The makeshift Holy Water.
Cooking Foil Armor.
On top of those two, I made a secret weapon.
Sticky notes with a Magic Circle drawn on every page.
Sticky notes are easy to peel off and stick back on.
They’re small enough to keep in my pocket and pull out whenever I need them.
Even I thought it was a clever idea.
Though whether this could truly be an effective secret weapon─.
That was a separate matter.
I drew courage from seeing the Anomalies inside Yeonseo’s body tremble in fear.
It works.
This hand is a winning hand.
“Come out of that poor woman!”
Slam─!
I stuck a sticky note on Yeonseo’s forehead like a talisman.
The Opening Magic Circle.
What happens when you attach it to a possessed person─.
My fingertips trembled with tension and anticipation, and the back of my head tingled as if electricity were running through it.
And then, the next moment.
“Aaaaah! Aaaaah!”
Yeonseo’s mouth flew open.
Wide enough that I wondered if her jaw would dislocate.
And then she stuck out her tongue so far I wondered if a human tongue could even stretch that long─.
“BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEGH─!”
Splat, splatter, plop─.
She began vomiting up everything inside her.
Because of that, I, standing in front of her, took the full brunt of that slimy, lukewarm liquid.
“Ugh!“
Caught off guard by the unexpected assault, I hopped around in a panic.
Disgusting, disgusting!
Whether I reacted or not, Yeonseo kept heaving out everything inside her as if squeezing out her very last breath.
“Urp, hork, uuurk─.”
What poured out of her spread across the floor like a carpet.
Unidentifiable chunks of flesh and liquids as red as blood.
A strangely sweet yet stomach-acid-sour smell hit my nose all at once.
What the hell is happening here?
As I wiped the liquid off my face with my hand and wondered, Yeonseo spoke.
“This woman is ours.”
“There are many of us, so we are an army!”
“You who use the tricks of thieves!”
From a single mouth, multiple voices burst out simultaneously.
They sounded like an angry man, an old man, a weeping woman, and a screaming child.
Soon, I saw the red liquid that had soaked the floor slithering toward Owner Kim Manchun and Noona Jo Sena.
In that moment, I understood.
Those who have lost their homes, their places to belong, will always seek something new.
If I were them, I’d target the defenseless people too.
“Get lost!”
I hastily tore off sticky notes inscribed with the ‘Sealing Magic Circle’ and scattered them around Noona Jo Sena and Owner Kim Manchun.
Sticking the notes directly on people would probably have a better sealing effect, but.
To be honest, I didn’t know the details of this Magic Circle myself, and since I didn’t know what side effects it might have, I only scattered them on the floor.
The silver lining was that the sticky note barrier seemed to work—the red liquid stopped approaching and retreated backward.
They then turned toward the pigs hanging from hooks.
“Urp, bleh!”
Yeonseo kept vomiting after that too.
Everything she spewed seeped into the pork.
Thud.
Eventually, Yeonseo collapsed as if she had vomited out even her last breath.
Her face, which had been so pale it looked blue, regained its color, and the flickering fluorescent lights of the underground cold storage flickered back to a steady, pale glow with a low hum from the generator.
“…Is it…over?”
I looked around with a dazed feeling.
The temperature around us, which had been cold enough to crack skin, rose to a merely cool level.
The underground space, which had seemed endlessly vast, also returned to the shape of an ordinary cold storage room, about thirty pyeong in size.
“So it’s really over? Are you sure? I can take this blindfold off now, right?”
Noona Jo Sena removed the towel covering her face.
Owner Kim Manchun also carefully took off his blindfold, and upon seeing Yeonseo collapsed on the floor, his eyes widened to more than double their usual size.
“Yeo…Yeonseo!”
He ran to his daughter, patted her cheeks, and pulled her into his arms.
“Yeonseo! Yeonseo, snap out of it! Yeonseo!”
“……”
Yeonseo gave no answer.
She just stared blankly at the ceiling with vacant eyes, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth.
“Is something wrong?!”
Owner Kim Manchun’s face contorted so much I couldn’t tell if he was crying or angry.
