Goblin Library

Chapter 7

“Try pressing a person’s name with your finger.”

“But they’re too far away.”

From where they were, it was impossible to reach them with his finger.

“Just pretend you’re pressing it in your mind and press it. The distance doesn’t matter, as long as you can see the name.”

Tae-pung nodded at the Cauldron Goblin’s words, brought his finger to the name floating above Cha Im-beom’s head, and pretended to press it.

And then…

「Cha Im-beom.

He is the main character in the Cauldron Goblin’s novel .

He was born into a harmonious family. He became a firefighter, thinking that civil servants were the best in this time of unemployment.

His reason for becoming a firefighter is nothing special, but he gradually felt a sense of responsibility for his work as a firefighter, and now he takes pride in it.

The way Cha Im-beom is reborn little by little as a firefighter every day is truly heartwarming.」

As Cha Im-beom’s introduction appeared, Tae-pung looked at the Cauldron Goblin in surprise. The Cauldron Goblin smiled and said,

“When you press the name, the character introduction written by the author goblin appears.”

“I never imagined there would be such a function.”

Tae-pung was truly amazed. It was surprising enough that names appeared above people’s heads, but to think that a character description window could also appear…

“As a human, you wouldn’t have seen anything like this.”

The Cauldron Goblin smiled at Tae-pung and said,

“How do you feel seeing it in person?”

“Seeing the person I read about in the book right in front of my eyes like this, it still feels like a dream, and I’m a bit dazed.”

“Think of the book as a book, and this as a drama or a movie.”

At the Cauldron Goblin’s words, Tae-pung looked at Cha Im-beom and then suddenly looked at her.

“How is the subject matter progressing?”

“Subject matter? Ah! The subject matter.”

The Cauldron Goblin nodded at Tae-pung’s words and said with a smile.

“I decided to collaborate on a work with the Honey Bucket Goblin.”

“Honey… Bucket Goblin?”

“Nowadays, there’s no need for honey buckets to collect excrement, but in the past, there were people who scooped up excrement from toilets and carried it away. The buckets they used were literally honey buckets, and the Honey Bucket Goblin was born from them.”

Tae-pung nodded at the Cauldron Goblin’s kind explanation and asked,

“Then does he write novels too?”

“Most goblins write novels. So the Honey Bucket Goblin writes novels too.”

The Cauldron Goblin shook her head as she spoke.

“But the Honey Bucket Goblin’s novels aren’t popular.”

“Why?”

“Most of the main characters in his works are just jerks and narrow-minded and bossy older people. He always writes unlikeable characters as the main characters. So they’re not popular.”

“Why does he make those kinds of people the main characters?”

“That’s…”

The Cauldron Goblin glanced at Cha Im-beom and said,

“Should I say he’s drawn to them?”

“Drawn?”

“He’s attracted to people who have a similar feel to the object he was born from.”

“Ah…”

If it was a honey bucket, it would make sense to have unlikeable people like jerks and narrow-minded and bossy older people as the main characters.

“Then are all goblins born from such objects?”

Tae-pung asked, recalling the cauldron, bamboo sword, and honey bucket, and the Cauldron Goblin nodded.

“Usually, yes. Objects tend to be imbued with the emotions and feelings of the people who use them. There’s no object that’s used without any thought. And when those feelings and emotions become strong and intense, we goblins are born.”

“I see.”

“Of course, there are also goblins who aren’t like that.”

“Then where are they born?”

“Sometimes they come as wind, sometimes as rain… They come in many forms.”

Tae-pung nodded at the Cauldron Goblin’s explanation. He didn’t quite understand, but it seemed like there were more goblins in this era than he thought.

“Then are the Cauldron Goblin’s works widely read?”

Since she said the Honey Bucket Goblin’s books weren’t widely read, he was curious about the Cauldron Goblin’s books.

The Cauldron Goblin flinched at Tae-pung’s words and quickly changed the subject.

“Ah! Give me your number.”

“My number?”

“Yes. I thought it would be nice to be able to talk to you even when you don’t have my book.”

The Cauldron Goblin smiled and took out her phone, looking at Tae-pung. Unable to avoid her sparkling eyes, Tae-pung gave her his number.

‘Seeing her change the subject like that… I guess the Cauldron Goblin doesn’t have many readers either.’

That’s probably why she was so happy to see him reading her book and talked to him.

‘Come to think of it, the Bamboo Sword Goblin also seemed to want me to read his book.’

It made sense. The purpose of writing a novel would be to have others read it. But since no one was reading it, he would subtly recommend it to those around him, and he would be even more pleased to have a reader after a long time.

As Tae-pung was thinking this, his phone rang.

Ding! Ding!

Tae-pung took out his phone and entered the number.

「Cauldron Goblin」

The Cauldron Goblin, having exchanged phone numbers with Tae-pung, said with a smile,

“I never thought I’d exchange phone numbers with a human.”

“Don’t you contact humans?”

“I used to in the past. Back then, I had some close human friends…”

The Cauldron Goblin stopped mid-sentence. Then, with a slightly sad expression, she continued,

“…but not anymore.”

“Why?”

“Goblins live for a long time, and humans don’t.”

“Ah…”

“So after my close human friends passed away… I haven’t made any more friends. Parting is… sad.”

The Cauldron Goblin shook her head slightly with a bitter expression, then looked at Tae-pung with a bright smile again.

“But since you’ll be working at the Goblin Library anyway and we’ll be seeing each other often, there’s no reason not to become close. It’s better to become close quickly if we’re going to.”

Tae-pung smiled at the Cauldron Goblin’s words.

“You have a really good personality.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Is that so?” the Cauldron Goblin tilted her head and then said with a smile.

“Maybe it’s because the owners of the cauldron I was born from had good personalities. We goblins resemble the personalities of the people who handled us.”

