An Exorcist Magical Girl!

Public Enemy Number One.

 

It’s impossible to change the characterization of the two main characters, so we decided to introduce a new one.

 

It was the best way to come up with a plot that didn’t involve murder.

 “Let’s have a villain who talks too loudly in the study hall, or a bad student who cheats and gets first place in the exam. Let’s have a character that the whole school would hate equally, and let’s have him get his revenge!”

 

If that’s possible. But what if adding characters is considered cheating?

 

Yuri asked worriedly from beyond the shards.

 

“Let’s at least try, and Seo Jun will tell us if it’s cheating or not.”

 

Hanbyul replied coolly and patted Seo Jun on the shoulder.

 

Indeed, this was the biggest problem with this method.

 “So who will play the new role?”

 

Even if we create a new character, we don’t have an actor to play it.

 

We can’t just go to the other side of the dream at will. 

 

If I could do that, I’d slap the end of the play and everything and get them out of there.

 

“Yuri, can’t you just do it with your voice?”

 

Han Byul, who had mentioned Public Enemy, commented cautiously.

 

“Oh, that’s an okay way—”

 

But before they could capitalize on this idea, something happened.

 

“Ji-won! Yang Ji-won, where are you going? 

 

***

  

Yang Ji Won suddenly ran out of the classroom.

 

Yuri looked at her and Ji Won’s eyes were clouded.

 

“I’m being manipulated again…!”

Ji Won screamed.

 

The suddenness of what had happened only surprised her for a moment.

 

Kwon Yuri quickly ran after Yang Ji Won.

 

“Ji Won, if you go that way, it’s the roof, please stop!”

 

Just as Yang Ji-won opened the door to the roof, Kwon Yuri threw herself at her and grabbed her.

 

“Ugh!” “Ugh, I’m falling!” Thud! 

The two of them collapsed with a loud thud as they lost control of their speed.

 

“Let go of me.”

 

Ji Won, still bleary eyed, pushed Yuri, who was pressing on her body, away from her.

 

Yuri, who was relatively small, was easily pushed off Ji Won’s back.

 

“Oh no!”

 

Yuri grabbed both of Ji Won’s legs as she tried to stand.

 

Ji Won gave up trying to stand on her own two feet and began to crawl toward the lowest part of the roof railing, dragging herself along.

 

Her bare limbs scraped against the rough roof floor and hurt, but she didn’t care.

 

“A, I’m doing this for you.” “Ji-won, please…” “I’m dying because of you, A. Have you ever thought about how it feels to be chased by you every time? I can’t sleep because I’m afraid of losing my number one spot. I’m done with this. I’m going to end it. I’m going to die.”

 

An invisible force drove Ji Won to fulfill the original story.

 

Whatever it took, she wanted to make sure that Number One would die because of Number Two.

 

In fact, it didn’t really matter if Number One’s death was a suicide or a murder, as long as it fulfilled the main point of the story.

 

Either way, we just had to leave a tangible link that would lead to the end of the story, where the dead Number One would become a head-slicing ghost and come looking for Number Two.

 

A word or two of resentment toward Number Two before he killed himself was enough to perpetuate the myth.

 

“You’re going to be Number One without me, aren’t you? hahahaha! You should feel the pressure of being number one in the class. Hahahahahahahahahaha! You’d think you’d be better off being number two.” “What kind of pressure is that…. Please stop.”

 

The three people outside, who only had a vague idea of what was going on in the dream, were also alarmed.

 

They firmly believed that as long as Number Two didn’t show any hostility towards Number One, they wouldn’t be able to follow the original route of the ghost story.

 

“Oh no. I can’t do this.”

 

Yuri wanted to cry, her grip on Ji Won’s leg slowly losing strength.

 

Even if she prevented death here, it was clear that this would continue until the story reached its desired end.

 

Not necessarily by jumping off a roof, but by suddenly banging her head against a wall or desk.

 

Yuri wasn’t sure if she could prevent all the near-death experiences that would come her way.

 

So she had to make sure she made a good move here.

 

Cha Hanbyul’s voice rang in her ears.

 

“Create a public enemy!”

 

It was a risk.

 

But there was no other way.

 

“Please, please tell me you’re not making this up!” 【Talent: Theater Actor (Hobby)】【Status: Utilized】【Immersion Level: ■■■■■□□□□□ …50%, ■■■□□ …80%】

 

This was not the same as losing yourself and being consumed by the role.

 

It was immersion to stop being a puppet on a string and to make the role of A completely her own.

 

In other words, it was an immersion to write the story of the future.

 【Immersion Level: ■■■■■□□□□□ …80%, ■■■□□ …95%】 

Kwon Yuri was immersed to the limit.

 

‘Yes, in fact, I am well aware that the outcome of the next competition will not change, which is why I am jealous.’

Yuri intuitively knew.

 

She realizes that because she made this choice, she was chosen to be the second best student in the class.

 

If you were to summarize A’s feelings about always being second in class, no matter how hard she tries, the best sentence would be the fourth sentence in English Listening 1.

 

It was also the best sentence to describe Kwon Yuri.

 

***

 

She had two A-list talents.

 

She had an A⁺ acting talent and an A- academic talent.

 

Of the two, it was her academic talent that caught her parents’ attention.

 

She knew that it was much safer to pursue her studies than to pursue acting.

 

As long as she worked hard, some results were guaranteed.

