Goblin Library - Chapter 97

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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 97.

Thud! Thud!
『Fire Department! Is anyone here!』
Just as Cha Im-beom was about to turn toward another wall, sensing no response, a sound reached his ears.
Thud! Thud!
At the sound of something striking a surface, Cha Im-beom pressed himself against the adjacent wall.
Thud! Thud!
The same sound echoed again, and Cha Im-beom placed his hand against the wall. It felt like a temporary partition—the same sensation as when he’d struck it with his fist moments before.
He climbed out through the window and leaned his head out to peer into the adjacent room. Though he couldn’t see the room itself, smoke billowed from its open window.
‘Oxygen is flowing in.’
When a building catches fire, it’s easy to assume flames engulf every space, but that’s not how it works. Some rooms burn while others remain untouched.
In this room, no fire had yet ignited—only smoke had seeped in.
But if the adjacent room was ablaze, he couldn’t breach the wall. A sudden influx of oxygen into an enclosed space could trigger an explosion.
That’s why he’d checked for oxygen flow.
Cha Im-beom steadied his breathing and shouted.
『Step away from the wall. If you can hear me, knock three times.』
Three knocks sounded from beyond the wall in response.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Cha Im-beom swung his axe hard against the wall.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
After several strikes, an X-shaped crack formed in the wall. Cha Im-beom continued driving his axe deeper into the fissure.
Once the gap widened enough for a person to pass through, he squeezed inside and discovered a man huddled in the corner of a bed.
『Fire Department. Are you alright?』
The man, his mouth covered with a cloth, nodded repeatedly.
Cha Im-beom felt a measure of relief at the sight.
‘Thank goodness people are covering their mouths and noses with wet cloth.’
When fire breaks out, covering your mouth and nose with water-soaked fabric is absolutely critical.
More people die from inhaling scorching smoke and toxic fumes than from burns alone, so this simple act can mean the difference between life and death.
Yet at fire scenes, people often failed to do this—not because they couldn’t find cloth or didn’t know to wet it, but because panic clouded their judgment, leaving them to flail about with their hands covering their faces instead.
『Come this way.』
At Cha Im-beom’s words, the man stood and reached for his belongings. Cha Im-beom spoke urgently.
『There’s no time.』
Despite the urgency, the man stuffed clothes into his bag and hastily grabbed his phone and wallet.
In a situation where lives hung in the balance by seconds—or fractions thereof—he was still gathering his possessions.
Cha Im-beom shook his head and struck the widened gap with his axe again, expanding the opening further.
There was no time for arguments. He could only hope the man would hurry out.
『Thank you.』
Once the man had gathered everything he needed, Cha Im-beom pointed toward the gap.
“Come out.”
As Cha Im-beom watched the man emerge through the gap, a question suddenly occurred to him—one that didn’t quite fit the situation.
“You can speak, so why were you knocking?”
He’d assumed the man had damaged his windpipe by making noise while tapping on things, but now that he was speaking, the question suddenly nagged at him.
“If I shouted, I’d have to breathe in the smoke.”
“Ah…”
Cha Im-beom nodded at the man’s answer and spoke.
“Well done. Get going now.”
As the man hurried through the gap, Cha Im-beom pointed toward the broken window.
“Shout over there and a ladder will come up.”
As Cha Im-beom turned his body, the man spoke.
“What about you, Fire Department?”
“I’ll check the adjacent room.”
The man heading toward the window paused for a moment, looked back at Cha Im-beom, and thanked him again.
“Thank you so much.”
“Descend carefully.”
As the man approached the window, the ladder rose up again right on cue.
“Senior!”
Ho-su called out as he entered, and Cha Im-beom spoke.
“Who did you bring?”
“Chang-hyun.”
“The master key?”
“Right here.”
Ho-su held out the key card. Cha Im-beom took it and spoke into his radio.
“Beginning personnel search on the 7th Floor.”
A voice crackled back from the radio.
[Fortunately, the fire isn’t severe above the 6th Floor. But the smoke will be thick up there. Be careful.]
“Understood.”
After his report, Cha Im-beom turned back to Ho-su.
“Follow me.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cha Im-beom approached the door and placed his hand against it. Then, nodding to himself, he opened it.
Whoooosh!
As the door swung open, thick smoke billowed inside.
“Let’s go.”
With those words, Cha Im-beom stepped into the smoke.

