An Exorcist Magical Girl!

Doesn’t B have a study group or something? I should sit next to him and watch and learn. There must be a secret to getting first place all the time.

 

I turned my phone over with a rattle.

 

It was always one or two points.

 

Those one or two points that wouldn’t close even if I died, and every time I was relegated to second place.

 

Ping!

 

My phone vibrated slightly.

 

Apparently, it was asking if I wanted to transfer to B’s school.

 

For about two weeks after the test results came out, the same repertoire would repeat itself.

 

Vague praise, comparisons to B, a nagging reminder that I shouldn’t be satisfied with this grade and should strive for the best, and an irritating consolation prize to top it all off.

 

Ping! 

Another text message that makes my phone ring

 

Yes, it’s time for the usual pep talk and encouragement.

 

I wonder what it’ll be this time: Good job, you tried hard, you’ll do better next time, stay strong?

 

Whatever it was, I decided it would be better for my mental health not to read it right now.

 

Smart.

 

Just as I was about to turn my attention back to the problem set, there was a knock at the study room door.

 Boom!  

The door opens and my teacher, who often supervises our nightly study sessions, pokes his head in.

 

“Wow, you’re still studying on a holiday day, that’s great, that’s really great, the best students in our school study the hardest.” 

 

He started with a compliment, but then gave a theatrical cry of frustration and got down to business.

 

“Oh, but what am I going to do about it? Today is a holiday, so we have to close the study hall early. I’m so sorry about your studying…”

 

It turned out to be a good thing. If I had continued to study in the same room as B, I would have been too nervous to concentrate at all.

 

I don’t want to go home, so I just lock myself in a study cafe or reading room.

 

“It’s okay, I just wanted to sneak in.”

 

I gathered my things and stood up.

 

“Yeah, yeah. You shouldn’t study to the point of brain fever. Hahaha! Enjoy your vacation!” “Yeah.” 

I said a quick hello to the teacher and walked out of the study hall.

 

I intentionally walked out first, but B followed closely behind me.

 

“A, are you going straight home?” “Why do you want to know that?” I blurted out, but B didn’t seem to mind and kept talking to me. “Isn’t your school on vacation? We have two weeks starting tomorrow. How many weeks do you have?” “Three whole weeks.” “Hehe, that’s tight. I have one week left after the school’s vacation lecture, and last year I could just study in the school’s study hall, but this year they don’t open the study hall during the vacation.”

 

Wow, I really didn’t want to know.

 

“A, do you know any study cafes with a good atmosphere or…” “Hey.” “Huh?” “I’ll go first. My house is on the other side of town from yours.” “Oh, right. That’s too bad. It would be fun to walk to school together.”

 

Yes, fun. Only you’d have fun. My insides are boiling.

 

If you’re trying to get on my nerves so you can make up three points on the next test, that’s great, B.

 

“Bye, A. Have a great vacation!”

 

I wonder if being first in class every time makes the whole world look good.

 

Damn it. I want to see this beautiful world, please.

 

***

 

It was just like Yang Ji-won had said.

 

Except for the last part, which was the eighth through tenth questions in Korean and the second and third multiple-choice questions in English, the content was similar.

 

The roots are the same, so they must be similar.

 

All but three of the passages were variations and derivations of the same story.

 

It’s an all-too-familiar story that no Korean student should be ignorant of.

 

-Jealous of the number one student in the school, the number two student in the school pushes the number one student off the roof to his death, and the number one student, now a ghost, wanders around upside down, banging his head, looking for the number two student.

 

This myth explains everything.

 

It explains why Yang Ji-won and Kwon Yuri, the first and second place winners, respectively, didn’t wake up, and why the dummy was walking around with its head on the floor.

 

If this was the case, there would be a hint of another dream place where only Yang Ji-won and Kwon Yuri were sent separately.

 

I laughed in vain.

 

There were three sets of questions from questions 1 through 4 in Korean: (a), the last three questions, and two English multiple-choice questions.

 

The Korean (a) passage was in the form of a screenplay, the last passage was a creative writing passage about casting for a play, the English multiple-choice passage 2 was about

“characters in classic movies and classic novels”

, and the English multiple-choice passage 5 was about

“side effects of method acting”

.

 

All of them were related to acting.

 

“I can’t wait to get out of this boring shell.”

 

The ghost’s thumping words echoed in my ears before it disappeared.

 

I ran out of the classroom and headed for the staff room.

 

Seo Jun, her hand still against the wall, searching for weakness, stared at me in surprise.

 

“It’s a play.” “What?” “Yang Ji Won and Kwon Yuri are involved in a play!”

 

A boring shell.

 

What if the

“shell”

the ghost was referring to was

“a role in a play”

?

 

What if, just like the straw man who was playing the part of

“the kid who died locked in the school computer lab during vacation,”

this ghost was playing the part of

“the number one who was killed by the number two”

?

 

I wondered if he’d gotten tired of being the

“number one”

and planned this whole thing so that one of us could take over.

 

Seo Jun heard my speculation and asked a question.

“But why did it have to be Kwon Yuri?” “I told you, I think she was framed because she got second place.” “Well, what I mean is, out of Min Jiyoon and Kwon Yuri, why Yuri?” “Of the two…?”

