Goblin Library - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 101.

“Ieodo Island? That’s the legendary island from the old tales.”
Yu Tae-poong had heard of Ieodo Island before—a mythical place where only women were said to dwell.
“Since it’s an island, humans can reach it by boat. That’s why we set up a barrier to keep them from seeing it or entering. But when storms come, the barrier weakens, and outsiders sometimes discover it or slip inside. When that happens, we go and send them back to sea. Over time, word spread and it became a legend.”
“But the legend says only women live on the island? Is that true?”
“It’s a place where we gather people who’ve made verbal mistakes. Do you really think only women would slip up with their words?”
“Ah, so the legend got it wrong.”
“When outsiders entered in the past, it just happened that only women were on the island at that time. Pure coincidence, really.”
“Just a coincidence, then….”
Yu Tae-poong, muttering to himself, suddenly asked something that had piqued his curiosity.
“Are there people on Ieodo Island right now?”
“Right now? Who knows. I haven’t sent any humans there myself. Want to take a look?”
The Dung Carrier Goblin placed his hand on the cloth spread across the floor and gently stroked it.
“Not many—about five people. Well, well, they’re playing games on their phones?”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong asked with bewilderment.
“Games? On their phones?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t they trapped there?”
“They are trapped.”
“Then you let them keep their phones? What if they call for rescue?”
At that, the Dung Carrier Goblin looked puzzled and asked in return.
“Call for rescue?”
“With those phones, they could call 119 for emergency services.”
“Isn’t being trapped better than being dead?”
Yu Tae-poong pondered the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words for a moment, then nodded with an “ah.”
Goblins don’t kill people carelessly, but that caveat always comes with the qualifier ‘carelessly.’
If there was reason to kill, they could kill without hesitation.
“You’re right. Being trapped is certainly better than dying. And if you let them use their phones… they must have other comforts too.”
“Exactly. Looking at it now, it’s practically a resort. I hadn’t checked in on the place for about a hundred years, so I had no idea it had changed this much.”
“So how long do they stay trapped there? Until they die?”
The Dung Carrier Goblin laughed at Yu Tae-poong’s question and answered.
“We goblins aren’t so heartless as to lock up a friendly human for life over a single mistake. You know us—we don’t give our affection easily, but once we do, we give it generously.”
“I know.”
“So we leave them on the island to suffer for a while, but once we think they’ve learned their lesson, we let them out. Even the biggest gossip will keep our secrets after that.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin gazed at the farm and spoke with a smile.
“That’s how we are. We goblins just can’t be cruel.”
“That’s right. Goblins have such warm hearts.”
Yu Tae-poong continued with a smile.
“Real goblins seem like such a uniquely Korean thing. The emotions, the rules—everything about them.”
“Uniquely Korean, huh? I suppose that’s true. I’ve seen Japanese spirits and European spirits, and those creatures treat harming humans like flipping their hand over. Seeing that, it seems JS has no rules at all.”
“How did you encounter European spirits?”
Japanese spirits would have entered the Korean peninsula during the Japanese occupation, but European spirits—where would they come from?
The Dung Carrier Goblin responded to Yu Tae-poong’s question.
“One somehow drifted all the way to Korea. At the time, that European spirit harmed several people, so… ah, that person I mentioned before went and grabbed it by the head, then handed it over to JS.”
“That person? Ah, Kim…?”
Seeing Yu Tae-poong hastily close his mouth before finishing the name Kim So-hee, the Dung Carrier Goblin gave a thumbs up.
“Well done.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded and asked.
“So it seems that person also handles catching malevolent Spirit Servants like that?”
“Normally they don’t pay much attention to such things, but they really dislike foreign spirits causing trouble in Korea. So whenever those creatures slip in and cause problems, they go grab them by the head.”
“They’re like a police officer of sorts.”
“Police? More like a thug, really. When another gangster shows up in your territory, you just don’t like it.”
