The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 34

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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 Artifacts from Urban Legends 34
As the man’s gun flashed and a sharp report echoed through the street,
Woo Ju instinctively stumbled backward and fell. Then something odd registered.
‘Why doesn’t it hurt?’
There was no pain.
He’d never been shot before, but his chest had a hole through it—there’s no way it shouldn’t hurt.
Yet it wasn’t a clean miss either. He’d distinctly felt something slam into his chest repeatedly.
Could the pain be so overwhelming he couldn’t feel it?
Crack!
Then a dull sound rang out from somewhere ahead.
Woo Ju’s head snapped toward it, and his jaw fell open.
The Iron Pipe hung suspended in the air, and the man holding the gun had his eyes rolled back, toppling slowly to the ground.
Thud!
The man crashed onto his back, and the Iron Pipe whizzed toward Woo Ju, settling perfectly into his hand.
Then it vibrated—hum, hum—as if to say, ‘See? I did well.’
“Yeah, you did. Really well.”
Woo Ju spoke those words, then belatedly looked down at his chest. And he noticed something astounding.
‘It’s completely fine?’
There wasn’t a stream of blood pouring from the hole he’d feared—not even close. His chest was pristine.
Looking closer, there was a faint mark on the Leather Jacket, but when he wiped it with his hand, it vanished.
Turning his head slightly to the side, he spotted a crumpled bullet lying on the ground.
What in the world was this?
Woo Ju swallowed hard and quickly arrived at the most likely explanation.
His gaze shifted to the Leather Jacket.
‘You too?’
In that instant, the Leather Jacket vibrated as if it had been waiting—as if to say, ‘You’re only now realizing this?’
“This is insane.”
So now it wasn’t enough to just drop things for him to pick up—it had to slip them into his sleeve too?
That thought crossed his mind, but his gratitude toward the Leather Jacket draped over him felt far heavier.
If it hadn’t been there, he’d have caught those bullets and died on the spot.
‘Right.’
Woo Ju recalled the gun, then his gaze belatedly drifted toward the man.
The man lay motionless on the ground. An ordinary corpse…
‘Wait, is he not dead?’
Looking more closely, his chest rose and fell faintly—he was still alive.
‘It held back its strength while hitting him?’
If the Iron Pipe had swung with full force, ghost or human, one blow would’ve finished anyone. But it seemed to have deliberately left him breathing.
The reason wasn’t hard to guess.
Because that’s what his master—Woo Ju—would have wanted.
Right. You can’t kill someone in the middle of the street. And there were questions that needed answering from this man.
He had to find out why this person suddenly opened fire on him.
“Phew…”
Exhaling slowly, Woo Ju approached the man and recovered the gun. Then he neatly gathered the spent casings and deformed bullets from the ground.
After that, he surveyed the area and something caught his eye.
It looked like a Talisman of some kind, and its form was familiar enough that Woo Ju recognized it.
‘Perception Suppression, then.’
Of course. Even in a back alley, if you’re firing a gun in a residential area, you’d take at least this much precaution.
At this point, there was no need to drag the man somewhere quieter.
Fortunately, Woo Ju had received several Talismans for emergencies, so he produced one with a similar effect and stuck it nearby.
Then he made a phone call.
After a few rings, a voice answered.
-What’s happened?
Judging by the tone that something must have gone wrong, Woo Ju responded with an awkward smile.
“Someone just tried to shoot me, so I knocked him out. What should I do about it?”
-…….
A brief silence hung on the line.
-What?
Then Hwa Ryeon’s startled voice came through. Woo Ju obliged with a clearer explanation.
-What—wait. Where exactly are you?
“Here…”
Woo Ju pulled out his phone and recited the exact address, while Hwa Ryeon told him to stay put and wait a moment. The man even gave him a code word.
After hanging up, Woo Ju surveyed his surroundings.
“Hmm.”
Besides this man, there was nothing else that caught his eye.
Could this be the work of a lone actor, then?
‘Or maybe he’s hiding his presence some other way.’
His house was nearby, which was precisely why he was waiting on the street.
