Goblin Workshop in Me - Chapter 77
77. What We Found in the Temple
Ko Byeong-gap unconsciously chewed on his lower lip. He was stuck and stood still for about five seconds since something he never thought of came out.
‘Hey, what the fuck? Is this a coffin?”
If there was a coffin, there was a corpse. He didn’t think the insides were filled with food ingredients. Ko Byeong-gap felt out of place, and then he wrinkled his face with unease.
Should he just go out? After thinking about it three times, he took hold of his heart and went inside since hunters shouldn’t be afraid of corpses. The basement wasn’t that wide. Even then, the ice took up most of the space that made it even more narrow.
“What the hell is this place?”
There were only two things here: square ice and a coffin. He tried to turn the lantern around to look for anything else, but it was in vain. He paused for a while in front of the coffin. Whatever was in there, it was going to be a wild ride tonight.
“Eh, I don’t know.”
He had come all the way here, but he couldn’t go back empty-handed. Ko Byeong-gap put the lantern in his mouth and started to push the lid of the coffin.
Hiss!
‘It’s quite heavy.’
The stone coffin was quite heavy. Being Ko Byeong-gap, he pushed it without much effort. It was definitely not something an ordinary human could open.
Slowly, the inside of the coffin was exposed. The first things he saw were ten toes and brown legs.
Hiss! Hiss!
The more the stones scratched, the more the body was revealed. Passing its knees and thighs, he found its groin. When he saw it, his heart skipped a beat. Don’t get him wrong. It wasn’t because he was a pervert or something like that.
‘A woman? A woman?’
“Agh!”
He used his strength to completely open the coffin. A moment later, the woman that laid upright toward the ceiling was fully revealed.
“Huh…”
Ko Byeong-gap was surprised for three reasons. First, this body belonged to a woman, also to a Goblin woman. Second, the woman was wonderfully intact, and one wouldn’t think it was a dead body. Finally, her upper body was covered with some kind of painting or tattoo.
“What is this drawing?”
From the top of her pelvis to her neck and the area that reached just before the elbow was full of tattoos, her skin color couldn’t be seen. If it were a simple pattern, he could dismiss her as an ancient tattoo maniac, but it wasn’t.
“Is this… a map?”
Such doubts flashed across his mind. A long line led from her belly to her chest, which seemed to represent a river. Next to it was a mountain range, and some looked like castles spread out sparsely. He had to look at her back to solidify his doubts with certainty.
Ko Byeong-gap hesitated for a moment, then bit the lantern in his mouth. He then reached out to turn over the woman’s body. His fingertips touched the woman’s shoulders, and her skin was as cold as ice. The moment he thought he was going to get goosebumps, it happened.
Whoosh!
“What?!”
A soft orange aura ran through his fingertips and permeated through the woman. A significant amount of his aura was absorbed by the woman’s body.
“Oh my god!”
Even if he hastily backed away, he didn’t know if the line between him and the woman would be cut. Ko Byeong-gap instinctively took a vigilant posture. Why would he let his guard down?
Fortunately, the string of strength gradually faded. Ko Byeong-gap looked at the body with slight exhaustion. The basement was filled with silence, and time went by in vain.
“What did you just-”
“?!”
The woman’s chest swelled greatly. Her waist bent like a bow, and her arms and legs trembled. She opened her breath like a newborn baby and began to breathe desperately.
“Ach, agh, argh!”
“Hey, hey, hey…”
Ko Byeong-gap pulled out his sword and aimed at the woman. He was never a man of low courage. Nevertheless, he sweated a lot. He had been through all sorts of weird things in his life, but this was the type he had never seen before.
‘Wait, why should I be intimidated? I’m the Goblin Lord, right?’
He slipped back and came to his senses. He was the Goblin Lord.
He didn’t know if it was a ghost or a zombie or a third thing, but if it had the essence of a Goblin, he didn’t have to be scared. Ko Byeong-gap quit his worries and remained solemn. Of course, he kept the sword in his grip.
He waited dozens of times for the woman’s chest to go up and down. Only then did her breathing gradually stabilize. After a while, she finally opened her eyes.
