Goblin: The Lonely and the Great God - Chapter 7

Heavy Rain Warning

The last night before leaving passed slowly. The faces of the grim reaper and the Goblin were dark. They had always been bickering with each other, but now the grim reaper was sad to see the Goblin go. This house was going to be completely his, but the grim reaper wasn’t as happy as he had expected. A weird friendship had bonded between the two.

The sound of a doorbell broke the gloomy silence. Looking at each other in shock, the grim reaper and the Goblin stood up. The sound of a doorbell. This house was a place where no one needed to ring things like doorbells. The only people who came to this house were the Goblin and the grim reaper, who walked through walls, and the Goblin’s servant, who knew his way into the house. It had been like that for 60 years. The two men walked towards the door.

When they opened the door, the person waiting outside was Eun Tak. She had been pressing her ear on the door when a shadow loomed over her head. Eun Tak looked up and started walking away; the grim reaper was looking at her. 

“Isn’t this the Goblin’s house?”

“This is my house. Did you actually come to find me? Of your own accord?”

“N… No… I think I was mistaken…”

Eun Tak bashed into something behind her. When she turned around, the Goblin was standing there. His appearance was always sudden but welcoming. Especially when she was in front of a grim reaper.

This girl. This girl had come through his doors and now had rung his doorbell. She had probably not known that a grim reaper was living here. The Goblin tried to shoo the grim reaper away. Eun Tak's life might have ended when he returned to Korea. That was how short a person’s life was. He had thought that the meeting at the beach was their last, but again, this girl was standing in front of him.

“What are you doing here? How did you know where I live?”

“I asked the ghosts where the Goblin’s house was. But what is a grim reaper doing here? Do you guys live together?”

"Until today. But why did you come here?”

The grim reaper looked at the two. The Goblin had told him that the girl wasn’t his bride, but the girl had come here. The grim reaper teased them, telling them to have a nice lover's quarrel, and left.

“I had something to ask you. You know how you said that I had to see something; but what happens if I can?”

“Why are you asking? You can’t see it.”

“Who says I can’t see it?”

“What?”

“Just answer my three questions. If I can see it, am I your bride? If I can see it, will you give me 5000 dollars? And if I can see it… Will you not leave?”

The Goblin couldn’t understand what this girl was asking. Only the last sentence rang in his ear. Did she want him to not leave?

“Don’t leave. Just stay here. In South Korea. Can’t you?”

“Can you really see it?”

She couldn’t see it. Well, she had told him she couldn’t. How could he believe her when she hadn’t been able to see it all this time? The Goblin told her to prove it, but Eun Tak shook her head. He had to answer her questions first.

“You can’t see it.”

“I can see it. Really! I can!”

Eun Tak pointed her finger with a furious face. The tip of her finger pointed at the middle of his chest. The Goblin’s eyes wavered.

“This sword.”

Suddenly, the memory of his death came back to him. Her finger seemed to stab him all over again. Lightning thundered. The sudden change frightened Eun Tak, but her finger still pointed at the handle of the sword. The sword only the bride could pull out.

He had never forgotten a single death and now he could die, too...

“I could see it since the first time we met, this sword. What am I now? Am I still not the Goblin’s bride?”

She was the Goblin’s bride. The death he had been wishing for all his life. 

“... I think you are.”

The girl smiled, relieved. 

“Really? Then am I useful now? Are you not leaving anymore?”

“For now. But I might need to get ready to go further away.”

Eun Tak widened her eyes, waiting for an explanation, but the Goblin said no more. It was a relief that she was the Goblin’s bride, but still, the Goblin’s face was dark. Could he still not believe that she was his bride, or did he not want her to be his bride? Eun Tak’s happy mood went a bit down, but it couldn’t half reach where the Goblin was now. His mood was way down below.

“Why did you pretend you couldn’t see it all this time?”

“At first I ignored it out of respect, and then I was a bit scared.”

“Specifically.”

Eun Tak had seen the sword ever since she had passed him on the streets. There had been some ghosts who had found her with a normal appearance, but some found her with blood and burn marks all over. It was a very heartbreaking thing to see. 

