The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 24

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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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Calamity-Class Relics in Urban Legends Show Obsession — Chapter 24
The staff members who had played along were no longer moving.
If they had been ordinary people, they would have been “dealt with” before any report could be filed, and everything could have proceeded without issue.
But they were not human.
And this was no ordinary aquarium.
“Their status as guests has already been revoked.”
Baek Ho spoke as he passed the staff members, who lay motionless as if dead.
“From now on, they’ll hunt us without any restrictions whatsoever.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? I’m the one who gave the order. Why apologize for following instructions perfectly?”
Baek Ho let out a short laugh and swept his eyes across the surroundings.
“What matters is what they’ll do next. They might send staff after us, or this aquarium itself might become even more dangerous. But what we need to do remains the same either way.”
“Escape this place.”
“Exactly.”
Baek Ho nodded at Chae Wol’s words.
That was right. Regardless of anything else, the objective hadn’t changed. They’d never planned to leisurely tour this place anyway.
“So let’s keep moving. We respond to any problem as it comes.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
They continued forward along the line, just as before.
On the 2nd Floor, the tanks around them were different from those below — their interiors were clearly visible.
But what dwelt within those tanks could hardly be called pleasant.
Fish with faces unnaturally resembling humans. Something with a fish’s upper half and a human’s lower. Writhing masses of tentacles.
Not a single one of them was normal.
What made the atmosphere even worse was that every time they passed, the creatures inside the tanks pressed themselves against the glass, watching them intently.
So all of them, except when briefly glancing around for safety’s sake, refused to look at the tanks at all.
Squelch—
But as they continued forward, a troubling sound reached their ears.
It was like the sound of something damp trudging across the floor.
Baek Ho, walking at the front, raised one hand the moment he heard it.
Squelch, squelch—
The sound grew steadily closer. Tension settled over all their faces.
And when that tension reached its peak—
Squelch—
Something finally appeared ahead of them.
At a glance, it was far removed from any ordinary human.
It looked exactly like what you’d get if you pulled a drowned corpse from the depths.
Its entire body was soaking wet, bloated and distended. Water dripped steadily from every part of it.
Squelch—
The eerie part was that despite being in such a state — already looking indistinguishable from a corpse — it was walking.
Then it came to a stop and turned to look at them.
The face visible through its sodden, matted hair was much as they’d imagined.
So bloated that its original features were nearly unrecognizable, with barnacle-like growths clinging to various parts of its face, and insects crawling in and out of the spaces between its bulging, protruding eyes.
Its murky, grayish-white pupils were crossed in an unsettling way, staring at both Ujoo and Baek Ho simultaneously.
“Guest……”
Then it spoke.
“Guest……?”
Its head tilted slowly to one side.
“……Not quite?”
“That’s right. Anyone can see you’re being a guest who follows the rules very carefully.”
Baek Ho answered the creature in a flat, emotionless voice.
What mattered now was what would come out of that water ghost’s mouth next.
Soon enough, it opened its mouth again.
“But you’re not?”
The water ghost’s face contorted.
Ujoo frowned. And then he realized.
That wasn’t a contortion. It was ‘smiling.’
Crash—!
Immediately after, the water ghost was sent flying backward with a tremendous sound.
This time, it wasn’t Ujoo who moved.
Baek Ho, who had been watching the water ghost intently from the front, rushed forward and struck his opponent with a vicious backhand.
It was a textbook-perfect straight, as if drawn by an artist’s hand. The inhuman strength behind it was a bonus.
From the way the creature’s head and body separated on that single blow, there was no doubt about the power it carried.
Yet remarkably, the water ghost retained the ability to produce sound even with its head and body severed.
“Ehehehehehe…!”
Crack!
Baek Ho quickly obliterated the creature’s skull, but the water ghost’s voice had already echoed loudly through the space.
“Must be we’ve got a sticker on our foreheads that says ‘not a visitor.’ More of them will come soon, so from here on, Ujoo, stand at her side. Chae Wol, I need you to cover our backs.”
