The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 16

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

Calamitous Relics from Urban Legends Grow Obsessed with Me — Chapter 16
After a moment’s hesitation, Hwa Ryeon strode purposefully toward the Stake, speaking as she moved.
“For now, wait.”
The room reeked of omen. Even as she approached the Stake, which radiated malevolent energy in visible waves, her footsteps never faltered.
Next, Hwa Ryeon produced a bundle of Talismans from her bag—similar to the ones Chae Wol used—and began plastering them thickly across the Stake’s surface.
Remarkably, the toxic aura emanating from the Stake diminished sharply.
Yet Hwa Ryeon’s expression remained dark.
“That won’t do. At best, we’ve bought maybe thirty minutes. Unless we bring in something sacred from headquarters.”
“We don’t have the time for that. This is a sophisticated trap.”
At Cheong Woo’s words, Hwa Ryeon nodded.
The Hope Meditation Center had never been classified as particularly dangerous. That’s why it had slipped beneath the Inspection Bureau’s notice.
The YouTubers who’d visited recently and become possessed showed no anomalies beyond the possession itself.
That was precisely why Hwa Ryeon had chosen this place as the site for her first field expedition with the new recruits.
She’d thought they could conduct a safe investigation while learning the basics.
But circumstances had twisted into something far more sinister.
Woo Joo rolled his eyes, then opened his mouth while keeping the Necronomicon tucked safely in his bag.
“What exactly is that Stake?”
At his question, both Hwa Ryeon and Cheong Woo’s attention turned briefly toward him. Cheong Woo then spoke in her measured tone.
“It’s a meticulously crafted Cursed Object.”
“A Cursed Object?”
“Think of it like a cursing tool.”
“But who would set something like that….”
Hwa Ryeon kept her gaze fixed on the Stake as she spoke.
“This isn’t my first encounter with such tricks. Working for the Inspection Bureau, you eventually run into malicious objects like these.”
“Could it be targeting the Inspection Bureau?”
At Cheong Woo’s question, Hwa Ryeon paused thoughtfully before answering with a sigh.
“Can’t be sure. We only decided to investigate this place yesterday. Headquarters initially just wanted me to keep it quiet.”
“Then it might just be something set up to ensnare whoever happened to stumble through.”
The two women continued their exchange while keeping their eyes on the Stake.
In that moment, Chae Wol carefully spoke up.
“That Stake… is it really driven into this place’s Spiritual Meridian?”
“Exactly. It’s contaminating the entire area while simultaneously held in a delicate balance so it won’t run wild.”
Hwa Ryeon glanced sideways at Woo Joo and offered a simpler explanation.
“Picture a wound bleeding profusely, then someone stuffing it with heavily contaminated cotton. Damned if you leave it, damned if you pull it out.”
“I’d say it’s more accurate to call it a bomb at this point, considering it’ll explode soon if left alone.”
With that explanation, the picture became much clearer.
It also became evident that neither Hwa Ryeon nor Cheong Woo had come up with a viable solution yet.
If they had, they would already be attempting it.
Sure enough, Hwa Ryeon clicked her tongue and spoke as though resigned.
“We can contain the blast itself. Purifying this place afterward will take time, but that’s manageable. The real problem is those idiots already in the hospital, like I said.”
They’d already ventured recklessly into this place and absorbed contamination into their bodies.
If the energy here spiraled out of control, they couldn’t escape its reach.
Distance meant nothing. Spiritual power laughed at the constraints of physical space.
“The bigger concern is that there might be more victims beyond those fools.”
Cheong Woo’s expression darkened slightly at those words.
She was right.
The YouTubers had openly entered this place to film and had their accident discovered immediately afterward.
But there could have been others who set foot here before them, undetected.
If this Stake goes into overdrive, anyone with even the faintest spiritual connection to this space remains vulnerable.
“Team Leader. We need to start now.”
But Cheong Woo’s voice turned firm and resolute.
If they didn’t begin preparations immediately, even they would face danger. Unless another option existed, they could afford no further hesitation.
