Goblin Library - Chapter 156

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

Chapter 156.

At the library, Yu Tae-poong retrieved Lee Gang-hun’s book. As he opened it, Shoe Goblin raised his hand.
Whoosh!
The pages of Lee Gang-hun’s book fluttered rapidly and closed again. Yu Tae-poong looked at Shoe Goblin, who smiled and spoke.
“I was serializing it there, but… the writing doesn’t seem to be flowing as well as I thought. I’m going to delete it and rewrite it.”
“Oh… I was curious about it.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s disappointed words, Shoe Goblin spoke while writing the manuscript.
“I departed a few days after Lee Gang-hun, so I don’t know much about the earlier parts. That’s why I need to rewrite it.”
Then Dung Carrier Goblin suddenly interjected and asked.
“Didn’t you set goblin fire on it?”
“I did set it, but since it’s a foreign country, JS Company over there has placed restrictions on it.”
“That makes sense. We don’t overlook foreign spirits acting recklessly either.”
“So I’m thinking of adding some imagination to the earlier parts.”
“Imagination… that won’t be easy.”
Goblins write only what actually happened. That’s why they lacked much in terms of creative imagination.
In fact, it wasn’t just writing—they lacked imagination in any field. That’s why they enjoyed human games so much.
They were far more creative and entertaining than the games goblins created themselves.
“Even if I don’t know much about the earlier parts, I know the later characters and their stories, so I’ll weave those in.”
Watching Shoe Goblin tap away at the laptop keyboard as he spoke, Yu Tae-poong said.
“But I’m really curious—could you tell me just a few situations where he faced near-death crises?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, Shoe Goblin nodded and spoke.
“The first crisis was when he met with parts dealers. What Lee Gang-hun was selling were components that go into heavy machinery. Since it’s a construction site with lots of heavy equipment moving around, and it’s a place where sandstorms blow frequently, the consumption rate of parts is fast. But because they were using low-quality Chinese parts, there were frequent breakdowns…”

***

Lee Gang-hun had come abroad to sell products and immediately began conducting local research.
He had previously done legwork to sell goods in this country and had connections with old business partners, so obtaining information was not difficult.
Lee Gang-hun was currently in his hotel room speaking with Mahmoud, whom he had previously employed as an information source in this region.
“The best place to sell the product you mentioned, Sayed, is Artman Company.”
Lee Gang-hun flipped through the documents scattered on the hotel bed, found the one with Artman Company’s name written on it, and picked it up.
After examining the company information, he frowned.
“It’s not a large company?”
Mahmoud chuckled at Lee Gang-hun’s remark.
“It’s a business that rents heavy equipment to construction sites and receives payment. They own about twenty pieces of heavy equipment and have an in-house maintenance factory within the company.”
“Twenty units… So only about ten are actually operational?”
“That’s correct. Currently, about half are functioning properly, and the other half are undergoing repairs at the maintenance facility.”
In this country, heavy equipment was old and worn. About half of it was constantly undergoing repairs while still in operation.
Lee Gang-hun nodded as if he understood.
“Since they can handle maintenance in-house, they’ll buy my product here.”
Mahmoud responded to that.
“That’s right. However, Chinese products also enter this maintenance factory.”
“Chinese capital involvement?”
“The heavy equipment company here is a subcontractor to construction companies, so Chinese capital doesn’t flow in directly. They receive payment through the construction companies.”
Lee Gang-hun nodded at Mahmoud’s explanation. It was safe to assume that places with direct Chinese capital involvement would have no chance of accepting his products.
That’s why he had sought out a subcontractor-level business rather than a large company with direct Chinese capital involvement.
“Good.”
“And this is… a Chinese product.”
Mahmoud pulled a box from his bag. Lee Gang-hun took the box, examined the product carefully, then pulled out the Korean product he had brought and compared them.
“They look similar.”
“They have to. If they looked different, they wouldn’t fit into the equipment.”
After Mahmoud’s response, Lee Gang-hun examined both products and asked.
“How long does it usually take before it breaks?”
“There are differences, but it seems Chinese products typically fail after about two months.”
“Two months…”
“Since the field conditions are harsh, if the equipment is put under stress, it breaks even faster.”
“So what do they do about those parts?”
“They receive them in advance from the primary contractor. And when they run out, they receive more.”
“They pay for them?”
“Of course.”
Lee Gang-hun thought for a moment before speaking.
“Can you arrange a meeting with their company president?”
“I can.”
“Arrange it.”
“Understood.”
After instructing Mahmoud, Lee Gang-hun spent some time touching and examining both the Chinese and Korean products from various angles.

