Goblin Library - Chapter 24

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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 24

I studied Cha Dol’s book intently. Its pages depicted martial arts techniques that Cha Dol had learned from a master on the Mountain.
“Fascinating. It seems quite different from Taekwondo.”
Yet from illustrations alone, I couldn’t discern the intent behind the movements. The upper body techniques made some sense, but the footwork below remained utterly incomprehensible.
“I’m lost.”
I muttered softly and shook my head. There was a reason I’d been scrutinizing these martial arts movements so carefully.
My lower back had been troubling me lately. I was considering learning exercises or stretches that might alleviate the pain.
If I learned the movements and set them to a macro, my body would execute them automatically without conscious effort, naturally improving my health.
So when I discovered Cha Dol’s book contained explanations of martial arts techniques, my interest was immediately piqued.
Whether it would truly benefit my back remained uncertain, but I reasoned that martial arts training would at least enhance my physical fitness.
Moreover, since this book documented facts from the past era, I could trust that these martial arts possessed genuine efficacy.
Yet I still couldn’t comprehend what the movements were supposed to be.
After staring intensely at the illustrations for a long while, I shook my head.
I decided to postpone my analysis of the techniques and resumed reading the book.
The narrative described how Cha Dol, after mastering martial arts on the Mountain, descended and gathered slaves to build their own village.
It was as engaging as reading a martial arts novel. Moreover, the stories of the slaves who had their lives saved by Cha Dol and went on to live anew were captivating.
And there was one more thing I had come to realize.
“I’m genuinely grateful I wasn’t born in the Joseon Dynasty Era.”
If I’d been a nobleman, perhaps it would have been different, but for slaves and commoners alike, the Joseon Dynasty Era was an extraordinarily harsh world.
Shaking my head, I continued reading when I heard the sound of a door opening.
Click!
The Bamboo Sword Goblin emerged from his room and was walking through the Goblin Library when he caught sight of me, glancing at the book I was reading.
“Are you reading 【Cha Dol】?”
Absorbed in the book, I hadn’t noticed the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s arrival and hastily stood up.
“The book is quite entertaining.”
“The Cha-dol Goblin wrote it well. It was a bestseller in that era.”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s words, I glanced at the book and replied.
“So it was a bestseller in Joseon.”
“It was one of the most widely read books among the Goblins at that time.”
With that, the Bamboo Sword Goblin moved on.
“Handle your checkout on your own.”
“Of course, I always do. Oh!”
I suddenly remembered something and spoke urgently.
“There’s actually something I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Is it permissible to eat food inside the Goblin Library?”
At my question, the Bamboo Sword Goblin looked at me and spoke.
“As long as nothing spills on the books or stains them, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you clean up properly.”
“Even… alcohol is acceptable?”
“When I work, does my drinking look like water to you?”
I recalled the image of the Bamboo Sword Goblin that I occasionally encountered when arriving at work in the morning. He would be working on his laptop with soju bottles and snacks lined up beside him.
“Well, it’s alcohol, of course.”
“Alcohol is fine as long as it’s not during work hours.”
“Thank you.”
As the Bamboo Sword Goblin turned to leave, I spoke again.
“Wait….”
At my words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin sighed and replied.
“Ask all your questions at once.”
I nodded and opened the Cha Dol book to a page where martial arts stances were illustrated.
“If I learn this, will my body become healthier?”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin looked at the martial arts movements drawn in the book and asked.
“You want to learn it?”
“My lower back has been stiff lately. I thought I’d try learning it as exercise.”
At my words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin fell into a contemplative expression.
“Learning it as exercise, you say….”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin shook his head slightly and spoke.
“It’s excessive for mere exercise, but there’s no harm in learning it.”
“But I can’t quite understand the movements from just these illustrations.”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin answered curtly.
“Keep looking at it.”
“Keep looking at it?”
“Yes. If you keep looking, you’ll understand how to do it.”
Then the Bamboo Sword Goblin took a step, paused, turned back, and added.
“It’s good for your health once you learn it.”
As if he had nothing more to say, the Bamboo Sword Goblin left the Goblin Library. I watched his retreating figure disappear, then focused back on the Cha Dol book.
I studied the martial arts illustrations for a moment, then attempted the stance in an awkward posture, mimicking the positions shown in the drawings.
I still didn’t fully understand how the movements connected or where to position my feet, but since the Bamboo Sword Goblin said it was good for my health, I decided to try. Besides, I had nothing else to do at the moment anyway.
As I continued studying the book and shifting into various positions, I found myself becoming somewhat more familiar with the movements.
“So it goes from here to here like this.”
I sighed as I followed the foot movements while looking at the book.
“This is difficult.”
Trying to learn martial arts just by looking at illustrations wasn’t working well.
“If you could learn martial arts just by reading a book, why would martial arts academies even exist?”
I shook my head and turned the page. Since I had decided to read a novel, the book naturally opened to where I had left off reading.
And so I continued reading through Cha Dol’s book.

