The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 61

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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 Grow Obsessed – Episode 61
The pursuit continued by car.
There was no need to travel on foot, and the distance was expected to be quite substantial.
“Given how faint the trace is, they must have come through here quite some time ago. It’ll probably break off partway.”
Woo Ju listened to her words while keeping his eyes ahead.
There, a creature wrought of smoke drifted forward without pause, moving in some direction. Woo Ju fixed his gaze upon it and turned to Hwa Ryeon with a question.
“Does it really look like that?”
“Not perfectly, no. I fill in the less precise parts as needed. After all, it’s optimized for tracking traces.”
It certainly appeared highly effective for pursuit.
The incident had occurred two days prior.
They were now tracking the movement path using a single trace evidence left behind from two days ago.
After following the trace for another twenty minutes or so.
The smoke began to move deeper into the mountains.
Hwa Ryeon clicked her tongue at the sight and spoke.
“We should get out.”
There was no way to drive a car into the mountains.
They quickly exited the vehicle and pursued the smoke on foot.
But the smoke dissipated in less than five minutes. The time had run out.
“Is there still trace evidence remaining?”
At his question, Hwa Ryeon examined the ground and answered.
“Faintly. We’ll have to work harder from here on out.”
With that, she placed the pipe back between her lips.
The meaning of “work harder” became clear soon enough.
Whoooosh—
Through the same process, smoke took on form once more. It surged forward in a single direction, then vanished before five minutes had passed.
The remaining trace evidence itself was so faint that its duration had become drastically shorter.
But there was no alternative. They had no choice but to repeat the same process until clearer traces emerged.
“Should I use mine?”
“No. Hold off on that for now.”
Woo Ju had suggested using the Necronomicon, but Hwa Ryeon shook her head.
She meant to conserve his strength in case they had to face the Tatarigami.
Had there been no other means at all, it would have been different, but such was not the case.
Fortunately, after moving in that manner for about two more hours, they finally discovered a new trace.
Not a small trace like footprints as before, but a substantially larger one.
“The creature’s power is etched in deeply here.”
Whatever had occurred, a single vehicle lay overturned in the ravine.
Looking up, the Road was visible in the distance.
Judging by the scene, it had fallen from above. This too was a disaster wrought by the Tatarigami.
“What about the people?”
“Looks like they’ve already been recovered.”
True to her words, there was no one inside the vehicle. Had it been otherwise, the remains would have been quite ghastly.
The three of them first examined the area around the vehicle carefully.
Aside from continuing the pursuit, they needed to check whether any other trace evidence remained.
“Hmm. Nothing particularly notable.”
But this location too yielded nothing of obvious significance.
After concluding their brief search, Hwa Ryeon created smoke once more through the pipe.
And it was around then that contact came from the Japanese side.
They said they were nearby.
They’d sent word immediately upon finding trace evidence at the burnt Pension earlier, and now they’d arrived after being elsewhere.
“Just keep sharing your location and continue moving.”
“Roger.”
But they couldn’t simply stop and wait, so they continued pressing forward.
In the meantime, the creature bearing the form of the Tatarigami began moving back out of the mountains.
Hwa Ryeon confirmed the direction the smoke was heading and spoke again to Baek Ho.
“It looks like it’s about to emerge back onto the Road. Mark the expected location and send it.”
“I’ll send it right away.”
The vehicle they’d arrived in was left far behind, so they needed a new car. And fortunately, the Japanese team was driving one toward them.
“We need to pick up the pace. It suddenly got faster.”
True enough, the smoke’s speed increased sharply at some point.
Where it had been manageable at a brisk walk before, now they needed to break into a light jog to keep up.
So they had no choice but to run along the dark mountain path.
“There!”
Not long after, a road came into view below them, and at just the right moment, they spotted a car approaching in the distance.
It was the vehicle carrying Shinichi and Rei.
Screech!
The car caught sight of Woo Ju’s group belatedly and came to an abrupt halt. Hwa Ryeon approached naturally and spoke.
“Over there! Just follow that thing ahead!”
“Get in!”
Fortunately, there was space in the car for three more passengers.
Though they had to squeeze together in the back seat.
“Impressive. You’ve already found a trace,” Shinichi said, steering the car as he followed the moving smoke.
Hwa Ryeon watched the smoke ahead of them as it moved and replied.
“We’ve only obtained a clue, nothing more. We don’t know how far that trace extends.”
“Still, it narrows down the possibilities considerably, doesn’t it?”
She was right. Since they’d confirmed the route the Tatarigami was taking, they could safely exclude all incidents that deviated from that path.
But then Rei spoke up.
“It seems to be looking for something.”
At her words, everyone’s attention naturally turned toward her.
“Looking for what?”
“It isn’t staying in one place. It keeps moving. Originally, its behavior pattern was to hide discreetly and spread its power to the surrounding area.”
That was one of the things Shinichi had explained earlier.
Usually, the creature would settle in some suitably remote location and spread calamity throughout the surrounding region, drawing power from it.
The Tatarigami became a serious problem in Japan precisely because it was discovered so late.
