In my previous life, I was locked up in this facility for three whole months.
With an F-rank body, I hadn’t been able to escape—not when I was kidnapped, not when they experimented on me.
They usually drained the captives of their blood and forced them to use their powers until they were completely spent.
Because I had the ability to restore others’ stamina through physical contact, they’d often drag me out of my cell to help recover the strength of others who had collapsed from testing.
The Central Lab was the worst of them all.
But the day I was dragged to the Central Lab... that was different.
I still remembered it clearly.
The guards had stormed into my cell without warning, restrained me, and hauled me into the Central Lab.
Unable to resist, I was injected with some unknown drug from a syringe while bound, gagged, and blindfolded.
After that, all I could feel was agony.
Like I was being burned alive—scorching heat, like I was being dissected with knives from the inside out.
I couldn’t even scream. All I could do was endure that hellish pain for an entire day. Over ten times across those three months.
And that kind of thing only ever happened in the Central Lab. Meaning, the villain implanted with the Seed of Catastrophe I was supposed to find now...
No. Stop. Now’s not the time for that.
So what if the Catastrophe was being subjected to the same torture I’d gone through?
Don’t forget—no matter how pitiful he might seem, as long as the Seed of Catastrophe is inside him, he’s my most dangerous enemy.
Reinforcing my resolve, I made my way up to Basement Level 1, where the Central Lab was located.
As expected, this area was also eerily quiet—probably because all the guards had rushed off to Sector A. Following the signs, I walked in the direction of the lab until I sensed someone approaching from the far end of the corridor.
I pressed my back against the wall at a bend in the hallway. Moments later, a man came into view.
Crack!
“Guh—!”
As he passed by, I struck the side of his neck with a knifehand. He choked out a breath and crumpled to the floor.
“Hm?”
Only then did I notice the man’s outfit—he wasn’t a guard. He was a researcher.
Looks like I got lucky and caught someone heading to the lab. I looked down at the unconscious man, his face pale and slack, and started patting down his pockets.
“Found it.”
What I pulled from his lab coat was a keycard.
To enter the Central Lab, you needed a research staff’s personal keycard. Guards had keycards too, but access levels varied by rank. High-security areas like this one weren’t so easily accessible.
Can’t believe I ran into a researcher right now. Talk about luck.
I’d been worrying about how to get into the lab, and the answer fell right into my hands. Smirking, I tucked the card away.
After making sure no other researchers or guards were nearby, I bolted for the lab entrance. For a place like the Central Lab, odds were high there’d still be someone inside—so I needed to get in fast.
Beep.
I tapped the keycard on the reader. With a click, the locked door disengaged. I carefully opened the large, heavy metal door with a creak, revealing the darkened interior of the lab.
Large machines were scattered throughout the room. Around them sat cluttered desks, some piled with research equipment and papers. The place looked exactly as I remembered it.
Grateful for the familiarity, I crept deeper into the lab.
The machinery was bulky and oddly shaped, giving me plenty of places to hide. I stayed close to the equipment as I moved inward—until I noticed a soft white glow shining from the center of the room.
Tap, tap. The sharp sound of heels echoed, and I saw the back of a woman in a white lab coat.
“How’s the situation?”
The moment I heard her voice, I instinctively tensed.
Even after all this time, I couldn’t forget that voice. That woman—called the Director—was the one who truly ran this facility. She was the one who’d ordered all the experiments, who’d injected those drugs into the captives.
“It’s not good. You have to evacuate immediately.”
“Wait.”
With a smile tugging at her crimson lips, the Director tucked her short, jet-black hair behind her ear.
“We don’t need anything else. As long as we don’t lose this one, it’s fine.”
This one?
I narrowed my eyes—and saw him.
A boy was strapped down to a surgical table in front of the Director, his limbs bound with leather belts.
That’s...
He looked like he was just asleep, his eyes closed.
Pale face, jet-black hair. The moment I laid eyes on the boy’s face, a familiar chime rang out, and a system window appeared before me.
Ding!
User Info: ??? (Villain)
Age: 22
Main Skill: Living Shadow (B-rank)
Title: The Master of Shadows
Attack Power: B-rank
Attack Speed: B-rank
Movement Speed: B-rank
Agility: B-rank
Special▼
└Seed of Catastrophe (35% Progressed)
Villain? That little kid is the villain?
My head spun.
He looked like he was ten years old at best. That’s the future Catastrophe? I mean, sure, it’s only a Seed right now, so he’s not the Catastrophe yet, but still...
Is the status window glitched?
The fact that his name was marked as “???” was strange enough, but what really got me was his listed age.
No way he’s twenty-two. Not a chance. Between the age and the name, this status screen was a mess.
While I was lost in confusion, the Director continued her conversation with the nearby researcher.
“The Hunters are almost here! We need to get out of here, Director. If the boy wakes up or lashes out while we’re trying to escape...”
“I’ve already prepared for that.”
At the Director’s gesture, another researcher approached with a syringe from the tool tray.
“This is the result of all my research.”
She held the syringe up. Under the sterile lab light, the red liquid inside gleamed.
Seeing that made me think of the drug I was injected with back then.
That one had been a soft pink. But this—this was so much more concentrated.
And that meant...
A chill crept down my spine. Cold sweat trickled from my temple.
“W-wouldn’t injecting that make him go berserk? Wouldn’t it be even harder to escape?”
“No. That was the old version we used on other subjects.”
The Director casually twirled the syringe, looking absolutely delighted.
“This one’s perfect. I just finished the formula yesterday. It causes the subject to feel pain, but they won’t be able to move—like they’re asleep.”
“W-what? Seriously?”
“Mm-hm. Honestly, after all the work I put into it, I’d have liked to test it in a more controlled setting—but given the circumstances, we don’t have a choice. This subject is resistant to even the strongest sedatives. If we want to get him out, this is the only option.”
...She’s insane.
Just hearing that made me want to vomit.
Unbelievable. The world was wide, and the types of scum out there were endless. So that’s why they were injecting all those Awakeners with pain-inducing drugs?
As I watched her raise the syringe toward the boy’s neck, I drew my sword from its sheath.
I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but...
Whether he’s truly the future Catastrophe or not—if the status window labels him as the villain, I have no choice but to save him.
I grabbed the empty scabbard and hurled it at the Director like a spear.
Thud!
“Ahhh!”
With a scream, she dropped the syringe. The scabbard had struck her hand dead-on.
“Ugh... What...”
Clutching her injured hand, the Director groaned.
Launched with S-rank strength, the solid scabbard had probably shattered the bones in her hand. And thinking of how many Awakeners had suffered because of that hand—I couldn’t help but smirk.
Now was the time. The Director and her researchers were in complete chaos from the sudden attack.
With a light step, I dashed forward and swung my sword at the straps binding the boy.
Slice! The belts were cleanly cut through.
Just as I reached out toward /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the now-unbound child—
“...!”
His eyes opened.
I froze.
Bright green eyes stared back at me. Jewel-like irises under long lashes. A pale face.
And that young face—matched perfectly with the Catastrophe I’d seen once, long ago.
So familiar, I couldn’t pretend otherwise anymore.
Yeah. This kid was the very same Catastrophe who had killed me—and everyone else—before I regressed.

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