Goblin Library - Chapter 72

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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 72

Around lunchtime, Yu Tae-poong and Dung Carrier Goblin were eating lunch at the Naengmyeon Restaurant.
Yu Tae-poong lifted a large chopstick-full of spicy cold noodles and spoke.
“Lee Hye-eun’s character is so captivating.”
Dung Carrier Goblin, who was adding mustard to her bowl, looked up at Yu Tae-poong.
“Still, a con artist is a con artist. You shouldn’t end up liking her or anything like that.”
“Come on! How could I confuse a novel with reality… wait?”
Yu Tae-poong tilted his head mid-sentence. Come to think of it, this was both a novel and reality at the same time.
Dung Carrier Goblin laughed at Yu Tae-poong’s confusion.
“Right, it’s reality. So don’t get too attached. You might cause trouble later.”
“Trouble?”
“One of our goblins caused an incident before.”
“What kind of incident?”
“Just like I said. Another goblin had written something, and this one found it so entertaining. Moreover, they fell head over heels for the protagonist’s younger sibling. So they followed them around playing guardian angel.”
“Guardian angel? So they helped them out?”
“Exactly. So that protagonist’s younger sibling ended up successful and lived well.”
“Then wasn’t that a good thing?”
Dung Carrier Goblin laughed at Yu Tae-poong’s words.
“In exchange, they remained single their entire life.”
“Ah.”
“How could anyone else become their lover when a goblin is interested in them?”
“That’s true.”
Then Yu Tae-poong laughed and spoke.
“Come on! I’m human, not a goblin, so what’s the problem if I like someone?”
Yu Tae-poong quickly added to what he was saying.
“Of course, I’m not saying I like Lee Hye-eun.”
“Right. Don’t like her.”
Then Dung Carrier Goblin took a large mouthful of cold noodles, chewed, and spoke.
“And I like Lee Hye-eun too. You all do what you want, and I’ll do what I want and mess with you guys. That’s especially her style.”
“Huh? There’s no such content in the book yet?”
“It’s not in the book, but from her actions, that’s exactly her style.”
Watching Dung Carrier Goblin smile contentedly, Yu Tae-poong took a large bite of cold noodles.
After stuffing it all in his mouth and swallowing, Yu Tae-poong spoke.
“But usually in novels, this kind of development leads to Lee Hye-eun formally joining the team… Since this is reality, I’m not sure how it’ll go. Will they just work together once and part ways, or will they continue working together?”
“If this job goes well, wouldn’t she join? And Jang Ma-ru said he’d help Lee Hye-eun with what she was trying to do. If they work together one more time, the chances of Lee Hye-eun changing her mind would increase.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded at Dung Carrier Goblin’s words and spoke.
“By the way, Lee Hye-eun seems to have a past story too.”
“Of course. So she’d naturally target only the bad ones to con.”
Dung Carrier Goblin spoke, then glanced at Yu Tae-poong.
“Either way, I hope the next story comes out soon.”
“I didn’t expect you to enjoy it this much, brother.”
“Neither did I. I didn’t think I’d find it this entertaining.”
Dung Carrier Goblin continued with a laugh.
“It’s probably because this time the target of punishment is someone who committed a grave betrayal and abused his power in the most vicious way. Above all, even if you deserve criticism from others, you should never earn it from your own family.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded at Dung Carrier Goblin’s words. Dung Carrier Goblin valued family deeply.
His master had worked hard carrying that foul-smelling dung basket for his family, enduring the contemptuous gazes of others.
But this wretch not only abused his power over others—he also abused it over his own family, treating them with contempt. For Dung Carrier Goblin, it was enough to make him feel sick with disgust.
“It seems more entertaining because it’s an episode where you punish someone you hate. The emotional investment makes it better.”
“That seems to be it.”
After finishing their naengmyeon while talking, the two left the restaurant together.
“Tomorrow’s my treat.”
“Of course it is.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded with a smile. Yu Tae-poong and Dung Carrier Goblin took turns buying meals for each other.
Though Dung Carrier Goblin was among the poorest of the goblins, he was still wealthy enough to own a farm in Gangwon Province.
Even if he were penniless, he could simply create gold. Small gold fragments that wouldn’t significantly impact the human world were something goblins could easily produce and use freely.
As they left the naengmyeon restaurant, Dung Carrier Goblin spoke.
“Should we go see Lee Hye-eun this evening?”
“Shall we?”
“Yes. Let’s go see her this evening.”
Then Dung Carrier Goblin looked at Yu Tae-poong.
“But when we move, you’ll need to hide yourself. Jang Ma-ru will be monitoring with the cameras around there—you know how he is.”
“Ah! That’s right. If I show up there, Lim Sung-un might come looking for me again.”
“Exactly.”
As they talked and arrived at the Goblin Library, Yu Tae-poong made a suggestion to Dung Carrier Goblin.
“Then shall we have dinner around that area?”
“That sounds good. Ah! Let me search. What restaurants are nearby?”
While Dung Carrier Goblin pulled out his phone and searched the map, Yu Tae-poong went inside the library.
He could see Pot Goblin sitting in a chair placed at the library entrance. Yu Tae-poong greeted her warmly and asked.
“Pot Goblin! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Where have you been all this time?”
Pot Goblin smiled and replied.
“A popular author like me has many places to be.”
Then Dung Carrier Goblin, who had been absorbed in searching for restaurants, reacted.
“What are you talking about?”
In response to Dung Carrier Goblin’s question, Pot Goblin pulled out her phone, tapped the screen, and showed it to him.
Dung Carrier Goblin’s face hardened as he looked at the screen.

