My heart dropped straight to my feet.
I squeezed my eyes shut on reflex, then opened them—but nothing changed. Not what the status window said, and not the sight beyond it: Cha Sahyeon with his head bowed.
A black haze kept rippling off Cha Sahyeon’s body.
I’d never seen him like this. It was like he couldn’t control his skill.
The moment that hit me, a cold shiver ran down my spine. My hand tightened on its own around the shattered ring.
Biting my lip, I pulled up Cha Sahyeon’s status.
I didn’t want to see it.
But I had to.
Ding!
With the familiar notification sound, a new window popped up.
[User Info: Sahyeon (Villain)]
Age: 22
Signature Skill: Living Shadow (L-rank)
Title: The Master of Shadows
Attack Power: L-rank
Attack Speed: L-rank
Movement Speed: L-rank
Agility: L-rank
Notes▼
└Seed of Catastrophe (68% complete) (Synchronization 75% complete)
...It went up.
No question. It went up.
‘It used to be 62%.’
It was a number I’d carved into my head because it mattered.
And synchronization had been 60%, too—now it was so high it didn’t even look like the same thing.
‘It jumped fifteen percent in an instant?’
From what Cha Sahyeon had explained before, synchronization was basically like his memories from his previous timeline getting updated.
If the seed’s progress was his energy and power, then synchronization was his memory.
Either way, it wasn’t a good change. Not when both meant Cha Sahyeon was getting closer to becoming the “Great Catastrophe.”
Cold sweat slid down my back.
This was bad. Really bad. My gut was screaming at me.
I swallowed hard and looked at Cha Sahyeon.
He still had his upper body slightly hunched, a hand pressed to his forehead.
It didn’t look like pain that kept stabbing him—more like he was focusing, trying to rein in a skill that was leaking out on its own.
Was it okay to leave him like this?
My anxiety spiked. I shoved the ring into my pocket for now and started to step toward him—
“...Hunter Cha Seohu.”
Kwon Taehyuk’s careful voice came from behind me.
When I turned, Kwon Taehyuk was there, fully tense, a summoned blade in hand.
And not just him.
Yoon Jeha, Kwon Seoyul, and Eun Woojeong were all staring at Cha Sahyeon without blinking.
All three had sensed it—the L-rank pressure pouring out of Cha Sahyeon with no attempt to hide it.
Yoon Jeha had her hand locked around her sword hilt like she could draw in a heartbeat.
Kwon Seoyul wore a twisted smile, but his eyes—rarely—were stiff with wariness and tension.
Even Eun Woojeong, for once, spoke without his usual teasing as he summoned chains.
“Mm, Cha Seohu. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go closer right now.”
Everyone here was treating Cha Sahyeon like an enemy—ready to fight.
And seeing that, between the fear and anxiety the “Great Catastrophe” stirred up, another emotion surged up out of nowhere.
‘No. This isn’t it.’
I understood why they were reacting like that. Even I had frozen in fear a moment ago, not knowing what to do.
But still.
Even so—
Had Cha Sahyeon ever been a threat to us?
Back in the previous timeline, Cha Sahyeon was dangerous as the “Great Catastrophe.”
Maybe he still was.
But what [N O V E L I G H T] Cha Sahyeon had shown us so far wasn’t killing and harming people.
It was helping them. Saving them.
In the mega-dungeon, when we took down the boss monster.
At the hotel, when the irregular rift burst.
And even here, right now.
There were so many things we wouldn’t have been able to do without Cha Sahyeon.
Sure, I knew he’d been helping and saving people because he didn’t want to disappoint me.
But why did the reason matter that much?
Saving someone was still saving someone.
We’d been able to find Eun Woojeong—dying—and save him only because of Cha Sahyeon’s shadow skill.
The moment I got that far, something hot surged up in my chest.
A hundred things rose to my throat, vanished, rose again.
When my lips finally moved and I forced words out, it was only this.
“He’s my little brother.”
There was no hesitation left in my steps.
As I got closer to Cha Sahyeon, I could see it clearly—his unsteady breathing, the faint tremor running through his body.
The proof that he was suffering stabbed guilt straight through my heart.
“...Kid.”
I called him in a low voice so I wouldn’t startle him, then reached out with both hands.
