Chapter 13: Deeper obsession

“Still, it’s peaceful during the day.”

On the way home.

The streets still maintained their tranquil daily routine, but my mind was filled with complex thoughts.

‘It’s only been two days since the new year, and so many things have already happened.’

I feel like I’ve overcome death’s door at least twenty more times.

No matter how I think about it, I didn’t do anything wrong!

“My only crime was cherishing my small novel!”

If I hadn’t cooed over it, it would have stopped serialization saying, ‘Oh, I’m going to die!’

I went in and checked on it every time!

I even sponsored it, though only occasionally!

Even though it was rushed to completion, I left comments saying, ‘Good job!’

Dammit, I did everything!

So why do I have to suffer like this?!

“Sigh. Who am I even complaining to?”

Give me back my daily life of ending the day peacefully and falling asleep reading web novels.

‘The notification window just threw a beginner’s package at me and then went silent.’

If I had known this would happen, I would have downloaded the novel already!

My small novel became reality, and I searched for the novel on the serialization site, but I couldn’t find it.

“It vanished very cleanly, as if it was never there in the first place.”

Even so, I couldn’t just do nothing and wait.

[Please end the story of the Calamity-grade urban legend.]

It was a 100% forced quest, but it was much better than having no goal at all.

First, I needed to learn more about Luna, the first Calamity-grade urban legend I met.

“But asking if they remember their past is suicidal.”

Urban legends don’t remember why they became urban legends.

They don’t want to recall their own stories, which have devolved into horrific incidents.

“If someone showed me my own embarrassing past, I’d probably do the same.”

Still, there was one alternative.

My appearance changes when night falls.

Luna showed a stronger attachment to me when I transformed into ‘Phantom’.

“In that state, I should be able to find out a bit more, right?”

Before I knew it, I looked at the sky and saw the sun slowly setting.

“Let’s go home first. It would be a disaster if my appearance changed outside.”

****

Upon arriving home, my appearance gradually began to change.

A dark aura began to envelop my hair, which had been dark brown just moments ago.

Pure white skin, jet-black hair imbued with darkness, and eyes of unfathomable depth.

“After changing like this for over half a year, I’ve gotten used to it somehow.”

My other self, who occupies half of my day.

At first, I thought it was a visual that suited lines like, ‘Kukuku, the Black Flame Dragon in my right hand…’

“Now, it feels a bit like ‘Yoon Sihyun Darkened Ver.,’ and I even think it looks cool?”

At that moment, I felt a golden gaze quietly watching me from a corner of the room.

“……Sihyun.”

A small voice.

The girl’s hesitant tone carried an unknown emotion.

‘Is this form familiar to Luna, after all?’

Luna slowly approached and cautiously extended her small hand.

“What’s wrong, Luna?”

Her golden eyes looked up at me without a word.

That gaze trembled deeply, as if searching for something.

“……Still warm.”

“What is?”

“……Sihyun is warm.”

The girl mumbled once more.

I felt her small fingertips grip my clothes a little tighter.

“I… I wondered if you wouldn’t… come back……”

“I promised, didn’t I?

That I’d come back.”

“……”

“Luna?”

For some reason, the atmosphere felt different from this morning.

“If I hold you like this…… you won’t disappear.”

‘I won’t run away if I just stay here, so please let go of this.’

She looks delicate, but why is her grip so strong?

“Luna. I’m not disappearing, so please let g—”

“……I don’t know.”

Luna’s voice seemed to waver.

“……What are you?”

“…?”

“……What is Sihyun?”

‘I’m just a harmless man who likes web novels and anime.’

“…It feels nostalgic.”

The girl’s voice grew softer and softer.

“But… I don’t know Sihyun……”

“Luna, just calm d—”

But her murmuring didn’t stop.

“Why… do I want to have it……?”

With those words, the air began to tremble.

The temperature in the room instantly felt colder.

Something unknown was distorting the space.

“……Why?

Why…?”

‘Ah, wait, this development couldn’t possibly be… no, right?’

However, Luna’s eyes were slowly, very slowly, darkening.

“I want to have it.”

With a brief silence, a dark crimson aura slowly rose from the girl’s fingertips.

“……You.”

An invisible pressure began to weigh down the space.

Greed.

Calamity-grade urban legend.

Luna’s true nature, the aura of Sin, was unconsciously manifesting.

‘I’m screwed, aren’t I?’

