The Evidence of Sadness
In the end, she got caught by her manager. Eun Tak’s aunt had come to the shop to find her runaway niece. She felt apologetic to Sunny; knowing what a fuss her aunt would have made. Sunny had given her a job and an umbrella, but the only thing Eun Tak had given her was an inconvenience. As if Sunny knew what a hard time Eun Tak was going through, she changed her monthly wages to weekly.
After school, Eun Tak was walking out of her school gates when her phone rang. It was a message from Kyung Mi, asking her to lend her 30 dollars. Kyung Mi really had no shame. Eun Tak’s aunt was going through a hard time because of the loan sharks, but her cousin was going around borrowing money from people. Eun Tak ignored Kyung Mi and put her phone into her pocket. A white van suddenly appeared on the streets and two scary-looking men came off. Before Eun Tak could figure out who these people were, the men grabbed her by the arms and lifted her off her feet.
“Why did a student run away from home? Your aunt is worried about you. Get on.”
“No. I don’t want to. Help…!”
The man covered Eun Tak’s mouth and threw her into the van. She tried to get back out, but the men were too strong. The bulky man held her at the back, and the thin man started the car. No sound came out of Eun Tak’s mouth anymore. She was too scared.
The colourful clothes of the men told Eun Tak that they were loan sharks. Eun Tak’s aunt had probably sold her niece off. The only thing her aunt talked about was her mum’s insurance money. But still. But how? Even though they had never thought of each other as a family, how could she do this? Even if they had been complete strangers, her aunt should not have done this. It was not something a human should do. She could handle all the bullying, but now her life was on the line.
The car was driving at a high speed. They had driven for such a long time, the roads they were taking had not been paved. There were no passing cars. The sun had already set and outside was dark. Eun Tak was trying to keep conscious; looking for the right timing. Although she could do nothing with her two hands, she had to do something.
The bulky man started to search through Eun Tak’s bag. Her notebooks and pens came hurtling out onto the ground. But the bank book was not there. The man driving shouted at the other to find more thoroughly. They had kidnapped the young girl because the woman had said that her niece had the bank book, but they knew nothing else. The thin man bit on a cigarette and lit up his lighter.
Eun Tak’s blank mind woke up with a start. She moved her body towards the flame, but the man next to her grabbed her by the collar.
“Stay still!”
The man hit Eun Tak over the head.
“What’s she doing?”
The lighter dropped from the driver’s hands. A tear leaked out of Eun Tak’s eyes. It was not because they had hit her over the head, but because the lighter had fallen to the ground.
“Help…”
She was in despair. Her bonus life was ending like this. At least she could think of someone who would save her. If it had been before she had met the Goblin, she wouldn’t have anyone to think of. Another tear fell from her eyes. She wanted to live.
“We’re not really patient people. Do you know what happens to little girls that come to creepy places like this? Tell us where you hid the bank book!”
The man shook her.
“I really don’t know. Why are you trying to get the money from me? It was my aunt who borrowed from you guys. Let me off. Let me off, or I’m going to report you guys to the police.”
“Report us? I think we’re going to be the ones reporting you.”
The man’s fist was coming down on Eun Tak’s face when the car screeched to a halt. The muscular man was about to shout at the driver when he saw him shaking in his seat.
“What’s going on?”
“Look…”
Their surroundings became darker than before. A thick fog covered the road, and it was hard to see. The street lights were barely visible to their eyes. One of the lights banged as if struck by lightning. The three were just looking at the scene with their mouths open. Once again, another street light went out. It was getting closer; one by one they were all going out. The next moment, it was completely dark. Their only source of light was the car headlights. Tall silhouettes walked towards them.
The silhouettes became more visible as they came closer. Who were these crazy people? The loan sharks were trembling in fear. Eun Tak’s eyes widened. Familiar faces came into view. Two tall silhouettes walked towards them.
It was the Goblin and the grim reaper.
“Who are those idiots? Are they crazy?” The bulky man shouted.
At that moment, the two men walking towards them disappeared. There was nothing but darkness again. They had seen those men. Or had they been mistaken? Something was feeling really uneasy.
“What are you doing? Drive!”
The car sped off again. A loud breaking sound filled the night.
With a sword in his hand, the Goblin stood in front of the car. It was a water sword; not visible to humans. The Goblin swiftly waved the sword in his hand and cut the car in half; lengthways. Cold air gushed in as the car split in two. The screams of the loan sharks travelled further away. Eun Tak grabbed onto the front seat, unable to breathe. With a loud crash, the loan sharks half rolled over into a ditch.
