Goblin Library - Chapter 223

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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 223.

Yu Tae-poong sat before his laptop, fingers dancing across the keyboard.
Tap-tap-tap! Tap-tap!
What Yu Tae-poong was doing now was converting the book Cha Dol into a digital document on his computer.
He was transcribing it and uploading it to the internet, hoping more people would read the Goblin’s novel.
Books with living authors would have the author Goblin handle the digitization and upload themselves, but since Cha Dol’s author had passed away, he had to do it in their stead.
Yu Tae-poong paused his typing momentarily, taking a sip of coffee to catch his breath, then resumed striking the keys.
The Dung Carrier Goblin, watching from beside him, posed a question.
“Aren’t you bored?”
Seeing the obvious signs of boredom on the Dung Carrier Goblin’s face, Yu Tae-poong chuckled.
“Are you bored?”
“I am. You’ve been doing nothing but that digitization work lately.”
As the Dung Carrier Goblin spoke with a pouting expression, Yu Tae-poong placed his hand on the Cha Dol book.
“I’ll stop here for today and continue transcribing tomorrow.”
Then text appeared in the Cha Dol book.
「Take breaks while you work. Take breaks.」
“How can I do that? Oh! The number of readers who’ve bookmarked it has already exceeded a thousand.”
「Over a thousand? So that many people like me?」
“Of course.”
Of course, novels that ranked on fiction sites had bookmarks exceeding hundreds of thousands… but a thousand was still no small number.
“Next time I’ll read you the comments.”
「Yes. Thank you.」
Having received Cha Dol’s thanks, Yu Tae-poong closed the book and laptop, then turned to face the Dung Carrier Goblin.
“Well! Since our hyung can’t be bored… what should we do for fun?”
“When you ask like that… I don’t really have anything in mind either.”
At the sheepish response from the Dung Carrier Goblin, Yu Tae-poong laughed and glanced toward the bookshelf.
“Lee Gang-hun doesn’t have much new content right now, and Lim Sung-un—I’ve already read everything that’s come out so far….”
Yu Tae-poong, considering whether to read a new book, shook his head.
“There are already so many books I’m reading that starting a new one would be too much.”
While he’d stopped reading for now since no new content was being uploaded, if he added a new book to read here, it would only clutter his mind unnecessarily.
Encountering new stories with new protagonists could blur the emotions he felt from the books he’d been reading before.
After a moment of thought, Yu Tae-poong looked at the Dung Carrier Goblin.
“Should we go visit our protagonists?”
“Our protagonists?”
“You and I read the same books.”
“That’s true.”
“So it might be fun to go see how the protagonists from the books we’re reading together are living now.”
“Most of us have seen it anyway.”
“Not since last year. Things might have changed in the meantime.”
Yu Tae-poong had already been working at the Goblin Library for nearly two years.
He wanted to see how much the main characters and those around them had transformed during that time.
And it seemed like it would be fun.
“Oh! Should we go see Oh Jang-hyuk? He’s changed quite a bit too.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s words, the Dung Carrier Goblin laughed and replied.
“Yeah. Oh Jang-hyuk’s changed a lot. These days, the employees don’t spit in Oh Jang-hyuk’s coffee anymore.”
At the mention of not spitting, Yu Tae-poong squinted and spoke.
“They used to… spit in it?”
“They did. One person in particular was really bad about it.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin shook his head as he spoke.
“Now that I think about it, I did send that person on coffee runs an awful lot.”
“Since he’s not spitting in it anymore, I guess he’s become a better person.”
“He has. He changed a lot after the fire incident. Even more so after meeting Go Gyeong-ha. He learned that helping people feels good.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong nodded and stood up.
“Then let’s go see Oh Jang-hyuk.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin pulled out a cloth and waved it lightly. He was checking where Oh Jang-hyuk was using the goblin fire he’d placed on him.
“He’s at the Factory.”
“Let’s go.”
The Dung Carrier Goblin nodded and walked toward the entrance with him.
