The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 15

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

Urban Legends and Disaster-Class Relics 15
The moment they entered the Underground Space.
Chaewol was dizzy from the overwhelmingly acrid Ghost Stench and the toxic fumes that saturated the air.
This wasn’t simply the presence of a malevolent spirit lingering somewhere. An environment like this almost never formed naturally.
‘Someone must have created this deliberately.’
Yet their intention remained elusive.
What possible purpose could justify crafting such a relentlessly hostile environment?
Tangled in these thoughts, Chaewol kept her eyes fixed on the back of the person ahead, her mind elsewhere.
She would never have allowed herself such distraction under normal circumstances. In a place like this, divided attention was anything but wise.
It was as though fog had settled over her mind, interfering with her ordinary judgment.
Tinkle—.
Chaewol snapped to awareness the instant she heard the clear ring of a bell.
“…….”
The sound of the bell jolted something in her. People still stood ahead and behind her in the formation.
Yet something was wrong.
Since when had they been dressed in such tattered clothing?
Why couldn’t she see the feet of those walking ahead clearly?
Why weren’t there any footsteps?
Thud, thud—.
In this silence, only a single person’s footsteps echoed through the corridor, though four people should be walking.
They were her own.
Chaewol didn’t slow her pace, even as the realization struck her.
Without a clear solution, she couldn’t afford to show that she understood, or give away any sign of awareness.
Chaewol tightened her grip on the Sacred Blade and bell in her hand, her mind racing.
‘Where am I?’
She’d definitely entered the Underground Space with her team.
That space was decrepit and suffused with a pernicious spiritual energy, but otherwise unremarkable.
This place was different.
The corridor stretched endlessly, and the walls were crammed with doors.
Moreover, upon closer inspection, the shapes of the doors were warped in irregular intervals.
‘I’ve been charmed.’
Cold sweat beaded on Chaewol’s skin.
In that moment when her attention wavered, she’d been beguiled. There was no doubt.
She’d been drawn into a strange space unawares, flanked on both sides by entities of unknown origin.
‘What do I do?’
Chaewol deliberated.
She was essentially surrounded. Any action was perilous.
But then, a conversation from before came back to her.
Caution was virtuous, but excessive hesitation cost opportunities—a lesson Ryoo Seondam had given her.
It wasn’t the first time she’d heard such words.
Her own master had spoken in similar terms many times before.
‘You can’t move through life with absolute certainty in every moment. What matters is making the best choice when that moment comes.’
Recalling her master’s words, Chaewol surveyed her present circumstance anew.
Whatever these things flanking her intended, continuing to follow them passively would serve no purpose.
And she wasn’t alone in this place.
Chaewol made her decision.
Clink-clink—.
She immediately began shaking the bell in her hand.
At once, the figures walking ahead froze in place.
Chaewol watched as their necks twisted with a sickening creak as they turned toward her.
Now they faced her directly.
They wore the faces of her team leader and Cheongwoo, but their eye sockets were hollow and empty—blood streaming down from where eyes should have been.
She didn’t look back, but the same nightmare was surely unfolding behind her.
“Get back—!”
Chaewol spun and swung the Sacred Blade in her right hand in a wide arc.
The creature recoiled in agony, stumbling backward as it reached for her.
It bore Woozu’s face.
—You noticed?
—You saw? You saw? You saw? You saw? You saw? You saw?
Then voices came from behind her. The spirits were mimicking Cheongwoo and Hwaryeon, their words a grotesque mockery.
The spirit that had been forced back in agony was already stirring, trying to raise itself once more.
Screeeech!
That was when Chaewol drew a Talisman from her pocket.
The spirits saw the Talisman and, far from being frightened, actually began to laugh—a cackling sound that echoed through the space.
They clearly believed that a mere Talisman could do nothing to them.
Their thinking wasn’t entirely wrong.
These creatures were among the most formidable Malevolent Spirits Chaewol had ever encountered.
But she had never intended to subdue them with a single Talisman from the start.
Riiiiip—
Without hesitation, Chaewol tore the Talisman in two.
Of all the Talismans she had received, only one worked by being torn and activated.
Whoooosh—!
Brilliant light erupted outward from the torn Talisman.
It pushed back the twisted spiritual energy that had corrupted the surroundings, asserting its presence with overwhelming force.
