The next morning.
The city greeted the sun as it always did.
Only yesterday, this place had been the site of a disaster where an Apocalypse-class urban legend had appeared. Countless people had died, and even more had fallen into despair.
But the world had not yet collapsed.
Sunlight poured through shattered windows, and footsteps continued along streets where gray dust had settled.
Despair ran deep, and yet life went on.
Everyone was trying, somehow, to survive, adapt, and return to their everyday lives.
“......Did you see it?”
“Of course I saw it. That was insane, wasn’t it?”
“An Apocalypse-class urban legend, the Collector. And Phantom too.”
“......What the hell is Phantom, anyway?”
From the morning on, the city was filled with talk of Phantom.
The news covered the “Bosingak Urban Legend Terror” day after day, while media outlets shouted about “the worst urban legend appearance in history.”
The Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters was scheduled to hold an emergency briefing.
Everyone’s attention was fixed on a single being.
The being who had appeared before countless people last night and subdued an Apocalypse-class urban legend.
Phantom.
Or else “something” on the same level as an Apocalypse-class urban legend.
==========
[Breaking News] Bosingak Terror, Apocalypse-Class Urban Legend “Collector” Appears... Heavy Casualties
[Special Feature] The Shocking Being, Phantom. Who Is He?
[Controversy] A New Apocalypse-Class Urban Legend? Or a Being Who Stops Urban Legends?
==========
The internet and the news were all competing to report on the Bosingak incident.
“......Did a fight break out between urban legends or something?”
“No, but here’s the weird part. Did you hear what Phantom said at the end?”
“......Wasn’t it, ‘I am not your enemy’?”
“Yeah. That’s the real problem.”
People came up with countless theories.
‘A clash between Apocalypse-class urban legends.’
‘Could there have been infighting among the urban legends?’
‘Maybe Phantom is an urban legend that protects humans.’
But no one could be certain.
Because they knew absolutely nothing about Phantom.
* * *
At that time, at the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters.
“......Let’s hear everyone’s opinions.”
High-ranking officials and key agents were seated in the central conference room, reviewing the materials.
Photographs and reports of Phantom were densely laid out across the table.
The being standing in the middle of the plaza, wreathed in black energy. The Apocalypse-class urban legend, the Collector, embracing him.
Even the scene of him raising his hand and telling the girl, “Stop.”
“......No matter how you look at it, isn’t it strange?”
“Anyone would have no choice but to see this as another urban legend.”
“But there isn’t just one or two things that are strange.”
“First, when the Apocalypse-class urban legend tried to show murderous intent toward humans, Phantom stopped her with a single word.”
“And then there were the words he left at the end.”
【I am not your enemy.】
The meaning carried by that one sentence was far too great.
“......Does an urban legend need to say something like that?”
“If it really is an urban legend, then there would be no reason for it to say such a thing.”
“Then are you saying it isn’t an urban legend?”
“The problem is that we don’t know.”
A strange silence fell over the conference room. The atmosphere made it difficult for anyone to speak easily.
Then, Director Seo Jihun of the Countermeasures Headquarters quietly opened his mouth.
“......What’s certain is that Phantom is not human. He didn’t even flinch under that tremendous pressure. If he were human, that would be impossible.”
The moment his words fell, the air in the conference room grew even heavier.
“That thing is definitely a being similar to an urban legend.”
“......Or perhaps a third kind of being, neither urban legend nor human.”
He quietly looked at the photograph.
“......Phantom.”
‘Just what are you?’
It was a question no one could easily answer.
But one thing was clear: they had to find out “what” he was.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a small studio apartment in Seoul, one man was suffering.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Who else would it be? Yoon Sihyeon, that’s me!
“Seriously, are you kidding me? What the hell is this?!”
I spent the whole night combing through the news and the internet. The things I’d done at Bosingak. Every single word I’d left behind for people.
And how people were seeing me.
I went to sleep and woke up as the protagonist of the world?
‘Even a novel would get flamed if it had a title like that!’
“......”
A scene lodged in my mind resurfaced.
The Collector. What that small, young girl had said as she hugged me tightly.
— “......I waited.”
— “I won’t lose you again.”
And how, because of those words, the world had ended up seeing me as some strange being.
