Chapter 68
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: The Invisible Person (3)
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As soon as lunchtime hit, the three of them were able to meet right away.
There was no need to call her over anywhere. The moment lunchtime began, Boyoung came straight to their classroom.
“What do you think?”
Seuli asked Boyoung the second she saw her. Boyoung picked up the conversation without a hint of surprise.
“You mean about the invisible person?”
“Yeah. What do you think’s going on? Anything else you’ve thought about?”
Boyoung crossed her arms at Seuli’s question, thinking for a moment.
“Well… I don’t really believe in invisible people. There’s no way something like a truly invisible person could exist, right?”
The two nodded awkwardly at Boyoung’s words.
“But something’s there, I’ll admit that much.”
“Something? Like an invisible person??”
Woli asked in confusion as Boyoung nodded. She’d never imagined Boyoung would believe in something like that.
“I never thought you’d be the type to believe in that stuff.”
“I mean, sure, it’s called an invisible person, but I don’t actually believe there’s a literally transparent person out there. But whether it’s an invisible person or something similar, if there’s nothing like that at all, none of this makes sense.”
She didn’t believe in the existence of an invisible person, but she did acknowledge that something or someone like that existed.
“That’s unexpected.”
“Unexpected or not, the investigation results came out that way, so what can you do?”
Boyoung furrowed her brow at the utterly incomprehensible situation.
“Of course, I don’t think I’m right about everything. There’s still a chance of mistakes or mix-ups. But even so, some of these incidents are just! So! Weird!”
That’s why she had to admit something was there.
“It’s been bothering me so much I can’t stand it.”
Boyoung said with eyes that seemed a bit annoyed.
“We’ve been a little bothered by it too, actually.”
Seuli said carefully.
She had a feeling that without this friend’s help, they’d never solve it quickly before another incident happened.
“Instead of doing it separately, could we brainstorm together?”
“Huh? Really?”
Boyoung’s eyes sparkled a bit at Seuli’s words.
“I was hitting a wall on my own anyway, so this is perfect! You’re saying you’ll help, right?”
“It’s more like we’re curious too.”
“That’s basically helping, isn’t it?”
But there wasn’t much in the way of methods to verify whatever that existence was.
“By the way, just out of curiosity, when did the rumors about the invisible person start?”
Seuli asked with a sliver of hope.
She thought that if the rumors had started before they’d noticed, it might not be the kind of incident Taeju was worried about.
“Within the last two months?”
But Boyoung’s answer shattered that hope completely.
“Of course, there were a few minor stories before that, like ‘maybe the invisible person did it?’ But those were incidents I know exactly how they happened. People just got it wrong.”
That lent weight to the final hypothesis Taeju had mentioned. Seuli threw in one more question just in case.
“Or maybe rumors like that were going around outside school….”
“Nothing like that either.”
It was definitive.
“As far as I know, absolutely not.”
Even if it was just as far as she knew, if Boyoung didn’t know about it, it probably really didn’t exist.
“So the rumors really just popped up out of nowhere.”
It was a simple conclusion, but undeniable. Hearing that, Boyoung added a bit more.
“I think it’s more like we finally caught its tail. It doesn’t make sense for an invisible person to suddenly appear.”
“Caught its tail?”
“Something or someone in the school can’t hide their existence anymore… something like that? It’s not like an invisible person just appeared out of thin air, right?”
In a way, it was a pretty spot-on guess. Seuli felt a slight chill as she asked,
“Th-then, maybe they used some method to…?”
“Who knows. I don’t really know the method either. No matter what that person did, we can’t track them down.”
Boyoung sighed.
“There’s no data or anything like that. I don’t even know if it’s there but the system won’t search for it, or if it just plain doesn’t exist so it won’t search.”
It seemed Boyoung had started feeling the unease even earlier than Seuli had thought.
“Yeah, you could put it like that. Stuff that should be there, isn’t. Or stuff we thought was gone comes back. Books suddenly missing one volume, then found again…”
In a way, Boyoung said, the term “invisible person” fit the situation perfectly.
“Maybe it’s just a simple system glitch?”
“I thought of that too, but the school’s system isn’t as sloppy as you’d think. If it were a basic error, it should’ve been fixed right away.”
But it wasn’t. The error persisted.
Still, that wasn’t solid evidence either.
“It’d be great if I could just say ‘I checked and there’s definitely nothing there,’ but that’s not the case either.”
Boyoung scratched her head as she spoke. From midway on, it felt less like sharing info and more like venting.
