Chapter 15
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Head in the Box (15)
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“Are you alive?”
Even until Woli and Sia finished lunch, Taeju kept searching for something, investigating.
“Barely.”
Taeju finally emerged after the two had finished their meal, washed the dishes, and were chatting idly.
He certainly didn’t look well, but he’d apparently wrapped up what he needed to for now as he staggered over and slumped down at the table.
“So, investigation done?”
At Sia’s question, Taeju nodded and replied.
“Not completely, but I’ve got a rough grasp on the key parts.”
“Then you can rest a bit.”
“Well, that’s not really an option.”
Taeju shoved some already-prepared food into his stomach as he spoke.
“There’s still a little left to do.”
It was a mountain of work before evening even arrived.
“Let’s wrap it up tomorrow.”
* * *
At six in the afternoon, people came pouring out in front of Yeouinaru Station.
Exhaustion and fatigue showed on their faces, yet smiles filled them too.
No matter that it was Monday—the worst day of the week—quitting time still looked enjoyable.
Jeonghan thought there wasn’t much difference no matter how old people got. Excluding age, there was no big gap between the bright faces of kids heading home from school and the bright faces of office workers clocking out.
So it was only natural that he wasn’t enjoying it. He hadn’t enjoyed heading home from school back then either, so there was no reason quitting time would feel good now.
Jeonghan was just tired.
He didn’t feel like he’d slept well today either. He’d thought that without the voices, he might wake up refreshed, but nope.
In fact, Jeonghan knew he hadn’t really slept soundly even when the voices weren’t there. Whether the Dokkaebi’s voice reached him or not, his life hadn’t changed much.
Jeonghan suddenly recalled the description that the Dokkaebi had once been mystery incarnate. And his encounter with the Dokkaebi should have been a mystical experience.
But it was just that, nothing more.
Even after going through something so otherworldly, no major changes happened in his own life. Even after something that absurd.
“Ha…”
Jeonghan had thought today might be a little different. With the voices gone, he figured something would change.
But it hadn’t. He’d done his set tasks, eaten lunch at the same time, done more set tasks.
It was all so identical that he even wondered if maybe this was all a dream.
That was why Jeonghan couldn’t stop glancing at his phone.
[Please come to the office after work today.]
He had to go to the office. But he didn’t want to.
That promise was the same, in a way—opposite, but still. He wanted to keep it. But he definitely couldn’t.
There was no way he could gather everyone like Jeonghwan had. To Jeonghwan, that promise must have been easy and straightforward. But all Jeonghan had managed to gather was three people. Ten versus three.
He couldn’t possibly bridge that gap.
‘If only Jeonghwan hadn’t died.’
Jeonghan had that thought as he opened the door to the office.
A tiny bell chime rang out.
“Huh?”
Jeonghan had assumed Taeju would be there, of course. But no. It was someone else.
Sia held an e-cigarette in her hand. It wasn’t in her mouth, but strangely, white smoke drifted from it.
‘Isn’t this place no-smoking indoors?’
Jeonghan fell into momentary confusion. But thinking about it, this wasn’t a real café anyway.
As Jeonghan paused upon entering, Sia smiled and said,
“Looks like you’re surprised to see me here.”
Sia wore the same outfit as before. The accessories dangling from her wrist were the same too.
Everything was exactly the same, except for the e-cigarette in her hand.
“Ah, no. Not surprised or anything.”
Jeonghan fumbled his words.
“Just, Taeju was the one who messaged me, so I figured he’d be the one to come out.”
Sia gave a slight smile.
“That sounds pretty surprised, though.”
It was spot on, so Jeonghan awkwardly scratched his head.
“Well, kidding. I was just teasing a bit. Normally, Taeju would’ve come out.”
But since Taeju still hadn’t returned, Sia was sitting here now.
“He stepped out on another errand for the moment.”
“Ah, sounds busy.”
Jeonghan said awkwardly.
It might actually be better with Taeju not sitting here. Thanks to their conversation before parting last time, Jeonghan found him a little uncomfortable.
“Yeah, he says there’s a lot to verify to resolve this case.”
Sia chimed in agreement.
“But he should be back soon. Specifically, about ten minutes from now.”
“Really?”
It wasn’t his first time with Sia here, so she seemed better than Woli, whom he’d never properly spoken to.
“Sorry, but I don’t know how to work these machines, so I can’t serve you any tea.”
Sia said it without much regret. Since he wasn’t here to get tea anyway, Jeonghan mumbled a vague reply.
“Y-yeah…”
Jeonghan headed to the same seat he’d taken last time and sat down.
Sia naturally took a long drag from the device and exhaled. Surprisingly, the smell wasn’t bothersome. Aside from a faint fruity scent, there was no odor at all.
“In the meantime, feel free to ask anything you’re curious about.”
“Curious…?”
There was a ton he was curious about. More than one or two things. But if he had to pick the top one, it was set.
“What happens if I can’t keep the promise?”
Jeonghan asked that first.
“What will the Dokkaebi do?”
Half in fear, half out of curiosity, Jeonghan asked.
A mystical being like the Dokkaebi could surely do something incredible.
So what would happen to him? That’s what Jeonghan wanted to know.
