Chapter 46
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: The Cursed Video (8)
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Woli was hanging her head with a sullen expression.
“You left without locking the door?”
Taeju was startled to see her pale-faced the moment he returned, but after hearing the story, it didn’t seem like too serious an issue.
“Hmm, let’s worry about that later. What’s done is done.”
Taeju decided not to dwell on it. Locking the door anyway implied it wasn’t a room they frequented. So there was a high chance nothing had gone wrong.
Even if someone noticed the door was open, they probably wouldn’t think anyone had gone inside. What would anyone think if a closed door was suddenly ajar?
“They’d probably just assume the door was broken or something. So stop moping and tell us what you found out.”
Taeju pulled out the chair next to Hanseol as he spoke.
“How long are you going to stand there? Come sit here.”
Woli shuffled over hesitantly and sat down. Taeju chuckled at the sight before taking a seat next to Sia.
In the meantime, Sia had been closely examining the photos she’d taken.
“What’s that? Shoes?”
Hanseol peered into Sia’s phone and asked.
“Yeah. They left the family’s shoes just as they were.”
Taeju, seeing the photos, leaned in closer with a slightly surprised look.
“These could pass for the shoes they’re wearing right now.”
“The rooms were the same. They’d kept their parents’ room spotless. But their own room and the living room were total trash heaps.”
“Hmm.”
Taeju let out a short, thoughtful hum. He could guess why that was.
“And another weird thing: there was no furniture or appliances in the living room or kitchen. Especially the expensive stuff.”
“Maybe it was never there to begin with?”
Hanseol raised her hand and asked. Sia shook her head.
“There were traces. They must’ve thrown it out or gotten rid of it.”
Taeju nodded at Sia’s words. It seemed Suhyeon hadn’t just given his things to other people.
As their conversation paused, Woli held out her phone and chimed in.
“And check this out. I don’t know whose hobby it was, but the house was packed with movie DVDs and pamphlets. Tons of posters too! This is the room I mentioned earlier—the one that was locked…”
At the last moment, recalling her blunder, Woli grew sullen again.
Taeju and Hanseol were shocked by the photos Woli had taken. Even without seeing it in person, the sheer volume was overwhelming.
“And there was a high ratio of horror movies.”
Woli said, recalling her time in the room.
“Yeah, I can tell just from the photos.”
Taeju clicked his tongue.
At the very least, it seemed to include every horror movie he knew by name.
“This was the only door that was locked?”
At Taeju’s question, Woli nodded.
“Yeah. Dust everywhere! Like a storage room that hadn’t been used in ages.”
Taeju nodded.
“A parents’ room kept impeccably clean, and a room locked up with dust piling up because no one went in.”
With Taeju’s words, the three fell into their own thoughts. Hanseol glanced around cautiously.
“For now, I think I get why the curse took the form of an old horror movie.”
Sia was the first to break the silence. All three turned to look at her in unison. Sia looked at Woli and said,
“The scrap album you opened—most of the movies in there were horror films. And the Ring series was sorted separately.”
Sia then asked Hanseol,
“When organizing things, what kind of items do you set aside separately?”
“Uh… well?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Hanseol thought for a moment before answering.
“Something important?”
Sia nodded.
“Yeah, if you have to put it mildly, something personally important.”
Sia admitted she didn’t know much about movie collecting, so she couldn’t say if they had objective value.
“But I could tell they’d been separated into their own category.”
The purpose of collecting was fundamentally to gather what you yourself wanted. If they’d gone out of their way to classify it separately, you could infer it held special meaning for the collector.
“And that makes the curse’s form make sense. Curses without a specific method take shape in whatever way feels plausible to people.”
Taeju, who had been listening quietly to Sia’s explanation, brightened as if he’d realized something.
“That’s why, huh. The Ring series…”
Taeju recalled his conversation with Suhyeon.
When they’d talked about a ghost jumping out from the screen, Suhyeon had said it might be because of him. Then his face had gone completely white, and he hadn’t said another word for a while.
“His face went white?”
“Yeah. Practically ashen.”
Taeju nodded at Hanseol’s question.
Anyone could tell that wasn’t just a startled reaction.
They’d probed further once he calmed down, but Suhyeon had stubbornly refused to say more on the topic.
“After that, he got really defensive and cautious, so it was hard to learn anything else.”
It was a shame. But they’d grasped the key part, so it was progress.
“That Suhyeon guy seems to have been a huge horror movie fan from the start. The album, the site he showed us—everything points to it.”
At this point, he was certain. No matter how you looked at it, this incident was tied to movies.
“So it’s definitely connected to movies in various ways…”
But for now, that was the limit. As Sia trailed off, Taeju scratched his head as if to say what could they do.
