Chapter 61
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: Stray Cat (10)
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Morning arrived without incident.
Just as the Director had said, Mangnyang didn't seem all that free to act right now.
"Ugh, I'm dying. Taeju, one iced Americano!"
Sia and Woli were in rough shape from pulling the all-nighter. As soon as the sun rose, Sia dragged herself out of Siwoo's room and, spotting Taeju coming down to the first floor right on time, immediately started nagging him for coffee.
"Me too, chocolate frappuccino!!"
Woli, following right behind Taeju, shouted out what she wanted as well.
"Sigh, alright, I'll make them today. You all worked hard. What about you, Seol-i? Anything you want?"
Fortunately, Taeju was feeling pretty fresh since he'd only done the early evening shift so he could talk with Siwoo in the morning, and Seol-i was completely perky because she conked out right at ten no matter what, so she hadn't had to stay up.
"I'm good!"
Seol-i, who had come down last, shook her head and sat next to Sia.
Taeju handed a drink to Woli first, then started making Sia's coffee.
Woli downed her drink in one go and headed out of the office with Seol-i.
"Off to school!"
"See you later—!"
It was a hectic morning.
In the meantime, Siwoo's father had even stopped by to drop off the iron rake, so time had flown by without anyone noticing.
"Then I'll see you this evening."
"Yes, thank you!"
Now the first floor just had Sia, Taeju, and Siwoo—who was still sleeping. Unlike the bustle of early morning, the atmosphere was utterly quiet.
Taeju sat across from the slouched-over Sia as she sipped her coffee and examined the iron rake.
It really was an awkwardly sized tool, just like Sung-ho had said. Too small and simple to be a proper farming implement, but a bit too big for just garden work. Honestly, it looked more like some oddly shaped rake than a true iron hoe.
"Doesn't seem like it's been used all that much."
"Yeah, too clean for a farming tool."
Sia responded to Taeju's mutter.
"No worn spots, and the handle doesn't have any real hand marks either."
The only odd thing was the paint smeared on the spot where the metal met the handle.
Taeju peered closely at the painted area and said,
"It's so clean everywhere else, but paint only in this one corner? That's weird."
"Paint? Where?"
Taeju pointed to the spot.
"Right here on the side."
"Huh? Yeah, that's strange. How would it even get paint there from using it?"
Sia tilted her head.
"No idea. We just got it. Well, the old man carried it around the house sometimes, so maybe it bumped into something."
Carrying something like this carelessly could definitely leave nicks all over the house.
"No, even accounting for that, it's weird."
Sia snatched the iron rake from Taeju and tried holding it in various positions. One-handed, two-handed, slung over her shoulder, even upside down. But nothing seemed to satisfy her; she just kept tilting her head.
"What are you doing?"
Taeju wondered what had gotten into her but got no answer as Sia kept repeating the motions.
After several tries, Taeju started to get a sense of what she found so odd.
"...Ah."
"Not this either."
No matter how she held it, there was no position that would make the joint between handle and metal bump into anything. By the time Sia gave up trying new poses, Taeju spoke up.
"Yeah, I get what you're saying."
He probably wouldn't have noticed on his own. It took someone like Sia, with her bit of rural experience, to spot it.
"Right? Even I can't figure it out right away. There's no reason for anything to get on that spot if you're just carrying it normally."
Taeju's gut told him there was some secret here.
"So how would paint like that end up there?"
"No clue. Maybe if you deliberately leaned it against a wall?"
They immediately tried leaning it against a nearby table, but no paint transfer.
"This way won't work."
"Yeah. And for dry paint like this to stick, you'd need some serious friction."
Having confirmed that normal use wouldn't leave a paint mark there, Taeju looked around for something expendable.
"We've got plenty of chairs. No one would notice if one went missing, right?"
Sia caught on to his idea and grinned.
"Getting serious, huh?"
Taeju wanted to test how much force it would take to scrape off paint.
He lightly scraped the metal part against a chair. Naturally, not even a mark, let alone paint.
Seeing that, Sia shook her head in disappointment and grabbed the rake from his hands.
"That much force is nowhere near enough. You want to see paint stick here, right?"
With that, she wedged the rake between the chair legs and yanked the handle hard before Taeju could stop her.
"Ah, no!"
With a creak and snap, the chair leg splintered and broke. At least the tool itself was fine.
"It's borrowed! What if you break it?"
"It's a farming tool. It won't break from this."
Sia declared confidently.
"If it breaks from that, it's defective. Consider the chair collateral!"
"No, ugh! I said I'd sacrifice a chair, but I didn't expect you'd smash it."
Ignoring Taeju's flustered protest, Sia said,
"But this way, it leaves a mark."