“You’ve investigated this hardcore, huh?”
The two were a bit taken aback by how thoroughly she’d looked into it.
“How’d you get into the school system?”
“It’s not illegal, just a bit of a workaround. That’s a secret.”
Boyoung grinned sheepishly at Woli’s question. Hearing that, Seuli couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Why go to such lengths?”
She truly couldn’t understand. The impression she’d given before could pass as just having wide connections, but this went way beyond that.
“I’m curious.”
It was curt. But it felt utterly sincere.
“If something piques my curiosity, I can’t leave it alone. Ending things on such an ambiguous note doesn’t sit right with me at all.”
It was exactly like what she’d said at the start—pure interest.
If there really was an invisible person, that’d be plenty fun in its own way.
If not, verifying the rumor would be satisfying enough.
But leaving it uncertain like this? Not okay.
Either way, Boyoung just wanted a clear ending.
“I’m just the type who can’t stand that kind of thing. So it’d be great if we could get a straightforward conclusion on whether it exists or not.”
“…Wow.”
It was an exclamation that slipped out of Seuli unbidden. What could she say—Boyoung’s boldness was a bit overwhelming. For what amounted to that reason, the level of action was insanely intense.
Just how much passion was packed into that motive?
“But every method I can think of is blocked. I’m out of ideas. So new opinions? I’d welcome them with open arms.”
No way could the other two come up with something new in front of someone who’d gone that far.
Well, they had a few things to try, but they couldn’t mention monster tales.
“No more ways to investigate, huh?”
Woli asked, as if the steam had gone out of her.
“You went that far and still don’t know—how would we?”
“No, you might have a different perspective. Something I didn’t think of. Anything? For real?”
Woli sighed. She felt like she had to toss out something for courtesy’s sake.
“What, like yelling ‘Invisible person, come out!’ in the middle of the market or something?”
“Huh?”
Boyoung responded with a dazed sound. Woli got even more flustered at the tone.
“That’s… I hadn’t thought of it, but…”
“What? You’re saying actually yell it out?”
Woli spoke in disbelief, but Boyoung just laughed.
“It’s not a *terrible* idea, but obviously that’s not it. I’m not crazy.”
As Woli stared blankly, wondering what that was about, Seuli asked from the side.
“So what *are* you thinking?”
“I have indirect evidence that some invisible existence is out there. And personally, I’m convinced.”
The other side existed. She didn’t know where or what it was doing, but it did.
“Then… like you said, we just call it out?”
“So we make *it* come to *us*, instead of us chasing it down?”
Seuli finally got it. And surprisingly, it didn’t sound bad.
“Yeah. I thought about searching, but not calling it out. Woli, are you a genius by any chance?”
It was a shift in thinking. Woli just rolled her eyes, wondering what this was about.
“Of course we can’t literally yell to summon it, but if we refine the method, it could be a pretty good idea.”
To Boyoung, who’d found minor clues but no concrete proof, this seemed like a solid verification method.
Best of all, it didn’t require much investment.
But this approach had one fatal flaw.
“Okay, but *how* do we call it out?”
Summoning someone you didn’t even know where they were wasn’t easy. Even assuming you were sure they existed, you wouldn’t know if the call even reached them.
“If there’s no response, how do you tell if they’re ignoring it or if they just don’t exist?”
A response would be ideal, but the problem was that no response meant it ended as a wasted effort.
The three dove into a new dilemma, different from before.
“It’s not about how to find it, but how to summon it…”
Boyoung muttered half-unconsciously.
It was a notch easier than before, but still not coming easily.
“We don’t even know if the invisible person is a guy or a girl, or their personality. All we’ve got is a guess they’re probably a student.”
That made it hard to think of something guaranteed to draw them out.
“We need some insane bait they *have* to respond to, no matter what…”
Boyoung muttered to herself, like something had clicked. Woli, thinking time was running out, spoke up.
“Hey, let’s eat first and think about it.”
Woli sighed, tired of waiting.
“Lunchtime’s almost over.”
Half of lunchtime had already passed.
“But will there be any side dishes left?”
At Seuli’s question, Boyoung answered with a subtle expression.
“Fish stew today, so probably.”
Woli, who’d been about to dash off, grimaced at that.
“Ugh… fish stew…”
Leftovers were good news in principle, but not that menu. Boyoung shrugged and said,
“Well, what can you do. If you wanna survive, eat up.”
Just then, music started playing. Boyoung paused her step toward the door and said,
“Oh, that’s not bad.”