episode_0101

[Episode 101] Friend

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Goblin’s tool.

When worn on the head, it has the ability to make everything transparent, including the body, clothes, shoes, and items held.

It changes into a presence like air when used.

You must be careful not to get hurt.

Similar mythical tools include Persephone in Greek-Roman mythology and Tarnhelm in Germanic mythology.

– Information about the goblin’s cloak.

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“Just come out quickly, widow.”

“……”

“Should I call you a widow ghost instead of a widow? How long are you going to hide like that?”

Twitch!

I felt my undershirt, which I was wearing, move slightly.

And then….

Bang!

The undershirt I was wearing disappeared, revealing a woman in plain clothes.

Rustle!

“Shh! Quiet! K-Kim Seobang! Lower your voice..! Let’s go somewhere else and talk, not here! I shouldn’t have come up to the heavenly realm! I’ll get into big trouble!”

“What the…?!?”

As my undershirt suddenly disappeared and a stranger appeared, I sensed that Sarri, who was dozing off in the pocket of my outer garment, was extremely surprised and bewildered.

“Well, then, let’s just go into that house for now.”

Comforting the startled Sarri and leading the woman, we entered a nearby house.

It took me a while to notice the presence of this woman.

I first suspected it when Heeseon stared at my headband with curiosity?

I thought she might be angry because I drank and stayed out late, but it was strange that she smiled and laughed so brightly, even providing honey water.

I became convinced that there was a mysterious presence in our house when strange things started happening.

Until the food in the kitchen mysteriously decreased, I just assumed that Sarri secretly enjoyed snacks.

But one day, when Gil-yong’s beard, which he cherished so much, was cleanly shaved off, or when someone slipped on the floor because candles were placed on the doorstep…

As strange events continued to occur, I couldn’t help but think that something was amiss.

What puzzled me the most was when there were two identical pieces of clothing.

I didn’t know how many clothes I had.

When I asked Heeseon if she had given me another piece of the same clothing, she denied it,

and while she teased me by blowing air on my cheeks, she didn’t reveal anything about my story…

Only then did I realize that I had unwittingly awakened something dormant within me.

Upon reflection, the widow back then was not the only oddity in my daily life.

Perhaps due to the abundance of spirits here, the alien aspects were more pronounced.

So I understood why Heeseon had looked so intently at my headband that day. Should I say that I felt a certain aura from the clothes that shouldn’t be felt?

“Whew.. Kim Seobang! There were so many fresh spirits that I was really scared, right? Suddenly meeting a mountain god and riding on a palanquin! As soon as we arrived, King Okhwang Sangje was like bam! I felt like screaming without knowing it?”

Throughout our entry into the house, the woman, who had been tense and constantly looking around cautiously, breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her chest as soon as she closed the door.

She looked a bit different from before.

While she still had the seductive gaze of beauty, there was a calmness about her, with black eyes and black hair typical of a married woman, tied up in an updo…

Now her eyes had changed to a mysterious shade of blue, and her hair was a shiny, mysterious blue cascade of curls. Her personality seemed lively and completely different from before.

“Well.. Now that I don’t have eyes to see, feel free to speak. First of all, why were you hiding?”

“Hehe! Kim Seobang! How did you know I was hiding? Did that scary woman tell you after all? No, right? She wouldn’t be able to say that?”

“……”

“I was really surprised! I thought you wouldn’t marry an ordinary woman, but wow! You were a fairy husband! You recognized my disguise at a glance? Hiding in the headband… It gives me goosebumps… Even though there was no skin on the headband back then! Hehe.. So from then on, I disguised myself with underwear and hid! Oh! But isn’t Kim Seobang the cute puppy hidden in the bosom? Am I the third one then? Does it matter? Hehehe!”

The random and chaotic words bombarded my ears.

Why are my eyes sparkling like this?

Without answering questions… My head was spinning.

“First of all, if you didn’t want to get caught, you shouldn’t have played such pranks. Putting candles on is one thing, but why did you shave Gil Yong’s beard? Just thinking about how gloomy Gil Yong has been for four days because of you… Ugh… Especially when he’s not someone who grows a beard easily…”

“Hahaha! Wasn’t that incredibly funny? Big Kim Seobang sneaking out at night! Hehe..!”

“It wasn’t funny! Everyone has something precious to them, and if you take that away and make fun of it recklessly, it’s hurtful. You might have found it amusing, but Gil Yong must have been really sad, right?”