I gently caught Cha Sahyeon’s cheeks and lifted his face a little.
His forehead was soaked in cold sweat, and his clouded green eyes turned toward me.
“Hyung....”
Just that one word made a breath of relief spill out on its own.
‘He recognizes me.’
Thank god. Really—thank god.
My body loosened automatically, but it still wasn’t time to relax. I forced myself steady and asked,
“What’s wrong? You can’t control it?”
Cha Sahyeon blinked weakly and answered.
“Suddenly... my energy got stronger. It’s hard to control. My heart hurts....”
“Because of the ring?”
Cha Sahyeon couldn’t explain at length. He just nodded.
Of all times—right in the middle of enemy territory—the strongest piece on our board had something go wrong.
We had to calm Cha Sahyeon down somehow if we wanted any chance of living through this.
‘And even if that wasn’t the reason... I can’t stand watching him hurt.’
I looked Cha Sahyeon over, keeping myself calm.
I could feel how unstable his energy was. Could I fix this?
Heart pain. Loss of control.
Maybe... maybe I could help with one of my skills.
‘If he’s suffering because his energy is too strong, then buff skills are out.’
That left Divine Power.
The skill that healed injuries, and purified demon-blood.
Would it help Cha Sahyeon’s body?
‘I don’t have another option.’
Whether it worked or not, I had to try.
I activated my skill immediately.
《Skill: Divine Power (S-rank) Activated!》
Pure white light burst from me and poured into Cha Sahyeon’s body, where the black haze kept wavering.
At the same time, Cha Sahyeon’s body went rigid—and he flinched hard.
My heart lurched. Did I just do something stupid? I blurted out,
“What—what is it?”
Cha Sahyeon blinked like he was startled too, then looked at me.
“...No, hyung. Keep going.”
The green in his eyes—clouded with confusion—cleared, turning sharp the way it usually was.
His expression looked like he’d found an answer.
I nodded, and this time I pushed the healing energy into him even more firmly—almost like I was giving him a buff.
The white light pouring out of me and Cha Sahyeon’s black shadow twisted together, painting something strange.
Cha Sahyeon’s body drank in my healing energy greedily, like he hadn’t eaten in days.
“Huh... what the hell is this....”
The expressions on the three people watching us turned complicated, too.
Yoon Jeha slowly loosened her grip on her sword hilt, but she couldn’t look away from something she’d never seen in her life.
What felt like it could go on forever ended when Cha Sahyeon finally stopped swallowing my healing energy.
“That’s enough now, hyung.”
Cha Sahyeon spoke in a voice that sounded cleaner—lighter.
Then he slowly straightened the upper body he’d been hunching.
Following his gaze, I naturally lifted my head a little—
And froze.
“Cha Sahyeon, you....”
Up close, the change hit even harder.
After absorbing all the energy that had burst out of the ring and making it his own, Cha Sahyeon looked like he’d undergone a sudden growth spurt.
He was taller—like he’d gained three centimeters—and it was obvious his frame had thickened.
His face, which had still carried that just-barely-adult youthfulness, looked more mature now. Even his voice was a little lower.
And most of all—
His hair had grown.
It felt like only Cha Sahyeon’s time had been pushed forward by about two years.
While I stood there blank, the status window’s notification sound rang again.
Ding!
Cha Sahyeon’s stats automatically popped up in front of me.
[User Info: Sahyeon (Villain)]
Age: 22
Signature Skill: Living Shadow (L-rank)
Title: The Master of Shadows
Attack Power: L-rank
Attack Speed: L-rank
Movement Speed: L-rank
Agility: L-rank
Notes▼
└Seed of Catastrophe (70% complete) (Synchronization 78% complete)
...The progress and synchronization numbers went up again.
Because Cha Sahyeon had absorbed all that energy and made it his?
The fear I’d shoved away came crawling back up my legs.
Cha Sahyeon—who probably didn’t even realize what I was seeing—looked down at me with eyes that had gone completely calm.
At least, thank god, he still recognized me.
And he didn’t look like he wanted to kill or attack anyone.
‘...For now.’
I didn’t need anyone to explain it.
The more that progress climbed, the lower the chance that Cha Sahyeon would stay the same “kid” I knew.
The cold reality I’d been forcing myself to ignore was right in front of my face now.

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