Goblin Library - Chapter 102

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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 102.

“A technician?”
Lee Hye-eun spoke in response to Choi Tae-sik’s questioning gaze.
“On our side, the term has multiple meanings. When con artists call someone a technician, they mean another con artist. Thieves are thieves, pickpockets are pickpockets.”
“So which kind of technician are you talking about?”
“Come on! If I’m the one saying it, which kind do you think?”
“A seductress?”
Lee Hye-eun’s brow furrowed. It was true that she was a seductress, but being called that so bluntly didn’t sit well with her.
However, since she had no better way to explain it, Lee Hye-eun smacked her lips and spoke.
“Anyway, they’re gathering technicians. The fact that they’re also looking for male seductresses suggests the target is already decided.”
“Male seductresses?”
At the unfamiliar term, Choi Tae-sik tilted his head, and Jang Ma-ru’s voice reached his ear.
[I searched it up—it’s slang for a seductress who targets men at golf courses.]
“Golf courses…?”
As Choi Tae-sik murmured, Lee Hye-eun nodded.
“The target is men who play golf.”
“Isn’t golf played by a lot of people?”
“The barrier to entry has lowered compared to before, but it’s still a sport primarily enjoyed by people with money.”
Then Lee Hye-eun extended her hand toward Choi Tae-sik.
“Give me an earbud too. It’s been a while since I’ve heard our little one’s voice.”
[Sure. Give it to me, give it to me.]
At Jang Ma-ru’s urging, Choi Tae-sik sighed and pulled an earbud case from his pocket, handing one of the earbuds inside to Lee Hye-eun.
“Little one, it’s been a while.”
[Noona, it’s been a while.]
“Did you miss me?”
[Of course! I’ve been keeping watch on you this whole time.]
“That’s right. You can’t be monitoring your noona like that. That’s a crime.”
[Come on, a crime? Why say such hurtful things? I was protecting you in case that guy came looking for you.]
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lee Hye-eun nodded. Whether he was protecting her or monitoring her as he said—if she had to distinguish—the former was far more likely.
The Convenience Store Owner’s information about her was extremely limited, and what little he had was all fabricated anyway, but Korea is a small place.
It’s the kind of place where you can run into your first love from ten years ago on the street as if by fate. In other words, that Convenience Store Owner could have stumbled upon Lee Hye-eun by sheer chance.
That’s why Jang Ma-ru had been watching her.
And though he called it monitoring and a crime, Lee Hye-eun actually felt more at ease knowing that the little one was keeping an eye on her.
If he was watching over her, at least she wouldn’t end up stabbed somewhere.
Of course, since she wasn’t working right now, there was nothing to feel guilty about, so she didn’t worry about it.
For now, while taking a break from work, Lee Hye-eun’s modest goal was to make the Flower Shop thrive and sell it for the deposit.
Watching Lee Hye-eun chat away with Jang Ma-ru, Choi Tae-sik sighed and took a sip of his coffee. Seeing him like that, Lee Hye-eun unfolded the bag she’d brought and spread it out beside the bench.
The envelope contained small cakes and cookies sold at the Coffee Shop.
Tap, tap!
As Lee Hye-eun lightly struck the bench, Choi Tae-sik looked at the cookies and spoke.
“Do I need to eat while listening to make the story this long?”
“If I’m going to tell it all, these won’t be enough—we should grab dinner too. Go ahead, try them. I bought them from a place I love.”
At Lee Hye-eun’s bright, eager gaze fixed on him, Choi Tae-sik sighed. Then, following her words, he picked up a cookie and ate it before speaking.
“Tell me. What are you trying to do by gathering these con artists?”
“I don’t know that part either.”
“You don’t know? Then what kind of tip-off are you talking about?”
At Choi Tae-sik’s question, Lee Hye-eun let out a hollow laugh and countered.
“What kind of stupid question is that?”
“What?”
“What else would gathering skilled operators mean? You think I’m gathering them for a flower-viewing outing?”
