The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 5

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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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Catastrophe-Class Relics in Urban Legends Episode 5
“What… what was that…….”
“……Hmm, looks like it’s gone.”
Soon the others began to voice their thoughts one by one.
“Seems it was just a minor ghost after all.”
“That must be it. Otherwise… would it have vanished so quickly?”
They dismissed what Woo Ju had done as naturally as breathing.
Well, some of them probably genuinely believed it.
Though the spirit’s appearance had been ominous enough, Woo Ju’s exorcism itself had looked far too absurd.
‘It just disappeared after getting hit with an iron pipe. That’s just a minor ghost, right?’
……That was the general thought.
In that pressurized atmosphere, the woman who had issued the warning earlier spoke in a sharp voice.
“What we just saw was certainly no ordinary minor ghost.”
Her voice carried conviction, but the others did not readily agree.
“What would you know about it?”
“Right. You were going on about how we shouldn’t confront it, how we should appease it and move on—and yet it just vanished from a pipe smack!”
“That’s simply because this person’s spiritual power is extraordinary.”
The woman spoke with steadfast certainty despite their objections.
The others let out hollow laughs and outright ignored her after that.
“If you’re so impressive, why don’t the two of you go scout ahead properly. Off you go.”
“Yes!”
“I’ll… I’ll go with you!”
And with that, the three of them walked ahead first.
By this point, Woo Ju could certainly sense it.
‘Politics.’
Whether others felt it or not, the middle-aged man seemed to dislike anyone but himself standing out.
But then.
The woman, who had been waiting until the others left, pointed ahead and spoke.
“May I move along with you? At the very least, I won’t be a burden.”
“Ah, yes.”
Woo Ju had no particular reason to refuse.
For one, she wasn’t as noisy as the others, and she struck him as the most capable among them.
“I’m Chae Wol.”
“I’m Woo Ju.”
After exchanging names, the two of them walked in the direction the others had gone.
But not long after, they came upon the earlier group again.
“Hmm. Shouldn’t we be heading back?”
“Or maybe there’s a key somewhere.”
They were conversing in hushed voices while looking ahead.
As Woo Ju approached, he soon understood what they were looking at.
“A fireproof door?”
A fireproof door had come down, blocking their path.
Woo Ju, without much deliberation, passed by the group who were discussing and approached the door.
Click-click-.
He grabbed the handle and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Woo Ju turned back to Chae Wol, who had followed him, and spoke.
“The door’s locked.”
“This is no ordinary door. I can feel the door itself is sealed tight. You won’t be able to force it open.”
As Chae Wol spoke, the others who had been conversing interjected with their own remarks.
“Hmm, well, I agree this time. It really doesn’t budge.”
“Even with two of us pushing, it stays put.”
But then.
Bang—!
With a tremendous crash, the door panel flew off. Standing before it was Woo Ju.
As everyone’s eyes suddenly converged on him, Woo Ju spoke with an awkward expression.
“……It opened?”
All of them stared blankly, eyes shifting between Woo Ju and the detached door panel. Even Chae Wol did the same this time.
But only for a moment.
“Ha, haha. That young fellow’s got quite the strength.”
“Hmm, the hinges must have come loose a bit.”
They spoke as though it were nothing remarkable, then slipped smoothly through the open doorway like practiced schemers.
‘Does the Inspection Bureau’s recruitment really factor in shamelessness as a scoring criterion?’
As Woo Ju turned that thought over with a quiet chuckle, Chae Wol spoke, her eyes fixed on the Iron Pipe he held.
“That thing—I’ve been thinking about it since the start. It’s no ordinary object, is it.”
“Pardon?”
“The seal on that gate was genuinely formidable. Even if I brought my master here, it would be impossible to shatter in one blow… yet you blasted it away like it was nothing.”
It seemed Chae Wol possessed the ability to perceive more than most people could.
But Woo Ju, having done nothing more than swing the pipe once, simply shrugged and replied.
“It didn’t seem like an ordinary object, that much I could tell. Either way, shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Chae Wol nodded and moved forward alongside Woo Ju.
The moment Woo Ju passed through the gate, he surveyed his surroundings.
What greeted him was the dilapidated, oppressive sight of the School Building—no talismans adorning its walls. There was something unsettling about it.
Creak, creak.
With each step, an unpleasant sound reverberated from the floorboards.
Walking beside Woo Ju, Chae Wol spoke in a voice thick with vigilance.
“The Yin Energy is trapped here, stagnating. While this place is sealed for the examination, it’s… quite oppressive.”