When she started breathing again, Eun Tak looked up and saw the grim reaper holding her half of the car lightly. She stared at him with dazed eyes. The Goblin opened the car door.
“Are you getting off?”
Eun Tak nodded, still dazed. She was more shocked than the Goblin had expected.
“Get your things.”
Eun Tak stuffed her things in her bag, mechanically. When she finished packing, the Goblin gave her his hand. His hands were wide. Eun Tak grabbed it and slowly got off. When the Goblin let go, Eun Tak’s leg gave way, and she lost her balance. The Goblin grabbed hold of her again.
“Are you hurt? Where?”
The grim reaper let go of the car, and it crashed into the ground. Eun Tak leapt into the Goblin, frightened. Holding her there, the Goblin looked at the girl’s face. Eun Tak looked at the Goblin in disgust.
“Why?”
“... Am I hurt?! Are you asking if I’m hurt?! After splitting the car like that?! And why in the world would you bring a grim reaper with you?! I thought I was dead!”
“I was just asking if they had hurt you…”
The Goblin searched Eun Tak for any signs of harm. The thoughts she had lost came back to her. After seeing the blood rushing back to her pale cheeks, the Goblin felt relieved. He left her somewhere far away from the accident and went to find the loan sharks. The sinners needed punishment.
*
It was an incident that was very hard to experience. Kidnapping and surviving in a split car. Near-death experiences piled on top of her, waiting for the right time to appear. The Goblin in front of the spicy rice cakes wasn’t a normal being either. The girl sitting in front of him drank a glass of water.
“Why didn’t you leave yet? You said you were going to.”
The Goblin told her he was leaving soon. Seeing the girl chattering away like normal, the Goblin smiled. She was a bright girl.
After noticing the Goblin staring at her, Eun Tak put down her glass. When the man had dropped the lighter, she had thought everything was over; but she didn’t want everything to be over. There had been one thing she had been thinking about back then. I wish he would come. Eun Tak asked the Goblin how he had been summoned without blowing on the lighter. The Goblin smiled.
“You must think very loudly.”
“You didn’t have to come.”
“I had no reason not to come.”
This man was a broomstick. This man was just a broomstick.
Eun Tak wanted to hate this man who said he didn’t need her, but likewise, she had no reason to. But she had a reason to thank him. A reason to feel sorry. His eyes looked at her sorrowfully.
“I’m sorry for making you come save me when you’re a busy man. And I’m not even your bride.”
She still seemed pretty upset. The Goblin had no way to solve that problem, so he just sat there.
“Last time you said I was living a bonus life. You were right. I heard that you saved me and my mum 19 years ago. So I won’t hate you anymore.”
“... I think you are hating me. A lot.”
Eun Tak put the portable gas stove off annoyed. Truthfully, she wasn’t hating him... She was just a bit... Upset.
“I don’t. I really don’t. From now on, I won’t summon you, think about you, or do anything; so you can leave. You don’t need to care about me. I wish you a good time there. I hope you meet a good person. A pretty woman who can see the ‘real’ you.”
Eun Tak stood up. She didn’t hate him. How could she hate him? He had saved her not only once, but twice. Eating spicy rice cakes in front of a person who was going to leave, wasn’t really her thing. Eun Tak was about to leave when the Goblin grabbed hold of her.
“I don’t have money.”
“I’ll pay the money, so you pay your time. Eat.”
“Are you feeding me dinner?”
Obviously. They wouldn’t have kidnapped her while giving her food. The Goblin was worried that Eun Tak might be hungry. He was worried. The Goblin had to acknowledge it now.
“No. I don’t want to eat with you. If you really want to feed me, I’ll take it away.”
“You are hating me.”
She was so truthful, it was cute. Eun Tak saw the Goblin smile and became embarrassed. She sat down and started to eat.
The Goblin had checked Eun Tak’s background with the help of Duk Hwa. The things that his fake nephew had brought were so predictable. The girl was bullied by her aunt and two cousins because of the insurance money her mom had left her. 150,000 dollars.
The two shark loans were going to live hating each other. Fighting with one another. Eun Tak’s aunt and her cousins were going to go to jail as a fraud. People that were blinded by treasures should be punished like so. He was going to make it happen.
*
It was break time, and Eun Tak was lying on her arms, looking outside the window. Yellow ginkgo leaves flew in the air. The leaves reminded her of the maple leaves in Canada. The shocked face of the Goblin when she had said that she loved him. His low voice. The Goblin sitting in the graveyard.