That evening, Lee Gang-hun arrived at the large mansion with Mahmoud and muttered to himself.
“This house is enormous.”
“In our country, what remains abundant is land, is it not?”
Lee Gang-hun nodded at Mahmoud’s words.
He was right—this country did possess vast stretches of land. The drawback, of course, was that most of it lay barren, but since they were constructing houses rather than farming, soil quality became irrelevant.
As Lee Gang-hun stepped into the mansion, he spotted a warehouse standing in the courtyard. Through its open doors, he could see heavy machinery positioned inside.
“Why is the equipment here at the house?”
“The Company President is also a maintenance technician.”
“The Company President does repairs himself?”
“He originally worked as a maintenance technician, then built his business by personally restoring scrap machinery. So even now, he brings discarded equipment here to repair it.”
“But didn’t you say there’s a maintenance factory?”
“That’s for the company’s use, you see….”
Mahmoud, who had fallen briefly into thought, nodded and continued.
“In Korean terms, work is work, and hobby is hobby.”
“So what’s fixed at the factory is work, and what’s fixed at home is a hobby.”
“Exactly. And when he gets one running well, he puts it back into service.”
At Mahmoud’s explanation, Lee Gang-hun moved toward the heavy machinery standing nearby.
The equipment had been disassembled, with parts scattered about in various stages of decomposition.
“Just look, but don’t touch anything. The Company President dislikes anyone handling his possessions.”
“I understand. If someone unfamiliar with it touches it, it could break….”
Just as it was in Korea, craftsmen who took pride in their work despised others touching things in their workspace.
In fact, even craftsmen without such pride disliked it. Though a workshop might appear chaotic, these artisans maintained their own order—each tool had its designated place for a reason.
As Lee Gang-hun observed the disassembled machinery, a voice called out.
“Why are you standing out here? Come inside.”
Lee Gang-hun turned at the voice.
There stood a man with thick white hair, dark complexion, and weathered skin, regarding him with a steady gaze.
Apart from his face and skin tone, he resembled the construction site foremen one commonly saw in Korea.
“Greetings. I’m Gang Hyuk Lee, coming from Korea.”
“I’m Sayed. I hear you have business to discuss with the Company President.”
At Sayed’s words, Lee Gang-hun nodded and glanced at the machinery.
“It’s quite worn.”
“By age, it’s over twenty years old.”
“Twenty years… is that considered old?”
“You don’t know much about heavy machinery, do you?”
“I’m someone who buys and sells them, not someone who operates them.”
Sayed chuckled lightly at Lee Gang-hun’s response and tapped the machinery with his hand as he spoke.
“Typically, equipment lasts ten years, or fifteen if handled carefully. Twenty years means this beast has already given plenty of service.”
“And you’re repairing such equipment?”
“Unlike the human body, these machines will run again if you replace the parts properly, repair them well, and tighten everything correctly.”
Sayed gazed intently at the disassembled heavy machinery before speaking.
“If repaired properly, it may not qualify for major construction sites, but it would certainly remain operational at smaller ones.”
With that, he picked up a tool and inserted his hand into the machinery.
Creak! Creak!
After a brief creaking sound, a component fell loose.
“And in my country, such heavy machinery remains quite scarce.”
As Sayed shook his head slightly, he noticed Lee Gang-hun’s steady gaze upon him and asked.
“Why do you look at me that way?”
“It seems… I’ve found you at precisely the right moment.”
“Hmm… We haven’t even discussed business yet, and you say I was the right find…”
Lee Gang-hun spoke as he watched Sayed murmur to himself.
“You seem to have a dream, Sayed.”
“A dream?”
“From my perspective, Sayed…”
Lee Gang-hun placed his hand upon the heavy machinery as he spoke.
“It appears your dream is to manufacture equipment like this with your own hands. Am I correct?”
Sayed laughed at Lee Gang-hun’s words.
“Since I work with machinery, I do harbor such dreams. But… my country lacks the technology to manufacture such equipment.”
“That may be true now, but things could change in the future, couldn’t they?”
Lee Gang-hun continued, gazing at the machinery.
“Especially with Chinese capital flowing in now, accelerating the nation’s development.”
At the mention of Chinese capital, Sayed sighed.
“Why is that?”
In response to Lee Gang-hun’s question, Sayed shook his head slightly and spoke.
“It’s good that capital has arrived to develop the nation, but much trivial baggage comes with that capital.”
“Such as… this, perhaps?”
Lee Gang-hun withdrew a box from his bag and set it down. Upon seeing the Chinese-made product inside, Sayed nodded with a darkened expression.
“One of those trivial things.”
There were many other such trivial items beyond this product.
Lee Gang-hun now withdrew a Korean product from his bag and offered it.
“What do you think of this?”
Sayed gazed at the box Lee Gang-hun had produced for a moment, then opened the lid. He removed the product inside, examined it by touch, and spoke.
“It’s a fine product.”
“You can tell just by touching it?”
Sayed laughed at Lee Gang-hun’s question and countered.
“How long do you think it’s been since I’ve used a new product?”
“Not very long, I’d imagine.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s response, Sayed looked at him and spoke.
“You understand my country well.”
“Of the thousand or so vehicles circulating in this nation, roughly that many have passed through my hands.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Sayed glanced at Mahmoud.
Mahmoud nodded, confirming that what he said was true.
“My car was also purchased secondhand.”
His country’s industrial sector was underdeveloped. Consequently, they relied entirely on imported vehicles.
Moreover, most of those vehicles were hardly even worthy of being called used cars—they were discarded automobiles from other nations, brought in, repaired, and driven.
Heavy machinery followed the same pattern. They salvaged obsolete equipment from abroad, repaired it, and put it to use.
Parts were no different. When a component failed and rendered a machine unusable, they would simply extract matching parts from other broken machines and repurpose them.
So encountering parts packaged neatly in boxes was a rare occurrence for them.
They only purchased new parts when they were impossible to source secondhand, or they fabricated them themselves.
“After extracting necessary parts from countless junked vehicles, you develop an instinct. You learn which components, despite surface rust, are still serviceable, and which ones, though appearing pristine and rust-free, are beyond use. That kind of intuition.”
Sayed had spent his entire life repairing heavy machinery. And rummaging through scrap metal yards for salvageable parts—that too had consumed his lifetime.
So when he handled a component, his instinct immediately told him whether it was worth using. And his instinct was rarely wrong.
That instinct was now telling him that the Korean-made part before his eyes was a quality product.

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