Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: Child of the Centipede (15)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Ow ow…”
When Han Seol opened her eyes, it was the middle of the night. Her head felt foggy, so she shook it and looked around.
“Where did everyone go?”
She was sure she had been talking with Taeju right up until she fell asleep, but now there was no one around.
The stars filled the sky as if they might pour down, and the moonlight was dimmer than yesterday but still bright.
Just then, something flashed far across the yard. Then her eyes began to sting.
‘It’s not even winter, so why do my eyes hurt like this?’
It was an odd sensation.
Han Seol felt like there might be people where the light was coming from, so she slipped on her shoes and headed that way.
“Huh? Unni?”
As she walked toward it, she spotted Okbun standing up ahead. Han Seol almost called out loudly but stopped herself. Okbun’s movements looked urgent.
‘Did something happen?!’
It seemed Okbun was also heading toward the light.
To avoid disturbing her, Han Seol quietly followed behind.
* * *
Okbun’s old tale had come to an end. It had been longer than expected.
“She’s not Mom? She is Mom.”
That was Woli’s first impression.
Taeju nodded, clearly thinking the same.
“I understand your situation and why you’ve made these judgments up until now. So, what do you plan to do going forward?”
At Taeju’s question, Okbun replied while still clutching the centipede tightly to her chest.
“Our wish is for Han Seol to live well among humans.”
That was the only thing Okbun wanted.
“You’re saying you’d even die for her independence?”
Taeju asked in disbelief. Okbun shook her head.
“No, it’s not that we’re dying for that. The time has come for us to part from Han Seol… and so we have no reason to keep living. We’ve fulfilled our role.”
“That’s the same thing…”
Woli muttered. Her threatening attitude had softened before they knew it.
“I see. It might sound that way. Either way, we can’t go outside, nor do we want to. So please take Han Seol and leave.”
That’s what Okbun said. The centipede also lifted its head and nodded weakly but firmly.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t grant that request. We’ve already made a promise.”
Taeju refused. Vanishing on good terms like this wasn’t what Han Seol wanted.
“We’ll save you. If we can’t save you alone, we’ll save you along with the centipede. Of course, we’ll have to put a leash on it so it can’t harm anyone.”
Okbun let out a scoff at Taeju’s words. It was as if to say, what could the likes of you do?
“What if we refuse?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You’ll save us without hearing our opinion…”
“Yes. Han Seol is the one who hired us.”
Okbun reacted as if it was absurd. But Taeju was serious.
“Family really is family. You’re all clamoring to save each other instead of yourselves.”
“What do you mean?”
Okbun asked, puzzled. Taeju answered with a sigh.
“What Han Seol requested was to save you. She said to save her unni. Not herself.”
“Is that so. She made that kind of request.”
Okbun smiled bitterly.
It was admirable and something she was grateful for. But that only made Okbun more certain.
She had to disappear.
“God, I regret it so much now. The time I spent with that child up until now was happy, and that’s exactly why I regret it.”
Okbun said as she stroked the centipede. Its antennae fluttered as it simply accepted her touch.
“When we first picked up that child, I should have saved her life and immediately handed her over to human facilities. You were right, God.”
That was Okbun’s greatest regret now. Han Seol’s life had already become so different from ordinary people’s that she could never fully blend in with them.
“Or, even if the child didn’t want to, I should have let her go partway through.”
Okbun hadn’t been able to let her go because the time spent with Han Seol felt like a dream, so enjoyable.
“In the end, it was all my selfishness. I wanted to save her and raise her with my own hands. That was all my greed.”
A tear fell onto the centipede’s head. Okbun looked up at Taeju.
“One more day, one more month, one more year. Before I knew it, it had become over ten years. I couldn’t let her go because I wanted to see her just a little longer. That became the poison.”
Okbun believed that had stolen Han Seol’s chance at a normal life. That was the sin she accused herself of.
“If I keep living, I’ll keep indulging in the same greed. I’ll want to keep holding onto her. So I have to disappear like this.”
“Who knows. If she had gone into a facility from the start, would she have been happy?”
Of course, he could agree that Han Seol couldn’t live a normal life now. Without a resident registration or school education, how could someone with just a grown body survive out there?
But that didn’t mean the opposite would have been happy.
“I don’t think so. Living among humans doesn’t guarantee happiness. A place with a family that loves you might be an even better environment.”
Okbun smiled faintly at the word “love” but quickly erased it and spoke coldly.
“Even if you say that, my decision won’t change. I stole her chance at a normal life. But I can’t keep her with me forever. So I need to make her forget me quickly and help her find her place out there. I can’t let her keep living here.”
