Goblin Library - Chapter 106

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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 106

Lee Gang-hyuk studied the documents before him. The papers contained the personal information of thirteen women.
“I’ve conducted all the interviews. These girls have the right… proportions.”
“Criminal records?”
“All taken care of.”
“Of course. Make sure they’re thoroughly cleaned.”
“Already prepared with clean records.”
Lee Gang-hyuk nodded at Lee Ho-yeol’s words.
“But you said you failed to recruit one person?”
“There’s this girl named Lee A-ram… She said her health isn’t good enough, so she declined.”
“Declined?”
“Instead, Lee A-ram recommended some skilled technicians. If you look there…”
Lee Ho-yeol pulled out five sheets of paper and laid them out.
“She recommended five people in addition to the two we were planning to recruit.”
“Hmm…”
Lee Gang-hyuk, examining the documents, asked a question.
“Did you silence her properly?”
“That’s the thing—we can’t pinpoint her location.”
When Lee Gang-hyuk looked at him, Lee Ho-yeol explained the situation.
“But don’t worry.”
“Why?”
“According to Mapo Elder, he has absolutely no interest in other people’s affairs. He said she’s the type who only cares about things related to her own work, so we shouldn’t bother her.”
“If Mapo Elder says so… that’s trustworthy.”
Then Lee Gang-hyuk asked Lee Ho-yeol.
“What about Mapo Elder’s fingers?”
“He’s receiving treatment at the hospital.”
“We did rough him up to extract information, but he’s a respected elder in this world. He’ll be upset, certainly… but let’s say we owe him one. That should smooth things over.”
“He’ll understand what a debt means to us, so he will.”
The company he belonged to was absolutely reliable. With a debt like this, if he ever faced death, the company would either protect him or eliminate his enemies.
That’s why people in this world both feared and trusted the company. Because it kept its promises.
“Tag the technicians with tracking devices.”
“Understood.”
“And…”
Lee Gang-hyuk pulled out a stack of documents from a drawer.
Thwack!
After briefly examining the documents he’d retrieved, Lee Gang-hyuk spoke.
“Is this all the asset information on the people connected to my case?”
“For now, that’s all we’ve uncovered. I’ll conduct further investigations.”
Lee Gang-hyuk nodded at Lee Ho-yeol’s words.
“The assets are fewer than expected. There must be something hidden somewhere. Keep looking.”
“Understood.”
“And one more thing… Have you investigated those two from the Chinese Restaurant?”
At that, Lee Ho-yeol’s face showed signs of bewilderment.
“Well…”
Seeing Lee Ho-yeol hesitate in his response, Lee Gang-hyuk looked at him.
“What is it?”
“It’s difficult to trace their movements.”
“Difficult?”
“I’ve gone through all the nearby surveillance cameras, and they suddenly appear out of nowhere.”
“Suddenly, you say.”
“They were first captured on camera in the Villa District near the Chinese Restaurant. But strangely, there’s no trace of how they got there—no clear path of movement.”
“There’s no record of them entering the villa?”
“I suspected they might have driven in, so I checked every vehicle entering the Villa District one by one. I also verified the appearance of people getting in and out of cars, but found nothing.”
When Lee Gang-hyuk looked at him, Lee Ho-yeol continued.
“And while there’s footage of them heading toward the bar, there’s no record of them leaving from there either.”
“So they appear and disappear like ghosts—no trace of their comings and goings.”
At Lee Gang-hyuk’s murmur, Lee Ho-yeol nodded and spoke.
“In their case, since we know the time and location they were spotted, we should be able to determine where they came from and where they went by checking all nearby surveillance cameras. But… we can’t see it. It’s truly… impossible.”
Lee Ho-yeol continued, looking at Lee Gang-hyuk.
“I apologize for presenting such an excuse-like and incompetent report to you, sir.”
“No.”
As Lee Ho-yeol lowered his head, Lee Gang-hyuk shook his head.
“If you’ve said it to that extent… then it truly is impossible.”
From the explanation he’d heard, Lee Ho-yeol had clearly done his best. If no answers emerged despite such thorough work, then there simply were no answers to find.
