Chapter 6: People and ghost stories are also being mistaken.

My mind went blank, and my head cleared.

I was definitely in my room, but when I opened my eyes… I was in a plaza?

Is this even a plausible situation?!

“……?”

Before my eyes, a blood-soaked plaza stretched out, and the air was thick with the metallic stench of blood.

Some people were slumped on the ground, trembling, while others stared blankly into space.

‘This crazy notification window. At least give me some explanation before sending me here!’

Everyone’s faces were filled with terror.

I knew instinctively. I was attracting an immense amount of attention here right now…!

‘What exactly am I supposed to do here, why did it send me?’

Just as my thoughts struggled to catch up with the situation,

“……Found you.”

A delicate girl’s voice reached my ears.

Slowly, I raised my head to look, and there she was:

Light silver hair and golden eyes that seemed to hold light.

A black dress and bare feet.

That Collector was looking at me…?

‘This is crazy. My heart is beating too fast!!’

Instinctively, I tried to back away, but perhaps due to the sudden situation, my body wouldn’t obey.

‘……I’m screwed. I’m really screwed!’

My mind raced frantically, as if it were overheating.

The Collector, I knew this entity. I knew her all too well.

She was one of the apocalypse-level urban legends from the novel, literally ‘The Collector’.

An urban legend who would collect anything she desired, regardless of location, transcending space.

And an existence that continuously sought something endlessly.

Her essence was ‘Greed’. An urban legend who absolutely had to possess whatever she wanted.

Anything the girl deemed desirable became her possession, and by no means, by no power,

could it ever be returned.

‘……And the urban legend I remembered because she wasn’t saved in the novel.’

The Collector slowly began to walk towards me.

Her steps were ever so slightly light, as if a child had found a favorite toy.

—Thump.

The girl’s small footsteps sounded loud, as if echoing throughout the entire plaza.

“……”

I swallowed hard, recalling what had just happened.

Even South Korea’s strongest warriors had been swept away by a single gesture from her,

and now such a girl had taken an interest in me…?

“……Ha.”

To think that this was the first time I was getting attention from a girl.

‘What am I supposed to do here, why did it send me?!’

The Collector approached, tilted her head slightly, and slowly blinked her eyes.

Her golden eyes gazed deeply into mine.

“……You, strange?”

Her voice was small and frail, yet it held an inexplicable, subtle depth.

It wasn’t spoken out of simple curiosity, but rather as if she had genuinely discovered something.

My lips began to dry out.

‘Please don’t look at me like that!’

The girl quietly raised her hand and began to extend it towards me.

“……!”

My heart pounded like crazy.

This is dangerous, truly dangerous!

The Collector stopped walking, her eyes narrowed as she gazed at me.

For a long time, she simply stood still.

Then her small lips slowly parted.

“……Familiar feeling.”

“…What?”

“……You.”

Suddenly.

—Whoosh.

My vision blurred as the girl’s figure vanished in an instant.

No, she hadn’t vanished; she had moved too fast for me to perceive.

“……!”

Before I could react, she was right in front of me.

Right before my eyes. Her small body was incredibly close, at a distance where her breath could reach me.

My instincts screamed intensely.

Run away immediately.

‘But how do you run from an apocalypse-level entity?’

The girl still gazed at me with her mysterious eyes.

Slowly, she raised her hand, as if to grab me.

In this moment, all I could do was curse the notification window.

‘If you’re going to send me to solve a story, at least give me some kind of ability!! What kind of game sends you with nothing! What kind of trash game doesn’t even have a beginner package!!’

So this is how I die.

Mom, Dad, I’m sorry… Oh, right, I don’t have parents.

Cursing the notification window internally, I braced myself to leave this world.

‘Ah, if I die, please, whoever finds my computer, don’t open it, just dispose of it!’

I felt the Collector’s small hand lightly grasp my collar.

‘Please, just make it quick and painless.’

Just as I was thinking, ‘I hope I’m reborn in another world in my next life…’,

the girl hugged me tightly.

“…???”

My mind instantly went blank.

What just happened?

That, that apocalypse-level urban legend hugged me?

All sorts of thoughts exploded at once.

‘What is this? What? What is this, seriously??’

A hug? For me? Suddenly??

What kind of reaction am I supposed to have when an apocalypse-level urban legend suddenly hugs me?

Is this some new, disturbing urban legend method of killing?

No, surely there’s no urban legend that kills with a hug, right?

‘…But was there such an urban legend, perhaps?’

Am I dying? Am I going to die?

Help me, damn it.

My mind was in complete chaos, but strangely, outwardly I was perfectly calm.

I just stood there, not even blinking.

I used to find it uncomfortable when my inner thoughts and outer demeanor were so disconnected, but today, it was actually helping.

‘Ah, right. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s best to stay still.’

She is an apocalypse-level urban legend.

If I show any strange reaction and trigger an instant-kill ability, it’ll be goodbye to my head and body.

I’d go from Yoon Sihyun to Yoon / Sihyun, just like that!

