade class is here except for Hwang Hanju and the two who are out on a mission.”

One of the teachers informed the director.

 “There are twelve in the senior class, minus the three who are out on a mission.” “Two, four, six, eight, ten… The freshman class has all seventeen now.” “My class has one person.” *** 

 

 

The last one is from senior Shin Wook.

 

“Usually, when we get together like this, it’s for an emergency mission.”

Shin whispered it to me, and then gently pulled me to the back of my second-year class.

 

There were now 43 students in the lobby.

 

The director looked at us all over and began to speak.

 

“As you may have guessed, this is an emergency mission. Something has come up that requires a lot of people urgently, so they’ve called the training center. It’s nothing too dangerous, so don’t be nervous.”

 

Shin Wook, who was listening to the conversation behind me, told me that the association often pampered the trainees in this way.

 

“I was called there a few times when I was in high school.” “What do you do when you go?” “It’s different every time. I don’t know what it is this time. I haven’t heard anything.”

 

With that, Shin walked away to join the chatter among the teachers in each class.

 

“The organization will explain more about what you need to do when we get to the park, but for now, we’ll be working in groups of two or three, so when we get there, we’ll gather in groups.”

 

In mission groups?

 

So, I’ll be traveling with Seo Jun?

 

It’s actually a good thing.

 

I’ll get a chance to observe Seo Jun up close.

 

I don’t know why the Society sent me on what was supposed to be a scouting mission but turned out to be an exorcism.

 

What’s the truth about the incident that nearly killed Yin Charang.

 

No, more than that.

  

Seo Jun was the one who chose the Rapid Transit Station exorcism mission, and she was the one who told me to be careful.

 

What was Seo Jun really like?

 

I wanted to know.