Goblin Library - Chapter 178

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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 178.

「Family Goshiwon」

Lee Hye-eun stood gazing up at the Family Goshiwon building. She wore a plain tracksuit that made anyone who saw her think she was a test-taker preparing for civil service exams.
With large glasses perched on her face, she bore no resemblance whatsoever to her usual lovely appearance.
『But I can get in, right? You said it’s difficult to enter here?』
Jang Ma-ru answered Lee Hye-eun’s question.
[I’ve completed all the paperwork. With those documents, you’ll be able to move in.]
Lee Hye-eun nodded. The Family Goshiwon posted notices whenever a room became available and accepted applications from prospective residents.
And the days they accepted move-in applications were the 10th and 30th of each month.
That’s why Lee Hye-eun had come to the Family Goshiwon today with her application documents, timing it perfectly.
『Then I’ll go in.』
Lee Hye-eun, having spoken, picked up a paper envelope and entered the Family Goshiwon.
At the entrance of the goshiwon stood the Management Office. When she tapped on the glass window with her hand, the door slid open with a click.
『Are you here to apply for residency?』
The Administrator who opened the door was a young man who appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties. Seeing the bespectacled young man, Lee Hye-eun extended her document envelope.
『Thank you for your help.』
At Lee Hye-eun’s words, the young man glanced up at her briefly, then set the envelope aside on a nearby surface.
Worry flickered across Lee Hye-eun’s face. On the spot where the young man had placed her envelope, several other envelopes—identical except for their color—were already stacked.
『Are those applications from people who applied today?』
『Yes, they are.』
『Are there many applicants?』
『Yes, quite a few.』
At the man’s lukewarm response, Lee Hye-eun sighed and grumbled inwardly.
If I’d just done my makeup properly, he would have been incredibly kind, she thought.
Lee Hye-eun, noticing the difference in how men looked at her compared to usual, lowered her head slightly.
『Thank you very much.』
『Yes, please go ahead.』
『Um… when will I hear back?』
At Lee Hye-eun’s question, the man tapped the window with his hand.
Lee Hye-eun looked at the window.

「After submitting your move-in application, if you are approved, we will contact you before noon on the 11th or 31st (01st). If you do not receive contact, please reapply next time.」

And as the man bowed his head again, Lee Hye-eun’s eyes narrowed.
Bastard.
Lee Hye-eun muttered under her breath and lowered her head.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Lee Hye-eun adjusted her glasses and left the goshiwon. Walking with her shoulders drooped, she muttered to herself.
“That guy has absolutely no manners.”
[He really didn’t, did he?]
“So, did you see his face?”
[He must be keeping that app open. There’s too much static—I can’t see clearly.]
Lee Hye-eun’s glasses had a camera installed in them. That’s why Jang Ma-ru could see what she saw.
“Ugh! This is annoying. Argh!”
[What’s wrong?]
“I’m going to have to see that rude bastard all the time if I’m working here.”
[That’s true. By the way, there are a lot of surveillance cameras.]
“Yeah. There are two at the entrance, and I think there’s one inside the management office too.”
[That’s already three cameras.]
“There’s probably more inside.”
[Hmm….]
After thinking for a moment, Jang Ma-ru spoke.
[Noona, if you go into the app, there’s a button with a face drawn on it. It’s set to auto-activate, but turn it off for now.]
“Why?”
[If your face keeps getting pixelated on the goshiwon’s surveillance cameras, they’ll think something’s suspicious.]
“That’s a good point.”
Lee Hye-eun took out her phone and turned off the auto-activation feature in the app.
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
[Something sweet.]
“Got it. I’ll pick something up on the way.”
[But noona, it seems like you really value food.]
“Well, we work to eat and live. And I hate being hungry.”
[Did you go hungry a lot when you were at the orphanage?]
“Not really. The Orphanage Director took such good care of us. It was hard to eat until we were completely full, but we had enough to eat. If anything, I went hungry more after leaving the orphanage.”
Lee Hye-eun smiled as she spoke, then searched for a dessert restaurant on her phone’s map app and started walking.