Click!
The Dung Carrier Goblin opened the door and looked at Yu Tae-poong. Yu Tae-poong was sending a text on his phone.
“Who?”
At the question of who he was texting, Yu Tae-poong put his phone away and answered.
“I just texted the Company President that I’m stepping out for a bit.”
“You really are something. There aren’t even any customers, yet you always send a message when you leave.”
“This is my workplace, after all.”
Yu Tae-poong smiled and passed through the door, and the Dung Carrier Goblin muttered.
“As if a goblin wouldn’t know where you are without a text.”
Then he too stepped outside through the door.
Whoosh!

Whirrrr! Whoooosh!
The moment I stepped out the door, the deafening roar of machinery assaulted my ears with such force that they rang.
“Wow!”
As Yu Tae-poong covered his ears with his hands, the Dung Carrier Goblin’s hand pressed down over his.
“Now, take your hands away.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s instruction, Yu Tae-poong lowered his hands from his ears. The intense noise that had been assaulting them moments before had diminished considerably.
“Ah, that’s much better.”
“Let’s go.”
As the Dung Carrier Goblin led the way, Yu Tae-poong followed close behind.
They had arrived at the Rest Room.
Inside the Rest Room, Oh Jang-hyuk was enjoying coffee and conversation with the factory employees.
“Anything troubling you these days?”
“There’s been a lot of overtime, so it’s been tough.”
“Listen here—when there’s overtime, you get paid more. That’s a good thing.”
“Still, there’s just been so much work lately.”
“But the bonuses come through nicely when the work is heavy.”
“Well, I suppose…”
The employees sighed. He was right—the workload had indeed increased.
It was thanks to the new foreign clients they’d acquired in addition to their existing domestic accounts.
Earning money was gratifying, but the exhaustion was unavoidable nonetheless.
Oh Jang-hyuk spoke to them in a soothing tone.
“Having work is a blessing. At least when the Company President earns well, he passes along generous bonuses.”
Then he smiled at the employees.
“Work hard on production. The Sales Department and I will work hard to sell it.”
“Understood.”
One of the employees who had been smiling suddenly looked at Oh Jang-hyuk.
“By the way, you’ve changed quite a bit from before, haven’t you?”
“Have I?”
“When we heard you were coming, we’d immediately frown. We were worried you’d come and nag us, criticize us, or send us on errands.”
“Did I really do that?”
“You did. But these days, when we hear you’re coming, we’re annoyed, sure—but we don’t even grimace anymore.”
Oh Jang-hyuk laughed at the employee’s half-joking remark.
“So I’m still annoying, it seems.”
“That’s just how I put it. Please visit often.”
“Haha! Alright, I will.”
Oh Jang-hyuk broke into a hearty laugh and continued.
“So you’re saying I’ve changed? For the better?”
“Yes. That’s why I was wondering if something happened.”
At the employee’s words, Oh Jang-hyuk fell into contemplation before speaking.
“Something did happen, actually.”
“What’s wrong?”
When the Factory Employee looked puzzled, Oh Jang-hyuk laughed bitterly.
“I received divine punishment.”
“Divine punishment?”
“I made a mistake, and it came back to me as divine punishment. You could call it karma.”
As the Factory Employees exchanged confused glances, Oh Jang-hyuk continued.
“But why did this divine punishment come so quickly? Usually, doesn’t it take a long time?”
“What mistake did you make, sir?”
“That’s… too embarrassing to talk about.”
“Did you do something illegal?”
“Illegal, you say…”
Oh Jang-hyuk, lost in thought for a moment, sighed.
“A crime is a crime. Ah! But that doesn’t mean I—”
He sighed again, unable to bring himself to admit that he had cut in front of the path that others had cleared for the fire truck to pass through.
Shaking his head, Oh Jang-hyuk noticed the strange looks the others were giving him and smacked his lips before speaking.
“If I don’t explain myself here, won’t I look like someone who committed a heinous crime?”