“Mm. The air is rather poor, isn’t it.”
Woo Ju, meanwhile, seemed largely unaffected from before.
There was an instinctive sense of unease, but that appeared to be the extent of it.
Nothing struck him as particularly dangerous.
Still, to be safe, Woo Ju kept himself ready to swing the Iron Pipe at a moment’s notice.
“The ones who went ahead, they seem to have been in quite a hurry. I don’t see them anywhere.”
“Mm, you’re right.”
Though they’d departed not long after the other three, the traces of those who’d gone before them were nowhere to be found.
Given that the space beyond the gate was a straight, open corridor, it was decidedly strange.
The two advanced slowly, their faces betraying both bewilderment and caution. But they’d taken only a few steps when—
Creeeeak—
A door opened somewhere ahead. Then something emerged into view.
Thump! Thump!
Woo Ju and Chae Wol’s eyes narrowed.
It was a human silhouette. But something was profoundly wrong with it.
Its feet were pointing skyward, and conversely, its head was directed downward.
Thump, thump, thump—!
It moved in that inverted state, striking the ground with its head. The movement bore no resemblance whatsoever to that of an ordinary human.
Then, light streaming through a window momentarily illuminated the figure.
Chae Wol let out a low gasp and spoke.
“That… that’s him from before.”
Yes. The figure matched exactly with Glasses Man, one of those who’d gone ahead.
One of the examinees who’d boldly set out just moments earlier, now transformed into something grotesque.
Woo Ju kept his gaze fixed on it as he asked.
“Could he be possessed by a spirit?”
“That would be the most likely explanation.”
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
Throughout all this, it continued its advance—slow, but steady, drawing inexorably closer.
“Then I suppose we have no choice.”
Faced with this, Woo Ju raised the Iron Pipe without hesitation.
“I’ll have to bring him to his senses—”
“Wait. Wait, please.”
Chae Wol hurriedly stopped him.
She could well imagine what Woo Ju’s method of “bringing him to his senses” would entail.
It might well work, but there was a real danger he might never wake up at all.
“Let me do this!”
“Ah, all right.”
At Chae Wol’s insistent refusal, Woo Ju lowered the Iron Pipe somewhat reluctantly.
Truth be told, he was curious about her abilities. He still hadn’t learned the reason any of these people had been selected.
Based on her clothing and the tools she carried, he’d assumed she was a mudang, though he couldn’t be certain.
In fact, just a few days ago he would have thought of shamans as nothing more than parasites preying on the unfortunate.
But Chae Wol didn’t seem like an ordinary shaman at all.
So Woo Ju deliberately stepped back to observe what she would do.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—!
Right after Woo Ju lowered the iron pipe and stepped back.
The possessed Glasses Man suddenly began advancing at a terrifying speed, as if he’d been waiting for precisely this moment.
At the sight of him, Woo Ju’s hand holding the iron pipe flinched, but he held firm.
Ding, ding, ding—!
That was when Chae Wol began to speak, shaking the bell.
“Heart-seeking, spirit-guiding, heavenly clarity, endless harmony, banish all evil today. Center pure, Lord of Heaven and Earth, King of Paradise, Jade Emperor, Spirit-Banishing King……”
Jing, jing—.
Together with the clearer bell sound, Chae Wol’s incantation spread through the air like mist.
The possessed entity shuddered violently, then advanced even faster, seeming only more enraged.
The distance between them now was only a few paces.
But then.
Just as the spirit was about to reach her, Chae Wol raised the Spirit Knife high in her other hand and cried out in a clear voice.
“Om hurried, hurried by command, svaha!”
In the same instant, the Spirit Knife slashed downward across the possessed figure.
Woo Ju’s jaw dropped.
‘So that’s what she meant about the iron pipe?’
She was using a blade on a person?
But the thought lasted only a moment.
From the figure who appeared to have been slashed, not a drop of blood emerged.
“Ugh, ughhhhh!”
Instead, his body convulsed violently, then shot upward before crashing back down.
“Gwoooaaargh!”
And then he began expelling something from inside his body.
Only this time, it wasn’t standing on its head as before. It simply looked in poor condition.
“Phew. It’s done.”
Chae Wol wiped the sweat from her brow as she spoke.
“Ah, so it’s been resolved?”
“Yes. This person will likely resolve himself with time. The possession duration wasn’t very long.”
“Thank goodness.”
Woo Ju nodded.
Glasses Man lay sprawled on his side, retching.
‘Well, I suppose the Inspection Bureau will collect him after the examination ends.’
