Chapter 28
A few days later. Eun-pyeong Market.
“Yaaawn~”
As the sun began to set, the merchants stretched and got up from their spots one by one.
“Ugh, my back… I wonder if I’m going to throw my back out at this rate.”
“I’ve been sitting all day, and now my whole body’s stiff.”
“Has it already gotten this late…?”
“Shall we start heading out?”
It was time to close up shop, but the goods on the stalls remained exactly as they had been laid out that morning.
There had been only nineteen customers who visited Eun-pyeong Market today.
It was an even smaller number than before.
“We worked hard today, everyone.”
“See you all tomorrow.”
“If we can see each other tomorrow, that is. Heh heh.”
“Then we’ll see each other the day after tomorrow. Hahaha.”
The merchants exchanged self-deprecating jokes.
Yet none of their lips curled upward at all.
They knew all too well that those words were not entirely jokes.
“Then I’ll be off first.”
“I’ll be heading out as well.”
“Everyone, get home safe.”
Just as the merchants, who had struggled through another difficult day, were hurrying home…
“Wait a moment.”
Hayun suddenly appeared at the entrance of Eun-pyeong Market and blocked their way.
“Haa, haa, don’t go yet. Please listen to what I have to say.”
Judging by her ragged breathing, it seemed she had hurried over at a run.
The merchants looked at Hayun with weary eyes.
“Is it you again?”
“We thought you’d been quiet for a few days, but you still haven’t given up?”
“What strange thing are you here to say this time?”
“What exactly do you want from us? We told you, we’re fine with things as they are!”
Despite the barrage of criticism, Hayun showed no sign of backing down.
“It’ll only take an gak (15 minutes). Please, just listen to me for exactly one gak.”
At Hayun’s plea, the merchants shrugged their shoulders.
From the beginning, Eun-pyeong Market was a marketplace that no one visited.
When the market burned down, customers naturally stopped coming.
Once the customers disappeared, the haengsu who supplied the goods stopped coming here as well. Even the merchants who could not endure the situation began leaving the market one by one.
There were only two kinds of people left in Eun-pyeong Market.
Those who were unable to leave, or those who had a reason they simply could not bring themselves to leave. For instance, people who had lost their families here.
The only person who showed any interest in Eun-pyeong Market was Hayun. That sincerity kept the merchants from immediately turning her away.
“One gak, huh…”
“Let’s hear what she has to say.”
“Fine. What exactly have you come here for this time?”
The sunset was already descending.
Hayun hurriedly got to the point.
“From this moment on, this place is no longer Eun-pyeong Market.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“This is Eun-pyeong Market, so where else would it be?”
“Did you perhaps confuse this place with some other market?”
The merchants tilted their heads at the completely contextless statement.
Hayun spoke clearly, emphasizing each word.
“From this moment on, this place is the Goblin Market.”
“The Goblin Market?”
The merchants’ eyes went wide.
The Goblin Market.
It was a phrase they had never heard of or even thought of in their entire lives.
And yet, apparently, this place was now going to be the Goblin Market.
The merchants looked at Hayun with worried expressions.
“What kind of crazy nonsense are you talking about?”
“Did the heat get to you or something…? Why are you suddenly going on about goblins?”
“Are you possessed by a goblin or something?”
“You’re not seriously trying to change the market’s name to the Goblin Market, are you?”
At one merchant’s question, Hayun nodded.
“Yes. That’s right. From after sunset, this market’s name will be the Goblin Market.”
“For goodness’ sake.”
The merchants, who had been listening intently to Hayun, wore hollow expressions.
“This isn’t the time for wordplay. What kind of….”
“You still haven’t given up on the night market?”
“Fine, let’s say we give you a hundred concessions and agree to changing the name. But where are the goblins here?”
“If you’re going to rename it the Goblin Market, shouldn’t there at least be something resembling a goblin?”
At the barrage of criticism, Hayun quietly pointed somewhere.
“They’re right there. Real goblins.”
“Huh?”
Following Hayun’s finger, the merchants’ gazes moved in unison. And there, they saw Mansang’s porters straining as they dragged some enormous object toward them.
“Heave-ho!”
What the porters were dragging was a goblin statue. The statue was so enormous that it took ten porters just to move it.
