The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Catastrophe-Class Relics from Urban Legends Obsessed with Me — Episode 109
Hwa Ryeon narrowed her eyes, her voice low. “An attack, you say? You’re certain?”
“Yes. Look here. You’ll see it when you examine the Shrine.”
Chae Wol spoke with quiet certainty, pointing to one corner of the Shrine.
The location was shadowed and easy to miss at first glance, but there, a blackened discoloration marked the wood.
“Even if wood rots naturally, it wouldn’t decay like this. This is the mark left by something attacking the Shrine.”
“How old is it?”
“I’d need to examine it more closely to say for certain, but it doesn’t appear to be very old.”
“Mm.”
Someone had attacked the Shrine—or more precisely, the deity enshrined within it.
And recently, a plague had begun spreading through the Village.
Connecting the two seemed entirely natural.
“Can you tell what kind of attack it was?”
“That part is, well…”
While listening to the two of them converse, Woo Ju reached into empty air and summoned the Bangsangsi Mask, placing it over his head.
He wanted to examine the traces more closely himself.
As the mask settled, his vision shifted. More precisely, the Shrine’s appearance changed.
Seen with the naked eye, it was merely an aged structure, but through the mask, something wavered above it.
Woo Ju instinctively understood that it was a trace left by the deity that had once dwelled in this Shrine.
Ordinarily, when Koreans speak of a “god,” they envision something transcendent and untouchable.
But what the Inspection Bureau typically means by “deity” is neither omniscient nor omnipotent.
If anything, it would be more accurate to classify them as a type of supernatural being.
The only reason they don’t intervene actively is that they judge the immediate danger to be minimal.
The Inspection Bureau’s personnel and resources are finite, after all.
If there were a supernatural being with a 90 percent certainty of harming humans and another that hadn’t harmed them in centuries, one would naturally prioritize eliminating the former first.
‘A trace of attack, then.’
Woo Ju turned this knowledge over in his mind as he examined the Shrine more carefully.
Specifically, the spot Chae Wol had identified as bearing the mark of an attack.
But even viewing it through the mask, it was difficult to discern anything specific.
As Chae Wol had said, something was indeed left behind, but its precise nature remained elusive.
The Bangsangsi Mask was specialized in detection, not in analysis or deconstruction.
Soon, Woo Ju turned his gaze from the Shrine and surveyed the surrounding area slowly.
He was looking for anything that might stand out, no matter how slightly.
He harbored no grand expectations—it was merely an idle gesture born of frustration.
“…?”
Then, something caught his eye.
Behind the Shrine, among the thick trees, something flickered in his field of vision.
Woo Ju removed the mask briefly and looked at the spot again. Nothing was visible.
It could only be seen while wearing the mask.
Having confirmed this, Woo Ju spoke to the others.
“There’s something over there.”
At those words, the others, who had been absorbed in conversation, turned to look at him.
“Where?”
“That way.”
Woo Ju pointed in one direction.
Toward where something shimmered faintly.
“Hmm.”
Hwa Ryeon looked in that direction, then furrowed her brow.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Should we check it out?”
“Let’s move together.”
It was reasonable enough—Hwa Ryeon didn’t dismiss Woo Ju’s claim simply because her own eyes couldn’t perceive it.
So Woo Ju led the way in that direction, and the others followed.
He walked steadily forward, and soon he could confirm what he had seen.
It was a Stone Statue.
Roughly the size of a palm, it depicted a small child dressed in something like traditional Korean clothing.
“Have you ever seen this before?” Hwa Ryeon asked, her gaze fixed on the Stone Statue, addressing one of the team members.
The member shook their head.

“No. I’ve thoroughly investigated this area around the Shrine several times, and I’ve never seen this before.”
A trace of bewilderment crossed his face.
He didn’t seem to be lying.
If something so conspicuous had been here, there’s no way they would have missed it during their investigations.
And truth be told, when they first arrived at the Shrine and surveyed the surroundings, no one had discovered this object.
“It’s no ordinary artifact.”
That alone was enough to tell him the statue was no ordinary object.
After all, Woo Ju had only discovered the stone statue in the first place because, when he donned the Bangsangsi Mask, a faint form had shimmered above it.
The crucial question was: what was the statue’s true nature?
Woo Ju stared at the statue for a long moment before speaking.
“I can feel an aura similar to what we sensed in that Shrine earlier.”
He wasn’t certain enough to swear by it, but he relayed his impression and studied the others’ reactions.
“We should investigate this more closely.”
Since not everyone could immediately sense and discern such an aura, they examined it with great care.
They then produced talismans and various tools to conduct a more detailed inspection before reaching their conclusion.
“The aura is indeed similar.”
“It is. And there’s sorcery woven into the statue itself—the kind designed to make it harder to perceive.”
With such sorcery in place, it made sense that no one had ever found it.
This kind of object is difficult to locate unless you’re specifically searching for it.
Using the Bangsangsi Mask had been the right call.
“At least we’ve found a lead worth pursuing.”
They hadn’t identified the culprit outright, but the important thing was that they’d gained a clue.
Had they not discovered this statue, they would have been clinging to the one faint trace left behind in the Shrine.
