Chapter 137
Chapter 137
Episode 137
If Baekyang had learned one absolute truth in her life, it was this:
A relationship built on lies cannot last. This was when she was young. When she was a pure goblin. When she didn't understand the meaning of deceiving people.
"I haven't seen her before."
"Hello? What are you doing here?"
Baekyang tilted her head, looking at the children gathered in the village.
"I don't know?"
"We're not doing anything."
"We're doing something, but we're not doing anything. We're just here."
"We're just gathered and playing, that's all."
The village children answered as if just being together was enjoyable.
It was a harmonious sight.
That's why Baekyang couldn't help but be interested in them.
She was a goblin who loved to play, after all.
"Can I play with you too?"
So Baekyang joined their group. Her horns weren't a problem. She could hide them with her magic as much as she wanted.
She mingled with humans.
Before Bihyeong was the leader.
At that time, the perception of goblins was not good at all.
It was slowly improving, but back then, they were considered enemies to be actively opposed, beyond just being hated.
This was because they played excessive pranks without a second thought.
Beings who inflict harm on people. That was the perception of goblins.
Baekyang knew that much. But she only knew it.
She didn't know the extent of what constituted a prank.
She had heard from the adults in the forest not to play severe pranks, but she couldn't grasp the standard.
That's why she took the lie of infiltrating human society and pretending to be human too lightly.
"Baekyang! Look at this. There's a frog."
"Ohh..."
"Why do Baekyang and Wolha like such things?"
At first, it must have been just a simple prank……. She just intended to mingle with the children and surprise them later.
But Baekyang blended into the group too well.
She ended up wanting to continue that daily life, even if it meant lying.
Perhaps it was because a child with a similar personality to her, a goblin, had arranged their relationship, allowing her to blend in so well.
Baekyang is a goblin. Her sensibilities were bound to be somewhat different from humans.
But that child, Wolha, left Baekyang with regret and remorse. Baekyang could no longer reveal her lies.
"Baekyang, look at that. The watermelons are huge; it seems to be a good harvest this year."
"Are you suggesting we steal them?"
"As expected of Baekyang."
Children and goblins were similar.
They were pure and knew no bounds.
The difference, however, was that human children grow up and learn boundaries and change, while goblins, even as adults, are beings who harbor the same purity as children.
Yes, goblins are pure.
They were considered purely evil.
"Baekyang."
That’s why Baekyang didn’t know how terrifying she, defined as evil, seemed to humans.
"……I hear you've been going to the human village often recently."
"Yeah, playing with Wolha was fun."
"Don't you intend to stop?"
Baekyang didn't know.
She didn’t know why the adults in the forest, who looked at her worriedly, wore such expressions.
"We are goblins, not humans. So we..."
"No!"
Baekyang was young.
Too young. She just covered her ears and did what she wanted.
Goblins also become adults. They become adults while retaining their pure hearts.
That's why they also know.
That they and humans are fundamentally different. That if you want to understand, you must first acknowledge their differences.
That they must strive to do so. They learned this through time.
But Baekyang didn't.
She was too busy hiding her true identity.
That’s why…….
"Waaah!"
"Kyaak?!"
"Hehehehe! Surprised, Baekyang? It's me, Wolha. What are you doing here... huh?"
One afternoon, when her mind was troubled, due to a single mistake.
"Horns?"
"A, a goblin!"
"Ah..."
Due to a small tremor caused by her confused mind, she couldn't maintain her magic.
She was confronted with the cruel truth that adults gradually learned through experience, but at a far too early age.
"Run away!"
The children who had been chattering and playing together just a moment ago scattered in fright as soon as they realized Baekyang's true identity.
It was a natural reaction. The village children grew up hearing fairytales and anecdotes about goblins being dangerous.
The existence of a goblin inevitably became an object of fear for children, not hatred or hostility.
"No..."
Baekyang chased after them. It was an attempt to explain herself.
