Bosingak, a landmark of Jongno-gu, Seoul Special City.
At present, preparations for the bell-ringing ceremony were in full swing here.
“Wow, there are so many people.”
“Mom! I guess today’s a day with nothing scary!”
“Looks like everyone’s gathered because it’s the end of the year.”
In the midst of a collapsed everyday life, people gathered one by one, hoping to reclaim the familiar time they once knew.
Lights and floodlights had been set up at regular intervals all along the streets, and the area around Bosingak was being tightly controlled by a large number of personnel.
And.
“Ha ha, more citizens came out than I expected. Don’t you think so, Master Dojin?”
“Director Seo, you can just call me by my name.”
Among those personnel were Seo Jihun, Director of the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters, and Han Dojin, Guild Master of the recently rising guild “Light of Dawn.”
“Ha ha, very well. By the way, Han Dojin, I heard you recruited the Awakened who unraveled a ‘Calamity-class urban legend’ in Japan this time. Is that true?”
“Yes. She’s my daughter, who was studying abroad in Japan. I heard she’d gotten caught up in an urban legend, but I never imagined she would actually unravel it.”
“Ha ha, the fellow who was kicking up a fuss saying he’d run all the way to Japan when he heard his daughter had been caught up in an urban legend is acting calm now, is he?”
“Director Seo, how long are you going to keep bringing that up?”
“For the next ten years… no, twenty, I’d say. Ha ha.”
Thump, thump!
Jihun laughed heartily and clapped Dojin on the back several times.
“…Even for me, it hurts when you hit me, Director.”
“I know, I know, you brat. Tsk, tsk. You used to be fun to tease, but ever since you became a guild master, there’s no flavor to it.”
Jihun clicked his tongue, clasping his hands behind his back.
Dojin asked the Director whether today’s event was truly going to be all right.
“Director, it’s a bit late to bring this up now, but… the bell-ringing ceremony… is it really going to be okay?”
As soon as Jihun heard Dojin’s words, he let out a deep sigh.
“I strongly opposed it. But those high and mighty gentlemen wouldn’t even pretend to listen, so what can I do…”
“…You’ve been through a lot in many ways.”
“Well, it’s already happened. What else can we do? We can only prepare as thoroughly as possible.”
Jihun slowly looked around.
Streets so bright it was hard to believe it was night. A city packed with an enormous crowd.
As the Director of the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters, it was a scene he had to protect from now on.
“It’s a foolish event, but I still hope it ends safely and shows people something called hope.”
“Honestly, with you here alone, Director, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
“Hahaha! Flattery won’t get you anything, you young punk!”
Thwack!
“…Please, I’m asking you, don’t hit me. If you hit me the wrong way, Director, even I could be in danger.”
“All right, all right. I’ll be over there, so you shouldn’t be too tense either.”
“Yes. I’ll see you again later.”
Jihun patted Dojin on the back a few more times before leaving.
“He really hasn’t changed.”
Watching his back with an indifferent gaze, Dojin sank into thought.
‘His hair’s completely white, but he’s still hale and hearty. No, that’s beyond simply being hale.’
Seo Jihun, Director of the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters.
Even before the world changed like this, he had been one of the strongest martial artists in the entire world.
After unraveling and awakening from the Destruction-class urban legend that had nearly driven the Republic of Korea to ruin, “The Giant That Devours the World,” he now possessed a strength that was completely inhuman.
The grades of urban legends confirmed so far numbered four in total.
==========
[Illusion-class]: The weakest stage.
—Small-scale urban legends that occur only in specific areas or situations.
—Because most involve psychological fear rather than physical attacks, they have the lowest danger level.
[Disaster-class]: The stage at which they become genuinely threatening.
—They can cause physical harm and can bring an entire building or street under their influence.
—The urban legend’s “rules” exist, and survival is only possible by figuring out those rules.
[Calamity-class]: Urban legends that can affect a city-scale area.
—From this stage onward, an urban legend can unfold its own territory, the Netherworld.
—The Netherworld (冥界) is an independent space governed by the laws of the urban legend.
[Destruction-class]: Urban legends classified as national disasters.
—They include an extremely wide range within their sphere of influence, and their mortality rate is exceedingly high.
—Unraveling the urban legend is nearly impossible. Escaping and surviving is the top priority.
==========
The stronger the urban legend, the more dangerous it was, but the power gained upon unraveling it was just as great.
So with Jihun here, who had eliminated the strongest confirmed urban legend, a Destruction-class, there should be no problems today either.
“Yes. Director Seo Jihun is here, so it’ll be fine.”
Thinking that, Dojin returned to his duties.
* * *
Around the time midnight was nearly upon them.
“Everyone! The new year is almost here! Are you all ready?”
The host on the platform took the microphone and began the event speech.
“I’m sure all of you remember. That terrible incident half a year ago. The day the sky split open and strange things burst out…! They must have thought we humans would collapse at any moment.”
When the host mentioned the “Day of Beginning,” faint sobs could be heard here and there.
“But everyone! We were not weak! Our everyday lives did not collapse! Everyone, I believe it. I believe that we will be victorious! I have no doubt that once these times pass, we will shine even more brilliantly!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“We’re alive!!!!”
As if resonating with the host’s cry, cheers erupted from every direction.
“Now, everyone! The new year is almost here! Let’s all shout together! Three!”
At the same time, the people began to shout in unison.
“Three!!!”
“Two!!!”
“One!!!”
Tung——!