He didn’t want to expose his home’s location unnecessarily.
Though logically speaking, the odds that his address was already known were probably quite high.
The man clearly seemed to have waited for Woo Ju to arrive before committing the act.
Woo Ju scratched his chin.
It looked like tonight was going to be a long one.
Five minutes later.
Screech—
A vehicle pulled up nearby. A short-haired woman stepped out, glanced around, and spoke in a low voice.
“Did someone order the mint chocolate pizza?”
A woman he’d never seen before, but unmistakably the code word Hwa Ryeon had given him.
Woo Ju removed the Talisman. Of course, his other hand gripped the Iron Pipe firmly.
The woman spotted him and approached, saying,
“Let’s move immediately.”
“Understood.”
The woman helped Woo Ju load the man into the vehicle’s trunk.
Not before rifling through the man’s belongings to collect everything, then retrieving a rope to bind him tightly.
The vehicle slowly pulled onto the road, and the woman turned to face Woo Ju.
“I’m Baek Yeon Hwa. I’m with the Scene Cleanup Team. I happened to be nearby, so I came.”
“Ah. I’m Woo Ju.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Hwa Ryeon spoke with a faint smile.
“The Response Team’s super rookie. The ace. That’s what people say. They say you’re connected to all the big incidents lately.”
“That’s… not quite that extreme.”
“Even if half the rumors are true, it’s enough for such talk, don’t you think?”
With those words, Hwa Ryeon lightened the heavy mood and glanced at the trunk through the rear-view mirror.
“He suddenly opened fire, you said?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Did he say anything before or after?”
“Hmm.”
Woo Ju thought for a moment before answering.
“Something like ‘that’s mine.’ I think that’s what he said.”
“I see. He might have been after an Artifact.”
“My Artifact, you mean?”
“Yes.”
Hwa Ryeon nodded slowly.
“It’s too early to say for certain, but the probability of information leaking from the Surveillance Bureau is low. We manage Response Team identities very carefully.”
Woo Ju nodded.
He’d heard that before.
Since the Surveillance Bureau itself had no shortage of enemies, the identities of its personnel were managed with strict protocols.
“But how would he know I have an Artifact?”
“That requires more investigation, but he most likely tracked the Artifact’s Aura.”
Hwa Ryeon paused in thought, then glanced back at Woo Ju slightly.
“Especially the book.”
“The book…”
If there was one book Woo Ju possessed, it was that one.
The Necronomicon.
“The book you carry is… quite famous. Anyone in this world would covet it.”
He hadn’t used it many times, but the Necronomicon was versatile and formidable.
Woo Ju had broken through crises with it more than once.
Yet precisely because of its danger, he didn’t use it often.
If the Iron Pipe felt like a weapon he could wield without burden, the Necronomicon felt like rolling dice every time he used it.
One wrong move and everything could spiral badly.
Just then, the Necronomicon in his bag vibrated, as if protesting.
Of course, Woo Ju brushed it off lightly.
‘You don’t realize you almost got shot dead because of you just now?’
As if the Necronomicon understood his silent complaint, it fell quiet again.
“For now, instead of the Surveillance Bureau, we’re heading to a Safe House nearby. The others will be gathering there, so let’s go and get a detailed briefing.”
“Understood.”
Woo Ju nodded.
About forty minutes later.
The car pulled into a quiet residential neighborhood on the city’s outskirts.
Hwa Ryeon drove straight up to the garage of one of the houses.
Whirrrrrr—
As the car approached, the garage door rolled open on its own, and the vehicle slid inside.
It had that upscale feel you see in American movies—premium architecture, seamless automation.
Once he’d parked and stepped out with Hwa Ryeon, a familiar face appeared.
“You’re here?”
It was Hwa Ryeon. He had a long pipe in his mouth as he spoke to Woo Ju.
“You got shot, I hear? How’s the body?”
“Oh. I’m fine, thanks.”
“What do you mean ‘fine’? How are you fine?”
Hwa Ryeon scanned him up and down, puzzled.