But how that would appear to them.
"No!"
She didn't know the children were being chased.
Baekyang just wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but at least to the children, it could only feel that way.
Baekyang saw the children scattering in all directions and made a choice.
Wouldn't the one closest to her understand?
But…….
"Wolha..."
"D-don't come."
A horned goblin, a fanged goblin, a goblin with dramatically superior physical abilities, different from humans.
Even to her closest friend, she was still an object of fear.
Baekyang, who was chasing Wolha, saw the direction Wolha was heading and immediately froze for a different reason.
"Th-that's dangerous……. Wolha, if you go that way...!"
"Go away!"
"No. That way is dangerous, Wolha. Please. That way is..."
Samdo River.
A dangerous path that few among yokai can navigate.
Baekyang knew that path.
And she also knew that if an ignorant child set foot on that path, they could never return.
She knew.
"Ah..."
Baekyang’s lie. The relationship built on lies shattered that day.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
And a child went missing from the village.
'Yes, it's all my fault.'
If she hadn't thought of mingling with the children.
If she hadn't thought of such mischievous pranks.
At the very least, if she hadn't grown fond of them.
If she hadn't chased them.
If she hadn't lied.
'From beginning to end, everything.'
It was her fault.
Baekyang was curled up. It was a nightmare. No, it was a punishment showing her past.
A regret she would carry for the rest of her life.
So cruel and terrible a mistake that it warped her values and made her despise her own goblin racial traits.
"Baekyang. Are you okay?"
“……”
Baekyang awoke in tears. There was blood around her mouth, as if she had bitten her lip.
She must have mistaken her curled-up position for being cold, as several blankets were piled on her body, and a girl who loved playing pranks, like Wolha, was looking down at her with concern.
"Noah..."
“Yeah. Want some water?”
"I am a goblin."
"Huh? I know."
"I'm a bad goblin who deceives and tricks people."
"I don't recall Baekyang ever lying."
"I am."
Baekyang recalled the words she should have spoken then. The words that would correct so many wrongs, she uttered them.
"I'm a terrible monster."
"Even if not as much as me, I think Baekyang is pretty."
"Haha..."
She knows.
How cowardly her current words were. She looked at Eleanor, remembering Wolha.
By saying what she should have said to her, she tried to avert her eyes from her guilt, even if only a little.
Because Eleanor said it didn’t matter. If she had approached the children with sincerity from the very beginning.
If she had built relationships little by little, no matter how difficult.
Could she have changed like Eleanor treats her?
Could they still be together now?
Such a dream, such a hypothesis.
She dreamed it, she built it.
That’s why she was with Eleanor.
“Where are the others?”
Baekyang drew out her words again. It was a habit she intentionally cultivated. To be slow, not to rush.
So that no one would be surprised and run away from her presence.
So that she would never again step into a dangerous place.
She moved slowly. Such persistent effort led to movements that also affected her speech.
Every time she became aware of it, she drew out her words, consciously maintaining a sense of ease.
“The others are in different rooms, and Master was taken as soon as he arrived!”
“Why on earth……?”
“I don’t know, didn’t he do something wrong like usual?”
“I suppose so……”
Baekyang sighed and stood up.
Eleanor watched her calmly rise.
Because Eleanor, her sanctuary, was looking at her with concern, Baekyang, the goblin who wanted to escape her guilt.
“Everyone must have been worried, so shall we get moving?”
She was never okay. Yet, she smiled playfully.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ah, an unfamiliar ceiling.
When I came to my senses, I was confined in an unknown cave.
"No..."
I really did come to my senses in a cave. What is this? When and where did my memory cut off?
Yes, it must have been at the moment I parted with Soyeon with a bitter farewell.
And after that farewell, the moment I stepped into [Goblin Forest].
“My life is truly fucked……”
My memory cut out.
Looking closely, there isn't a single part of my body that doesn't hurt. Was there a battle?