For good reason—the Talisman she’d just used functioned like a signal flare.
The Malevolent Spirits retreated as the brilliant light wavered, then twisted their faces in fury and lunged at Chaewol again.
But then—
Crash—!
With a deafening roar, the wall beside them collapsed inward.
The spirit that had been charging at Chaewol whipped its head around to look. It didn’t bother hiding its true nature anymore, revealing a savage aura.
Crack—!
A Steel Pipe flew in and caught it squarely in the head, and it crumbled to dust on the spot.
Chaewol saw it clearly.
The Malevolent Spirit vanishing without even leaving a soul behind.
A brief silence fell.
The other spirits, who had been mimicking the appearance of Hwaryeon and Cheongwoo, could only stand frozen in place.
There’s a common misconception people fall prey to.
They imagine Malevolent Spirits as invulnerable beings who know no fear.
But no such thing exists in this world.
How could those born from human nature ever be free of human weakness?
Whoosh—
And so, when Woozu turned his head to the side, the spirits belatedly judged that their opponent was insurmountable and tried to scatter.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
But Woozu moved faster still.
With movements as savage as a beast, he charged and struck the scattering spirits with his Steel Pipe.
There was no need for elaborate tactics.
A single swing of the Steel Pipe was enough to erase both of them on the spot.
“That was the last of them, right?”
“Yes, yes! I’m human!”
Chaewol nodded quickly in response to Woozu’s question.
When he looked at her with puzzlement, she glanced away hurriedly.
She couldn’t very well admit that she’d blurted it out in fear he might mistake her for a spirit and come swinging.
* * *
Woozu, who had been advancing relentlessly while smashing through walls with his Steel Pipe, caught sight of bright light spreading in the distance.
The moment he saw it, he changed direction and headed that way, and soon found Chaewol.
Having swiftly dispatched the Malevolent Spirits that had been attacking Chaewol, Woozu looked around and spoke.
“How did you end up here?”
“Well, when I came to my senses, I was already here. How about you?”
To that question, Woozu gave a brief account of what had happened moments before.
Chaewol listened to his explanation with a grave expression, then opened her mouth.
“It seems like they were trying to scatter us apart deliberately.”
“I suppose so. I wonder where the other two ended up.”
Chaewol had no ready answer to that question. She too had been caught up in the harsh spiritual currents of this place.
Woozu, understanding this, offered a simple solution.
“Then let’s proceed using my method.”
“What method is that?”
“This way.”
As he spoke, Woozu gestured toward one of the walls.
There stood a collapsed section of wall.
“Y-you mean… breaking through the wall?”
“Yes. If we just follow the path, we’re doing exactly what these things want, aren’t we?”
Woozu tapped the wall with his steel pipe as he spoke.
Baekho had heard this principle hammered into his ears countless times.
In a place where an Urban Legend has taken root, you must doubt everything, and you must avoid moving the way the Urban Legend wants you to move.
That’s why they’d been smashing through walls from the start.
Fortunately, the walls here had been shoddily constructed—one swing of the steel pipe and they crumbled away entirely.
“That’s really just your strength…….”
“Hmm?”
“Oh, no. Never mind.”
“Should we keep going then?”
Woozu raised the steel pipe again as he spoke.
But then.
“Oh? You’re here?”
A familiar voice called out from the side.
He turned to see Hwaryeon standing there.
At first he wondered if some Malevolent Spirit was playing tricks again, but this time he sensed no unusual Aura or anything of the sort.
Hwaryeon studied them carefully, then noticed the steel pipe in Woozu’s hand and spoke.
“It’s definitely you—holding that thing.”
“This?”
“Yes. A mere ghost couldn’t possibly mimic that Aura.”
“Now that you mention it, that Malevolent Spirit pretending to be you that I ran into earlier wasn’t carrying a steel pipe either.”
“Ah. The first one I defeated?”
“Yes.”
The three of them were able to dispel their suspicions properly.
Of course, to be safe, they still ran a verification using a Talisman.
“Where did you suddenly appear from?”
“You two suddenly vanished in the middle of things.”
Hwaryeon, with her Black Branch Staff slung across her shoulder, recounted what had happened to her.
She’d sensed something amiss while moving, then beaten to a pulp all the things that had been trailing behind her.
Naturally, they were ghosts too.