“We’ll have to investigate more, I guess. Looks like we’ll be pulling an all-nighter to check some things out.”
Sia nodded gravely as well.
“Let’s meet again tomorrow morning. After sorting out some methods and ideas.”
* * *
“There is a way.”
The next day, those were Sia’s first words after finishing breakfast. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her skin looked drier than usual.
“Didn’t sleep?”
“Yeah.”
Sia nodded at Taeju’s question. But her expression wasn’t great for someone who’d found a method.
“Then why the long face? You found a way.”
Sia shook her head at Taeju’s words. He looked baffled.
“You said there’s a way.”
“There is.”
At Sia’s response, Taeju tilted his head the other way.
“But you didn’t find it?”
“Yeah.”
As the same exchange repeated, Sia seemed to realize she’d skipped some explanation. She didn’t look to be in the best shape.
“There is a way. I could’ve used it from the start, actually, but it’s not one I liked. It can remove the curse, but not the root cause, so I held off. I tried looking for another option, but nothing came to mind.”
Sia looked a bit disappointed, but Taeju’s expression wasn’t bad.
“Sounds fine to me.”
“Why?”
Sia turned the question back on him.
“I think I’ve got an idea for solving the root problem.”
Sia examined Taeju’s face closely. That’s when she noticed the dark circles under his eyes.
Taeju had apparently stayed up late researching and pondering, his under-eyes darkened too.
“Oh?”
Sia nodded. It was a relief, in a way.
“What are you two talking about?”
Hanseol, who had just finished washing dishes, came back and asked.
“We’re saying it’s almost solved.”
Taeju said. In truth, it wasn’t fully solved. They’d just shared that each had grasped a clue in their respective areas.
But their trust in each other was such that they didn’t feel the need to verify every detail, allowing Taeju to say it without hesitation.
Hanseol looked at the two with bright eyes. She’d thought it would be complicated, but they’d figured it out quickly—she found them impressive.
“Worth the all-nighter? So, calling those two back now?”
At Woli’s question, the two exchanged glances and pondered.
“Hmm, this evening? Or tomorrow morning? We need to prepare some materials. I’ll have to request a few from the Director.”
Sia said.
“Tomorrow lunchtime sounds good. I’ve got some prep to do myself.”
Taeju mentioned he had preparations too.
“Anything I can help with?”
Taeju shook his head at Woli’s question, but Sia hugged her shoulders and said she was essential.
“The method is simple.”
Sia pulled Woli to sit and began explaining. Taeju watched for a moment before standing up.
“Heading down?”
Hanseol greeted him as he rose.
“Yeah. Tell those two not to make a racket if they need to come downstairs. I’ve got calls to make.”
Taeju descended to the first floor via the stairs, pulling out his phone to dial. It was preparation for the final puzzle piece.
After a few rings, the call connected.
[Hello?]
“Ah, it’s Kang Taeju from the office. Is now a good time?”
It was Sunwoo who answered.
[Yes. What’s up?]
The voice on the other end was cold and uneasy.
“Ah, I have some questions. We should solve the problem tomorrow, but there’s something I need to know beforehand.”
Sunwoo fell silent at Taeju’s words.
[…Questions?]
“Yes. I wanted to ask if you’d like to change the request.”
Sunwoo sounded puzzled.
[Change? What do you mean?]
“We found a way to remove the curse. But if we follow your request exactly, another ‘real’ problem will remain.”
[Wasn’t my request to lift the curse? What problem?]
“This curse tormenting you—we can eliminate it. But it’ll come back soon. To someone else, not you.”
[…And?]
Sunwoo’s voice remained uneasy and icy.
[Just do what you think is best. Why ask me?]
“We only move according to the request.”
Taeju knew Sunwoo couldn’t ignore Suhyeon’s story.
“We confirmed the curse’s original target is Suhyeon, the pad’s owner. So if we proceed as per your request, Suhyeon will get cursed again.”
A sharp intake of breath came from the other end at Taeju’s words.
[If I don’t change the request, the curse continues for Suhyeon?]
“Yes. High probability.”
Sunwoo swallowed hard.
“If you don’t want to, we can proceed as is. If you think Suhyeon’s issue has nothing to do with you.”
[One question?]
“What?”
[That curse… she didn’t make it on purpose, right?]
Sunwoo asked in an anxious voice.
“No. Definitely not intentional.”
Sunwoo let out a faint, relieved breath at Taeju’s words.
[Okay. Change the request then. What do I do?]
Taeju smiled inwardly at Sunwoo’s response.
“Good decision. To solve the real problem, I need info on Suhyeon. Mind if I ask some questions?”
The other side would now answer even tedious questions earnestly. Taeju chuckled to himself.
“Then I’ll ask a few questions.”