Chapter 5: Why am i here?

People couldn’t believe the reality before their eyes.

[Cataclysm-grade]

Since the grades of urban legends were established, a ‘Cataclysm-grade’ had never once appeared.

There was nothing as primal as the fear born from ignorance.

“……It’s a lie.”

Just a few seconds ago, cheers had erupted.

But now, only silence swallowed the plaza.

“What… what exactly is a Cataclysm-grade…? Did something like that even exist?”

A being that had never once appeared.

Among the urban legends that had appeared so far, the most powerful was the Ruin-grade.

They had thought there was nothing beyond that, but now, ‘above’ that, was right before them.

“Are we all going to die…?”

The moment someone’s despairing words fell, everyone held their breath and realized.

The girl before them now was something that transcended ‘them’.

“That can’t be.”

From afar, a low, resolute voice resonated.

—Kwoooong!

The plaza trembled as two shadows instantly shot out, dividing the girl and the crowd.

Seo Jihun, Head of the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters, and Han Dojin, Guild Master of Dawn’s Light.

The strongest warriors Korea had ever produced stood face to face with the Cataclysm-grade urban legend.

Jihun clenched his fists, ready for battle.

“Guild Master, are you ready?”

“Of course.”

As soon as those words fell, both of them shouted simultaneously.

“Netherization.”

Netherization [冥化]: It was the act of humans using the ‘power of stories’ obtained by deciphering urban legends.

—Kugugu.

An immense aura exploded from their bodies, and a powerful shockwave swept through the plaza.

A giant’s form swirled around Jihun, and an invisible force enveloped him.

From Dojin’s body, intense flames erupted, as if to incinerate everything.

“…”

The girl was looking at them.

It was not a gaze of wariness or interest, but simply one of observation.

Jihun and Dojin did not hesitate at all, even in the face of the girl’s demeanor.

At this moment, hesitation meant death.

“Here we go!”

—Kwaaaaaang!

As Jihun’s leg kicked off the ground, the asphalt shattered as if exploding.

The giant’s form enveloped his fist, shaking the air.

Simultaneously, the ground cracked, and a shockwave rattled the entire plaza.

Street trees and vehicles were swept up in the direction of his fist, bouncing into the air.

“Can you dodge this, kid?”

Jihun spat out forcefully and brought his fist down directly towards the girl’s front.

That attack possessed destructive power capable of obliterating the very spot where the girl stood.

However.

“……What?”

It didn’t connect.

Even though the girl hadn’t moved a single step from her spot.

Only her emotionless golden eyes were looking at him.

It was neither a simple defense nor an evasion.

‘It was an absolute law, as if saying, ‘Nothing beyond this is permitted.’

Jihun’s attack wasn’t even allowed to cross that line.

At that moment,

—Hwaruruk!

Intense flames erupted from behind Jihun.

Dojin kicked off the ground, leaped into the sky, and extended his arms.

Furnace-like flames burst forth from his entire body.

The flames filling the plaza created the illusion that the sun was close by.

The moment Dojin’s hands crossed, the fire swirled like a tornado, completely engulfing the girl.

—Kwaaaaaang!

With a tremendous roar, the entire plaza was engulfed in a red light.

“Now! Everyone, run as far away as possible!”

At Dojin’s cry, everyone began to flee in disarray.

Immense heat swallowed the plaza.

People couldn’t even breathe, and the plaza was turning into a red hell.

His flames, incinerating everything.

The blaze roared as if to completely burn the girl to ashes.

Yet, within the flames that seemed to devour everything,

“…”

The girl simply stood still.

Not a single strand of her hair was burned, nor did she move a fingertip.

“…Insane.”

The moment Dojin’s face was painted with shock, the girl reacted for the first time.

“Interference…”

The girl merely spoke softly and raised her hand, and space gradually began to distort.

It felt as if space itself had a will and was responding to the girl.

That was no mere power.

It was a phenomenon where the very density of space was warping.