The bell of Bosingak rang out, and the entire city was filled with a wave of cheers.
“Waaaaah!”
“Happy New Year!!”
Some embraced their lovers, while others set off fireworks and popped champagne.
Nothing would be able to disturb this moment of joy.
Everyone believed that.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
However.
Their insignificant belief shattered in an instant along with a bizarre sound.
Craaaaaack——!
A grotesque tearing noise that seemed to rip the eardrums apart.
“Ah, that startled me! Wh-what was that? Are they doing fireworks or something?”
“They should’ve told us in advance if there was an event like this.”
People merely thought it was a simple New Year’s event or the sound of fireworks.
But.
That thought did not last long either.
“Wh-what on earth is that…?”
Because no event existed where cracks appeared in empty air.
“…Over there, look over there!”
Someone raised a hand and pointed toward the sky above Bosingak.
There, a crack could be seen splitting the empty air, and from between the gaps in that crack, an alien black aura was pouring out.
Without realizing it, the people swallowed their breath and took a step back.
Tap—
Before long, with the sound of small footsteps from within the black rift, something slowly walked out.
“……”
Beautiful silver hair that seemed to have been woven from moonlight.
Golden eyes shining like brilliant gold.
A teenage girl wearing a black one-piece dress, standing barefoot.
“Where… are you…?”
The girl slowly looked around, her voice like that of a child searching after losing her mother.
“Wh-what is that?”
“Is it… an urban legend…?”
“There’s an urban legend that looks like such a pretty girl?”
She had certainly appeared along with a strange phenomenon, but the girl with golden eyes looked exactly like an ordinary human.
“Maybe she’s just a kid who got caught up in an anomaly?”
“Y-yeah? Come to think of it, I’ve heard that sort of thing happens sometimes.”
There had been occasional cases of people being found after barely returning alive from being caught up in anomalies.
So the citizens thought this must be one of those cases too.
No.
Perhaps… they simply wanted to think that.
Because they did not want to believe that a vicious urban legend had appeared at a happy New Year’s bell-ringing ceremony.
Step.
“H-hey there, little girl…? Are you okay?”
“Someone bring a blanket!”
Several citizens cautiously approached the girl.
They thought the girl before them was a pitiful child who had lost her mother because of an anomaly.
“Sweetheart, did you lose your mother?”
A middle-aged woman cautiously approached the girl and spoke to her, but.
“……”
The silver-haired girl merely looked up at the woman, showing no particular reaction.
Was she a child who had become unable to speak properly because of the trauma she had suffered from the anomaly?
“Hello, what’s your name? It looks like you lost your mom, so we’ll help you find her.”
“That’s right, sweetheart. Don’t worry and just tell us comfortably. We’ll help you.”
“……”
The girl slowly raised her head and looked up at the adults surrounding her.
After sweeping her clear golden eyes over her surroundings once, the girl parted her small lips.
“…I lost it.”
A voice rang out strangely, like an old music box.
“…So many.”
“What’s there so many of?”
“…Humans.”
The moment the girl uttered the word humans.
Thump—!
“……Ugh! M-my heart…!”
“Kgh…! Aaagh…!”
“Kahak…! Wh-what… is this?!”
The people surrounding her clutched their chests and began screaming in agony.
“Ah… Aaaaagh…!!!”
“M-my chest hurts…! My heart’s beating too fast…!”
“U-ugh…! Aaaaaaagh…!!!”
One person, then two.
People clutched the area around their hearts and collapsed as if in pain.
“So many… I can’t see……”
The silver-haired girl continued to murmur quietly to herself, looking around over and over.
It seemed as though the “something” the girl was searching for… could not be seen because of the countless crowds, and that displeased her.
“Where…… where are you……”
Just what.
Just what was the girl searching for so desperately?
Step……
Step……
“……”
The silver-haired girl took small steps, drawing gradually closer to the crowd.
Only then did the people realize that something was going terribly wrong.
“H-huaaaa…! An urban legend…! That child is definitely an urban legend!!”
“Kgh… E-every time that child gets closer, my heart… my heart feels like it’s going to burst…!”
“E-everyone, ruuuuuun!!!”
Dadadada!!
The crowd, belatedly coming to their senses, turned around and began to flee, one and all.
Thousands, tens of thousands of people fleeing in utter panic.
However, even as the crowds fled in chaos.
“……”
The girl, beautiful as moonlight, merely observed them in silence.
Amid that hellish scene where tens of thousands of people shoved and trampled one another as they fled, the girl lightly raised her right foot as though she were a child out for a stroll.
“……I have… to find it.”
And then, tap.
She very lightly stamped her foot toward the ground.
At that moment.
Swaaaaaaaaaah——!!
As if seismic waves were spreading outward, a dark and ominous black aura swept across the Jongno area in an instant.
A black-red aura twisted space itself, devouring the city and its people at an abnormal speed impossible for the eye to follow.
“Aaaagh…! Wh-what the hell is this…? What is it…!!”
“I-is this… the Netherworld…?”
“Kgh… Ugh…! I feel nauseous…! Something feels wrong……”
The Netherworld (冥界), a unique territory that only beings incomparably powerful and dangerous even among urban legends could possess.
“Th-this can’t be… G-God…”
“Lies… This is all a lie, right…?”
Within the territory that granted humans nothing but despair… the crowds saw it.
They saw it.
In the middle of the black-red, dark sky, an ominous and despairing sentence floating there.
『The Apocalypse-class urban legend “Collector” has awakened.』