For now, let’s just accept this situation.

Maintaining a thoroughly composed expression, I subtly lowered my head.

“……Warm.”

The Collector buried her face in my embrace and murmured softly.

Her voice was somewhat slurred, gentle, yet strangely tinged with sadness.

“……I’ve waited, for a long, long time.”

The girl, still in my arms, tightly clutched my back with her small hands.

“……I’ve waited.”

“……?”

“……I’ve waited.”

Suddenly, the black aura enveloping my body dispersed and began to swirl around the girl.

She seemed to sense the aura, accepting it calmly as her body stirred slightly.

“……Now, I won’t let go.”

I realized instinctively.

This wasn’t mere curiosity.

The girl seemed to be longing for something.

And now, she had mistaken me for that object of longing.

‘First, let’s organize my thoughts.’

I’m just an ordinary person, so did she mistake me for someone else?

What if she realizes her mistake later?

Then my body would immediately be dismembered, collected piece by piece, and enshrined neatly in a display case.

No, that can’t happen!

If I’m going to die, I’d prefer to die comfortably!

But.

‘……Was there anything that wasn’t dangerous since I came here in the first place?’

Ever since urban legends became reality, danger had become commonplace.

To reclaim reality, I had to confront urban legends, but I was too scared and kept avoiding them…

‘Yes, it was something I had to face eventually anyway.’

Of course, I didn’t expect to dive into something with a nearly 100% chance of death right from the start.

‘First of all, I shouldn’t start with a lie……’

If I start our first encounter with a lie, there will definitely be repercussions later!

I swallowed a deep sigh and slowly opened my mouth.

“……I’m sorry, but.”

The girl slowly raised her head and stared intently at me.

“I might not be the entity you’re longing for.”

At those words, the Collector paused for a moment, but then simply tilted her head.

“……I don’t know.”

“…?”

“……But, you feel familiar.”

‘Huh…? No, I’m not the person you’re looking for.’

Her golden eyes gazed even more deeply into mine.

The girl slowly hugged me tightly again and whispered quietly.

“……So, for now, I’ll stay by your side.”

‘No, please let me go!’

****

People were unable to accept reality.

All hope had crumbled.

Even the Head of the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters and the powerful Guild Master were swept away with a single gesture.

The plaza was filled with nothing but the stench of blood and death.

‘We’re finished.’

With an apocalypse-level urban legend appearing, this plaza was a place of death from which there was no escape, no rescue.

As they despaired over reality and thought only of death, another entity appeared from the darkness.

—Rumble.

A black aura swirled towards the center of the plaza.

And at its heart stood an entity.

The darkness tore apart, and a man walked out from within the pitch-black shadows.

With fair skin and smoothly flowing black hair.

Deep, dark eyes that seemed to swallow light.

He stood there nobly and still.

Not long after, the small girl hugged him.

“……?”

‘What exactly is this situation?’

The urban legend in the form of a girl had never shown interest in any other entity until now.

She was simple.

She spoke as if she was searching for something, and anything else she would erase as if it had no value to exist.

And that girl now directly hugged the entity before her?

“……Could it be.”

Someone’s trembling voice.

“……Is that, the Phantom that appears whenever urban legends occur lately?”

The moment those words were uttered, people instinctively began to consider a possibility.

Just as people recognize other people, perhaps urban legends could recognize other urban legends?

If she had shown interest in that entity, then he might indeed be an entity like her.

And while no urban legend that had appeared until now had protected humans, the Phantom, far from harming humans, had instead saved countless people from urban legends.

In that case, could there be an urban legend who was uniquely benevolent towards humans?

The pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in people’s minds.

– Someone said they saw him fighting urban legends.

– Someone said they saw him driving away urban legends.

All this time, people had thought of him as a ‘new kind of urban legend’.

Simply an urban legend that didn’t harm humans.

But at this very moment, the Collector hugged him.

She seemed to welcome his presence.

That was definitive proof that he was no ordinary urban legend.

‘At least on par with an apocalypse-level urban legend, and the only entity who protects humans.’

People slowly observed his appearance.

His gaze was serene and calm, as if holding an abyss within.

Even the black aura around him flowed as if paying homage to him.

As if he were an entity who commanded darkness.

“An entity with such a noble aura couldn’t possibly be an ordinary urban legend.”

“If so, then truly…?”

“Perhaps he might save us.”

People’s deductions gradually turned into certainty.

****

And amidst all this,

I was having a massive internal meltdown.

‘What? What did they just say?’

An apocalypse-level urban legend like her?

The only entity who protects humans??

‘No, are you crazy, why am I apocalypse-level?!’

I’m really human, not an urban legend!

But when I slowly looked around, the faces of the people I saw were filled with conviction and a certain expectation.

‘…It seems like they wouldn’t believe me even if I said something.’

Outwardly, I might appear noble and composed,

but inside, I’m burning up, you guys!

This situation seems familiar from somewhere… Ah, that’s it.

It’s you, big bro! You came to save me!

‘No, I got caught too, damn it.’