Chapter 67
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: The Invisible Person (2)
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“Which one is it?”
“Yeah. I thought about it on my own, but I’m not sure.”
She could narrow it down to a few possibilities, but that was as far as she got. In the end, Seol-i asked for help.
“Hmm. Should I give you a hint at least? I’m not seeing it for myself, so I can’t give a definite answer.”
Taeju drew that line as he spoke.
“The core issues right now are two, right? The two similar incidents and the weird rumor going around lately. Like that.”
“Uh...”
“Of course, there’s a high chance those two stem from the same root.”
Taeju affirmed that first.
“Because of my eyes?”
“Yeah. The weird thing you saw was just one, right? Not two or three.”
So it was hard to see it as multiple separate incidents.
“Of course, it’s not good to conclude based on just one thing, but it’s still a great reference point.”
“You could’ve been confident even without my eyes?”
“I wouldn’t be as confident as now, but the conclusion would’ve been the same.”
The rumor and the incident were clearly different types, but if both affirmed the existence of an invisible person, it solved everything at once.
“No need to separate them unnecessarily.”
From that perspective, he could be certain this incident was about an invisible person.
“Alright, then let’s start with the premise that an invisible person exists.”
Taeju said that, but Seol-i still seemed unsure.
“What if it’s not an invisible person after all? What if I saw wrong?”
“You saw it yourself and say that?”
He said it that way, but Taeju’s expression wasn’t bad. Constant doubt was a good attitude.
“Still, shall we think about it a bit?”
It wasn’t bad to discuss it as a study session.
“If what you experienced has nothing to do with the rumor, then what you saw might’ve just been a low-level ghost or something.”
If he forced an explanation without an invisible person, that’s what came to mind first.
“But if it was just that, Woli would’ve noticed by now.”
Woli had a habit of skimming over things she wasn’t interested in, but there was no way she’d miss a regular ghost.
“There wouldn’t even be ghost rumors trending in the first place.”
As he said that, Taeju glanced at Woli. She’d never mentioned ghost stories.
“Ghosts can appear anywhere, sure, but popping up without any context is weird. They don’t just show up out of nowhere like that.”
They could appear anywhere, but not without reason. That’s what ghosts were.
So the ghost possibility was very low.
“Not a ghost, then.”
Seol-i nodded.
“What about the others?”
“If not that, maybe the number itself has some mysterious rumor attached, giving it a life of its own.”
It was possible the story was that the number itself tricked people, not a person.
“Stories about numbers being one more or one less, or a person being short one, don’t ring a bell. Hey, any stories like that?”
Taeju asked Woli. She might not know if she wasn’t interested in that kind of tale. Woli, who’d been digging into her parfait, hurriedly looked up.
“Huh? No!”
She pondered for a moment, then added,
“But that’s something you experience alone anyway, right? It’s not even a rumor!”
“As expected.”
With Woli’s answer, Taeju crossed off another possibility.
“So the number itself doesn’t have weird rumors.”
“If it’s not a ghost or a mix-up with numbers, is there anything else left?”
Seol-i thought for a bit, but nothing came to mind.
“Well, there are some, but they’re not worth considering.”
Taeju couldn’t think of anything beyond the ridiculous ones either.
“So unless there’s new info beyond what you told me, it’s most reasonable to proceed assuming an invisible person exists.”
Long explanation, simple conclusion. There’s an invisible person.
“That’s it...?”
Seol-i sounded disappointed after hearing Taeju. He smiled and said,
“Of course not. The real important stuff starts after that.”
Seol-i perked up her ears at Taeju’s explanation. Woli wasn’t listening as intently, but she seemed to care.
“So, why is the invisible person invisible?”
Taeju’s question was pretty straightforward. Seol-i tried to answer, but nothing came up.
“...Dunno? Same reason as why ghosts are invisible?”
Taeju shook his head.
“Totally different.”
The reasons invisible people and ghosts weren’t visible were different.
“Ghosts have no form, so not being seen is the default. It’s weird if you can see them. But an invisible person is a ‘person,’ right? It’s weird because something that should be visible isn’t.”
“Tricky...”
“By the way, I don’t know why they’re invisible either.”
Taeju had never seen an invisible person himself.
“Huh? Then why ask?”
“Throwing out the question makes it easier to understand that figuring it out comes first.”
Taeju answered, then continued.
“We’re just calling it an invisible person, but there are types of invisibility, right? Like optically invisible, or present but unperceivable by people, stuff like that.”
Either way, you could call it invisible.
“I don’t think it’s truly invisible.”
