Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Inheritance (2)
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To ordinary people, it was nothing more than an eerie sound.
But to Bihyeong, their voices rang out crystal clear.
'Goblin Cap? It's similar to mine, but something feels off.'
That was because the goblins were chattering away while using their caps right now.
Their voices couldn't reach the material world, leaving behind only a lingering aura that created this spooky atmosphere.
'Goblins...'
Bihyeong gazed at the goblins blabbering in midair.
[A human's here again!] [I love that humming tune! It gets me pumped, so pumped!] ...Their hips wiggling around looked utterly pathetic, but at least their appearances were closer to true goblins than Eoduk's.
'Shabby clothes barely covering their bodies, and that single horn on their foreheads.'
Plus, they had blue foxfire clinging to their forms.
Even doing forward rolls, they screamed goblin.
[...Huh?]
In that moment, the goblin in the middle of the three tilted its head.
[That kid... his eyes are locking right on us, weirdly enough?] [Where, where... Huh? For real?] [Hey, little one. What are you?] Eoduk bristled at the goblins' questions.
-No way, those lowlifes...! They can't even recognize an elder and have the gall to act up!
'It's fine. I'm the one who hid my presence.'
Bihyeong was currently wearing his Goblin Cap, concealing his half-demon nature.
To them, he probably just looked like a young human kid.
"Won't you show yourselves already?"
His gaze pinned them perfectly, and his voice addressed them directly.
The goblins could no longer hide.
Boom!
Boom boom!
Smoke billowed like fireworks exploding in midair, and the goblins burst through it, landing on the ground.
They were hulks that had to be at least two meters tall.
"Little one. How'd you spot us?"
"Yeah, we were invisible with our caps on."
"What a peculiar kid. Sometimes exorcists carry strange bloodlines. Is that what you are?"
From their words, Bihyeong realized one thing.
'Not all Goblin Caps are created equal.'
Well, his was EX-grade, after all.
If every single one could enter the Spirit Realm, he'd have felt cheated.
With his curiosity sated, Bihyeong decided to clear up their confusion too.
Whoosh!
Blue flames ignited on his forehead, forging a horn.
The presence flowing from it. Raw power.
"......!"
"......!!!"
The moment the goblins sensed it, they involuntarily dropped to their knees and flattened themselves on the ground.
"W-We greet the elder..."
"G-Greetings...!"
Only after prostrating did they realize they were kowtowing.
It wasn't their heads commanding it—their instincts had taken over.
Bihyeong looked down at them calmly before gradually dialing back his presence.
"Rise."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
The three goblins shot to their feet in perfect unison at his command.
Their initial ferocious, murderous glares were gone.
'Though their tough mugs are still as intimidating as ever.'
They relaxed their faces, forcing the kindest smiles they could muster.
No. Their faces were still scary as hell.
"Calm down. I'm not here to harm you."
Make yourselves at home.
With that, Bihyeong plopped down on the ground first, and only then did the three goblins hesitantly kneel after him.
"Um... may we ask your name, elder?"
"Bihyeong. Sin Bihyeong."
"Ah! So you're Elder Bihyeong. Forgive our ignorance."
Ignorance? What was there to recognize?
He'd never made a name for himself as a yokai in the first place.
'These guys are survival pros.'
Quick on the uptake.
Having only seen loyal types like Eoduk who didn't feel very yokai-like, their reactions felt refreshingly novel—and amusing.
'Should I mess with them a bit more?'
The thought crossed his mind, but time was short, so he cut to the chase.
"How about joining my Night Parade of One Hundred Demons?"
He eyed the three goblins.
Unlike Eoduk when they'd first met, they had solid forms.
That meant their power levels were at least on par with Eoduk's.
-Elder! I'm a bit stronger than those guys!
Eoduk stomped around furiously from within the shadows.
'Yeah, yeah. You've gotten a lot stronger yourself.'
Eoduk's presence had once been less than dust,
but after receiving his name and refining his nature, he'd become a proper yokai.
'Once this is wrapped up, I could put these guys under Eoduk.'
As Bihyeong pondered that,
the three goblins exchanged glances for a split second before prostrating again.
"F-Forgive us, elder."
"We can't join your Night Parade."
"...What?"
What was this now?
When Bihyeong asked why, their answer was a shock.
"We already serve a 'boss'."
Boss.
The word hit Bihyeong hard.
'No way these guys...'
Already part of another Night Parade faction?
'Meaning their boss is here too?'
Bihyeong immediately asked about it,
"Yes. Our boss is 'Dweoksini'."
He heard a very familiar yokai name.
