Chapter 81
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: The Invisible Person (16)
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“…Do you think they’re nervous too?”
Seuli said, her voice tense.
This was the first time she’d ever tried doing something like this on her own. Woli, on the other hand, replied without a hint of tension.
“Who knows? Not me.”
“Why say it like that and make me more anxious….”
Woli began to comfort her in her own way as she watched Seuli protest in a small voice.
“Of course you’re nervous. Taeju is too, and what about Sia unni? Those two pull off weird stunts sometimes too.”
Not as much as me, though. Woli swallowed those last words.
“Anyway, people make mistakes, and it’s okay to do so. Probably?”
“If you hadn’t added that last bit, it might’ve eased my nerves a little…. But because of that, it doesn’t help at all with relaxing.”
Seuli said that, but she broke into a bashful smile. Woli smiled along with her, though her eyes remained sharp.
Woli scooped Seuli up in one arm and leaped upward. This time, there was no need for the safe route Boyoung had told them about. As long as they didn’t get caught on camera. And just like that, the two made it to the second floor.
“Wow, you’re fast.”
Woli, who’d been worried Seuli might get scared, felt a bit relieved at her bright words.
“Careful with the glass.”
Woli yanked open the window. Since it was a side-opening one, the result was predictable.
With a crunching sound, the frame shattered entirely. They wouldn’t be sneaking into the school the same way again, but they’d never have to do it in the middle of the night ever again anyway.
“Wow. But is this okay?”
“What’s not okay about it?”
It was a rough method, but effective and quick.
“I’ll just anonymously donate enough to cover the glass repair later or something.”
Woli leaned against the window after saying that.
“I’ll wait here, so go on and come back safe. If anything feels off, just say so.”
Seuli nodded. Then she slowly stepped forward. Now she was truly alone. Was it the nerves? Her arms wouldn’t move as she wanted.
At the hallway on the second floor, Seuli could hear a voice.
“…You really came.”
This time, the voice neither hid nor fled.
“Yeah. I did some reflecting too. You weren’t entirely wrong. I didn’t know much about you. So I looked into it a bit.”
“What?”
“You.”
Seuli declared confidently. She was nervous, but there was no hesitation in her words.
“Tell me then. Let’s see how accurate you are.”
“Your name is Yeongmu. Oh Yeongmu. Right? A graduate from two years ago.”
“…How did you know?”
“There are ways! I didn’t figure it out all by myself, though.”
She couldn’t have without Boyoung. But that wasn’t important right now.
“Honestly, I thought you became invisible because you were ostracized at school.”
“No.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It wasn’t that.”
Seuli agreed.
“You weren’t ostracized at school—you just couldn’t belong anywhere.”
People say you learn at school, but really, you learn at home first. But Yeongmu had learned nothing before coming to school.
Passive and quiet, Yeongmu didn’t fit in anywhere.
“The problem was that school felt better than home.”
“You went to that house?”
“Yeah. I heard about your relationship with your father.”
“…”
Yeongmu said nothing. Without seeing his face, Seuli couldn’t gauge his mood.
“I met your father. He seemed kind enough, but he was definitely no good dad. I don’t have a father, so I can’t know exactly how that feels. But it must’ve been incredibly uncomfortable.”
“If you’re gonna tell me to reconcile, save it. Not interested.”
Yeongmu said coldly. Seuli had no intention of saying that anyway.
“I wouldn’t. I’m not naive enough to tell you to make up with a guy like that.”
Yeongmu didn’t respond. Or rather, he couldn’t.
It was because a deep doubt hit him in that instant—just from that one glance, that one side—wondering if he could really know.
“School was the only fence where you felt safe? A place where you could be protected without going home as much as possible.”
Graduation meant becoming an adult, and that must’ve terrified him.
“You didn’t want to graduate. You wanted to stay here like this.”
And surprisingly, since no one really knew Yeongmu well, it had been possible.
“No one remembered you. But was that really a good thing for you? Being forgotten by everyone is no different from never having been there.”
