Tears
A hoarse voice came out of Eun Tak. She had felt the hand on her head.
The Goblin sighed silently. This girl was asking him if he was hurting.
“I’m fine, but I think I should be asking that question.”
“True that,” Eun Tak shuddered. “ I thought I was going to die.”
“... I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright; at least you came to save me. You probably didn’t know either that the sword would hurt this much.”
Blinded with pain, the Goblin had pushed her away. Everything had been less than a moment; the surprise and the fear, but he had caught her again. What pained Eun Tak more, was the face of the Goblin when the sword was hurting him.
Eun Tak smiled at the Goblin.
“I didn’t expect you to prove your flying skills to me like this.”
It was Eun Tak’s way of telling the Goblin to stop apologising.
“Let’s try our best; this isn’t as easy as it looks.”
“Okay.”
“You’re certain now, aren’t you? That I’m your bride. I’m really glad…”
She smiled, proudly. The Goblin forced a smile too. It was one of those times when he wished that she wasn’t his bride.
Eun Tak looked at the Goblin curiously. It was a good thing, but she could still hear rain falling outside the windows.
“... Am I not supposed to be glad?”
“You are.”
He gave Eun Tak a comforting smile.
“I told you I was your bride. It’s my destiny.”
Destiny. It was her destiny to be his lover and bride.
Reality was a mess too. The Goblin had made the street into havoc while trying to save Eun Tak. It seemed like a tornado had passed by; silently, parked cars had all been flipped over, and it was all over the internet.
Duk Hwa was the first to see the video. He, himself, was a troublesome rich boy, but his fake uncle was another level of trouble. Quickly, he called Secretary Kim.
The whole of the company spent that day deleting the videos from online, while the grim reaper spent that day erasing the witness’ and victim’s memories. The wrecked cars were because of a storm, and the money was a gift dropped from the skies.
*
Her body was fine, but her muscles weren’t. Eun Tak was sticking Pain Relief Patches on her arms and legs when she quickly ran outside. She had heard the crash of a plate. Downstairs, the grim reaper quietly cleaned up the broken mess, while next to him, the Goblin lay unconscious.
The grim reaper was in a very bad mood because of all the extra work he had had to do because of the Goblin. He had come home tired, but now he was cleaning up after the Goblin again.
“What’s wrong with him? Is he… dead?”
“It’s because of the medicine. Just leave him there.”
“He might get a cramp if he sleeps there..”
Eun Tak looked at the grim reaper with hopeful eyes, but the grim reaper just left the Goblin on the floor. She pouted her lips; he was too big to move by herself, he was going to have to sleep there today. Eun Tak brought a thick blanket out from his room and covered him with it. Just in case he got cold, Eun Tak lit small candles and placed them around him. She lay down beside the Goblin, and looked at him with worry.
“What’s wrong? Why did you take medicine? Does it still hurt?”
The sleeping Goblin did not answer. Eun Tak reached out her hand and touched his forehead; at least he didn’t have a fever.
“Why are you lying down here like this?”
“... It hurts.”
“Are you awake now?”
“The smell of pain reliefs…”
“I’m hurting everywhere. What about you? You said you were fine.”
“I was lying.”
Eun Tak smiled at the fast confession.
“Stop lying to me and get better.”
She stroked his head, once, twice, thrice. The Goblin opened his eyes.
“You don’t even know where it hurts…”
“Where is it hurting?”
“... My first love. It’s very painful.”
Her hands stopped moving and her smile turned into a frown. The Goblin looked at her sudden change in emotions.
“Why? Was your first love really pretty?”
“Yeah. A lot. She’s pretty every single day.”
“You’re in a lot of pain; go to sleep quickly. Sleep deeply so you'll get a cramp.”
Eun Tak forcefully patted the Goblin’s shoulder and sat up.
“Stay with me…”
“I don’t want to stay with you. Why would I want to stay with someone who’s telling their bride about his first love? There’s nothing pretty about a person like that.”
“If you look carefully you’ll be able to find the prettiness, so don’t leave.”