“Why would I care whether he leaves or not?”
The streets were strange on the way to the chicken shop. All she could see was the Goblin. Goblin’s Fast Food, Goblin’s Bookstore, Goblin Musical, and Night Goblin Tour fliers. Eun Tak shook her head. She didn’t want to think about him, but the Goblin kept walking around her mind with his long legs.
In the end, Eun Tak went back to the bookstore and retrieved the autumn leaf she had thrown away. She had made it for the man, but after being more hurt, she left the leaf in between a goblin’s children book. Thankfully, the book had not been sold. The only unlucky thing was that it had been in the hands of a rich boy. Eun Tak had a hard time persuading him that the leaf was actually hers.
The leaf was back in her pocket, but still, her heart felt heavy. When was he going to leave? If he said soon, tomorrow? Eun Tak’s mind was blowing with thoughts while cooking her manager’s squid. The man’s blank face, when he had sliced the car in two, looked scary. The scary faces that the man made were not scary at all, but his blank face was. Would he still come if she blew a candle? Wherever the place he was leaving was.
Thoughts followed thoughts. She was thinking so hard that she didn’t notice that the squid was on fire. The heat made Eun Tak scream in fright, and so she quickly blew the fire out. She looked up, and there he was.
The Goblin was leaning against the wall reading a book. It looked like a scene from a movie. Eun Tak sighed.
“Were you reading?”
“I always keep music, art, and books by my side.”
“Well, I’m sorry. For interrupting you while you were reading.”
“So why did you interrupt me? You said you were never going to call me again.”
The Goblin shut his book and asked. It had been a mistake. A complete mistake. She was cooking squid and it had lit up in fire. The Goblin was a bit annoyed when the girl asked him why he hadn’t left yet.
He had been getting ready. Packing his stuff. He had thought of Eun Tak too. The girl who had covered his eyes. The girl who had tried to protect him. It was probably because he had saved her before too, but still. She had tried to save him. They had come to a point where they wanted to protect each other. That was when the smoke had come out of his body. The Goblin smiled. He was glad that she had summoned him.
“Then goodbye. I need to pack the rest of my stuff.”
“Excuse me.”
“Why do you keep calling me as I’m about to leave?”
“You’re the one who keeps leaving as I’m about to talk. I was just wondering.”
“I’m not paying you.”
Eun Tak made a shocked face.
“Oh my gosh, I thought you said dating. This is all because you keep guessing what I’m going to say next. You always get it wrong!”
She was the one who had misheard him, but she wasn’t giving the blame to him.
“Since when was it my fault?”
“From then. The part where I have to see something.”
Eun Tak wanted to end things once and for all. Even if it meant that she wasn’t the Goblin’s bride or ideal type. Even if it meant that she was nothing to him. She wanted to be a bit less sad; a bit less upset.
“What do I have to see in order to be useful to you?”
“Are you gonna tell me that you can see it if I tell you?”
“No. I’m going to pretend that I can’t, even if I can see it.”
The unexpected answers puzzled the Goblin again. Eun Tak was asking these questions in order to be less sorrowful, but again, she was feeling more sorrowful than before.
“What if you start acting all nice to me because I can see it? Like ask me if I want money, ask me if I want to eat meat, or ask me if I want anything. That will be very tiring for me. Because I really don’t like you.”
Her answers pricked his pride. The Goblin really did not like being ‘pricked’ by stuff, but this girl kept making him feel bad.
“Can’t you see anything abnormal? Like something that looks very painful.”
Something came into Eun Tak’s mind.
“Can you see it?”
The girl looked at the Goblin blankly as if she didn’t care anymore.
“Oh, that… I thought it would be something much better. Have a nice life. I’m busy. Goodbye.”
Could she really see it? The Goblin’s eyes widened as he grabbed the girl.
“Do you want to eat meat? Do you want anything?”
“5000 dollars. If not, meat.”
It was still morning, but the Goblin was cooking meat. He took off the last pieces of pork and placed them on Eun Tak’s plate. The girl’s face always showed her emotions, but this time, the Goblin had no idea. Carefully, the Goblin asked again. Whether she could see it or not.
Eun Tak didn’t give him a straight answer. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe she could see it or maybe she couldn’t see it. The large sword stuck in his chest.
The Goblin was nervous. Was he nervous because he wanted Eun Tak to be the bride he had been waiting his whole life for? Or was it because he wished that she wasn’t?
