【Japanese Horror】The Hundred Horror Tales — Episode 42: The Broadcast at 4:59 | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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Episode 42 – “The Broadcast at 4:59| Haunted Kaidan Tales” (Full Text)
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Episode 42 The Broadcast at 4:59
The thin white smoke
rose slowly toward the ceiling.
No one spoke right away.
For some reason,
everyone kept their eyes
on the spot where the candle had gone out.
Aoi gave a small shrug.
“…You know,” she said.
“There are a lot of stories like that, right?”
“Like, if you turn around, it’s over.”
Shūji let out a quiet laugh.
“Yeah.”
“Like, if you see it, it’s over…
or if it calls your name.”
“Those kinds of stories.”
Aoi nodded.
“I hate the ones where it calls your name the most.”
“I feel like I’d definitely turn around.”
Miwa gave a wry smile.
“And that’s exactly when it happens.”
Sōma had been staring
at the faint trace of the extinguished candle.
Then, after a moment,
he spoke quietly.
“Speaking of names…”
Shūji glanced at him.
“Hm?”
“There’s this strange urban legend I came across.”
Shūji smirked.
“Another one from the internet?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Sōma shrugged.
“But it’s actually pretty well known.”
“It’s about a radio.”
Aoi tilted her head.
“A radio?”
“Yeah.”
Sōma continued.
“At exactly 4:59 in the morning—”
“right at that time—”
“a radio broadcast is said to start, out of nowhere.”
“But the thing is,”
“It’s not listed anywhere.”
“Not in the newspaper radio schedules,
not anywhere.”
“No one even knows the frequency.”
Miwa frowned slightly.
“Then… what station is it?”
“No idea.”
Sōma shook his head.
“Honestly,
it’s not even clear if it’s a normal radio at all.”
Shūji folded his arms.
“What the hell is that supposed to be?”
Sōma went on.
“The broadcast only lasts one minute.”
“It starts at 4:59,
and ends exactly at 5:00.”
“In that one minute…”
“He reads out several full names.”
Aoi leaned forward slightly.
“Whose names?”
Sōma answered.
“The names of people who have died.”
The room fell just a little quieter.
Sōma continued.
“And at the very end—”
He spoke softly.
“‘Do your best today, too.’”
“That’s all it says.”
“And then the broadcast ends.”
Exactly at five.
Abruptly.
Sōma gave a small shrug.
“Well…”
“It’s just an urban legend I saw online.”
Sōma gave a small shrug.
“Well…”
“It’s just an urban legend I saw online.”
Shūji let out a quiet snort.
“There are tons of those.”
“Cursed videos,
phones that kill you—”
“Most of it’s just made up.”
Aoi nodded.
“Yeah, true.”
“A radio one sounds even more fake.”
Miwa added,
“More importantly—”
“4:59?”
“Isn’t that kind of an odd time?”
“Wouldn’t five o’clock make more sense?”
Sōma gave a faint smile.
“Yeah.”
“That’s what I thought too at first.”
“I figured it was just another made-up story.”
“There are all kinds of urban legends online.”
“I thought this was just one of them.”
Shūji nodded.
“Exactly.”
“And it’s a radio, right?”
“Hardly anyone even listens to those anymore.”
Sōma nodded.
“Right.”
“And that’s exactly what makes it strange.”
Aoi tilted her head.
“What do you mean?”
Sōma said,
“This story—”
“There are almost no actual accounts of anyone who’s heard it.”
Shūji frowned.
“What do you mean by that?”
Sōma explained.
“Usually, with urban legends…”
“You get stories like,
‘a friend of a friend heard it,’”
“or ‘someone actually experienced it.’”
“Those kinds of accounts pop up somewhere.”
“Even online—”
“on forums or message boards—”
“you’d expect at least one post like,
‘I heard it yesterday,’”
“or ‘it was terrifying.’”
Aoi nodded.
“Yeah… that makes sense.”
Sōma continued.
“But with this radio—”
“there’s almost nothing like that.”
“Just the description of the legend itself.”
“That it starts at 4:59,”
“that it reads out full names,”
“that the names belong to people who die—”
“It’s all just… setup.”
“But no actual stories from people who’ve heard it.”
Miwa said,
“Doesn’t that just mean
it’s fake?”
“Yeah.”
Sōma nodded without hesitation.
“That’s what I thought.”
“So I didn’t really pay attention to it.”
“I just figured it was another internet horror story.”
Shūji laughed.
“Exactly.”
“If something like that really existed,
it’d be a huge deal by now.”
“Someone would’ve recorded it for sure.”
Aoi laughed too.
“Totally.”
“It’d be all over YouTube.”
Sōma shook his head slightly.
“But still…”
“There’s one part of the story—”
“one rumor—”
“That’s a little strange.”
Aoi leaned forward.
“What kind?”
Sōma said,
“This radio—”
“apparently not everyone can hear it.”
Shūji scoffed.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Sōma continued.
“The rumor says…”
“only the people whose names are read—”
“are able to hear the broadcast.”
For a moment,
the air seemed to freeze.
Aoi blinked.
“…What?”
Sōma went on calmly.
“In other words—”
“if you’re hearing it…”
“that means…”
“your name is in there somewhere.”
Shūji let out a dry laugh.
“Come on.”
“That’s just another made-up detail.”
“You can’t even verify something like that.”
Sōma nodded.
“Exactly.”
“That’s the point.”
“If that rumor were true…”
he paused slightly.
“then anyone who hears it…”
“dies that same day.”
No one spoke.
Sōma continued quietly.
“That’s why—”
“there are no actual accounts left behind.”
Aoi whispered,
“…Oh.”
Sōma gave a small shrug.
“Well…”
“It’s just part of the story.”