Eun Tak had thought that the sword was one of those things. When she saw that gigantic sword stuck in his chest, Eun Tak felt sorry for him, how it must have hurt. So she had pretended that she couldn’t see it.

“We were total strangers back then. It’s not respectful to ask about someone’s past pains, so I ignored it. After that, I was scared about what was going to happen after I told you I could. Do I have to marry him straight away? Then what about college? Am I going to become a goblin too? And does he have money? Stuff like that.”

The man had told her that she needed to see something, and Eun Tak had guessed that it was the sword. But what was going to happen after? She wanted to know what kind of person this man was first. But the Goblin had made her upset. She got upset.

At first, he had lied saying that he wasn’t the Goblin, and then he had said that she had no use for him, and then he had said that she was living a bonus life. She had been angry and upset. But she didn’t want him to leave.

“What do I do now? As a bride?”

Eun Tak asked in a nervous and excited voice. The Goblin sighed.

“The first thing you have to do as the bride is… Wait here for a moment.”

The Goblin left Eun Tak outside and hurriedly opened the door into the grim reaper’s room.

“She can see the sword! She actually pointed at it! Precisely at the handle!”

“Nice. She must be your bride. Now, get out.”

The Goblin fumed with anger as he was the grim reaper just looking at him.

“She can see the sword! She’s my bride! I’m going to die!”

“Nice. It’s a good thing, isn’t it? Wasn’t you looking for your bride to die?”

He was. After starting this immortal life, he had always looked for his bride. He had been happy and sad in this life, but still, he had looked for death. The grim reaper raised an eyebrow. What was the problem then? There was no problem. The time had come. Death had come.

”I am relieved that this life will be over soon, but it wasn’t always that tiring… I think I could live a bit more…”

Did he really want to live? This hell-like life. 

It was strange. He had never had anything holding him back before.

The reaper told the Goblin that he would take the girl anytime. But unlike the reaction he was expecting, the Goblin acted like he was going to accept that offer. The grim reaper didn’t mind; he didn’t want the Goblin to die either. The Goblin smiled. He knew how the grim reaper was feeling.

The warm feeling didn’t last long. The sound of a doorbell rang again. This time, there was no doubt that it was Eun Tak.

“Death is calling me…”

“She must be a kind death, ringing the doorbell and all. Calm down and think. Did you say anything to hurt her feelings?”

Say things to hurt her feelings. They had not even met 10 times, but he had said about 9 things that hurt her feelings. Realising this, the Goblin’s heart dropped. He deserved to die. It was the right thing to do.

The two left the room and headed towards the Goblin’s death. 

“I told you to wait for a moment. Couldn’t you wait that long? Why are you so impatient?”

He was going to die anyway. He didn’t care anymore.

“Sorry, but I can’t wait anymore. After I found out that I was the Goblin’s bride, all I did was wait for you. I waited for a very long time.”

Truthfully, it wasn’t the Goblin she had been waiting for. It was the bride part she wanted. If she had a person to marry, did it mean she would have a family? That was the one ray of light in Eun Tak’s dark life. The thing that comforted her at the worst of times. 

Eun Tak had made her mind not to hold the man who was leaving tomorrow. The man wanted to leave. She had made her mind up to not hold him back. But, the reality was hard. She couldn’t think about what the Goblin wanted anymore. Eun Tak just wanted him to stay.

“My aunt’s family left the house. I don’t even have a home anymore. I thought I was at rock bottom, but now I’m underground. So since that topic came up, I’m going to grow up in this house. I’ll grow up like a cactus. I’ll grow up by myself.”

The 939-year-old felt bad for the 19-year-old. This life was way too hard for a 19-year-old. He was about to die, but he still felt bad for this girl. He had wanted to pat this girl’s head when she had said that she would grow up like a cactus. It was a weird feeling.

“I am a normal Year 13 girl. Well, I wanted to be, but at the age of 9 I became an orphan and all sorts of stuff kept happening to me. Under the sky without my mum, I was bullied by my aunt and two cousins for 10 years now. I've lived a life filled with various unhappy sauces, but that’s when I met you. Like destiny!”