Seuli didn’t know if his school life had been enjoyable. From what she saw, it probably hadn’t been fun at all.
But it had been the only path he had to survive.
He didn’t want to go home, but he’d never learned how to stand on his own. It was the only place where he could properly learn something.
“That’s why you ended up like this. That’s how you could keep living here, transformed.”
“Ha….”
Yeongmu let out a deep sigh.
“Did I get anything wrong?”
No. And because nothing was wrong, Yeongmu stayed silent.
“If no answer means I’m right for now, can we keep talking?”
They’d talked about this and that, but they hadn’t gotten to the main point yet. The really important part was coming up.
“You plan to stay here without answering? But you know you can’t keep doing that forever.”
“No! I’m staying here. Just leave me alone.”
Yeongmu said.
“No one knows but you guys, right? No one’s noticed, no one cares about me. Just pretend you don’t know, like everyone else. Now… even if you say you’ll help, for me it’s already….”
No place to go. No place to be.
“You guys can’t help me either.”
“No. We can.”
Seuli said.
“You’d be surprised, but lots of people say they want to disappear from the world. So cases like this are more common than you think. Yours seems pretty extreme, though.”
“…Then just leave me be. It’s just a common thing.”
“But we can’t. Even if it’s common, it doesn’t change how painful it is for the person going through it.”
“Yeah, that pain is the problem.”
Yeongmu said coldly.
“If I go out there, it’s nothing but pain. I just want to disappear.”
But Seuli shook her head.
“I bet wanting to disappear is real. But deep down, you want help too.”
“I don’t need help,”
“You said! People don’t care about other people. But actually, people care a lot about other people. You came to the entrance ceremony, and you even came to check out my transfer day.”
Yeongmu was flustered by Seuli’s words.
“How did you know that?”
“There are ways. Anyway, see? People do care about other people!”
“I was just bored.”
“Just bored? Come on~”
Seuli laughed.
“You caught someone about to trip on the stairs, found a lost wallet, even gathered evidence for someone who was wronged.”
“You… how do you…?”
“You didn’t even try to hide it. No one knew it was you because you’re invisible.”
It was ridiculous to act like you didn’t care after doing all that.
“The rumors about the invisible person at school? That’s you, right?”
“Khk….”
Yeongmu coughed awkwardly, flustered.
“Come on, say it! ‘I don’t care about people, so I caught someone about to fall down the stairs!’”
“…Shut up.”
At this point, he couldn’t argue back. Knowing that, Seuli said smugly.
“Is that the attitude of someone who doesn’t care?”
“…No. I was just bored.”
Seuli shot back at Yeongmu, who was still insisting on that.
“If you were just bored, you’d read a book or do something else. Why secretly help people? Especially someone who wants to be invisible.”
Before, Seuli had thought long and hard. And reached a conclusion. Both feelings were true.
“You wanted someone to help you.”
Wanting someone to help you, so you secretly help others. Hoping that someday, someone would see you.
But no one could help Yeongmu. Because he was invisible.
“The problem is, the other side is true too.”
At the same time, Yeongmu truly wanted to disappear.
“You want to disappear?”
Not die. Not really vanish. But the suffering was so great that living scared him more than dying.
Between bad and worse, he picked the lesser evil and claimed it was what he wanted all along.
“So, you mean you want to live?”
Yeongmu said, as if it was absurd.
“What?”
“They all say it’s a lie. People who say they want to disappear or die.”
Seuli said.
“You don’t want to disappear. You just don’t have the confidence to live. No one helped you. You don’t know how to survive outside school.”
With a warm voice, Seuli said.
“People don’t care about other people?”
Seuli said confidently.
“People do care!”
It was her trump card, but no response came. Standing there awkwardly for about thirty seconds, Seuli’s face turned red.
“Um… could you say something…?”
* * *
“A person fell in!”
Someone screamed like that. It was the day Yeongmu had decided to disappear.
He wanted to slip into the water unnoticed and vanish. Then it’d be like he’d never existed. But the spot he’d chosen already had someone who’d fallen first. Police and crowds everywhere.