At that, Noona Jo Sena took out her phone from her handbag and shone a light into Yeonseo’s pupils, then blew a puff of cigarette smoke into her face.
“Given that she shows no reaction to the mugwort scent that spirits hate, it seems all the Anomalies in her body have left. Probably a temporary state of shock from malnutrition, I’d say?”
“Hah, thank you. Hah, thank you so much. Really…”
Owner Kim Manchun wept tears.
Noona Jo Sena, leaning on one leg, just kept puffing on her cigarette as if she was unimpressed.
“If you’re going to thank someone, it should be him, not me. Yuseong, you’re more capable than I thought, huh? Seeing you exorcise that spirit with Luke 8:29, you might actually have some talent in the faith-based arts.”
I didn’t even know what Luke 8:29 was.
I was just copying a line from a movie.
But I did notice one thing for certain—Noona Jo Sena’s way of addressing me had shifted from ‘hey’ and ‘you’ to ‘Yuseong,’ and now to ‘Yuseong-ssi.’
“Since ancient times, pigs have been a good substitute sacrifice for ghosts. Lucky for us this cold storage happened to be preserving pork. If that hadn’t been there, it all might’ve come for us…huh?”
Noona Jo Sena looked at the floor.
It seemed she’d found my sticky notes.
She crouched down and picked up one of the red-soaked notes.
“What’s this.”
***
Noona Jo Sena picked up the sticky note that had fallen on the floor.
And as she examined it from every angle, I thought, damn it!
I should have cleaned up faster.
But I’d gotten caught up in the thrill of my first successful exorcism and the exhaustion from the chaos, so I hadn’t.
What if she figures out those are Boribori’s Magic Circles?
If I get exposed as not an ordinary Magician but a ‘Mage,’ things could get complicated in all sorts of ways.
What do I do?
Thump, thump, thump, thump─.
When my heart was pounding wildly with tension and trembling, Noona Jo Sena took off her sunglasses.
“This is yours, right? What the hell did you draw on it?”
It was as embarrassing as being struck in a vital point, but I’d always been pretty good at lying since I was young.
I casually asked back, testing the waters.
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
“A doodle…oh, wait, did you draw a magic formula? It’s just squares and circles.”
“Ah…“
“Come on, what kind of simple and shabby magic formula is this? You seem to have some potential, but this is where the transfer student vibe really shows. Same with the Cooking Foil.”
Her attitude was as if she truly had no idea what it was.
As if she couldn’t sense that this was a ‘Sealing’ Magic Circle at all.
Is my Magic Circle just a doodle to Noona Jo Sena?
Just as not just anyone can see Boribori, maybe my Magic Circle and its patterns only take effect for me.
Magic is, after all, the realm of technique—a form of art.
Things like making Holy Water or making Cooking Foil Armor are things most Magicians could replicate if they knew the method.
That’s why it’s magic.
But my magic isn’t like that.
It’s my own unique domain that others can’t perceive or replicate.
That’s why it’s Magecraft!
“Ugh, the…building…”
At that moment, a groaning sound came from somewhere.
It was a moan I’d heard often in hospitals, back when I used to visit my little sister frequently.
When I turned my head, Male Shaman Choi Janggun, wearing a black leather jacket, was staggering toward us from among the pork carcasses.
“The building…my…mine…mom…it was my mother’s building…I have to…take it back…my mother’s…my…name…engraved on it…”
Spit and foam dribbled from his mouth as he muttered incomprehensible nonsense.
His eyes were rolled back, showing only white, and his eye sockets were so sunken they looked like a skeleton’s.
“Tsk, he’s been eaten.”
Noona Jo Sena clicked her tongue.
Then she rummaged through her handbag and pulled out something—a dagger with a silver metallic sheen, engraved with a falcon.
Would it be more accurate to call it a Silver Knife?
Shink─.
Noona Jo Sena drew the blade, revealing its sharp edge.
I was a little taken aback and asked.
“Noona, what are you doing?”
“With a shaman whose body’s been stolen by a spirit, it’s obvious. His ki and blood are twisted, and his magic circuits are all out of whack. Even if you drive the ghost out at this point, he’ll be a cripple who can never use magic again. It’s more merciful to send him off.”
