Goblin Library - Chapter 154

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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 154

Pot Goblin held up the spicy chicken feet as if to say, “Watch carefully.”
“See the sole part here? Grip it like this and push your thumb in slowly.”
Shliiide.
With that motion, the sole—the only part with any meat on it—popped right out.
“The key is to go deep enough at the ankle so the ankle meat comes out with it.”
Then Pot Goblin placed the chicken foot onto Yu Tae-poong’s plate with a soft thud.
“Just eat the part that falls off like that.”
“But doesn’t it still have the toes on it?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s question, Pot Goblin laughed, separated the chicken foot the same way she’d just demonstrated, and popped it into her mouth.
She chewed for a moment, then leaned toward the bone disposal cup.
Ptt-ptt-ptt!
Pot Goblin spat out fragments like machine-gun fire, then laughed and spoke.
“You debone it in your mouth. But you’re a beginner, so that advanced technique is too much for you. If it’s hard to eat, you can just chew the whole thing.”
“But it’s bone?”
“It’s technically bone, but most of it is cartilage, and the other bones are soft enough that they crumble when you chew.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded at Pot Goblin’s words and picked up the chicken foot. It was coated in a deep red sauce with charred bits on the surface.
Beyond the heat, the distinctive aroma of charcoal fire had permeated the meat deeply.
It was a flavor many people loved.
Yu Tae-poong put the chicken foot in his mouth and chewed. In truth, despite all the technique talk, there wasn’t much difference once it was in your mouth.
Everyone just had their own way of eating it.
Yu Tae-poong worked the chicken foot around in his mouth. It was quite tedious, but the chewy texture was pleasant enough.
And the seasoning….
“Ow, it’s spicy.”
Very spicy.
Pot Goblin laughed as she watched Yu Tae-poong barely manage to debone one chicken foot and spit the bones into the cup, then poured him a beer.
“Chicken feet are supposed to be spicy to taste good.”
“But it’s too spicy.”
“That’s why you drink beer.”
Yu Tae-poong took a long, refreshing sip of beer. Just as Pot Goblin said, the burning sensation in his mouth seemed to ease a bit.
But the spice still lingered on his tongue.
“It’s still spicy though.”
“When that happens, you just keep eating until your mouth adapts to the heat. If you stop eating, it only gets spicier.”
Pot Goblin spoke with a smile, popped a chicken foot into her mouth, and began to chew.
“If it’s too spicy, dip it in this.”
Seeing Yu Tae-poong struggling, Oh Mi-hee pulled a small bottle of sesame oil from her bag and poured it into his bowl.
Then she sprinkled a bit of roasted chicken salt on top, stirred it, and handed it to him.
“Do you dip chicken feet in sesame oil? I’ve dipped meat in it before, but this is my first time with chicken feet.”
Yu Tae-poong found it unusual, since sesame oil with salt was typically used when eating meat.
Oh Mi-hee responded to his confusion.
“When eating meat, we dip it in sesame oil to make it richer and more savory… but I think the real purpose is when eating spicy food.”
“Spicy food?”
“The capsaicin that creates the spicy taste….”
Oh Mi-hee let out a small laugh, shook her head, and spoke.
“Just try dipping it.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded and dipped the chicken feet in sesame oil before eating.
He immediately nodded again.
“The savory flavor of the sesame oil seems to reduce the spiciness a bit. And the subtle taste of the salt is quite good too.”
As the flavors of sesame oil and salt blended together, they created a subtle synergy. I thought it might be too salty, but because I dipped it moderately, there was actually a hint of sweetness.
“The savory flavor helps, but capsaicin is fat-soluble, so you need to consume oil to wash it away.”
“Fat-soluble?”
“When you eat something spicy, drinking water or milk helps a little while it’s in your mouth, but once you swallow it, the spiciness remains.”
“That’s true.”
Even after drinking beer, the spicy taste lingered in my mouth.
“But when you eat it with oil-based ingredients like sesame oil, the spiciness washes away quickly. So while eating it’s spicy, the aftertaste is much milder.”
“Ah! So you can enjoy the spiciness more comfortably that way.”
Yu Tae-poong spoke, and Oh Mi-hee laughed and nodded before saying something.
“Still, the spicy components don’t actually go away, so if you can’t handle spice, please don’t push yourself too hard. You might have a rough time in the bathroom the next day.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Laughing, Yu Tae-poong spit the chicken feet bones into a bowl and glanced at what he’d spit out.
The bones he’d spit out still had meat clinging to them in places. He laughed and spoke.
“I think I prefer boneless chicken feet after all. These are just too difficult to eat.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, Pot Goblin looked into the bowl once and spoke.
“Fine, eat the boneless ones. But if you eat like that, people who love chicken feet will curse you out.”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Oh Mi-hee nodded repeatedly.
“That’s right. When eating food that requires scraping the meat off, if you eat with someone who can’t do it properly, you think ‘I’m never coming here with that person again.’ Especially with gamja-tang.”
“Gamja-tang? What do you mean?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s question, Oh Mi-hee explained.
“Gamja-tang has bone joints that you crack apart piece by piece, and you’re supposed to pick out the meat inside—crack, crack!—to really enjoy it. But people who can’t do it just scrape off what’s stuck to the outside of the bone with their chopsticks.”
