Six months had passed since the day my appearance first changed.
“Thankfully, once the sun came up, I went back to normal.”
Thinking back to that day half a year ago still left me bewildered, but as time passed, I’d managed to sort out the changes in my body to some extent.
==========
1. When the sun sets and night falls, my appearance changes.
2. My appearance becomes black hair, snow-white skin, and pitch-black eyes.
3. A black mist or aura-like energy frequently forms around me → controllable.
4. When the sun rises and morning comes, I return to my ordinary appearance.
==========
“Still, it’s a relief that I can control the black energy enough to stop it from leaking out.”
If I couldn’t even do that, I’d seriously be guaranteed a life as a forced shut-in.
As long as the black energy wasn’t there, I at least looked human, so I could walk around at night too.
Though because of the ghost stories, people barely went out at night anymore.
Click.
“Phew, thank goodness I made it back in time.”
I came home and checked the time. 6:47 p.m.
Then, the moment the sun completely set and night fell.
Saaaaa—
I felt something inside my body slowly begin to change.
“Ha, I really can’t get used to this.”
It felt as if shards of ice were drifting through my blood vessels. My skin gradually grew cold, and my whole body stiffened with a chill.
Black hair spread like a wave.
It wasn’t that my original color disappeared, but an alien discoloration, as if ink were seeping through it.
My eyes were gradually dyed in a darkness of unfathomable depth.
It was different from ordinary black eyes; it felt as if pure darkness itself, like an endless abyss, had settled inside them.
“Haa…”
When I quietly exhaled, black energy faintly rose from me.
When I stretched out my hand, the shadows rippled as if they were living creatures.
“Phantom… huh.”
As if suddenly turning into a transforming robot wasn’t absurd enough, now I’d even picked up a nickname that sounded like a Pokémon.
The being now on everyone’s lips—Phantom.
People started calling me that a few months ago, because of the convenience store incident in front of my house.
* * *
Three months ago.
A ghost story occurred at the convenience store in front of my house, where I’d gone to buy a late-night snack after pulling my hat low and covering my face with a mask.
[The Watching Woman]
A ghost story that appeared only in specific places, did nothing physically, and merely stared silently.
Only watching.
A being that drove people into maddening terror with that one act alone.
Even in the novel, the Watching Woman had been a vicious one that didn’t reveal its rules.
Because of that, everyone trapped inside the convenience store had fallen into panic.
“H-Hic…! M-Mom…”
“A-Aah… What the hell is that…! What is it!!”
People sat collapsed on the floor, crying.
The clerk trembled while holding their breath, and countless hands pounded on the entrance, trying to escape.
But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get out of the convenience store.
[Rule: If you enter the Watching Woman’s field of vision, you can never escape.]
A vile rule that forced you to endure hours of fear until the ghost story was satisfied and disappeared.
Not knowing the convenience store was in that kind of shitty situation, I confidently walked right in.
“Tonight’s late-night snack is gonna be Yukgaejang cup noodles!”
Jingle.
The door opened, and the scene that unfolded before my eyes made me frown automatically.
‘Ah, fuck, you scared me!!’
When I saw people sprawled on the floor screaming, black energy burst out of me without my realizing it.
It wasn’t like I’d gotten startled and farted or anything. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more embarrassing it is.
‘What’s with these people? Why is everyone crying?’
When I raised my head to figure out what was going on.
Creeeeeeeeak—
In the distance, I saw a being unnaturally twisting its head with its form distorted.
‘Ugh, nightmare fuel.’
A strange woman making an unpleasant noise from her grotesque mouth.
The moment it made eye contact with me.
[Kyaaaaaaaaaaak—!!!]
It let out a piercing scream and vanished like smoke.
“…???”
What the fuck was that?
It looked scarier than me, so why did it run away after seeing my face?
Seriously, this is ridiculous.
‘Judging by how it looked, it was probably the “Watching Woman” ghost story…’
Ah, so that’s why everyone was sitting around crying.
Well, anyway, it’s gone now, so everyone should come to their senses, right?
That was what I thought, but.
“A-Aah…!”
“H-Hic…! Mom…”
The people were still looking back and forth between their surroundings and me with eyes full of fear.