‘Today’s not my day either, huh.’
Yeongmu thought. Just like nothing had ever gone his way, even the day he decided to vanish wasn’t his day.
“Where to go.”
But there was nowhere to return to. Yeongmu wandered aimlessly and ended up back at school.
Yeongmu gave a bitter smile. Nowhere else to go. He slipped into the school like that.
At first, he stayed hidden quietly, but once he got used to it, it was pretty livable. Like a ghost, no one noticed him.
Here, he could disappear as he wanted. That’s what he thought.
Unnoticed, like he didn’t exist.
Months passed, and Yeongmu really became transparent. He’d truly become the rumored invisible person of the school.
He even tested it out on things. But no one saw him. Just an ordinary ghost-like existence.
Yeongmu lingered at school, unable to disappear or live.
Then one day, Yeongmu’s eyes met someone’s.
He thought it was a mistake, but their eyes had really met.
* * *
“So that eye contact was the beginning.”
After a long silence, Yeongmu muttered. Seuli, who’d been waiting for a reply, jumped in.
“Of course!”
Maybe if he hadn’t pretended not to care and gone to watch, things wouldn’t have turned out like this. Yeongmu thought.
“You might be right, to some extent.”
Woli was a bit surprised when he admitted it so readily.
“…You’re being honest?”
“No need to lie. But that was just for fun. I still don’t want to leave. I decided to disappear. This place is comfortable.”
That was Yeongmu’s true feeling.
“I don’t even know you guys. Why should I trust you and leave?”
At Yeongmu’s words, Seuli tilted her head curiously.
“That’s weird. Does not knowing someone mean you can’t help them? I’ve gotten help from people I didn’t even know.”
“…That makes you weird.”
“Then you’re weird too!”
It wasn’t something the guy who secretly helped people should say. Yeongmu shut his mouth.
“Besides, we got a request from someone who knows you, sunbae?”
“Someone who knows me? Worse than that guy?”
Seuli shook her head.
“Not worse… just a regular person. You know, the hot dog grandma?”
“Hot dog?”
Not the word for this mood. But a face came to mind anyway.
“…Why her?”
“She said you have to give back the change.”
“Didn’t need it. I gave it because I was gonna disappear anyway.”
“But she insists on giving it back.”
“Silly old lady….”
She could’ve just kept the money. Yeongmu muttered without thinking.
But he didn’t argue. Yeongmu said honestly.
“…Leaving scares me.”
“I bet it does.”
“…What do you know? You’ve never lived like this somewhere, have you?”
“I have. Not school, but.”
There was a difference between trapping yourself and being trapped by others, but they shared the point of leaving a closed world for the outside.
That’s why only Seuli could empathize with that fear.
“You have?”
“Yeah. That’s why I came alone. I know how scary it is to leave the place you’ve been. And it’s not something you can force on someone.”
That’s why she came by herself.
“Come here. Just once, show yourself. Then we can move to the next step.”
“What’s the next step?”
“Facing each other, maybe?”
“What changes with that?”
“A lot.”
Seuli said confidently.
“Just with that?”
“Those little things are what matter.”
No way that could work. But if it did…
Yeongmu stepped forward. Very slowly—it’d been so long since he’d shown himself to someone, it felt awkward.
“What’s supposed to change with this…”
As Yeongmu muttered carelessly, Seuli shouted.
“You’re out!!!“
“What???”
Yeongmu froze at the sudden loud voice. Seizing the moment, Seuli yelled even louder.
“You made it this far, no escaping now!!!“
“What are you doing! No, quiet down first!”
What if the night guard woke up? Yeongmu panicked at the thought, but Seuli didn’t care.
“Doesn’t matter! Not planning to come back! And they won’t notice a little noise now?”
Clang, crash—sounds started echoing from afar. And they grew closer bit by bit.
Yeongmu’s face went pale.
“Told you! You can’t stay here anymore!”
Seuli smiled.
“We’ll take you out!”