“......Ah.”
No matter how I thought about it, this really couldn’t be taken back.
Lying sprawled on my bed, I stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.
“Notification window......”
『Please end the story of the Apocalypse-class urban legend.』
I’d shouted for it countless times after returning home last night, but it remained in that state and gave no response.
You drove me into a death trap and now you’re just ignoring me?!
You’re seriously pretending not to know anything all of a sudden?!
“What am I supposed to do now?”
My head was a mess. No, “a mess” wasn’t enough.
This was just complete and utter chaos.
I slowly closed my eyes, opened them again, and let out a deep sigh.
Then, sensing a distinct gaze from somewhere, I looked toward the corner of the room.
There was another being there besides me.
“......”
I slowly turned my head and faced the girl there.
Sitting quietly on the floor a little distance away, staring silently at me, was the Collector.
Her golden eyes were still sparkling, and with her small hands placed on her knees, the girl simply waited.
As if it were only natural for her to be here.
“......Um, how long have you been there?”
The girl tilted her little head and answered briefly.
“......The whole time.”
“...?”
‘The whole time?’
Then does that mean she saw me shrieking and having a mental breakdown by myself in bed all night and up until now?!
My face instantly burned,
but that’s not what’s important right now!
“No, no. How did you follow me all the way here?”
The Collector was quiet for a moment, then slowly moved her lips.
“......I followed.”
“?”
“......Together.”
“Haa.”
Let’s review what happened yesterday.
The Collector probably came along when I moved through space with that shadow-like thing.
‘Damn notification window. What am I supposed to do if you bring her along too?’
Then the whole point of me disappearing from there was meaningless!
‘......Talk about starting the New Year with a bang.’
I had no choice but to clutch the back of my neck. How was I supposed to take this situation?
“......So, what exactly are you?”
The girl quietly met my eyes.
“......Collector.”
A short and firm answer.
“No, I know that much.”
“Why are you clinging to me like this? I said this yesterday too, but I’m not the person you miss.”
Only then did the Collector blink.
Then,
“......I don’t know. But. I miss you. You’re familiar.”
She simply repeated the same words as yesterday.
“......”
I was at a loss for words at the girl’s answer. It was exactly what she had said at Bosingak yesterday.
Back then, I’d been too mentally shattered to think about it deeply, but hearing it again now, it felt different somehow.
‘Familiar......?’
Her voice was as if she were saying, “It was supposed to be this way from the beginning, and it always had been.”
“...Me?”
“Yes.”
“...Why?”
The Collector tilted her head slightly and murmured briefly in a tone that made it sound like an obvious fact.
“......I don’t know. That’s why. I have to be beside you.”
“Beside me?”
The girl nodded quietly.
“I lost it.”
“What did you lose?”
“......Something precious.”
Was it just my imagination that my head hurt more every time I heard an answer?
‘Ah, please. I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
The girl was still calm. If anything, her face was filled with even more certainty.
It was clear that there was something she was sure of.
But more than that, I really couldn’t understand what she meant by “something precious.”
“......Are you saying I’m something precious?”
“Yes. Probably.”
“No, what the hell does that—”
—Growl.
“Huh...?”
“......”
A brief silence.
What was that? Where did that sound come from?
The girl lowered her head slightly and placed a hand on her stomach.
“......Hungry.”
“You’re hungry?”
“......Food.”
Urban legends get hungry too?
Whatever. I don’t know anymore. I’m not thinking about it.
Questions or whatever can wait. I need to feed her first.
“Fine, let’s eat first.”
I got up and headed for the kitchen.
The girl remained seated quietly, naturally following me with her gaze.
Seeing that made a very deep sigh escape me on its own.
This entire situation made absolutely no sense.
My ordinary daily life had collapsed half a year ago, but still, there had to be a limit!
And now I was making breakfast while an Apocalypse-class urban legend told me I was something precious to her?
‘I’m really going to lose it.’
I ran a hand through my hair for a moment and thought of the ultimate source of all this trouble.
‘Notification window, just you wait. I’ll get you back for this someday.’
As I secretly dreamed of revenge, a sudden question occurred to me.
Come to think of it, what am I supposed to call her?