Hwa Ryeon opened her mouth as if to say something.
“Hold on.”
Then Woo Joo stepped forward.
“Could I try something?”
In Woo Joo’s hand, the Necronomicon had appeared and was already open.
Cheong Woo started to protest. But Hwa Ryeon spoke first.
“Nothing as reckless as last time.”
“Hmm. This time the feeling is different.”
Woo Joo answered while glancing at the open page before him.
“This time, there’s a clear explanation written out.”
His memory of reading the book back then was hazy, but the recollection of having unwittingly unveiled some dangerous incantation remained sharp and vivid.
That’s why he’d avoided the Necronomicon entirely for a long time.
But now the page displayed text that Woo Joo could read perfectly.
[Chains of Narglath]
[When the gate of the abyss opens, offer your shadow to awaken the chains. The shadow wraps around his breath, and blood traces the path of the chains……]
He skipped the long, erudite incantation.
Below it lay a detailed method.
-1. Draw seven circles on the ground using specially prepared black ink or blood.
-2. Carve the following phrase into the center of each circle. Narglath Vinculum.
3. Sprinkle a handful of blood onto the sealing target at the center, then recite the incantation. Wait until smoke rises from that place and forms an eye-shaped pattern.
4. When the smoke disappears entirely, the seal is complete.
In fact, it hadn’t originally been written so simply—the content had been obscure and difficult to parse, like an incantation itself.
The moment he’d tried to close it immediately after seeing that, the book had kindly rewritten the procedure for him.
And as he read through it all, he naturally came to understand exactly what this incantation was.
‘A sealing incantation.’
It was a spell that borrowed the power of great ancient beings to seal something away.
Usually, such spells required suitable sacrifices, but this one demanded remarkably little.
Only blood to draw the circles and write the words was necessary.
Instead, it could only be used on Thursday, when Jupiter’s power was strongest, and once used, it couldn’t be employed again for weeks.
Violating that restriction would bring terrible consequences.
But there was no need to worry about that now.
Above all, wasn’t this exactly the incantation needed at this moment?
The Necronomicon had clearly found a useful spell for him.
Woo Joo explained some of that content in detail.
“I object.”
Cheong Woo immediately voiced her opposition.
“Uncontrolled power only invites greater danger. What if using unverified magic creates an even worse problem?”
It was a perfectly logical and orthodox response.
But rather than immediately agreeing with Cheong Woo, Hwa Ryeon looked at the stake and considered the matter carefully.
“Team Leader?”
“Let’s try it.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by——”
“We haven’t discovered something like this for the first time, have we?”
Hwa Ryeon lifted her head and spoke.
“Last time, at Baek Yang Lodge, we found something similar. If it’s already the second time, there could be a third and fourth.”
So attempting it now was the right call, she said.
Besides, they needed the data anyway.
“But……”
“I’ll take responsibility. In the worst case, I’ll use that object.”
Hwa Ryeon turned her head sharply toward Woo Joo and spoke.
“This is my judgment as team leader. Woo Joo. Begin.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Woo Joo stepped forward.
The others’ faces were full of worry, but Woo Joo himself wore an expression of surprising calm.
He didn’t know the reason why himself.
It was just that his mind felt oddly composed.
It wasn’t simply because he held an iron pipe in one hand.
Rather, an inexplicable certainty had taken hold—that he could sufficiently handle this task with the Necronomicon’s power.
If he’d lacked that certainty, he wouldn’t have stepped forward at all.
“Cheong Woo?”
As Woo Joo approached the stake, Hwa Ryeon gestured for Cheong Woo to come over.
Cheong Woo let out a long sigh, then walked over and produced something to hand to Woo Joo.
It was a glass vial filled with a red liquid that sloshed gently.
“……Do you carry blood around with you?”
“Blood is also a ritual tool.”
“Ah, I see.”
It seemed she was thoroughly prepared, but he hadn’t expected her to carry blood as a matter of course.
Woo Joo made a wry face, set the Necronomicon aside, and uncorked the glass vial.
Plink.
