The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 38

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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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Urban Legends and the Calamity-Grade Artifacts That Obsess Over Them — Chapter 38
Smile stares at Ujoo with an unwavering gaze.
If eyes could kill, that look would have claimed Ujoo’s life several times over.
But Ujoo merely repeated his question with an infuriating calm.
“Aren’t you going to give me a prize?”
There’s no point in pandering to Smile’s moods.
More accurately, it would make no difference either way.
According to the intelligence gathered so far, this creature has an obsessive fixation on the Rules.
Whether one flatters or cajoles, if the Rules are broken, it delivers punishment without the slightest emotion.
Conversely, no matter what one’s prior demeanor was, if the Rules remain unbroken, there’s nothing it can do.
—A gift! Of course I must give one!
Bound so rigidly by its own Rules, the creature offered a grotesque smile and plunged its hand into its coat.
A large box emerged from within—far too large to have fit inside such a space.
“Why don’t you open it right here and now?”
Smile said this with a cheerful grin.
That’s a refusal one cannot make. The principle is that gifts must be opened on the spot.
There’s a real danger if what’s inside turns out to be a dud, but Ujoo opened the box without hesitation.
Inside was something like a ball.
—Congratulations!
Smile offered only a perfunctory congratulation, glancing at it briefly.
Though nothing was said outright, disappointment radiated from it—the gift was dull, plainly so.
Ujoo withdrew the ball and its instruction manual from the box and spoke.
“I’ll make good use of it. Now, shall we go see something else?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“Of course.”
With their business concluded, they walked naturally toward the next attraction.
Behind them, that persistent gaze—still fixed with a smiling face—lingered.
“Quite the look in its eyes. Still, you handled that well.”
“I thought I might have overdone it.”
“Not at all. That gift—it’s going to be quite useful, I’d say.”
“This thing?”
“Yes. Check the instruction manual.”
At Ryoo Seon-dam’s suggestion, Ujoo unfolded the manual that had come with the ball.
Inside were words written in the hasty scrawl of a child.
[The Bouncy Bomb Ball—Bursting with Bounce!]
[Have fun playing with your Bouncy Bomb Ball! Boing! Ting! Bounce! This ball explodes spectacularly after exactly three bounces! Enjoy the explosion!]
“A bomb?”
Definitely not a toy meant for children to play with innocently.
But it did seem useful.
Bombs that work inside Urban Legends are extraordinarily rare.
“Still, it’s dangerous, so don’t carry it around for now!”
“Of course not.”
Ujoo immediately placed the ball into the pocket of his Leather Jacket.
Carrying a bomb that way wasn’t entirely satisfying, but nothing was safer than the pocket of his Leather Jacket.
It was the most durable thing he owned.
Then Chae-wol asked.
“So what next?”
“Let’s first try to find traces of whoever entered before us. We should have time to wander for a bit without causing problems.”
If they roamed the Amusement Park aimlessly, Smile would drag them toward random attractions, but they’d just finished one.
They had about ten minutes to spare.
“Hmm.”
Five minutes later.
Unfortunately, they found no trace of whoever had entered first.
“It seems they’ve already ventured quite deep.”
“What should we do then?”
“For now, let’s handle one more thing and come back to search afterward.”
Ryoo Seon-dam pointed to one direction.
“I think that would be better.”
The place Ryoo Seon-dam was indicating was none other than the Shooting Range.
“The Shooting Range?”
“Of course! You’ll do wonderfully, won’t you?”
So saying, Ryoo Seon-dam’s gaze fell upon none other than Chae-wol.
Chae-wol nodded, her expression tense but resolute.
“Yes. No problem at all.”
At that, Ujoo’s face clouded with uncertainty.
In any case, they soon stepped into the Shooting Range.
-Welcome, friends! Are you ready to enjoy some target practice?
This time too, an identically grinning Smile greeted them with an unnaturally wide smile.
Yet something unsettling lurked beneath that expression.