Eun Tak sighed, but lay down again. She might not be his first love, but she was first and last Goblin’s bride.
*
Eun Tak showed the copied diary to Duk Hwa. She hadn’t believed that he could read Chinese characters at first, but now he was her only hope.
“What is this anyway?”
“Your uncle’s background check; especially about his first love. Don’t tell him; it’s our secret.”
“Eun Tak! How did you know I loved background checks?”
Duk Hwa looked at the characters on the notebook.
“Oh, apparently this is listen, Cheong.”
I sometimes thought that this life was a reward, but in the end it has been a punishment.
No death has been forgotten.
Because the gods are still not listening.
‘Because the gods are still not listening…’
With a weird look in his eyes, Duk Hwa stared at the notebook.
“It’s a letter.”
“A letter?’
“Yeah. A sad, love letter.”
Eun Tak bit her lip, sorrowfully.
“And after living a hundred more years. On that day. On that normal day…”
Eun Tak quickly shut the notebook close. She didn’t want to hear anymore.
After parting with the furious girl, Duk Hwa went to his uncle’s house to give the scroll his grandfather had told him to give. He had come a few times before with it, but hadn’t been able to meet him.
Duk Hwa had secretly seen what was on the scroll. To his eyes, it was just a painting of an elegant and beautiful woman; there was nothing to cry about. But the grim reaper, who had secretly looked at it with him, started to cry. While handing the scroll over to his uncle, Duk Hwa told him about what had happened with the grim reaper.
“He cried?”
The Goblin could obviously not understand it either. With the scroll in his hands, the Goblin went to find the grim reaper.
“Did you cry when you saw this? Why would you cry? I don’t even cry while looking at this.”
The grim reaper saw Duk Hwa standing behind him; he had probably told the Goblin about it. The tears were a shock for the grim reaper too. He had cried when he had first seen Sunny, and now he had cried when seeing that portrait. It felt like he had cheated on Sunny with that girl. But it wasn’t even like Sunny and him were in a very special relationship or anything.
“I was shocked too so I thought about it a bit. Do you think I have Stendhal’s syndrome? That portrait made me feel all touched and overwhelmed. But who is that woman, anyway?”
“Why do you want to know?”
The Goblin’s answer was cold.
“Just… I think I’ve seen her somewhere before…”
Seen her? The Goblin’s eyes widened.
“Who is the girl you saw? This girl is my sister.”
It was the first time Duk Hwa had heard about his uncle’s family. He hadn’t even known that the Goblin, who seemed like he had just suddenly fallen from the sky one day, had a family.
“Have you really seen my sister before? Think carefully. Where did you see her?”
“Your sister… I’m not sure. Maybe she was one of the souls I sent up to heaven.”
“Did this girl reincarnate? When?”
“I’m really not sure. Do you know how many souls I sent up? How would I remember all of their faces? It’s not the face I remember, it’s the emotions… It was just so sad… My heart… It hurt…”
The grim reaper’s heart was starting to hurt again.
It was one of the Goblin’s biggest scars. Not being able to save his lovely sister.
When the room’s atmosphere was starting to get heavy, Duk Hwa suddenly shouted.
“I know! I think I know what this is! End Room uncle must be my uncle’s sister's reincarnation! Try to say ‘brother’ to him, End Room uncle.”
Both uncle’s glared at Duk Hwa and left the room.
The two men sat on the terrace bench, drinking beer. It wasn’t a good mood, but the Goblin opened his mouth first.
“I wonder what going to nothing means. Does it mean that it will become ashes and scatter into the world, or does it mean that I’ll just vanish from the world, like that.”
“How do you know, you might just become the word nothing.”
The Goblin stared at the grim reaper weirdly but started to laugh. They were laughing stupidly because the alcohol was starting to make them tipsy.
“Why are you even worrying about that? The missing soul can’t even touch your sword.”
“Eun Tak can. It even moved. That child… She actually was my bride. It hurt a lot. It was a pain I never felt before.”
The grim reaper looked at the Goblin in surprise.
“But have you told her yet? That you’ll die if it gets pulled out.”
