Chapter 64
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: Mangnyang Stray Cat (13)
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About ten minutes before Seongho arrived at the office,
“I told you before not to look at the Mangnyang.”
Taeju said to Siwoo.
“This time, it’s the opposite. You have to watch the Mangnyang.”
It was the complete reverse of before.
“Didn’t you tell me absolutely not to even look at it last time?”
“I did. I was wrong about it.”
Taeju said the situation had changed.
“I only found out last time that your grandfather has the Mangnyang captured.”
Taeju explained what state the Mangnyang was in. It wasn’t its natural state, so they had failed before, but this time, Taeju said there was one chance.
“So capturing the Mangnyang this time is your role.”
“M-my role?!”
Siwoo felt unnecessarily burdened. Noticing that, Taeju smiled faintly and said,
“It’s not difficult. We’ll give you a switch in a bit. When Sia gives the signal, just flip that switch up.”
“Ah, but does it have to be me?”
Siwoo found it a bit questionable. If it was just pressing a button from outside at the right timing, there didn’t seem to be any reason it had to be him.
But Taeju explained that even that had meaning.
“Surprisingly, that’s an important point. Striking back at something that harmed you with your own hand has significant jujutsu meaning. Though the method itself isn’t jujutsu at all.”
Taeju said that. Siwoo found it puzzling but nodded, figuring that was just how it was.
“And this time, I wanted you to watch from one step removed. But with the most focus.”
“Huh?”
Taeju didn’t answer Siwoo’s question. He just wore an enigmatic smile and explained the situation.
So Siwoo did as instructed.
The moment he heard the snap, he flipped the switch. His father had been wearing sunglasses from the start, and the others waiting around quickly put on theirs at the snap.
Sia closed her eyes at the signal and then slowly put on her sunglasses.
The only one who couldn’t brace for the light was the Mangnyang.
The Mangnyang screamed grotesque shrieks in his grandfather’s voice. But at the same time, it was rooted to the spot, unable to move.
There was no boundary between light and darkness there. It couldn’t escape, nor pass through to evade like before.
Light couldn’t kill the Mangnyang on its own, but it bound it in the most agonizing way. Seeing that, Sia began mocking the Mangnyang in reverse this time.
“So, what do you call getting done in by a moron? Shit-for-brains moron?”
Even amid Sia’s mockery, the Mangnyang couldn’t respond. Of course not. It was busy shrieking nonstop.
“If boundaries can’t hold you, just use a different method. You probably thought all these lines and strings were for boundaries, but actually, they were to hide the wires.”
Even as it shrieked in agony, the Mangnyang didn’t take its eyes off Sia.
“I wondered how to trap a thing that hides in the gaps and boundaries of objects. Then it hit me.”
The harmony of the grotesque shrieks and Sia’s calm demeanor was chilling.
“Do I have to trap it? What if I just make it so it can’t go anywhere? If you live in the boundary between light and darkness, then in a place that’s only light or only darkness, you can’t go anywhere.”
“You… you… you…”
“Darkness would’ve worked too, but last time I saw you really hate light? Seeing you suffer now, seems like a good choice.”
The Mangnyang repeated the same words like a broken playback device. Its rage filled the space.
“There’s not a single shadowed spot here now. Nowhere for you to hide. How’s it feel? Getting owned by the newbie you thought was a pushover?”
Sia stared straight at the Mangnyang and asked. In that blinding light, there was nothing it could do.
Sia smirked and said,
“You could probably leave some last words. Got anything to say?”
From the other side, Woli began walking over slowly. Seeing that, the Mangnyang started muttering in the old man’s voice.
“No… no…”
With no other options, the Mangnyang seemed to be resorting to its final measure.
“No… Seongho…”
Making the most pitiful face possible, the Mangnyang said,
“You’re going to let your father die?”
Siwoo looked at his father in shock upon hearing that.
Like himself, his father harbored guilt toward his grandfather.
So Siwoo thought his father would be greatly shocked. He knew how devastating that one line would be.
“No, that’s not it.”
As Siwoo expected, his father started to say something. Just like Siwoo had last time, he ended up speaking.
In the end, his father might crumble like he had. Perhaps even worse, since the grandfather was calling him directly.
“Then help me, Seongho.”
“Father…”
The Mangnyang seemed to think it was speaking to Siwoo. It was prodding his guilt just as it had with Siwoo.
But Seongho didn’t crumble.
“I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I can’t do that.”
But at the firm response, it finally seemed to realize it wasn’t Siwoo.
“Father, you can stop now.”
