Welcome to the Goblin Hotel - Chapter 6

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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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Episode 6
When Min Ju first arrived at the Hotel, he seemed fragile—but it was an illusion born of circumstance.
“Why does my debt keep growing when I’m paying it back!”
As Min Ju ground his teeth, the chopsticks in his hand bent into an angular shape.
What Min Ju had been enduring all this time was out of fear that his frail younger brother Min Jae might suffer for it.
‘He’s been holding it in the whole time.’
The loan sharks, even the police who refused to help.
Min Ju said he’d been steadily gathering evidence to expose all of them.
“Those bastards stole my mobile phone—the one with all the evidence on it.”
Min Ju straightened the bent chopsticks as he spoke.
A shame.
To lose the evidence needed to dispose of those trash.
I asked Min Ju carefully.
“So you don’t have any evidence left now?”
But one corner of Min Ju’s mouth curved upward.
‘That’s the kind of smile that would haunt my dreams.’
“No, I have all the evidence. It auto-backs up.”
“So what are you planning to do with that evidence? Post it on a civic petition site…?”
“Something far more effective than that.”
“There’s a way to do that?”
“YouTube. I’m going to feed it to tabloid reporters who don’t have real stories. Spread it on social media too.”
I was thinking of a civic petition site.
These young people have a different approach these days.
Am I a bit old-fashioned…?
I shook my head to clear the passing thought.
No.
I’m not old.
My thinking is young enough that I get along well with our Song Yi!
***
The siblings adapted to the Hotel quickly.
Min Ju’s voice rang out loudly from the Kitchen.
“Dinner is served!”
Since he had experience working as a kitchen assistant at a Restaurant, he was a reasonably qualified hire.
Woof! Woof-woof!
Hwang Geum-i barked, her tail wagging rapidly.
Min Ju smiled and spooned premium food into Hwang Geum-i’s dish.
“You have to finish your kibble first before you get the special treat. Otherwise the Boss will scold you.”
Hwang Geum-i crunched through her food with enthusiasm.
Song Yi watched Hwang Geum-i and smiled warmly.
“Our Hwang Geum-i eats so well and looks so pretty!”
She was using the very same tone I usually spoke in to address Hwang Geum-i.
They say you have to be careful about everything in front of children.
I tasted the warm beef broth and spoke.
“Let’s all go out together this afternoon.”
“Out?”
“We need to buy clothes for Min Ju and Min Jae, and pick up a few other things.”
During the day they wore the staff Uniforms, and in the evenings they wore the same tattered clothes they’d arrived in.
“But we don’t have enough money…”
“It’ll come out of your salary.”
“We get a salary?”
“Of course—did you think you’d work here without getting paid?”
“We thought it was in place of room and board…”
“Don’t make me out to be some heartless employer, will you?”
Hehe…
“Actually, I’m thinking of taking you on as full-time staff. How does that sound?”
“We’d like that!”
“We’ll work hard.”
Thanks to the Gold Coin that Hwang Geum-i brought and the Gold Sphere the Dokkaebi gave me, both my heart and my bank account had room to breathe.
‘If I give him Buckwheat Jelly, maybe another Gold Sphere will appear.’
“Min Ju, do you know how to make Buckwheat Jelly?”
“Buckwheat jelly?”
“I told you there’s a Dokkaebi here at the hotel. Dokkaebi love buckwheat jelly.”
Min Jae’s eyes lit up with curiosity.
“But is there really a Dokkaebi here?”
“I’ve never seen one myself. Still, the buckwheat jelly I left in the lobby last time was completely gone.”
“Wow!”
Min Ju nodded.
“I’ve never made jelly before, but I’ll give it a try. I should repay the Dokkaebi too.”
“Repay?”
“I think it was the Dokkaebi who helped us get to this hotel in the first place.”
“Woof!”
Hwang Geum-i, who had finished her food cleanly, barked at Min Ju.
Min Ju placed boiled chicken in Hwang Geum-i’s bowl.
Min Jae muttered while watching Hwang Geum-i gulp down the chicken hurriedly.
“Hwang Geum-i’s food bills are going to add up.”
