The fake had said that since it was just a replica, it wouldn’t have an ego—but honestly, the original wasn’t all that different either.
Even after killing hundreds, thousands of people, his expression never changed. Not even when he was stabbed by a blade. Whether killing others or getting stabbed himself, he never showed a flicker of emotion.
Before the regression, that version of the Catastrophe had been utterly terrifying. To him, killing a human was probably no different from a person killing a bug.
Like a person crushing an ant, with a single gesture of his hand, I and my family were all dead.
The dream flashed through my mind again. As if waiting for that mont, the deep fear I had barely shaken off started to creep up from my legs and engulf .
“Fuck.”
Gritting my teeth, I bit down hard on my tongue. The tang of blood and sharp pain spread in my mouth.
Only then did my mind start to clear. Forcing myself to focus, I swallowed the blood and called up the status window. The familiar interface appeared in front of the Catastrophe.
Please... let get at least so information from the replica. Desperately hoping, I looked over the window that appeared before .
User Information: None (Villain)
Age: ???
Main Skill: Living Shadow (Unable to asure)
Title: The Eternal Nightmare
Attack Power: Unable to asure
Attack Speed: Unable to asure
Movent Speed: Unable to asure
Agility: Unable to asure
Special Status ▼
└ Seed of Catastrophe (100% Progress Complete) (100% Synchronization Complete)
Each line of text in the status window pierced into my chest like a blade. I blinked dumbly and let out a scoff.
“...Ha.”
Unable to asure?
This wasn’t what I wanted. At the very least... even if I couldn’t understand it, I wanted it to show a clear ranking.
Grinding my teeth, I glared at the status window. Even if it didn’t et my expectations, I had to scrape out every last bit of information I could. I might never get another chance to face this replica again.
‘At the very least, it must be above L-rank.’
L-rank and “unable to asure.” So is “unable to asure” what cos after L-rank, or is there another tier entirely?
‘Usually EX-rank cos after L. So the order might go L, EX, then “unable to asure.”’
When Cha Sahyeon was first abducted, the Seed progress was 35%. By the ti we t again, it had reached 62%—an increase of 27%.
And just that was enough to push him into L-rank, strong enough that even regular people could feel the pressure he gave off. So... if 38% remained until it hit 100%, it was likely the rank would rise again before the end.
‘Just speculation, but still...’
I hadn’t expected a vague tier like “unable to asure” to actually exist.
This damned system always hits over the head just when I think I understand sothing, reminding that reality is a cesspool.
Sighing, I looked over the rest of the status window. The fact that the na was listed as “None” instead of “Sahyeon” was odd, but what really caught my eye was the title.
“...The title changed.”
Now that I thought about it, not just Cha Sahyeon—other protagonists whose status windows I’ve seen had those titles too.
I, of course, don’t have one. Makes sense. I’m just a supporting character, after all.
‘Sunghyun’s title was pretty cool.’
Ryu Sunghyun’s was The Radiant Sun, which made sense given his skill. Kwon Taehyuk was The Righteous, which was more about his personality than his powers.
Eun Woojeong was The Spider King, which felt more like a position than a title. All three titles had different anings. As for Cha Sahyeon...
‘If I rember right, his title used to be The Master of Shadows. But this replica says The Eternal Nightmare. So the title must change when the Seed reaches 100%.’
With a bitter smile, I muttered:
“Even the old title was grim, but becoming a fully awakened Catastrophe makes it worse. The Eternal Nightmare, seriously...”
It was such a drastic difference from the three main characters the system had chosen. Was this discrimination? Punishing him just for being the villain?
The more I realized that titles in the status window held aning, the more bitter I felt.
Of course, that doesn’t an Cha Sahyeon is blaless.
He deserved to be called a villain. He’s soone I feared and hated, and far too many people have died by his hands. No one can easily pass judgnt on that.
But now I know that Cha Sahyeon was a manufactured existence. He didn’t beco the Eternal Nightmare by his own choice.
So isn’t it unfair for him to carry all that guilt alone? If soone has to pay, then Cha Sahyeon and those who made him should pay equally.
‘Ideally, we’d never repeat that hell again.’
Putting my thoughts aside, I stood up.
Planting strength in my legs still trembling with fear, I raised my head—and saw the replica standing there with the sa expressionless, doll-like face.
The system wouldn’t give more information, so I decided to inspect the replica’s body instead. Even if it didn’t replicate the full pressure of the real Catastrophe, the body should be the sa.
When I pulled back the tattered robe fluttering in the wind, a black shirt ca into view—also torn and ragged in several places.
“...What the...”
As I examined the replica’s body, I froze in shock.
The shirt was damp and reeked of blood. At first I thought it was soone else’s blood—but then I saw a deep gash in the shoulder. The flesh had been torn by a sharp weapon, and the bleeding had soaked into the cloth.
Not just the shoulder—there were wounds all over the body. And even more scars.
‘There’s no sign of treatnt.’