 

An A-grade talent for studying was closer to “immediate success” or “stable success” than an S⁺-rank talent for acting.

 

Thus, the talent field was sometimes unfair.

 

Having two A-grade talents was not a blessing for Yuri.

 

She knew she was full, so she never complained.

 

Whenever she saw others walking confidently along the path she had left, her heart ached, but she didn’t show it.

 

She thought it was a feeling that would go away if she didn’t show it.

 

She thought it was snow that would melt as soon as it hit the ground without accumulating.

 

Yuri didn’t realize it was a hammock snow that covered her whole heart in white.

 

Before she knew it, Yuri’s heart was filled with feelings that didn’t match her level of talent.

 

Her inferiority complex was like that of a second-rate student in a mythical school.

 

“That’s why it was me, not Min Jiyoon.”

 

With twenty ten-point questions, it’s impossible to line up from first to fifteenth without overlapping scores.

 

No matter how hard the questions were.

 

After English, Yuri compared the test answers from the two classes, and she remembered clearly.

 

“I was definitely tied with Jiyoon, and she couldn’t have made a mistake in grading.” 

So why did only the second runner-up undergo additional psychological testing?

 

Yuri knew the answer.

 

“This myth is caused by the runner-up’s inferiority complex.”

 

A’s inferiority complex was at the heart of this short story.

 

That’s why English 1 got extra credit, and that’s why a plot that ignored those feelings wasn’t allowed.

 

To prevent the death of student No. 1 without denying the deep inferiority complex of student No. 2.

 

That’s what Yuri, the main character, had to do from now on.

 

It is possible. Just because the word that represents A is “inferiority complex” doesn’t mean that’s the only thing that makes up A.

 

❰Skill: “I know ten ways underwater, but not one way under water” activated❱

 

Yuri quickly remembered the feelings she had when she was A.

 

She hated her parents for comparing her to B. She hated it. She didn’t want to be laughed at as

“second best”

by kids who were much worse than her.

 

Was A obsessed with being number one because she wanted to be recognized and praised by those people?

 

“No, no. It was probably the other way around.”

 

There was an underlying sense of inferiority that was masked by resignation and jealousy,

 

“Maybe what A really wanted was not just first place.”

 

There was pride.

 

Pride to prove it to them, to shut them up.

 

“Maybe it was first place by beating B.”

 

This is a theater where there is no writer, no director, only actors.

 

It was up to Yuri, the actor, to interpret the character of A, and only she had the authority to do so.

 

After a quick sketch of the plot, extracting only the necessary emotions, a voice with a different tone than usual came out of Kwon’s mouth.

 

“It’s B.”

 

This was not a line spoken as Yuri, but as A, the leading actress.

 

“Keep your words straight. B, I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to hit you, but there’s a real reason why you’re jumping, right?” “What…?” “Oh my God, B. Have you forgotten why you’re trying to die or was that such a shock?”

 

She had laid enough groundwork. Now it was time to introduce the public enemy as planned.

 

“You are embarrassed that you have been relegated to second place, not by me, but by C, the student below you. But you don’t need to be embarrassed, because C bribed the teacher to get first place”.

 

❰Skill: “Unexpected! This wasn’t in the script!” activated. ❱

 

A good ad-lib gives a scene new meaning. And it completely draws the other actor into the meaning.

 “Oh, was that…?” “Oh, that’s great, B. I don’t know what to do, I lost my spot.” “Well, he got first place… Oh, well. C’s original rank was…” “He was so far below us that we couldn’t even pass him. Hey C, thanks to him I’m third. I thought I’d move up from second, but I never thought I’d move down.” “So now we’re at…” “Let’s go catch him.”

 

A took off at a brisk pace.

 

But then she stopped and looked back at B.

 “…Why?” “I really wanted to kill you.” “I’m sure you did.” “But I was wrong.” “Wrong?” “Uh, I can’t beat you if you’re dead.” “But I could still get in first.”

 

B, still torn between the original story and the new one Kwon Yuri has created, whispers as if to say,

“Go ahead and kill him.”

 

A stare straight into B’s blurry eyes.

 

“You’re number one just because you’re number one? If that’s what you’re saying, then C, who spent money to be number one, must be number one, too.” “You don’t like that?” “Uh. No. So please.”

 

A spits out the line as if declaring.

 

“Please stay alive.” 

***

 “She said A and B, didn’t she? Am I the only one who heard that?”

 

Outside the dream, Cha Hanbyul looked like she was about to cry, eager for confirmation.

 

“Yes. That’s what I heard, too. I don’t think they’re faking it.”

 

After hearing my answer, she looked at Somael this time.

 

Holding the shard of mirror to her ear almost like an X-Pod, Seo Jun slowly opened her mouth.

 

“I heard that… the event that deviated from the plot is called… starting… rearranging the story of the play…?” “So now we just have to get the ending right?” “Yes, I think so.” “Wow! That’s it!”

 

Hanbyul exclaimed, her voice brightening. I hugged her tightly.

 

“Hanbyul, you’re a genius…” “Wait.” 

Seo Jun’s expression hardened.

 

“A new… character has appeared. Do you need an actor…?”

 

Right. We need a new actor because there’s a new character named C.

 

Oh shit, not again!

 

A familiar feeling ran through his body.

 

“Hey, Seo Jun.” “Hmm?” “Wait.”

 

Immediately after Seo Jun’s hands grabbed my head, I fainted.