The day before the vacation ended, Rumi, Eve, and Medina returned to school.

  They were coming back after spending the rest of their break in Medina's filthy house.

  As soon as Rumi arrived at school, she headed straight to Raoul’s dorm room.

  She didn’t know if Raoul had arrived first, but she wanted to check on him if he was there.

  “Raoul?”

  When there was no answer, Rumi climbed up to the loft where Raoul usually was.

  Sure enough, Raoul was lying on the floor, fast asleep.

  Rumi smirked.

  “Raoul! Wake up!”

  “Huh...?”

  Raoul immediately opened his eyes and sat up.

  “I’ve got so much to tell you...”

  But as Rumi looked closer, Raoul seemed to be in an awkward and strange position, as if he had just been sweeping the loft floor with his body.

  “What... were you doing?”

  “Uh... it’s nothing.”

  “What’s that on the floor?”

  “That’s nothing too.”

  Raoul unfolded the crumpled carpet.

  “Were you performing some kind of bck magic ritual or something?”

  “No, I was just practicing some advanced Necromancy. So, did you manage to seal Medina?”

  “Yeah, sort of... It was not perfect, but we sealed her. No major issues. And look, I’ve got all the essence ingredients.”

  Rumi proudly lifted the bag full of ingredients.

  “Now, we just need to help that crazy Medina brew the curse essence, and then we’ll extract every bit of information from that doll.”

  "Then what... what am I supposed to do during that time?"

  "Hmm... nothing, probably. We need to get the doll working before we can figure out what to do.

  Did you go see your family?”

  “Yeah...”

  “You’re not sick or anything, right?”

  “No, why? Did something happen?”

  “No, nothing.”

  Rumi answered somewhat coldly.

  Raoul gave her an awkward smile.

  “By the way, you didn’t happen to visit Medina’s house, did you?”

  “What? Medina’s house? How would I even know where that is... No, I didn’t...”

  “Right... It’s just that someone who looked a lot like you... Never mind. A lot of strange things happened this summer... want to hear about it?"

  “Sure...”

  Rumi spent the rest of the day telling Raoul about all the strange things that had happened during the summer vacation.

  The second semester began, and the atmosphere at school had noticeably changed.

  Rumors were spreading that the practical exorcism exam was approaching.

  The kids were buzzing about how one of st year’s freshmen had turned into a monster.

  But Rumi wasn’t bothered by any of it. She wasn’t even pnning to focus on her csses.

  Because Rumi had an important task: brewing the curse essence.

  During the day, she prepared and portioned the ingredients, and at night, she listened to Medina’s ramblings while brewing the curse essence, feeding it to the doll, and trying to figure out if it could serve as the doll’s power source.

  But no matter how carefully Rumi followed Medina’s instructions, the doll showed no reaction.

  “Dissolve dust in water, steep dried corpse flowers in a teabag, add rat tails and red water, then boil with ten drops of glowing baby root extract. Once the water turns dark brown, add powdered centipedes and spider eyes. And...”

  Rumi had memorized the recipe perfectly even in her half-crazed state in the middle of the night.

  Once again, she poured the finished curse essence into a bottle and fed it to the doll.

  But again, there was no reaction.

  “This should be perfect. The color, the smell—it’s all exactly the same as the sample! Why isn’t it working?!”

  Rumi finally lost her temper and shouted.

  "Failed again... mmph."

  Medina, sitting nearby, was grinning at Rumi with a strange expression.

  Rumi strongly felt that Medina was still hiding something.

  “Hey, Medina! You’re keeping something from me, aren’t you? Did you forget something? Be honest! Spit it out! At this rate, we’re going to run out of ingredients first!”

  Rumi shouted at the top of her lungs like a drunk person.

  “Oh, that’s impossible. Ahem.”

  Rumi couldn’t take it anymore and began reciting a curse she had learned from Bertin.

  "Make the mother kill her child with knife, hands, rope, water and fire. The child is merely an extension of the mother, so let them share the mother's pain. As the mother is more precious than the child, let the mother be free of pain..."

  Hearing this, Medina panicked and tried to stop Rumi.

  “Are... are you insane? Stop it!”

  But Rumi, watching Medina’s trembling soul, didn’t stop.

  "The child is a beast. Since they shall die quickly if they defy their mother's words, all children must crawl at their mother's feet. Crawl. Crawl. Mmph!"

  At that moment, Eve rushed over and covered Rumi’s mouth.

  “Stop it, please...”

  “Mmmph!”

  Eve gred at Rumi with a look of utter exhaustion.

  “...”

  After a while, when Rumi had calmed down, Eve let go of her mouth.

  “You know how hard we worked to get these ingredients. If this keeps up, we’ll run out of them before we can even finish the curse essence.”

  “I get that, but... you always try to solve problems in such extreme ways. Try finding another approach.”

  “Exactly! Honestly, Rumi, you’re way crazier than me, Ugh, if this is how it’s going to be, I’m not teaching you anymore. After all I’ve taught you, all I get is curses? ptooey!"

  Medina spat out a glob of foul soul residue and started to leave the dorm room.

  “Is she out of her mind?!”

  Rumi, furious, threw a book at the fleeing Medina.

  "Sigh... why are you all acting like this in the middle of the night."

  “You heard her. That damn Medina is deliberately sabotaging the potion.”

  "Okay, okay. That's why I said we need to look for another way."

  “What way? Do you know another way to properly threaten Medina?”

  “No... I mean, if Medina refuses to talk, we can always consult another expert.”

  "Ooh! Ohh, right... that's right... why didn't I think of that... hehehe..."