No, was I ambushed?
Then that means I was hit without even realizing it…….
This isn't just carelessness; I was arrogant.
I had relaxed too much, thinking I could activate [Contemplation], which I couldn't use in the Samdo River.
Even though I knew that truly formidable foes couldn't be detected by [Contemplation], I let my guard down just because I thought the journey through the Samdo River was over.
And if there's someone who could take me down in an instant when I'm off guard, that would be.
"Goblin King, I suppose..."
There's only one person in the [Goblin Forest] strong enough not to be detected by [Contemplation].
[SSR Goblin King]
Bihyeong
The leader of the forest had struck me.
It's no wonder my entire body aches. If Bihyeong is as I remember him, I couldn't possibly have withstood an attack delivered by his muscular physique.
[Goblin King] Bihyeong was an extremely combat-specialized character among warrior characters. Every skill, except for his charge-type skills, was offense-oriented.
He lacked even the formation-breaking characteristic inherent in warrior characters, acting more like a berserker who simply charges forward and physically obliterates enemies.
"What have you done now?"
As I was hypothesizing how I got hit, someone spoke to me.
Looking closely, there was someone else trapped like me on the opposite side.
"What, it was you?"
It was Alexios, one of our intermediate goals.
Look at that guy's state.
He ran wild like an unbridled colt and finally got caught and tied up with a bridle.
"After all that confident charging out, you look quite pathetic."
"You're in a similar situation to me, so what makes you so superior...?"
"I had a minor misunderstanding; I didn't run wild like you."
Honestly, it's a bit disappointing.
I had guessed many things, and most of them were correct.
A prime example among them was Janus, the leader of the main story's villain group, [Parade].
I deduced, through the clues, that he was an avatar split from Oz's key.
How exactly that situation came to be, I still don't quite understand…….
"But in the end, you got caught too."
"Shut up, Alexios. I had a huge gain this time."
Anyway, it's important that I grasped his core identity.
But I didn't think of the last part.
I had heard that Janus had a huge fight with Alexios, and Alexios was imprisoned as a result.
Therefore, the goblins could mistake me and Janus, who are practically the same person.
So simple and easy-to-guess. I failed to predict the 'possible flow' beforehand.
I’m an idiot. I knew from the moment Soyeon appeared early that today's fortune would be bad…….
I knew all that and still got caught.
"Still, getting caught is important, isn't it? If the guy who came to negotiate gets caught, aren't you not much different from me?"
"Are you good at fighting?"
"Yes, I am."
That's true...
This guy is good at fighting.
Honestly, I'm still not confident I can beat him in a fair 1-on-1 fight.
"But you lost to me."
"This bastard...?"
That’s why I don’t fight him. It always ends with me winning.
It's only a loss for me to argue with this guy who relies solely on strength.
"You said you fought Janus."
"His name is Janus?"
"That's his title. More importantly, I heard you were unilaterally beaten and lost?"
"……The match didn't conclude."
"You were unilaterally beaten, but the opponent left midway, so the match didn't conclude?"
"Go away, you idiot."
Must have hit a nerve. What a weakling.
“Aren’t you just that weak, that’s why you lost? Kuhuhu…… Kuk!”
I tried to scoff at him, but my wound throbbed.
How on earth did the [Goblin King] hit me? Did he fracture a bone?
"A weakling making fun! Hey, does it hurt? Does it hurt, haha... Ugh?!"
Alexios, seeing his chance, scoffed at me then screamed.
Well, he's a guy who's at least as bad as me, if not worse.
"Hmph, you imbecile."
"Who's calling whom..."
"What? Your pronunciation is garbled, I can't hear you? What did you say? No, is it your face that's garbled? You got thoroughly mashed."
"This bastard?"
Alexios was also a playable character, so he has a somewhat likable impression, but not as much as me.
I'm definitely better looking.
Ah, if you're annoyed, then be handsome.