An Exorcist Magical Girl!

Like scraping a sharp carving knife across metal-covered skin.

 

A bright red O and an X were carved into the pages they each had open on their desks.

 

Bam!

 

I wanted to believe that if they just got it out of the way, everything would be okay.

 

Some brave first-grader quickly shoved the workbook under the desk.

 

The pencil case, perched precariously on the corner of the desk, rolled with it, spilling its contents.

 

A sudden loud crash cut through the hissing noise.

 

Everyone else in the room, tense and senses on edge, jerked in surprise.

 

A freshman was suddenly the center of sixteen stares.

 

She flicked the half-open question book to the floor with her foot, covering it completely.

 

And then,

 

Thud, thud, thud!

 

“Aaaaaaah!”

 

Blood poured onto the empty desk.

 

The blood soaked into every knife mark and scratch on the desk.

 

A crimson O and an X reconstructed themselves.

 “Kaaaaaah!”

 

The classroom quickly descended into chaos.

 

Everyone screamed and ran.

 

No, they tried to run.

 

“Why won’t the door open?”

 

The front door, the back door, and even the windows were all unlocked.

 

Half a dozen students rushed in, grunting, pushing and pulling, but it wouldn’t budge.

 

The screams echoed through the school, and soon the teachers, including Mr. Yaza, who was working late, came running from the teachers’ room.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

But they couldn’t do anything because the door wouldn’t open from the outside.

 

At that moment Hanbyul came out with a chair.

 

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way, teachers!”

 

She tried to smash the window.

 “Two, three!”

 

Thud!

 

“Again!”

 

Thud! Kwaang!

 

They hit the window with all their might, but it doesn’t even crack.

 

The students stumble backwards in anger as the window vibrates from the impact of the chair.

 

Thud! Boom! Snap!

 

But there were only one or two surprises.

 

As the dull blows became more regular, they gradually accepted the situation and began to calm down.

 

Among them, Yuri and Ji-won, who had recently been directly involved with the ghost, regained their senses relatively quickly.

 

“Hanbyul.”

 

Ji-won grabbed Hanbyul’s arm as she tried to pick up the chair again, telling her not to push herself too hard.

 “Oh, no.” 

Hanbyul meekly accepted the result and put down her chair.

 “Since I can still communicate with the outside world, I don’t think I was sucked into a dream space like last time.”

 

Ji-won checked her texts and social media accounts.

 

“I see. It’s definitely different than last time.”

 

Yuri breathed a sigh of relief and said she was glad for that one thing.

 

She never wanted to feel that fear again, when she was the only one keeping her sanity.

 

“You were in a lot of trouble back then, Yuri.”

 

Ji-won patted Yuri on the shoulder, then looked around at everyone in the classroom.

 

“Any guesses? What do all these O’s and X’s mean? It’s okay if you’re just guessing, but if you have a clue, tell me right now.”

 

There had to be something to this situation.

 

To find out what it was, they had to interpret what was in front of them as best they could.

 

“Oh, O X quiz…? I can only think that…”

 

A second year student who made eye contact with Ji-won muttered.

 

The other students shook their heads, wondering if they were all thinking the same thing.

 

Then a first-year broadcasting student raised his hand.

 

With all eyes on me, the student who raised her hand seemed to shrink back a bit, but then she spoke up.

 “This is the classroom where Kang Yoon-ju used to do Bunshin Saba…” “Huh…”

 

The students who understood the meaning of the words groaned.

 

***

 

Bunshin Saba.

 

It’s a necromancy technique in which two people hold pens, summon a ghost, and then try to ask the ghost questions.

 

It was common practice to draw O’s and X’s on a piece of paper so that the ghost’s answers could be understood at a glance.

 “So these are the O’s and X’s during Bunshin Saba?” “I think so.”

 

At least at Mukgyeong Girls’ High School, no one knew what Bunshin Saba was.

 

Some had heard of it from childhood cartoons or the palm-sized ghost story anthologies sold in stationery stores, but it was thanks to Kang Yoon-ju that even her friends who weren’t interested in such things had learned a little about this necromantic art.

 

“Hey, what are they doing now?”

 

Someone’s questioning murmur alerted them to the teacher’s presence.

 “Uh…?”

 

Everyone was too busy talking about Bunshin Saba to notice.

 

The teachers became strangely quiet.

 

“Sir…?”

 

Five adults stood in a row in the hallway, staring into the classroom without moving.

 

Their eyes were unfocused, their whites bloodshot.

 

The teachers were as still as mannequins.

 

The tension in the air was palpable,

 

Crackle—

 

The fluorescent lights in the hallway flickered.

 

For that brief moment, the teachers were so close that their foreheads touched the window.

