The woodcutter kept his tone in check.
Before this happened, he had never thought his younger brother could be so stubborn, even to the point of being obstinate.
"What will you say when you see it again?"
"Wouldn't it be better to let everything end in that house?"
"Little brother."
The woodcutter spoke earnestly. "Let go of what's already in the past."
"Start over."
"Your older brother believes you'll do better next time."
"All right?"
The woodcutter looked at the Young Scholar with heartfelt sincerity.
Really...
Stop obsessing over that Black Monster...
He didn't want to investigate whether it was real or not, either.
Or whether it was truly a delusion caused by something wrong with his younger brother's mind.
At least for now, as long as no one brought up anything related to the Black Monster, his younger brother seemed perfectly normal.
If so, then they should completely remove the Black Monster, the thing that made his younger brother act abnormally, from his life.
No one should mention the Black Monster again.
Then everything would go back to normal.
Wouldn't that be good?
It would be great.
The Young Scholar wore a complicated expression.
He knew his older brother had never liked hearing him talk about the Black Monster.
Because his older brother couldn't see the Black Monster.
His sister-in-law couldn't see the Black Monster, either.
Except for his sister-in-law's younger brother's child...
That child had made the Young Scholar more confident in himself.
See?
There was nothing wrong with him.
Someone else besides him could see the Black Monster, too.
The Black Monster wasn't a delusion.
Though his older brother and the others didn't seem to believe it.
He wasn't stupid.
He could see the worried look his older brother thought he had hidden so