The merchants’ eyes bulged.
“W-What in the world is that?”
“I-Is that really a goblin?”
A short while later.
One of the porters carrying the statue asked,
“Haengsu Im, where should we put the statue?”
“Put it somewhere near the market entrance where it’ll be clearly visible.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Following Hayun’s instructions, the porters began standing the statue upright.
“Everyone heard that, right?”
“Yes.”
“Carefully stand the statue near the market entrance.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The porters looped ropes they had prepared beforehand around the statue. Then, gathering their strength, they slowly lifted it.
“Hrraah!”
As they pulled on the ropes as if they were playing tug-of-war, the statue that had been lying down began slowly raising its body.
“Phew, we did it!”
A short while later.
A gigantic statue, reaching two meters in height, had been erected at the entrance of Eun-pyeong Market.
“Goodness, it really does look just like a goblin.”
The merchants involuntarily shrank their shoulders from the imposing aura emanating from the statue.
Although it had been carved from wood, the goblin statue was so lifelike that it seemed as though it might come alive and move at any moment.
“Haengsu Im. It’s done.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
After finishing the work, the porters approached Hayun.
In their hands were the goblin masks they had commissioned along with the statue.
“Here are the items you requested.”
“Thank you. You can all head back now.”
“Yes. Take care.”
The porters withdrew, and Hayun stood proudly beside the statue.
“How is it? Does it look a little more like a Goblin Market now?”
The merchants stared at the gigantic statue that had been erected in an instant with bewildered expressions.
“My goodness, this is insane. When did she even make something like that?”
“I thought she might, I really did, but I never imagined she’d actually put up a goblin statue….”
There had been no time to stop her.
Faced with Hayun’s downright overwhelming drive, the merchants could do nothing but stare blankly.
Who could possibly stop a gigantic statue unlike anything they had ever seen in their lives from being erected?
“A goblin statue… What in the world is going on here?”
Once the statue had been erected, several merchants approached it with curious expressions.
“But it really does look like a goblin. Those big, wide, sharply slanted eyes and all.”
“This isn’t the work of an ordinary craftsman, is it? Who made something like this?”
“Wow, even that goblin club looks just like the real thing.”
“Making something like this couldn’t have cost just a few coins….”
Once the large statue was erected at the market entrance, its very presence immediately seized everyone’s attention.
And on top of that, it was a goblin statue. Once seen, it was impossible to forget.
“This mask is really well made, too.”
After looking over the statue, the merchants examined the goblin masks as well.
There were strings attached to the back of the masks so they could be tied around one’s head.
“Is this how you wear it?”
One merchant wearing a goblin mask played a prank on his colleague beside him.
“Hey, Mr. Kim, how do I look? Do I look like a goblin?”
“Oh, you scared me! I nearly dropped my baby.”
“Hahaha. This is fun. It’s really fun.”
The merchant wearing the goblin mask burst into laughter.
It was nice to see some life returning to the dull, lifeless market for the first time in a long while.
But such reactions were only from a tiny minority.
The majority were still negative about it.
“Ugh, how grotesque.”
“What in the world is that?”
“Is it really all right to put something like that at the market entrance?”
And of all things, it had to be a goblin.
The merchants voiced fierce opposition.
In truth, the appearance of the goblin Hayun had designed was rather round and cute.
But in the Joseon era, goblins were beings that brought disaster.
No matter how capable Hayun was, she could not change such a perception overnight. Especially for Joseon-era people, who strongly believed in shamanism and superstitions, accepting something like this was even more difficult.
“No, you should at least discuss something like this with us before putting it up. What are we supposed to do if you suddenly bring something like this here?”
“What if customers get scared and run away when they see this? Are you going to take responsibility?”
“Do you really think we’re going to allow some ominous goblin-like statue to stay here?”
Unable to stand by any longer, the merchants crowded around the statue.
Then they began shouting at the top of their lungs.
“Can’t you take this away right now? If we leave something like this here, even the good fortune we already have will run away!”
“Why? Isn’t it cute?”
“Cute, my foot! A blasphemous statue like this needs to be destroyed immediately!”
When the angry merchants tried to move the statue, Hayun hurriedly blocked their path.