Then she tilted the bottle and began drawing seven circles.
Next, she took another tool and carved words in an ancient tongue into the ground.
Two words. Chains of Narglath.
It meant the chains of Narglath, that which drifts through the abyss.
An image formed naturally in her mind—some vast presence gliding serenely through darkness deeper than darkness itself.
Woo Joo would only speak once the final blood had been poured onto the central Stake.
“Narglath vinculum aternum. Sileth mare, spirat umbra, cor meum sanguine tegit.”
The incantation flowed from Woo Joo’s lips. There was no need to consult the Necronomicon directly.
The words simply arose in her mind, natural and unbidden.
Yet unlike before, she wasn’t being forced to speak; the recitation was her own.
In fact, the more she spoke the incantation, the clearer its true effect became to her.
“Somnus sub carne labitur. In tenebris loquor, et audis—”
From above, chains descended.
Chains visible only to Woo Joo’s eyes. They drifted slowly toward the blood-stained Stake at the circle’s heart.
Clink-clink-clink.
The chains coiled around the Stake.
Like some elongated tendril snatching up prey.
A shriek tore through the air.
Something erupted from the Stake in that instant.
It took a shape as though dozens of people had been violently tangled together.
What surged forth from within the Stake thrashed with terrible force, desperate to escape this place.
Clink-clink-clink-clink!
But at once the metal chains wrapped around it as well, dragging it back down into the Stake.
A wail pierced the darkness.
It thrashed all the harder, shrieking with even greater fury.
Though they could not see the chains themselves, all could see the spirit clearly, and they watched with tension etched across their faces.
But Woo Joo’s expression remained perfectly serene.
Because she could see it.
The spirit bound within those chains.
The Chains of Narglath—mere petty spirits were helpless against them.
Of course, for a minor spirit, this one possessed considerable strength. That was because the resentment it harbored was equally vast.
An image flickered through Woo Joo’s mind.
A cramped, narrow cell.
Dozens of people sat within it. All wore identical robes, kneeling in perfect formation.
Instinctively, Woo Joo understood—these were the charlatans who had operated the Hope Meditation Center.
And she could perceive where they had gone.
They had not abandoned the operation of this place to flee elsewhere.
They remained here still.
Following their cult master’s command, they stood in this deep underground chamber, sharp blades in hand, stabbing one another again and again.
Until the very last of them had met death.
And their dead spirits, unable to depart, had seeped into the Stake that stood at the center of that narrow room.
The cult master had promised that through this ritual they would shed their bodies, ascend to the celestial realm, and achieve eternal life—but instead they became imprisoned within that narrow Stake.
Their minds crumbled, leaving only bitter, consuming resentment in their wake.
A shriek echoed forth.
This was the true nature of that Malevolent Spirit—the one whose hatred had been poisoning this entire space.
“Dormit abyssus. Manet sigillum. Narglath Vinculum.”
It had sought to wield that resentment as a weapon, lashing out at everything within sight.
But now the Malevolent Spirit could not resist. It was being pulled back into the Stake.
Back to where it had always been.
“In sanguine aeternum ligatur!”
And in the moment the final incantation left her lips.
Whoosh.
Fire ignited of its own accord in the blood that clung to the Stake, and smoke began to rise.
For just a brief moment, the smoke took the shape of an eye.
In that instant.
Woo Joo perceived something vast moving through the depths of the abyss. It was looking at this place.
It was watching the mortal who had borrowed its chains.
It had taken notice.
It was reaching toward her with a tendril.
“Cough!”
“Ugh.”
In that same moment, the faces of Hwa Ryeon and the others drained pale.
As though they’d encountered something utterly beyond their capacity to withstand.
Only Woo Joo remained unaffected.
But even he felt the intense force bearing down on him.
“Get away!”
He grabbed the iron pipe at once and leveled it at the empty air.
The tentacle hesitated, then writhed with what seemed like delight before vanishing again into the void.
And immediately after.
Crash—a deep, resonant rumble.
Fierce energy poured through the iron chain that bound the Stake, flooding inward.
