I eventually decided to work part-time at Mrs. Lewis's café with Leonard.
If Raven continued to avoid me like this, I had no choice but to stay at the school and observe the situation. That meant I had to take a part-time job.
Mrs. Lewis, thrilled about my perfect score on the transfer exam, hired me without hesitation.
Meow.
When Erika and I returned to the room, Kkamang greeted us. I had no idea how it got into the room.
At first glance, it seemed like just a normal Kkamang, judging by its yellow eyes.
As I sat at my desk, watching Erika roll around with Kkamang in the living room, she glanced over at me and asked.
"Melody, studying?"
"Yeah. It's important to thoroughly review and prepare in advance."
Seeing me take out my stationery and tidy up my desk, Erika made a face of exasperation.
"I may study well too, but... the top scorer is on a different level. So different."
She clicked her tongue and walked away with Kkamang. I ignored her and started studying.
If I had to continue attending this school and observe the situation, studying was necessary.
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of graphite dancing across the paper was soothing.
I reviewed the lessons I missed with Noah-senpai and even prepared for tomorrow's classes.
Erika, who had been rolling around with Kkamang in the living room, seemed to have fallen asleep long ago.
‘I should sleep too.’
After finishing my studies, I felt at ease. It was then that I started noticing the structure of the dorm room I was staying in.
‘It’s pretty big.’
If there were a ranking of the best private schools in the world, Saint Gloria Private School would surely be number one.
No wonder the school was wealthy. Its influence on society was immense.
‘Still, how can a student dormitory room be this big...?’
Until now, I hadn’t really paid attention to it, but the dorm room was about the size of all the houses in Chesswind Village combined.
Well, that’s typical of a poor peasant’s house.
Anyway, in the middle of the living room, there was a sofa and a table, and with the window at the back, there was a fireplace on the left and two desks with bookshelves on the right.
The bathroom was near the entrance, separated from the actual washroom.
There were stairs at both the far ends of the living room. Going up, there was a bedroom on the 1.5th floor.
What an odd structure. It felt like something out of a fantasy adventure novel.
Yawn.
As I couldn’t help but yawn, I realized I had reached my limit.
I took one last look around the room, then my gaze fell on the Bible quietly placed on the desk.
‘Come to think of it, the priest recited a prayer when he was driving away the evil spirits at the cathedral.’
For some reason, I felt that I had to memorize this prayer tonight.
I opened the Bible and carefully searched for any mentions of exorcism prayers.
We didn’t learn about exorcism in religious studies, but there was a relevant section in the Bible.
‘Found it.’
At the very end of the Bible, I found a section titled Liberation Prayer for the Exorcism Ritual.
[You, descendants of Abaddon, will not receive the salvation of Kritoban unless you assist the followers of Klututa.]
This was it. The prayer that Father Cesario had recited.
‘Just in case, I should memorize it.’
It wouldn't hurt to be prepared.
I quietly sat at the desk and, before going to bed, recited the prayer over and over.
‘It’s already 9 o’clock.’
After checking the time, I tidied up my things and climbed the stairs.
The left bed was mine, so I decided to use the left staircase.
But just as I stepped on the first step...
Creeeak—
A faint sound came from somewhere.
It sounded like the noise I made when stepping on the wooden staircase, but it wasn’t from me.
I turned my head toward the direction of the sound. There, on the right staircase, someone was standing.
Someone on the opposite staircase had also stepped on a single stair and was standing there.
‘Is it Erika?’
I couldn’t see clearly, but it didn’t seem like Erika. The person was slightly taller than her.
Since I had turned off all the lights in the living room, only the dim light from the lantern in my hand illuminated the figure.
Even when I stretched the lantern a bit further, all {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} I could see was a black shape, with no facial features visible.
I took another step up. The figure on the opposite side took a step up as well.
I gripped the lantern tighter. This wasn’t good.
I had to quickly reach my bed and wake Erika. Thinking this, I climbed two or three steps, and the figure on the other side did the same.
A chill ran down my spine, and I stopped walking.
If we were climbing at the same speed, that person would reach Erika first.
Sweat trickled down my temples. I swallowed dryly and took a deep breath.
This time, I decided to run, faster than that person.
Just as I resolved to do so, the shadow on the opposite staircase suddenly started climbing at an incredible speed.
Tatatatatatatatatatata—!
It rapidly reached the second floor, made a sharp turn, and started descending the stairs toward me.
Just as I thought it was going to escape, a low, eerie voice whispered right by my ear.
Why aren’t you going to bed?
I froze. Looking down, I saw the black figure lying on the stairs below me.
It had definitely been on the stairs above.
I was so startled that I collapsed to the floor, but the strange, creepy giggling continued echoing in my ears.
Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee
The figure lay grotesquely on the stairs, looking up at me.
Still too shocked to say anything, the figure quickly passed me, climbing back up the stairs.
I grabbed the broken lantern glass and followed it up the stairs.
It was heading straight for Erika’s bed.
“Get down from there!”
I rushed toward it, but the figure was faster.
It disappeared into Erika’s body, as if absorbing into her.
What should I do?!
“Erika! Wake up! Erika!”
I shook her body, trying to wake her up.
But no matter how hard I shook her, she remained asleep.
Just as I sank to the floor in despair, Erika suddenly jerked up, staring at me with a creepy smile.
You can’t do anything.
It felt like she was saying something she already knew, sending shivers down my spine.
The figure, possessing Erika’s body, began banging its head against the wall.
I quickly moved and pulled Erika into my arms.
“Stop!”
You can’t do anything.
You can’t do anything.
It repeated the same words while banging its head against the wall.
I needed to find a solution.
A solution...
Wait!
‘That’s right, the window was open.’
Erika must have opened the window in her sleep since she seemed hot.
‘The holy water Father Cesario gave me...’
I had left the bottle of holy water on my desk. Damn!
But I couldn’t just leave Erika in this state and go back down the stairs.
It was then that Kkamang appeared like a savior.
Tap-tap-tap.
Meow—
I heard the sound of Kkamang, who had been sleeping on the living room carpet, walking up the stairs.
The cat, strutting along, held the bottle of holy water in its mouth as it climbed the stairs.