Woo Ju looked down at the statue he’d found once more.
The statue appeared to have been made a very long time ago.
The surface was cracked in places, with moss visible in the crevices.
‘A stone statue.’
Was this connected to the incidents they’d experienced before?
Or was it mere coincidence?
For now, his instinct leaned toward the former.
* * *
After discovering the statue,
Hwa Ryeon divided the group in half.
Chung Woo and Hwa Ryeon remained to examine the Shrine and the statue, while Woo Ju and Chae Wol were to explore the surrounding area more thoroughly.
It was a division made for sound reasons.
Chae Wol had been the first to discover the traces in the Shrine and possessed considerable knowledge, but she lacked exceptional skill in the professional analysis of objects themselves.
Experience and the tools one possessed mattered more than natural talent in such work.
“Hmm. I don’t see anything notable on this side either.”
“Neither do I.”
Besides, both Chae Wol and Woo Ju possessed a certain degree of investigative ability, making them well-suited for this task.
Yet despite that, the two yielded no significant results after a considerable search.
Without a specific destination in mind, they’d circled the Village and its surroundings with no striking discoveries.
Of course, this kind of work wasn’t meant to yield immediate results.
This was the moment to gather even the smallest leads.
So Hwa Ryeon had instructed them to report anything at all the moment they found it, however trivial.
As they continued walking, Woo Ju pondered inwardly.
‘Lately, these matters don’t seem to resolve themselves easily.’
It seemed as though everything had some hidden force pulling the strings.
So even when an incident ended, there was no sense of satisfaction—only a lingering unease.
It was a sign of how thorough their opponent was.
They’d left traces here and there, yet there were no decisive clues or leads pointing to their identity or whereabouts.
‘It’d be simpler to just smash everything and be done with it.’
Of course, their opponent wouldn’t afford them that luxury.
Woo Ju shook his head slightly and returned his focus to the search.
By the time they’d circled the Village once,
“Should we head back soon?”
Chae Wol asked Woo Ju hesitantly.
Woo Ju glanced up at the sky for a moment before nodding.
“That would be better. There doesn’t seem to be anything out here anyway.”
Even if they searched again, it would be best to return to Hwa Ryeon and Chung Woo first, check on their progress, and coordinate their next move.
And so the two of them began to make their way back toward the Shrine.
But about five minutes into the journey back,
Woo Ju caught sight of something and stopped short. Without hesitation, he signaled to Chae Wol to halt.
Chae Wol saw the gesture and froze in place, then followed his gaze toward whatever had caught his attention.
There was a Village in that direction.
But to Chae Wol, there was nothing particularly striking about it.
After standing in silence for a moment, she asked in the faintest whisper,
“What is it?”
“There. Something’s over there.”
“What do you—”
Chae Wol didn’t finish her question.
She had just glimpsed something moving swiftly through the brush.
The distance wasn’t close, but it wasn’t far enough to lower their guard.
The two exchanged a silent look, and Woo Ju immediately crouched low, tightening his grip on the Iron Pipe.
The creature had tried to hide, but its position was perfectly visible to Woo Ju.
The Bangsangsi Mask gave him a clear outline of its form.
Swish—
Woo Ju deliberately feigned ignorance of its location and drifted toward a nearby spot.
To draw it out into the open.
The response came swiftly. The moment he reached that area, it burst from the brush.
Without hesitation, Woo Ju swung the Iron Pipe at it.
Whoosh—!
But just before the blow landed, he twisted his trajectory with a surge of strength.
He’d caught sight of his opponent at the last moment.
“A person—!”
Yes. It was human.
And one he’d seen before.
When they’d first arrived at the Village, Woo Ju and the others had reviewed all those afflicted with the Plague.
The person before him was one of those patients.
“Grrrrr—!”
But their condition was far from normal.
They weren’t simply suffering from the Plague.
The figure was on all fours, snarling like a beast.
Their eyes held no focus, and their bare feet were caked with dirt.
If they’d merely been out of their mind, Woo Ju wouldn’t have bothered with caution.
‘Their physical capabilities…’
The speed at which they’d rushed forward was unmistakably far beyond that of an ordinary person.
“Woo Ju.”
Chae Wol’s voice reached him then.
“There’s another one coming from the side.”
Woo Ju wasn’t startled by this—he’d already sensed the presence approaching from that flank.
Their intent was clear: to circle him while he faced the first, striking from behind.
From this, it was evident they weren’t mindlessly charging in a frenzy.
They retained enough intelligence for rudimentary tactical thinking.
“Can you hear me?”
But no answer came.
Of course, he hadn’t really expected one. Their condition made that impossible.
Woo Ju paused to consider, then made his decision.
“I’ll restrain them.”
Alone, he could easily evade them, but Chae Wol would struggle to keep up.
Besides, leaving them like this would only invite trouble.
Once Woo Ju had decided, Chae Wol immediately produced a Talisman and pressed close behind him.
Just then—
“A star is descending.”
A voice spoke.
To be continued in the next episode ▶
Catastrophe-Class Relics Within Urban Legends
Author
Lee Se-gye
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publisher
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Published
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260410110
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and duplication are prohibited. Violations may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes submissions from writers.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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