Goblin Library - Chapter 177

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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 177

That evening, after clocking out, Lim Sung-un arrived at the Safe House and found himself staring at the monitor.
The screen displayed files from The One International—mostly sales-related documents.
“Doesn’t this look like ordinary company business records?”
At Lee Hye-eun’s remark, Lim Sung-un kept his eyes fixed on the monitor, scrolling through the pages.
After a moment of contemplation, he spoke.
“Check the company records for any suspicious expenditures or income entries.”
At Lim Sung-un’s instruction, Jang Ma-ru’s fingers danced across the keyboard. Soon, something appeared on the screen.
“They own a Goshiwon in Noryangjin.”
“A Goshiwon?”
“Yes.”
As Jang Ma-ru spoke, his fingers moved across the keyboard again, and the Goshiwon’s homepage materialized on the monitor.

“Family Goshiwon.
We wish for your success.”

The homepage listed the qualifications required to enter the Goshiwon. Upon reading the contents, Choi Tae-sik tilted his head in confusion.
“Isn’t this a place where you just pay and move in? Why are there so many conditions to enter a Goshiwon?”
Typically, a Goshiwon was a place where people rented small rooms at affordable prices. As such, entry was usually not difficult.
But this place had conditions for entry and residence.
You needed documentation proving you were preparing for an exam—whether civil service, certification, or otherwise.
You had to show your exam admission ticket and prove you were taking the annual exam. There was even a requirement to verify your exam scores.
If your test score fell below a certain threshold, you couldn’t remain at the Goshiwon.
“Wait… the price is 50,000 won a month?”
The monthly fee for the Goshiwon was listed as 50,000 won.
“How is that even possible? At that rate, they wouldn’t even cover electricity costs.”
Lee Hye-eun, who had lived in a Goshiwon before, muttered in astonishment. Jang Ma-ru then spoke up.
“They provide breakfast and instant noodles. Oh, and the side dishes are quite good too.”
Looking at the side dishes listed on the homepage, they seemed quite decent. The refrigerator supposedly always had kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts, salted seafood, stir-fried anchovies, and eggs.
And breakfast included soup and stew. At that level, it surpassed military breakfast standards.
“This seems like it was created to help exam takers.”
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Lim Sung-un gazed at the monitor for a moment before speaking.
“Perhaps they’re resolving their own regrets by helping struggling exam takers with the studies they couldn’t complete themselves?”
“That seems to be the case.”
As Jang Ma-ru spoke, his fingers tapped across the keyboard.
“The reviews on exam taker communities are quite positive. They even host barbecue parties on the rooftop on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.”
“A villain’s redeeming quality?”
“He wouldn’t be a villain to the exam prep students.”
Jang Ma-ru tapped away at the keyboard as he spoke.
“Huh? That’s an odd thing to say.”
“What is?”
“Apparently the manager at the Family Goshiwon changes rooms frequently.”
“Changes rooms?”
“Let me pull up the post.”
Jang Ma-ru displayed the post that had triggered the keyword alert on the monitor.

“…This Family Goshiwon is really great. It’s a bit inconvenient that the rooms don’t have private bathrooms, but each room has a small refrigerator and it’s really nice. Honestly, at 50,000 won a month, our goshiwon owner must be an angel.
But the manager is kind of weird. I’ve lived at other goshiwons before, and usually managers don’t change rooms that often, right?
But our manager seems to change rooms once a month. Isn’t moving around annoying?”
“That is a bit strange.”
“What’s strange about it? Maybe he just changes rooms for a change of pace. Anyway, isn’t it really competitive to get in there? I got rejected last time.”
“Even if it’s competitive, once you get in, you can stay at the goshiwon until you pass the exam as long as you don’t cause any trouble… so it’s good to get in if you can.”
“The owner there really should be blessed.”

