“L-rank? L-rank?”
Cha Seohu was silently horrified at the rank that appeared in the status window.
The maximum rank he could reach even after taking the Combat Enhancement Orb from the item shop had only been SS-rank. He’d been too overwhelmed at the time to process it properly, but that was the first time he’d learned that SS-rank even existed.
And now, L-rank?
If the rank hierarchy worked the way he thought it did... L-rank was two tiers above S-rank.
He had managed to kill three A-rank Hunters in five minutes without any skills while in SS-rank condition—so then just how powerful was L-rank?
“...!”
As that thought reached him, Seohu’s shoulders flinched.
The ground around him had already been completely swallowed by black shadows. The corpse lying in front of him was being devoured into the dark.
A suffocating, thick aura oozed from the spreading shadows. Cha Seohu had felt this kind of strength—and this kind of coldness—once before.
“Ah...”
His vision turned crimson. The scent of blood and acrid gunpowder stung his nose.
Thump, thump!
With each heartbeat, the sound of distant screams echoed faintly.
A blood-red sky. A ruined city. Dead Hunters.
Ryu Sunghyun’s body growing cold in his arms... and the cause of it all—
The man standing with a massive scythe made from shadow. Long, wind-blown hair parting just enough to reveal green eyes.
The being he saw just before he died—the Catastrophe—overlapped with the one before him now.
The hair was shorter. The frame slightly smaller. But those glowing green eyes piercing through the darkness hadn’t changed.
The sound of leather shoes echoed softly as Cha Sahyeon slowly closed the distance. With every step he took, Seohu’s face turned paler.
The fear he’d barely buried ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) in his memories surged to the surface. Seohu gasped and pressed himself against the wall like he was trying to escape.
Sahyeon stopped at close range and looked down at him. Standing with the moonlit stained glass behind him, his face was hidden in silhouette.
He reached out a hand.
Seohu, trembling and soaked with cold sweat, saw the shadow of his hand reaching toward his face and reflexively moved.
SLAP!
He smacked Sahyeon’s hand away roughly.
It was a subconscious reaction born of pure fear. At this moment, all Seohu could see were those green eyes staring at him from the darkness.
“....”
Sahyeon looked quietly at the hand that had been rejected. He blinked once, then slowly bent his knees and knelt in front of him.
He brought his face to eye level and reached out again.
From a lower position, his hand moved slower this time—so slow, Seohu couldn’t bring himself to push it away.
“I get why you’re acting like this.”
His gentle hand wiped away the blood that had dried on Seohu’s cheek.
“But we have to go. If we stay here any longer, your information might leak.”
Information. Even in his fog of fear and confusion, Seohu understood immediately.
This wasn’t the time to sit and lose his mind. They were in the heart of a danger zone. Remembering that, Seohu opened his mouth with difficulty.
“Who...?”
“No idea.”
A curt answer.
Behind Sahyeon, a black shadow shot upward. It rose in a round shape, then quickly formed into distinct shapes.
Four black birds spread their wings, awaiting their master’s orders. Sahyeon didn’t even look away from Seohu as he gave them commands.
“Three of you scan the surroundings. The last one, go to the exit point.”
The birds flapped away in four different directions. Watching one disappear through the walls, Seohu swallowed dryly.
Sahyeon used the skill with ease and precision. Was that due to the “synchronization” mentioned in the earlier system window?
“If the shadows come back with confirmation, it’ll be clear. But it’s probably Spiderweb. You heard about this location from the Spider King, didn’t you?”
“That... how do you know that...?”
“There’s no one else who could’ve followed us from the office to here.”
Answering lazily, Sahyeon raised his head to look toward the east.
“Let’s go.”
“What?”
“We need to move. The people stationed outside the building just started mobilizing. They’ll be inside soon.”
Their coordinated movement made it clear—they had a purpose. Sahyeon was convinced it had something to do with Cover’s identity.
Anyone who had seen Cover’s real face had been killed. There was no need to let that number grow.