“…”
Ko Byeong-gap stared at the woman and swallowed. She rolled her eyes a few times with an uneasy look and found Ko BYeong-gap half a beat later. Sometime later, her eyes got bigger.
“Gasp! Ugh!”
As she tried to get her body up, she fell straight down. It looked as if her body wasn’t listening. Of course, she had been in this cold place all this time, and she moved weirdly like a live fish.
“Are you a person or a ghost?”
Ko Byeong-gap asked first. The woman only gave a frightened look and didn’t answer. She looked anxious to death, barely raised her upper body, and then looked left and right. She seemed to be looking for something, but she looked unsatisfied.
The woman realized that she was naked half a beat later and hurriedly covered her embarrassing parts. Well, he had already seen everything.
“Waaaah!”
Suddenly, she screamed. She was as loud as Ea and Doran. However, whatever she said was inaudible, as if her tongue had tangled or her mouth was stiff.
“What? What is it?”
“Back off!”
“Ah, back off.”
Ko Byeong-gap took a few steps back. She shot a look at him as if to say, ‘Is that a joke?’
It wasn’t long before she started to mumble like a crazy woman.
“Why? Why did a human wake me up? Why a human? How?”
She looked up at Ko Byeong-gap with empty eyes and then wrapped her arms around herself and shook.
“It’s cold. It’s too cold. Ugh…”
‘Crazy…’
He didn’t like the woman’s behavior, but the way she shivered stimulated his sympathy, so he took off his shirt and threw it at the woman.
“Put it on for now.”
“…”
The woman took his shirt without saying thank you, and then she lifted herself up, soothing her stuttering body. She was quite a tall woman. Ko Byeong-gap was frankly a little impressed by her figure.
She had a long, loose figure, almost 180 centimeters tall. Her silver hair, which came down to her waist, was glossy and full. She had pointed ears that slanted downward. Overall, she was very much like Doran.
The shirt couldn’t cover her bottom. The woman kept pulling on the length of the shirt that didn’t stretch and found it very frustrating. Ko Byeong-gap turned around, thinking he couldn’t handle seeing her any longer.
“Follow me. Let’s go up first.”
So, they went up to the ground. The woman was full of distrust, but she quickly followed him since she didn’t want to freeze to death.
“It’s dark, so be careful.”
“I’ll take care of it!”
‘This lady’s got a nasty temper. By the way, why is she talking down to me?’
She definitely had a different reaction from a normal Goblin. Even Doran, who was cold-hearted to others, was polite to him. He wasn’t offended that she didn’t use honorifics. It was just a little embarrassing.
Ko Byeong-gap glanced back. The woman was constantly looking around as if she had lost something. When they finally reached the ground, the woman went ahead of Ko Byeong-gap and shouted everywhere.
“My Lord, where are you? Lord! Show yourself, Lord!”
It was a heartbreaking voice, but it only echoed in the empty temple no matter how sad she cried out. She suddenly glared at Ko Byeong-gap.
“Are you a messenger from the enemy? Where is the king?”
“What are you talking about? Who is the king?”
“What?”
The woman ran out of nowhere. Through the deep dark passageway, she reached the temple’s main hall. She shuddered when she saw the collapsed temple.
“What happened to this… My Lord! My Lord!”
She cried out for a king or something in a desperate voice. Ko Byeong-gap only looked at her, bewildered.
“Why are you hiding? Lord, please show yourself, Lord!”
“King. There’s no king you’re looking for here. I’ve looked around, and there is no one there.”
“Nonsense! I can feel the king’s presence, this close.”
The eyes of the woman who looked at Ko Byeong-gap got bigger. Her mouth opened on its own. She shook her arms.
“Ah… Ah…”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Why… Why do I feel the spirit of the Lord from you? For what reason?”
Goblins instinctively recognized their Lord. He didn’t need to write “I’m the Goblin Lord” on his forehead. It seemed to be a similar case this time as well.
That cranky woman finally recognized him. Ko Byeong-gap replied with a smirk.
“As you can see, I am your Lord. I’ll explain it to you step by step, so let’s get out of here first.”
“You… Ach!”
“Hm?!”
All of a sudden, the woman came at him. Even as she lost her reason, Ko Byeong-gap aimed at her with the sword. Neither her speed nor her body movements were normal.