Seongho said that.
“You can let go of it and go in peace, Father…”
Contrary to Siwoo’s worry, his father wasn’t swayed by the Mangnyang’s words.
“What are you saying? Why send me away?”
“Father, you’ve passed away.”
Tears streamed down his face, but Seongho still wasn’t bewitched by the Mangnyang.
“At the funeral, I accepted Father’s death. We held the rites, the procession—everything. Even if you say those things in Father’s voice now, there’s no way I’d fall for it.”
“You…?”
Only then did the Mangnyang realize who it was talking to: Seongho.
He was the one who had gazed upon his transformed father with the deepest grief, harboring profound resentment toward the Mangnyang. No way its words would work on him.
“To think your last words were just that—truly regrettable.”
Sia said to the Mangnyang with pity.
Woli stopped beside the Mangnyang.
“This’ll do it?”
Woli asked Sia.
The knife she’d thrown earlier had passed right through harmlessly, so she wondered if this would work.
“It’s just a farm tool.”
What Woli held was a steel pitchfork. The same one Siwoo had used to trap his grandfather before.
“It’s not just any farm tool—it’s the one that held the Mangnyang, so that’s why.”
At Sia’s words, Siwoo flinched for a moment.
“Ah, try to avoid the face at least.”
“I’ve got that much sense?”
Woli awkwardly readjusted her grip on the pitchfork. And right before swinging it properly with force, the Mangnyang let out a yelp.
“I’ll leave!!!!! I’ll leave right now!!”
Gone was its earlier frenzy; now it trembled violently.
“Hmm?”
Sia smirked. Woli paused for a moment.
“I won’t target those two ever again. So let me go.”
Its voice was desperate. A true plea. The last struggle of a monster that couldn’t even twitch.
But it wouldn’t work.
“You’d let it go in your shoes?”
Woli scoffed incredulously and thrust the pitchfork’s tines into the beast’s body.
“Stop!! Stop!!!’
Then she yanked it hard.
“Kaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!”
With a tearing scream, the Mangnyang was ripped to shreds.
“Violence doesn’t stop~.”
Woli said that as she slung the pitchfork over her shoulder. The Mangnyang burned away like fire, gradually disappearing.
At that moment, its last remaining eye rolled and looked toward Seongho.
“Thank you.”
It was the final words of the shredded Mangnyang—no, the old man’s face. The voice was so clear that everyone there could hear it.
“To say something like that…”
It was so sudden and unexpected. With those words, the Mangnyang vanished completely. Not even ash or smoke remained—it was erased from the world.
“Is it over?”
Seongho asked in a slightly hoarse voice.
He seemed to have pulled himself together well enough. No, his trembling hands showed he wasn’t entirely fine, but he was trying.
Seeing Seongho like that, Sia nodded.
“Yes, it’s over. The story of the Mangnyang won’t disappear, so it might appear again someday—it won’t become a tale erased from the world entirely. But it won’t be able to pull the same stunts as before.”
Seongho decided to believe it. Even if it wasn’t true, there was no way to uncover the facts, and what he really wondered about was something else.
“Was that last line really from Father?”
His face was sad. But even the office folks didn’t know.
“It could’ve been the Mangnyang’s final trick, or it could’ve been real. That’s something truly no one knows.”
“I see.”
Seongho was visibly disappointed.
If it was his father’s words, it would be wonderful, but the existence of the Mangnyang made it hard to simply cherish that one line.
Sia could sense the conflict in his heart, so after watching his reaction for a bit, she said,
“But does it matter?”
“Huh?”
“If you can’t tell if it’s true or false, then don’t distinguish—just hold both. If it was Father’s words, great. If not, think of it as relaying what Father wanted to say.”
Was it like that? Seongho nodded. Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he looked around. Indeed, that wasn’t the important thing right now.
Siwoo stood a short distance away. Seongho staggered slightly as he went to him.
“It should be okay now.”
Even in that situation, his father was worried about his son.
“It won’t appear again.”
“Dad…”
“Now you can relax.”
Siwoo felt a lump in his throat. His father had it harder than him, yet he was concerned for Siwoo first—it was grateful but also guilt-inducing.
Siwoo made a decision.
No, he’d known all along—he had to say it today.
The only reason he hadn’t was his own anxiety.
“Dad.”
“Yeah?”
At Siwoo’s call, his father looked at him with worried eyes, wondering if something had gone wrong.
“I have something to tell you.”
Meeting those eyes, Siwoo thought: No more running away.
* * *
Seongho and Siwoo returned home together.
