Goblins (Complete)

Caught off guard by Duergsini’s unexpected words, I was utterly flustered.

Regardless of my flustered state, Duergsini continued:

[To turn the cycle of arising and passing away,]

[The power of a nine-tailed fox yokai is required.]

[In the past, I attempted to turn the cycle using Lord Beast’s power, but]

[To Lord Beast, humans were mere playthings.]

[Lord Beast lacked any will to save humanity.]

[Whether humans went extinct or not]

[Mattered not to Lord Beast.]

[All that mattered to Lord Beast was]

[Her personal amusement.]

[Unlike Lord Beast,]

[You possess a stronger will to save humanity]

[Than for personal amusement.]

“L…Lies…”

[You know better than anyone]

[That I speak no lies.]

“…”

Yes.

Not lies.

I could instinctively tell.

Duergsini was now telling me only facts.

…Certainly, Lord Beast was a fox yokai who viewed humans as amusing playthings.

Lord Beast had clearly told me the world after the cycle turned would be utterly joyless.

If that post-cycle world truly lacked goblins and yokai as Duergsini claimed, then Lord Beast’s description of it as unbearably joyless made perfect sense.

“…Then why did you create the Taejasingi in the first place?”

“With your own words, you said you made the Taejasingi to turn the cycle.”

“If I couldn’t manifest nine tails, it would be meaningless, wouldn’t it…?”

Ah.

[Indeed.]

[If you could not manifest nine tails,]

[It would be meaningless.]

“…”

[So]

[I devised a plan]

“Stop.”

[To ensure]

[You could smoothly manifest nine tails,]

[I personally provided a foothold for your growth.]

“Shut up.”

[That was the Taejasingi,]

[And the ascension-qualified yokai.]

[The ascension-qualified yokai were]

[Mere sacrifices]

[To make you manifest nine tails…]

“I said shut your damn mouth!”

I channeled over half my spirit energy into clawing the spirals.

I knew a goblin’s weakness was the liver, not the spirals.

I knew this act held no meaning.

Yet in the end, the reasons Duergsini created the Taejasingi and had those yokai massacre humans were…

All because of me.

Fearing I might go insane suppressing this overwhelming emotion, I clawed and clawed and clawed the spirals.

“Hahh…hahh…hahh…”

[Meaningless.]

[What meaning is there in your actions?]

[The outcome]

[Will not]

[Change.]

“I told you to shut up…!”

Think.

Regain your senses.

Do not let Duergsini seize control of this conversation.

Recall who you are.

I am…

I am…

“I am an existence you cannot predict.”

“Do not prattle on as if you know everything.”

“In the end, you desperately need my help, do you not?”

[Indeed,]

[There were variables.]

[I could not predict the actions]

[Of one who escaped the cycle like you.]

[Your taming of the Noeung and Black Tiger]

[Were outcomes far beyond my predictions.]

“…”

[So]

[I took a gamble]

[And sent yaksha against you,]

[Fully aware I could suffer losses.]

[Yaksha was a lifeform]

[Even I could not fully control.]

[Whether yaksha would kill you or not]

[Was beyond even my predictions.]

[However,]

[In the end,]

[You vanquished yaksha]

[And awoke your power, along with your precious comrades.]

[Well done.]

[You have exceeded my expectations.]

[It seems]

[Nine tails]

[May not be far off.]

The more I conversed with Duergsini, the clearer it became – he was not a being who truly desired humanity’s salvation, but a lunatic willing to sacrifice anything for his goals.

That was Duergsini.

“…Do you really think”

“Turning the cycle is for humanity’s sake?”

[Of course.]

[As I said,]

[Turning the cycle]

[Will immediately exterminate]

[All goblins and yokai in this world.]

[Naturally,]

[That includes you and I as well.]

“Ha… for a demigod who looks down on mortals to claim he’ll sacrifice himself for humans?”

“I can’t buy that.”

“You undoubtedly have some other foul motive…”

[I swear on my name,]

[I have no other motive.]

[If the cycle turns,]

[Humanity will survive.]

[The humans you hold dear]

[Will also survive.]

“…”

Damn it, that too was truth.

[Goblins are]

[Existences of order.]

[I pursue order.]

[Turning the cycle]

[Is true order.]

“…”

[You have no reason]

[To refuse my proposal.]

It was true – Duergsini sincerely intended to sacrifice himself to turn the cycle.

Yet one question nagged at me – there was a flaw in Duergsini’s words.