Collector?
Even so, calling her “Hey, Collector” feels kind of wrong, doesn’t it? Isn’t there something... like a name?
“...Hey.”
The Collector quietly raised her head and stared straight at me.
“What’s your name?”
The girl hesitated for a moment, then,
“......Collector.”
She answered in a small voice.
“No, not that.”
“......?”
“I mean your name. Don’t you have one?”
At that, the Collector only quietly shook her head.
“Name... don’t know.”
“......?”
This is seriously ridiculous.
‘She... doesn’t know her name?’
I looked at the girl in front of me once again.
This small urban legend was one of the most powerful urban legends in the world. A being who carried the terrifying title of Apocalypse-class.
And that being was now simply looking up at me with sparkling eyes.
“......”
The Collector’s name had never appeared in the novel either. In the first place, the author had ended the novel before her backstory came out.
‘Maybe giving her a name is the way to save her... Maybe. Well, nothing to lose by trying.’
The girl still sat there quietly.
Clear, calm golden eyes.
Her pale silver hair lightly swayed as she simply looked up at me obediently.
A soft color, somehow like moonlight.
Then, suddenly, strange memories began to surface in my head.
==========
『Your name is really pretty. It suits your silver hair.』
「Do you think I resemble the moon too?」
『No, the moon resembles you. Because you’re so pretty, haha!』
「Hmph, you always know just what to say......」
『It’s true, though. Lu—』
==========
A single word that had surfaced in my mind slipped from my mouth without my realizing it.
“......Luna.”
I muttered it without thinking. The name of someone from the unfamiliar scene that had suddenly come to mind.
Was it my imagination that, the moment I said that name, one side of my chest tingled strangely?
‘What is this memory? Whose memory is it......?’
The unfamiliar scenes that had surfaced in my head disappeared like a mirage.
Had the notification window done something again? I couldn’t understand why memories like that had suddenly appeared.
‘Could it be something like the Collector’s backstory?’
Thinking that, I looked at the Collector, and she was staring at me with both eyes wide and round.
“......”
Her small lips moved slowly, as if in surprise.
“Luna...?”
The girl mumbled with her little lips, then once again recited it in her own voice.
“......Luna.”
Again and again.
“Luna......”
The girl repeated it as if confirming her own name.
For some reason, the sight gave me a strange feeling. Why did it seem as if that name had always belonged to her...?
That thought lasted only a moment.
Poof.
“Whoa!?”
Luna suddenly threw her small body at me and hugged me.
The distance between us vanished in an instant. Her small arms wrapped tightly around my waist.
It was an action so natural, so utterly matter-of-fact.
‘Don’t lunge at me without saying anything!’
No matter how pretty she looks on the outside, she’s still an urban legend. Honestly, it’s scary.
“...Hey, wait.”
I was flustered by the sudden situation, but Luna still kept her face buried against me and whispered softly.
“......I like it.”
A quiet voice. But the word was filled with feeling.
“......Luna, I like it.”
They were incredibly simple words, but they seemed to contain countless emotions.
Her small hands held tightly onto my back.
The moment she obtained a name, it felt as if the girl had unmistakably drawn closer to me.
I could see Luna’s silver hair as she lowered her head slightly.
The small warmth I felt at my waist was so light and fragile that I couldn’t bring myself to forcefully push her away.
She was firmly clutching the hem of my clothes with her little hands.
As if she would never lose me again.
As if she had been waiting for this name for a very long time.
Somehow, that sight didn’t make her look like just an urban legend.
She definitely possessed the name of the most powerful calamity among urban legends, and yet why did she feel like an ordinary girl right now?
I couldn’t bring myself to shake off Luna’s hands, so I had no choice but to stand still.
‘Wait, if she likes it this much, then maybe?’
With a glimmer of hope, I looked at the notification window, but—
『Please end the story of the Apocalypse-class urban legend.』
『Stories resolved: 0』
Yeah, of course. There was no way it would be that easy.
“......Seriously, how am I supposed to live now?”
Even if I agonized over it more at this point, it was obvious there wouldn’t be any clever solution.
Then what am I supposed to do?
Accept it, what else?
Day 1 of living together with an Apocalypse-class urban legend begins.