She handed the rake back to Taeju casually. Sure enough, it now had a scuff similar to the original paint smear.
"Shape and position match too. So it must've been wedged somewhere and yanked hard. Is there a spot like that in the house?"
Sia asked Taeju.
He thought back to Siwoo's house but couldn't recall anywhere it could fit.
"If it'd smashed a piece of furniture, they would've mentioned it..."
"Maybe it's simpler than that."
Sia said, as if she'd gotten a hunch. Taeju looked at her.
"It's not the kind of mark you get from just rubbing. Points in daily life where you'd apply that much force aren't that common. And places to wedge it in aren't plentiful either."
With that, she headed toward the stairs. But after a glance, unsatisfied, she went somewhere else.
"Looking for something?"
Taeju followed and asked.
"Door handle."
"Door handle?"
"Not round ones. None on the first floor? I think there was one on the third."
Sia opened the door to the stairs and headed up to the third floor, Taeju trailing behind.
"Why the door handle?"
"Only doors come to mind for making that kind of mark."
"Wedged in the door crack?"
"Not the crack. The handle's too thick for that."
Sia stopped in front of Taeju's room and continued explaining.
"Yeah, this handle! Hang it on the door like this. What happens then?"
She hooked the pointed end toward the direction the door pulled open, draping it over the handle. The awkwardly long rake teetered precariously, just touching the floor.
"If someone opens the door, it'd fall, right...?"
A brief silence fell.
It wouldn't hold the door steady like that. The short rake would probably topple if anyone pulled the door.
"Hmm. Not quite what I pictured. This isn't it?"
Sia hurriedly tried adjusting. Her shift from confident to flustered was a bit funny, but the direction felt right, so Taeju nodded.
"Yeah. No, I think that's it."
If you put something heavy under the rake to prop it up in that setup, and reversed the open/close direction...
"It's like wedging a plank in old doors to block them."
That method would make sense for barricading the door. Yanking hard to open it would leave exactly that paint and scuff on the handle joint.
"But hold on. If that's the case,"
Taeju finally understood why Siwoo felt guilty.
"From outside the door?"
"Pretty much."
* * *
By lunchtime, Siwoo finally came to. It was less "sleeping" and more "passed out."
The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes and coming out was the two with serious expressions.
"Hello."
Siwoo greeted awkwardly. He figured their faces were because of yesterday's failure.
"Sleep well?"
Taeju greeted back. But Sia said nothing. The vibe was definitely different from before, though Siwoo was too tense to notice.
He remembered yesterday. Not every detail from start to finish, but at least up to the point where he'd collapsed at the end.
He had to apologize. If he'd held out, things wouldn't have gone like this.
"Um, about yesterday..."
"Sorry about yesterday."
Before Siwoo could speak, Taeju bowed first. Siwoo had meant to apologize himself, but Taeju beat him to it.
"N-No. It was my fault for not enduring."
"No. We misjudged. We should've properly checked if you could handle it first. My mistake."
"No, it's fine."
Against Taeju's words, Siwoo could only say it was okay.
"Is it? You're okay with it?"
Taeju looked up, meeting Siwoo's eyes. His upward gaze was intense. Siwoo looked away.
"You didn't seem okay."
"Urk, well, yeah, but."
Siwoo felt sorry.
He'd thought he could handle it, but he couldn't, and he'd ruined their plan.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I thought I could endure it."
"You don't need to apologize for that."
Taeju said there was no need to be sorry, but his tone was stiff.
"But there's one thing I want to ask."
"What is it?"
Feeling guilty, Siwoo spoke cautiously.
"Your father stopped by yesterday."
Siwoo looked shocked, as if it was unexpected.
"My dad?"
"Did he see me?"
"Not properly, but he was pretty angry when he left. Understandably so. His son's condition had worsened."
"I see..."
Siwoo's demeanor grew even more dejected.
"But luckily, we got one more shot at this. And in the process, we learned something new from your father."
"Something new?"
"He told us you'd been severely scolded once. Back when your grandfather was still alive."
Siwoo's face stiffened at Taeju's words. A reaction unlike before. He couldn't hide it.
"...What about?"
After a pause, Siwoo asked. Taeju shot back,
"Who knows. Have you been severely scolded lots of times?"
Siwoo took the question like pressure, his face tightening as if choking.
Seeing that, Taeju was convinced this was the hidden truth. Siwoo's reaction confirmed his hunch.
"...No."
"Then that must be why you feel guilty, or at least connected somehow."
"What do you..."
Taeju pulled out the iron rake. Siwoo's face went pale, words failing him.
"You didn't mention any guilt back then. Forgotten or hidden, doesn't matter now. Either way, we know this is the key to it all."