Goblin Library - Chapter 129

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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 129.

Oh Mi-hee poured the anchovy sauce known as meljeot into a small foil sauce dish and heated it, then finely chopped red chili peppers and garlic to sprinkle over the top.
After stirring it briskly with chopsticks, she cast a cautious glance around the restaurant.
While common at Jeju Island-style pork restaurants, meljeot appeared at some Fist-Grilled Meat Restaurants but not others.
Unfortunately, this establishment was one without it, so she worried that if the distinctive aroma of meljeot spread, someone might find it off-putting.
Fortunately, no one was paying attention to her. Relieved, she waited for the meljeot sauce heating over the briquette fire to come to a boil when her gaze suddenly fixed on one particular table.
There sat three men and one woman. What caught her eye was….
‘Their clothes are all designer brands?’
One wore athletic wear, while the other three were dressed in formal suits.
Oh Mi-hee, blessed with exceptional gymnastics skills and a beautiful, charming appearance, had received numerous invitations to variety shows, advertisements, and fashion shows. Though she had no particular interest in such events, her agency had advised her that maintaining her public profile required making appearances at these venues, so she had attended several times.
As a result, Oh Mi-hee had developed enough familiarity with luxury fashion to easily recognize that all three suits were designer brands.
And notably, all three people in formal wear were sporting fedoras.
While unsuitable for a meat restaurant setting, it was quite a stylish ensemble.
‘Who comes to a Fist-Grilled Meat Restaurant dressed like that?’
As she pondered this, she noticed one man pulling something verdant from an insulated bag and placing it on the grill plate.
‘What is that? Some kind of vegetable?’
Looking closer, it was spinach. The woman in front then used tongs to rub the spinach across the meat.
‘Are they coating it with oil?’
Having witnessed this novel method of eating meat, Oh Mi-hee retrieved her notebook and began writing.

「Grilling spinach together with pork.
I’ve seen restaurants on TV that grill bracken fern, but this is my first time seeing spinach used this way.」

After jotting down her memo, Oh Mi-hee placed the notebook back into her insulated bag.
Confirming that the meljeot was now bubbling gently, she used chopsticks to pull the foil sauce dish away from the fire, then dipped skirt meat into it and ate with satisfaction.
“Delicious.”
As she savored the skirt meat dipped in meljeot, Oh Mi-hee’s attention shifted back to the group wrapping spinach with their grilled meat.
Meljeot was a flavor she knew well, but the combination of spinach and grilled meat was something she had yet to experience.