The girl was telling him downright that she wanted to live in this house, and that she was just a poor kid. Even the grim reaper was nodding his head. 

“So, help me... please.”

“Help me… please.”

There had been a voice who had called out to him like this before. A voice that had begged him for their life. 

“Help me? You want me to help you. You want me to let you live here. Don’t you know who’s living here?”

“It doesn’t matter. I was supposed to die if it wasn’t for you, anyway. I’ve got nowhere else to go. They say it’s always in the last place you look. If I’m right under his nose he’ll never find me. You can be my nose.”

Eun Tak talked like she had really made up her mind. The Goblin shook his head at this girl’s stupidity but opened the door to death for her.

The moment she set foot in the Goblin’s house, her head turned in all directions. The place had looked extraordinary from far away, but now it was just magnificent. There were so many rooms, Eun Tak couldn’t even count them all. The chandeliers hanging on the ceiling shimmered at every angle. New and old things filled the room; each in its perfect space. Eun Tak had known that the Goblin was rich, but she did not know he was this rich. This house was out of the world. She set her mind again. She was going to live here. With him.

The Goblin could see all through Eun Tak. She was an open book.

“You said you didn’t like me. You said you really didn’t like me.”

“I talked a whole load of nonsense. You’re actually really handsome. Like Bin Won, really.”

The Goblin raised an eyebrow. She really was talking a whole load of nonsense.

“I can hear your thoughts.”

“Oh. Then I take back the part where I apologised to Bin Won.”

“I was joking.”

“... Joking? What do you mean, joking? You said you could hear my thoughts last time.”

“That was when the joke started.”

“Then how did you find me when I was kidnapped?”

“I just felt it. I’m not certain, but I think it has something to do with the mark on your neck.”

“You fraud! I really believed you could hear my thoughts so I thought really quietly, and I thought by breaking it into parts, and I thought while singing, and I looked at the leaf and told myself that I wasn’t thinking about you but the leaf. I was cautious when I was thinking of my own thoughts!”

This girl was really brave and smart, but at times like these, she was way too honest. A lot of her words and actions were new to the Goblin. Things no one had ever dared to say or do to him. He stood up abruptly to hide his embarrassment.

*

The place Eun Tak was sent to was a hotel. It was her second time visiting a hotel, the first was in Canada. This time it was a Korean hotel, but she never imagined that she would be entering a suite room on the second visit. Eun Tak shouted in delight as she jumped into the soft bed. It was the comfiest thing she had ever felt. If there was a heaven, it would have been something like this. 

Eun Tak had thought that she would sleep in that house. She was his bride but he had sent her anyway. But thanks to the Goblin, she met the Yoo family. The Chairman had bowed down his head to her. It was very strange. She had thought that he was just a random elderly, but when she received his business card, her hand started to shake. She had never imagined she would meet a real millionaire. The Chairman had told her to call his nephew if she needed anything. Eun Tak’s eyes widened when she met the nephew. He was the man she had met at the bookstore. He really was a rich boy. It was a strange coincidence.

“Suite room… Nice… Alone in a nice suite room…”

The Goblin had not kicked her away completely. He had said, for now. She was in a nice suite room by herself. The large room made her a bit scared. Eun Tak hugged her pillow tightly. She imagined her future in her mind. Life was never predictable.

Rain clouds filled the sky on the way to school. Raindrops drizzled down on her hand. Eun Tak stood under the entrance of the hotel, wondering when the rain would stop. The drops that fell on her hand were cold. While grabbing her umbrella out of her bag, a sudden burst of anger filled her. 

“What’s his problem? If he doesn’t like me he should just say so! Why are you making it rain?”

When the Goblin was sad, it rained. That man must be very sad right now. The sorrowful feelings she had since yesterday turned into anger. She bit her lip to stop the tears from coming out when a car skidded to a stop in front of her. When she looked up at the sound of the horn, Duk Hwa was sitting in his sports car. He winked at her and motioned for her to sit next to her.