'Dweoksini?'
The yokai Bihyeong had thought of first when choosing goblin from his half-demon traits.
Not a goblin, but a ruler of goblins.
One of the named yokai in Korean lore.
'Classified as a plague ghost.'
A brutal entity that crushed people's heads.
If goblins were depicted playing with humans and occasionally bringing calamity,
Dweoksini belonged to cosmic horror territory.
Something beyond comprehension, impossible to oppose.
That was Dweoksini.
'Better to scrap recruiting them into the Night Parade.'
Not in the distant future, but right now—he couldn't claim to be stronger than Dweoksini.
No need to pick a needless fight.
'Still, maybe they can help me snag something from the treasure vault?'
They'd given the Library Chairman a technique manual as a reward, after all.
Bihyeong asked about it, and the goblins beamed, nodding eagerly.
"Of course! Absolutely!"
"We'll serve you with utmost care!"
And so, their escort began.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ They walked a gloomy, grotesque path.
All around were limp tree branches and leaves hanging lifelessly.
And the only lights piercing the darkness: goblin fires.
Not to mention the thickening fog the deeper they went into the treasure vault.
This place screamed "ghost magnet" at first glance.
Bihyeong was going nuts for entirely different reasons.
'The deeper we go, the more my Demon Core trembles.'
Meaning the academy's treasure vault was brimming with yokai energy.
'Hope this doesn't cause issues.'
It was a restricted zone, after all.
The academy had it locked down tight, so no one else should sense it,
but who knew.
'If the density gets high enough for the overseers to detect.'
Wouldn't the academy notice something off?
A full investigation would put him in a tough spot.
"Why's the treasure vault landscape such a mess?"
As the question slipped out, his goblin escorts quickly answered.
"It turned like this after our boss settled here."
"Those ruined buildings were always rundown, but at least sunlight got in, and no fog like this."
"Really? Then why set up shop here?"
The goblins grinned awkwardly.
"Our boss got wounded a while back and came here to heal."
A wound...
'Dweoksini wounded? By who?'
Dweoksini.
Details on the entity were murky, but scholars agreed on one thing.
'High-class evil spirit.'
Its hanja was head-suppressing spirit.
'Tons of theories floating around. Like it was originally a god that fell to yokai.'
That came from "sini" being folk lingo for divine rank.
Not every "sini" was top-tier,
but Dweoksini had terrified people enough to spawn countless legends.
Couldn't compare to fox spirits or dragons, but denying its immense power was impossible.
'Someone wounding that? Who?'
An exorcist, maybe?
The thought arose, but the goblins shook their heads.
"Nah, it was an oni from over there in pirate territory."
"To heal that wound, the boss came here for 'that thing'."
That thing?
"What, some spirit pill or something?"
The treasure vault held all sorts of spirit pills,
and they weren't exclusive to exorcists.
'Japan's shikigami grew by eating stuff like that too, right?'
Shikigami were a staple onmyoji technique.
'From what I recall, shikigami originate from beasts corrupted by yokai.'
Controlled and commanded.
Such shikigami evolved after devouring spirit pills.
'Makes sense why Dweoksini would hole up here.'
But contrary to Bihyeong's guess, the "thing" they meant was something else.
"Spirit pill? No. That won't heal our boss's wound."
"Then?"
"This."
With that, the goblin swung its hand!
Boom!
Smoke puffed up, and a club appeared gripped in the goblin's fist.
-Elder! That's a Goblin Club!
As Eoduk said, it was the goblins' signature from folklore.
-Goblin Club? You know, the magic one where "gold come out, chop chop!" makes gold pop out.
Bihyeong started to nod—that was all he knew too.
But Eoduk shook his head, denying it.
-I heard Goblin Clubs aren't like that.
'Then what are they?'
-Not sure on details, but I remember they 'store' objects.
With that, Bihyeong finally pieced together Dweoksini's plan.
'Using the Goblin Club to store the curse embedded in its body.'
But was that even possible?
'Curses are intangible. If it stayed as a blade, sure, but it turned into a curse...?'
How do you store something invisible and untouchable in a club?
Eoduk said it stored 'objects,' a bloodline ability.
As Bihyeong voiced his doubt, the goblins exchanged looks, hemming and hawing before whispering.
"...We can't wield it, but you could, elder?"
"Yeah. We kneel and beg the boss to spare him."
"Goblin King's Club. Beyond us."
At their words, Bihyeong's ears perked up.
'Goblin King's Club?'
Well, damn.
'Now this I can't pass up.'
Looks like he'd decided what to grab from the treasure vault.