I thought today would pass safely, but I guess it was as expected.

‘Please, Luna, can’t we just get through one day without incident?!’

I really feel like I’m going to die from a nervous breakdown at this rate!

This atmosphere is definitely taking a strange turn.

If her greed fully manifests, this room itself could become a ‘space where only what Luna desires remains’.

‘I could turn into a small, precious figurine!’

This time, it could really be a display case ending.

But on the surface, I had to act as calm as possible.

Because if I showed any agitation, I didn’t know how Luna, who was already in an unstable state, would react.

Turning your back and running away in front of a wild animal is what only a novice would do!

‘Anyway, in this form, my words sometimes come out as I think them, but my expression never breaks, so it should be fine.’

“Luna.”

Luna, who had been emitting a dark crimson aura, slowly raised her head.

“Si……hyun……?”

Luna’s golden eyes, slightly unfocused.

‘If she doesn’t stop right now, I’m going to be royally screwed.’

But what should I say to calm Luna down?

Every second was critical, but I couldn’t think of the exact right words.

‘What’s wrong with my vocabulary, seriously?’

My vocabulary, after devouring so many web novels, shouldn’t be like this?!

But no matter how hard I tried to recall, I could only remember what I had said to Luna that morning.

Oh, whatever, I don’t care.

I’m going to die if I just stand here anyway!

“Luna, wait.”

“……?”

“You learned it this morning, didn’t you?

Do you remember?”

‘Please say you remember!’

A scene faintly surfaced in the girl’s memory.

“—”Waiting is something you’re doing for the first time, isn’t it?”

“—And I’m Luna’s, right?

I won’t disappear without a word.”

As the events of the morning came to mind, Luna’s eyes began to regain their focus.

The dark crimson aura slowly began to subside.

“……Wait?”

“Yes.

Luna can wait well, can’t she?”

I carefully reached out and gently stroked the back of Luna’s hand.

Luna’s fingertips were still trembling slightly.

“……If I wait, can I have it…?”

That question held a very dangerous meaning.

But I didn’t answer.

I just held her hand very gently.

‘If I answered rashly, who knows what kind of trouble I’d be in later!’

****

[Ding! Welcome to the Urban Legend Dating Sim!]

[What is your answer to Luna’s question?]

[1) Then you can have it! → Luna’s small and precious Sihyun figurine complete.]

[2) No, you can’t have it. → I’ll probably die this way too.]

****

This is a shitty game where all routes lead to bad endings!

The name ‘Urban Legend Dating Sim’ was wrong from the start!

‘Anyway, if all routes lead to ruin, I’ll choose option 3, which isn’t on the list.’

3) Remain silent. → Don’t know what will happen?

You created a new option!

What will the result be?

‘Please, please!

Anything is fine, just don’t give me a bad ending!’

At that moment, the dark crimson aura gradually faded, and the pressure that had been weighing down the space completely vanished.

“……I’ll wait, Sihyun…”

Those words sounded like a promise that she would definitely obtain me someday.

‘Thank goodness… seems like I avoided a bad ending?’

I barely got through it, but every moment feels like walking on thin ice, seriously.

But for now, this much was a relief.

Luna stared intently at me, then brought my hand to her cheek.

‘Luna’s cheek is quite soft.’

The girl slowly closed her eyes, as if feeling the warm body heat.

“Sihyun… warm.”

‘I understand now.

Luna’s actions aren’t simply due to longing.’

It goes beyond longing, attachment, or simply liking someone—

Greed.

Possession.

An obsession that will never let go.

‘Just who was that person she mistook me for, that she’s acting like this?’

Normalizing this misunderstanding is seriously urgent!

It’ll probably be resolved someday, but until then, my future of continuous suffering is crystal clear.

“Luna.

Shall we go to sleep now?”

I think I’ve used my brain too much trying to think about this and that.

‘Let’s just sleep for now.

Then tomorrow’s me will solve it, haha!’

Luna gently snuggled into my arms.

“……Mhm.

Sihyun.”

The girl tightly gripped my clothes with her small hand, as if she would never let go.

‘Now that I think about it, this is the first time we’ve slept together; nothing unusual will happen, right?’

****

As night deepened, a quiet darkness enveloped the room.

Moonlight seeping in from outside streamed down the windowsill.

Bathed in that moonlight, a small shadow subtly stirred.

“……”

Golden eyes slowly opened.