“Surely you didn’t commit anything that serious, Department Head?”
Seeing the suspicion in the Factory Employee’s eyes even as he spoke, Oh Jang-hyuk chuckled and replied.
“Well, I did receive divine punishment, and you all shouldn’t make the same mistake, so I’ll tell you.”
“What did you do?”
With the Factory Employees’ curious gazes upon him, Oh Jang-hyuk recounted what happened that day. He even mentioned the part where he refused to clear the way despite the Fire Department’s pleas, then sighed and continued.
“So I argued with those firefighters and went home… and wouldn’t you know it, the Fire Department was responding to a fire at my house.”
“No way! The fire truck that got delayed because you cut in front was heading to put out the fire at your house?”
“When I realized that… I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve really lived my life wrong.’ No, I have lived it wrong.”
Oh Jang-hyuk sighed again and shook his head.
“I regret it because it was my house. If it hadn’t been, I probably wouldn’t be regretting it even now.”
Oh Jang-hyuk licked his lips and looked at the Factory Employees watching him.
“Saying it out loud like this is embarrassing.”
After Oh Jang-hyuk finished speaking, the Factory Employee who had asked for details paused, then began to clap.
Clap, clap, clap!
At the sudden applause, Oh Jang-hyuk and the others looked at him. With their attention on him, the Factory Employee smiled and spoke.
“You’ve really changed a lot.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Would you have told us such an embarrassing and shameful story if this were before?”
“No, I wouldn’t have.”
“Being able to honestly admit your mistakes and shameful stories to others takes great courage. I could never have told anyone about cutting in front of a fire truck heading to put out a fire. Just that alone makes you truly remarkable, Department Head.”
“Is… is that so?”
“Of course.”
The Factory Employee smiled and looked at Go Gyeong-ha. Go Gyeong-ha, who was drinking coffee, sat where he could see everyone clearly.
He was positioned far enough away that he could understand the conversation by reading people’s lips and observing their expressions.
“So you’ve been looking after Go Gyeong-ha well because you’ve changed as a person?”
“I’m not entirely sure about that myself.”
Oh Jang-hyuk smiled as he spoke.
“People say I’ve changed, but honestly, I don’t know for certain. It wasn’t something I deliberately set out to do.”
“That’s true enough.”
“Besides, Go Gyeong-ha is a blessing to our company. Without him, I’d probably still be coming down to the factory constantly over defect rates… getting angry all the time.”
“Haha! That’s certainly the case. Back then, whenever you received complaints about defects, you’d head straight to the factory. Those were rough times…”
“Well, that couldn’t be helped. Fielding complaint calls is the Sales Department’s job.”
Oh Jang-hyuk took a sip of his coffee and glanced at his watch.
“Alright! Break time’s over. Everyone back inside—let’s give it our all.”
The employees nodded at Oh Jang-hyuk’s words. They tidied up their spots and headed back inside.
As Go Gyeong-ha was about to toss his coffee cup and return to work, Oh Jang-hyuk tapped him on the shoulder and spoke.
“Are you studying the books I gave you?”
Go Gyeong-ha smiled and nodded. Then he typed something on his phone and showed it to him.
「I’m planning to take the exam next month.」
Oh Jang-hyuk nodded at Go Gyeong-ha’s message.
“I’d love for you to keep working at our company, but life is unpredictable. So it’s good to get certifications and qualifications lined up.”
「Thank you always.」
At the message of gratitude, Oh Jang-hyuk let out a soft chuckle and shook his head.
“That’s enough. Good work.”
Go Gyeong-ha bowed and turned to leave. Oh Jang-hyuk tossed his coffee cup and looked around.
He noticed a few employees had left their coffee cups behind and tossed them into the trash.
Thunk!
As he turned around, Oh Jang-hyuk chuckled softly to himself.
“I really have changed.”
In the past, he would have simply left his coffee cup sitting there. But now, here he was, cleaning up after himself.

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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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