Jihun and Dojin instinctively tried to resist, but,

—Kwaaang!

In a fleeting moment, the two were flung dozens of meters away.

“……!”

People were speechless.

The two individuals, hailed as Korea’s strongest, had been helplessly thrown aside by a single word from a small girl.

What they felt was simply an overwhelming disparity.

“……Ah, aaah……”

Everyone’s legs gave out, rendering them unable to move.

“It’s over……”

“Now…… it’s all over……”

Resignation.

Despair.

Negative emotions swallowed the entire plaza.

The girl slowly raised her head.

Now it was her turn to act directly.

But then, an anomalous aura erupted from the center of the plaza, and ‘it’ appeared.

“……?”

The girl’s golden eyes subtly wavered.

A black aura swirled in the middle of the plaza.

The darkness ripped apart as if torn, and swirling black mist spread out.

Everyone stared blankly at the scene.

A man’s silhouette slowly emerged from within it.

Black hair fluttered in the darkness, and jet-black eyes held light.

People couldn’t help but hold their breath at the appearance of the strange being.

Then, a low, deep resonance flowed out, parting the darkness.

[The Collector.]

The darkness seemed to follow him, undulating like a living creature and covering the entire plaza in shadow.

The girl’s golden eyes subtly contracted.

For the first time, she showed an expression of genuine interest.

“……Found you.”

****

A quiet room.

On the television screen, the shouts of people echoed.

– “Everyone! The New Year is almost here! Are you all ready?”

– “Alright! It’s been half a year since urban legends shook the world! But we are still alive!”

I lay in bed, indifferently watching the screen.

“…Amazing.”

To push ahead with the Bosingak bell-ringing ceremony, which they did every year, even in this situation.

I understood.

People wanted to reclaim their daily lives.

Because they longed for the ordinary days before the urban legends appeared.

“But I’m not going.

No, I couldn’t go in the first place.”

I pulled the blanket over me and sighed.

First, because it was night.

Because there would be a lot of people in the plaza.

And most importantly, because I looked like a mess right now!

I knew my own condition well.

When night fell, my appearance was no longer that of a normal human.

The sensation of darkness spreading and my skin growing cold.

The fact that my very existence turned into something resembling an urban legend.

‘Let’s not go out in front of people unnecessarily and cause misunderstandings.’

‘I was already a shut-in loner anyway, so it’s just gotten a bit more forced, right? Hahaha.’

“I shouldn’t rationalize things like this.”

The moment I pulled the blanket over my head and was about to take a sip of beer,

—Tong.

The bell of Bosingak rang.

The screen on the television was filled with cheers.

Fireworks exploded, and people embraced each other.

“Listening to the bell ring alone again this year, I’m breaking my own record every year.”

But something was strange.

The camera was clearly showing the plaza, but the screen momentarily shook.

“……?”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt—

A bizarre sound began to be heard, and the plaza’s lights went out one by one.

“What is that?”

A small silhouette was descending in the darkness.

Light silver hair and golden eyes holding light.

A girl with pale skin, barefoot, dressed in a black one-piece dress.

– “Where… are you?”

Hearing that voice sent shivers down my spine.

“Wait, is that… the Collector?”

“She’s one of the most powerful urban legends in the novel, so why are you showing up here?”

“No way, right? I must have seen wrong?”

However, as if to shatter that hope, the Netherworld [冥界] immediately unfolded.

“No, this is seriously absurd.”

The Netherworld, which spread from Bosingak, was seeping into my room.

How wide was the Netherworld, anyway?

—Shuuuuu.

Black mist slowly invaded the room from outside the television screen.

My mind truly went blank.

“Why is it like this right at the start of the New Year!”

I reached out to open the window, but,

—Thud.

It wouldn’t open.

I tried to open the door too, but,

—Kiiiik.

The doorknob wouldn’t turn.

“Just as I feared, after all……”

It meant that any place the Netherworld’s boundary passed through would be completely trapped within the urban legend’s laws.