“You’re really stubborn.”
Taeju shook his head. She looked like a young woman, but her stubbornness was like that of an old bull. She had probably lived longer than most elderly people.
“What is a normal life, anyway?”
As Taeju was about to say more, Woli cut into the conversation. The talk of a “normal life” clearly rubbed her the wrong way.
“Mixing with people, marrying a person, dying with people. That must be what humans call a normal life.”
That was Okbun’s answer. Woli, dissatisfied, asked again.
“Then that means she’s happy?”
At Woli’s question, Okbun fell silent. She knew it wasn’t necessarily true. As Okbun hesitated, Woli pressed on.
“You’re the one who couldn’t live with people, marry a person, or die with people. Was your life unhappy?”
Okbun was at a loss for words.
Okbun’s life had been unhappy. Or so others said.
Her mother died first when she was young, then her father followed. She had traded her death for her younger brother’s life. At twenty, when others called it the flower of youth, she died.
She had felt wronged. She had shed tears.
But upon reflection, she hadn’t been unhappy. There had been too many happy moments.
She had done everything she wanted and was satisfied. After dying, she had even gotten a second chance at life, so she had no complaints.
She had seen and heard things she never would have otherwise. It was a blessing.
“But… that has nothing to do with my life.”
But she didn’t want Han Seol to live that way.
She wanted her to live a normal human life.
“She deserves a better life than mine.”
“That’s…”
This time, Woli couldn’t finish her sentence.
A better life than one’s own. That was every parent’s wish. The words carried weight because of it.
“A better life.”
Taeju repeated.
“What is a better life? A normal life isn’t necessarily a happy one.”
It was funny to lecture a ghost who had lived at least hundreds of years with his mere twenty-something years of experience, but Taeju spoke anyway.
“If a person can’t live among people, they’ll face unhappiness. I won’t say it’s always unhappy, but eventually, the moment of unhappiness comes. Unhappiness they didn’t have to face.”
Okbun’s voice was full of conviction.
“Well, since I haven’t lived that kind of life, I can’t argue.”
Taeju scratched his head.
“But you’re talking as if a normal life has no unhappiness.”
Taeju pointed it out, but Okbun spoke as if there was no flaw in her thinking.
“I don’t think a normal life is always happy. But a normal life brings normal unhappiness.”
“That’s nonsense.”
Woli grumbled. But Okbun’s attitude was unyielding.
“Stop trying to convince me. Leave us alone or kill us. If you half-heartedly try to help, we’ll attack you instead. Until you have no choice but to fight back.”
Woli waved her hand as if she didn’t want to argue anymore.
“Fine? If that’s how you feel, then whatever.”
“You accept it?”
Okbun asked, puzzled.
“You were clinging so stubbornly, but now it’s good.”
“Hmm? What good does my acceptance do?”
Woli said that and then shouted loudly into the air.
“You hear that? Come out!”
Neither Okbun, the centipede, nor even Taeju knew who Woli was talking to.
But one person knew Woli was calling her.
The bushes rustled.
“No way.”
Okbun groaned. She had realized who would emerge from there.
“Since when?”
Okbun glared at Woli and asked.
No one had noticed her position until Woli called Han Seol. They had thought she was just asleep.
Only Woli, with her sharp ears, had known Han Seol was nearby.
“I don’t know exactly when. But she was there when you hugged the centipede.”
They hadn’t heard her during the heated argument because they were focused on it. They definitely noticed when Okbun approached the centipede.
“Then she heard almost everything.”
Okbun let out a hollow laugh. In the end, the one person who shouldn’t have heard it had.
“Then it’s best to hear from the person herself.”
Taeju acted as if he wasn’t surprised at all.
“No.”
Okbun knew things weren’t going her way. So she acted as if she wouldn’t hear anything.
But it didn’t matter. Now that it had come to this, it was already over.
If Okbun’s actions were the stubbornness of a parent, then the way to break it was with the stubbornness of a child.
“Unni.”
At Han Seol’s call, Okbun squeezed her eyes shut.
“Did you think I couldn’t become independent because of you?”
Okbun didn’t answer. But that was affirmation in itself.
Tears welled up in Han Seol’s eyes.
“Maybe.”
Han Seol admitted it. She nodded readily.
“I enjoyed living with you too.”
“……”
Okbun couldn’t respond.
“Unni, do you really regret living with me?”
“…Yes. I think it was the wrong choice.”
Han Seol had to live out there. She couldn’t leave her alone here. She had to abandon her and go outside.
That’s why she said it even more harshly.
But at Han Seol’s next question, Okbun could only stay silent.
“Then, was all the time we spent together wrong?”