Every Smile within this Amusement Park was the same entity. They could move independently, but they shared memories—which meant all of them knew what had transpired.
“I’d like to give it a try.”
At that, Chae-wol forced a smile and stepped forward.
Smile stared at her intently, then nodded vigorously.
-Excellent! Then take your position at the shooting station and get ready!
At those words, Chae-wol walked toward the station Smile had indicated.
The Shooting Range was like those you’d typically find at amusement parks or festivals.
You know the kind—lined with prizes that you shoot at with a gun to win them.
‘Unbelievably far away.’
The only real difference was how distant the “prizes” were positioned. So far that one might wonder if hitting them was even possible.
“Huh.”
What she was given, meanwhile, was nothing but a colorful Toy Gun.
Chae-wol picked it up and shouldered it with a tense expression.
‘Impressive.’
Ujoo found himself silently impressed. Her stance was nothing short of flawless.
To be honest, judging by form alone, it surpassed even Ujoo’s—and he’d served his full military term.
“Are there Rules here as well?”
-Twenty shots total! If you can’t hit at least five out of twenty, there’s a Punishment. But you can keep any prize you hit!
Again, the Rules themselves were simple enough.
And hitting five out of twenty seemed generous.
Chae-wol nodded and selected the most innocuous-looking prize: a Chocolate Box that seemed thoroughly harmless.
She excluded all the figurines outright.
They could suddenly spring to life and lunge at her, after all.
Bang!
The bullet fired forth at considerable speed.
But its trajectory veered sharply from where she’d aimed.
The gun’s sights were clearly misaligned.
Bang!
Yet Chae-wol didn’t hesitate before firing again—and remarkably, this time the bullet came quite close to the prize.
She’d corrected the alignment in a single shot.
Bang!
On the third attempt, the bullet struck true. But the prize only shuddered; it didn’t fall.
Bang! Bang!
Then Chae-wol fired in rapid succession. The wobbling prize couldn’t hold on and tumbled backward.
She’d deliberately fired at short intervals.
Chae-wol didn’t stop there—she immediately targeted the next prize.
With three or four shots, each prize surrendered and fell.
When her ammunition finally ran dry, Chae-wol had claimed four prizes in total.
-W-w-well! Truly! Remarkable! Marksmanship!
And Smile’s voice crackled with poorly concealed displeasure.
Even Ujoo had to admit—it was a performance worthy of admiration.
With sights so badly misaligned and the gun visibly twisting with each trigger pull, she’d landed eighteen shots out of twenty.
Even the two she’d missed were sacrificed while acquiring the initial alignment.
Such skill couldn’t have materialized from nowhere.
‘What on earth was she doing before?’
When he’d first met her, she’d been dressed like a shaman, and she’d mentioned receiving teachings from a master in the past—so he’d simply assumed that was the extent of it.
Yet clearly there was something more beneath the surface.
“Here you are!”
In any case, Smile handed over the fallen prizes without a word, her displeasure notwithstanding.
Chae-wol had claimed four items in total.
A Chocolate Box, a Music Box, an Empty Box, and a Puzzle Box.
“Thank you.”
Chae-wol turned on her heel, and the three of them immediately left the spot.
“If we clear just one more attraction, we’ll be able to leave. Though we’re not planning to go right away anyway.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
If their sole purpose was to escape, they could simply clear one more attraction and be on their way.
But they’d entered this place to apprehend whoever had come before them.
Better still would be to seal the Urban Legend itself.
Neither objective was easy, though—both demanded speed and precision to accomplish either one.
“Let’s split up for five minutes and search the area.”
So they decided to accept a small measure of risk. Until now they’d stayed together, but this time they’d spread out to cover more ground.
Clearing three attractions granted them the right to leave, but they didn’t have to depart immediately upon clearing them.
However, no matter what, they couldn’t spend more than twenty-four hours in this place.
So they moved swiftly through the grounds, watching for anything unusual.
‘Where could he have gone?’
Finding the person who’d entered before them was the priority.