There are things that can be resolved through anger and raised voices, and things that cannot. This was one of the things that could not.
With that, Lee Gang-hyuk asked about something else.
“Ah! Have you looked into Prosecutor Lim Sung-un?”
In response to Lee Gang-hyuk’s question, Lee Ho-yeol answered.
“There wasn’t much to investigate.”
When Lee Gang-hyuk looked at him, Lee Ho-yeol continued.
“He has many connections with our employees.”
“So he’s arrested a lot of our people?”
“That’s correct. According to our employees, he’s a prosecutor who follows the law strictly.”
“Follows the law?”
“At the Prosecutor’s Office, he’s treated as practically insane. He doesn’t care about pressure from above and punishes people according to the law regardless of money or power. Even someone from the Daelyeong Group got caught by Lim Sung-un and is currently in prison.”
“Hmm… If he’s gone so far as to expose the Daelyeong Group, he certainly doesn’t seem to be swayed by money or power.”
“There’s also a National Assembly member who fell to him.”
“You took down a National Assembly member?”
“Yes.”
“That’s quite impressive.”
Eliminating a single National Assembly member was far more difficult than one might assume.
Assembly members possessed extensive networks by default, and unless they were independents, they never operated alone. Touching an Assembly member was equivalent to touching their entire party.
If it became public that a party-affiliated Assembly member had committed crimes warranting arrest? For the party, it would be the worst possible scenario—their approval ratings would plummet. That’s why parties typically exerted maximum protection… yet he’d managed to secure an arrest anyway?
“Not just impressive—he’s made enemies both above and below.”
“It appears he’s earned considerable ill will.”
“Yet he’s still here? And still in Seoul, no less?”
When someone earned such disfavor, they were typically reassigned to some provincial backwater. The fact that Lim Sung-un remained in Seoul struck me as peculiar.
“Upon investigation, it seems there are people in the upper echelons of the Prosecutor’s Office protecting him.”
“Protecting a disobedient dog like that… why?”
“I haven’t been able to determine that much.”
Lee Gang-hyuk, who had been contemplating for a moment, nodded slowly.
“Is this the borrowed knife stratagem?”
“What strategy?”
At Lee Ho-yeol’s question, Lee Gang-hyuk turned to regard him before speaking.
“It means using someone else’s blade to kill your enemy.”
Then Lee Gang-hyuk stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“A prosecutor who operates by the law without external pressure… if you control the cases properly, he’d be the perfect instrument to eliminate your political rivals.”
“Politics, then.”
“If I simply ensure that cases involving my associates never reach Lim Sung-un, then no blade would be sharper than him….”
Lee Gang-hyuk looked at Lee Ho-yeol.
“Send Lim Sung-un the corruption records of everyone connected to my cases.”
“How much should I send?”
“Send the ones with clear traces of money transfers. And mix in several others alongside mine. If I only send my own, he might trace it back to me.”
“Understood.”
Lee Ho-yeol bowed and left, leaving silence hanging in the room.
A man who operates by the law….
As Lee Gang-hyuk briefly recalled Lim Sung-un, he swiveled his chair.
Whoosh!
Turning toward the expansive glass window, Lee Gang-hyuk gazed at the sprawling vista beyond. His office was situated on the top floor of a high-rise building—the kind of executive suite you’d see on television.
While Lee Gang-hyuk harbored little ambition for most things, an office like this was something he desired.
Though he had lived like a king in prison, wanting for nothing, the suffocating claustrophobia of that confined space was something even he couldn’t escape.
Having been locked away in such a place for so long, I craved a window like this—high, expansive, and free from that oppressive feeling. That’s why I created this office.
Gazing through the window at the open landscape beyond, Lee Gang-hyuk muttered bitterly.
“If a prosecutor like Lim Sung-un had taken my case back then… my life would have been different….”
Soon after, he shook his head and turned his chair back toward the desk.
He shook his head and turned his chair back toward the desk.

