The Calamity-Class Artifacts in Ghost Stories Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 96

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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 Cling to Me — Chapter 96
Woo Ju hesitated for a moment as Pandora’s Box transmitted its persistent will to him.
But the hesitation was brief.
‘Fine. If you can learn anything, go ahead and learn it.’
Woo Ju thought this to himself and brought the Ring close to the Bracelet.
The Ring emitted a faint glow, then melted away and seeped into the Bracelet.
Chae Wol watched the sight beside him with curious eyes.
“Did you seal the Ring there?”
Of course she knew the history of Pandora’s Box well enough—she’d been there from the start.
Woo Ju nodded and answered.
“For now. It asked me to.”
Since there was no immediate reaction, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to learn anything right away.
That’s what he was thinking when—
Suddenly, unfamiliar scenes began to flash across his vision.
It was as if someone were rapidly flipping through dozens of photographs before his eyes.
The strange part was that even amid this flood, each image remained vivid in his mind.
“Ah……”
Woo Ju saw it.
He saw someone approaching Geum Ok Nyeo the sorceress—a Shaman Shrine with no visitors because word had spread that the shaman’s powers had faded. Geum Ok Nyeo, drowning her sorrows in alcohol, received a visitor who handed her a single Ring.
With just this, they said, she would be able to receive a most potent Spirit.
And there was no lie in that promise.
The newly descended Spirit answered every Divination with ease, and Geum Ok Nyeo’s reputation as a powerful sorceress was restored.
The problem arose about half a year later.
The Spirit she served suddenly began issuing strange commands.
More troubling still, she couldn’t simply ignore them.
To be precise, she had refused at first, but retaliation came swiftly.
It gave her false answers to Divinations or showed her uncomfortable visions in her sleep.
-I’ll do it! I will!
In the end, Geum Ok Nyeo yielded.
The commands, while strange, hadn’t crossed a true line—they were merely petty mischief.
Or so it had seemed.
But it was only the beginning.
The commands grew progressively more vicious as time passed.
Deliberately giving false Divinations was child’s play compared to what came next.
It began forcing her to do things that could actually harm people.
Its true nature had revealed itself.
Once Geum Ok Nyeo started following its orders, she found herself unable to refuse even as the demands escalated.
But when it finally commanded her to kill someone, she realized she had gone too far and, though late, tried to resist.
She refused the command, closed the Shrine, and tried to remove and discard the Ring.
But it was already too late.
The Evil Spirit, having followed her commands for so long, had taken root deep within her body.
When Geum Ok Nyeo attempted to resist, it began pushing her aside in earnest, seizing control of her body.
Gradually, she was driven out, until the Evil Spirit had stolen her body entirely.
Then one day—
A couple arrived.
With her last ounce of strength, she seized control of her hand. She did everything she could to cloud the Evil Spirit’s vision, to make it misjudge the man’s power.
To keep it from fleeing in terror at the sight of that man, radiant as the sun itself.
And thus, she was freed.
“Urgh.”
When the vision ended, a faint vertigo struck him, and his sight cleared again.
“Are you all right?”
Chae Wol’s voice followed.
Woo Ju steadied himself with difficulty and asked.
“How long was I like that?”
“Pardon?”
Chae Wol hesitated at the question before speaking.
“You were walking normally, then suddenly stumbled……”
It felt like tens of minutes had passed to him, but if that was the case, only seconds had actually elapsed.
“Mm.”

“What happened?”
“I saw something. Ah, let’s talk about it as we head down.”
“Yes, all right.”
Since it felt awkward to stand here talking indefinitely, the two of them helped Geum Ok Nyeo down the mountain while they spoke.
Woo Ju did most of the talking, with Chae Wol listening.
What Geum Ok Nyeo had endured. What the evil spirit had orchestrated. And even the person who had given her the ring.
After hearing the whole account, Chae Wol spoke with a grave expression.
“This is no ordinary matter. That ring itself was a conduit connected to the evil spirit…”
“It wouldn’t be easy to create something like that, would it?”
“Not at all. An evil spirit is sometimes thought of as merely a collection of minor ghosts, but fundamentally, from an outward perspective, it’s indistinguishable from a true spirit.”
“So it possesses that much power.”
“Exactly. What’s more, it’s something malevolent. Creating something connected to it, or something that might contain it—that’s no simple task.”
“I see.”
Woo Ju nodded.
When he first found it, the ring had looked like nothing more than an ordinary piece of jewelry, but its provenance was certainly anything but ordinary.
‘The evil spirit itself wasn’t particularly weak to begin with.’
If it had been, it would have been destroyed the moment it was struck by the iron pipe.
Even though he’d refrained from striking the host directly, the fact that it had held on for hours proved the creature’s fundamental strength was nothing to dismiss.
“Well, you’ll be heading to the office anyway, won’t you?”
“Yes, we should.”
What had originally been meant as a simple matter to handle between the two of them had now become something more complicated.
Not only was there the question of treating Geum Ok Nyeo, who had been possessed for an extended period, but the matter of the ring itself required reporting to the proper authorities.
“In that case, let’s report to the team leader first.”
“All right. I’ll ask them to send a car.”
Taking a taxi was obviously impossible, so they called Hwa Ryeon, who was on duty that day, and explained what had transpired.
Naturally, when Hwa Ryeon heard Chae Wol’s report, he asked what on earth had happened.
-No, never mind. We’ll fill you in on the details when we get back. I’m sending a vehicle right away.
