Goblin Library - Chapter 185

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

Chapter 185.

Yu Tae-poong closed Lim Sung-un’s book, finding no further backstory within its pages.
After gazing at the book for a moment, Yu Tae-poong glanced toward the Dung Carrier Goblin.
“The law has its limitations, doesn’t it?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin looked away from Lim Sung-un’s book and nodded.
“If they were our goblins, we’d have dragged them off and locked them on the island immediately.”
Yu Tae-poong let out a soft chuckle at the mention of the island, then suddenly fixed his gaze on him.
“What’s that island like?”
“Ieodo Island? Why, are you interested?”
“You mentioned before that you’d set it up like a resort there.”
“Want to visit?”
“The facilities on the island are well-maintained, and I heard everyone there knows about goblins, so I thought it might be nice to visit sometime.”
Yu Tae-poong then quickly continued.
“Of course, only if the people there wouldn’t mind.”
While Yu Tae-poong thought of it as a resort and wanted to visit, the people there were actually confined.
For them, his visit could feel uncomfortable.
The Dung Carrier Goblin paused briefly at Yu Tae-poong’s words before speaking.
“I’ll ask the goblins who put people there. Find out what kind of people are staying there.”
“Please ask carefully. If it seems like the people there would be upset, I absolutely won’t go.”
“Alright, alright. I understand.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s response, Yu Tae-poong nodded.
Then he returned to the previous topic.
“Looking at this, the law seems too weak. Or maybe the punishments are too lenient?”
“You can’t just make the law harsher. Then where would people find room to breathe and live?”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Yu Tae-poong murmured softly and placed his hand on the book.
“President, while reading this book, there’s something I’d like to discuss. Would you have time to talk now?”
Click!
As Yu Tae-poong spoke, the library door opened and the Bamboo Sword Goblin entered.
“What did you want to talk about?”
He’d come immediately upon hearing that, as a writer, Yu Tae-poong wanted to discuss his own work.
Of course, he already sensed what Yu Tae-poong was thinking. When you hold a book and read it, the emotion bleeds through.
But reading emotion and discussing the writing were different things, which is why he came.
The Bamboo Sword Goblin sat down and spoke.
“Coffee.”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong rose from his seat and headed toward the counter.
“Would you like a cup of coffee too, Dung Carrier?”
“I’ll have honey water.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin drank the coffee Yu Tae-poong prepared for him, but it still didn’t seem to suit his palate.
At that, Yu Tae-poong ground coffee beans as he spoke.
“After reading Lim Sung-un’s story, I finally understand why he worries about that team.”
“You’re saying it’s a problem whether Lee Gang-hyuk goes to prison or not.”
“Exactly. Lim Sung-un is a dark hero who makes criminals pay for their sins.”
“A dark hero… that’s an interesting way to put it.”
“Lim Sung-un’s work produces righteous results, but his methods prioritize efficiency over justice. That’s why he does illegal things too.”
“That’s what makes it interesting. If you only pursue justice, your methods become limited. When you don’t care about methods, efficiency increases.”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong nodded and spoke.
“But Lim Sung-un doesn’t cross the final line, does he?”
“The final line… you mean murder.”
“Right. Looking at the episodes, there was definitely someone who deserved to be torn to death.”
“A serial family killer?”
“Yes. He was sentenced to death, but since our country doesn’t actually carry out executions, he’ll just stay in prison. But there are countless families that were completely wiped out by that bastard. Plus, he’s completely insane. He said he’d be happy if we sent him with them? A madman.”
Yu Tae-poong’s face hardened as he muttered the words the serial family killer in the novel had spoken.
“….”
Watching Yu Tae-poong like that, the Bamboo Sword Goblin spoke.
“That’s the hero’s limitation. Villains are lenient about crossing lines, but heroes maintain their own line. Whether you cross that line or not determines good and evil.”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin nodded.
“The Bamboo Sword Goblin is right about that. Villains who don’t seem human, villains that everyone thinks the world would be better off without—are there just one or two? If Lim Sung-un crosses the line, multiple people will die. Plus, if it’s Lim Sung-un’s team, committing crimes wouldn’t even be unimaginable.”
“Right. That’s what I think too.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin held up one finger.
“Just as Lim Sung-un said, once you cross the line once, the second and third times become easy. After killing one villain, you’ll end up killing again and again afterward. It’s much easier to just do it quickly than to catch them, argue in court, and present evidence.”
“Exactly. Even feces is hard to touch the first time. Once you touch it often, well… it’s no different from dirt.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin squinted and looked at him.
Then the Dung Carrier Goblin met his gaze with a ‘what?’ expression.
“Everyone produces feces.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin shook his head and spoke.
“So what do you think, Yu Tae-poong?”
“I hope Lim Sung-un maintains his line. Otherwise, it will be too hard on him.”
“Right. No matter how evil the opponent is, nobody enjoys killing people.”
“Exactly.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded and continued.
“Under current law, if we catch him and prove all the criminal facts, he’d receive a death sentence, right? But since they don’t carry it out, it’s effectively life imprisonment. Either way, Lee Gang-hyuk can commit crimes whether he goes to prison or not. There really is no answer.”
Yu Tae-poong poured water over the finely ground coffee beans.
Whoosh!
Inhaling the fragrant coffee aroma, Yu Tae-poong spoke.
“As an alternative, you could lock him up so no one can meet him and he can’t contact the outside world… but if you do that, human rights groups will complain about human rights and all that.”
“That would happen. There are human rights organizations that say criminals are people too and have human rights.”