Yu Tae-poong laughed at the word “thug.” Then he suddenly asked.
“But what’s your relationship with that person?”
“Relationship?”
“The way you speak about them, you seem cautious.”
After Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin paused for a moment, then spoke with a smile.
“They’re someone I find inconvenient to get close to, but too respectable to call merely inconvenient. Though the inconvenience does outweigh the rest.”
“Respectable?”
“They’re a War God of Joseon.”
“A War God? Someone who presides over warfare, martial arts, things like that?”
“Exactly. There are quite a few shamans who serve that person. Anyway… they nag a lot, so it’s uncomfortable when we meet, but they’re certainly someone worthy of respect.”
Curiosity flickered across Yu Tae-poong’s face at the Dung Carrier Goblin’s assessment. Seeing this, the Dung Carrier Goblin quickly added.
“Don’t even think about wanting to meet them.”
“Understood.”
Sensing the sincerity in the Dung Carrier Goblin’s warning, Yu Tae-poong nodded immediately.
The Dung Carrier Goblin poured beer for Yu Tae-poong.
“Let’s drink beer while enjoying the view.”
Yu Tae-poong clinked glasses with the Dung Carrier Goblin and drank beer while admiring the landscape spread out below the mountain.
“This is wonderful.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin looked at him, then gently stroked the cloth with his hand.
Then small glowing green forms surged up from one corner of the forest and flew toward them.
“Huh?”
“Fireflies. Don’t they look beautiful?”
“Wow, it’s like watching CGI.”
Yu Tae-poong stared at the fireflies in wonder, then pulled out his phone and began recording a video.
Watching Yu Tae-poong, the Dung Carrier Goblin took a sip of beer and reclined comfortably against the rock.
The two of them spent a wonderful evening watching the beautiful scenery and the dance of fireflies while sipping beer.

***

Choi Tae-sik was in a small park in a quiet neighborhood.
These days, parks were well-equipped with exercise machines. He sat on one of them—a lower body training apparatus—and moved his legs lightly.
This exercise machine, which worked by pushing and pulling a seat back and forth, relied on one’s own body weight, so the workout intensity was somewhat lacking for someone with considerable strength.
So it didn’t really feel like exercise, but since there wasn’t much else to do, I simply repeated the motion of pushing and pulling the seat.
『You came early.』
A voice came from beside me, but without even glancing over, I continued pushing the seat and muttered softly in response.
『What would you have done if I hadn’t shown up?』
Then a woman appeared before me.
It was Lee Hye-eun.
『I figured you would. Here, drink this.』
Lee Hye-eun held out an iced Americano. As I took the drink from her, I continued moving my legs.
Naturally, Lee Hye-eun’s gaze shifted to my legs.
While it didn’t require tremendous strength, the repeated use of muscles still left them visibly defined and taut.
Muscles that would have been hidden by the fabric of my pants while standing were now clearly visible as the material clung to my legs while seated.
『Wow, nice muscles.』
As Lee Hye-eun gently wrapped her palm around my thigh muscle, I quickly pushed her hand away.
『What are you doing?』
『What do you mean what am I doing… I’m complimenting you.』
Lee Hye-eun laughed and gave my shoulder a light tap before speaking.
『It’s too hot in the sun. Let’s go over there and talk.』
As she turned her body toward the shade of the trees, I sighed.
『Let’s just keep it brief and talk here.』
Then I met Lee Hye-eun’s gaze.
『What do you mean you have information to share?』
『Right. I do have information to share.』
After answering, Lee Hye-eun squinted and spoke to me as if complaining.
『But before that, wasn’t that too much? How could you change your number without even saying anything? Do you know how shocked I was when I called and got a disconnected number?』
『We’re not the kind of people who need to stay in contact.』
『Oh my! I’m hurt.』
As Lee Hye-eun squinted and made a wounded expression, I shook my head slightly.
