37. Unexpected

“Oh, that’s an interesting story.” Ea nodded in admiration.

Kiriyan was excited and continued to speak. “That’s not all. The field up there was also planted by the Lord. The chickens in the fence were also brought in by the Lord.”

“Your Lord must be a great man, huh? According to you, he’s an all-rounder.”

“Of course, he’s nothing short of grace to us.”

“I think I know why you like and follow him so much. It’s great to have a reliable leader.”

Ea and Kiriyan sat side by side and drank rice soup. The conversation didn’t stop as they ate, and the leisurely lunch break was almost over. After they ate, the Goblins prepared to work one by one.

At that time, Gobung shouted at the Goblins, “The Goblins who are done eating. In the field. Gather around! Lord’s order!”

Ea tilted her head.

“Hmm? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I have to go now.”

Kiriyan finished all the leftover rice soup and got up.

“Can I come and see it? I’m not a Goblin.”

“Well, you should ask the Lord.”

“That would be great. Thank you for eating with me today, Kiriyan.”

“Don’t mention it. Let’s have dinner together later.”

“Yes, I’d like that. I feel a little closer to you.”

Kiriyan bowed and headed for the field. The other Goblins also gathered one after another.

Ea finished her meal slowly. When she went to the field, all the Goblins had already gathered.

In the center of it all stood Ko Byeong-gap.

“Are we all here? Check it, Gobung.”

“Yes, sir!”

“You can take your time.”

Gobung skillfully counted the number of heads.

Ea took the opportunity to sneak up behind Ko Byeong-gap.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, my gosh!”

“What are you doing?”

Ko Byeong-gap eased his startled heart and answered. “I have something to do. Why?”

“May I take a look? I wonder what you guys are doing together.”

“Hmm…”

Ko Byeong-gap thought for a moment and readily agreed.

“Do whatever you want. We have kids here to help you anyway.”

“Yay! Thank you! I have a lot of curiosity. Spirits are usually like that.”

“You have too many useless words.”

“Is that so? But I love to talk. On the contrary, if you can’t say what comes to your mind, your heart will be frustrated—”

“That’s enough, just go over there.”

“Hehe. I see.”

Ea gently squeezed herself to where the Goblins sat.

“Lord, all of them are here.”

“Okay. Go sit over there too.”

“Yes.”

The Goblin sat in line with the row. Ko Byeong-gap stood in front of them and cleared his throat.

“Did you eat well?”

“Yes! Thank you for the meal!”

“Nom!”

The Goblins answered in unison, and Ashvilan resounded with the sound.

Ea was so surprised that she covered her ears.

“There is no other reason why you have gathered like this. A new family member is coming to Ashvilam today. I called you to let you know.”

“New family?” The Goblins, who didn’t know what to say, murmured. Ko Byeong-gap skillfully comforted them.

“Come on, everyone, be quiet and concentrate. From now on, the first Female Goblin in the history of New Ashvilam will be born.”

The field was filled with silence. Ko Byeong-gap opened the ancient shop with a trembling heart.

He teased his fingers a few times to find the item he wanted.

‘Here it is.’

[Female Goblin]

-Price: 500,000 Crystal

-Description: A female goblin who became extinct by a curse. It has a breeding function and can give birth to females.

Ko Byeong-gap lingered on it for a few seconds, and then he pressed it.

[Would you like to buy ‘Female Goblin’?]

‘Yeah.’

[Please select a ‘Female Goblin’ to purchase.]

[Henrel, Maria, Canna, Ariona, Susan, Delosi, Grancia….]

‘What is this?’

Ko Byeong-gap frowned at the hologram since more than tens of thousands of names came out of the list. He felt like he had to stay up a few nights to read it all.

‘You want me to choose one of them?’

It became difficult to decide because it was unexpected.

‘I’m thinking about it.’

Ko Byeong-gap groaned. Given the multiple choices, he was bound to hesitate.

‘I don’t know. I could probably choose anyone anyway.’

Determined, he pressed the buy button. The name Ko Byeong-gap chose was ‘Doran’. After a while, 500,000 crystals were withdrawn. And in front of him, a core of light began to gather.

“Oh-oh!”

The Goblins let out an exclamation. Ko Byeong-gap also looked at the scene with blank eyes.

The core of light quickly took shape. At first, the head was made, and gradually the shape of the body and limbs emerged.

And finally, the head-to-toe formation was over. The twinkling light faded and revealed a woman. It was a naked woman without a single thread, and it wasn’t a Goblin.

At least, that was how it was in Ko Byeong-gap’s view.

‘What is this?’

“… Uh?”

“What’s that?”

“Lo… Lord? What is this?”

It was a very beautiful girl. She had silky black hair and skin the same color as copper. Her features were very distinct, and her dropping ears were pointed.

Her height wasn’t that big since she was about 160 centimeters tall. Her height reached up to Ko Byeong-gap’s chest.

In terms of face value, she was around 16 or 17 years old.

‘No, fuck it. The face value doesn’t matter now.’

Ko Byeong-gap tried to calm his dazed mind and grasp the situation. The word ‘Female’ was correct, but where was the word ‘Goblin’?

The word Goblin was nowhere to be found in her. To be honest, she was similar to humans, but she wasn’t exactly the same. There was a clear sense of disparity.

“…”

The unidentified girl blinked her eyes and looked up at Ko Byeong-gap. Ko Byeong-gap thought he was going to be sucked in when he looked at her green eyes.

It wasn’t long before the girl looked around. Hundreds of eyes stared at her blankly. She recoiled and backed away.

“… What are you?”

Ko Byeong-gap barely spoke. The girl just blinked her eyes.

‘Can’t you talk?’

That was what he thought for a moment.

“Huh? What’s this?”