Pupils that seemed to hold light, yet were of unfathomable depth.

Luna quietly sat up.

Her gaze traced the side of the bed.

Sihyun.

Disheveled black hair.

Pure white skin.

A chest rising and falling rhythmically.

Everything was within arm’s reach.

“……”

The girl slowly extended her small hand and approached him.

Her fingertips brushed past Sihyun’s cheek.

A warm and soft sensation.

‘……Sihyun is warm.’

‘But…… I am cold.’

What exactly is this sensation?

“……Sihyun.”

His name, called out like a whisper.

But the girl didn’t know what this name she was calling truly meant.

What exactly was it that drew her in like this?

“……It’s strange.”

A subtly twisting sensation in her chest.

A feeling of longing that she didn’t quite understand.

But an emotion that defied comprehension.

“……I don’t know.”

The girl bit her lip slightly.

“……I don’t know you.”

Fresh blood dripped from her bitten lip, staining him.

It felt as if a part of the girl was spreading onto Sihyun.

Her own red flower, encroaching upon his body and dyeing it.

“……But.”

“……Why?”

She quietly clutched his clothes with her fingertips.

Unbeknownst to herself, her body very slowly moved closer to him.

Closer.

Deeper.

The girl leaned towards Sihyun.

“……Why do I want to have you?”

A question she asked herself, but she couldn’t find the answer.

Whether this emotion was ‘Greed,’ or ‘something deeper.’

“……I can’t understand.”

But one thing was certain—

“……I want to have you.”

Luna very slowly looked down at Sihyun’s face.

The girl’s fingertips touched his forehead.

Lightly.

Very lightly.

Her crimson lips hovered, almost touching his forehead—

But.

“……”

The girl stopped, moving no closer.

“—”Wait, Luna.”

A fragment of memory momentarily held her back.

His words, telling her to wait, temporarily halted the girl’s greed.

“……Good night, Sihyun…”

She whispered very quietly, gripped his clothes tightly again, and slowly closed her eyes.

Urban legends were originally beings beyond human, non-human existences who felt no hunger and needed no sleep.

But for some reason, ever since Luna met Sihyun, she had started to feel hunger and drowsiness.

“It’s a strange sensation……”

In the darkness, the small and dangerous Calamity quietly drifted into dreams.

****

Morning, with warm sunlight streaming in through the window.

“Seriously, it’s killing me to go to work after being unemployed for half a year.”

The events of yesterday came to mind.

The contract, office placement, and the addition of a clause for leaving work.

And—

“……Luna.”

As I slowly turned my head, a small, light body came into view.

Faint silver hair.

Even breaths.

“She’s so pretty when she’s sleeping quietly like this.”

Luna was sound asleep, using my arm as a pillow, as if it were the most natural thing.

‘Urban legends sleep too, huh?

I didn’t know that.’

The girl’s sleeping face was peaceful, an expression as if she knew nothing.

‘I thought all urban legends looked horrifying, but Luna is clearly a beautiful girl just by looking at her.’

Her small fingertips were still gripping my clothes tightly.

As if a child were trying not to lose something precious.

“Surely, she won’t cause a fuss again just because I let go of this… right?”

I tried to apply a little force, but Luna’s hand didn’t easily let go.

‘I need to go to work, so please let go of this!’

At that moment, a small mumble could be heard.

“……No.”

Without having time to move, Luna pressed her body even closer.

“Sihyun……”

A small hand burrowed into my embrace, mumbling in her sleep.

“……Mine……”

‘This is seriously bad.’

Clinging on even when completely asleep is a bit much, isn’t it?

“Luna.

I promise I’ll be back soon today too.”

As I stroked the girl’s silver hair, the grip on my clothes gradually weakened.

‘For some reason, Luna seems to like being stroked?’

After carefully freeing my hand, I slowly got up.

“From now on, I’ll have to rush straight home as soon as I clock out.”

Even if she learned ‘waiting,’ Luna is a Calamity-grade urban legend; leaving her alone could lead to big trouble.

‘I still have a loan, so I absolutely can’t let the house get destroyed.’

“I’ll always rush back right after I’m done, so you have to be good, Luna.”

I whispered softly and closed the door.

At that moment, the girl’s eyelids trembled slightly, and her gripping fingertips slowly unfurled.

The Calamity lying on the bed looked much more at ease.

Because he said he would go and come back.

Because he promised to return.

To her side.