Chapter 3: No, it’s not a ghost story!

The time returned to the present.

“Fortunately, after the sun rose, I returned to my original form.”

Recalling that day half a year ago still left me bewildered, but as time passed, I was able to somewhat make sense of the changes in my body.

****

1. When the sun sets, my appearance changes.

2. The appearance is black hair and pure white skin. And jet-black eyes.

3. A dark mist or aura-like energy frequently appears around me.

4. When the sun rises and morning comes, I return to my normal self.

****

“Still, it’s a relief that I can control the black energy to some extent, so it doesn’t always appear.”

If I couldn’t, I would have been a shut-in for sure.

Black hair and black eyes are common in Korea; surely it wouldn’t be noticeable?

As long as the black energy isn’t there, I’d still look like a person.

‘Because of the ghost stories, people hardly go out at night anymore.’

I came home and checked the time; it was 6:47 PM.

Something was slowly changing inside my body.

A cold sensation slowly crept up from my toes.

“Hah. I really can’t get used to this.”

It felt as if ice fragments were floating through my veins. My skin gradually grew colder, and my entire body stiffened with a chill.

Facing the mirror, I saw my reflection slowly changing.

Black hair spread like waves.

It wasn’t that the original color disappeared, but rather an alien discoloration, as if ink were spreading.

My eyes gradually became dyed with an unfathomable darkness.

Unlike typical black eyes, an endless abyss, darkness itself, settled within my gaze.

As I quietly exhaled, a faint black energy wafted up.

When I stretched out my hand, my shadow flickered as if it were a living creature.

“Phantom… is that it?”

It was absurd enough to suddenly become a transforming robot, but now I even had a nickname like a Pokémon.

For several months now, a being known as ‘Phantom’ had been talked about among people.

It all began three months ago, at the convenience store in front of my house.

A ghost story occurred at the convenience store in front of my house, where I had gone to buy a late-night snack, with my hat pulled low and my face covered by a mask.

[The Watching Woman]

A ghost story that only appears in specific locations, doing nothing physically but merely staring.

However, its mere presence was enough to plunge people into maddening terror.

The Watching Woman was a malicious entity even in novels, never revealing her rules. Therefore, those already trapped within were in a state of panic.

People sitting on the floor, crying.

A trembling employee holding their breath, and countless hands pounding on the entrance door, trying to escape.

However,

“…The door won’t open.”

The space where a ghost story occurs becomes an isolated dimension. Within it, the ghost story’s rules become law.

[Once you enter The Watching Woman’s line of sight, you can never escape.]

Until that entity disappears, one must simply endure in terror.

And I had gone to the convenience store without even knowing it was in such a state.

And very confidently at that!

*Ding-a-ling.*

The moment the door opened, the sight before my eyes instinctively made me frown.

‘What kind of dog-shit situation is this?’

Seeing the people sprawled on the floor screaming, black energy involuntarily burst forth from me.

It’s not like I farted out of surprise; honestly, the more I think about it, the more embarrassing it is.

However, at that moment,

*Kiiiiiik—*

In the distance, I saw an entity whose form was distorted, unnaturally twisting its head.

‘Ugh, nightmare fuel.’

Even when The Watching Woman was described in novels, she was bizarre, but seeing her in person was no joke.

From its grotesque mouth came an unsettling cacophony, not a human voice.

But for some reason, the ghost story let out a loud scream and then immediately disappeared.

“…?”

As the bizarre entity vanished, people immediately looked at me.

‘The ghost story is gone, so snap out of it now.’

However, people were still just alternating glances between their surroundings and me, their eyes filled with fear.

Ah, don’t tell me?

The ghost story was gone, but my current appearance was perfectly suited for misunderstanding, so it was obvious that people thought they had encountered something else.

“I shouldn’t have come out at night… *Ugh*.”

“Aaaah, I… I was wrong… Please forgive me…”

“Scared, scared, scared… Mom…”

“D-dying… *Hiccup!* D-dying…!”

Hey, it hurts when you talk about someone like that.

No matter how broad-minded I am, like a true man, I still care a little, okay?

Who knew that a ghost story would suddenly appear in the convenience store I entered, turning it into a sea of tears?

The situation was so sudden that I couldn’t even control the black energy.

“……”

After staring blankly for a long time, I approached a female student who was sitting on the floor in front of me, endlessly shedding tears.

‘She looks like she’s in the worst state, will she be okay if I comfort her?’

The moment I bent down to meet her eyes, her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

“S-save me…! *Hiccup!*”

‘Seriously, I can’t do anything.’

I sighed inwardly and quietly reached out my hand to wipe away her tears.

“Ah…?”

The girl’s reaction, as if she couldn’t understand what was happening.

I have no intention of harming you.

I’m not even a ghost story; I’m a person, okay?

*Sigh*. Such is my fate.

Whatever I do will only cause misunderstandings, so I should just leave quickly.

“Be careful from now on.”

I gave a brief warning and quickly left the convenience store.

****

‘I shouldn’t have come to the convenience store. No, I shouldn’t have come out at night in the first place…’

Yeonwoo continuously regretted her actions internally.

Late at night. Due to exam stress, she craved something sweet, and the moment she stopped by the nearby convenience store in front of her house, ‘it’ stood before her eyes.

A woman with a grotesquely tall stature and a twisted face was staring intently at her.

On its distorted face, the eyes and mouth were askew, like a mannequin haphazardly assembled.

Its eyes were empty, like deep holes,

and its lips seemed forcibly torn, the corners of its mouth grotesquely stretched up to its ears.

It did not speak.

It did not even breathe.

It merely watched silently.

*Shudder—*

A chilling sensation permeated her spine.

