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 moment, the deep fear I had barely shaken off started to creep up from my legs and engulf me.
“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 me get at least some information from the replica. Desperately hoping, I looked over the window that appeared before me.
User Information: None (Villain)
Age: ???
Main Skill: Living Shadow (Unable to Measure)
Title: The Eternal Nightmare
Attack Power: Unable to Measure
Attack Speed: Unable to Measure
Movement Speed: Unable to Measure
Agility: Unable to Measure
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 measure?
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 meet 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 measure.” So is “unable to measure” what comes after L-rank, or is there another tier entirely?
‘Usually EX-rank comes after L. So the order might go L, EX, then “unable to measure.”’
When Cha Sahyeon was first abducted, the Seed progress was 35%. By the time we met 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 measure” to actually exist.
This damned system always hits me over the head just when I think I understand something, reminding me that reality is a cesspool.
Sighing, I looked over the rest of the status window. The fact that the name 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.
‘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 meanings. As for Cha Sahyeon...
‘If I remember 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 meaning, the more bitter I felt.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Cha Sahyeon is blameless.
He deserved to be called a villain. He’s someone I feared and hated, and far too many people have died by his hands. No one can easily pass judgment on that.
But now I know that Cha Sahyeon was a manufactured existence. He didn’t become the Eternal Nightmare by his own choice.
So isn’t it unfair for him to carry all that guilt alone? If someone 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 same expressionless, doll-like face.
The system wouldn’t give me 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 same.
When I pulled back the tattered robe fluttering in the wind, a black shirt came 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 someone 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 treatment.’
The wounds had healed horribly, messily. Some scars were so gruesome they made me 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 lifetime.
This, too, was different from the current Cha Sahyeon.
He once went to a salon with me to get his hair cut. He knows how to wear the clean clothes I bought him. He remembered how I nursed him back to health—and mimicked it when he treated me in return.
The one standing before me was a replica of the Cha Sahyeon who never met me. That realization stirred something complicated deep inside.
A ruined world, roaring flames, choking smoke, and sparks flying in the wind. The Catastrophe standing in it all should terrify me—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 same face blurred the line between them.
Looking closely, the replica's face felt more mature than the last time 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 moment—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 movement 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.
Something was wrong. I felt it instinctively. Goosebumps crawled over my skin, and the forgotten fear surged back into me.
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 met those vivid green eyes head-on.
“......”
“......”
The once-cloudy pupils now held a strange light. The replica of Cha Sahyeon, staring at me with slow, deliberate blinks, finally opened his mouth to speak.
Huff!
“......!”
But before he could say anything, something yanked me back—as if someone had grabbed me 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 moment, the shadow had given him plenty of information.
A shadow not placed by him had appeared somewhere—and through it, he had learned things he didn’t want to know. Yet a soft smile formed on his lips.
“As expected.”
Beneath the black hair fluttering in the wind, a green earring shimmered.
“You really can’t sit still, can you... Hyung.”
With a trace of amusement, Cha Sahyeon reached out and gave the air a light stir.
A massive pitch-black spear appeared in midair. One became two. Two became ten. Ten became 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 came 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 meteors, and as the ground shook like an earthquake, something 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 become a dragon. An S-rank monster, excellent at masking its presence and lying in wait.
Through the cascading sand, its serpentine head emerged. 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 menacing sound. Watching calmly from below, Cha Sahyeon raised a hand.
A black bird flew into the sky.
And with it, a new shadow formed—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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