After grilling one plate of meat, Yu Tae-poong now placed the ododogssal and other cuts onto the grill.
Ododogssal was a pork cut with ododogssal bone attached, and it arrived with fine knife scores carved into it.
The ododogssal bone had to be finely minced with a knife, otherwise it would be difficult to chew.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
Watching the meat cook, Pot Goblin gathered the meat thickly in the center of the grill.
“Why are you piling the meat like that?”
“You need to spread it out wide so it cooks evenly.”
At the words of Yu Tae-poong and Dung Carrier Goblin, Gluttony Goblin let out a snort of laughter.
“This is why people who don’t know food are….”
Pot Goblin spoke as Gluttony Goblin clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Seems like you do know.”
“I do.”
Then, grasping the ventilation hood and bringing it close to the grill, Gluttony Goblin said:
“Go ahead.”
At Gluttony Goblin’s words, Pot Goblin quietly poured a bowl of pickled vegetable sauce over the meat.
The sauce ran down the meat and poured onto the charcoal fire below.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
As the sauce charred, steam rose up. Pot Goblin then flipped the meat back and forth with tongs as she spoke:
“This steam created by the sauce charring seeps into the meat. That’s how you get a completely different flavor.”
“Ah! I see.”
“At places that grill marinated short ribs over charcoal, they lightly pour the marinade like this while grilling—it tastes excellent.”
“That makes sense.”
“But you have to do it in a place with proper ventilation like this. Otherwise, there’s so much smoke that the Company President will scold you.”
As Yu Tae-poong nodded, Gluttony Goblin grabbed the pork skin with his tongs.
Pot Goblin stopped him and spoke:
“There’s nowhere left to put more meat.”
“I want to eat the skin.”
“I said there’s nowhere to put it.”
“All this meat here is cooked.”
Gluttony Goblin scooped all the well-cooked meat gathered on one side onto an empty plate. Then he placed the skin in that vacant spot.
“Who else but Gluttony Goblin would… huh?”
Sizzle!
Pot Goblin squinted her eyes as she watched Gluttony Goblin grill the skin.
“Who grills skin from the inside out?”
“What are you talking about? It’s common sense to grill skin from the inside first.”
“What?”
As if that made no sense at all, Pot Goblin let out a hollow laugh and said:
“It’s common sense to grill from the outside first. You grill the skin until it turns golden and changes color like scorched rice, then flip it to finish cooking.”
Gluttony Goblin sighed.
“What are you saying? You have to cook the inside first to render the fat sufficiently, then grill the outside. That’s how the skin doesn’t dry out. If you grill from the outside, it curls up into a ball.”
At Gluttony Goblin’s words, Pot Goblin narrowed her eyes.
“Even if we start grilling the fatty parts, they’ll still curl up the same way. And when grilling from the outside, we use something like this iron rice bowl….”
Pot Goblin flipped the skin over. With the skin now facing the flames, she placed the old metal lunchbox lid that Gluttony Goblin had brought on top of the skin.
Then she pressed down on it with tongs.
“This way it won’t dry out.”
“Pfft! Really now… Pot Goblin, how can you not understand taste?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand taste. The outside doesn’t cook well, so you have to cook the outside first for it to taste good.”
As the two goblins debated heatedly about how to grill pork skin, Dung Carrier Goblin and Yu Tae-poong watched blankly and shook their heads.
“As long as it tastes good no matter how it’s cooked, that’s what matters.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, Gluttony Goblin and Pot Goblin narrowed their eyes and stared at him.
“We’re doing this to make it taste good.”
“We’re grilling the skin first to make it taste good.”
Both speaking simultaneously, they glared at each other for a moment before looking at the skin being grilled.
“Fine. Right now this isn’t done properly since we flipped it after grilling the inside and are now grilling the outside.”
“Right.”
“We’ll feed this batch to Yu Tae-poong and Dung Carrier Goblin, and we’ll grill two separate ones—the skin and inside—each using our own method. Then we’ll determine which one tastes better.”
“Agreed.”
Seeing the two of them like this, Yu Tae-poong fell silent and took a bite of meat. A subtle worry crept over him.
‘I have a feeling I’m going to be the one who has to judge which method tastes better….’
If the two goblins ended up having him taste the skin they’d each grilled their own way and asked which was better… it would be an incredibly awkward situation.
No matter what he chose, one of the two goblins would be disappointed… and that disappointment could turn into resentment.
Worrying inwardly as he ate, Yu Tae-poong pulled out some doraji from the insulated bag.
He gently placed the doraji on the grill.
Sizzzzle!
A different sound than that of grilling meat rang out as the doraji began to cook.
Yu Tae-poong rubbed the meat over it, coating it with the oil.
“I’ve had grilled doraji before, but this is my first time grilling it together with pork.”