After filling her stomach, Eun Tak went to the cafe to get a glass of freshly-squeezed juice. At the cafe, they met the grim reaper; although he left straight after,
“Are all grim reapers all that good-looking? Maybe the gods picked good-looking people so that dead souls would follow them.”
“Is that guy good-looking?”
“Yes. Of course. His face just says, ‘Good-looking.’”
“What about me?”
Eun Tak avoided the Goblin’s eyes.
“You’re just… looking.”
Laughing in disbelief, the Goblin looked at Eun Tak. Just looking?
Familiar faces came into the Goblin’s view. They were a man and a woman who had lived a good previous life. That day, those two fell in love. Thanks to their guardian spirit. It was a job the Goblin often did.
“You really are a guardian spirit.”
Eun Tak stared at the Goblin. He looked more good-looking in the sunlight.
“Is my life all a mess because I sinned in my last life? Was being made the Goblin’s bride a punishment?”
“I don’t know your past life, so I can’t tell you anything about that. You’ve only lived for 19 years; we can’t define your life as a mess before you die. And you’re not the Goblin’s bride, so it’s not a punishment.”
“I thought you fell for it. Never mind. I like my life too. I was truly loved by my mum, I’ve got my own umbrella, and I like meeting you. No. I liked meeting you.”
“...”
“It’s past tense.”
The Goblin smiled. This 19-year-old girl was so foolishly cute.
“You have a long grudge, and you still haven’t answered whether you can see it or not.”
“My mom told me something before. A person should see the place they lie down and then stretch their legs, and a person should know when it’s time to leave. D’you know what I’m talking about?”
“No.”
“This is the end of us. I’m going this way. Goodbye.”
It was a split road. Eun Tak headed towards the right, telling herself not to look back. Even if she did, he wouldn’t be there. He would have vanished like always. And she would get hurt again. The reason she got hurt was because she liked it. She liked the fact that she had someone next to her, she liked the fact that someone would come if she called them, and she liked the fact that someone would come and save her. Those moments when she wasn’t alone. The moments were better because she had been with that man. A man that was leaving. A man that left when she turned around.
Eun Tak could not take it anymore and turned around. She was a 19-year-old girl who still hoped. A hope that one day she would be happy. But the Goblin was standing where no one should have been. Their eyes met each other. Like people who had so much to say, like people who could not speak easily, they stood there for a while.
*
The Goblin followed the grim reaper around everywhere. He followed him around to places like supermarkets and washing machines. Thinking that the grim reaper would take Eun Tak when he wasn’t looking, the Goblin followed the grim reaper around everywhere. The grim reaper was indeed trying to take Eun Tak, but the 19 years' worth of paperwork was getting at him. But if the Goblin was going to keep acting like this, he was just going to take the girl. Annoyed, the grim reaper told the Goblin.
“I’m not going to take that girl. I’m on her side now.”
“Why would you be on her side?”
“Really. I am. If she pulls your sword, you’ll die. I’d rather you disappear forever than 20 years. It might just be temporary. I’m wishing for a miracle for that day to come.”
The Goblin decided to give up on the grim reaper. Following him around wasn’t going to stop anything. The grim reaper put his groceries on the counter.
If the Goblin was pained because he couldn’t forget his past life, the grim reaper was the opposite. The grim reaper couldn’t remember a single memory from his previous life. A grim reaper was someone who had sinned in their previous life. They couldn’t go up to heaven or go down to hell. They just lived in the world, doing the hard work for the gods. The two men’s pains were totally opposite but similar in a way. Their pains weren’t something that normal people would have been able to endure.
The two men lived in the same house, this might also have been the god’s will. The two men bickered a lot but living in the same house led to the two people getting closer. The Goblin’s face became serious.
“Okay, just promise me one thing.”
“What promise?”
“Even if I leave…Don’t touch that girl.”
The grim reaper’s eyes widened. He had always tried to get the Goblin out of the house, but now the Goblin had said it with his own mouth, it felt a bit weird.
“But. The moment you try to take that girl, I’m going to come back anytime. To this house. So leave her alone.”
Apparently, that girl wasn’t even his bride. But why was the Goblin protecting her like this? The grim reaper raised an eyebrow.
“When are you leaving?”
“The day after tomorrow. Are you happy now?”
Not answering, the grim reaper put the groceries in a bag. They really must have gotten close. The two men’s faces turned dark.