***

Lim Sung-un stared at the box sitting on his desk. He didn’t know who had sent it, but it had arrived via express courier delivery.
Yet the contents inside were… tips about corruption within law enforcement and prosecution.
Some involved retired officials, while others were still active.
『What in the world is this…』
I’d received crime tips before, especially regarding powerful figures and conglomerates.
Never with good intentions—rivals would send information about each other’s misconduct.
They knew that if they reported to me, infamous as I was for my ruthlessness, I’d investigate without worrying about external pressure.
But this tip was different from the usual ones.
The volume of evidence filled an entire box, and the number of targets exceeded twenty people.
『Hmm….』
I examined the documents in the box quietly, then stroked my chin.
『Is someone trying to play games with me?』
I muttered softly, then shook my head. The tip reeked of ulterior motives, but it didn’t matter.
『Crime is crime.』
Whether someone was asking me to punish the innocent or the guilty, I simply investigated. That was my job.

***

Yu Tae-poong was eating bibim noodles at Jeonjujeon with the Dung Carrier Goblin.
“Lee Gang-hyuk certainly has momentum.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin nodded at Yu Tae-poong’s remark.
“I thought he’d recruit technicians by tempting the kids he’d sent to prison. But that’s not it.”
“Exactly. If he planned to attach technicians, there’d be no reason to send their corruption records to Lim Sung-un.”
“Right.”
Yu Tae-poong looked at the Dung Carrier Goblin.
“So is he trying to recruit people from law enforcement or politics as technicians?”
“That seems to be the case.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin paused before speaking.
“Maybe he’s trying to plant his people in those sectors so he never goes back to prison?”
“That could be it. Having people in politics or law enforcement would shield him even if he does something wrong.”
Yu Tae-poong smacked his lips.
“But… doesn’t it seem like the character has become corrupted?”
“Corrupted?”
“At first, the boss thought of Lee Gang-hyuk as a character who’d punish corrupt law enforcement. And he was writing the story that way.”
“Hmm, but now he’s trying to make corrupt law enforcement officials his subordinates?”
“Exactly. When you think about it, he’s making subordinates out of people he should be punishing.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin fell into thought after hearing Yu Tae-poong’s words.
Then he suddenly lifted his head and spoke.
“Could it be something like that?”
“Like what?”
“Joining hands with a lesser evil to catch a greater one?”
“A greater evil….”
As Yu Tae-poong muttered softly, the Dung Carrier Goblin continued.
“You see it all the time in movies and dramas.”
“Movies and dramas?”
“You know, like crime thrillers.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin explained, noticing Yu Tae-poong’s puzzled expression.
“In movies, the police know where petty thieves or thugs are hiding, but they don’t arrest them. Instead, they get information about the back alleys from those guys.”
“Ah… I suppose you could look at it that way.”
“That’s what I think is happening. They’re using those people to punish other greater evils.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded at the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, then let out a small laugh.
“It does put my mind at ease a bit.”
“Why?”
“I was worried the technicians might attach themselves to innocent people. But after reading about it, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.”
“Still, a crime is a crime.”
Choi Ok-ja, the owner of Jeonjujeon, smiled as she set a fried egg on the table.
“Eating just noodles will leave you hungry. Please have some fried egg.”
At Choi Ok-ja’s words, Yu Tae-poong smiled and nodded politely.
“Thank you.”
“You’re talking about Suk-geom’s novel, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
Yu Tae-poong asked in surprise, and Choi Ok-ja answered.
“It sounded like you were discussing crime. That’s the genre Suk-geom likes.”
Then she smiled and looked at Yu Tae-poong.
“It seems you’re adapting well to the goblin world now.”

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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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