Dung Carrier Goblin said, watching the doraji.
“Next time, let’s grill doraji over charcoal at our farm.”
“At the farm?”
“You can eat grilled doraji in the city too, but the taste changes depending on where you eat it. Grilled doraji tastes so much better when you cook it over charcoal in the countryside while enjoying the scenery.”
At Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, Pot Goblin, who had been in a staring contest with Gluttony Goblin, spoke.
“That’s true. With food, not only are the ingredients and the cook’s skill important, but where and how you eat it makes a big difference too.”
“I agree with that.”
Gluttony Goblin also nodded in agreement and continued.
“Ramen eaten outdoors on a cold day is the best, hands down.”
“Ah! That’s undeniable.”
“I agree too.”
Dung Carrier Goblin and Yu Tae-poong also nodded, confirming that ramen eaten outdoors on a cold day was absolutely delicious.
As they continued talking, Yu Tae-poong checked the color of the grilling doraji and spoke.
“You mentioned that overcooking diminishes the texture, so this seems about right.”
At those words, Gluttony Goblin examined the balloon flower root once more, then picked it up along with the meat, dipped it in sauce, and ate it.
He nodded in approval.
“The crispness is still there and it tastes good. Set the balloon flower root aside. If it cooks any longer, the texture will be ruined.”
Following Gluttony Goblin’s instruction, Yu Tae-poong transferred the cooked balloon flower root to a side plate. As they finished the meat and the grill began to empty, Gluttony Goblin and Pot Goblin exchanged glances.
“Let’s grill the skin.”
“Good idea. Since the grill’s a bit small, let’s cut one into two pieces before grilling.”
“Why? Are you worried it’ll curl up if we grill the skin first, so you want to make it smaller?”
“What are you talking about? Then let’s make it bigger.”
With that, the two goblins moved the remaining meat to the front plate and each placed pork skin on the grill.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
Pot Goblin placed the skin with the outer side down, while Gluttony Goblin placed his with the inner side down.
Then they both pressed down on the skin with tongs while watching each other.
As Yu Tae-poong shook his head in disbelief, a shadow suddenly fell across the table beside him.
“Um… excuse me.”
At the sudden voice of a woman, Yu Tae-poong looked up. He was momentarily taken aback.
Oh Mi-hee was standing beside the table.
“Yes, what is it?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s response, Oh Mi-hee hesitated for a moment, looking genuinely embarrassed and shy, before speaking.
“I… watching you grill those vegetables looked so delicious. I’m sorry to ask, but if you have any vegetables left over, could I possibly take some? Oh! In exchange, I’ll give you two servings of meat.”
Oh Mi-hee held out the plate in her hands.
The plate contained two servings of neck meat. She had ordered only two servings separately, worried that more might feel burdensome.
Yu Tae-poong smiled and replied.
“We have plenty of vegetables, so please do.”
Then Yu Tae-poong stood up and retrieved a plate from the side dish refill station.
He placed an appropriate amount of spinach, balloon flower root, and bracken fern on it.
Oh Mi-hee beamed with a bright smile.
“You were eating so deliciously that I ended up making this unreasonable request. Thank you so much. Here’s the meat.”
As Oh Mi-hee offered the meat, Yu Tae-poong smiled and accepted the plate.
“You’d seem embarrassed if I refused, so I’ll gratefully accept and enjoy it.”
“Thank you.”
As Oh Mi-hee turned to leave with a smile, Dung Carrier Goblin quietly spoke up.
“Hey, isn’t that the girl from YouTube?”
Gluttony Goblin squinted at Dung Carrier Goblin with clear displeasure.
He was visibly unhappy that another goblin was speaking to his protagonist.
At that, Dung Carrier Goblin whispered quietly so Oh Mi-hee wouldn’t hear.
“It’s just small talk, small talk. It won’t affect the story.”
After staring at Dung Carrier Goblin for a moment, Gluttony Goblin turned his attention back to grilling the skin.
Watching the two of them, Yu Tae-poong apologized to Oh Mi-hee.
“My older brother isn’t very good at speaking politely. Please let me apologize on his behalf.”
Yu Tae-poong’s question startled Oh Mi-hee. She was so surprised by his question about YouTube that she hadn’t even noticed she’d slipped into casual speech.
Oh Mi-hee squinted her eyes.
Because she frequently appeared on variety shows and commercials, she often encountered people who recognized her and spoke to her casually, saying things like “Oh Mi-hee!” This man seemed to have watched videos of her from her gymnastics athlete days on YouTube.
Those people might think of her as familiar because they’d seen her on broadcasts. However, when a stranger spoke to you in casual speech for the first time, anyone would feel uncomfortable—and Oh Mi-hee was no exception.
But… her conversation partner was a Goblin. The kind who spoke casually even to elderly grandparents with white hair.

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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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