The Goblin opened the door to get home. When he stepped into the door, the place he came to was the front yard of a small house. It was Eun Tak’s home. A bag of groceries was in his bag, and the grim reaper wasn’t behind him. No one could follow through the Goblin’s doors. That was changed to past tense too. How had she managed to come through those doors? His door always took him to the place he was thinking about.
The Goblin stood there, shocked at himself when the front gate opened and Eun Tak’s face peered through. Her heart dropped when she saw the man standing in her front yard. She had no idea that she would see him again. Eun Tak quickly dragged the man out of her house.
“Why did you come to my house? If my aunt knows, she’ll kill me! Did you get caught? Is my aunt’s family asleep?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thank goodness. But why did you come to my house? Did you come to see me?”
“I think I thought about you for a moment.”
The Goblin looked at the girl heavily. Eun Tak coughed in embarrassment as she picked up her heart.
“Why? I’m not your bride; I’m not even pretty; I always make you come and save me. Why would you come to see me?”
The Goblin’s lips smiled. He did not regret telling the grim reaper not to take her. He wanted the girl to live a bit longer, just as bright. Like this.
“I think I came to see something like this. I will leave now since I have seen you. Your aunt’s family is gone. You can go in. The house is empty.”
Eun Tak was surprised at the Goblin’s truth, and then got more shocked when she heard that her aunt’s family had disappeared. Had the Goblin killed them in order to make her wishes come true?
“If you want me to, I could.”
“No! It’s a joke.”
“I was joking too. Bye.”
*
In a small leather bag, the Goblin packed his bag. All he had were a few clothes, his passport, his books, letters, and an old notebook. The old notebook was a diary with all his wishes written down. Wishing for his death. A will. The Goblin looked at a small box. Inside the small box was a finely wrapped scroll. Scared of ruining it, the Goblin opened the scroll carefully. It was a woman’s portrait. The woman who had told him to move forward. His sister. It was also the last thing the king had left behind. The woman was elegant and beautiful, as always.
The Goblin’s eyes became sad. The atmosphere around him became damp too. After packing everything, the Goblin went to the fridge and got out a can of beer. All Duk Hwa needed was a credit card, and the precious scroll was going to be trusted by Chairman Yoo. He was a person who would keep the scroll better than him. The housing contract was all the grim reaper needed too. He imagined how much Korea would have changed when he came back.
The cold and bitter beer went down his throat. When he had drunk about 2 cans, he wanted to go somewhere. The Goblin got up and went out the door. It wasn’t. He came back inside and went back out. It wasn’t again.
The grim reaper was getting dizzy because of the havoc the Goblin was causing. He had asked several times what in the world he was doing, but the Goblin did not answer. He just walked in and out of the front doors. He came and went for a few seconds. Where was he going?
“What are you doing? Are you drunk because of two cans of beer?"
The Goblin’s eyes were a bit hazed. He was really bad at alcohol.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Who?”
“She isn’t calling me. If she doesn’t call me, I can’t find her. I can do everything in the world, but I can’t find that girl. All the powers I have are now useless.”
“That’s true. Your powers are only useful when you play around. How did you find her before?”
“Like this. Every time.”
He turned the handle again and went back outside. The world outside became bright and turned dark again. The door opened again. The Goblin came back looking more depressed than ever. Shaking his head, the grim reaper watched the Goblin. It started to rain. One drop, another drop. Grabbing an umbrella from his stand, the Goblin went back outside. If she wasn’t there either, he would not be able to see her before he left.
He found her.
It was that beach. The waves were splashing on the rocks again. The girl he had saved sat on the rocks and watched him.
Eun Tak had been complaining about her life again to the gods. Her aunt’s family had left the house, taking the contract money too. She had no idea where they had run off to. The only things she had managed to retrieve from the house were a few clothes and the dried up buckwheat flowers. She really did not have a house anymore. Eun Tak had lived her life thinking that tomorrow was going to be a better day, but now she was scared to even think about that. She hadn’t even imagined a life worse than it already was. She had thought that she was already at rock bottom.
After putting her stuff in a locker, Eun Tak went to school and got into trouble again with her teacher. Someone had reported her for smoking cigarettes. She had tried to tell her teacher that it was a misunderstanding, but when her teacher flipped her bag, matches and lighters came rushing out. The teacher firmly believed that she had been smoking. Eun Tak had wanted to tell the world that she was innocent but no one would listen.
Would the ocean listen to her? Would the skies listen to her? Eun Tak looked up at the sky. Her pretty and kind mother had probably gone to heaven.
