The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 83

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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 Catastrophe-Class Relics — Episode 83
“A scheme, you say?”
Shinichi echoed the word, his voice colored by unmistakable unease.
“Yes. From the start, I had no intention of entering the site alone. There’s no way to know what dangers might be waiting.”
“Then…”
“The plan was always to conduct a thorough preliminary survey and devise a detailed operation. But complications arose during that phase, which is why I ended up going in by myself.”
Mizuki pressed a handkerchief against her wet knees as she spoke, blotting carefully.
Woo Ju noticed that she had deliberately omitted several details—likely something concerning the Team 3 commander.
He understood perfectly.
It was the sort of internal matter an outsider couldn’t easily discuss.
She probably hadn’t meant to reveal this at all, but hearing information about Shutendoji had prompted her to bring it up hastily.
“Something went wrong, then.”
Rather than pressing Mizuki on that point, Hwa Ryeon identified what mattered most in their current situation.
Both Mizuki and Shinichi nodded at once.
“Yes.”
“We likely need to move to the site immediately.”
At that, Woo Ju and Hwa Ryeon rose from their seats along with the Japanese personnel.
They decided to continue the briefing en route to the location.
Soon everyone climbed into a vehicle parked just outside the shop.
Mizuki took charge of the explanation as they drove.
“Recently, Japan established Team 3 as a new division due to staffing shortages. We filled it with personnel from other branches, external collaborators from existing partnerships, and some former employees.”
Woo Ju nodded at this.
It was a familiar story—Korea had similarly established Team 2 not long ago.
“The commander of Team 3 is a former employee who worked in the Inspection Bureau up until ten years ago.”
“And this employee is the problem, I take it.”
“Nothing’s certain yet, but the probability is high.”
As for the Shutendoji matter, nothing had happened yet, but regarding the previous incident—one directly involving her—Mizuki chose her words carefully.
‘If it were me, I think my eyes would turn red the moment I learned someone betrayed me.’
Then again, thinking about it differently, that impulse made sense for someone in a mere team member’s position.
A commander had to answer for the entire unit below them. It wouldn’t be easy to move freely as one wished.
“For now, what aspect of the current situation concerns you most?”
Hwa Ryeon posed the question.
Mizuki paused, closing her lips for a moment before speaking slowly.
“Most critically… his greatest risk is that he might actively sabotage the Sealing Ritual itself. That’s why it’s vital we reach the site and eliminate him as quickly as possible.”
“Radio contact would be useless, then.”
“Correct. It could be even more dangerous. That’s precisely why we’re moving without filing any separate reports.”
From the context, Mizuki appeared to suspect the existence of accomplices within the Inspection Bureau—allies of Team 3’s commander.
The decision to avoid reporting their movement was meant to prevent information from leaking through alternate channels.
Mizuki then continued, alternating with Shinichi, to relay all the necessary information they’d gathered.
Meanwhile, the vehicle pressed forward along the road.
Heading toward the location where Shutendoji’s Sealing Ritual was underway.
* * *
Mizuki stared at the distant mountain, her face darkened and grave.
A month ago, she had fallen into a trap and been dragged into a dark alley.
During her long years at the Inspection Bureau, she had experienced countless incidents, and among them were encounters with betrayal.
Because of this, Mizuki’s disappointment in the perpetrator far outweighed any anger at being betrayed.
Though she’d worked almost without sleep for the past month, she’d allowed someone she’d found suspicious to catch her off guard.
‘I should have opposed his return far more strongly from the beginning.’
Mizuki recalled the time when Kato, who would become Team 3’s commander, had left the organization.
Ten years ago, during the Shibuya catastrophe. Terrible things had unfolded. Many had died, and those who barely survived carried scars their minds could never erase.
Kato was among them.
He had lost his fiancée in that disaster.
For her, all of it remained vivid, as if it had happened yesterday.
Humans are more resilient than one might think and don’t die easily—yet sometimes the spirit, the soul, dies before the body does.
In Mizuki’s assessment, that was what had happened to Kato.
After that day, the Kato from before had vanished without a trace.
Unable to overcome what had happened, Kato left the Inspection Bureau not long after.
“Sigh…”
Mizuki exhaled a long breath.
White vapor curled from her lips into the cold air.
The air around them was bitterly cold, like the depth of winter.
It was strange. The season hadn’t turned cold yet, and before arriving near this place, the weather had been ordinary autumn.
This was Shutendoji’s power affecting the surrounding environment.
‘Even after being sealed for so long, it still has this much strength.’
A seal, by nature, was more than simply confining something—it typically aimed to weaken the target’s power as well.
According to records, Shutendoji had been sealed by those renowned in his era, and it was thought that his current power couldn’t even reach a tenth of his peak.
Yet before Shutendoji broke free from the seal and was recaptured, nearly twenty casualties had resulted.
If personnel hadn’t been increased and security strengthened due to the recent surge in abnormal phenomena, the death toll would have been several times greater.
‘The problem is that impurities have mixed into that expanded workforce.’
Mizuki still gazed toward the mountainside where the Sealing Ritual was underway, her eyes cast low.
Mizuki harbored sympathy for Kato’s personal circumstances.
But she couldn’t overlook how someone who had suffered such hardship was now causing harm to others.
The trap that had caught Mizuki alone—if it had been someone else instead of her, their life would have been in danger.
“The preparations are complete.”