As it slowly tilted its head, a horrifying reverberation spread.

*Kiiiiiik—*

It was like the sound of a breaking branch. An unpleasant grinding noise, as if bones were shattering.

Yeonwoo instinctively realized. She was no longer in reality.

She tried to turn around and leave immediately, but for some reason, the door wouldn’t open.

Her hands trembled, and her head felt dizzy. She couldn’t breathe.

“Huuugh…!”

Her heart pounded rapidly, and her mind felt like it was fragmenting.

Her legs lost all strength, forcing her to collapse onto the floor.

Only bitter tears continued to stream down.

“Ah… Ugh… Am… am I going to die…?”

She knew ghost stories had appeared in the world, but perhaps she had been lucky;

Yeonwoo, who had never experienced a ghost story before, felt immense pressure from the terror she was encountering for the first time.

‘I should have listened to Mom and Dad… I’m sorry…’

Just as she was about to give up everything and lose consciousness,

*Ding-a-ling.*

The convenience store door opened, and a man immediately entered.

He was enveloped in a jet-black aura.

An entity that clearly wasn’t human.

The ghost story, which had been grotesquely staring at people, slowly looked towards the door, and immediately after that,

*Kiiiaaaaaaaak—*

A terrible chill ran down her spine.

It unnaturally twisted its body, then let out a grotesque scream and vanished.

Yeonwoo couldn’t understand the situation.

‘The ghost story suddenly disappeared…?’

‘It saw this man and immediately screamed and vanished.’

Ghost stories do not fear humans. They are beings that hunt and violate humans.

Such a ghost story feared and ran away…?

She had heard that ghost stories also had danger ratings. That probably meant there was a difference in power among them.

‘If that’s the case, then this man…’

He was clearly ‘something’ even more dangerous.

As that thought registered, Yeonwoo began to fall into even greater despair.

Perhaps it was the backlash of her luck, having never been entangled with a ghost story until now. Misfortune, where not even a glimmer of hope was visible, was approaching all at once.

The trembling of her body didn’t stop.

An ominous black energy was slowly approaching her.

The black man was staring intently at her from very close by.

The man then bent down and met her eyes.

That entity had a human form, but his eyes, those eyes, were absolutely not human.

An abyss, as if one would be endlessly drawn into it, darkness itself, settled within his eyes.

“S-save me…! *Hiccup!*”

Thinking she was truly going to die now, she couldn’t even speak properly.

The man immediately raised his hand, seemingly to kill her.

But contrary to her expectation, that entity quietly wiped away her tears with its fingertips.

“Ah…?”

Yeonwoo felt an emotion she couldn’t comprehend. An entity that exuded black energy and utterly did not look human.

That entity was now,

‘…wiping away her tears?’

The entity shrouded in black energy then spoke in a low, quiet voice.

[Be careful from now on.]

And then, it turned around and leisurely vanished.

Everyone was dumbfounded and couldn’t help but be stunned.

Ghost stories that appeared without their rules being known always brought sacrifices. Thousands of people had died so far just to figure out a single rule.

But now, even though a ghost story had appeared, no one died, and no one was hurt.

Yeonwoo swallowed her tears and thought to herself.

‘A… kind… ghost story…?’

****

After the convenience store incident, I strangely encountered ghost stories frequently whenever I went out at night.

I don’t know why, but when ghost stories encountered me in my changed form, they would either run away or even disappear, so I unintentionally ended up saving the people inside as well,

and from some point on, I came to be called ‘Phantom’.

— A being that fights against ghost stories and can break them.

— Identity unknown. But not hostile to humans.

— His existence only appears at ‘night’.

“I’m not fighting them, nor am I trying to break them out of desire.”

But even to me, this form certainly didn’t look like an ordinary human, so I was now resigned to it.

Eventually, even the Ghost Story Countermeasure Headquarters and the guilds formed by awakened individuals to break ghost stories began searching for ‘Phantom’.

“It seems they’ve noticed that I can drive away ghost stories. The problem is… I don’t know if they see that as a good thing or a risk.”

No answer came even after deep thought, so I decided to stop thinking about it.

I came out of the bathroom, sprawled on the bed, and turned on the TV.

The news constantly blared about the damages and rules caused by ghost stories.

But today, I could hear unusually different news.

****

— “Because our daily lives have collapsed, we cannot simply let a day like today pass.”

— “The bell-ringing ceremony will proceed as normal. I am well aware of the public’s concerns. That when the sun sets and night falls, it is the time of ghost stories.”

— “But do not worry! With the help of the Ghost Story Countermeasure Headquarters agents and the awakened individuals of the guilds, we will show that no ghost story can even dare to approach this bell-ringing ceremony!”

— “We will let those damned ghost stories, those horrific monsters, know! ‘We are alive! We will not be defeated by the likes of you!’ ”

— “Powerful floodlights and illumination, along with elite personnel, will protect you, protect us! I, too, will participate alongside you there! Everyone, be brave and welcome the approaching New Year!!”

Today was December 31st. It was New Year’s Eve.

The news reported that the Bosingak New Year’s Eve ceremony, held annually, would proceed this year as well.

Someone might think it’s a foolish thing to do. I think so too, but.

It’s not that I don’t understand the desire to reclaim daily life, precisely because it has collapsed.

‘Of course, I won’t be going.’

My house is close to Bosingak anyway, so I can hear the bell ringing from my room.

And how can I go out looking like this?

If I went out, I’d clearly become ‘crispy roasted Phantom’ in a place swarming with elite agents.

“Well, I can’t go, but I hope the ceremony ends safely nonetheless.”

I really wanted to see the ghost stories unable to even approach, so I hoped the year-end would pass safely.

Surely nothing significant would happen, right?