The wounds had healed horribly, ssily. So scars were so grueso they made grimace. What the hell kind of weapon had caused these?
If they’d been treated properly, those kinds of scars wouldn’t remain. I looked up at the replica’s face again.
His long black hair was unmanaged, clearly grown out without care.
Trimming your hair. Healing your wounds. Wearing clean clothes.
These are things a child should learn from adults. Things you can’t receive without love or care. Things you might never learn in a lifeti.
This, too, was different from the current Cha Sahyeon.
He once went to a salon with to get his hair cut. He knows how to wear the clean clothes I bought him. He rembered how I nursed him back to health—and mimicked it when he treated in return.
The one standing before was a replica of the Cha Sahyeon who never t . That realization stirred sothing complicated deep inside.
A ruined world, roaring flas, choking smoke, and sparks flying in the wind. The Catastrophe standing in it all should terrify —and yet, strangely, that fear was gradually fading.
Maybe it was because I’d never seen the Catastrophe from «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» this close before. Even as a replica, staring at the sa face blurred the line between them.
Looking closely, the replica's face felt more mature than the last ti I saw Cha Sahyeon. He was taller now, his physique solid—like a massive wall of muscle.
‘Even when we reunited, Cha Sahyeon had grown so much it was disorienting—but he hadn’t finished growing yet.’
This replica must be what Cha Sahyeon would’ve looked like as an adult.
If only he could have grown up like a normal person, without the Seed of Catastrophe devouring him...
It was at that mont—when I was lost in those impossible thoughts—that it happened.
Cha Sahyeon, who had been blankly staring into space, suddenly twitched. I caught the subtle flicker of his eyelids.
‘What was that?’
He wasn’t supposed to have an ego, but I guess movent was still possible?
Before I could finish the thought, a heavy pressure gripped my arm. Shocked, I looked down—only to find a large hand, covered in blood and scars, wrapped tightly around my forearm.
“Wh-what...”
I tried to shake him off, but my arm didn’t budge an inch.
Sothing was wrong. I felt it instinctively. Goosebumps crawled over my skin, and the forgotten fear surged back into .
I struggled to pull free from the grip—when suddenly:
Tap.
Cold fingers brushed my cheek.
I reflexively looked up at the feather-light touch. And then—I t those vivid green eyes head-on.
“......”
“......”
The once-cloudy pupils now held a strange light. The replica of Cha Sahyeon, staring at with slow, deliberate blinks, finally opened his mouth to speak.
Huff!
“......!”
But before he could say anything, sothing yanked back—as if soone had grabbed from behind.
The sensations on my arm and cheek turned to smoke and vanished. My body tilted backward uncontrollably as the ruins and the replica receded rapidly into the distance.
Like falling off a cliff, the world slipped away, and the replica was swallowed by pitch-black darkness.
My consciousness cut out completely.
***
Fweeeee...
A high-pitched ringing buzzed in my ears, like a tight string snapping.
Cha Sahyeon pulled back the hood of his black robe and looked up at the sky.
‘That shadow wasn’t from here. It connected briefly—then vanished.’
It hadn’t even lasted a second. A fleeting instant. But in that mont, the shadow had given him plenty of information.
A shadow not placed by him had appeared sowhere—and through it, he had learned things he didn’t want to know. Yet a soft smile ford on his lips.
“As expected.”
Beneath the black hair fluttering in the wind, a green earring shimred.
“You really can’t sit still, can you... Hyung.”
With a trace of amusent, Cha Sahyeon reached out and gave the air a light stir.
A massive pitch-black spear appeared in midair. One beca two. Two beca ten. Ten beca a hundred. Hundreds of spears filled the sky.
‘Well... that’s part of your charm.’
He’d told him he’d be back soon—and yet, not even a day, not even an hour had passed before he made his move.
That restlessness was very much like Cha Seohu. But his concern ca from another place—Cha Seohu’s body was still injured.
With a subtle gesture of his hand, the hundreds of spears rained down all at once. The ground trembled with a thunderous boom as sand exploded into the air.
BOOOOM!
The shadow spears stabbed into the earth like teors, and as the ground shook like an earthquake, sothing massive burst out of the sand.
GRAAAAAAGH!
RUMBLEEEE!
SHHHHHHHH—
A flood of sand poured down as the monster, hiding beneath the desert, finally revealed itself.
A serpent that had failed to beco a dragon. An S-rank monster, excellent at masking its presence and lying in wait.
Through the cascading sand, its serpentine head erged. Its enormous, vertically-slit pupils were a murky green.
Hissss—
Having identified what woke it from slumber, the snake flicked its tongue and let out a nacing sound. Watching calmly from below, Cha Sahyeon raised a hand.
A black bird flew into the sky.
And with it, a new shadow ford—a giant scythe.
Cha Sahyeon rested the scythe on his shoulder and murmured:
“Let’s finish this quickly and go.”
Screeeech.
The bird soared over the serpent’s head with a piercing cry.
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