“Exactly. Moreover, even if inmates can’t meet each other, they can still contact the outside world through prison staff. I wish everyone were incorruptible, but if someone offers a million or ten million won just to deliver a note outside… most wouldn’t refuse.”
“True. Wealthy tycoons do whatever they want even inside prison.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong glanced at the book about Lim Sung-un sitting on the desk.
“Lim Sung-un must have a headache over this.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin nodded and spoke.
“But if we want to solve it easily, we can.”
“Easily?”
“There’s a saying: even a thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.”
“That’s true.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s response, the Bamboo Sword Goblin spoke.
“Surprisingly, the answer is simple. We just need to make sure Lee Gang-hyuk goes to prison and can’t do business.”
“How?”
“If you think about why Lee Gang-hyuk started his business and why it flourished, the answer becomes clear.”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
The Dung Carrier Goblin asked, and the Bamboo Sword Goblin answered.
“Prisons and inmates existed before Lee Gang-hyuk. Among them, weren’t there people as intelligent as Lee Gang-hyuk? Or people with strong fists?”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin looked at Yu Tae-poong.
“Why hasn’t a company like The One emerged until now?”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s question, Yu Tae-poong thought for a moment before speaking.
“There could be many reasons, but… wouldn’t it be a lack of trust?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin looked at him.
“Trust?”
“In dramas and movies, when criminals team up to commit crimes, they always betray each other in the end, don’t they?”
“That’s right. In those movies, they always end up betraying and backstabbing each other, trying to run off with the money.”
“Exactly. Even in that bat hero movie, five criminals rob a bank, and numbers one through five backstab each other in sequence.”
“That’s true.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, looked at Yu Tae-poong and smiled slightly.
“Is that the answer?”
At Yu Tae-poong’s question, the Bamboo Sword Goblin nodded.
“You’re right. Criminals don’t trust each other. You can’t trust people who swindle others and steal. Even though they call each other brother and sister and live like family while in the same prison, once they’re released, they never contact each other again. That’s who they are. They curse each other as thieves, con artists, untrustworthy bastards.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin looked at the book about Lim Sung-un, then at Yu Tae-poong.
“The coffee?”
“It’s ready.”
As Yu Tae-poong brought the coffee cup and set it down, the Bamboo Sword Goblin took a whiff and spoke.
“Perfect now.”
“Thank you.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin nodded and drank the coffee, then spoke.
“Criminals only contact other criminals for one reason: when they need something.”
“It’s like an old friend you contact when you’re getting married.”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Then why do you answer those calls?”
“Because some of those calls bring me benefits too.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin spoke while sipping his coffee.
“But even so… they don’t truly trust each other. They know that the moment money is involved or something disadvantageous happens, the other person could stab them in the back at any time.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin continued.
“That’s why organizations like The One never existed before. Because they couldn’t trust each other.”
“Then how did Lee Gang-hyuk create it?”
“Lee Gang-hyuk provided trust.”
“Trust?”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin nodded and spoke.
“Until now, even when criminals banded together, they were only released prisoners grouping with other released prisoners. If a job ended and someone backstabbed everyone and disappeared, they were hard to catch. But Lee Gang-hyuk had a life sentence. There was always someone in prison who could hold him accountable if things went wrong. So they could maintain at least minimal trust. And Lee Gang-hyuk bore that minimal responsibility.”
“Bore responsibility? How?”
“When someone backstabbed and ran off with the money from a crime he’d arranged, Lee Gang-hyuk would compensate them—not much, just a finder’s fee of sorts.”
“Where did Lee Gang-hyuk get the money?”
“At first, he mortgaged his own home to the Jongno Wang Gang. With that money, he paid compensation… and Wang Pa’s organization caught the person who backstabbed and fled. Then they punished him.”
“Punished? You mean killed him?”
“No. They made sure he was imprisoned in the same prison where Lee Gang-hyuk was held.”
“Ah… that would be more certain than killing him.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin nodded.
“That’s how Lee Gang-hyuk built his credibility. Even if he was backstabbed, Lee Gang-hyuk would compensate them, and whoever backstabbed would be caught and punished thoroughly… That’s how the business operated.”
“The early operations must have been difficult.”
“Right. That’s what makes Lee Gang-hyuk remarkable.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin sighed and looked at the book with a regretful expression. At that gaze, Yu Tae-poong suddenly asked.
“While reading the book, I noticed Lee Gang-hyuk checked criminal records when selecting targets. Was that to only target criminals?”
“Exactly. If murder and private punishment are lines Lim Sung-un wouldn’t cross, then Lee Gang-hyuk never targeted innocent people. He investigated criminal records and background checks, conducting business only with people who had legal violations or crimes to their names.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin who had spoken shook his head slightly.
“Even with such limitations, there were so many criminals that selecting targets wasn’t difficult.”
“And since criminals have more than decent people in this world… making money that way was more profitable.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong nodded.
‘After all, wicked people live better than those who live righteously.’
It was a world where the defrauded suffered and wept while the fraudster laughed and patted his belly.

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