Lee Hye-eun added with a meaningful smile.
“I’m planning to do something bad.”
Watching Lee Hye-eun speak with a serious expression, Choi Tae-sik looked at her and let out a snort of laughter.
“And who’s the one making a living doing bad things?”
“Anyway!”
Lee Hye-eun raised her voice sharply and spoke.
“Something big seems to be happening.”
“What con artists do when gathered together….”
Smack!
Lee Hye-eun struck the bench hard. Then she stared intently into Choi Tae-sik’s eyes.
“Don’t underestimate con artists.”
“Why are you like this?”
As Choi Tae-sik looked surprised, Lee Hye-eun spoke.
“Con artists steal men’s hearts. And they take their money.”
“That’s why they’re called con artists.”
“But what if they steal something other than money?”
“Something else?”
“What if the man they target is a powerful figure? Or a prosecutor? Or a chaebol?”
“What are you saying?”
As Choi Tae-sik looked puzzled, Lee Hye-eun spoke.
“There’s a reason I told you all this.”
“What is it?”
“As you said, con artists chase money. As for me….”
Lee Hye-eun trailed off, smacked her lips, and shook her head.
“Never mind my story. Anyway… I’m not doing anything righteous either.”
Lee Hye-eun runs con games on bad people. And with the money she extracts that way, she makes donations.
But she didn’t want to claim she was different from them by saying what she did was righteous.
Seeing Choi Tae-sik hesitate without a word, Jang Ma-ru spoke up.
[Sister, we’re no different. We don’t do anything we can be proud of either. It’s just that we… don’t do things that weigh on our conscience. You don’t either, do you? You take money from bad people and use it for good.]
『Well, that’s… never mind. What’s the point of talking about this here anyway?』
Lee Hye-eun, shaking her head slightly, continued.
『To gather Flower Snakes, they said they’d give 500 million won.』
A pause!
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik stared at her with wide eyes.
『They’ll give 500 million won?』
Lee Hye-eun nodded and spoke.
『And that 500 million won isn’t payment for successfully completing the job. You get 500 million just for starting the work.』
『Just for starting the work, you get 500 million?』
『Of course, you can’t just start and do nothing—you have to seduce the target. What kind of fool would hand over 500 million just because they heard someone was going to do it?』
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik looked at her as if he didn’t understand something, then asked.
『So what Flower Snakes do is seduce men and extort money from them, right?』
『Exactly.』
『Then you only make money if you seduce them and extort it, right?』
Realizing where Choi Tae-sik’s head had gone wrong, Lee Hye-eun nodded.
『That’s why I’m giving you this tip.』
Lee Hye-eun spoke seriously, looking at Choi Tae-sik.
『Just seduce the target. You don’t need to extort any money.』
『You don’t need to extort money… and you get 500 million just for seducing him?』
『For us, it’s easy work.』
『So you said you’d do it?』
『No, I said I wouldn’t do it.』
『But you said it was easy?』
Lee Hye-eun turned the question back on the bewildered Choi Tae-sik.
『Where in this world is there easy money?』
『That’s… true.』
『Easy work and they’re offering 500 million? Ugh, that stinks! It reeks!』
Choi Tae-sik looked at her silently for a moment, then muttered.
『Smart.』
『Of course.』
Lee Hye-eun nodded and continued.
『And seducing a man is difficult work.』
『But you just said it was easy?』
Lee Hye-eun let out a soft laugh.
『It’s easy once you start. But there’s a lot of preparation needed before you begin.』
『Preparation?』
『There are many beautiful women in this world. But just because a woman is beautiful, does every man like her? The answer is no. Everyone has their own taste.』
Lee Hye-eun continued, meeting Choi Tae-sik’s gaze.
『That’s why preliminary investigation is necessary. The man I’m trying to seduce—his past, his preferences in women, the styles of girlfriends he’s had, and even the styles he dislikes. I need to investigate all of that and remake myself to match his ideal type. No, it goes beyond just dressing up—I need to become that person.』
Lee Hye-eun shook her head slightly.