He had good reason. Despite being shot, Woo Ju looked perfectly intact on the surface.
Woo Ju replied with an awkward expression.
“Right. Well, the new clothes I bought seem to be… that kind of thing.”
“What?”
Hwa Ryeon’s mouth fell open at the answer, but he shook his head quickly.
“We’ll talk about that later. For now—where is he?”
It was Hwa Ryeon who answered that question.
“In the back.”
“Let’s move him right away.”
The two spoke to each other with surprising ease; they clearly had a strong rapport.
Woo Ju helped them haul the unconscious man out of the trunk.
Once they stepped through a door in the garage and entered the interior, there was another person waiting inside.
Heavy brows, piercing eyes, and a man of enormous build.
“He’s with the Scene Cleanup Team. This is Team Lead Ju Baek.”
“I’m Han Woo Ju.”
“Yes. I’m Ju Baek.”
He greeted Woo Ju formally, then turned his gaze toward the man they’d brought in.
“There are traces of Contamination.”
“Right. Looks like he wasn’t doing this of his own will—someone was controlling him.”
Hwa Ryeon nodded at Woo Ju, then seated the man in a chair that had been prepared in advance.
“Before his aura fades any further, let’s trace it immediately.”
“Let’s do it.”
Woo Ju stepped back—this was unfamiliar territory for him.
Then Hwa Ryeon came over and explained.
“Team Lead Ju Baek might not look it, but he’s an expert in Sorcery. In particular, when it comes to tracking something, there’s no one in the Surveillance Bureau who can match him.”
“Ah… Really?”
To be honest, on first impression he’d assumed Ju Baek was from the physical cleanup division.
Woo Ju found himself reassessing both men with fresh eyes.
Soon after, Team Lead Ju Baek approached the seated man and placed a thick hand on his head.
As he began to chant, the man—who had remained motionless until then—started to writhe.
For a moment Woo Ju wondered if he’d been feigning unconsciousness all along, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
It looked more like a reflex response.
“Hck, hck, ah, hck.”
Each time the man’s body convulsed, a dark aura rippled upward above him.
And then—
Whoooosh!
A black mist erupted from the man’s writhing form.
At once, Hwa Ryeon—who had been standing ready—drew deeply on his long pipe and exhaled sharply.
A thick white smoke poured from his mouth, containing the mist within a defined boundary. Like a barrier.
Hummmmmmm—
The mist thrashed desperately, trying to escape the white smoke, but it couldn’t break through.
It was at that moment that a voice rang out.
—So the Surveillance Bureau’s lackeys have gathered together. Worthless things. Vermin.
A thick, murky voice poured out scathing condemnation.
—No matter how hard you vermin struggle…….
But then.
Woo Ju felt something odd and stepped back slightly. Then he looked around.
Clearly, this was the moment he should be focusing on that black mist. Yet something nagged at him, inexplicably.
It wasn’t easy to ignore.
It felt deeply wrong, as though an insect had crawled inside his body.
Just then, with everyone’s attention fixed on the black mist, Woo Ju carefully surveyed the interior of the house.
And in doing so.
His eyes fixed on the windowsill. Without hesitation, he walked toward it.
And when he pulled back the curtain covering the frame.
He found an urn sitting there.
Then. A voice came.
—You’re already rats trapped in a poison bottle!
At the same moment, the black mist writhed ominously, as though preparing to unleash something.
And simultaneously.
—This place shall be your grave!
Something surged up from directly beneath his feet.
And Woo Ju, acting on pure instinct, swung the iron pipe toward it.
Crack!
As the iron pipe drove down into what was surging upward, it scattered across the floor.
Or rather, it appeared to do so before suddenly launching itself at Woo Ju’s body in a surprise attack.
As though that, too, had been part of the plan.
Ting.
But it couldn’t penetrate Woo Ju’s leather jacket and bounced off instead.
—What?
The voice from the black mist faltered in shock.
To be continued ▶
How Calamity-Class Artifacts from Urban Legends Become Obsessed
Author
Lee Se-gye
Publishers
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
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. Violators may face criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes submissions 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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