“Mum… How are you doing? Did you go to heaven? What is heaven like? Is it better than here? Mum, I…”
The scarf her mother had told her to put on was around her neck. Words wouldn’t come out, so Eun Tak just repeated the same words.
“Mum, I…”
Her eyes watered.
“Mum, I’m not doing that well.”
Only the sound of waves could be heard. Her mother’s reply had not managed to reach her.
“No one asks how I’m doing.”
A tear glistened on her cheek. At the same time, raindrops started to fall from the sky; onto her head, onto her feet. The falling tears and falling raindrops reminded her again of her tiring life. Rain fell, and her tears fell.
“Is it raining again? What's the point of this rain? What's the point of this life?”
Eun Tak tucked her chin between her knees. The rain started to fall on her back, but soon it stopped. It was weird. The rain in Eun Tak’s life had never ended so quickly. She lifted her head in confusion. The Goblin was watching her, holding an umbrella over her head.
“It’s because I’m sad.”
The man’s low voice made Eun Tak’s heart beat faster.
His eyes met hers.
“The rain. It’s going to stop soon.”
“Does it rain if you’re sad?”
Eun Tak had asked as a joke, but the Goblin answered that it did. She laughed in amazement. Where was the end of his supernatural powers? Eun Tak groaned. Making her laugh after crying was cheating. The person who gave her an umbrella when she was standing at the edge of a cliff, was a bad person. He was a person who would leave. He was a person who had no use for her. In fact, he was not a person, but a Goblin.
“Then how sad are you when a storm comes?”
“A storm is the earth being sad, not me… How are you doing?”
A few moments ago, she had said that she wasn’t fine. Rain fell on the umbrella. The rain was really slowing down. The Goblin had been sad…
“But I didn’t summon you.”
“Yeah, you didn’t summon me. Well, I was busy too. Here and there.”
“Oh no!”
“Why?”
“Every time it rains from now on, I’m going to think that you’re sad. I’ve had trouble all my life, and now I need to worry about you too.”
Eun Tak made a face that was neither crying nor smiling. The girl he had once saved had grown so much. The Goblin just wanted the girl’s life to be a bit happier.
“Aren’t you cold? What are you doing out here?”
“It’s because I’m unhappy. It’s like being sick, unhappiness. It comes back every time you think you’ve forgotten it. I’m not telling you this to prick your heart or anything.”
“Are you saying that on purpose?”
“Why? Is there actually something pricking your heart?”
“Stop saying that. I hate that word.”
Eun Tak sniggered at the Goblin. He was sensitive about such stupid stuff. Compared to the days where she cried by herself, conversations with him never got boring. Eun Tak started to tell the Goblin the things she had been telling to the skies.
“You know that humans have 4 lives, right? A life where you sow your seeds, a life where you water your seeds, a life where you harvest your seeds, and a life where you use your harvested seeds.”
“How do you know that story? That’s what reapers tell their dead spirits.”
“I’ve been the Goblin’s bride for 19 years; I’ve heard what the ghosts say. That’s why it’s so unfair. My life is always 1.1, 1.2. It will never go onto 2.”
Eun Tak pouted and looked at the Goblin. The Goblin had said that he would listen to her story, but now she had, he didn’t know how to react. Making wishes come true was an easier job. Knowing how the Goblin was feeling, Eun Tak told him.
“There’s a lot you could do. Pat my shoulder. Stroke my head. Give me 5000 dollars.”
Ways to comfort someone. There were so many, but the Goblin couldn’t do any. Eun Tak tsked and reached into her bag. It was the laminated autumn leaf. It was now or never.
“It’s a present. Pretty, right?”
“... It is.”
The memories of Canada went into the Goblin’s hands. It was a very precious memory to Eun Tak, and she had decided to give it to him. The autumn leaf contained memories and sincerity, and so the Goblin smiled sadly. He lifted his hand and patted her head. The warmth from his hand touched her head.
“What are you doing?”
“Stroking your head. Saying farewell. I’m leaving tomorrow.”
He always left. Sometimes he came, but he always left. Eun Tak grabbed ahold of herself. They had a good friendship, a good memory, and were comforted by each other. That was all they needed. Eun Tak told herself to stop doing whatever she was doing. There was no reason to go on with anything. The rain started to fall again. The sound of the falling rain filled the air.
1 Comments
The sudden kidnap and the sudden goodbye in chapter 6! Comment and give me feedback below!!
ReplyDelete