Wait, hold on─.
Is she saying she’s going to kill him?
I panicked and grabbed Noona Jo Sena by the shoulder.
“Noona, no matter what, you can’t kill him! That’s a crime! You’ll become a murderer, and what if you get a warrant out for your arrest?!”
“You really don’t know anything, do you? And that Choi Janggun seemed to hate you. You seemed to hate him too, right? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for you if he just disappeared like this?”
My mind went blank.
Is this really the world of Magicians?
Even Owner Kim Manchun, who had been sobbing while holding his daughter, stopped crying and was just cautiously watching Noona Jo Sena’s reactions.
‘…A person is going to die?’
Choi Janggun had hated me since the first time we met.
So I hated him too.
But that didn’t mean he deserved to die.
Just because we disliked each other wasn’t enough of a reason.
I can’t stand that kind of thing.
That’s why I got fired from the restaurant too.
Gritting my teeth, I had no choice but to hold onto Noona Jo Sena’s shoulder.
I’d wait for the right moment, stick the Opening sticky note on Choi Janggun’s forehead, and then pull it off.
“……!”
As I was thinking that, Boribori raised its tail stiffly.
And the next moment, a thunderous voice echoed through the cold storage.
“Mesh. Arma. Shalosh. Shtayim. Achat─.”
For a moment, I panicked, wondering where the sound was coming from.
Then, on the floor and walls of the cold storage, circles, six-pointed stars, and worm-like letters began to glow with white lines.
Even the strength in Noona Jo Sena’s hand, which had been holding the drawn knife, slackened.
“A Star of David and Aramaic. This is…no way─.”
“Esh.”
Whoosh─. Roooosh─!
In an instant, fire ignited.
On the pork hanging in the air.
On Choi Janggun’s body.
“Aaah…my…building…”
It was purple flame.
While I stood there dumbfounded at the strange color, Noona Jo Sena spoke.
“It’s Exorcism Magic. To think someone could draw out this vast a Ritual Class formula in such a short time. Yu Gain, I guess even a man from a Myeongga is different after all.”
“Yu Gain…that guy did this?”
“Yeah, Solomon’s Fire. A spiritual flame. Only visible to us Magicians…This is the first time I’ve seen it with my own eyes either.”
I looked at Boribori with concern.
I was worried she might get caught up in this flame that seemed to burn away all that was unclean.
But contrary to my worries, Boribori just watched the flickering purple flames, wagging her tail gently.
As if admiring something beautiful.
At that moment, my head filled with nothing but question marks.
Boribori.
Who exactly are you?
And me, entangled with Boribori like this.
I, Ha Yuseong, am clearly a Mage.
Happily, and regrettably.
And so the day came to an end.
With clean-up and various accounts to settle, everyone decided to stay at the disheveled mansion.
***
Choi Janggun regained consciousness around 7:00 PM.
Whether it was the aftermath of today’s events, he said he couldn’t see.
“I can’t see…nothing I can do about that. More importantly, I heard you stopped Jose from killing me.”
He lifted his injured body off the sofa and bowed his head to me.
“I’ll be honest. Thank you. That woman would have definitely killed me.”
Seeing him thank me so frankly, I actually felt a bit awkward.
But he wasn’t done speaking.
“Since I can’t see, I actually notice things more clearly now. You, Ha Yuseong, was it? You seem to have something peculiar. Something you can’t tell others about.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s also why I didn’t take a liking to you. That thing is not something a transfer student like you can handle. You’d best get rid of it quickly, one way or another.”
His tone was as if he was absolutely certain of something.
Was he talking about Boribori?
Since he’s a Male Shaman, can he sense Boribori?
Thump, thump─.
Just as my heart was pounding for no reason and sweat was beading in my palms, he added.
“I mean that thing on your phone. I had no intention of meddling in others’ affairs, but since you saved my life, I should at least do my part in return.”
On my phone…
Ah, don’t tell me he’s talking about the 「Monkey’s Paw Site」?