“That’s why I thought it was fake too.”
He glanced at the place
where the candle had gone out.
Then, almost as an afterthought, he said—
“But…”
“there was one time…”
“I heard something that sounded a lot like it.”
Sōma lowered his gaze slightly.
“This is about a friend’s father.”
“He had been hospitalized for a while.”
“Quite a long time, actually.”
Miwa asked,
“Was it serious?”
“Well…”
“From what I heard,
it wasn’t looking good.”
Sōma said.
“But then—”
“at one point,
his condition stabilized.”
Aoi spoke up.
“He was discharged?”
“Yeah.”
Sōma nodded.
“He went back home.”
“He wasn’t fully recovered,
but well enough to stay at home for the time being.”
Shūji said,
“So he was living pretty normally?”
“Yeah.”
Sōma replied.
“My friend felt relieved.”
“He thought his dad would be okay for a while.”
Sōma paused briefly.
“And then…”
“One morning—”
“his dad said something strange.”
Aoi leaned forward.
“The radio?”
“Yeah.”
Sōma said quietly.
“Early in the morning…”
“He said he heard a strange radio broadcast.”
Shūji frowned.
“A radio?”
Sōma continued.
“It was a man’s voice.”
“Flat. No emotion.”
“He said it was just… reading names.”
“One after another.”
Miwa asked softly,
“Names…?”
“Full names.”
Sōma answered.
“First and last.”
“Clearly.”
Aoi said,
“And then?”
Sōma went on.
“My friend thought—at first—”
“maybe he was just half asleep.”
“It was early morning, after all.”
“Maybe a dream,
or the TV in the background…”
“Something like that.”
Shūji nodded.
“Yeah, that’d be my guess too.”
Sōma said,
“But his dad…”
“apparently said it very seriously.”
“He said—”
Sōma paused for a moment.
“He heard several names.”
Then—
“‘It could’ve just been someone with the same name…’”
Another pause.
“‘…but I think I heard mine, too.’”
Aoi took a small breath.
“…What?”
Sōma continued.
“And at the end—”
he said quietly—
“‘Do your best today, too.’”
“That’s all.”
“And then it ended.”
Aoi murmured,
“…That’s the same as the legend.”
Sōma nodded.
“Yeah.”
“My friend said
it gave him a bad feeling.”
“But…”
Sōma gave a small shrug.
“At the time,
everything seemed normal.”
“His complexion was fine.”
“He was talking normally.”
“He was eating, too.”
Miwa said,
“Then maybe it was just a dream?”
“Probably.”
Sōma answered plainly.
“That’s what my friend thought too.”
“So they didn’t think much of it.”
“That was the end of it.”
Sōma glanced
at the candle flame.
Then he continued quietly.
“But…”
he paused slightly.
“That same day—”
Sōma said,
“around noon…”
“…he passed away.”
Sōma watched the flickering candle for a moment.
Then he gave a small shrug.
“Well…”
“It’s probably just a coincidence.”
Shūji said,
“Yeah, I’d think so.”
“He was sick, right?”
Sōma nodded.
“Yeah.”
“That’s what my friend said too.”
“He figured it was just chance.”
Aoi said,
“But still…”
“You hear stories like that, don’t you?”
“People saying strange things
right before they die.”
Miwa nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Like suddenly reaching out
to old friends…”
“Or wanting to visit
places they used to go.”
Sōma said,
“Exactly.”
“Stuff like that.”
He paused for a moment.
“They say that before someone dies…”
“they sometimes do things
they normally wouldn’t.”
Shūji nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”
Sōma continued,
his eyes still on the candle.
“So maybe…”
“just maybe…”
“that radio has something to do with that.”
Aoi tilted her head.
“What do you mean?”
Sōma thought for a moment.
“Like…”
“right before a person dies…”
“maybe something changes
in their body.”
“Something unusual.”
“Electrical signals, maybe…”
“brain waves…”
“I don’t really know.”
Shūji laughed.
“What are you talking about?”
Sōma smiled faintly.
“Yeah, I know. It sounds weird.”
“But…”
Sōma went on.
“If…”
“right before death…”
“people start giving off
some kind of strange frequency…”
“then maybe…”
“that radio…”
“is just picking it up.”
Aoi whispered,
“…That’s creepy.”
Sōma gave another small shrug.
“Well…”
“It’s all just speculation.”
“We don’t even know
if that kind of radio exists.”
He let out a quiet breath.
“And besides…”
“there aren’t even any real accounts
of people actually hearing it.”
Sōma stared at the candle flame for a while.
No one spoke right away.
It felt like the story from before
still lingered in the room.
Aoi spoke softly.
“…That person…”
“He died later that day, right?”
Sōma nodded.
“That’s what I heard.”
Shūji shrugged.
“Well…”
“He was sick, wasn’t he?”
“Probably just a coincidence.”
Sōma gave a faint smile.
“Probably.”
A brief silence followed.
The candle flame flickered quietly.
Sōma kept his eyes on it as he spoke.
“But…”
“My friend said something at the end.”
Aoi looked up.
“What?”
Sōma shrugged slightly.
“If…”
“that radio really exists…”
He paused.
“then the moment you hear it…”
“…that’s the end.”
No one replied.
Sōma slowly reached toward the candle.
He took a small breath.
—fuh.
The flame trembled once—
then quietly went out.
A thin trail of white smoke
rose slowly toward the ceiling.
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The Hundred Horror Tales is an original Japanese horror anthology inspired by the tradition of Hyaku Monogatari.
Five storytellers gather around flickering candles to share chilling tales—urban legends, ghost stories, folklore, daily fears, and real encounters.
Can you endure until the last flame goes out?
Follow for more:
• Twitter: @KaidanTales
• YouTube: @HK_Tales
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