Goblin: The Lonely and the Great God - Chapter 29

Woo Bin Kim

    It was the first class of university, and Eun Tak’s footsteps were light down the stairs. She had dressed up nicely, like a freshman, and she spun in front of the Goblin brightly. 

    “It’s the first class today! I am a university student now! It’s the opening party, so I’m celebrating it with a short skirt!” 

The Goblin raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl up and down. She looked lovely today. He shook his head.

“No.”

“See you later.”

“Duk Hwa is going to drop you off; I have prior engagements. If anything happens…”

Eun Tak opened up her bag widely and showed the Goblin it’s contents. Inside, matches and lighters were piled on top of each other. 

“I’m perfectly ready!”

“Wait, not quite.”

The Goblin stepped towards her and Eun Tak closed her eyes quickly. He looked at her with a smile and took out the necklace from his pocket. The necklace was the same one she was wearing in Canada when Eun Tak was 29. He wrapped his arms around her neck and clipped the necklace on her. 

“I’ve got no idea why your eyes are closed.”

“Huh.”

“Now you’re perfect.”

Eun Tak screwed up her nose in disappointment, but saw the necklace and smiled widely. 

“Isn’t this the one from the maple country? I’m quite impressed; how did you think to buy that? But what does this say?”

“It’s French for destiny. A destiny that is greater than the human’s will.”

“Destiny. How’d you know I liked that word?”

She fingered the necklace pendant in her hand while muttering the word ‘destiny.’ Her destiny was a sorrowful destiny of course, but for some reason she couldn’t help but think that if her sad destiny was to live as the Goblin’s bride, she didn’t really mind that destiny. 

“No dates with other men. No blind dates with other men. No romance. No Tae Hee. No men in a 30 meters radius from that necklace. That’s my definition of destiny.”

Eun Tak groaned in disappointment; that was the reason she had been trying to get into university. But the Goblin was so stern, and she didn’t mind his nagging that much. His jealousy, and the way he wanted her to only love him was how she felt for him too. She replied that she would and ran out of the doors.

The prior engagement the Goblin had been talking about was the Chun Woo’s group interview room. A few days before, he had gotten the resumes from Duk Hwa and had seen a familiar face in the midst of them. It was the face of the subordinate that had tried to save him till the end. The subordinate that had pierced him with his sword, crying tears of blood, had reincarnated with the same face. If they could call this destiny, this was too the Goblin and his subordinate's destiny. 

A man sat on a chair with a desperate face. He was the bread-winner of a family, and his life hadn’t been an easy one; his subordinate looked frail. The Goblin walked towards where the man was sitting, slowly; a mixture of feelings filled him. He was glad to see him again, and he was very sorry.

The man had seen the Goblin too. He had quickly avoided his gaze, but the tall man sitting in front of him with tearful eyes kept staring at him. The Goblin watched the man until he went inside for his interview. 

A few days later, Secretary Kim, who had become the CEO now, went to the subordinates house and told him the news that he had been accepted into the company. The acceptance was extraordinary to them, but the fact that the Chairman himself had come to see them was more amazing. Secretary Kim gave them a car saying that their company was just that good to their workers. The man knew that it was a weird case, so he asked but the CEO just replied that he had done a really good interview. A few moments later, the CEO answered again that he had saved the country in his past life. It was very weird indeed. 

The Goblin watched from the rooftop as he saw the subordinate tell his family happily about what had happened. He had not been able to go with him down the death path; this was the least he could do.

*

With big bags of rubbish in hand, Eun Tak walked out the back door of the chicken shop, when a boy shouted ‘Blast off!’ Eun Tak fell backwards as if she had actually got hit by the ‘blast.’ The boy smiled widely as he saw that she was playing with him.

The boy believed that one day the blast would come out of his hands. Eun Tak had saved him a few days ago from bullies who tried to steal his money. The boy had tried to ‘blast’ them off, but the bullies just laughed. 

Eun Tak searched her bag for anything sweet she could give the boy, when a shiver went down her spine. The black tongued ghost was standing behind the boy. She quickly pulled the boy closer to her; the boy's face was still as bright as ever. 

“It’s late. Go back home. Your grandmother’s waiting.”

The boy nodded and ran back home, still as happy. Eun Tak waited until the boy was out of her sight, before she looked at the ghost. A weird atmosphere followed him wherever he went. She had seen all sorts of ghosts her whole life, but she had never met one this horrendous. 

“So we meet again. We didn’t get to greet each other properly last time. I am Joong Heon Park.”

Eun Tak’s legs nearly gave away when she heard the name. Joong Heon Park was the man who had ordered the king to kill the Goblin. This ghost had said that man’s name. 

“Seeing your expression, you already know me.”

“I don’t.”

She tried to ignore him and go back inside when he said a name that stopped her.

“Shin Kim. Didn’t he tell you who I was. I’m the one who killed him. The Goblin’s punishment is for all the people he killed, and I’m one of them.”

“...What do you want?”

“Nothing; I just want to tell you an amusing story. Since you know me, you must know Yeo Wang too. It was Yeo who ordered them to kill Shin. This whole dramatic destiny all started off because of Yeo, and do you know who Yeo is living as right now?”

“How would I know that?”

The weird atmosphere scared her, and Eun Tak’s eyes wavered for a second. 

“Yeo is currently living with Shin Kim.”

“What in the world…”

“The no-name grim reaper. He is Yeo. What do you think will happen when they recognise each other?”

Eun Tak had nothing to say.

“The Goblin is the only one who can kill me; it’s all up to you. You’re the only one who can kill the Goblin; it’s all up to you. Now I see it, you are Death pretending to be a girl.” 

Her fists trembled with anger and it was getting hard to breathe. The grim reaper couldn’t be Yeo Wang. He could not. She wasn’t going to believe such stories from a black-tongued ghost. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed true…

“You’re wrong. The grim reaper we know has a name.”

Woo Bin Kim. Eun Tak quickly went back inside the shop.

Joong Heon stood there looking at the door Eun Tak had gone through. His lips, which had been pointing up deviously, started to frown. There was only one grudge that had left him wandering around the earth as a ghost. There was only one thing he wanted. Their devastating catastrophe. 

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