Woo Ju thought as much, then spoke to Chae Wol.
“Shall we continue then?”
“Yes.”
Chae Wol nodded and walked forward again.
Of course, her guard remained up.
One of the three who’d gone ahead had been found separately. And possessed at that.
The meaning was clear.
The path of those ahead had not been smooth.
Yet surprisingly, the journey for Woo Ju and Chae Wol had been quite pleasant.
Ding, ding—!
“This ahead looks rather dangerous. I think it would be best to avoid it.”
It was thanks to the bell in Chae Wol’s hand.
Whenever something felt amiss, Chae Wol would sense it through the Bell Sound Sensing and steer them away.
So they were able to pass without incident by an eerie mannequin, a small child crouching in the corner, and something resembling a human hand swaying at the end of the ceiling.
But when they reached the end of the corridor.
Ting, ding, ding, ding—.
Suddenly, an ominous melody rang out from somewhere.
It sounded like something played through an old speaker, but what came next was far more startling.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Rumble, rumble!
Waaahhhhh—!
Let’s play soccer! Soccer!
Who wants to play pick-up sticks!
All at once, every door in the corridor burst open, and things came pouring out from within.
The moment Woo Ju saw them, his brow furrowed deeply.
To hear the conversation, you’d think of bright, innocent children, but their actual forms were nothing of the kind.
Middle-aged men. Young adults. Students. Adults. Grandfathers. Little children. All ages jumbled together in a chaotic mess.
What was even more horrifying was that every single one of them was in an unnatural state.
“Aaaaaaah!”
And among them, there was one figure that drew the eye more than the others.
“That person!”
Chae Wol’s eyes widened in shock as she pointed to one side. Woo Ju, seeing where she indicated, gasped and dropped his jaw.
There stood two of the people who had gone ahead—the middle-aged man in everyday hanbok and the marine man.
“Hehehehe! Tag!”
“Gotcha from behind!”
They were playing merrily with the other things around them, completely out of their minds.
“This is insane. Absolutely insane.”
That was when Chae Wol’s murmur reached Woo Ju’s ears.
“What’s wrong?”
Woo Ju kept his gaze fixed on the incomprehensible scene as he asked her.
Chae Wol wiped the cold sweat from her brow before answering.
“A Spirit Gate. Someone has opened a Spirit Gate somewhere in this place. Spirits escaping from it are becoming assimilated into this space.”
“Why is that a problem?”
“A Spirit Gate is nothing like helping a single spirit achieve ascension. I cannot manage it alone. I would need at least forty-nine days of preparation and multiple people coordinating…….”
Chae Wol rattled off the words in a rush.
And then.
-Who are you two!
Something suddenly materialized ahead of them and shouted.
A wooden stick gripped in one hand.
-You’re not students!
The moment it cried out.
-Not students?
-Not students?
-Not students?
-Not students?
-Not students?
Every being that had burst into the corridor turned to look at Woo Ju and Chae Wol simultaneously.
A sight that took their breath away. And immediately after, they began slowly advancing toward the pair.
Seeing this, Woo Ju quickly asked Chae Wol.
“Wait. So aside from those two possessed people, they’re all spirits?”
“Yes, yes. They’ll likely try to take over our bodies.”
“Okay.”
Earlier, he had readily handed off the possessed human to Chae Wol for fear something might go wrong.
But.
If they had no physical form, there was no problem.
“Wait. What are you trying to do?”
Chae Wol asked Woo Ju.
Woo Ju gripped the iron pipe with both hands and slowly raised it as he spoke.
“A rod of love.”
“What?”
“Listen up! Anyone who doesn’t want to get hurt should run back through that Spirit Gate!”
Without hesitation, Woo Ju stepped forward and swung the iron pipe with a full, powerful arc.
Boom-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-!
The minor ghosts advancing toward them vanished without a trace, and at the same moment, every window in the corridor shattered into fragments.
As if a mighty torrent of spiritual power had swept through the hallway itself.
Woo Ju stood at the eye of that storm.
The malevolent spirits that had seemed about to rush him froze in place, exactly as they were.
Then. Woo Ju’s eyes flashed again.
“Not running?”
The moment Woo Ju said that and stepped forward with his other foot.
The spirits began fleeing in a panic.
To be continued ▶
How Urban Legends Obsess Over Catastrophe-Class Relics
Author
Lee Se-gye
Publisher
Kim Suk-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publisher
Graeok Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260410110
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited, and violators may face criminal and civil legal liability.
※ 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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