Lee Hye-eun, reading the post on the monitor, spoke.
“It is a bit odd that the manager changes rooms so frequently.”
“Can’t he just change rooms for a change of pace?”
As Jang Ma-ru spoke while reading the comments below, Lee Hye-eun responded.
“When I stayed at a goshiwon before, the manager used the room closest to the management office. And I never saw the manager change rooms.”
“Maybe he changed rooms without you knowing?”
“That could be, but… even looking at this post, people are saying it’s strange that the manager changes rooms so often.”
“So it is strange that he changes rooms frequently.”
Jang Ma-ru tapped at the keyboard. Then surveillance camera footage of a convenience store appeared on the monitor.
“Whether it’s strange or not, there are no surveillance cameras pointing at the Family Goshiwon. But there’s a Convenience Store in front of the goshiwon, so I got into the cameras there.”
“But why is that both strange and natural?”
“It’s strange that there are no surveillance cameras pointing at the goshiwon, but if that goshiwon has some secret like we think, The One International would have adjusted the camera positions. So what’s not in the camera’s view is both strange and natural.”
As he spoke, the footage moved rapidly, beginning to scan the faces of customers.
“So you hacked the Convenience Store to identify this manager?”
“Right. These days delivery is so convenient that people order instant noodles by delivery, but for cigarettes and small things, they go to the Convenience Store… if I go through it, I should find out who it is.”
As Jang Ma-ru spoke while watching the screen, Lee Hye-eun suddenly said something.
“I have a suggestion.”
At her sudden remark, everyone looked at her.
“What is it?”
At Lim Sung-un’s words, Lee Hye-eun spoke.
“You two are being too thoughtless.”
“About what?”
“How could you come here without bringing something to eat?”
At the sudden mention of food, Lim Sung-un squinted his eyes. Choi Tae-sik shook his head.
“I’ll buy it. And what are you suddenly talking about?”
“When you mentioned delivery, it reminded me. Anyway, that’s food, isn’t it?”
Since the Safe House was hidden, Choi Tae-sik usually went out to bring back packaged meals.
“Rice is food too.”
“That’s not what I mean. Maru barely goes out anyway, so when you two go out and come back, wouldn’t it be nice if you picked up something delicious from a nearby restaurant or something? Maru could eat it, and I could eat it too.”
“How busy are we supposed to be searching for restaurants?”
At Choi Tae-sik’s words, Lee Hye-eun shook her head.
“It’s a matter of heart. If you have the will, you can even stop the car for a moment when you see snacks while driving and buy them. You two can buy and eat whatever you want when you’re outside, but Maru can’t.”
“Understood. From tomorrow on, I’ll make sure to bring snacks when I return.”
At Lim Sung-un’s words, Choi Tae-sik looked at him.
“Boss.”
“Hye-eun is right. We get to breathe fresh air outside, but Maru mostly just stares at a computer in the Safe House. We should have been more considerate.”
“But Maru orders delivery whenever he wants to eat something.”
“That’s different.”
At Lim Sung-un’s words, Jang Ma-ru laughed and spoke.
“Oh yeah! Then I’ll do the searching from now on.”
“Searching?”
“Would Tae-sik know about restaurants? I’ll text you if there’s something I want to eat near where you’re going.”
“And!”
Lee Hye-eun raised her voice as if there was more, and everyone looked at her. They wondered what she would say this time.
“Don’t call me by my full name with my family name.”
“What?”
“When you call me by my full name, it sounds so formal and distant. Hye-eun is just Hye-eun.”
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik squinted his eyes.
“We’re all men here.”
“What are you talking about! We’re a team! One team!”
Choi Tae-sik sighed and whispered softly to Lim Sung-un.
“She’s definitely crazy, I’m telling you.”
Lim Sung-un chuckled.
“Hye-eun, let’s do it that way from now on.”
“Boss.”
“It’s not difficult. And like Hye-eun said, we’re one team.”
“Understood.”
When Choi Tae-sik also agreed, Lim Sung-un looked at Lee Hye-eun.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“I’ll mention it next time if I think of something. Complaints don’t all come at once, after all.”
“If you have suggestions or feel wronged about something, just say it right away. Since we decided to work together, I have no intention of making you feel bad.”
Just then, Jang Ma-ru suddenly murmured.
“Huh?”
‘What has caught Maru’s eye this time?’
‘Take a look.’
