Goblin Library - Chapter 59

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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 59

“Lim Ok-beom is impressive, but even if he went in as a spy, he tormented people far too much.”
“By tormenting them like that, he earned recognition from the Japanese and climbed to high positions. That’s how he extracted information and helped the Independence Army.”
“So it’s a sacrifice of the ox for the greater good… but who wipes away the ox’s tears!”
“That’s true. None of the people saying such things were ever the ox.”
“I think it would be nice if the author’s story included Lim Ok-beom secretly bringing rice or something to the homes of the people he tormented.”

Yu Tae-poong looked up from reading the comments. Dung Carrier Goblin’s expression had grown serious.
“You can’t be swayed by every single comment.”
“I know… but what do I do?”
“What is it?”
In response to Yu Tae-poong’s question, Dung Carrier Goblin tapped the Lim Ok-beom book with her finger and spoke.
“Actually, while Lim Ok-beom oppressed and tormented Joseon people on the surface, he secretly provided them with money.”
“Money? That wasn’t written in the book?”
“I didn’t think it was important enough to include.”
“Ah! That’s such a good episode… why didn’t you write something like that?”
Seeing Yu Tae-poong’s regretful expression, Dung Carrier Goblin opened the Lim Ok-beom book.
Then she spoke.
“Would you like me to write about the time Ok-beom gave money to people?”
At Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, text appeared in the blank space of the Lim Ok-beom book.
“I can write it, but it will consume a considerable amount of views. Are you certain about this?”
“I’ll bear that cost.”
“Author, you don’t have that many views, do you?”
“I have enough for that.”
“Understood.”
And shortly after, the pages flipped rapidly before stopping at a certain point.
Then, starting from a sentence in the middle of the page, the text began flowing downward.
Like pressing Enter for an extended length in a word processor…
And in the newly created blank space, writing began to appear.

***

Lim Ok-beom was pummeling a middle-aged man in the middle of the street.
“Ow! I was wrong. Ow! I’m dying!”
Ignoring the man’s screams, Lim Ok-beom slapped his face.
Smack!
“Ow!”
As the man collapsed with a cry, Lim Ok-beom wiped the sweat from his brow and spoke.
“Would you care to repeat what you said about me?”
“I… I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
“You cursed at me. Quite viciously, too.”
“When… when did I ever do that?”
As the man asked trembling with fear, Lim Ok-beom smiled and glanced at the Police Officers.
“This insolent fool lies now that the officers are here. Yet just days ago, he hurled the most vile insults at me.”
At Lim Ok-beom’s words, the man looked at the Police Officers with fearful eyes. But in truth, he had no memory of ever encountering Lim Ok-beom.
He had simply been walking when Lim Ok-beom approached and struck him. Bewildered and stunned, the moment he showed any sign of resistance, the Police Officers placed their hands on the swords at their sides and glared so menacingly that he had no choice but to endure the beating.
Observing the man, Lim Ok-beom looked around at the gathered crowd.
“This is what happens when someone lets their tongue wag carelessly.”
Then Lim Ok-beom spoke to the Police Officers with a smile.
“Phew! It feels good to beat someone after so long. Shall we go share some rice soup together?”
At Lim Ok-beom’s words, the Police Officers looked at the man.
“We received a report that this fellow made statements insulting the Empire.”
“It seems he’s not in his right mind and can’t control his tongue. So he must have cursed and spouted such nonsense.”
Shaking his head, Lim Ok-beom looked at the pleading man and spoke.
“But since I’ve already beaten him this severely, taking him to the Police Station might create some troublesome paperwork.”
“Troublesome paperwork?”
“Even if he’s Joseon, beating him like this means investigations and statements… wouldn’t there be some tedious procedural matters to handle?”
“Well… yes, that’s true.”
Since the man was merely an ordinary Joseon citizen—not even a Japanese collaborator—there was no harm to Lim Ok-beom.
But the law existed, and if the man went to the Police Station, there would certainly be an investigation.
“I’ll speak to my superiors, so you may simply let him go.”
“That is…”
Seeing the hesitant Police Officer, Lim Ok-beom spoke.
“If you say you followed my instructions, would that cause problems for you two? Rather… it might even be seen favorably by your superiors.”
At Lim Ok-beom’s words, the two Police Officers exchanged glances and nodded. Now that he mentioned it, he was right.
If Lim Ok-beom received a small favor from them, he would show goodwill to their superiors at the Police Station. Then those superiors wouldn’t reprimand them… and Lim Ok-beom wouldn’t simply buy them rice soup and send them off. It was beneficial all around.
“If you put it that way, Lim Ok-beom…”
The Police Officers glared at the man.
“Be careful. We’ll overlook it this time.”
“Th… thank you.”
Being told to be grateful after being assaulted without warning made no sense whatsoever. The man was astounded, seething with indignation inside.
But in truth, the Police Officers had come to arrest the man regardless of Lim Ok-beom. A report had been filed after the man had cursed Japan at a drinking gathering days before.
When Lim Ok-beom happened to see Police Officers passing by and greeted them, he learned of this fact and came here, striking first himself.
Despite seeing the man for the first time, he seized upon the pretext that the man had cursed at him a few days prior and rushed at him.
A few blows from his hands wouldn’t cause serious injury at minimum. But if he ended up at the Police Station, he would almost certainly leave with grave wounds.
Moreover, if things went wrong, he could be entangled as a dissident and dragged away to forced labor, never to return home again.

Lim Ok-beom shared a meal of soup and makgeolli with the Police Officers, then generously stuffed money into their pockets. After receiving their respectful greetings with cheerful smiles, Lim Ok-beom walked slowly onward.
『The address is… here.』
Having confirmed the address of the man he had beaten, Lim Ok-beom glanced around once before retrieving a paper envelope and pen from his breast.
Lim Ok-beom wrote on the envelope.