  As Rumi started giggling, Eve’s face immediately turned pale.

  “Sigh... what have I done...”

  The next morning, Rumi carefully examined the original curse essence recipe she had brought from Medina’s house.

  She compared it with the newly written ingredient list, struggling to decipher Medina’s terrible handwriting.

  She was trying to figure out if Medina had hidden any ingredients or steps in the recipe.

  And as a result, she discovered one line of text that didn't match with the ingredients they'd gathered.

  Rumi copied the line onto a separate piece of paper and took it to Professor Francesca’s Necromancy css.

  Rumi waited for Professor Francesca’s chaotic css to end.

  After telling Raoul and Niel to go ahead, she stayed behind in the cssroom until all the other kids had left.

  Professor Francesca soon noticed Rumi lingering and approached her.

  “Rumi, why are you still here?”

  Rumi finally got up and walked over to the professor.

  “Professor, I found this paper in the library. I was wondering if you could tell me what it says.”

  Rumi said while handing over the paper with Medina's terrible handwriting copied on it.

  The one-eyed Professor Francesca examined the writing with what looked like a magnifying gss.

  “You... found this in the library?”

  The professor looked at Rumi with a surprised expression.

  “Yes... Do you think you can read it? It’s not some kind of code, is it?”

  Rumi wondered if the writing might be some secret script used only by Medina’s family.

  But Professor Francesca’s expression grew increasingly strange as she stared at the paper, as if she were under some kind of curse.

  “Professor...?”

  “Huh? Oh... this might take some time. Come back tomorrow morning at 8. I’ll... tell you then...”

  "8 o'clock? Does it take that long?"

  Rumi couldn’t understand why it would take so long to decipher a single line of text. And the professor’s unusual expression made her even more suspicious.

  "Rumi! If you don't want to know, you don't have to come!"

  “Oh, I’ll be here at 8. Goodbye, Professor.”

  Rumi hurried out of the cssroom, afraid the witch professor might change her mind.

  Twenty minutes before 8 PM, Rumi was pacing outside the corridor.

  The thought of messing with that damn Medina made her head to the Spiritualism cssroom without even realizing it.

  At exactly 8 p.m., Rumi knocked on the cssroom door.

  Knock knock

  “Coming in, Professor.”

  Rumi knocked casually and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge, as if something was blocking it.

  “...?”

  Thinking something was stuck on the other side, Rumi kicked the door lightly. When it still didn’t open, she kicked it harder and yanked with all her strength.

  Crash!

  Finally, the door opened.

  But suddenly some kind of powder showered down on Rumi's head.

  “Ah! What is this?”

  Rumi opened her eyes to see bck sand-like powder covering her entire body.

  “What the...?”

  Rumi couldn’t tell if Professor Francesca had set this up as a prank or not.

  After brushing herself off and closing the door, Rumi slowly stepped inside.

  But the professor wasn't in her seat.

  And the usual stench of cigarettes was absent.

  “It’s time... Professor Francesca?”

  Rumi stood in front of the professor’s desk and looked around the dark, dungeon-like cssroom.

  But the professor was nowhere to be seen.

  “...”

  The eerie atmosphere of the empty cssroom, which could easily fit more than fifty students, was unnerving.

  Scared Rumi had no choice but to start rummaging through the witch professor’s desk. She found the paper she had handed over earlier.

  But the paper looked as if it had been soaked in oil, turning it translucent.

  Rumi gnced at the paper and the notes beside it.

  The handwriting was so messy that she couldn’t make out what it said.

  "As expected of someone's aunt..."

  Rumi was about to leave the cssroom after one st look around there when...

  “Rumi, what are you doing?”

  Professor Francesca’s voice echoed.

  Rumi froze.

  “...!”

  Startled, Rumi looked around.

  “Huh?”

  But strangely, the professor was nowhere to be seen.

  “What? Did I imagine it?”

  Rumi began searching for the source of the voice.

  “Why did you come?”

  At that moment, Professor Francesca’s voice came from deeper inside the cssroom.

  “It’s 8 p.m., Professor. You told me to come at 8!”

  “When did I say 8 p.m.? I said 8 a.m. tomorrow!”

  “Huh? You did?”

  “And how are you still alive? You should’ve been hit by the bck sand.”

  “What... what do you mean? Did you curse that bck sand?”

  “Don’t you read the school rules?”

  “What rules?”

  “The rule that says no one is allowed in the Necromancy cssroom after sunset!”

  “There’s a rule like that? But Professor, where are you even talking from?”

  “...”

  Rumi looked around, wondering if the professor was hiding somewhere strange...

  Then her eyes nded on a small painting hanging on one wall.

  “Professor? Answer me. If you don’t, I’m staying here until you come out.”

  “Rumi, leave right now... and be prepared for punishment when you come back tomorrow morning!”

  Professor Francesca’s voice was filled with anger.

  Meanwhile, Rumi subtly pinpointed where the voice was coming from.

  “What? Punishment? Why? You told me to come at 8. If you confused me, that’s partly your fault. And since I’m already here, can’t you just tell me what that writing says?”

  “Stop talking and get out! Now!”

  The witch professor shouted fiercely.

  Rumi pretended to leave, then paused and tilted her head.

  “Professor, are you okay...? You're not trying to chase me away because you're too embarrassed to ask for my help?"

  Rumi stood right in front of the suspicious painting where the voice seemed to be coming from. Up close, the painting depicted a small cabin in the woods under a night sky.

  "Hmm... the sound came from somewhere around here..."

  “...!”