“Understood.”
“Got it.”
With that act, their status as visitors had been revoked, and they’d now confirmed that the Aquarium’s “members” had a way to verify it.
The answer was the same as before.
Head-on breakthrough.
They hadn’t harbored any illusions about slipping out quietly.
They began moving in earnest now, accelerating across the 2nd Floor.
* * *
The 4th Floor.
Where the church’s congregation gathered.
Those in white masks and black suits remained steadfast at their posts.
They said nothing, yet all of them felt uneasy. It couldn’t be otherwise—they were trapped inside an urban legend.
But they had to refrain from showing it openly.
Being at the very bottom of the church hierarchy, they were like expendable goods that could be replaced at any moment.
To avoid being marked as defective, they had to prove their usefulness.
Failing to overcome fear while safety seemed assured was little different from declaring oneself defective.
Then it happened.
Someone holding a bundle of thread at one end spoke up urgently.
“The thread moved.”
“Which section?”
“The one on the 2nd Floor.”
The threads from the bundle connected to various points throughout the Aquarium, except the 1st Floor.
Then several strands of thread from the bundle quivered again.
“Huh? Again?”
“Again what?”
“Someone just passed through two points where the thread was placed—fast. It looks like they sprinted through at full speed.”
At that, the masked figures lifted their heads and exchanged glances with one another.
“Looks like they broke the rules.”
“If something happens on the 2nd Floor, it’s probably a surprise event? Poor luck.”
“Yeah. Better if they were prey at least. A surprise event means it’ll be a souvenir.”
They stifled their own fear by laughing nervously, mocking the misfortune of others.
Whether such a response came from genuine feeling, no one but themselves knew. Yet such a reaction was the normal one to display.
The church desired those who could subdue and control urban legends—not those who feared and shunned them.
So they laughed.
As long as the relic protected them, they were safe. And so they could laugh. It would be the unlucky victims swept up in this, not themselves, who would be sacrificed.
“Huh?”
Then someone cried out in alarm.
“W-who is that?”
It was the congregation member who managed the Talisman Disc.
“What is it?”
“The Talisman Disc! Who took it!”
The congregation member asked in a trembling voice. A chilling silence fell over the gathering.
But it was brief. Another member questioned the one holding the disc.
“The Talisman Disc—it’s gone?”
“Y-yes! Someone must have hidden it!”
“You fool. Lower your voice. Are you saying you lost the Talisman Disc?”
Every congregation member stared at him.
The member who had been managing the disc spoke.
“I don’t see it anywhere. Could someone have hidden it?”
That statement was answer enough.
The Talisman Disc had vanished.
The protective barrier that had shielded them was gone. They were no longer visitors.
It felt as though she’d been yanked from a dream into waking.
If not for the mask covering her face, everyone would have seen the color drain from her features.
A heavy silence settled between them.
But it didn’t last long.
“Visitors, would you mind continuing your tour so the other guests can enjoy the exhibits?”
Staff members had appeared without warning and now stood at their backs.
If one of them had taken the Talisman Disc, it would be impossible.
The object’s power wouldn’t vanish simply because its owner had changed.
“Yes, of course. We’ll move right along.”
Then one of the quicker minds stepped forward, fed the staff some excuse, and spoke to the others.
“The second floor. We head up there and use the rest of them as cover to escape.”
The others’ eyes lit up. It was a sound strategy.
If all the visitors who entered hadn’t been pulled in at once, some would remain on the other floors.
They could use those people to their advantage.
They moved quickly toward the second floor.
Meanwhile.
Ujoo and the others were pushing forward through the chaos.
Crash!
The Steel Pipe in Ujoo’s hands sent a Water Ghost flying into the distance.
But there was no satisfaction in watching it. He’d done this dozens of times already.
As they advanced, Water Ghosts swarmed their path endlessly.