“I could feel it from the moment we entered, but this isn’t a normal place. There are an absurd number of ghosts here.”
Hwaryeon furrowed her brow as she spoke.
“Then, what about Cheongwoo…….”
“Ah, don’t worry about him.”
As Chaewol asked carefully, Hwaryeon pulled something out.
“I found a doll.”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
Chaewol’s expression relaxed as she looked at the Stuffed Doll Hwaryeon had produced.
Woozu’s face went blank with confusion.
“What is that?”
“You don’t know? It’s what Cheongwoo uses. He left it in the hallway. It looks like he found some kind of clue.”
“I see……. So what do we do?”
“If I set it down like this.”
Hwaryeon placed the doll on the ground.
The limp Stuffed Doll suddenly sprang upright and began walking toward something.
“It walks toward where Cheongwoo is. Just follow it. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
The three of them regrouped and moved after the doll Cheongwoo had left behind.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered dead ends, but nothing proved insurmountable.
The steel pipe knew the answer.
Crash—!
With an enterprising spirit of making a path where none existed, the three pressed forward.
Finally, they discovered a set of stairs.
“Ugh.”
The moment Chaewol stood before the stairs, she furrowed her brow and gripped the Bell in her hand tightly.
Meanwhile, Hwaryeon and Woozu examined the stairs more carefully.
“It’s foul.”
“It’s far worse than what we sensed at Saggyeong Station.”
“I know. I’ve felt it since we first discovered this Underground Space, but if it’s this intense……. It might even be Grade 2. Or possibly even Grade 3.”
A stench rose from the Underground Space—acrid, suffocating, utterly unbearable.
But at the same time, something else became clear.
The building’s secret lay down there.
Moreover, Cheongwoo’s stuffed doll kept trying to walk toward the staircase.
Hwaryeon held it for a moment, studying the descending steps, then drew something else from her robes.
“Tie our arms together with this.”
It was rope.
As Hwaryeon handed it over, Chaewol and Woozu bound themselves to each other as instructed.
“Good. Let’s go. Everyone stay sharp.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
The three descended the staircase into the depths below.
The Underground Space stretched unnaturally far—nearly twenty minutes of walking just to reach the bottom.
Perhaps the space itself was twisted in some impossible way.
In any case, they kept descending the stairs.
At last, they arrived at some kind of chamber.
Its walls were covered entirely in incomprehensible symbols and markings.
“You’ve arrived.”
And Cheongwoo stood there.
He was drenched in cold sweat, rooted to one spot. Beneath him lay a line of blackened stuffed dolls.
“Come here.”
Hwaryeon spoke to Cheongwoo.
He glanced once at the place where he’d been standing, then hurried toward Hwaryeon and the others.
His words tumbled out in a rush.
“That’s it. That’s what’s corrupting everything here.”
He pointed to the spot where he’d just been standing.
There lay something like an elongated dark stake.
The blackened dolls were arranged in a circle around it.
“I think it awoke when we entered. Our presence triggered it.”
“A trap, then.”
“Seems like it. I’m holding it back as much as I can, but at most we have ten minutes.”
Hwaryeon and Cheongwoo exchanged words, their expressions grave.
Woozu listened to their exchange while studying the stake.
Even without their conversation, it was unmistakable—the stake radiated something profoundly dangerous.
The aura emanating from it far exceeded anything they’d encountered on the way down.
Woozu opened his mouth carefully.
“I could—”
“Force is the absolute last resort. If you try to solve this with brute strength, the fools still lying in the hospital upstairs will all die without question.”
Hwaryeon’s expression darkened as she spoke.
Cheongwoo’s voice came steady and measured.
“Still, if we can resolve it that way, we should—it would minimize the damage.”
“I know. Wait. Let me think.”
Listening to their exchange, Woozu’s brow furrowed as well.
Then it happened.
Whoosh.
Without warning, his robes grew suddenly heavy.
Woozu froze, then glanced down cautiously.
There, in his possession, lay a book with a familiar cover—the Necronomicon itself, as if announcing “It’s me!”
At that same instant, the dark stake trembled.
As if it sensed something coming.
Continued in the next chapter ▶
Urban Legends and the Disaster-Class Relics That Cling to Them
Author
Isekaisajang
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260410110
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violation of this restriction may result in civil and criminal legal liability.
※ Pentagram awaits your precious manuscript.

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