「Living Assistance Fund」

My apologies for today.
Muttering inwardly, Lim Ok-beom tossed the envelope over the wall into the house.
Whoosh!
Since the envelope contained coins along with bills, the paper didn’t fly far.
Thus the envelope struck the gate without fluttering.
Thud!
Hearing the envelope strike, Lim Ok-beom peeked over the wall into the yard. Soon a middle-aged woman opened the door and came out, quickly discovering the envelope on the ground and picking it up.
The woman peered inside the envelope with startled eyes, glancing around. At that, Lim Ok-beom hastily crouched down.
『Honey! Honey! The living assistance fund has arrived!』
『What? That, it suddenly comes to people? Let me see? It’s real.』
『With this money, we can live for several months.』
『Indeed… well… I heard rumors that this living assistance fund flies in, and I wondered what madman would do such a thing… but it’s come to our house too.』
『That’s right. And what do you mean madman! We should call them a benefactor!』
『You’re right. You’re right. From now on, I should get angry at kids who curse at the Living Fund.』
『That’s right. The Living Fund… I’m truly grateful.』
Hearing the voices drift over the wall, Lim Ok-beom tilted his head.
Living Fund? Living assistance fund… shortened to call me the Living Fund?
Muttering inwardly, Lim Ok-beom chuckled softly and moved on, tossing a living assistance envelope to each house that appeared impoverished.
If envelopes only went to the house where the incident occurred, it would raise suspicion, so he distributed them to multiple locations.

***

Yu Tae-poong nodded as he reviewed the episode written in the book.
“It would be nice to have content like this.”
“I think so too. The view count was a bit inflated, but… it’s good.”
Dung Carrier Goblin examined the text and nodded, then pulled the laptop closer.
She began typing the book’s content into the manuscript on the laptop.
Yu Tae-poong, watching Dung Carrier Goblin’s hands moving briskly across the keyboard, shifted his gaze to Pot Goblin.
Pot Goblin was staring at the laptop screen with a serious expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“The view count…”
Pot Goblin paused briefly, then broke into a bright smile.
“It exploded.”
“Exploded?”
“The first chapter has ten thousand views!”
At Pot Goblin’s words, both Yu Tae-poong and Dung Carrier Goblin, who had been typing, froze.
“Ten thousand?”
“Ten thousand?”
Yesterday it was only three hundred, but ten thousand?
Yu Tae-poong looked at the screen with bewilderment, and surprise flickered across his face.
The number displayed was indeed just over ten thousand.
“Wait! How did this happen!”
Dung Carrier Goblin, staring at the screen with astonished eyes, glared at Pot Goblin.
“Did you use your club…”
Dung Carrier Goblin, about to accuse her of inflating the numbers, realized the accusation made no sense and shook her head.
Goblins never used tools like clubs for entertainment.
Even in the old days when wrestling with humans, they used only the strength of their bodies. If they used a club, humans could never defeat a goblin.
Games like wrestling were only fun when you sometimes lost and sometimes won. So Pot Goblin would never have used a goblin club to inflate the view count.
“How did the view count get this high?”
As Dung Carrier Goblin murmured and looked at the screen, Pot Goblin answered.
“I don’t know either. The numbers just started climbing from yesterday evening.”
Yu Tae-poong, gazing at the monitor, asked Pot Goblin.
“I’d like to check something. May I use the laptop for a moment?”
Pot Goblin smiled and nodded, and Yu Tae-poong pulled the laptop toward him and moved the mouse.
Then he typed Hong-ae into the search bar.
And on the screen…

「I recommend the work Hong-ae.」

…a recommendation post appeared.
“Someone recommended Pot Goblin’s post.”
“My post? Who?”
“Let me see… It says someone named Duman River wrote it.”
“Who is that?”
“I’m not sure. But they seem to be someone with influence. A writer, perhaps?”
“A writer?”
“Usually, even when recommendation posts go up, people don’t really visit them. But seeing the view count explode like this after the recommendation….”
As I spoke, I clicked on Duman River’s profile and moved to their library.
Then Duman River’s serialized works appeared in their library.
“Their fans must have followed them here. They’re definitely a writer.”
“Really?”
“Look, they’ve already published so many works.”
At my words, Pot Goblin and Dung Carrier Goblin looked at Duman River’s library and gasped.
“The total view count is enormous.”
“How many is this…. Over a million.”
“Look at this. The first chapter alone has 100,000 views.”
Pot Goblin murmured.
“I can’t believe such a famous writer recommended my Hong-ae….”
Watching Pot Goblin smile with delight, I turned to look at Dung Carrier Goblin.
Dung Carrier Goblin was reading the recommendation post written by Duman River with an envious expression.
“Your other posts are entertaining too.”
“Of course. Unlike my other works, Lim Ok-beom is… definitely entertaining enough.”
At Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, I nodded with a smile.
“Anyone who reads it will definitely find it entertaining. The key is maintaining consistent serialization.”
At my words, Dung Carrier Goblin pulled the laptop over and began finishing the post they had left incomplete earlier.
Watching the two goblins, I continued reading Hong-ae. And as I read the ending of Hong-ae, I sighed.
It was somewhat different from Lim Ok-beom’s death… but Hong-ae too met death.
Hong-ae never witnessed independence and died of tuberculosis. And before dying, Hong-ae wrote one final letter.
Ten letters in total were written, and they were delivered on the day of her funeral to the Japanese high-ranking officials and influential figures who cherished her. The contents were….

「I am Hong-ae, an Independence Movement activist.」

…is how it began.

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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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