“Are you crazy?”
However, she was still weak. Ko Byeong-gap avoided her with a frown. He then punched her reflexively and aimed for her abdomen.
“Gasp!”
The woman gulped her stomach juices before she limped and fainted.
“Oh, damn it. I couldn’t control my power… Well, why were you coming at me in the first place?”
He crumpled his face and carried the woman on his shoulder. He felt annoyed at what happened.
***
“Lord, Lord! She’s up.”
As he tried to smoke while looking up at the night sky, a small boy ran to report. He was about to light it up, so Ko Byeong-gap smacked his lips and pushed the cigarette back into the pack.
“Yes, let’s go.”
“Lord, we have to go fast. She has a nasty temper.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know, she screams out loud.”
Ko Byeong-gap clicked his tongue and hurried. When they reached the front of the house where they brought the woman, he heard a loud voice.
“You can’t solve this right now!”
“Ah, calm down!”
‘What’s the point of rescuing her?’
He entered the house, and inside were some Goblins, Ea, and the woman that laid in bed in captivity. Ea was sweating, trying to calm the woman down. They tied her up tightly since he thought she would cause trouble, and it was a good precaution.
“Lord, you’re here?”
“Lord.”
When Ko Byeong-gap entered, the Goblins greeted him first. The woman looked stunned when she saw him.
“You’re here! We’re so relieved. We were nervous.”
“Well done. Everybody back off.”
Ko Byeong-gap dragged a chair and sat down.
“You slept quite a long time. You must’ve been tired.”
“How?! How can a human being succeed to the king’s lineage? What is…”
The woman asked questions out of the blue. Ko Byeong-gap found the word ‘human’ very annoying, but he decided to pass it over for now.
“It’s a little long to explain, and if you want to hear that, why don’t you introduce yourself first?”
“I don’t want to be tied up. Pull this thing out right now! No… Release me, please.”
“You want me to release it? How can I trust you?”
“What happened… was a mistake. If you don’t let me go, I won’t say anything.”
Ko Byeong-gap crossed his arms and let out a faint smile. He winked at a Goblin from the back and ordered.
“Release it.”
“Yep!”
Sabung, one of the workforce leaders, approached and unfastened her ropes. There wasn’t much reason not to let her go because the woman looked stubborn, and even if she caused trouble, they could overpower her.
The woman furrowed her brows and glared at the Hob Goblin.
“What the hell are these ugly things?”
“What? Ugly?”
“Yeah, ugly. I’ve never seen such an ugly monster in my life.”
“You’d better watch your language from now on. These are Goblins. Same as you.”
“Goblin? Like me?”
The ties were completely unfastened. Fortunately, she didn’t show much hostility. However, she tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand what she just heard.
“I don’t even have a name for you. I’m Ko Byeong-gap. Just call me Lord. What’s your name?”
“… It’s Marilyn.”
“Yeah, Marilyn. Let’s get straight to the point since we’re tired. Who are you, and why were you in the basement of the temple?”
“I’ll have to listen to you first before that. What do you mean, these things are Goblins like me? Where are my similar people? I miss my kind. Please call my kind.”
“Here they are.”
Ko Byeong-gap pointed to the Goblins in the back with a serious face. Marilyn’s expression became more serious than that.
“What are you saying now…?”
“They’re all Goblins. They’re your kind.”
“Oh, no. That’s ridiculous… Cough! Cough!”
Marilyn coughed out of the blue. She might still be weak, so a normal Goblin approached her with a bucket of water.
“Here, drink this.”
“Put it away!”
“Ah!”
Marilyn pushed the little one roughly. The little boy fell on his butt and was covered with the spilled water. Blood vessels rose on Ko Byeong-gap’s temples.
“Stay away from me! Ah–”
It happened in a flash. Ko Byeong-gap rose like a bolt of lightning and grabbed Marilyn’s neck.
Bang!
“I…”
“Hey! Don’t do that! Oh my God!”
He pushed Marilyn against the wall. Strangled, Marilyn scratched Ko Byeong-gap’s arm with a pained face. Ko Byeong-gap growled, breathing hot fire.
“Try touching the children one more time. I swear to God that I will kill you.”