As closing time approached, I sipped my tea in the car. After taking a sip, I tilted my head in confusion before bringing the cup closer to my nose.
“Hmm!”
As I inhaled deeply, my nose suddenly grew warm, and I pulled my face away from the cup.
I had breathed in the hot steam through my nose, so it was unavoidable. I rubbed my nose for a moment and smacked my lips.
“Is the skill over?”
The skill that enhanced my sense of smell had ended. Since I received it during yesterday’s work hours, it would naturally expire when I clocked out.
Perhaps because of that, the aroma of the tea didn’t feel as rich as it had earlier today.
And the taste seemed slightly weaker too. With that thought, I smacked my lips again and took another sip of tea.
Though the aroma wasn’t as pronounced, I still savored the tea leisurely, then washed the cup and tidied up.
After glancing around the interior of the Goblin Library, I finally opened the Cha Dol book.
I studied the martial arts illustrations in the Cha Dol book and awkwardly attempted to mimic the movements.
After repeating the motions several times, I noticed my breathing growing slightly heavier and stopped.
“This is more exhausting than I thought.”
Since I was only following the illustrations, I wasn’t sure if I was doing it correctly, but my body did seem to loosen up a bit from the movements.
With so many stretching and bending motions, it seemed to have a decent stretching effect.
I gently rolled my shoulders and sat back down to continue reading.
“Let me read just a bit more before I go.”
Since there wasn’t anything particular waiting for me after clocking out, I decided to read a little longer.
Cha Dol gathered the enslaved people and built a happy village. Though they lived hidden in the mountains, they never became bandits.
Instead, they became thieves. Whenever there were corrupt officials and wicked landowners, they would rob them.
And they distributed half of what they stole to the poor. In other words, Cha Dol was a righteous thief.
Of course, from the perspective of the nation and the nobility, he was nothing more than a common criminal.
No matter how heroic one might be, when fighting against the state, the outcome is predetermined. Eventually, the village’s location was exposed, and it was suppressed by the government forces.
Watching Cha Dol fight the government soldiers until the very end to buy time for the villagers to escape, I let out a small sigh.
“If he hadn’t been enslaved, he would have become a general….”
The Cha Dol in the novel was truly an exceptional person. Setting aside his martial prowess, he possessed the virtue of leading people well.
By modern standards, he would have been more than capable of becoming a true leader. Yet he died blocked by the walls of social status.
Thinking how pitiful Cha Dol’s life was, I shook my head. If it were just a fictional story, I would have simply thought it was “entertaining” or “what a tragic ending.”
But since this was a story about someone who actually existed in the past, my heart ached for him all the more.

***

Tae-poong came to work early in the morning, finished cleaning, and pulled out Cha Dol’s book.
Then I opened the page depicting martial arts.
After observing the martial arts movements for a moment, I straightened my posture and began to follow them slowly.
These days, I practiced the martial arts twice after arriving at work and cleaning.
At first I relied on memory, but whenever a movement became unclear, I checked the illustrations in Cha Dol’s book.
After going through the martial arts sequence twice—looking at the book, then performing the movements, then looking again—I closed the book.
“Phew!”
I wasn’t sure if I was doing it correctly, but after following the movements depicted in the book, my body felt warm and light.
Moreover, my lower back always ached after running the macro and cleaning, but ever since practicing these martial arts, my back no longer hurt after cleaning.
It was as if someone had smoothly oiled my joints.
After finishing the last stretch by gently twisting my body side to side, I examined the martial arts movements illustrated in the book.
Flip! Flip!
As I turned the pages, I paused briefly to consider the section that had stumped me today, then nodded.
“After a week of practice, the movements are finally starting to flow together more smoothly.”
I murmured softly to myself, smiling as I broke down each posture from the illustrations and practiced them individually.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
After recreating the postures from the illustrations, I turned the page again.
Or rather, I tried to turn it—if the illustration on the page hadn’t started moving.
“Huh?”
Before my eyes, the illustration of a figure performing martial arts movements turned its body and lifted its head to look at me.
Like an animation—a black-and-white animated character, to be precise.
As I stared at the illustration in shock, text began appearing beside it.
「Don’t understand the movements?」
The text appeared as if addressing me directly, and my eyes widened in surprise.
「Did I startle you?」
More text appeared, and after a moment of stunned silence, I shook my head.
“It’s the Goblin Library, after all.”
I murmured softly before answering while looking at the book.
“I was a little startled.”
「Is this the first time the protagonist has spoken to you?」
“Yes, it is.”
「Ah… Then that means you’ve read me the most. Thank you.」
“Pardon?”
Confused by what this meant, I watched as more text appeared before my eyes.
「Because you read me so often, I’ve come to know you as well. The protagonist doesn’t speak to just anyone who flips through the pages once or twice. You’ve read me so many times and understood me so deeply that I’ve come to know you in return. That’s why I wanted to help you with something, so I reached out.」
“You know me?”
「I don’t know much, but when you read me, the emotions you feel are conveyed to me as well… Thank you for sympathizing with my life.」
“But… you’re a character in a book. How are you doing this now?”
「When a reader reads me, I come alive within the book. At least in the parts you’re reading, I live and move. I’m grateful for that too. Thanks to you reading me, I’ve been alive and moving for the first time in centuries.」
The text paused for a moment before continuing.
“It is I, Cha Dol, who has gained life thanks to you.”

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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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