At the office, Siwoo had confessed the wrong he’d done to his grandfather, and Seongho couldn’t say a word.
He was disappointed, yes.
But he felt he had no right to scold his son.
It was his fault for not realizing and burdening such a heavy load on a still-childlike boy.
Handing his own heavy burden to his child without knowing—he couldn’t think of it as anything but his own failing.
His chest felt tight. Unable to sleep, Seongho spent the night wide-eyed, eventually stepping outside.
The man took a deep breath. The night air was still chilly, cooling his insides refreshingly. But one corner deep within stayed unrefreshed.
Climbing over the gate, the man walked his usual strolling path. Being Saturday dawn, no one was in sight.
“Hello?”
That’s why, when a voice suddenly came from behind, the man jumped in fright.
Too startled to even scream, he quickly regained his composure. It was a familiar voice.
“It’s you.”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
The one who called Seongho was the Director. He bowed politely.
“Thank you.”
“No need. Your father did something for me, so I helped that much more. Truth is, without someone holding the Mangnyang like that, my kids couldn’t have caught it this way.”
The Director grinned as he said that.
“Thanks accepted. Let’s talk a bit. Won’t take long.”
“About the Mangnyang?”
The man asked.
“I heard it’s completely gone.”
“It’s not about the Mangnyang. If anything, it’s about your father.”
As if telling him to follow, the Director started walking slowly in one direction, and Seongho followed.
“About my father?”
“Hmm, more precisely, about what kind of existence a son was to your father.”
At the Director’s words, Seongho momentarily stopped and looked at him. The Director just grinned slyly.
“The day you found Father… is that what you mean?”
“Hmm, what kind of son were you?”
The Director didn’t answer Seongho’s question and instead asked suddenly. The man didn’t ponder long before replying.
“Well, probably not a good one.”
“I know why you think that, but let me ask anyway. Why?”
“Because I didn’t notice until Father was in that state, and I didn’t notice until my son was driven that far.”
The man said calmly. But it stung inside. Thinking it was one thing; voicing it was another.
“Haha, yeah. I knew but asked out of mischief, so I’ll butt in a bit and answer for you.”
The Director spun around to face him directly, for the man behind him.
“Not everyone in the world is like me.”
“Huh?”
The man couldn’t understand and asked back.
“People in the world don’t know tons of things. Excluding exceptions like me, that is. People don’t know other people, and even if they do, not accurately. That’s not strange. Even family.”
The man didn’t reply. He still couldn’t grasp the Director’s intent.
“How do you think of your son?”
“My son?”
The man said without hesitation,
“My most precious and beloved son.”
“Even after what he did?”
The man knew what “that” the Director meant.
“Yes. Even after that.”
He could say it definitively. At his firm statement, the Director asked again.
“You were disappointed, right?”
“I won’t deny my son’s wrong, but that’s no reason not to love him. He’s the precious child I must teach and protect.”
He was disappointed, true. But regardless, he still loved his son separately from that act.
“Well, I figured you’d think that. But I wanted to hear it from your own mouth.”
The Director said that, paused a moment, then continued.
“You think that of your son, so how do you think your father thought of you?”
“That’s…”
The Director’s words were so appealing that for a moment, he wished it were true.
But the man shook his head.
Only one person in the world could say that. And it wasn’t the Director, at least.
Before the man could say you can’t be the one to tell me that, the Director spoke.
“Well, that’s not the only reason I came.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing else. I hadn’t given you your change, right? Actually came to give that. The prior talk was a bonus.”
The Director joked.
“Your father paid me more than expected last time. Of course, not money, so no change in cash. So I figured I’d repay in another way.”
“What is it?”
The man asked. He’d heard there was nothing left to give, but receiving change was news to him.
“Something meaningful to you, Seongho.”
The Director said that and handed something to Seongho.
“…What’s this?”
It was an old MP3 player. Something no one used anymore.
“That’s my change to you. Oh, it has a recording function too, by the way.”
Wondering what that meant, Seongho examined the MP3 closely. He pressed the power button, but it didn’t turn on.
“What’s inside this?”
Seongho looked up as he asked. But no one was in front. He looked around, but the Director was gone.
Just in case, Seongho inspected the MP3 more. The AA battery slot was empty.
Seongho hurriedly bought batteries and earphones at a convenience store. Sitting on a nearby bench, he inserted the batteries and plugged in the earphones.
Soon, the power turned on, and after fumbling a bit with the controls, Seongho found the recorded file.
The man checked that the earphones were snug in his ears and the volume was on, then pressed play.