“Not yet. At first, I didn’t have a reason to tell her; next, I didn’t have the chance to tell her; and now, I can’t tell her. How could I tell her? That she’s supposed to kill me with my own hands.”
“What are you going to do then? You said the sword moved.”
“I’m just going to keep it a secret.”
“Until when?”
“I don’t know. Maybe about 80 years?”
Knowing what the Goblin was talking about, the grim reaper looked away.
“That’s the maximum amount of time a nineteen-year-old girl can live on for.”
The Goblin placed his can back on the table. He wasn't sure if his plan was going to work, but he wanted to die with her. When Eun Tak’s life was about to end, he could go back to nothing. It was one of the endings he liked.
“I’m just telling you this in case of unfortunate events; but if you really plan to go that way, don’t ever tell the missing soul about the truth of the sword. Love? That’s just the hormone’s definition of a joke. 80 years? That’s just your imagination. About two years later, someone might find you as a corpse. I’ve seen a lot of corpses that were killed impulsively.”
Another worry got added to the Goblin’s huge list. Did Eun Tak think of him the way he did of her?
The grim reaper had said it as a joke, but the Goblin had just become more depressed.
“But why did the sword suddenly move? I thought she couldn’t even touch it? What has changed since then?”
“Changed… Oh! I know what has changed. I think that girl likes me. But since when? She should have just told me if she likes me…”
The grim reaper grimaced in horror at the Goblin’s smile.
Eun Tak came in through the door, fully dressed, and told the grim reaper that she was leaving. She didn’t even look at the Goblin.
“Seeing her, I don’t think you could even last 2 years. I’d say a year and 2 months?”
The Goblin glared at the grim reaper and followed the girl outside.
Eun Tak walked with the Goblin on the way to the library.
“But why do you think the sword suddenly moved? I couldn’t even touch it before.”
It was the subject the Goblin had wanted to talk about too.
“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”
“No.”
“I think you do.”
“Oh, that… Well I do have something to tell you.”
“Yeah, I can see right through you; what is it? You can tell me anything.”
Without knowing what the Goblin wanted to hear, Eun Tak gulped.
“I know you have a lot of money… But is it okay for you to stay home all the time?”
“Is that… What you wanted to tell me?”
“It’s just that you should go out a bit more and do some jobs. It’s not healthy to always stay home like this.”
The way she was expressing it was annoying. It was as if he just sat at home playing and eating. Was that all she had to say?
“I did have a job before!”
Eun Tak imagined the Goblin doing service jobs and laughed.
“That’s why you don’t have a job. Because you’re slow on things.”
“Slow? What do you mean slow on things?”
“What do you think it means? It means you’re stupid. Look around at the people who don’t have jobs. Look at Duk Hwa. He’s a bit stupid too.”
The Goblin was astonished. He couldn’t believe that Eun Tak thought he was stupid.
“No one has ever said that to me before! Really! No one!”
“Oh, I suppose your first love has never told you about your stupid thing.”
First love. The Goblin smiled at the girl.
“Wait a second… Are you jealous?”
He had been angry a moment ago, but now he was smiling.
“Why would I be jealous! How could I be jealous of someone who might have lived like 500 years ago? So when was your first love anyway? The Goryeo dynasty? The Joseon dynasty? Well, I suppose she must have been very beautiful and elegant. But just saying, first love’s don’t come true. That’s just how it’s meant to be.”
Eun Tak didn’t even know who the Goblin’s first love was, but she was getting jealous and angry over her. He knew that Eun Tak liked him; well, he liked her too. It was a weird thing; being happy by making that person angry.
“Go back home! Don’t wait for me; I’m going to be late.”
The girl walked furiously into the library doors. The Goblin smiled with a hint of sorrow.
“Who says first loves don’t come true? I don’t want it to not come true.”
The Goblin stared at the library doors for a long, sorrowful time.
(This is a translated version of "Goblin: The Lonely and the Great God." Written by Eun Sook Kim and Soo Yeon Kim.)
1 Comments
Eun Tak's jealousy this time in chapter 15! Comment and give me feedback!!
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