But Sia’s answer was the kind that strayed from his expectations.
“Honestly, not much.”
“Huh?”
“Because that guy’s trapped inside. The Dokkaebi’s no pushover, but neither are we.”
Sia said that even if Jeonghan failed to keep the promise, he personally wouldn’t suffer any harm.
“The Dokkaebi would just end up dying. Personally, that’d be a shame. It’s a rare breed these days.”
Jeonghan felt a subtle twinge at Sia’s tone, like she was talking about an endangered species.
“Y-yeah.”
Sia nodded.
“But why are you curious about that? You seemed like you wanted to keep the promise.”
“…Yeah, but.”
Wanting to do something and being able to were different. He’d even considered reaching out to the people he could contact now, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Everyone was in the middle of their busiest season.
“It just feels impossible for me.”
Ding—a chime rang out as Jeonghan said that.
“He’s here.”
Sia glanced toward the door.
“Sorry. A little late.”
Taeju looked exhausted at a glance, so Jeonghan greeted him in mild surprise.
“Ah, hello.”
Jeonghan’s greeting came out awkward. But rather than return it, Taeju spoke first.
“Sorry to say this right off the bat, but did you just say ‘impossible for me’?”
Dark circles shadowed Taeju’s eyes, but his gaze was still sharp.
“…Yes.”
Jeonghan hesitated but answered. He felt like he needed to be honest.
Taeju just narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Then you’ve got nothing to show the Dokkaebi.”
Taeju said coldly. Jeonghan’s voice came out subdued.
“Y-yeah.”
“This won’t do.”
Taeju let out a small sigh as he said it.
“Shall we talk about you for a bit, Jeonghan?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You. Let’s put the Dokkaebi issue aside and chat a little.”
“Why my story all of a sudden…”
“There were some odd things.”
Jeonghan furrowed his brow in confusion, but Taeju continued without minding.
“The first thing that struck me as strange was your reactions.”
“Huh? Reactions…?”
The Jeonghan who came to the office clearly lacked confidence. He fixated on his own minor mistakes and constantly felt inadequate.
“At first, I thought it might be depression. But it didn’t quite fit.”
Taeju began pointing out the things that had felt off, one by one.
“Most depressed people lack motivation. In everything. But you’d accomplished way too much to call it a lack of motivation.”
It had started with the incident itself. Taking the lead in gathering people to dig up the time capsule required quite a bit of resolve.
Even just participating would take some, but actively leading and gathering people took even more.
“So at first, I figured you were normally outgoing but had gotten down after some weird incident. But that wasn’t it.”
Jeonghan had been timid from the start. And he knew that about himself.
“You actually lack motivation. Even for your own stuff.”
“That’s…”
Jeonghan tried to argue, but Taeju’s next words stopped him.
“You suffered from the hallucinations but just waited out the week. Why didn’t you come to resolve it right away after the weird stuff started?”
There was no way the person who’d decided to gather people for the time capsule was the same as this one.
“Some of your actions are incredibly proactive, but the rest aren’t. That’s weird.”
At first, all those points just seemed a little peculiar. But the deeper he dug, the stranger it got.
“To me, it looks like there’s no answer until this problem’s resolved.”
A simple, innocent hope based on childish friendship from youth.
Something that minor, and yet Jeonghan couldn’t even show that much to the Dokkaebi now.
“I asked you about this before.”
“About what?”
“What kind of person Jeonghwan was.”
Taeju had asked Jeonghan about Jeonghwan.
“You didn’t say a single negative thing. Not even one flaw that anyone has. And you talked like he was still the center of your friends.”
At first, he’d thought, well, whatever. But that couldn’t be.
It was true that Jeonghwan had been the starting point for this gathering now.
But he couldn’t still be the center.
“One thing I can say for sure: you’re the one maintaining that bond now.”
It was only natural the Dokkaebi had gotten the wrong idea.
“Yeah, there’s no way the Dokkaebi would mistake it for no reason.”
“Don’t talk like you know when you don’t.”
Jeonghan’s expression had been hardening as Taeju spoke.
“You don’t even know Jeonghwan.”
“You think I really don’t?”
Taeju shot back.
Jeonghan faltered for a moment.
It should’ve been obvious he didn’t, yet Taeju’s attitude was so assured.
Maybe Taeju had uncovered something Jeonghan hadn’t mentioned.
That thought left Jeonghan speechless.
“Yeah, staying silent again. Couldn’t just let it go, so we did our own investigating.”
At Taeju’s words, Jeonghan looked at him. Taeju just shrugged like it was no big deal in response to his what-did-you-investigate eyes.
“Well, ‘investigation’ is a strong word. Correct me if I get anything wrong. Some of it’s guesswork.”
“Guesswork?”
At Jeonghan’s question, Taeju added,
“Oh, not total fantasy. I told you, we did some investigating.”
Taeju looked Jeonghan straight in the eye.
“About nine years ago, you went skiing with your friends. Jeonghwan was still alive then.”
“What…?”
“And you caught the flu there. Or gave it, maybe.”
Jeonghan gaped, unable to respond. Taeju knew from that reaction that he was spot on.
“Curious how I know?”