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Chapter 52 : Monster (2)

Summer break was over. Autumn was on its way.

The lush greenery was beginning its transformation, a few impatient leaves already flaunting their vibrant yellows and reds.

The air was cool, but the sun was still strong, a unique blend of summer’s warmth and autumn’s crispness, a fleeting moment at the end of August.

Lost in thought as I walked to school, I arrived at the school gates before I knew it. The students, excited to see each other again after the long break, were chatting and laughing, their voices filling the air.

Suddenly, someone ran up behind me and put me in a headlock. I instinctively struggled, but my attacker was too strong.

“Our star actress! Long time no see.”
“Instructor, what did I do?”
“You made a grave mistake.”

It was Kang Haerin. She tightened her grip on my neck.

“I heard the first-years went on a trip during summer break.”
“We did.”
“And you didn’t invite me? You invited Park Saeron, but not me?”
“…”

Why hadn’t I invited her? I hadn’t even considered it. I had asked Saeron to come because we needed a chaperone. I had nothing to say, so I remained silent.

“Cat got your tongue?”

She tightened her grip, and I tapped her arm, gasping for air.

“G… Guh…”
“Well?”
“Isn’t that… a little… inappropriate for your age…?”

Adults should act their age. Asking to be invited on a high school trip… she should be embarrassed.

My honest answer, however, earned me a flick on the forehead and an even tighter headlock. I had to apologize profusely before she finally released me.

She looked me over.

“You’ve gained weight, haven’t you?”
“I don’t think so.”

I wasn’t a big eater, and I jogged regularly. If anything, I should have lost weight. She smirked and poked my side.

“Eek! St… Stop! That tickles!”
“Strange. You don’t look like you’ve gained weight.”

This body was ticklish. I glared at her.

“I told you, I haven’t.”
“You just seem… softer. Rounder. Maybe it’s just me.”
“…Probably.”

She frowned, scrutinizing my face, then changed the subject, seemingly giving up on solving the mystery of my supposed weight gain.

“So, how was filming with Saeron?”
“It was… interesting. I’m not sure if it was… good.”
“What do you mean?”
“A good performance is subjective, isn’t it? It’s up to the audience to decide.”

She chuckled and put her arm around my shoulder.

“You’re too young to be so concerned about results. If you enjoyed it, if you’re satisfied with your performance, that’s all that matters.”
“That’s easy for successful people to say. Failures don’t get a voice.”

Self-help books always focused on success, but life was mostly failures.

Failure didn’t sell. That’s why people peddled success stories. They might be relatable, but they weren’t comforting.

Haerin frowned and sighed.

“Ugh, you sound so jaded. You have to keep in touch after you graduate. We should grab a drink, and you can tell me what kind of… old soul is trapped inside that young body.”
“Sure. I’ll call you when I turn eighteen.”

She suddenly seemed to remember something and nodded.

“Right. You’re in the drama club group chat, right? Tell everyone to meet after the opening ceremony.”
“What’s the meeting about?”
“We have to start preparing for the finals. I got the script a few days ago.”
“Already? I thought you said it might be hard to find one this time.”
“Saeron wrote it for us. Anyway, tell everyone to come. I’ll distribute the scripts.”

We reached my classroom. Hyelin was already there. I sat down and looked at her.

“Did you get a boyfriend over the break?”
“N… No! Why?”
“You look… different. Prettier.”

She had been wearing minimal makeup during the retreat, but now, she was wearing contact lenses, fake eyelashes, the works.

“P… Pretty?”
“Yeah. Hold on.”

I leaned closer and sniffed her neck. She was wearing perfume. This was suspicious. Very suspicious.

“You smell… different. Like a… woman trying to attract a mate.”
“Wh… What are you saying?!”
“Just kidding.”

But it was… strange. Hyelin had never been interested in makeup before.

Han Dojun entered the classroom. I waved at him, but he avoided my gaze, sitting down at his desk.

‘Did I do something to offend him?’

People avoided eye contact when they were hiding something. I frowned.

“Did I do something wrong?”
“What?”

He looked flustered. I grinned and leaned closer.

“If you confess now, I might forgive you. Well?”

He groaned and buried his face in his arms. I gave up and returned to my seat, observing the classroom from a distance.

My classmates had changed over the summer. They were growing up, their bodies and faces changing rapidly.

I had changed too. The ice around my heart had thawed a little, allowing me to… express myself more freely.

We had all changed, yet a comforting familiarity remained.


Kang Haerin stood before the assembled drama club members on the school field. Apparently, securing the auditorium for the first day of school had been impossible.

“You all look well-rested. I hope you enjoyed your break.”

“Yes!” we replied in unison. She nodded, satisfied.

“Good. Because I’m going to work you all to the bone this semester.”

Groans rippled through the group. She grinned, placing the blame squarely on us.

“You did this to yourselves. You should have lost the preliminaries if you wanted a relaxing semester.”

“This year, roles will be assigned based solely on skill, just like last time. Auditions are next Friday. Be prepared.”

Joohyuk, having retrieved the scripts from the instructor’s car, distributed them.

I looked at the title printed on the cover:

[Monster]

A strange, unsettling title.

The instructor dismissed us. I ignored her, my fingers tracing the words printed on the page, feeling the rough texture of the paper.

The story began with a monster encountering a girl who wasn’t afraid of him.

The monster looked like an ordinary person. He tried to scare her, hoping she would finally see him as the monster he believed himself to be. He threatened her, appeared in her room covered in blood, showed her disturbing visions of her friends and family being hurt…

But the girl just smiled.

One day, she asked him,

“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I’m a monster.”
“A monster?”
“That’s what people call me.”

I continued reading, my eyes scanning the pages, the black letters forming vivid images in my mind. My face hardened with each line I read.

The girl in the story… she reminded me of someone.

I bit my lip, a metallic taste filling my mouth. A hand on my back made me look up. The instructor was staring at me, a worried expression on her face.

“You’re so engrossed in that script you didn’t even hear me. Everyone else left already.”
“Oh.”

I started to gather my things, then stopped, looking at her.

“This… isn’t right.”
“What’s wrong?”

A writer’s personality was reflected in their writing. Having spent weeks analyzing Saeron’s script for “Hundred,” I knew his style, his nuances.

He was both blunt and subtle, casually dropping bombshells while carefully tiptoeing around sensitive topics.

But this script was different. It was raw, brutally honest, almost…ugly. It wasn’t Saeron’s style.

I reached a conclusion.

“Saeron didn’t write this.”


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