900 Years
Not knowing what had happened, the Goblin was waiting outside the chicken shop. But unlike other days, today, Sunny actually opened the doors and called him.
“What did you bring me today? A pendant? Cookies? Traditional socks?”
The words she spoke were as cold as ever, but her voice sounded calm. Looking at Sunny weirdly, the Goblin raised an eyebrow. His reincarnated sister was so proud and brave, it was hard to know what she was actually saying.
“But I have a question for you, brother. Did the king actually tell you that I was ugly?”
Sunny looked at her brother, who she hadn’t seen for 900 years, carefully. He was exactly the same as before; it pained her to think that her brother had to live all this time with those memories.
The Goblin’s eyes were wavering; he could still remember when his sister had asked him that question.
“I know you were busy at war, but how could you not write me a single letter back?”
“Do you really…”
“I’m sorry for recognising you too late, Shin. I’m sorry that I couldn’t keep the promise I made with you. I tried my best to get happier, but I couldn’t.”
Hundreds of years had passed and Sunny had finally been able to tell her brother how sorry she was. She could feel the tears falling down her face.
The Goblin was so happy that his sister had recognized him, and he embraced her in his arms. It was him, who was more sorry; the Goblin wiped the tears from his sister’s face.
“The persimmons, the flower shoes, and the silk… I’m really grateful. Really. From now on, you have to come see this ugly sister often.”
The sorrow that was filled in the place the arrow had hit, came out of her as tears.
*
Eun Tak’s footsteps were heavy as she walked down the front gates. She didn’t know what the right thing was to do. The virgin ghost was walking behind, and was calling out to her like she always did, but Eun Tak ignored her and kept walking. Knowing the act, the virgin ghost appeared in front of Eun Tak, screaming with a scary face, but Eun Tak just walked right through her.
The books Eun Tak was holding fell to the ground, and she quickly picked them up with a weird look on her face. Eun Tak wasn’t ignoring the virgin ghost; she couldn’t see her at all. The virgin ghost, who had been trying to scare Eun Tak. got scared herself. The mark on Eun Tak’s neck was less visible than before.
Hesitating a little bit, Eun Tak jumped onto the Goblin’s car. She glanced at him from sideways; he looked a bit tired, but he looked a bit happy too. Eun Tak glanced at him again and again, trying to figure out how he was feeling.
“Me too.”
“Huh?”
“I’m excited because I picked you up from school.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m very excited because you picked me up from school.”
“My pleasure.”
“I just had something to think about. But did something good happen?”
“How long does it take to ask that one question? My sister, Sun. She remembered me.”
“Really? Oh, that’s so good. But how?”
Eun Tak’s voice got louder, and the Goblin’s lips turned into a grin.
“Oh, right. That’s what I forgot to ask. How did she remember her past life?”
The Goblin started muttering to himself, and Eun Tak’s face fell a little. Noticing Eun Tak’s worried expression, the Goblin looked at her anxiously. She knew that it wasn’t something she could tell while he was driving, so she asked him to pull over the car.
After parking the car at the side of the road, the Goblin waited for Eun Tak to start talking. He had no idea what she was trying to tell him, so it made him more anxious. The atmosphere in the car started to get stuffy, and Eun Tak looked at the Goblin again. The Goblin was sometimes hasty, and she was worried that he might get angry.
“I know that you are a greater person than I can ever imagine. Really.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I met a ghost a few days ago, and I think he is… Joong Heon Park.”
“How do you know Joong Heon?”
“I heard you talking with the grim reaper; I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t a pleasant story to hear, and the Goblin had not really wanted her to know his painful past. The Goblin sighed. It would have been better if she had just turned a blind eye to it.
“First, I thought he was just an evil spirit, but I don’t know… there was this weird feeling about him that I can’t really explain. Weird things kept happening around me, and I thought maybe it has something to do with him. Like how Sunny’s memory was restored.”
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll take you back home, and you stay there until I come back. Don’t even think about leaving. The Goblin’s house is the safest place for you to be.”
At least he hadn’t been angry; Eun Tak looked at the Goblin with a guilty look on her face. She just couldn’t get the guts to tell him about Yeo Wang and the grim reaper. She just nodded, and the Goblin started the car back to their house.
*
It was dark at night, and Joong Heon was walking towards a passerby walking past a deserted street. He licked his lips with his black tongue, when a shadow appeared before him. Burning blue eyes of the Goblin stared at him with the deepest of anger.
With his strength, the Goblin pulled him towards him and grabbed him by the neck. It was like the time he had gone back to the palace and had slit Jonng Heon’s throat.
“I have avoided you for 900 years, but I see you like this. If we were to meet like this, why did I hide from you all this time, I ask myself.”
“Don’t worry too much, you’ll be gone soon. But before that, you will answer why you suddenly appeared before my eyes after 900 years.”
“Even the general who killed thousands, is weak when it comes to time. How could you not recognise an enemy who stands right before you? It is starting to annoy me, so I have come to tell you myself.”
The strength in the Goblin’s fingers tensed, but his hand did not move from place. Even though he was strangled in the air, Joong Heon’s black tongue moved without a pause.
“Your tongue was the reason for your death, and now it will be the reason for your nonexistence. I will pull out your tongue, and shred your body into small pieces. That’s what I came to do today.”
He threw Joong Heon to the ground and made a sword of water with his hand. Without hesitation, the Goblin sliced him, but black smoke appeared on the place where the sword had passed by. There had been no harm done.
Joong Heon ridiculed him with laughter.
“It is not only you who has been here for over 900 years. Do you really think you could kill me with that water sword of yours? Being able to do things like a guardian spirit, doesn’t really mean you are a god.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll kill you somehow.”
The Goblin lifted his sword of water again, when Joong Heon went into the body of the passerby. The plan was to kill Joong Heon, but he couldn't kill an innocent human because of Joong Heon. The sword vanished from the Goblin’s hand, and Joong Heon came back out of the body.
“This is the reason you died; because you are too weak-hearted. When you were distracted by everything else, Yeo grew up to be someone totally different.
“Don’t talk about Yeo with that tongue.”
He wanted to kill the enemy in front of his eyes.
“Do you know who the grim reaper you are living with right now is? The person who gave you the sword, and the person who put the sword in you. He is Yeo.”
“...That is nonsense!”
“Your sister has fallen for him again, in this life. Too bad for you, I suppose you won’t be able to take revenge again because of her.”
Joong Heon quickly ran into the body of another passerby, and went from person to person, out of the Goblin’s sight.
The world beneath him started to fall into dust. The Goblin stared at Joong Heon, with a bitter taste in his mouth. The grim reaper, who had cried while looking at the scroll; Yeo, who had once overlapped the face of the grim reaper’s; the ring. The ring! How had he forgotten that ring? It had been the ring Sun had been wearing when she had bled to death on the ground.
The anger he had barely been able to hold onto, boiled inside him, and he vanished into blue flames.
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