“Eh? If they were goblins, they would have laughed until their belly buttons fell off, right? It wasn’t really funny? Seriously? Is it really a sad thing? Huh? Are you serious? Hiing…. I just thought it was funny…”

Just now, I was excitedly telling a story, but suddenly feeling unamused again at the mention of it being unfunny…

It felt like watching a mischievous child.

It’s hard to describe the feeling. It’s definitely innocent, with no malice, but…

Hmm.. for now, this friend needs help immediately….

“….But tripping jokes were kind of funny. I was really embarrassed, though. Seeing everyone laughing until their belly buttons fell off while looking at me made me feel good.”

“Really? Truly? For real? Hehe! As expected, my jokes are loved by the big Kim Seobangs!”

And just like that, she quickly regained her energy?

She seems like a simple character but quite a handful.

“Yeah.. and thanks for helping me when I was drunk. I wanted to say thank you, but only now I can.”

“Yeah! I already said that loudly before! Hehe. I was so happy then? When everyone woke up from the bushes, they cursed me for fooling them! There’s no need to curse just because I played a joke, right? Bad Kim Seobangs! They don’t even know I saved them!”

She went from being happy to sulking to getting angry….

…I really can’t grasp her ghost-like personality.

Is she really a ghost? Shouldn’t ghosts have a somewhat eerie vibe? A bit melancholic…?

Why is she so carefree?

“Phew.. yeah, everyone was really naughty. Anyway, why were you hiding all this time?”

It took ages for her to ask the first question again.

“Oh, that? Hehehe! I wanted to be friends with you first! And later, I want to become your bride and have babies with you! Like a senior goblin! Starting with being friends is what special Kim Seobangs accept, the uncles said!”

“What, what?”

“Hmm!?”

What is this woman talking about? How can she say those things so nonchalantly? What does she mean by senior goblin!

How clueless do you have to be for our expressionless Sarigae to stick her face out from her clothes and look at you like that?

“Why? Is it because my face isn’t pretty? No, right? I told you I was very pretty back then. Then maybe because you already have two or three wives? Hey, what’s the difference between two or three…? Or maybe you’re worried about money? Don’t worry, Kim Seobang! I have a lot of money!”

“No.. It’s fine if I have two wives, but you’re a widow. And on top of that, not a ghost? Then you could even meet your deceased husband. What kind of wife is a wife, that’s adultery. How can a ghost give birth to a child…”

“Huh? Me, a ghost? Oh! Mr. Kim didn’t know I was a goblin? Ahaha, that’s hilarious! He thought I was a ghost! I’m a goblin! The widow thing was a lie too! If Mr. Kim’s widows are around, they’ll drop dead! Hehe!”

Goblin? The goblin I know?

But the goblin I know is a fierce man holding a club… Were there pretty goblins like that?

“Phew.. Anyway, um.. let’s forget about the wife and be friends. I regret suggesting we become friends because you seemed lonely before.”

“Friend? Really? I’m sure we agreed to be friends? So now we’re friends, Mr. Kim? Wow! I’m now a handsome goblin!”

Not a goblin, but a friend…

“Well.. as a friend, I can tolerate it up to that point. I already have two wives… no, three. And marriage should be based on love. It’s not something to decide on a whim…”

“So, we’re friends now! We’ll hang out together, drink, always stick together… That’s it! Thanks for being my friend, Mr. Kim!”

“Huh? Huh…”

Oh.. but are we friends? You just made a confession and I sort of rejected it, didn’t you hear that? Why only listen to what benefits you…?

“Hehe.. If becoming friends with the uncles was successful, becoming a wife would be a piece of cake anyway..!”

“????”

I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear anything..!

“Anyway, I’m sorry as a friend, but I need your help right now. Can you help me?”

“Of course, Mr. Kim! Friends don’t refuse requests! I’ll listen to everything! What do you need?”

“Transformation.. How do you transform? I heard from Hee-sun that transformation can only be done into living beings. But you clearly transformed into a shirt earlier. Can I transform objects like that too?”

“Huh? Transformation by goblins? That’s.. that’s impossible…? Oh.. this is Mr. Kim’s first request..! But I can’t help it.. ugh.. it’s a bit different from transformation by spirits…”

“Really? I can’t do it? How is it different from spirit transformation?”

“Well.. spirit transformation is overlaying a spirit onto something, but goblin transformation actually changes its appearance! So after a goblin gets hurt, if it transforms, you can find injuries on the transformed object somewhere! Moreover, goblins are originally born with souls attached to objects… so goblin transformation can only be done by goblins.”