「Contract Completed」

A notice announcing the publishing contract had been posted on Hong-ae’s novel bulletin board created on Munsin.
“You… got contracted?”
“Phew! The book was entertaining, so the publishing house recognized its value.”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Dung Carrier Goblin sat down beside her with a dejected expression.
Then he stared blankly at the contract completion post displayed on his phone. Seeing this, Yu Tae-poong spoke.
“Your writing is entertaining too.”
“Of course… it is entertaining.”
Yu Tae-poong watched Dung Carrier Goblin shake his head while smacking his lips, then turned to ask Pot Goblin.
“Did you investigate them thoroughly before signing the contract?”
“Worried about being scammed?”
“I’ve heard there are many publishing scams. Oh! They didn’t ask you to pay money in exchange for publishing the book, right?”
There were cases where publishing houses demanded payment from authors under the guise of publication.
This was no different from the author spending their own money to publish the book rather than the publishing house producing it.
A legitimate publishing house would pay the author and produce the book—never demand payment from the author.
At Yu Tae-poong’s question, Pot Goblin laughed and replied.
“In traditional folktales, we goblins get scammed by humans and fall for their tricks. Phew! But that was our naive ancestor goblins who lacked information. We’ve lived in the human world long enough, rolled around enough! We’re weathered, worn goblins. We don’t fall for it. Not anymore.”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Dung Carrier Goblin muttered quietly.
“You must have staked out the publishing house for a day or two before agreeing to the contract.”
A pause.
As if struck by the truth, Pot Goblin froze momentarily in embarrassment, then laughed and spoke.
“I conducted a preliminary investigation. Just in case they turned out to be suspicious characters.”
“So you really did stake out the publishing house?”
“It wasn’t staking out—it was investigating. Investigating.”
Pot Goblin continued with a sly smile.
“Think about it. If that publishing house turned out to be shady like you worried and tried to scam me, what would happen to those humans?”
“Well… they’d face terrible consequences.”
Attempting to scam a legendary goblin? One could only pray for the scammer’s soul.
“I went to check things out as a preventive measure so we wouldn’t become annoyed with each other or have any bad feelings.”
“So it’s a decent place?”
“I observed for about two days, and it seemed fine. The employees love books and are passionate people. And their editor apparently appreciated my writing. When they were discussing it with their team members, they spoke highly of it.”
As Pot Goblin spoke with a pleased expression, Dung Carrier Goblin sighed and looked at her.
“Are they paying you?”
“Of course….”
Pot Goblin smacked her lips as she spoke.
“They are paying, but not much.”
“Really?”
“Whether it’s an excuse or what, I’m not sure, but the paper book market is dying these days. First editions rarely sell out completely. Instead, they said they’d print a fairly large initial run even though I’m a newcomer.”
“So how many copies?”
“I’ll tell you about that later.”
The first print run wasn’t as large as expected, so she seemed reluctant to discuss it.
“Still, it’s wonderful that Pot Goblin’s book is being published.”
“Exactly! That’s precisely what I’m saying!”
Pot Goblin smiled and gently caressed Hong-ae’s book resting on the tea table.
“Hong-ae was delighted too.”
“That must feel wonderful. Your story becomes a book and lives on in people’s memories.”
“There’s that, but… I think what matters most is that the stories of those who loved and protected their nation during that era are being passed down.”
“I understand completely.”
As I nodded, Dung Carrier Goblin spoke with a dejected expression.
“Our Lim Ok-beom was remarkable too.”
“Of course, of course. Remarkable indeed.”
Dung Carrier Goblin sighed as he watched Pot Goblin smile wryly.
“So when will the book be released?”
“It’s taking longer than expected. I’d say about two months.”
“Two months? Don’t you just need to print it once you have the manuscript?”
Yu Tae-poong asked, looking puzzled at Pot Goblin.
“And there didn’t seem to be many errors or awkward phrasings to correct either.”
“Publishing houses have their own circumstances, you know.”
Then Pot Goblin glanced at Dung Carrier Goblin, who looked dispirited, and casually mentioned:
“And… the editor asked if you were the author who wrote Lim Ok-beom.”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Dung Carrier Goblin looked at her with startled eyes.
“They know about me?”
“They’ve apparently read Lim Ok-beom.”
“They read my writing?”
Yu Tae-poong asked Pot Goblin, who was watching Dung Carrier Goblin with bewilderment written across his face.
“They’ve read Lim Ok-beom?”
“Yes. They said it was entertaining. And moving too.”
“But why would they ask Pot Goblin about it? There’s no connection at all.”
“I was puzzled too, so I asked… but apparently there’s a reason to ask.”
“What reason?”
Yu Tae-poong tilted his head. Both Hong-ae and Lim Ok-beom were stories of independence fighters set during the Japanese occupation period, but beyond that, they had nothing in common.
Pot Goblin laughed as she looked at Yu Tae-poong.
“When you think about it, there’s nothing strange. We both started our serializations on the same day. At the same time, no less.”
“Ah…”
Yu Tae-poong nodded as if understanding. With two works of similar subject matter uploaded on the same day at the same time, it was natural to assume the authors knew each other or were the same person.
“That’s right. And both of your serialization schedules are almost identical too.”
The two goblins had serialized their works together at the Goblin Library in the beginning.
So their upload times were bound to be nearly identical.
“That’s why they had to ask.”
“So what did you tell him?”
“I said we were close friends.”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Dung Carrier Goblin’s ears twitched.
“Friends…you said?”
“Well, we are friends.”
Dung Carrier Goblin broke into a bright smile at Pot Goblin’s matter-of-fact response.
“That’s right. We are friends.”
Then, with a noticeably lighter tone, he spoke.
“Congratulations. You’re the first among us goblins to actually publish a book.”
Dung Carrier Goblin, who moments before had been consumed by envy and jealousy, cast aside those feelings at Pot Goblin’s words about friendship and offered genuine congratulations.

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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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