"Is that... a sword?" she whispered.
Seo-jun looked down. He wasn't dripping. Mortals couldn't see him when he didn't wish to be seen. But her eyes—dark, tired, startlingly direct—were fixed right on his face.
"Then find a different ending." She slid a battered paperback across the table. The Hobbit . "Bilbo didn't want an adventure either. But he went anyway."
Jin-ah tilted her head. "You're the weirdo standing in a bus shelter at 2 a.m. wearing a wool coat in July. Yes, I see you."
"Still here," he'd reply.
"You're dripping," she said. "On my Wuthering Heights ."
"What happens then?"
Then her gaze dropped to his chest. She went pale.
For 937 years, General Yun Seo-jun has walked the earth as a goblin , cursed to watch everyone he loves turn to dust. Only the Goblin's Bride can see the phantom sword lodged in his chest—and end his immortality. But when he finally finds her, she's a cynical librarian who refuses to read any story with a tragic ending. Story:
On the 365th day, she stood before him in the rain again. Same bus shelter. Same broken umbrella.
"Can you always see me?" he asked quietly.
At night, when the store closed, she'd lean her head against his chest—right where the sword used to be. It was still there, invisible to everyone but her. A quiet phantom. A promise kept.
So she made him a deal: one year. One year of showing her why life was worth living, and if she still disagreed, she'd pull the sword.
The world tilted. After nearly a millennium, his bride had finally spoken. She ran. Of course she ran. He found her three days later in a used bookstore, hiding between shelves of romance novels.
The bookstore had a new section: Immortal Literature . Jin-ah ran the shop; Seo-jun restocked the high shelves without a ladder. Sometimes customers asked about the tall, sad-eyed man who never seemed to age.