***

Lee Hye-eun stood on the 2nd Floor of the Family Goshiwon. Upon hearing that she had passed, she had packed her things at lunch and come to the goshiwon.
The Administrator guided Lee Hye-eun around.
“The women use the 1st and 2nd floors.”
The Administrator spoke and pointed down the corridor. In the corridor, there was an access device made of bars like those found at subway ticket gates.
“You can enter by holding your card up to here.”
The Administrator held his card to the access device, pushed the bar, and entered. Then, as he handed over his card, Lee Hye-eun also held her card to the device and entered.
“What’s the point of this?”
It seemed like a separate access system had been installed for the women’s living space, but since it was open at both the top and bottom, what good was it?
One could easily jump over it from above or crawl under it without any problem.
In response to Lee Hye-eun’s question, the Administrator explained.
“There’s a motion sensor installed. If you don’t hold your card to enter, an alarm goes off immediately.”
“An alarm?”
“Yes. And when the alarm sounds, the Police Station calls to confirm. If I don’t answer, the police come.”
“What if I accidentally enter without scanning my card and the alarm goes off? That would disturb the other residents.”
“If you make the mistake twice, you’re evicted. As Mi-sun said, the alarm is loud and causes trouble for others.”
“I see…”
When Lee Hye-eun nodded at the mention of eviction, the Administrator continued.
“If you happen to leave your card in your room or lose it, just tell me. If you left it in your room, there’s no problem, but if you’ve lost your card, we charge around 20,000 won for a replacement. So you need to be careful.”
“But why did you set it up this way? Wouldn’t it be better to install a security door?”
“Our Company President saw news about a goshiwon fire. Apparently, there were many cases where people couldn’t escape because the doors were blocked. So we set it up this way instead.”
Lee Hye-eun nodded at the Administrator’s explanation.
“That makes sense.”
The Administrator opened the door to Room 205.
“This is it.”
At the Administrator’s words, Lee Hye-eun looked around the room. The room was… small. It was exactly goshiwon standard.
There was a bed that fit snugly when one person lay down, a small wardrobe at the foot of the bed, and a desk with a chair beside it.
“It’s no different from other goshiwons. And this red button at the head of the bed is an emergency button.”
The Administrator pointed to the red button at the head of the bed.
“There’s a cap on it so it won’t be pressed accidentally—a light brush won’t activate it. Only a strong punch or palm strike will trigger the alarm.”
“If I accidentally press this, do I get evicted too?”
“The alarm sounds throughout the entire goshiwon. If you press it by accident, everyone in the goshiwon will either wake up or have their studies disrupted. So we’ll forgive one accidental press, but a second one means eviction. As I said, it won’t be pressed by accident, so don’t worry.”
“Understood.”
“Then let me show you the other facilities.”
The Administrator showed her the Bathroom and shower room on the 2nd Floor.
“The Restaurant and kitchen are on the 1st and 4th Floors. Men use the 4th Floor, and women use the 1st Floor. Oh, and if you bring any side dishes from outside, please write your name on them.”
“Thank you.”
At Lee Hye-eun’s thanks, the Administrator looked at her and spoke.
“If there are any side dishes you’d like to eat or anything like that, write it down and slip it under the Management Office door.”
“Pardon?”
Seeing the puzzled expression on Lee Hye-eun’s face, the Administrator smiled—as if to encourage her.
The Administrator turned and left, and Lee Hye-eun watched the closed door for a moment before switching off the lights.
After drawing the curtain over the small window, Lee Hye-eun surveyed the room, examining every corner and checking beneath the bed and desk. Then Jang Ma-ru’s voice reached her ear.
[No cameras.]
Based on Jang Ma-ru’s confirmation through his glasses camera that there were no hidden cameras in the room, Lee Hye-eun retrieved a small rectangular object the size of a cigarette pack from her luggage.