“Oh, Hwang Geum-i already paid for it. She’s a VIP guest, so treat her well.”
The siblings tilted their heads at my words.
It had been four days since Min Ju and Min Jae arrived at our hotel.
There would be many things they didn’t yet understand.
Our hotel has things that can only be learned through experience.
***
Ding—
I pushed open the door to the Gold Exchange.
The first thing that caught my eye was the electronic board displaying gold trading prices.
As my gaze fixed on the board, a clerk spoke in a gentle voice.
“May I help you find something?”
I pulled out the Gold Sphere and said, “I’d like to sell these.”
“I’d like to sell these.”
The clerk who received the Gold Sphere examined it carefully.
“There’s no hallmark?”
“No. The gold is genuine, but there’s no hallmark.”
“Please wait a moment. Items like this require verification by a professional appraiser before we can conduct the transaction.”
“Of course. Take your time checking.”
The appraiser came out, verified it with reagent, and completed the machine analysis.
“It’s all pure gold.”
The clerk weighed the Gold Sphere on a scale and tapped on a calculator.
“If you’re selling everything, that comes to four million eight hundred eighty thousand won. Shall we proceed?”
The amount was eighty thousand won more than I’d expected.
Gold prices must have gone up.
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
“I’ll need your ID, please.”
“Ah, you need an ID too?”
“Police crackdowns have been strict lately. If it’s inconvenient, you’re welcome to try elsewhere.”
“No, it’s fine.”
It was probably just routine procedure in case the items were stolen goods.
There was no reason to worry—the Dokkaebi wouldn’t have given me stolen gold. I had nothing to hide.
After selling the gold, I stopped by a mobile phone shop and found my phone activation already complete.
“The old number is deactivated, right?”
“Yes. There haven’t been any small charges on it so far.”
“Good. That’s a relief.”
There’s no telling what the loan sharks might do with a phone in their hands.
Better to clean up loose ends.
I hadn’t expected to see Min Jae’s mouth curve upward like that.
“Min Jae, what’s with that expression since earlier?”
“It’s my first time using such a latest model phone. Hehe… Thank you so much, Boss.”
“I’m taking it out of your wages, so work harder. Understood?”
“Yes!”
Min Jae’s face was still beaming as he answered.
Song Yi laughed along, caught up in his joy.
A moment later.
At the mart, we loaded the cart with mountains of goods.
“Fill it up.”
“Yes!”
This time we had three carts.
We packed them indiscriminately — anything we thought we might need went into those three carts without a second thought.
“Dad! Song Yi wants that snack.”
“Of course. Our Song Yi needs snacks too. Put it in.”
“What about that one?”
“Put it in.”
“And that?”
“That too!”
We squeezed the contents of all three carts into the car with considerable effort.
After loading the car, I handed Min Jae and Min Ju envelopes containing cash.
“I put exactly 100,000 won in each. If you need anything else personally, go buy it. Think of it as a cash advance.”
“A cash advance…”
Min Jae and Min Ju exchanged bewildered glances.
“Song Yi and I will be at the cafe just ahead. Be back in an hour. If you’re not, I’m leaving without you.”
I sent the two of them back into the mart.
Song Yi tilted her head.
“Are you and your brother going back to the mart?”
“I wanted to have a date with just my Song Yi. You don’t like that?”
“No! I love dates.”
“Then shall we go get that strawberry cake you love?”
“Yes!”
***
Min Ju gripped the envelope the owner had given her.
A cash advance the restaurant owner had refused throughout two years of work.
On our fourth day of knowing the owner, he casually handed over 100,000 won.
“Min Jae. Do you think our owner is actually human?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I’m serious — isn’t our owner actually a Dokkaebi? There’s no way a person can be this kind.”
Min Jae nodded in agreement.
“It does seem strange. That honey water he gave us was weird too.”
“That honey water — you felt energized the moment you drank it, right?”
“Unnie, I don’t care if the owner isn’t human. Right now feels too good to question.”
Min Ju broke into a grin.
“Same here.”
Min Jae and Min Ju looked at each other and laughed.
It had been so long since they’d laughed without worry.