And then, as if nothing had ever happened, the chain melted away and dissolved.
“Phew.”
With the incantation finished, Woo Joo exhaled slowly and wiped the sweat from his brow.
He’d only stood there reciting the words, yet he felt as though he’d sprinted at full speed.
“It actually worked…….”
“……Yes, it truly did.”
Hwa Ryeon was the first to break the silence, her expression one of disbelief, and Cheong Woo picked up her words from beside her.
Of course, her own expression was hollow with exhaustion.
Woo Joo had no strength left to answer; he only breathed in heavy gasps.
Another brief silence passed, and then Hwa Ryeon spoke again.
“The Stake is completely sealed now. Cheong Woo, you feel it too, don’t you?”
“……Yes. The malevolent energy has vanished entirely.”
“We don’t even need follow-up measures at this point.”
Hwa Ryeon let out a small laugh and looked at Woo Joo.
“Woo Joo. That was flawless.”
“It wasn’t.”
“No, it was. We can catch our breath thanks to you.”
As she said this, Hwa Ryeon tucked the small rod she’d been holding back into her pocket.
“Is… is it over?”
At that moment, Chae Wol asked hesitantly.
Chae Wol’s complexion was utterly ashen. She too had witnessed clearly the malevolent spirit that had erupted from the Stake.
Hwa Ryeon nodded to her.
“That’s right. It’s finished perfectly—nothing left to do. You did well too, Chae Wol.”
And then Hwa Ryeon smiled brightly as she continued.
“Woo Joo is going to receive a bonus. And a substantial one at that. Look forward to it. Whatever else, the Inspection Bureau knows how to reward exceptional service generously.”
“Thank you!”
Woo Joo beamed widely.
A bonus like that was not to be refused.
After that, Hwa Ryeon made a call to summon cleanup personnel, and while they waited, all four moved through the building together, checking for any lingering minor spirits or other dangers.
During the search, Woo Joo heard, just for a moment, Hwa Ryeon murmuring something under her breath.
Exactly one hour later, the cleanup crews arrived, and only then could the response team depart.
It had been an extraordinarily long day.
* * *
One week later.
Ding.
Woo Joo glanced at his phone at the notification sound, then his eyes widened in shock.
Fifty million won had been deposited from the Inspection Bureau account. The moment he saw it, he called Hwa Ryeon.
“Fifty million won was just deposited. What is this? Did someone send it by mistake?”
-Huh? No, it’s right. Fifty million won.
“You’re giving fifty million won as a bonus?”
-Yeah. We get lower base salaries in exchange for hefty incentives. Anyway, I’m busy, so I’ll hang up. Enjoy your vacation.
Hwa Ryeon said as much and hung up abruptly.
Woo Joo stared blankly at the deposited amount again.
He didn’t know.
That Hwa Ryeon and Cheong Woo had pooled all of their own bonuses and funneled them to him.
“This is seriously insane…….”
So Woo Joo could only grin widely and bask in pure joy. And then, at that very moment.
-It is 10:44. Passengers boarding the KTX 1408 to Yeosu Expo, please note…….
An announcement echoed through the station speakers. The train he was about to board would be arriving shortly.
At that, Woo Joo turned and made his way toward the boarding platform.
Today, he planned to head down to his hometown of Jeonju. It had been far too long since he’d seen his parents.
And then there was the text message his parents had sent him a few days ago, which weighed on his mind.
The message said that his father had been feeling weak lately and kept seeing things that weren’t there.
Screech—
Just then, the train appeared on the platform.
Woo Joo tucked his phone away and waited, then boarded the train.
After finding his seat and settling in,
it wasn’t long before the train began to move.
Clack, clack—
And in that very moment,
something brushed past the window of Woo Joo’s seat.
The silhouette of something grinning with a mouth split open wide.
To be continued ▶
How Disaster-Class Artifacts from Urban Legends Develop Obsessions
Author
Yi Se-gye
Publishers
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publications
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260410110
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and duplication are prohibited, and violations may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram is always looking forward to receiving your precious manuscripts.

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