‘Tsk… Wait, don’t tell me?’
Were they mistaking me for something ghost story-adjacent because of the black energy surrounding me?
“I shouldn’t have come out at night… nghhh.”
“Aaah, I-I’m sorry… Please forgive me…”
“I-I’m going to d-die… hic! D-die…!”
…Yeah, they were definitely mistaking me.
‘Haa…’
The situation had been so sudden that I couldn’t even rein in the black energy.
“……”
After standing there blankly for quite a while, I approached a female student sitting collapsed in front of me, endlessly shedding tears.
‘She looks like she’s in the worst state. Maybe she’ll calm down if I comfort her?’
Swoosh—
The moment I bent down to meet her eyes, her body began trembling violently.
“S-Save… me…! Hic!”
No, seriously, I can’t do anything.
It seemed like trying to explain with words was hopeless, so I just roughly wiped away her tears.
“Ah…?”
The girl reacted as if she couldn’t understand what was happening.
I’m not planning to hurt you.
I’m not even a ghost story in the first place. I’m human, okay?
‘Sigh. What is my life?’
No matter what I did, I’d only invite misunderstandings, so I figured I should just leave quickly.
“Be careful from now on.”
After giving that simple warning, I hurried out of 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…!’
Yeonu kept regretting her actions inwardly.
Late at night.
Because of the stress of exam prep, she had wanted something sweet, and it had been a mistake to stop by the nearby convenience store in front of her house.
Creeeeeeeeak—
“Hp…?!”
The moment she entered the convenience store, Yeonu made eye contact with a woman who was grotesquely tall and had a twisted face.
The woman’s face was like a mannequin whose eyes and mouth had been assembled all wrong.
Her eyes were empty like deep holes, and her lips, as though forcibly torn open, had the corners of her mouth raised grotesquely all the way to her ears.
[……]
It did not speak.
It did not even breathe.
It merely watched silently.
Prickle—
A cold sensation seeped down her spine.
As it slowly tilted its head, a chilling resonance spread out.
Creeeeeeeeak—
A sound like snapping branches. An unpleasant grinding noise, as if bones were being crushed.
“A-Aah…”
Yeonu instinctively realized it. She was no longer in reality.
She tried to turn around and leave immediately, but for some reason, the door would not open.
“Haa…! Hnh…!”
Her hands trembled, and her head spun. She couldn’t breathe properly.
Her heart pounded rapidly, and it felt as if her mind was shattering to pieces.
Her legs had no strength left, so she had no choice but to collapse onto the floor.
Only miserable tears continued flowing from Yeonu’s eyes.
“Ah… uah… Am I… am I going to die…?”
Yeonu, who had never experienced a ghost story before, felt an overwhelming pressure from the fear she was experiencing for the first time.
‘I should’ve listened to Mom and Dad… I’m sorry…’
Just as she gave up on everything and was about to lose consciousness.
Jingle.
The convenience store door opened, and a man slowly walked inside.
He was clad head to toe in a bizarre, pitch-black energy.
No matter how anyone looked at him, he was not human.
[……?]
The ghost story that had been grotesquely watching the people slowly looked toward the door, and immediately afterward.
[Kyaaaaaaaaaaak—!!!]
It twisted its body unnaturally, let out a grotesque scream, and soon vanished.
“Ah…?”
Yeonu couldn’t understand the situation.
‘The ghost story screamed and disappeared the moment it saw this man.’
Ghost stories did not fear humans. They were beings that hunted and trampled humans.
But that ghost story had feared the man with black energy and fled…?
She had heard that ghost stories had something like danger ranks. That probably meant there were differences in strength among them too.
‘Then this man is…’
He was definitely an even more dangerous “something.”
Tremble, tremble.
“Ah… Auaah…”
Once her thoughts reached that point, Yeonu began sinking into even greater despair.
Was this the backlash for the luck she’d had until now, never being caught up in a ghost story? A misfortune so great that she could not even see hope was approaching all at once.
【……】
The black man was staring intently at her from extremely close by.
Before long, he bent down and met her eyes.
That being had the shape of a human, but his eyes—those eyes were absolutely not human.
Like an abyss that seemed as if it would suck her in endlessly, darkness itself had settled inside them.