Then she swept it methodically across the room.
『No surveillance devices either.』
[That’s a relief.]
『Thank goodness. If there were hidden cameras in here… ugh, that would be horrifying.』
It appeared that at least among the criminals involved in this place, there wasn’t a pervert filming women studying in the goshiwon with hidden cameras.
『So, what’s next?』
[First, connect the internet cable to the laptop.]
Following Jang Ma-ru’s instruction, Lee Hye-eun retrieved her laptop from her bag and connected the internet cable.
Then she powered on the laptop and spoke.
『So we’re hacking the Administrator’s computer?』
[We’re going to hack the surveillance cameras.]
『The cameras?』
[You know in movies when thieves break in and steal things? They copy the surveillance footage and loop it on repeat.]
『You’re planning to do that?』
[Exactly. While you’re in the Administrator’s room investigating, I’ll hack the surveillance cameras and loop the footage so you won’t be caught.]
『So you think there’s nothing in the Management Office.』
[Well, since the Administrator frequently changes rooms, I suspected something. I think there’s definitely something important in his room.]
『But there’s one problem.』
[What is it?]
『I’m a woman and the Administrator is a man. The men’s rooms are on the 3rd and 4th floors… I could run into other goshiwon students if I go there.』
[Sung-un will come up with a plan for that.]
『What kind of plan?』
[He’ll arrange for a famous one-on-one instructor to give a lecture nearby. It’s the kind of event that goshiwon students would want to attend, so most people will go.]
『What if they don’t?』
[Sister.]
『Hmm?』
[It’s a popular instructor that any man would want to see. The 3rd and 4th floors will be empty.]
『Ah… a woman. An attractive female instructor.』
[Exactly.]
『But what about the card key?』
The danger of criminal exposure was the same whether male or female. That’s why the 3rd floor had the same security system as the 2nd floor, and separate card keys were issued to those accessing the 3rd floor.
The 2nd floor access card only opened the 2nd floor, and the 3rd floor access card only worked on the 3rd floor.
So for Lee Hye-eun to enter the men’s floor, she would need that card key.
[Sister, I’m Maru.]
『Right. You’re Maru.』
As Lee Hye-eun spoke with a smile, Jang Ma-ru continued.
“Sister, you have a card, so we can duplicate it and make a master key.”
“Then how do I… should I go out now?”
“There’s no need. Your phone has an app labeled ‘Card’. Turn it on and hold your phone against the back of the card reader.”
“There’s an app like that?”
“I installed everything when you asked for it before.”
“I’ll have to study all the apps on my phone later.”
While talking with Jang Ma-ru, Lee Hye-eun opened the card app and held her phone against the back of the card reader.
“Done. Now we just wait.”
“But the Administrator seemed to look at me with pity. Why is that?”
“I wrote down your background.”
“My background?”
“Orphanage background, bouncing between goshiwons while working part-time jobs to earn money, and now preparing for the civil service exam.”
“He pitied me just for that?”
“Everyone has different standards.”
“Seems like I lived pretty well then.”
“Who knows. It’s done.”
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lee Hye-eun removed the card.
“So it’s done?”
“Just a moment. It’s done.”
“So how do we copy the card now?”
“The master key is on your phone, Sister.”
“On my phone?”
“You really don’t know much about this stuff, do you? These days, even house doors open with phones.”
“Really?”
“Close the door and hold your phone up to the card reader.”
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lee Hye-eun stepped out of the room and held her phone up to the card reader.
*Swipe!*
As the door opened immediately, Lee Hye-eun marveled at it.
“I’m going to have to teach my sister a lot of things from now on.”
“You sure will. Keep teaching me.”
“Now that we’re out, let’s take a look around the 3rd and 4th floors.”
At Jang Ma-ru’s words, Lee Hye-eun nodded and walked slowly down the corridor.

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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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