“…If the cycle does not turn,”

“Why would humans go extinct?”

“What, is some great calamity going to fall from the heavens?”

[The choice of not turning the cycle]

[Does not exist for me.]

[It is]

[A future I cannot have.]

“Goblins really are all brainless, huh?”

“Don’t you understand hypotheticals?”

[Ah,]

[You speak of humans’ foolish imagining]

[Of a future that can never occur.]

[A simple question – ]

[If I fail to turn the cycle,]

[If you refuse my proposal,]

[I shall personally]

[Lead humanity down the path of destruction.]

“…What?”

[I]

[Shall become a calamity for humanity.]

[Not just humanity,]

[But yokai,]

[Animals,]

[Plants,]

[Nature,]

[Even lings -]

[All shall return]

[To nothingness.]

“You damn bastard, so it was coercion after all!”

[Does this feel like coercion?]

“Of course it does, you deranged fucker! In the end, you’re just scum resorting to vile threats for your own goals…”

[Have you ever considered]

[The choices an existence of order]

[Who has lost the path of order must make?]

“…”

[If I fail to turn the cycle,]

[All goblins, including myself,]

[Will become existences]

[No longer of order nor chaos,]

[But of nothingness.]

[True nothingness]

[Is destruction.]

[I shall]

[Destroy everything.]

Flowery words, yet coercion in the end.

If I defied the cycle, all humans included would die.

If I obeyed, only humans would survive.

Meaning Dapoh, Grandfather Mangtae, Noeung,

And all the kind-hearted yokai of the other world would perish too.

[I shall propose one last time,]

[Multi-tailed fox.]

[Miho.]

[Will you kill yokai and goblins]

[To save humanity?]

[Or]

[Will you let all perish?]

[Your answer]

[Is already decided.]

Conversing with Duergsini only reinforced my resolve.

Of course,

My answer was:

“I refuse.”

What right did I have to demand yokai deaths?

Even if the other world’s yokai like Dapoh and Grandfather Mangtae were evil human hunters,

My answer would not significantly change.

[…]

[Remarkable.]

[I had thought]

[You would accept my proposal after this conversation.]

“Why would I?”

“In the end, your words imply…”

“If I kill you and all goblins,”

“Nothing else will happen, is that not so?”

“You erred.”

“Luring me into this conversation,”

“Divulging your entire plan to me so freely,”

“I shall ruin that picture you painted.”

[…]

[You]

[Cannot withstand it.]

“I can withstand it.”

[No,]

[You cannot.]

[In truth,]

[Your answer]

[Was never that important to me.]

[For the moment]

[You manifest nine tails,]

[The cycle]

[Will inevitably turn.]

“Nine tails? I may never manifest them in my whole life.”

[If you do not manifest nine tails,]

[You cannot kill me.]

[If you do manifest nine tails,]

[The cycle will turn.]

“You don’t know that unless I try…”

[You still]

[Do not understand]

[This conversation.]

[Your manifestation of nine tails]

[Is inevitable.]

[If this conversation ends poorly,]

[I shall]

[Release all ascension-qualified yokai.]

“…What?”

[If the yokai run rampant,]

[Humans will die.]

[If you exterminate the yokai,]

[You will grow stronger.]

[As you grow stronger,]

[Eventually a situation will arise]

[Where you must manifest nine tails to protect humans.]

[Are you truly prepared]

[To merely watch humans die?]

“…”

No, I was not.

I knew that too.

If four or five ascension-qualified yokai emerged and tried to kill humans,

I would unleash all my power to stop them.

Even if that meant manifesting nine tails.

Yet Duergsini’s words harbored another flaw:

“You said it yourself from that foul mouth of yours.”

“I am different from Lord Beast.”

[…]

“That’s right.”

“While Lord Beast was alone,”

“Unfortunately…”

I used the power of freedom to tear open a spatial rift within the goblin lair.

Beyond that rift, Ho-jun and Yi Haneul’s faces appeared.

Staring straight at the spirals, I declared:

“I am not alone.”

[…]

[Indeed,]

[You are an existence]

[I cannot predict.]

[I never imagined you could be so foolish.]

“Go ahead and suck on that.”

Extending my middle finger towards the spirals, I sneered:

“I’ll be coming for your liver soon enough.”

“Your liver”

“Is too good for cow feed.”

“I’ll just toss it to insects.”

At this very moment, I wholeheartedly agreed with Lord Beast’s view – the world after the cycle turned would be utterly joyless.