 

The corners of the mouths of the five teachers twitched in unison.

 

Then, in unison, they began to speak.

 “Children, take your seats.” “Happy trivia time.” “It’s trivia time.”

 

Teachers who never blinked, their mouths moving like faulty machines.

 

“Are you all possessed as a group! We’re losing our minds!” “What the hell! We’re really screwed. Is this how we want to be?”

 

Several students shouted, pointing their fingers down the hall.

 

“This is not the time for this, we need to get help now…”

 

Yuri searched her bag for her cell phone with shaking hands.

 

“The police… won’t be able to do anything anyway, and… We have to call an exorcist.”

 

But the moment she picked up her cell phone.

 

The teachers’ eyes, which hadn’t moved until then, rolled towards her at the same time.

 

“Put it down!”

The teachers shouted at her.

 

As Yuri put the phone back in her pocket, the five teachers stopped shouting and turned their attention back to the front.

 

There was a moment of silence, and then the teachers resumed their call to “take your seats.

 

“You guys! Go sit down! Why are you standing?” 

It keeps spitting out a creepy voice, as if fast forwarding a tape.

 

“Hey, hey, guys, let’s do what the teachers say. Go back to your seats and sit down.”

 

Ji-won herself looked incredibly grim as she said this. 

 

Who would want to follow the words of a ghost when they were spoken by teachers?

 

But if she had to choose between staying in class and following their instructions, she would definitely choose the latter.

 

The consequences of ignoring the spirits that possessed the teachers would be more immediate and terrible than the consequences of doing what they said.

 

Ji-won sat down first and the rest of the hesitant students returned to their seats.

 

“Okay, let’s start, it’s time for the fun quiz.” “Okay, let’s start. It’s quiz time.” “Okay, let’s get started. It’s trivia time.”

 

The five overlapping voices resumed their normal tempo.

 

“Pencils up, everyone. Let’s start the quiz to determine the last place.”

 

The students obediently grabbed their pens, the anxious glow on their faces deepening.

 “I’m going to ask questions, and you’re going to answer them, okay?” “…….” “I’m going to ask you a question and you’re going to answer it, okay?” “I ask a question and you answer, okay?” “I ask a question and you answer, okay?”

 

The voice speeds up again, as if it doesn’t like something.

 

“Hey, I guess that counts as a question. Point your pen at the O. I think it’s crazy that we didn’t answer…!”

 

Yuri is the first to realize the ghost’s intentions.

 

There are sobs here and there, followed by the tapping of a pen on the desk.

 

“Right, everyone seems to understand, so let’s start the quiz. Here’s the first question.”

 

Five voices spoke in rapid succession, each without pitch, each sounding like a machine.

 

“Is there a way to get over a fence that can never be crossed?”

 

Seventeen hands clutching pens shook as they heard the question.

 

“What the hell does that even mean?” “You can’t ask your friends for their answers. You can’t ask your friends for their answers. You can’t ask your friends for their answers, you can’t ask your friends for their answers, you can’t ask your friends for their answers—”

 

Someone cringes and mumbles, and the spirit immediately stops them from discussing the answer.

 

“Is there a way to get over the fence that can never be crossed?”

 

Once again, the first problem is repeated.

 

Students struggled to understand the intent of this pun-like question.

 

“Should we take the sentence at face value, or is it German to overthink things? “Is there even a right answer? 

Is the question asking me to interpret the meaning behind the question, or is the answer simply not to offend the spirits?

 

How many questions are there?

 “What happens if I choose the wrong answer?”

 

But they didn’t have long to think about it. The ghost urged her to give her answers.

 

Crying and mumbling, the students chose either O or X.

 

“It’s time to reveal the answer, and the answer is O. Is there a way to get over the impassable wall? The answer is yes.”

 

When the correct answer was announced, the O and X markers on the desks of the eight students who chose O were quickly erased. Among them was Hanbyul.

 

“If you choose the right answer, you’re out of the quiz. This is a quiz to determine the last place,” I told them. “Now, question two.”

 

Five mouths began to recite the second question with a mixture of relief and frustration.

 

“Can you ride a seesaw by yourself?” 

It was a simple sentence, but it sent the remaining nine students into another trance.

 

Should they give the same contradictory answer as before, or should they use common sense this time?

 

“I will reveal the answer. The answer is X. You can’t ride a seesaw alone.” 

The O’s and X’s disappeared from the desks of the three people who had chosen X.

 

Yuri and Ji-won were among the correct answers.

 

While the remaining six wrong answers exchanged nervous glances, the third question came up.

 

“Now for the third question: Do you think you need to break a bone to get out of the hell you’ve been invited to?”