The goblin looks crestfallen, lowers its head, and sneakily glances at me.

Oh.. is it really impossible? Am I in trouble? But why do I keep thinking this woman is Gil-jo?

Could it be due to her ability to transform into inanimate objects without fail?

Is there another way?

“Um.. is there another way to hide my body? Actually, I don’t necessarily need to transform. You know I’m going through a trial, right? In fact, asking you to transform me was because of that.”

“Oh! You asked if I wanted to hide from Ok-hwang Sangje! You should’ve said that from the beginning! I’m a goblin, a goblin! Hehehe! There’s no one following us when we hide! Thank goodness! I can help Mr. Kim!”

“Huh? Really? How?”

With a chuckle, the goblin transforms with a bang into something else.

Jet black… round… something worn on the head…

That’s… a hat?

“(Kim husband! Write on my head! Quickly, quickly! It will be really fun, right? Hehehe!)”

Momentarily flustered by the goblin’s voice echoing in my head.

I write on my head as instructed by the goblin, picking up the talisman lying on the floor.

…!?!?!?

“W-what is this..! I’ve disappeared..!”

A strange sensation washes over me as soon as I put on the talisman.

Confused, I raise my hand and shake it in front of my eyes, but not a single shadow is felt.

Like a novice trying on a ring for the first time, I frantically look around, but all I see is an empty room.

Although I know I exist there, it feels as if all traces of my presence have vanished… No, it feels like my existence has completely disappeared from this place, to the point where even I don’t feel myself.

“Could this be?”

This is the goblin talisman that I had only read about in books!

Becoming transparent… something I had longed for during my adolescence…

“(Isn’t it fascinating, Kim husband? This is a power more special than invisibility! No matter how noble you are, Kim husband with the talisman cannot be found?)”

“Oh.. th-thank you, friend.”

“(Friend.. hehe.. Yes! Friend!)”

It was only then that I seemed to understand why I had become entangled with this goblin.

This is an item that, if used carelessly, could cause confusion in the world.

No, calling it an item would be slightly different from the stories I knew. Since this was not an item but the goblin itself….

It was only then that I realized.

Ah! This woman was also my destiny. Somehow, we had become intertwined by fate.

Only then did I realize that I didn’t even know this woman’s name.

“Friend. Come to think of it, we don’t even know each other’s names, do we? You call me Kim husband, but… no, I’m not Mr. Kim, so why do you call me Kim husband?”

“(Because you’re Kim husband!)”

“N-no.. I mean. No, wait. Friend, do you happen to have a name? Do goblins not have names?”

“(Of course I do! I named myself! My name is so pretty! Hehe)”

“Great. I’ll go by ‘Unnamed.’ What’s your name?”

“(Hyangdan! Call me Hyangdan! Nice to meet you, Unnamed. You’re my friend!)”

… It was a somewhat familiar yet significant name.

The sun was rising far away over Cloud Mountain.

[Hmm, there seems to be a reason to speak confidently]

The first trial had ended.

In the end, the emperor failed to find the hunter.

He hoped that even for his daughter’s sake, he would overcome the trial, but what he did was never half-hearted….

From the start, there was a condition that he had to search for himself with his best effort, so even if he wanted to do it carelessly, it was not something he could do.

It was a foolish act that looked like self-destruction to anyone.

On the other hand, it was also cunning.

He didn’t propose rules that were only disadvantageous to the hunter.

One rule, the hunter hides with all his might, and he searches for the hunter with all his might.

Up to this point, it was a condition disadvantageous to the hunter…

Later, he subtly mentioned the fair laws of heaven as detailed rules.

As soon as the trial began, the emperor felt many of his abilities being sealed.

Certainly, he was not an ordinary person.

It was a passing remark.

‘Heaven’s laws are strict, but they are also fair.’

To use it like this….

[Hehehe….]

It was not just a hollow laugh.

Yet, despite being nothing more than a mere mortal, he managed to withstand the emperor’s best efforts and overcome the trial.

The emperor declared the end of the trial in a loud voice.

“The trial is over since the sun has risen. I declare that you have passed the first test.”

Step by step,

Suddenly appearing from a corner of the alley where he had been hiding, the hunter starts walking towards them.

The emperor’s green pupils stare intently at the hunter.

The hunter who seemed ready to devour him moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

He had just… boldly rescued the emperor from the hunter.

It was a new story that had never been written before.

Also… it was a story where no one became unhappy.

At the end of the story, he too, the protagonist himself, was smiling without even realizing it.

It was a very interesting story.