“S-Save me… hic!”
She thought she was really going to die now, so her voice would not come out properly.
‘Ah… Am I… am I going to die now…?’
As the girl prepared herself for death in her heart.
Swoosh—
Contrary to her expectations, the black man merely wiped away her tears quietly with his fingertips.
“Ah…?”
Yeonu felt an emotion she could not understand. A being emitting black energy, who could never be seen as human.
And that being, right now.
‘He’s wiping my tears…?’
After calmly wiping away the girl’s tears, the black man spoke in a low, quiet voice.
【Be careful from now on.】
Then he turned around and leisurely disappeared.
“W-What was that…?”
“A ghost story… just left with people right in front of it…?”
“H-Hey, student! Are you okay?!”
Everyone was dumbfounded.
When a ghost story appeared before its rule was known, it always came with a sacrifice.
Up until now, thousands of people had died just to uncover a single rule.
And yet.
Even though a ghost story had appeared, no one had died, and no one had been injured?
It was almost like a miracle.
Yeonu touched the corner of her eye where he had wiped her tears and thought of one possibility.
‘A… kind… ghost story…?’
* * *
After the convenience store incident, whenever I went out at night, I strangely ran into ghost stories often.
I didn’t know why, but when ghost stories faced me after my appearance had changed, they would run away, and sometimes even vanish completely.
Because of that, I ended up saving people unintentionally.
And people began calling me “Phantom.”
“What do you mean, Phantom? I’m not a Pokémon.”
==========
▪︎A being capable of facing ghost stories and breaking them.
▪︎His identity is unknown, but he is not hostile to humans.
▪︎He appears only at “night.”
==========
Information about me had spread in roughly that sort of way.
“I’m not facing them, and it’s not like I’m breaking them because I want to.”
But.
Even to me, my “night form” absolutely didn’t look like an ordinary human, so by now, I had somewhat resigned myself to it.
Eventually, by this point, the Ghost Story Countermeasures Headquarters, and even the guilds formed by Awakened people for the purpose of breaking ghost stories, had begun searching for the existence known as “Phantom.”
“It seems like they’ve noticed I can drive ghost stories away. The problem is… I can’t tell whether they see that as a good thing or consider me a risk factor.”
Even after thinking about it deeply, no answer came to mind, so I decided to stop thinking.
I sprawled out on my bed and opened the gallery I often visited.
The so-called “Ghost Story Gallery.”
It was mostly full of pointless shitposts, but sometimes there was useful information to find, so I often relied on it.
==========
[Title] My Guess on Phantom’s Identity
This is rational suspicion, but isn’t Phantom not a ghost story, just a crazy strong Awakened?
There’s no way something like a good ghost story exists, right?
[Comments]
ㄴStfu, he’s scary as hell the moment you see him, how is that human? He’s a ghost story
ㄴGhostbro, have you ever met Phantom?
ㄴNope, never!
ㄴWhat the fuck, are you insane?
ㄴAnyway, I want to become an Awakened too, anyone wanna go break a ghost story with me?
ㄴIf you wanna die, die by yourself lol
ㄴIt’d be sweet if you Awakened, but there’s a whole truckload of guys who died before that lol
ㄴHey, by the way, are you guys going to the year-end event today?
ㄴThey’re really doing the Bosingak event?
ㄴYeah, apparently they are? It was on the news too
ㄴThey say it’s okay at night if a lot of people gather… but it’s still damn unsettling lol
ㄴFr lol
==========
“They’re doing the Bosingak bell-ringing ceremony? Seriously?”
Today was December 31st.
Communities and news articles were loudly announcing that the Bosingak New Year’s event would be held.
You might think it was foolish in itself to hold an event during the time period when ghost stories swarmed.
But.
Because everyday life had collapsed, I could understand the hearts of people trying all the more to reclaim it.
‘Of course, I’m not going.’
My house was close to Bosingak in the first place, so I could hear the bell from my room too.
And how am I supposed to go out looking like this?
If I went out, I’d obviously become “crispy roasted Phantom” right there in a place packed with elite agents.
“Well, I can’t go, but I hope the event ends safely.”
Surely nothing will happen, right?