Goblin Library - Chapter 27

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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 27

I recalled meeting Noh Hong-su at Han River Park and sighed. Now I could guess why he’d gone to that place back then.
‘I’m glad I approached Noh Hong-su.’
If I hadn’t offered him a drink and started a conversation back then, he might not be here with me now.
Spending day after day with the School Gang would have been more painful than death itself for him.
When Noh Hong-su approached Lee Jong-hyuk and said something to him, Lee Jong-hyuk’s subordinates draped their arms over his shoulders and moved off somewhere.
Seeing this, I called out urgently.
“Hong-su!”
Startled by the sudden call, Noh Hong-su turned around. The School Gang members looked at me as well.
“Oh, Hong-su was here.”
As I approached with a smile, the School Gang members looked at Noh Hong-su.
“Who is this? Do you know him?”
At the School Gang’s question, Noh Hong-su hesitated to answer, but I spoke faster.
“They’re Hong-su’s friends, it seems. I’m his older cousin.”
“Your cousin?”
“Yeah. I was passing by and came to see Hong-su. Perfect timing. Hong-su, let’s go.”
I gave a subtle gesture, and Noh Hong-su said, “Ah,” and spoke.
“I’ll go with my brother….”
At Noh Hong-su’s words, Lee Jong-hyuk’s eyes narrowed in displeasure. But before he could say anything, I smiled and pulled Noh Hong-su’s hand.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen him. We’ll see each other again next time.”
As I walked away with Noh Hong-su, Lee Jong-hyuk watched our retreating figures and spoke.
“Hong-su, see you tomorrow.”
“Y-yes, okay.”
At Noh Hong-su’s response, Lee Jong-hyuk turned his body.
“Let’s go.”
“Who’s going to run errands without Hong-su?”
“You will.”
“R-right, I guess I have to.”
Hong Guk-jin forced a smile and nodded, then turned his head to glare at the departing Noh Hong-su.

Taepung glanced back while walking with Noh Hong-su and spoke.
“The kids are gone.”
At Taepung’s words, Noh Hong-su looked at him quietly.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?”
“I saw you before at the Han River. The beverage.”
“Ah….”
As if the memory returned, Noh Hong-su lowered his head.
“I was truly grateful for that day.”
“Those kids earlier—they’re part of the School Gang, aren’t they?”
At Taepung’s question, Noh Hong-su flinched before nodding.
“Yes.”
Then Noh Hong-su looked at Taepung with a puzzled expression still on his face.
“But how did you know my name?”
“You have a name tag.”
When I pointed to the name tag on his chest, Noh Hong-su nodded with an “ah” and lowered his head again.
“Thank you for helping me.”
At Noh Hong-su’s words, Taepung looked at him and spoke.
“Senior year… You just need to endure one more year.”
Noh Hong-su understood what Taepung meant and bit his lip.
One year—then he could escape from those bastards.
Watching Noh Hong-su, Taepung shook his head slightly.
Whether at school or in society, there are always those who torment the weak. In fact, they don’t end their harassment at school—they employ even more cunning and vicious methods once they enter society.
That’s why some adults suffer from workplace ostracism and abuse of power, ultimately taking their own lives.
Just then, a Convenience Store came into view, and Taepung led Noh Hong-su inside. He bought a Two Plus One beverage and came back out.
He placed the drink on the plastic table in front of the Convenience Store and had Noh Hong-su sit down.
“Do you remember? This was the drink I gave you that day.”
“Yes.”
As Noh Hong-su took the coffee, Taepung spoke.
“My life changed because of this coffee that day.”
“Your life changed?”
“I bought coffee at the Convenience Store that day, and it was also Two Plus One. Since buying one felt like a loss somehow, I picked two extra even though I was going to eat alone.”
Taepung continued, looking at the coffee in his hand.
“I gave one to a student and one to another person… and that changed my life.”
“How does one coffee change your life?”
At Noh Hong-su’s self-deprecating words, Taepung shook his head.
“I know. You’d think one coffee couldn’t possibly change a life… but it really did.”
It was true. After that day, I got hired at the Goblin Library.
Taepung briefly reflected on that day and looked at Noh Hong-su.
“Sometimes even small things can change your life. For better or worse.”
Taepung offered Noh Hong-su another canned coffee he was holding.
Noh Hong-su accepted the coffee and gazed at the cans cradled in both hands before speaking.
“Do you think something like that could happen to me?”
“That depends on whether you’re willing to reach out first, Hong-su.”
“Reach out?”
Taepung spoke to Noh Hong-su, who seemed confused by the remark.
“As I mentioned before, I gave two cans of coffee to strangers that day. What I’m trying to say is that if you want to change something, you need to take the first step. Whether it’s giving someone a can of coffee or simply striking up a conversation.”
Then Taepung rose from his seat.
“Get home safely.”
At Taepung’s words, Noh Hong-su suddenly looked at him.
“But who are you?”
In response to Noh Hong-su’s question, Taepung regarded him briefly before smiling and answering.
“Call it luck.”
“Luck?”
“I pulled you away from those thugs and bought you coffee—isn’t that fortunate enough?”
As Taepung turned with a smile, Noh Hong-su tilted his head in bewilderment. It was strange how Taepung introduced himself as luck without even giving his name.
And how he’d known that Noh Hong-su was being held by the School Gang, let alone managed to extract him from their grasp….
After a moment’s contemplation, Noh Hong-su looked at the can of coffee in his hand and stood. Who Taepung was or why he’d helped didn’t matter.
As Taepung had said, escaping the School Gang today was fortune itself. Otherwise, the day would have ended with him running errands for those thugs late into the night, getting beaten whenever they grew irritable.
“I need to take the first step….”
Noh Hong-su murmured Taepung’s words as he walked away.