The Chairman had told Duk Hwa that Eun Tak was a very special person and that he needed to treat her with care. How special she was, his credit card was on the line. One of the things he needed to do was drop her off at school. Duk Hwa noisily swerved into the school guards and parked the car. He opened the car door for Eun Tak, who had covered her face in shame. 

The murmurings of the students came into Duk Hwa’s ears, but it wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. He had expected envy, but they resented her instead. Words like ‘compensated dating' came up. Duk Hwa looked at the girl running away into the school. He could imagine what school life was like for that girl. The girl who had been bullied by her aunt and two cousins, the ‘Cinderella girl,’ the girl who was a loner at school. They must have been the same girl. 

When Duk Hwa arrived at his uncle’s house, the Goblin and the grim reaper were eating a late breakfast. They looked like they were eating sad; just watching them made Duk Hwa feel sad and depressed. His uncle was a person who changed moods quite rapidly, but it was a bit different this time. Like someone who had neurasthenia. Duk Hwa guessed that it was because of the girl who he had dropped off at school that day. His uncle ignored him, so he went to the end-room uncle and asked him instead. 

“That girl is our uncle’s bride? Why is that girl our uncle’s bride?”

“I don’t know. It could be the god’s little joke.”

“Oh, that’s why our uncle’s sad. He doesn’t like the girl. The god’s little joke was too big.”

Duk Hwa already knew that the end-room uncle was a grim reaper. After listening to the two men talking, he knew straight away. Serving a goblin since young had changed his perspective on life. Men like grim reapers meant nothing to him. 

As the Goblin, the grim reaper was in a bad mood too. He had cried in front of a woman he had never seen before. They had been fighting over a jade ring, trying to figure out who was going to take it home. In the end, he had received her phone number. One of the men was making it rain, and the other was making the house freeze. Duk Hwa sighed. His life was hard.

“Think carefully. Are you sure you’ve never seen that woman before? A man shouldn’t be like that. A man should take responsibility. Even though you might not remember that day, she might remember something.”

If Duk Hwa had seen the scene, he would have said something differently. The woman had been smiling. She had tossed her hair over and had introduced herself as ‘Sunny.’ On a piece of paper, she had written her phone number and had left her lipstick mark in the corner. He could still see her kiss the piece of paper. The grim reaper’s frozen plate started to crack.

Duk Hwa groaned loudly.

“That’s the plate my uncle bought when Louis XIV was in reign. It’s one of his favourite things in the house…”

*

The grim reaper went to the bridge where he had first met Sunny but came back disappointed. The Goblin was standing in the lounge, wearing a black suit. A white shirt and black tie. The reaper knew where the Goblin was heading too.

Only when someone was standing between the paths of life and death, the Goblin realised the time he had wasted. 

“What’s with the clothes? Is it a marriage or a funeral? Or is this why people say marriage is digging our own grave?”

“I’m very solemn today so just answer my question.”

The grim reaper stopped joking around at the Goblin’s serious voice. The Goblin’s eyes were a bit tearful as he looked at his watch. He asked the grim reaper whether it was possible to meet dead souls that lived in foreign lands, and the grim reaper replied that it was possible. He had felt the man he had once been a guardian spirit for dying. Slowly.

That old man had once been a young boy too. In fact, the Goblin had first met him when the old man was only a young boy. The Goblin had been walking across land overseas when he had bumped into the boy. The boy had been running away from home, not being able to endure more of his stepfather’s beatings, when the Goblin had handed over to him a sandwich. If the Goblin hadn’t stopped him from leaving, the boy would have lived a worse life than before. A few more beatings would be better than a beat-up life. 

That day, the Goblin had given the boy some advice and had broken his stepfather’s ribs. It was easier that way.

“You went around doing stuff like that?”

The grim reaper asked, wondering why the Goblin was helping humans. Maybe goblins just liked humans in general. 

The young boy remembered the gentleman who he had met only once in his life. The gentleman had been his turning point in life. Remembering the sandwich the man had given him, and the warmth that came along with it, the young boy had lived a generous life. The Goblin wanted to see him once more before the boy left the world. 

“I have handed out sandwiches thousands of times, but it is rare to find people who go on living like that boy. People usually stop at that point, waiting for the next miracle as if they had left it with us. But that boy went on living, and so I’ve always supported him.”