“…I’m screwed.”

My fingertips grew cold, and my chest pounded.

I couldn’t escape, nor was there any way out.

‘Am I really doomed?’

The moment I thought that, the television screen changed again.

The Head of the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters and a guild master.

The greatest warriors Korea boasted.

The two appeared and blocked the girl.

—Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!

On the television screen, immense flames and shockwaves swirled.

‘Oh, ho… perhaps?!’

They were strong.

Maybe they could actually win.

However, the girl didn’t move an inch.

The attacks didn’t even reach her; everything simply vanished in mid-air.

Soon, she merely raised her hand, and the situation was instantly resolved.

—Kwaaaang!!!

“……!”

The two were flung dozens of meters away.

“Perhaps what… sigh.”

It wasn’t even a fight.

It felt like watching a child playing with ants.

The Cataclysm-grade was the strongest level of urban legend.

Even in the novel, there was no way to decipher it; it was a natural disaster itself, something one could only pray would pass.

But such an urban legend had appeared in reality now?

“To die a virgin in the end, how unfair, how unfair!”

—Ding.

“……Huh?”

A familiar notification sound, as if heard somewhere before, rang out, and a notification window appeared before my eyes.

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

[Stories Resolved: 0]

“……What?”

“Wait, wait, what is this talking about?”

“No, more importantly, what is this?!”

“It’s not even a status window, so why is something like this suddenly appearing before my eyes?!”

The notification window continued its explanation, as if my will was completely irrelevant.

[Cataclysm-grade urban legends are girls who harbor sin within their bodies. Only by ending their stories, which are the reason for humanity’s demise, can your world return to its former peaceful state. Please save them.]

“…So you’re telling me to decipher a Cataclysm-grade that even in the novel couldn’t be dealt with…?”

[Yes.]

“Wait a minute, is this real-time communication?”

[No.]

“…Yes, it is!!!”

[…Anyway, please, Sihyun! I’ve always been watching you.]

“What happens if I say I won’t do it?”

It was a notification window stubbornly insisting it wasn’t real-time communication, but it couldn’t possibly refuse to answer this!

[I believe you already know, even if I don’t answer.]

“It would destroy the world, just like its name suggests…”

Urban legends were stories created by beings who had fallen into unreasonableness, ultimately unable to endure, and thus deteriorated.

Because they couldn’t end their own stories and repeated them infinitely, they continued to encroach upon their surroundings.

But what if one couldn’t end the story of a Cataclysm-grade urban legend…?

“Haa… it means I have to do it no matter what.”

As I was wondering what kind of situation this suddenly was, a black aura swirled beneath my feet.

“Huh……?”

Black mist slowly began to envelop my body.

“…Wait, no, what is this?”

[Please, Sihyun. The Collector… please save her.]

“No, no, wait!! Just wait a minute!!”

I instinctively struggled, but the black aura enveloped me with an irresistible force.

[I’m sorry. But there’s no time. I believe you can definitely do it.]

—Whish.

The moment my body floated up, a crushing sensation, as if being sucked into an abyss, enveloped my entire body.

“Hey! You bas—……!”

My sense of direction vanished, and an unpleasant feeling as if reality and illusion were mixing.

Something was forcibly pulling my body.

“……!”

When I came to my senses, I was standing in the middle of the plaza.

Numerous people were looking at me, and all of them had despairing faces.

‘This is… Bosingak Plaza?’

‘I thought I was being swallowed by black energy, but now I’ve been moved here?’

My mind couldn’t keep up with what had just happened.

‘No way… did it send me here because there was no time? And right in front of the Collector??’

‘This crazy notification window, seriously!!’

As I was cursing the notification window inwardly, the small girl with silver hair was quietly, and slowly, turning her head towards where I stood.

Soon, her golden eyes recognized me.

The corners of the girl’s lips subtly turned up.

“……Found you.”

It felt as if my heart had plummeted.

‘Ah, I feel like I’m going to throw up.’