Yet despite having ventured quite deep into the park, they’d found no trace of anyone else.
‘Could he have broken the Rules and been taken already?’
If that were true, there’d be no way to extract him intact. He’d already be transformed.
Still, the fact that he’d deliberately chosen the Clown box suggested he knew something about this Urban Legend.
Which meant the odds of him thoughtlessly breaking the Rules right after entering were slim.
‘So we keep searching.’
Ujoo touched the mask on his face as that thought solidified.
He was currently wearing the Bangsuangsi Mask.
He’d conserved its power on the way here, not activating it, but now it seemed he couldn’t afford to hold back.
‘Just a quick look.’
Ujoo focused his mind. He concentrated all his will on the mask, awakening the dormant power within.
Whoosh—!
The mask’s eyes flared, revealing what had been invisible before.
Ujoo’s expression darkened immediately.
He’d wanted to find another person, but the mask didn’t conveniently show only what he sought.
It simply revealed what had been hidden from sight.
So the vision now granted by the mask showed him the true face of the Amusement Park.
‘It’s grotesque and nightmarish.’
The Carousel, which had been painted in vibrant, cheerful colors, now appeared as though chunks of flesh had been haphazardly affixed to its frame.
The lights illuminating the park’s interior were the glowing eyes of some monstrous thing.
And the ground beneath him, and the sky enclosing everything above—all of it…….
Huff.
Ujoo exhaled sharply and squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
He couldn’t afford to look too closely. What mattered now was finding the person. He had to ignore everything else.
Having regained his focus, Ujoo pushed aside all the horrific details and swept his eyes across the area, searching for what he needed.
About one or two minutes remained. If he found nothing, he’d have to regroup with the others.
So Ujoo scanned the interior quickly.
Just as the designated time began to run out—
‘Hm?’
Something entered Ujoo’s field of vision.
In a world twisted hideously, a single thing that appeared untouched squirmed in the distance.
A person.
The instant Ujoo realized it, he took a step to rejoin the others and report what he’d found.
But then—
-Friend? Is something the matter?
Smile suddenly approached and spoke to him.
Ujoo halted, then opened his mouth and answered as casually as he could.
“No. Nothing at all. I’m just searching for attractions with the others.”
-I see! Say, friend—might I recommend an attraction for you?
At Smile’s suggestion, Ujoo’s face within the mask went rigid.
When that creature made such an offer, he couldn’t simply refuse.
“What kind of attraction?”
-It’s simple!
Smile pointed to one side as he spoke.
-Our amusement park’s other mascot! You’ll have a wonderful ten minutes playing with Cerberus!
A massive tent sprawled across the ground.
-Surely you’re not going to refuse, are you?
Smile asked in an ominous voice.
Ujoo swallowed a sigh internally.
Either he’d have to confront this head-on, or he’d need to go into that tent first and see what happened.
It was a pity he had no chance to warn the other two.
“Fine. Let’s go check it out.”
He decided to enter.
So Ujoo stepped into the tent alongside Smile.
And soon, he understood what “Cerberus” actually was.
-Grrrrrrr.
It was a dog—with three heads. A dog larger than an entire building.
The creature loomed above Ujoo, its eyes gleaming with menace.
-Come now, go inside!
Smile shoved Ujoo forward, making it clear refusal wasn’t an option.
And so Ujoo found himself thrust into the enclosure where Cerberus was confined, with no time to prepare.
Smile remained outside, her eyes sparkling with cruel delight as she watched—eager to see what would unfold.
But then.
-Huff huff huff!
Suddenly, the three-headed dog flipped onto its back and adopted a posture of submission.
The dog’s name was Cerberus.
It was a being with quite a history tied to Heracles.
Continued in the next episode ▶
Urban Legends’ Obsession with Calamity-Grade Artifacts
Author
Isekaisajang
Publishers
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact
[email protected]
Date of Publication
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260410110
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※ Pentagram welcomes your precious manuscripts.

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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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