As Taepung watched Noh Hong-su disappear into the distance, the voice of the Bamboo Sword Goblin reached his ears.
“Do you really think one can of coffee will change a person?”
At the Bamboo Sword Goblin’s words, Taepung flinched and turned to look at him.
“Oh? You were watching?”
The Bamboo Sword Goblin nodded at Taepung’s remark and watched the receding figure of Noh Hong-su.
“So you think he’ll change?”
“If one can of coffee could turn life into a bed of roses, how wonderful that would be.”
At Taepung’s response, the Bamboo Sword Goblin regarded him with a puzzled expression.
“Then why did you say such a thing?”
“The coffee is a metaphor. I hope Hong-su changes. At the very least, I hope he finds the courage to ask someone for help.”
“Ask for help?”
“Approaching a stranger is harder than you’d think. Whether it’s starting a conversation or offering something….”
Taepung continued, recalling his days handing out flyers for part-time work.
“But if he can muster even a little courage to give a can of coffee to someone he doesn’t know, then he can speak to others too. He can tell them he needs help, that the School Gang is tormenting him.”
“You’re hoping adults will help? Not many adults these days concern themselves with others’ problems. And if they interfere clumsily, it could only bring more trouble down on Hong-su.”
“Still, he has to speak up. People need to know Hong-su is suffering. There’s even a line like this in movies: if you don’t make something a problem, it won’t be one. But I hope Hong-su at least finds the courage to make it a problem.”
Taepung paused and watched the path Noh Hong-su had taken. There was nothing more he could do for him.
He couldn’t pull Noh Hong-su away from the School Gang every day, nor could he beat those thugs into submission.
Looking at Lee Jong-hyuk’s build, Taepung suspected he’d lose in a fight—or more accurately, get thoroughly thrashed.
I watched the Bamboo Sword Goblin.
“And if children ask for help, adults will help them.”
“You really think so?”
“Of course. There are still more good people than bad people in this world.”
I smiled at the Bamboo Sword Goblin.
“You see a lot of that on YouTube social experiments. Adults approaching students asking for help and actually helping them.”
Some adults buy convenience store meals for hungry students and hand them ten thousand won, while others take them to nearby restaurants to buy them food.
And there are adults like Noh Hong-su who quietly remove the prank papers stuck on children’s backs.
Watching those YouTube social experiment videos, it was clear that Korean adults still believed they should protect children.
At my words, the Bamboo Sword Goblin looked at me, then turned his body. He climbed into a sports car parked on the road and disappeared with a thunderous engine roar.
As I watched the sports car fade into the distance, a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I called the Dung Carrier Goblin.
[Tae Poong.]
Hearing the Dung Carrier Goblin’s voice—always cheerful when answering—I asked.
“What kind of car do you drive?”
[Me? I walk everywhere.]
“You… walk?”
[Walking is the fastest way.]
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, I nodded. After all, he was a goblin who could make a quick trip all the way to Gangwon Province just to eat meat, so he had no need for a car.
[Is that what you were curious about? Why, do you want a car?]
“No. I was just curious.”
[How boring. Ah! I’m writing a novel about Oh Jang-hyuk right now. I’ll call you next time.]
After ending the call, I paused to think, then looked in the direction Noh Hong-su had gone.
“If you don’t change yourself, the world won’t change either… Easy to say, though…”
What I’d told Noh Hong-su was right. And it was easy to say out loud.
But actually putting it into practice was difficult.
Like those sayings—walk if you want to lose weight, eat breakfast to stay healthy, go to bed early to wake up early—that sort of thing.
I shook my head and headed home.

***

Typhoon was reading a book by Lim Sung-un.
‘I think there was a part about saving kids like Noh Hong-su before….’
The reason I’d pulled out Lim Sung-un’s book was because I remembered seeing an episode dealing with school violence.
It wasn’t a field that a powerful crimes prosecutor like Lim Sung-un would typically handle, but information related to the perpetrator had caught his interest.
The school bully’s father was a high-ranking prosecutor. The father would cover up incidents his son caused. What Lim Sung-un despised was the powerful using their strength to torment the weak.
Though he didn’t directly handle it due to jurisdictional differences, Lim Sung-un escalated the case, brought it to the media, sent the school gang member to juvenile detention, and had the father dismissed.
I wanted to reread how Lim Sung-un had dealt with that school gang member back then.
“Hmm…. Lim Sung-un is ruthless, isn’t he? He certainly doesn’t hesitate to use any means necessary for results.”
I’d read it before, but back then I’d only thought, ‘The Lim Sung-un character is strong.’
But reading it this time while thinking about school gangs and school violence… I could see just how ruthless Lim Sung-un truly was.
Lim Sung-un… once he obtained information about the school gang members, he had Choi Tae-sik, a fighter, surveil them.
And he filmed the gang members beating and extorting money from other students.
After gathering enough evidence, Choi Tae-sik approached a few of the kids who’d been beaten by the gang members and negotiated with them. He’d make sure they never saw those gang members again. But….

***

『To punish those gang members, you’ll have to take a beating from me.』

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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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