The Cauldron Goblin then looked at where Cha Im-beom was.

“The story will progress soon.”

“Today?”

The story was progressing in the evening after they had discussed it in the morning?

As Tae-pung looked puzzled, the Cauldron Goblin nodded.

“If a story idea comes up, we have to proceed with it right away.”

“That’s true, but… Doesn’t there have to be a house fire for the story to progress?”

According to what they had discussed in the morning, the jerk had to block the road, unaware that the fire truck was heading to extinguish a fire at his own house… so first, there had to be a fire.

But there was no way to know when, where, or how a fire would start, yet the Cauldron Goblin seemed to know that there would be a fire today and that the location would be the jerk’s house.

No, she knew. That’s why she said the story would progress, wasn’t it?

“Don’t tell me? Are you going to set fire to the house?”

“Me?”

The Cauldron Goblin looked at Tae-pung as if he was absurd, then shook her head with a smile.

“No. We don’t intervene directly.”

“Then are you going to indirectly set the fire?”

The Cauldron Goblin laughed at Tae-pung’s words.

“That’s not it either. We don’t do things so recklessly.”

“Then how do you know that there will be a fire? And even the location?”

“Although we don’t start fires, we can know where they will happen.”

“Huh? How?”

“Because I’m a goblin.”

As she spoke, the Cauldron Goblin slightly raised her finger.

Whoosh!

A strange blue flame shot up from the tip of the Cauldron Goblin’s finger.

“Is this… a will-o’-the-wisp?”

“You know it? People these days don’t really know it.”

“I just… heard stories about it. That you shouldn’t follow a will-o’-the-wisp in the countryside.”

The Cauldron Goblin laughed and said,

“Actually, very few of the will-o’-the-wisps that people in the countryside saw in the past were real will-o’-the-wisps. Most of them mistook the eyes of wild boars or tigers for them. Ah! That’s why you shouldn’t follow those lights. Because you could get hurt by wild animals.”

The Cauldron Goblin looked at the flames flickering from her finger and said,

“We goblins are close to fire. I’m especially close to it because I’m a Cauldron Goblin. That’s why I can tell where a fire will start.”

Tae-pung nodded at the Cauldron Goblin’s words.

‘Well, if she was born from a cauldron, it makes sense that she would have an inseparable relationship with fire.’

Understanding the Cauldron Goblin’s words, Tae-pung asked,

“Then is that house the jerk’s house?”

“That’s right.”

The Cauldron Goblin then looked at Tae-pung.

“What we’re doing here is making sure that when the fire starts, the jerk’s path overlaps with the fire truck’s.”

“How?”

“The Honey Bucket Goblin will guide him in that direction.”

Just then, a siren sounded from the fire station. Cha Im-beom and the other firefighters threw their paper cups away and ran inside.

“The story is progressing.”

The Cauldron Goblin hurriedly moved towards the fire station, then paused and swiped her finger across Tae-pung’s fedora.

Whoosh!

Feeling a strange sensation, Tae-pung looked at the Cauldron Goblin.

“This is…”

“It’s to make people not perceive you.”

“Perceive? What does that mean?”

“In fairy tales, they say that people wearing a goblin headband become invisible to others, right?”

“Yes. Ah, so I become invisible?”

“You don’t actually become transparent.”

The Cauldron Goblin looked at Tae-pung as she spoke.

“Just like people see leaves falling from trees but don’t remember each and every one of them, it makes them not perceive us. We become like leaves and stones on the roadside.”

“So they can see us, but they don’t know we’re human.”

“That’s right. That way we can watch them from up close.”

The Cauldron Goblin smiled and walked quickly towards the fire station, saying,

“Come on. We need to be close to the scene to write.”

Tae-pung followed her, then suddenly had a curious thought and asked,

“Am I going with you?”

“We’re already here, don’t you want to see? No, let’s watch together.”

“You want to… watch together?”

“Yes!”

Unable to refuse the Cauldron Goblin who nodded with a bright smile, Tae-pung nodded.

“Alright.”

The Cauldron Goblin entered the fire station and climbed on top of a fire truck, avoiding the busy firefighters.

Having skillfully climbed on top of the fire truck, the Cauldron Goblin looked down at Tae-pung. Tae-pung followed, stepping on and grabbing the spots she had used to climb up.

Sitting carefully on top of the fire truck, Tae-pung said,

“Are we really going like this?”

“Firefighters need to ride inside the fire truck.”

At the Cauldron Goblin’s words, Tae-pung glanced down. He hadn’t realized it when he was below, but looking down from above, it was quite… high.

Moreover, if the fire truck started moving…

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

The Cauldron Goblin looked at him with a ‘What?’ expression, then said “Ah,” and nodded.

“That’s right. You’re human.”

The Cauldron Goblin rummaged through her pants pocket and pulled out a bunch of keys.

Clank!

The Cauldron Goblin’s keys were all different colors.

It was literally like a rainbow, with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

The Cauldron Goblin pulled out a silver key from the key ring and shook it lightly towards Tae-pung.

Whoosh!

A rope appeared, wrapped around Tae-pung’s body, and connected him to the fire truck.

“This will keep you from falling.”

At the Cauldron Goblin’s words, Tae-pung looked at the rope and then shifted his gaze to the key she was holding.

“Is that a goblin club?”

“Yes. Cute, isn’t it?”

“The Bamboo Sword Goblin’s was shaped like a baton. I guess the shape of the club varies.”

“We make and use them according to our preferences. Some use umbrellas, some use cell phones.”

The Cauldron Goblin took a key from the key ring and held it out.

“Come to think of it, I said I’d give you a club, I can give it to you now. Here.”

Tae-pung received the yellow key and looked at it curiously.

‘This is a goblin club?’

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