“No! Don’t touch it!”
“Why not! It’s an object in our market! We’re saying we’ll get rid of it ourselves!”
“People are going to start flooding in any moment!”
“What?”
The merchant looked around with an incredulous expression.
But the market was still completely empty.
There wasn’t a single person in sight, not even an ant. All that could be seen was dust blowing across the ground.
“Where exactly are these customers you’re talking about?”
“They’ll be here soon. So please wait just a little longer.”
“We’ve already been waiting like that for ten years! Ten years!”
One merchant spoke as though he were venting all the resentment he had bottled up.
It wasn’t that they hated Hayun.
They were simply afraid of change.
They were trying desperately to forget and live on, but Hayun’s actions kept stirring up their old wounds, and that frightened them.
“Do you think we haven’t tried anything at all here for the past ten years?”
They hadn’t simply sat around doing nothing, either. But the more things they tried, the greater wounds they received in return.
As their wounds began tearing open once again, the merchants cried out.
“We tried all sorts of things, too!”
“I invested my entire fortune in this place!”
“I gave my whole life to it!”
Even while the market was burning, they scraped together every last bit of money they had and carried out restoration work.
With help from Mansang and various merchants’ associations, they managed to restore the market to about half of its former size, but the typhoon that came the following year swept away everything that remained. At that time, the hearts of most of the merchants were swept away with it as well. The year after that, another flood struck and claimed the lives of countless merchants.
After being hit by the Three Calamities, the only thing they could trust and rely on was their faith. And in the middle of all that, Hayun had erected a goblin statue, so it was hardly surprising that the merchants were thrown into a panic.
“Enough with the nonsense. Let’s just get rid of it!”
“If we leave something that hideous here, it’ll block the flow of energy instead!”
In the end, some of the merchants took action.
Hayun hurriedly blocked their path.
“No! The customers really are going to come flooding in! Please, just trust me this once!”
She had failed to save her father.
She had failed to save the antique shop.
‘If only I had helped back then. If only I had possessed the abilities I have now back then.’
Several times a day, memories of that time came rushing back to her.
The reason Hayun clung so desperately to Eun-pyeong Market was atonement.
The guilt of having caused her father’s death.
That guilt was what drove Hayun forward.
“If you want to get rid of this statue, you’ll have to get rid of me first!”
Hayun stuck herself firmly to the statue and desperately tried to stop them.
The merchants stared at her in bewilderment.
“Can’t you move out of the way right now?”
“I won’t move! If I move, then who’s going to save this place?”
“Save it? What is there to save! This market is already finished!”
“We’re the ones who can either bring Eun-pyeong Market back to life or ruin it!”
They had long since abandoned any hope that Eun-pyeong Market would come back to life.
They simply didn’t have enough fuel left to pour their passion into that threadbare hope.
As Hayun continued clinging tightly to the statue, the merchants exchanged troubled glances. If they knocked the statue over like this, there was a chance Hayun would get hurt as well.
“What do we do?”
“What do you mean, what do we do? Obviously, we get rid of her first.”
In the end, the merchants realized.
That Hayun was the cause of all this commotion.
The more Hayun got involved, the more exhausted they became.
So the merchants changed their target. Rather than the statue, they decided to get rid of Hayun.
The merchants approached Hayun.
“From today onward, if you come here again, know that you’ll get a good beating.”
“We’ll treat you this politely only today.”
“If you come here one more time, we’ll make sure you can never set foot around here again.”
Then, working together, they began lifting Hayun up.
“Oh no…!”
She tried to resist, but it was useless.
Hayun’s body was lifted straight up in an instant.
“N-No…!”
Hayun flailed desperately while suspended in midair, but it was nothing more than a meaningless struggle.
“Hmph. You’re surprisingly light for someone so stubborn.”
“Let’s take this one outside the market and dump her there.”
“Good! Let’s take this brat over there right now…!”
Just as the merchants were about to carry Hayun away…
“Wow! It really is a goblin!”
Suddenly, people could be heard from the entrance of the market.
“It really is? There really was a Goblin Market?”
“What? So that song those kids were singing was actually true?”
“So it wasn’t just a rumor?”
Numerous people appeared as they pushed their way through the bushes.
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