“Exactly, exactly. If you’re going to eat it like that, you shouldn’t order gamja-tang at all.”
“That’s why I secretly think, if you’re going to eat it that way, just give me those bones instead.”
Yu Tae-poong laughed at Oh Mi-hee’s words.
“You want to eat bones someone else was eating?”
“It’s not like they put their mouth on it—they just scraped the meat off with chopsticks, so there’s nothing wrong with it. Besides, I prefer the meat inside the bone joints more than the meat stuck to the bones. That’s why it’s frustrating. I’d rather scrape the meat off the bones on my plate and take the bones from the others.”
“That’s right. The meat inside the joints has the best flavor.”
Suddenly, the voice of Gluttony Goblin came from somewhere, agreeing with Oh Mi-hee’s words. Oh Mi-hee and Yu Tae-poong turned toward the direction of the voice.
“Welcome.”
“Hello.”
At their greeting, the Gluttony Goblin smiled and took a seat.
“I’m a bit late.”
“Not at all. We’ve only just started eating.”
“It seems you all made plans to meet here today.”
The Gluttony Goblin politely asked the Factory Employee for wet wipes, then answered Oh Mi-hee’s remark.
“I came out to see the kids, and it’s nice to run into a friend too.”
“A friend?”
Oh Mi-hee looked at the Gluttony Goblin with a bewildered expression, and he smiled as he spoke.
“If you share hobbies, you can be friends. Age shouldn’t be a barrier to enjoying what you love. And you and I share a passion for food, don’t we?”
“That’s true. So we’re friends then?”
At Oh Mi-hee’s words, the Pot Goblin squinted her eyes.
“Don’t complicate the genealogy—you two be friends with each other.”
At the Pot Goblin’s remark, the Gluttony Goblin chuckled and continued.
“To finish what I was saying, the true delicacy of gamja-tang lies in the small morsels of meat around each bone joint. That meat is truly exquisite.”
“Exactly. The flesh there is so tender and delicious. Oh! If you like gamja-tang, I know a wonderful place. Let’s go together next time.”
“Really? I know a great gamja-tang restaurant too. Let’s go together next time and compare.”
The Pot Goblin, watching the two of them talk about food, pulled a book from the shopping bag and handed it over.
“A gift.”
“Huh? Oh… the book came out.”
The Gluttony Goblin let out a small sigh, and the Pot Goblin squinted her eyes.
“That’s a pretty lukewarm reaction.”
“…I’m envious, that’s all. You’re the first among us to actually get published.”
“Ahem! Well, that’s true.”
The Gluttony Goblin watched the proudly puffing Pot Goblin for a moment with an envious expression, then opened the book.
Oh Mi-hee, watching the Gluttony Goblin flip through the pages, asked a question.
“So among the Goblin Writers’ Group, only the Pot Goblin has been published?”
“That’s right.”
The Pot Goblin smiled brightly and sighed after eating some chicken feet.
“If this book does well, I can negotiate a contract for the next work… I’m worried.”
“If the book is good, it will do well. Don’t worry.”
“I might feel that way because I wrote it, but the book really is good… it’s the promotion that’s the problem.”
“Promotion?”
“No matter how good the content or how entertaining it is, people need to see it to appreciate the fun and understand the story. And I’m a newcomer. My book is probably tucked away in some corner of the bookstore.”
As the Pot Goblin sighed, Oh Mi-hee glanced at the book she had received from her and thought to herself.
‘If the book is good, I’ll promote it for you.’
But Oh Mi-hee didn’t voice those words aloud.
She could easily introduce a book written by an acquaintance to her friends. But Oh Mi-hee was someone with a certain degree of fame.
If she carelessly promoted something, it would be deceiving her fans. If there were any issues with the product, her fans who trusted her and purchased it would suffer a loss.
That’s why Oh Mi-hee always tested a product herself first whenever an advertisement offer came in.
Whenever a shampoo advertisement came in, I would purchase the product and test it myself to verify its quality. Similarly, for beverages and food products, I would sample them for several days before deciding.
If I noticed my hair texture improving thanks to the shampoo, or if the food tasted excellent, then I would film the advertisement.
Of course, products worthy of advertisement were typically already vetted for quality, so most were genuinely good items. Still, Oh Mi-hee believed there might be exceptions worth checking.
‘Come to think of it… books are quite similar to the products I’ve advertised.’
With so many products flooding the market, advertisements were filmed to catch the public’s attention. Books operated on the same principle.
Since countless books were published annually, for a book to reach readers’ hands, at least its title needed to be visible and memorable.
“Let’s eat first.”
Gluttony Goblin laughed, popped a chicken foot into his mouth, and with a slurp, the meat vanished as if by magic, leaving only the bone.
Yu Tae-poong was startled by how swiftly Gluttony Goblin deboned the foot.
“You’re incredibly skilled at deboning.”
“You have to debone well to eat more from each piece.”
As he spoke, Gluttony Goblin inserted another chicken foot into his mouth and pulled it through his teeth, extracting a clean bone once more.
‘Goblins really are different.’
To strip only the meat from a chicken foot and leave the bone pristine—no human could ever accomplish such a feat.
As Yu Tae-poong considered whether he should say something, Oh Mi-hee picked up a chicken foot, held it toward the camera, and began eating.
“Today I’m eating spicy chicken feet. This place grills them over charcoal, so you get that smoky flavor, and it’s delicious. Let me try it now.”
Grateful that Oh Mi-hee was too focused on her broadcast to notice Gluttony Goblin’s unusual eating technique, Yu Tae-poong picked up a boneless chicken foot and ate as well.