He reached out and grabbed Seohu’s arm, pulling him toward him. Though he could feel how badly Seohu was shaking, he didn’t stop. He activated his skill.
The black shadows beneath them surged up and swallowed them both whole.
As Seohu was pulled into the shadows in Sahyeon’s arms, a new system window appeared in front of him.
TING!
《Main Quest: Reunite with the Villain – Complete!》
On the rooftop of a derelict building not far from the church, a patch of shadow rose from the floor and expanded.
SCHLORP— As it swelled upward, the shadow split, revealing two figures.
Seohu and Sahyeon emerged safely outside the church. A bird screeched high overhead.
SKREEEE!
Rising to his feet, Sahyeon walked toward the edge of the rooftop. The blue dawn sky stretched above, and the full view of the church could be seen below.
SKEEK, SKRIK! KRIK!
The other three birds that had flown off earlier returned, circling and calling out.
Having gathered information from the birds and watched the Hunters enter the church, Sahyeon turned back to Seohu.
“There are five Awakeners who entered the church. All of them are masked—just as expected.”
“...”
“They were probably sent to figure out what happened to you. I thought the Spider King might’ve sold your info in exchange for the church’s location, but... maybe not?”
Sahyeon smiled faintly in the soft morning sunlight.
Seeing that smile, Seohu’s expression hardened, his brow furrowing. Sweat on his forehead rolled down his temple.
“Why... are you asking me that?”
Now, under daylight and no longer in the darkness of the church, Seohu looked properly at Sahyeon’s face for the first time.
His cheeks were slimmer, his height taller—that was unfamiliar. But his slightly wavy black hair and long, slanted eyes were just like before.
There were probably dozens of features he could point out that proved he was the same person as the child he came to save.
But all Seohu could focus on were those green eyes staring at him so directly.
“What do you want from me?”
“Want?”
“Why did you...”
He trailed off.
From the moment Sahyeon appeared, nothing he did made any sense to him.
Why did he save me from the A-rank Hunter? Why bring me here instead of killing me on the spot?
There was no child left for him to protect.
Seohu knew all too well how brutal this being—the one once called the Catastrophe—could become.
“...”
“...”
The silence between them stretched.
Then, just like earlier, Sahyeon bent his knees and sat down in front of him. With a tone of sincere curiosity, he asked:
“Am I not pretty?”
“...What?”
The question was so abrupt and out of place that Seohu thought he’d misheard.
But Sahyeon asked again, as if completely serious.
“Am I not pretty?”
“What... are you talking about...”
“The Director who was blackmailing you—I killed her.”
Seohu’s heart dropped. He clenched his trembling fingers into fists to hide the shaking.
“I would’ve had to kill her anyway, even without the blackmail—she saw your face.”
“....”
“I didn’t interfere when you were fighting either. I waited. I thought you might get startled if I showed up. I only stepped in when your skill ran out and things got dangerous. If not for that, I would’ve kept waiting till the end.”
His long lashes fluttered as he tilted his head.
“Didn’t I do a good job? Why aren’t you praising me?”
“....”
“Are you... not happy to see me?”
That final question pierced straight into his chest.
Sahyeon’s expression—asking if he wasn’t glad to see him—looked so genuinely hurt that Seohu couldn’t bring himself to respond.
SQUAWK, SKREE.
Even the birds circling above came down beside Seohu and began rubbing against him.
Their cries sounded slightly different than before, softer. One hopped forward and bonked its round head against his arm—almost like it was trying to be cute.
Suddenly surrounded by Sahyeon and the birds, Seohu looked overwhelmed.
And only then did he begin to see more than just the green eyes. Only then did he actually see Sahyeon himself.
“Praise me, brother.”
“....”
“Please?”
Sahyeon quietly closed his eyes.
That defenseless gesture made Seohu bite his lip hard. After a long moment of hesitation, he slowly raised his hand.
His hand trembled violently as he placed it on Sahyeon’s head. As he gently ran his fingers through his hair, the soft strands moved beneath his touch.
It was the exact same feeling he’d had every time he patted his head when he was still a child living with him.

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