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lee Hye-eun turned her attention to the monitor. She tilted her head in confusion.
‘It’s crackling?’
Just as Lee Hye-eun said, the monitor screen flickered with a faint static-like distortion.
‘This is similar to when you first activated that app you created, isn’t it?’
At Choi Tae-sik’s words, Jang Ma-ru nodded.
‘The app is different, but the function is the same. It uses mobile phone signals to prevent surveillance cameras from capturing faces clearly.’
‘Such a thing exists?’
Lee Hye-eun spoke with bewilderment, and Jang Ma-ru replied.
‘It’s installed on your phone too, noona.’
‘On my phone?’
Lee Hye-eun pulled out her phone and scrolled through her apps. Unable to find it, Jang Ma-ru explained.
‘It automatically activates when you open the messaging app we use. Once it’s active, the camera pixels become distorted.’
‘The camera pixels become distorted?’
‘At first, I made it flicker like this on the screen. That way, people couldn’t identify our faces. But later, I thought that might look suspicious. If someone was monitoring the surveillance cameras, wouldn’t they find it strange every time our guys passed through?’
‘That’s a fair point.’
‘So I removed the flickering and instead made the camera pixels blur. That way, the image quality degrades enough to make facial recognition difficult. People would just assume the camera didn’t capture it properly.’
‘Wow, Maru’s sharp.’
‘I put a lot of thought into it because I wanted to keep you all safe.’
Jang Ma-ru looked at Lim Sung-un.
‘I think that general affairs person is quite important. This app isn’t easy to create.’
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lim Sung-un paused in thought, then glanced at Choi Tae-sik. He seemed about to say something but shook his head instead.
Then he looked at Lee Hye-eun.
‘You said you’ve lived in a goshiwon before, right?’
‘Yeah, I lived in one for about two years after leaving the orphanage.’
‘Then you’ll be familiar with it. Maru, prepare some materials making it look like Hye-eun is preparing for the civil service exam.’
At Lim Sung-un’s words, Choi Tae-sik spoke up.
‘Hyung, wouldn’t it be better if I handled the infiltration mission?’
At Choi Tae-sik’s words, Lee Hye-eun replied.
‘Didn’t you hear?’
‘Hear what?’
‘That place only accepts people studying for the civil service exam.’
‘We can just create materials for the civil service exam and get in that way.’
At Choi Tae-sik’s casual remark, Lee Hye-eun pointed her phone at him.
Click!
Suddenly taking a photo, Choi Tae-sik squinted. Lee Hye-eun then sent the photo to Jang Ma-ru.
‘Put it on the monitor.’
At Lee Hye-eun’s instruction, Jang Ma-ru displayed the photo she’d sent via messenger on the monitor. Pointing at the image, Lee Hye-eun spoke.
‘Where exactly do you see a civil service exam candidate here?’
“That…”
Choi Tae-sik couldn’t muster a rebuttal and smacked his lips. She was right—the man in the photograph looked nothing like someone who studied.
“You’re one to talk. You look like you’ve never cracked a book in your life either.”
At Choi Tae-sik’s words, Jang Ma-ru glanced at Lee Hye-eun.
“Exactly. You’re far too pretty to be studying, noona.”
“What does appearance have to do with studying? And… wait.”
Lee Hye-eun walked over to where her bed was and drew the curtain. A moment later, she poked her face out from behind the curtain, her body concealed.
“What do you think?”
Jang Ma-ru let out an exclamation of admiration.
“Wow… noona, you look like a total honor student!”
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lee Hye-eun smiled. She had already changed her makeup to something understated and was now wearing glasses.
Lee Hye-eun looked down at her body hidden behind the curtain as she spoke.
“I don’t have the right outfit right now, but if I dress in that style, anyone would mistake me for an exam prep student.”
Then Lee Hye-eun looked at Choi Tae-sik.
“Do you still think you should be the one to go?”
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, Choi Tae-sik smacked his lips and spoke.
“You go. To the Goshiwon.”
Lee Hye-eun laughed triumphantly and came to sit at the table.
“Let’s see, if it’s exam prep student fashion…”
As Lee Hye-eun searched for clothes on her phone, Jang Ma-ru soon came to her side and spoke.
“This one’s pretty.”
“Yeah? Then this one and… this one, and let’s get these too.”

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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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