***

Pot Goblin was following Cha Im-beom. As smoke billowed thick around them, she squinted and waved her hand dismissively.
“Ugh! This wretched smoke.”
As Pot Goblin swept her hands back and forth, dispersing the smoke, Kang Doo-chi, who had followed her, laughed and spoke.
“Why would a goblin dislike smoke? If you don’t like it, you simply don’t have to breathe it in, isn’t that so?”
Being a goblin, she could easily avoid inhaling such smoke. At Kang Doo-chi’s observation, Pot Goblin shook her head.
“I need to translate this scene into a novel. I wanted to experience and observe what it feels like to breathe in smoke like this, and how it affects my vision.”
Even as she spoke, her nose seemed to burn and her eyes squinted. Kang Doo-chi asked her a question.
“For goblins like us, breathing in smoke like this won’t harm our bodies, but it must feel unpleasant, doesn’t it?”
“That’s precisely why I can write prose with genuine realism.”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Kang Doo-chi looked at her, then subtly flared his nostrils. And then….
“Cough! Cough! Oh my, this is quite potent.”
Having inhaled the smoke as if he possessed a human body, tears seemed to well up from the acrid fumes.
“A few more breaths of smoke like this and you’ll become one of our clients right away.”
“When old buildings burned in the past, the smoke wasn’t nearly this toxic. But modern buildings release so many toxic gases….”
As she spoke, Pot Goblin glanced subtly toward one of the rooms. A JS employee stood before the door, checking his wristwatch.
Then the employee entered inside.
Whoosh!
Watching the employee pass through the closed door and enter, Pot Goblin licked her lips.
Whether people lived or died wasn’t something she particularly concerned herself with, but since they weren’t living out their natural lifespans and were instead dying in accidents like this, it was somewhat troublesome.
“This is extremely dangerous.”
“Indeed.”
Kang Doo-chi, who had been speaking, noticed that Pot Goblin’s expression had darkened and asked her.
“But your expression doesn’t look good?”
Pot Goblin regarded him for a moment before speaking.
“I can feel a mother’s sorrow, you might say.”
“A mother’s sorrow?”
Seeing Kang Doo-chi’s puzzled expression, Pot Goblin pulled out a key and shook it.
Whoooosh!
Then sounds began to emanate from the empty air.
[What’s going on?]
[Mom, there’s a fire here. What do I do?]
[Fire? Then you need to get out quickly.]
[There’s too much smoke, I can’t get out. Mom, I’m so scared.]
[Call for help! Did you call for help?]
[There are fire trucks outside now, but the fire is so big and there’s so much smoke that I don’t think they’ll find me.]
[No, no. Don’t worry. So where are you right now?]
[I went into the bathroom and turned on the water.]
[Good, good. What do I do, what do I do?]
[Mom, I’m scared.]
[No, I’m here for you. Mom is coming there right now.]
“How did you get here from Busan?”
“No, I’ll go.”
“Mother, I’m sorry. I should have gone to the Hotel when you told me to sleep there.”
“No, what are you apologizing for? I should have given you more money and sent you away….”
And along with that, text messages seemed to materialize in the empty air.

“Mother, there’s a fire here.”
“Mother? Mother… are you not seeing my messages right now?”
“Mother… um… I hope this doesn’t happen, but if I can’t make it home, please forgive me for being upset when I left today. I love you, Mother.”
“Son? What are you saying about a fire?”
“Son, why aren’t you answering? Son, son, are you okay?”
“Son.”
“Son, Mother loves you so much. Son… I’ll believe you’re safe. Son, I’ll think you just lost your phone for a while.”
“Son, so… I love you.”

Several other messages floated in the empty air. Most of them were apologies to family and loved ones, expressions of love.
No, some of them were even playful messages. Fire. Water. Lots of fire trucks coming…. But beneath them all, anxiety and tension could be felt.
“What is all this?”
Kang Doo-chi asked, observing the voices of people he could hear and the messages he could see, and Pot Goblin answered.
“It’s the stories of the people trapped in here right now.”
“Hmm….”
Kang Doo-chi, who had been examining the voices and messages, spoke.
“It seems the owner of this message is already one of our clients.”
At Kang Doo-chi’s words, Pot Goblin looked at that message for a moment.

“Son, I love you.”

Pot Goblin, whose gaze had lingered on Kim Un-hyun’s Mother’s final message, opened her mouth.
“I can’t just stand by.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am Pot Goblin… I was created by a mother’s hands as she prepared food for her family. I carry her heart within me.”
Whoosh!
Pot Goblin looked at Kang Doo-chi.
“I’m going to save a life. Will you stop me?”
At Pot Goblin’s words, Kang Doo-chi looked at her and let out a soft chuckle.
“If you were an ordinary Spirit Servant, interfering in human life and death would be a serious problem. After all, those belonging to the Afterlife are forbidden by JS from meddling in the Living World.”
“Ordinary? Does that mean you’re saying I’m not a Goblin?”
“The way you’re speaking suggests you’ve never actually killed or saved a human before, have you?”
“I’ve given people a thrashing, but I’ve rarely killed or saved anyone. Well, I’ve cured illnesses a few times, but those weren’t fatal diseases. They would have recovered on their own after some suffering even without my help.”
At Pot Goblin’s answer, Kang Doo-chi nodded and spoke.
“Goblins are somewhat different from ordinary Spirit Servants. Or more precisely, it would be more accurate to call you ‘anomalies’ rather than ‘ghosts.’ That’s why you engage in economic activities among humans, carry identification cards, and act like humans. Goblins are half of our world and half of the human world. If I had to compare it to the West, I’d say you’re similar to vampires.”
At Kang Doo-chi’s words, Pot Goblin narrowed her eyes.
“Are you really comparing us elegant Goblins to mosquitoes? And when you think about it, you’re a Goblin too.”
“We lean far more toward JS than the Living World. We weren’t even born in the Living World—we were born as employees in JS.”
As he spoke, Kang Doo-chi looked at Pot Goblin with an envious expression.
“That’s why I envy you. You live more freely than we do.”
As if to lighten the mood, Pot Goblin waved her hand and asked.
“So, you’re saying I can do it?”
“If you were to suddenly save hundreds of people who were about to die all at once, that would become a problem. But if it’s not on that scale, there’s no issue. Goblin whimsy falls within the variables we account for.”
Then Kang Doo-chi continued with a smile on his face.
“One face of a Goblin is fortune. The people here today are fortunate.”
Pot Goblin nodded and spoke.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t say thank you.”
Kang Doo-chi shrugged.
“How could anyone stop a Goblin from doing what she wants?”
Pot Goblin grasped the key and shook it gently.
Whoooosh!

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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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