『That’s no small effort!』
Lee Hye-eun, who had paused for a moment, continued speaking.
『…it’s not something you can do with just that. Having exceptional looks doesn’t mean anyone can pull off being a seductress.』
『You take pride in your profession?』
『Not pride exactly, but I do know my profession isn’t easy.』
Then Lee Hye-eun looked at Choi Tae-sik.
『Anyway, it depends on who the target is, but at my level, I wouldn’t need to take orders for five hundred million won—I could find plenty of appealing opportunities on my own.』
『So you refused because the money was too little?』
『No! I’m just saying that. Five hundred million won isn’t a small amount, is it?』
Lee Hye-eun shook her head and picked up a cookie to eat as she spoke.
『I didn’t know what scheme they were planning, but it just didn’t feel right. Something about it felt really shady and dangerous.』
Then Lee Hye-eun looked at Choi Tae-sik.
『If you sit in a trap someone else dug and that trap turns out to be faulty, you can get caught in it too.』
『Hmm… but you did get involved in the trap we dug, didn’t you?』
『That was….』
Lee Hye-eun’s gaze lowered, fixing on Choi Tae-sik’s abdomen.
『Because there was someone who took the blade in my place.』
『You trusted me?』
『It wasn’t so much trust as… I figured that at least until you got stabbed and collapsed, I wouldn’t be the one getting stabbed.』
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik smacked his lips. Of course, she wasn’t wrong.
Unless he was attacked by someone and rendered immobile, he would have absolutely protected Lee Hye-eun.
It was like that common movie line: “You’re safe until I die.”
[Alright, let me summarize. Someone was trying to use a seductress to pull off some scheme and even gave an order to your sister, right?]
『That’s right.』
[And your sister refused it.]
『Correct.』
[So what we need to figure out here… who gave the order?]
At Jang Ma-ru’s question, Lee Hye-eun hesitated before speaking.
『I can’t tell you that.』
[Huh? You can’t tell us?]
『Right. I can’t tell you that.』
[Why not?]
『They’re pretty scary people.』
[Hmm… scary enough to make the legendary Hye-eun unnerved?]
『Yeah. They’re known for settling payments immediately without skimming and being safe to work with… but on the flip side, they’re equally thorough in their work.』
[Are they like some kind of Organization?]
『You could say that. But they’re different from the organizations you know. They move purely for profit.』
Then Lee Hye-eun picked up another cookie and ate it as she stood up.
“That was delicious. Well, I’ve said what I came to say, so I’ll be going now.”
As Lee Hye-eun turned to leave, Jang Ma-ru spoke up urgently.
[Sister.]
“Yes?”
[But is asking a seductress to seduce a man really such a serious matter?]
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I told her to seduce him for money.”
[That’s exactly it. According to what you said, since money is involved, they’d extract whatever they want from the man—information, money, whatever. But there are plenty of seductresses who do that sort of thing. I was wondering why they’d need to contact us specifically about it.]
“That’s right.”
As Choi Tae-sik agreed with Jang Ma-ru’s point, Lee Hye-eun sighed before speaking.
“I said it—not a seductress, but seductresses. Plural.”
[Plural?]
“Plural?”
At their questions, Lee Hye-eun explained.
“Yes, plural. Multiple ones. They’re trying to recruit ten technicians.”
Choi Tae-sik’s expression hardened.
“Ten technicians?”
Ten seductresses cast for the job? At Choi Tae-sik’s look of surprise, Lee Hye-eun continued.
“Yes, ten. And they’re girls with skills similar to mine—or rather, slightly below my level, but ten of them. Do you understand what that means?”
“What does it mean?”
“Five hundred million won per person, ten people means five billion won total. Five billion won spent just to seduce ten men. Are those ten men ordinary people? And would a game involving five billion won be an ordinary game?”
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik’s expression grew even more grave. Five billion won was a substantial sum. And if someone was orchestrating something with that kind of money involved, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what scale of incident lay beyond it.

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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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