“Yeah, that’s more sci-fi than a simple ghost story anyway.”
Seol-i didn’t fully get it, but nodded for now.
“...I’m done listening.”
Woli shook her head like her head hurt. She retreated to a corner and quietly started eating her ice cream. Taeju chuckled.
“You weren’t listening anyway, such a drama queen...”
“So what’s the next question?”
At Seol-i’s urging, Taeju shrugged.
“Did an existing person turn invisible? Or was a new invisible person created?”
“Eek...?”
“Not a ghost. An invisible person is definitely a transparent human, right?”
That’s why the question arose. Seol-i frowned.
“First, if a new invisible person is created, you know how ghost stories form, like I’ve explained.”
“Yeah! But something that didn’t exist can just appear?”
Taeju thought for a moment.
“Hmm, yeah. For example, what if a rumor spreads about snakes appearing in the neighborhood? Assume no real sightings confirmed yet.”
“...People would start being careful of snakes?”
“Right. People would mistake a rope on the ground for a snake at first glance and double-check. Then someone actually spots a snake. Could be a misidentified rope, or a real one.”
At that moment, the rumor becomes reality.
“So whether real snakes exist or not, people start believing they do.”
Thus, a snake that didn’t exist is born. That’s generally how entities in ghost stories come to be.
“People end up fearing a snake they don’t even know exists. Add meat to it, and you get something like alligators in the sewers.”
“...Could a completely ordinary person pop into existence that way?”
It was an off-topic question, but she was curious.
“Like, could a totally normal person suddenly appear if everyone believes it?”
Taeju just shrugged at Seol-i’s question.
“Theoretically possible. Probably happened a lot in the old days, but modern systems aren’t that forgiving.”
If someone points out the contradiction in its existence, the unreal thing vanishes. Because everyone recognizes it as definitely ‘not there.’
That’s why there aren’t as many ghost stories now, and even if they appear, they’re minor.
“But the invisible person story hits a blind spot. Hard to verify that kind of rumor.”
If you can’t see it, of course you don’t. Plus, if they’re just doing good deeds, it sounds like a faceless good Samaritan.
So hardly anyone bothers verifying it.
“So someone new could’ve become an invisible person.”
“...But that doesn’t seem right.”
Seol-i shook her head.
“What I went through, or what Boyoung went through, happened first, and then the invisible person rumors started.”
Sharp point. Taeju nodded.
“Yeah, so low possibility there.”
“Then... a person turned invisible??”
“Exactly.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Even Woli, listening from afar, couldn’t ignore how absurd it was.
“If the rumor didn’t come first and then the invisible person, there’s only one conclusion, right? Invisible person first. Rumor second.”
“No way!”
A giant centipede, maybe, but a transparent human? Ridiculous.
“Why not?”
“...So that’s why you asked how the invisible person was transparent earlier?”
“Yeah. How did that person who became invisible do it?”
No one knew. At least not the three people here.
“That Boyoung girl, right? She’s not involved in ghost story stuff specially. If she saw it, she must’ve been one of the people who could see it at first.”
So there might’ve been sightings like that. But no one knew how.
“Well, that’s all I can say for now. There might be possibilities I haven’t thought of, so investigate more thoroughly and report back.”
That was the end of Taeju’s advice. Seol-i sighed deeply.
Woli spoke up.
“...Dunno the details, but sounds like big trouble?”
“Not big trouble... but not small either?”
* * *
“So what do we do first?”
It was a question tossed out on the way to school. Seol-i looked at Woli.
“Why that face?”
“Thought you weren’t interested...”
During yesterday’s heated discussion, Woli hadn’t seemed to listen properly, so Seol-i assumed no interest.
“Not uninterested, just couldn’t follow.”
From midway, she hadn’t understood at all, Woli said, shaking her head.
“Not just some fight or whatever.”
So she had no choice but to hear it out. It’d just give her a headache otherwise.
“Honestly, if it was just me, I’d shrug it off, but you want to solve this one.”
“Yeah.”
Given how she’d grilled her with questions, it made sense. Woli yawned and said,
“Then let’s do it. Condition is we quit if it gets dangerous.”
“Thanks.”
“Psh, don’t get sappy.”
Woli waved it off like whatever.
“Then we gotta call her over at lunch.”
Without Boyoung, it’d probably be a headache. Seol-i nodded too.
“Oh yeah, what’s today’s lunch menu?”
Woli said, smacking her lips.
“Already wondering about that?”
“I go to school to eat.”
So having extra stuff to do at school didn’t seem bad.
“But we’re not just eating and leaving today.”