 

Well, Min Jiyoon was the third runner-up, so it’s obvious, right?

 

Seo Jun tilted her head slowly, looking confused, and asked.

“Didn’t you know that Min Jiyoon and Kwon Yuri tied?”

 

…What?

 

“They were supposed to be tied for second place. I guess they didn’t show that on the broadcast.”

 

Seo Jun pointed to the desk across the partition.

 

“There’s the OMR cards and grading sheets over there. Why don’t you take a look?”

 

She placed her hand on the wall again and resumed her search for weaknesses.

 

With trembling hands, I reached across the partition and picked up the scorecard on the desk.

 

Rank ｜ Name           ｜ Language ｜ English ｜ Average

01     ｜ Yang Ji-won ｜ 100           ｜ 90         ｜ 95

02     ｜ Kwon Yuri    ｜ 80             ｜ 100       ｜ 90

02     ｜ Min, Jiyoon  ｜ 100           ｜ 80         ｜ 90

 

 

Seo Jun was right.

 

Kwon Yuri and Min Jiyoon had the same average score of 90.

 

The ranking column on their transcripts said the same thing: second place.

 

I frantically searched my desk.

 

Why Kwon Yuri? There had to be a reason.

 

Plang! 

A piece of paper slipped off the top of a cluttered desk and fell to the floor.

I unconsciously picked it up and realized that the paper was more blank than printed.

 

I almost mistook it for a blank sheet of paper because it was folded in such a way that I couldn’t see the words printed on the top left corner.

 

But as I unfolded it, the words on the paper caught my eye.

 

“To add or not to add.”

 

(*Only for the second period and the ▒th statement).

 

Extra credit…? You mean extra credit?

 

The text was smudged in a few places, but I had no problem deciphering it.

 

“To get extra credit”

 

“(*Only for ▒ question in 2nd period English class).”

 

Except that it’s impossible to infer from the context how many English classes it refers to.

 

Damn, how can you make me not recognize the most important thing, but at least I have an idea.

 

I glanced at the table printed below the letter.

 

Cha Han-byul ｜ 0

Joo Yeon-seo ｜ 0

Seo Ha-Young ｜ 3

Yang Ji Won ｜ 0

 

The order of the names was jumbled with no real order.

 

There were a few names with 3 points in the middle, but most of them were 0 points.

 

The two names I was looking for were at the bottom of the list.

 

Jiyoon Min ｜ 0

Kwon Yuri｜ 3

 

So, Yuri got three extra credit points, which put her in second place, ahead of Min Jiyoon, who was tied.

 

I pulled the English test OMR card out of the envelope with the scoresheet.

I wanted to know what the heck the extra credit was for.

 

At first glance, it sounds like a very time-consuming task, having to compare all ten answers from fifteen people, but what I needed to do was actually quite simple.

 

There was only one candidate for extra credit.

 

English listening question 1.

 

The same one that had neither the televised dialog nor the lead map.

 

Not surprisingly.

 

Only the extra credit students got it right.

 

The correct answer for English Listening 1 was 4.

 

➃ Yeah, actually I’m well aware that the result of the next competition won’t change either, so I’m jealous.

 

No, it’s ridiculous even on second viewing.

 

Is this a correct answer?

 

This is an extra credit question?

 

Seo Jun approached me when she saw that I had finished organizing.

 

“I have some bad news. Do you want to hear it?” “Well, let’s start with the good news. What is it?” “I only have one bad news.” “Well, what’s that?”

 

Seo Jun sighed and said.

“There’s nothing soft enough out there to dig into.”

 

That means there’s a weakness to exploit

“inside”

the other dream space.

 

But that wasn’t promising news either.

 

“I told you before, “weaknesses in space” can also mean conditions that create or open a way out.”

 

Seo Jun says with a dark look on her face.

 

“The dream space beyond will only open when the play is over.”

 

We have to get to the end of this damned tale.

 

A not-so-hopeful, doomed ending.

 

 

***

 

 

The three weeks of summer vacation flew by without me even realizing how hot it was.

 

Now it’s early September, two weeks into the school year. The second semester midterms were about five to six weeks away.

 

The midday sun is still scorching hot, but there’s a crispness to the air that makes it feel like fall.

 

There was a magical air about the campus that made people feel strangely excited, as the afterglow of the recent festivities still lingered.

 

B and I were the only ones who couldn’t seem to melt into the pleasant September scene.

 

As soon as school started, we were stuck in the school’s study hall, which was filled with a dull, heavy smell that was unseasonal.

 

I would have felt better if I had been the only one there. I’m trying to get first place this midterm no matter what, and I can’t stand the sight of B working so hard.

 

“Fuck it, I can do this. I’ve been studying for longer than he has, so of course I can do better than him, I’ll do better, I have to.” *Poof*

 

A trickle of warm blood trickled down her cheek and dripped off the tip of her lip, soaking the page she had open.

 

“Oh, come on, you’re such an…”

I muttered in annoyance and quickly covered my nose with a tissue.

 

“Why do I have to do this?”

 

With nowhere else to look, I stared at the reddened page, and a silly thought pops into my head.

 “If only the B would go away…”