『When a job ends, we change our phones. I didn’t do it on purpose.』
『Oh! So you’re saying you didn’t change it because of me?』
After observing Lee Hye-eun’s sparkling eyes for a moment, I spoke.
『In that last job, was there anyone else besides you who knew my number?』
There was no deeper meaning to it, but the truth was that I had changed it because of her.
『Tch!』
Choi Tae-sik asked, watching Lee Hye-eun click her tongue softly.
“But how did you know we were watching you?”
“You were watching me?”
Lee Hye-eun asked in surprise, and Choi Tae-sik responded with confusion.
“Isn’t that why you sent a signal using the CCTV that shows the flower shop?”
A few days ago, Jang Ma-ru had been reviewing CCTV footage when he spotted Lee Hye-eun standing in front of the flower shop holding a whiteboard.
Curious, he zoomed in on the screen and saw written on it: “Let’s meet here at this time today.”
At Choi Tae-sik’s words, Lee Hye-eun shook her head.
“I didn’t know you were watching me like that. But remember that hacker you called ‘Jang’ last time? I figured if he wanted to see me, he’d check the CCTV. So I’ve been going outside at the same time every day to water the flowers.”
“The same time?”
Seeing Choi Tae-sik’s confused expression, Lee Hye-eun smiled and explained.
“That kid is busy too, so he wouldn’t be staring at surveillance cameras all day long. Even with fast-forwarding, it would be hard for him to spot me. So I made it easy for him—I always go out in front of the shop at 2 PM to water the flowers. That way, if Jang wants to see me, he just needs to check the camera at 2 PM.”
As Lee Hye-eun finished speaking, Choi Tae-sik heard Jang Ma-ru’s astonished voice in his ear.
“Wow! Noona, that’s incredible!”
The volume was quite loud, so Choi Tae-sik winced and brought his hand to his ear.
“Sorry, sorry! Wow… I never thought you’d calculate something like that. I figured you came out at 2 PM because it was hot and the flowers needed watering. So you were coming out at 2 PM to make it easier for me to see you. I really didn’t know. You were being considerate of me, noona.”
At Jang Ma-ru’s absurd comment about consideration, Choi Tae-sik sighed and moved on to the main point.
“So what did you want to report?”
“Oh!”
Lee Hye-eun nodded and gestured toward a shaded area.
“It’s short if I say it briefly, but long if I explain it fully, so I’d like to tell you in the shade.”
“Keep it brief.”
“Bad people are starting to gather. That’s it! I’m leaving now.”
Lee Hye-eun smiled and turned to go, but seeing her blank expression, Choi Tae-sik sighed and said.
“Let’s go to the shade.”
At Choi Tae-sik’s words, Lee Hye-eun walked ahead as if she’d expected this.
“The breeze in this neighborhood is really nice.”
“Is there a neighborhood with a nice breeze?”
At Choi Tae-sik’s question, Lee Hye-eun nodded.
“There is. This one is like that.”
Lee Hye-eun sat down on a bench nestled between trees in a corner of the park.
“See those mountains over there?”
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik looked where she was pointing. Two small mountains stood there, crossing each other.
“The wind blows through those mountains. That’s why the breeze here is so nice and refreshing.”
“Are you talking about feng shui or something like that?”
“I don’t know about that. The elderly people in this neighborhood told me.”
If that’s what the neighborhood elders said, then it made sense. Choi Tae-sik, satisfied, asked her something he’d been curious about for a while.
“But why are you still running the flower shop?”
“If I’d completed a job, I would’ve quit immediately and moved on. But since I haven’t finished this one, there’s no reason to leave. I’ll make the business run well, collect the goodwill payment, and sell it.”
Choi Tae-sik nodded. Then he changed the subject and spoke.
“So let’s get to the main point. What are you saying?”
“I don’t know who they are, but someone is gathering technicians.”
At the mention of technicians, Choi Tae-sik looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Technicians?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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