It accumulated power for at least ten years before the Inspection Bureau even noticed it.
That much alone proved the Tatarigami’s intelligence was considerable.
An ordinary monster would have rampaged and been captured quickly.
“But now it’s different,” Rei continued.
“Yes. It could simply have sensed our pursuit and be fleeing, but still—constantly moving without hiding anywhere is strange. Moving around so frantically like that actually works against it. It barely seems to be recovering its power at all.”
“If it’s being so desperate, what could it be after?”
The last question came from Woo Ju. Rei considered for a long moment before speaking.
“I suspect it’s looking for something that can restore its power. Right now, that’s what it needs most.”
“Hmm. Or it could be searching for a location where it can recover all at once.”
At that, everyone furrowed their brows in thought.
What on earth could help the Tatarigami recover its power?
Then, just then—
“Ah.”
Hwa Ryeon seemed to remember something and opened her mouth.
“If we’re heading in this direction… there’s a hospital.”
“A hospital?”
“Yes. An Inspection Bureau hospital.”
She spoke with a grave expression.
“It’s mainly where people admitted due to incidents or accidents are treated. But… it’s primarily where those who cannot be allowed to leave to the outside are hospitalized.”
Hearing up to that point, Woo Ju had no idea what she meant, but the others seemed to understand something.
Rei’s eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke.
“A place full of people who’ve already suffered calamity.”
The Tatarigami derives power from calamity.
Fires, collapses, accidents—all manner of disasters.
But such calamities need not be ones the Tatarigami itself caused.
The efficiency would be lower, but it could absorb power even from naturally occurring disasters.
“It was precisely for this reason that the creature grew so rapidly in Japan.”
Now even Woo Ju understood immediately.
In all of Asia, few nations experienced earthquakes as frequently as Japan.
That environment itself contributed to the creature’s growth.
In that sense, an Inspection Bureau hospital would be full of people who had endured every conceivable calamity.
For the Tatarigami, it would be a feast worthy of drooling over.
“I’ll contact them right away,” Hwa Ryeon said, and immediately pulled out her phone to call someone.

But he’d been signaling for quite some time, and there was no response.
Baek Ho, watching from beside him, spoke in a grave voice.
“It seems he’s already arrived.”
“That’s what it looks like. The fact that there’s no response at all…”
Even as Hwa Ryeon answered, she placed several additional calls.
The first person to pick up was a doctor affiliated with the hospital, and Hwa Ryeon briefly explained the current situation before asking about the Hospital.
—”Currently, there’s a landslide blocking the main entrance, making it difficult to access.”
And the doctor’s answer came exactly as the others had anticipated.
It made sense—the Hospital in question was a building constructed without sparing expense, given careful consideration of various factors.
A place like that would never have a hastily built entrance.
Surrounded by mountains as it was, it should have been perfectly equipped with landslide countermeasures, so the fact that such an incident had occurred suggested an external cause was highly probable.
“I’ll increase our speed.”
Hearing the conversation from the front, Shinichi began accelerating.
The car sped forward, and the landscape blurred past the windows at tremendous speed.
Woo Ju kept his gaze fixed ahead, gripping the Iron Pipe resting on his lap tightly.
‘It would be ideal if we ran into him right there.’
But there was only one way to find out.
* * *
There was a Hospital surrounded by mountains on all sides.
It didn’t appear on any map, and though it had been built some time ago, its exterior had a slightly worn appearance.
Ooooooo—.
Yet suddenly, a strange sound began to echo around the Hospital.
The people inside the Hospital, hearing that sound, wore expressions of unease.
Even if they couldn’t identify exactly what it was, the feeling was distinctly ominous.
Fortunately, the staff working at this Hospital had been sufficiently trained to handle such emergencies.
They immediately contacted the outside world while sending a few people out to scout the exits.
Rumble!
But not long after they left, a tremendous sound erupted.
The people’s expressions grew even more anxious, and some time later—
“Huh, the road, the road is….”
One of the people who had gone out earlier returned.
“What about the others?”
“I… I barely made it out. A massive landslide has completely blocked the entrance.”
At those words, the Hospital staff wore serious expressions once more.
A strange sound. A blocked entrance. Nothing about this situation was normal.
“For now, let’s stay inside and secure the interior.”
Rather than forcing their way out, they decided to remain inside and fortify it.
Given that only one person had returned from those who’d gone out, that was only natural.
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
A car pulled to a stop near the mountains.
Woo Ju, stepping out from the back seat, looked ahead. There stood a Hospital.
It was exactly as Hwa Ryeon had described it.
“It looks certain he went to the Hospital.”
“Yeah. His desperation must be growing as he approaches his goal.”
Acting so conspicuously would bring him no benefit.
Conversely, if he was acting so recklessly, it meant there was something he had to do.
Naturally, what he had to do here would be to recover his strength.
“Let’s go in.”
With that, Woo Ju hefted the Iron Pipe and spoke.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
They moved toward the Hospital, which hung heavy with ominous atmosphere.
To be continued ▶
Urban Legends and the Obsession of Catastrophe-Class Relics
Author
Isekaisajang
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
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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