At that moment, Shinichi approached from behind Mizuki and spoke.
Ray and other staff members stood beside him. He had assembled all of her team members.
While she might not trust others, at the very least she could rely on her own team.
Mizuki nodded and then approached the personnel waiting to the side.
“We’re moving out now.”
“Understood.”
“Right.”
Of course, that personnel referred to Hwa Ryeon and Woo Ju.
Agents from Korea who had come to provide support at the request of the Japanese Inspection Bureau.
If it had been her first meeting with them, Mizuki would have chosen to operate separately.
Ability was one thing; trustworthiness was another matter entirely.
But by fortunate coincidence, Mizuki had met Woo Ju before, and had even received his help.
Without him, she would still be wandering lost on that path.
Was it mere chance that Korean agents arrived in Japan precisely when the problem surfaced, and that one of them happened to be caught up in the same urban legend?
Mizuki thought not.
The Artifact he carried must have exerted its power.
‘Perhaps even this moment has been orchestrated by that Artifact’s fortune.’
As a result, Mizuki not only escaped the urban legend in time, but had also gained experienced support personnel for the emergency.
“Then, let’s depart.”
Mizuki spoke briefly and took the lead.
Shinichi, Ray, and the other team members followed behind, with Hwa Ryeon and Woo Ju naturally falling into formation.
The mountain path was dark.
Clouds hung thick, blocking even moonlight, so everyone had to place their feet carefully.
It would be easier to turn on lights and move, but that was impossible.
They had to approach the location of the Sealing Ritual as covertly as possible.
At least there was one advantage: there was no way to mistake their destination.
A glow of light shone in the distance—that was where the Sealing Ritual was taking place.
‘If the goal is to disrupt the seal, they would reveal their hand at the very last moment.’
Mizuki wasn’t an expert in Barriers or Sealing Rituals, but her knowledge was sufficient.
To properly sabotage the seal, it was best to make your move at the final moment.
If interference came earlier, it could be remedied.
Four days had passed since the Sealing Ritual began.
Generally, sealing a powerful yokai like Shutendoji required at least a week or more, so there was still some leeway.
Of course, that didn’t mean they could afford to be careless.
Even if it came earlier, they could act quickly to prevent disruption.
A long breath escaped her lips.
The breath misting from her mouth grew increasingly visible.
The soil beneath her feet crunched with each step, its surface frozen as if frost had fallen.
The higher they climbed, the lower the temperature dropped.
Even bundled in thick clothes, the cold cut right through.
When Shutendoji first rampaged, the casualties in sealing it had reached four figures.
Though there had been no systematic framework in those days, it was still an staggering number.
Mizuki exhaled warm breath as she glanced back briefly.
There were her team members, and Woo Ju and Hwa Ryeon from Korea.
Her gaze settled on Woo Ju among them.
‘He was extraordinary.’
Mizuki’s memory of Woo Ju wielding his power remained vivid and sharp.
At the time, her memories had been temporarily sealed, so she’d thought it merely extraordinary, but now she understood how impossible it truly was.
Even with Mizuki having weakened that power beforehand, to handle it so cleanly and completely—
Ray and Shinichi, dispatched to Korea long ago to capture Tatarigami, had spoken of a monster-like person there, but she’d never imagined anyone of that caliber.
‘Honestly, I thought their account was exaggerated.’
Thinking back now, it had actually been a remarkably spare, just-the-facts report.
Knowing that such a person was moving alongside them gave her heart a sense of security.
Of course, she had no intention of relying solely on the Korean personnel.
In the end, this was Japan’s problem, Japan’s responsibility.
They had to stop it themselves.
A low, mournful howl echoed through the night.
Time had passed—how much, she wasn’t certain.
From far in the distance, a deep and ominous sound began to reach their ears.
Mizuki’s face hardened as she turned her gaze toward it.
On the surface it sounded deeply inauspicious, but the fact that she could hear it at all suggested the Sealing Ritual was still proceeding without major incident.
A fortunate sign that they weren’t too late.
With that, Mizuki increased their pace while speaking to Ray, who was keeping close behind her.
“Once we arrive, be ready to deploy the Barrier immediately.”
“Understood.”
Ray nodded and began to murmur softly to herself.
She was reciting the Incantation in advance, timing it to deploy the Barrier the moment they arrived.
And roughly ten minutes later.
A deep, wailing cry pierced the air.
An anguished, primal scream followed.
At last they arrived at the location where the Sealing Ritual was underway.
Dozens of personnel stood in the Clearing, surrounding something while making sounds or murmuring incantations.
And at the center stood a man dressed in pristine white traditional robes.
The legitimate heir to an onmyoji lineage stretching back to the Heian Era, and a key official of the Inspection Bureau—Kato.
“You’ve arrived.”
Kato greeted Mizuki’s group as they approached from his opposite side, as if his eyes were somehow set in the back of his head.
His voice carried the ease of someone offering a simple morning greeting.
“Now that all our actors have taken the stage, shall we begin?”
Kato turned his head, smiling. Blood tears streamed down his face.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
“Kwaaaaaaagh!”
In that same instant, all the personnel forming the Sealing Array began to cry out in agony simultaneously.
Continued in next chapter ▶
Urban Legends and the Catastrophe-Class Relics That Cling to Them
Author
Otherworldly CEO
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
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 awaits your precious manuscript.

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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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