Chapter 24: Reflections That Refuse to Fade

When Hwaseo opened her tightly shut eyes, cracks marred the false world.

Doryeong glared at the hand mirror, the incident’s source, and muttered, “The sealing’s done. But…”

Hwaseo could guess his trailing words.

Yoo Kishin, caught in the other side’s battlefield, scanned around. “That ghost is gone.”

“It escaped,” Doryeong gritted out. “Not some weak spell, yet it slipped away effortlessly.”

The mysterious ghost fighting the mirror ghost—a long-haired female spirit—clearly wielded formidable power.

If it schemed like the mirror ghost, trouble loomed.

“Don’t worry too much,” Hwaseo said. “It didn’t seem evil.”

“Is that something an exorcist says? There’s no such thing as a good ghost. You know that,” Doryeong snapped.

It fought the mirror ghost for its own reasons, not kindness, he argued.

He was probably right.

Yet Hwaseo, for some reason, didn’t feel malice from it.

“Still, we resolved this safely, right? With the source gone, everyone should return to normal,” she said, focusing on the victory rather than potential threats.

Crack—

More fissures split the mirror world.

Doryeong nodded, voice low. “Fine. Let’s check this place before it collapses. Something might remain.”

The four—Kishin silent and grim, Kihyun eyeing the exorcists warily—retraced their steps from the auditorium.

An otherworldly experience.

As the crisis passed, their clarified doubts surfaced, watched quietly by Hwaseo.

“Where’s Seol Haru?” Doryeong suddenly asked.

Among the fallen students and countless fakes, she was nowhere.

Hwaseo shared his confusion when she spotted a blue-tinted head in Class 3’s room.

“Haru! There you are!”

Perhaps summoned back with the others as the source vanished.

The exact reason was unclear, but Hwaseo relaxed.

Haru, who’d comforted her despite the memory wipe, was a dear friend.

Even Kishin’s tense face softened.

“Kihyun, why were you absent?” Doryeong asked.

“Huh? Me? I don’t remember well. Something attacked me in the bathroom, then…” Kihyun trailed off.

“Got taken by a fake there. Nothing special, then,” Doryeong concluded.

Only he looked uneasy. “Everyone else had fakes in reality. Why did only Kihyun and Haru completely disappear? No benefit for the spirit.”

Kihyun’s fake was destroyed by Haru.

Haru’s fake… couldn’t be created.

He didn’t know that.

Crack!

Soon, the mirror world fully collapsed.

The mirror ghost was sealed, and those overtaken by fakes returned to reality, unaware of their ordeal.

Among the chattering students, the exorcists worked meticulously to tie up loose ends.

No trace could remain.

They checked Kishin, who seemed to recall nothing.

Kihyun, as usual, kept to himself quietly.

A relief—memory erasure was fraught with issues.

“Scary for a moment, but it ended well,” Hwaseo said on the rooftop.

Doryeong, lost in thought, listened. “The sealed mirror’s with the Association. They’ll store it safely and investigate further.”

“Yeah. You felt it too, right? Something’s off about this school. So many other-side incidents in such a short time.”

Doryeong recalled the Association exorcist’s muted reaction to the mirror.

As if they knew something about Paradise High.

‘Need to stay sharp.’

Unlike the past, modern exorcists needed some societal savvy.

Young and dispatched to school, his main goal was honing that.

Paradise High’s years wouldn’t be easy.

Unlike at enrollment, he braced himself.

“That ghost—what was it?” Hwaseo asked.

“No idea. Head hurts. The mirror ghost’s origin is a mystery too. Seemed tied to that girl in the auditorium, though.”

Casually talking, Doryeong realized it’d been ages since he and Hwaseo spoke so easily.

A buried, unforgettable weight stirred in his memory.

“…”

His face froze.

Silence fell, and Hwaseo looked down.

– Just us two again?

“What? It’s always us. Who else is here?” I teased.

The clown doll, neck twisted unnaturally, lunged.

I blocked its playful punch and tickled it.

– Kihihik!

“Like that, huh? Ticklish?”

– Kihihihik!

Normal dolls wouldn’t squirm.

But it, like me, defied normal rules.

“Who told you to mess with me? Surrender, and I’ll let you off.”

– Kihik! I… surrender…!

“Cool. We’re always just us, so stop saying it. Or say it every time.”

Setting the doll down, I put on my uniform.

As I prepped for school, it clung to my feet, babbling.

– Just us two? Just us two? Just us two? Just us— Kihik!

“Stubborn frog.”

After a tickle-torture, I locked up and left.

At my usual meet-up spot with Dodam, an unexpected figure stood.

“…Pyo Jiseok?”

Tall as Dodam, the delinquent Jiseok—an odd match for my childhood friend.

“Why’re you two together?”

“…You look fine. Good,” Jiseok said.

“Yeah, seriously,” Dodam added.

They sighed, exhausted, eyeing my puzzled face.

‘What’s this vibe?’

I felt like a runaway chick they were relieved to see.

Jiseok explained, summarized:

After I was attacked by Sua’s group in the bathroom and vanished, chaos erupted.

Jiseok suspected Kihyun, recalling how I’d stopped Kihyun from pushing him the day before.

With Kihyun absent and me gone, it seemed logical to the unaware.

“Too convenient. Thought it was his doing, like middle school,” Jiseok said.

Feeling guilty, believing I’d been harmed for helping him, he searched for Kihyun alone to save me and settle scores.

He crossed paths with Dodam, also looking for me.

Sharing a goal, they formed a temporary alliance.

“But it was a misunderstanding. Lame~” Jiseok groaned.

“Misunderstanding? You’re safe, that’s what matters,” Dodam retorted.

“Who said it’s not?”

I’d already brushed it off casually, omitting Kihyun.

‘While the exorcists handled the other side, this was happening.’

Dodam teaming up with Jiseok, whom he disliked, for me? Kinda touching.

“What’s this about middle school? What’d Kihyun do?” I asked.

“Well…” Jiseok hesitated.

“…Forget it. Not sure. Slip of the tongue.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Glancing between me and Dodam, he waved and turned to leave.

“Anyway, you’re fine. I’m out. Enjoy your couple time~”

“Huh? Aren’t you going to school?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Then why go alone? Come with us.”

Their eyes locked on me, intense, like they wanted to say something but couldn’t.

“…Fine, why not,” Jiseok said.

Thus, a bizarre trio formed.

Dodam seemed uneasy, Jiseok, despite his look, claimed to be a normal commuter.

“Really? No motorcycle?”

“What psycho rides that to school? Bus is cheaper.”

I walked between them.

“Whoa…”

Surprisingly practical.

Gaping, I caught Jiseok’s blank stare before he looked away.

‘What’s with him?’

Between two tall guys, I felt oddly small, looking up at either.

Rare for my past male self.

Strangely, conversation was quieter than usual despite the extra person.

Still…

‘This is better.’

Even as a ghost, reality grounded me more than the other side.