The Goblin’s rule was to not involve himself in someone’s life or death, but sometimes he became a guardian spirit for them. 

*

Eun Tak sat at the hotel suite room table and solved her maths problems. The final exams were coming up and she was in year 13. So like a year 13, she studied while waiting. She waited and waited in that big and empty room. 

The day was so dark, and it looked like a storm was going to come, so she went to the Goblin’s house again and knocked on the door. How sad was he for the weather to be this bad? She thumped hard on the door and called out to the Goblin. Open the door. Stop avoiding me. If you don’t come out I’m going to blow on this big candle. But the Goblin didn’t come out. He had been looking for his bride, but now he was casting her away. What was he thinking? 

A new day had come but still, the Goblin hadn’t come. Eun Tak placed heaps of candles on the hotel table and lit all of them up. If he left, she was going to call him again and again and again and again. With tearful eyes, Eun Tak blew on a candle.

Blink. The Goblin appeared in front of her. His face looked a bit tired. He could have come this easily, but what had he been doing all this time? She became angrier when she realised that he looked more good-looking wearing a black suit.

“Where were you? Why are you avoiding me?”

“Did you come to the house? I wasn’t avoiding you. I was busy.”

“You were busy avoiding me. You don’t even have a job. Am I that?”

Eun Tak breathed angrily.

“Not enough?”

“What?”

“Then what am I? You avoided me because you were the Goblin, and then you avoided me because you apparently weren’t the Goblin. Then you avoided me because I couldn't see the sword, and now you’re avoiding me because I can see the sword! You’re such a fraud! An adult shouldn’t be like that. Try vanishing again, I’m going to blow all these candles off!”

He was planning to come here when she had summoned him. The girl wouldn’t understand but he needed the courage to see her now. The Goblin had thought his whole life that he wanted to die. But now death had actually found him, and there were so many things holding him back. The more he stayed alive, the more things held him back. Watching the young boy walk up the stairs to heaven, another death had been seared into his memory. At times like these, he knew that he had to die, but whenever he came to see the girl, another thing held him back. 

Candles shone lightly behind Eun Tak’s back. A lot of warm and bright flames lit up the room.

“It’s pretty…”

“I’m very serious right now!”

“Me too.”

His answer made Eun Tak lost for words. She looked at him closely and saw that his eyes were drooping sadly. Were his eyes always this sad? It was more sorrowful than before. Eun Tak became upset, thinking that the reason for his sadness was her.

“Can’t I just live at your house? There are a lot of empty rooms."

“How do you know whether they are empty or not?”

“Duk Hwa told me.”

The Goblin laughed in disbelief, but Eun Tak just stared at him. There was no going back, there was nowhere to go back anyway. 

“You told me to wait for a moment. A moment is 30 minutes to a maximum of half a day. How many days have passed already? And plus, it poured with rain the last few days. Were you sad? Because of me?”

“...No.”

It was a relief that he had said no, but Eun Tak was already upset. Maybe it would be better off not being his bride. 

“It’s okay. You can tell me. I’ve gotten ready these past few days. I’m ready to hear anything you tell me.”

“Why would you get ready? I’m the one who needs to get ready.”

The Goblin laughed emptily and headed towards the hotel fridge. Purposely avoiding the girl’s gaze, he opened a can of beer. He had no intention of answering any of her questions again. 

“Have you had dinner?”

“I shouldn’t have told you I could see the sword. I can see the sword, but now I can’t see you.”

The beer travelled down his throat painfully. 

“What do you have to get ready for? Don’t do it by yourself, let’s do it together.”

“Do you want steak? Should I call room service?”

“... I’ll forgive you since you’re changing the topic.”

Sighing, Eun Tak wore her coat. The more mature person would have to understand the other. She had no choice but to understand him. Eun Tak smiled at the Goblin. She didn’t want beef today.

The Goblin took another sip of beer. The girl’s smile pained him again.

    (This is a translated version of "Goblin: The Lonely and the Great God." Written by Eun Sook Kim and Soo Yeon Kim.)