***

The next morning, Yu Tae-poong arrived at work looking rather exhausted.
Click!
As he opened the door to the Goblin Library, he spotted the Dung Carrier Goblin waving at him.
Yu Tae-poong raised his hand lightly in return. In the past, they had exchanged formal greetings like “Hello” and “Welcome,” but now that they saw each other so frequently, such pleasantries felt awkward.
Seeing someone every day made formal greetings seem unnecessary. So now they simply exchanged a casual wave.
“But you look unwell. Is something wrong?”
The Dung Carrier Goblin regarded Yu Tae-poong with concern, noting his tired expression.
“I think I ate too many chicken feet yesterday. This morning in the bathroom… it was difficult.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin laughed at Yu Tae-poong’s confession.
“The human body cannot tolerate excess.”
“Excess?”
“Immoderation. You should eat moderately spicy food in moderate amounts for your body’s sake. When you eat excessively spicy or excessively large portions, your body suffers.”
Yu Tae-poong sighed and nodded at the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words.
“That must be why Confucius emphasized the doctrine of the mean—to eat in moderation.”
“Confucius… I’m not particularly close with that school of thought, but he wasn’t wrong. Everything in this world causes problems when it exceeds the line of moderation. It’s not just food—exercise and medicine, though beneficial, also cause harm when taken to excess.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin chuckled.
“Looking at it that way, Confucius was quite intelligent. The fact that he emphasized moderation so heavily speaks volumes.”
While the doctrine of the mean cannot be entirely equated with moderation, it wasn’t an inaccurate interpretation.
In the sense of maintaining balance, it shared similarities with moderation.

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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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