The girl wrinkled her face and spat out her voice. Ko Byeong-gap was as surprised as he was when he first heard Ea’s voice. It was a very seductive voice.

‘I’d like to ask you that.’

Ko Byeong-gap could hardly get the hang of what to say.

***

“I don’t even know.”

“I thought so.”

Doran, the unidentified girl, answered roughly and fiddled with the cape given by Ko Byeong-gap.

‘This hurts my head.’

Ko Byeong-gap talked to Doran in his private tent. No, it was more like an interrogation than a conversation. It was in the form of Ko Byeong-gap asking a question and Doran answering.

The problem was that there was nothing much to achieve. Ko Byeong-gap asked about 40 questions, but Doran answered that she didn’t know all of them.

Still, two facts could be uncovered.

‘Boy, she really doesn’t know anything, and she’s so clueless.”

Doran didn’t know anything. She was like a blank paper. It would’ve been nice if there was some dirt on it, but it was much too clean, and he was growing impatient. Even that time, he sat roughly on the sofa and shook his crossed legs.

Ko Byeong-gap judged that it was meaningless to inquire further.

“That’s enough. Let’s call it a day.”

“Excuse me, Lord. Oh! Can I call you Lord?”

“Yes, that’s what you can call me. What is it?”

“I have a question. What will happen to me from now on?”

“You will stay here in the future. Together with the other Goblins.”

“Oh, really? That sounds fun.”

“…”

He didn’t know if she was easy-going or just not thinking.

Doran didn’t really complain. Ko Byeong-gap put on a cigarette and lit a fire. Doran then frowned and pulled back.

“Ugh. I don’t like the smell of it.”

“We’re done here, so get going.”

“To where?”

“You see that tent over there?”

He pointed his finger in one direction.

“What’s a tent? Oh, that one?”

“Yes, you’ll find a girl named Ea there. Stay with her today.”

“Okay, I will. Heh heh. Ea, Ea, who is Ea?”

Doran hummed away and leisurely left. She was a little bit different from Ea, and she was lively.

“I’m in trouble.”

Ko Byeong-gap shook his head and blew out smoke. The smoke soon dispersed.

“Is that a Goblin before degeneration?’

The conversation with Doran didn’t produce any results. But guessing was possible. As a result of repeated inferences, he reached some conclusions.

‘The female Goblins went extinct before Ashvilam was even destroyed. So it wouldn’t have suffered the degeneration of the race. If that is the case, then there is a high possibility that that form is the form of the Goblins before their decline.”

Unless the ancient shop lied in the first place, he bought a Goblin, but there was no way that something out of the blue like that would occur.

‘That’s amazing. Could that be the true form of a Goblin?’

He burst into laughter. Doran and the rest of the Goblins. The gap between the two was too great. It was so sad.

‘What the hell did you do to get to that point, guys?’

Ko Byeong-gap smoked cigarettes for a while. After a while, he went to visit Ea. Ea was down the river with the Goblins and Doran. It looked like they were washing dishes. Ko Byeong-gap spied on them for a moment from a few steps away.

“Can I do that too?”

“Hmm? Does that mean you’re going to help? I would be very happy if you could help me. I like to get help. On the contrary, I like to help others.”

“Then I’ll help you. It looks fun.”

Doran snuggled between them and helped her wash the dishes with sloppy gestures.

Ko Byeong-gap sighed and called Ea.

“Ea.”

“Hmm? Oh! When did you get here? I didn’t even know you were standing behind me.”

“Come with me for a second.”

“Oh, good. Do you have something to say to me?”

Ko Byeong-gap led Ea to a secluded place.

“What do you want to say to me?”

“I need you to take care of Doran for a while.”

“Is that girl named Doran? That’s a pretty name. Anyway, okay. Leave it to me.”

“Then, I’ll ask you a favor. Take her around and teach her this and that. Take her with you when you sleep. Tell me if you need anything. I will bring it to you right away.”

He thought it would be better for her to be with Ea than the other Goblins. Ea readily agreed.

“I see. It’s always fun to make new friends. I think Doran and I can communicate well. I just had that feeling. I have a good hunch. What actually happened was…”

“I see. I see. Go wash the dishes.”

“Um, I understand.”

Ko Byeong-gap sent Ea back. Anyway, he felt exhausted when he talked to that spirit. He got out of Ashvilam that way. He was thinking of sleeping on it.

Anyway, sleeping was the best thing to do when you had a headache.

“Let’s take a shower and take a nap after a long time.”

He flung off his clothes. There was no one watching anyway. Finally, he took his hand to take off his underwear, and that was the moment…

Boom boom! Boom boom!

“What the fuck?”

The building vibrated with a roar.

In a moment, a thousand thoughts crossed his mind.

‘What, is there a war? Did a missile just drop? Or an earthquake? Sinkhole? What is it?”

Ko Byeong-gap ran to the window, half-dressed. He pulled the blinds down, and he opened the window wide.

Oh my God.

“What is this…?”

He was speechless.

Missiles, earthquakes, sinkholes. Something far more shocking than anything else happened in front of his bedroom.

‘Why is the monster on the street?’

“Argh! Fuck! Fuck! Don’t come!”

A cold scream rang in his ear. Ko Byeong-gap straightened his neck and looked at the place where the sound was coming from.

A monster approached a man. The man fell as if his legs were loose, and the monster tore his body apart without any mercy.

Blood splattered on the exterior walls of the building.

“Crrr…”

The monster slowly turned its head. It then made eye contact with Ko Byeong-gap, who looked down from the fourth floor of the villa.

‘Fuck!’

Ko Byeong-gap felt like a madman. No, he was half crazy and put his clothes back on. After he got his long sword, he ran out right away.

Even when he got down the stairs, he couldn’t figure out what had happened at all.