The owner with his understated yet kind manner, little Song Yi, and even Hwang Geum-i.
The siblings loved the Dokkaebi Hotel.
***
That evening.
Song Yi was making paper crafts with colored paper, and I was watching TV with the siblings.
Then Min Jae, who’d been watching the news, covered his mouth and muttered.
“Whoa.”
— Multiple ex-convicts have illegally infiltrated the Front-line DMZ.
Our military is conducting a joint investigation with the Police to determine the purpose of their infiltration.
[Ex-convicts Illegally Enter Front-line DMZ, Investigation into Possible Subversive Activity Underway]
The ex-convicts on screen shouted.
— No, sir! We simply lost our way!
Min Ju’s hand, which had been reaching for snacks, froze.
Their reaction was not ordinary.
“Why do you both look like that? What’s wrong?”
Min Jae pointed at the screen.
“Those people. They look like those loan sharks, don’t they?”
“Really?”
“Yes. Those clothes. They’re wearing the same ones we saw last time.”
A hulking figure in a flashy leopard-print shirt.
A wiry man in a striped shirt — both unmistakable.
It was an unusual sense of fashion.
‘A kingdom of animals?’
Min Ju glanced at me sideways.
“What? Got something to say?”
“Do you think the Dokkaebi did that?”
“You’re saying the Dokkaebi sent them away from here?”
“Yes. Those people were following us, after all.”
“Could be.”
‘Or it could be the Hotel itself.’
Instead of drawing Min Ju and Min Jae toward it, it might have simply repelled those worthless thugs.
Min Ju nodded quietly to himself.
“Right then—you were the Dokkaebi after all, Boss.”
The way Min Ju looked at me was deeply suspicious.
***
Making Buckwheat Jelly for the Dokkaebi.
I’d done plenty of internet searches to prepare for this moment.
“Min Ju, let’s make Buckwheat Jelly.”
I measured out cold water, poured it into a pot, then sprinkled the measured buckwheat flour over it.
“We need to mix it well.”
“Right.”
Two years as a restaurant assistant hadn’t gone to waste.
Min Ju dissolved the buckwheat flour smoothly into the water.
Only after stirring out every lump did he set the pot over the heat.
“Keep stirring in one direction.”
“I’ve never made jelly before.”
“Neither have I.”
When my arm began to feel heavy, I switched places with Min Ju.
The mixture bubbled gently, releasing wisps of deep buckwheat aroma that filled the Kitchen.
The contents of the pot grew steadily stickier.
“I’ve got it from here.”
I stirred, gauging the viscosity carefully.
Was this thickness right?
Or did it need to be stickier still?
I poured everything into making Buckwheat Jelly that would satisfy the Dokkaebi.
“Min Ju, bring me a bowl.”
I spooned the sticky jelly into a square-shaped dish.
“Done. Now it just needs to set properly.”
Song Yi and Hwang Geum-i burst into the Kitchen.
“Dad! Did you make the Buckwheat Jelly for the Dokkaebi?”
“Woof! Woof!”
“Yep. Think the Dokkaebi will like it?”
“I wrote a letter for the Dokkaebi!”
Song Yi thrust a picture letter toward me.
In the sketchbook, a Dokkaebi wearing a red hat was drawn.
<Dad and sister made Buckwheat Jelly, come eat it!>
This sentence seemed to have given her trouble.
“You wrote that beautifully. Should we take the letter over first?”
Song Yi bounded toward the Lobby, her split pigtails bobbing.
She propped the letter up beside the fireplace.
“Hehe. I miss the Dokkaebi.”
That night.
As I set the cooled Buckwheat Jelly beside the fireplace, I thought to myself:
Dokkaebi. I don’t ask for much.
Bring forth the gold.
‘More gold!’
If you pay your dues properly, I’ll treat you to more Buckwheat Jelly.
I Inherited the Dokkaebi Hotel
Author
: WhyAreYouSurprised
Created
: August 25, 2026
Publisher
: ACESIS Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: ACESIS Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACESIS Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract.
Without permission from the company and author, the contents may not be used in any form or by any means.
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law, and unauthorized republication or reproduction may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260730113

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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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