After arranging for vehicle support and ending the call, the two of them made their way down the mountain and waited at an appropriate location.
About thirty minutes later, a black sedan pulled up.
Only after confirming the license plate matched the one Hwa Ryeon had mentioned did they get in.
Of course, Geum Ok Nyeo, still unconscious, came with them.
“We’ll head directly to the medical facility.”
Staff members were treated in the Treatment Room, but the Inspection Bureau had its own personnel for external cases.
He’d once asked why they bothered with a dedicated Treatment Room when there was already a hospital, and Hwa Ryeon’s answer had been straightforward.
-The equipment in the Treatment Room is far superior. Better expertise too.
He’d probably added something about how appearances can be deceiving.
‘Though I still don’t know what the actual difference is.’
Woo Ju continued these idle musings before slowly leaning the back of his head against the seat.
‘Things turned out a bit differently than I expected.’
His original plan had been to find that irresponsible shaman and have a reasonable conversation to try persuading her.
He’d never anticipated it would unfold this way.
Then again, no one can truly see even an inch into the future, can they?
He certainly hadn’t expected to hear ghost stories when he’d simply gone to meet a friend.
‘I should call my friend later to follow up.’
Although he’d told the homeowner he would check, calling directly would probably set his mind more at ease.
With these thoughts, Woo Ju turned his head to the side.
The landscape outside the window was peaceful, as always.
But now he understood.
Peel back just one layer, and beneath it lurked dangers that ordinary people could never imagine.
* * *
Geum Ok Nyeo’s body was in a significantly weakened state, but fortunately, proper treatment should allow her to recover.
Moreover, the matter of Ji Hoon’s house was resolved well.
When they called the real estate agent and homeowner in turn to ask if anything had ever happened in the house, they confessed immediately.
Following that conversation, they decided to tear into the wall, and sure enough, they found a pouch inside, just as Woo Ju had seen.
The Inspection Bureau recovered the pouch.
Normally they wouldn’t handle such trivial matters, but this case was different.
‘It must be because of who owns the ring.’
The circumstances surrounding Geum Ok Nyeo’s situation suggested someone had orchestrated it intentionally.
Now, they couldn’t afford to overlook even the smallest clue.
And among those ‘clues’ was the ring that had been sealed away in Pandora’s Box.
“Mm.”
An employee from the Production Team let out a low whistle while examining the Ring on the table.
Objects sealed within Pandora’s Box could be retrieved again whenever one wished.
More precisely, it wasn’t something anyone could do—one needed to possess a high level of Affinity with the Artifact first.
Those with weak connections to an Artifact risked everything spilling out if they touched it carelessly, like what had happened during the previous incident.
Of course, this didn’t apply to Woo Ju.
He could simply think of something and easily move the contents in and out without effort.
“For now, the Ring itself is just an ordinary ring. Since it emptied out everything inside as you mentioned, it seems like it’s become hollow—just a shell, so to speak.”
“So there’s nothing worth salvaging?”
“No, not at all. The traces from before are still there. If we analyze them, I think we can learn something. It’ll take some time, though.”
“I see.”
Woo Ju nodded.
He left the Ring with the Production Team and exited their office.
If they discovered any clues, they would share them with the Field Response Team right away.
After all, Woo Ju was the one who found and brought it in as a member of the response team.
“You’re back?”
As he returned to the office, Baek Ho greeted him.
Inside the office were only Hwa Ryeon and Baek Ho.
Attendance today had been thin.
Besides, Woo Ju wasn’t even scheduled to work today.
“Man, you’re full of passion. Here you are, taking care of business on your day off.”
Baek Ho said this with a smile.
Woo Ju laughed awkwardly in response. Truth be told, he hadn’t expected to get involved in real work like this either.
Just then, Hwa Ryeon, who had been looking over documents, spoke up.
“Sorry, but an extra day off this time isn’t possible.”
“Ah, yes. I understand.”
Woo Ju nodded without much thought.
He hadn’t really been counting on extra leave anyway, and he knew the team had been swamped with work lately.
Still managing to give people their regular vacation days in the midst of all that showed just how demanding the job was.
They were handling things on a daily basis that ordinary people might only encounter once in a lifetime.
“Anyway, once you’re done, you can head out. It’s your day off after all.”
“Ah, I’m planning to leave once Chae Wol gets back. Since she helped out on her day off too.”
Chae Wol was in the Treatment Room at the moment.
She hadn’t been seriously injured—she’d just come back after a routine examination.
Woo Ju had been examined as well, but it was over in no time.
He’d emerged completely unscathed.
Chae Wol, on the other hand, had lost some vitality, so her examination was taking longer.
“So it looks like nothing’s happening today, huh.”
At those words, Hwa Ryeon and Baek Ho both fixed sharp stares on Woo Ju simultaneously.
“Tsk tsk.”
“Don’t invite bad luck like that.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Speaking like that during a quiet moment was practically forbidden, so Woo Ju apologized immediately.
But then.
“On your time off this vacation, just rest well. No excuses. You’ll be right back to work when you return.”
“Ah, is there something already lined up?”
At Woo Ju’s question, Hwa Ryeon nodded and replied.
“We’re heading to a Hotel.”
Continued in the next chapter ▶
How Catastrophe-Class Relics from Urban Legends Become Obsessed
Author
Lee Se-gye
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publishing Company
Grae Publishing
Contact Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260410110
※ This electronic book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violation of these terms may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram is awaiting the author’s 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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