So Ujoo and Baek Ho at the front had to swing their fists and the Steel Pipe like madmen just to move.
‘How many of these things are there?’
Ujoo wielded the pipe and wondered. These drowned spirits were becoming unbearable.
If he drew on the power of the Bang Sang Si Tal, he’d feel better about it, but he was holding back as much as possible.
If he went all out now, he’d burn through his strength. He had to remember they hadn’t even cleared the second floor yet.
But if his only opponents were Water Ghosts, Ujoo was confident he could escape this place.
‘Something feels wrong.’
Yet his unease wouldn’t settle.
At first he’d thought the sight of the Water Ghosts rushing at them was the cause.
But that wasn’t it.
The more he fought them, the clearer it became that these Water Ghosts were merely small cogs in this vast Aquarium’s machinery.
The true danger hadn’t moved yet. It was only watching them.
So Ujoo advanced with constant vigilance, eyes sweeping the surroundings.
“There are people ahead!”
Because of that, he spotted them first—the figures approaching from the distance.
Baek Ho knocked away an incoming Water Ghost and looked in the direction Ujoo had pointed. There, walking toward them, were figures in formal wear and white masks.
“Those damn bastards.”
At that clear hostility, both Ujoo and Chae Wol turned their attention to him.
Baek Ho spoke plainly.
“The pseudo-religious cult members I mentioned during the briefing.”
During the briefing, the Vice Team Leader had warned them directly about who to watch for in the field.
Among them had been information about certain dangerous organizations.
In Ho, seeing their formal suits and masks, recalled a single name.
The Baek Eun Seongdo Church.
Most called it the Baek Eun Church for short.
The Inspection Bureau suspected them to be a subsidiary of some dangerous pseudo-religious organization.
Their history was brief and much remained unknown, but three facts were certain.
All their members followed the sect’s teachings as though their lives depended on it, and their involvement in any affair always resulted in massive casualties.
Finally, this organization’s members actively opposed the Inspection Bureau.
And Ujoo confirmed that last fact with his own eyes in an instant.
Thud.
They’d hurled something at them from a distance.
It looked like a Chair of some kind.
The thrown Chair fell just in front of them and shattered.
“Those insane bastards!”
The moment Baek Ho saw it, he understood what was happening.
The Chair couldn’t have been brought in from outside. It was Property of the Aquarium.
And this Aquarium had Rules.
-31. Do not damage Property. Should Property damage be discovered, corresponding measures will be taken immediately.
They’d deliberately moved property and thrown it in front of them.
“Property damage confirmed.”
And almost simultaneously, a uniformed staff member emerged from the gap between the aquarium tanks.
As if they’d been waiting.
One wasn’t the end of it. One, two, three, four, five, six. The number of staff swelled rapidly.
But just then.
Roll-roll-roll-roll.
Something suddenly came tumbling from the gap between the adjacent tanks.
Seeing it, Ujoo immediately took a defensive stance and looked, soon able to make out the details.
It was a Talisman Disc. A disc carved with strange characters.
Thunk.
The Talisman Disc came to rest at Ujoo’s feet.
And immediately after.
The approaching staff members faltered, then simultaneously turned their heads. Toward the followers of the Baek Eun Seongdo Church standing in the distance.
“Punishment target. Found.”
Then, as if they hadn’t seen Ujoo and his companions at all, they rushed past and charged in that direction.
‘No way?’
Ujoo, still holding the Steel Pipe in his stance, rolled his eyes and finally looked at the Talisman Disc at his feet.
Honestly, this was the fourth time now—it was getting harder not to catch on.
Steel Pipe. Necronomicon. Bang Sang Si Tal…….
‘You too?’
An Artifact?
Continued in the next episode ▶
Calamity-Class Artifacts from Urban Legends Obsess
Author
Lee Se-gye
Publishers
Kim Suk-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publishing House
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 duplication are prohibited, and violations may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram is always looking forward to receiving precious manuscripts from authors.

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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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