This world was beautiful once.
The skies were clearer when I was young. The stars looked like they were within reach. I remember standing in the palace garden as a boy, sword in hand, dreaming of becoming a hero.
I wanted to protect this world.
Funny, isn't it?
Now I'm the villain in everyone's story.
They said I betrayed the Empire. That I slaughtered my comrades. That I tried to steal the power of the gods.
But the truth is simpler: I was too powerful to control. And when something becomes too strong, this world finds a way to break it.
So it broke me.
They sent a thousand elites to kill me. Not capture—kill.
I remember the sound of their armor clashing as they charged.
I remember the silence afterward.
I didn't want to kill them. I never wanted war. But when the first blade came, my instincts answered before I could.
Shadow moved before I did. My power surged—and they fell.
All of them.
Not because I hated them.
Because I was alone.
When the last knight collapsed into the ash, I turned toward the ones who sent them.
My comrades.
My friends.
Her.
She couldn't even meet my eyes.
The spell they used to kill me wasn't made for mortals. It carved through the world itself—tearing flesh, soul, everything.
I should've died.
Maybe a part of me did.
But in the darkness, something found me.
> [SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
> [SOUL TYPE: BROKEN]
> [TITLE: SHADOWBORN KING]
> [WELCOME BACK, SEO HAESOO.]
I opened my eyes again—not to heaven or hell.
But to something worse:
A world that forgot who I was.
And a voice whispering in the dark:
> "Shall we begin again?"
The voice was soft. Not human. Not kind.
But… familiar.
Like an old lullaby sung in a language I forgot I knew.
The world around me was void—pure black, like ink that never dried. No sky. No ground. Just me, standing in the nothing.
I looked down at my hands. Pale. Cracked. But not bleeding. Not broken.
Alive… in some twisted sense of the word.
I wasn't breathing, but I didn't need to.
My heart wasn't beating, but I could still feel the weight of betrayal pulsing through my chest.
> [New Host: Seo Haesoo]
[System Compatibility: 99.9%]
[Emotion Detected: Melancholy | Grudge | Abandonment]
The voice in my head clicked and hummed like machinery hidden inside a god's ribcage.
> [Initializing Class Selection…]
"I didn't ask for this," I whispered.
The void didn't answer.
I took a step forward. The shadows shifted underfoot, forming something like ground just long enough to carry me. Another step. Then another.
Where was I going?
I didn't know. But I couldn't stay still. Not anymore.
> [Class: Shadow Monarch — Selected.]
[Title: The Betrayed One | Locked Title: World Ender]
[Skill Unlocked: Dark Requim]
Effect:
[Unleashes a burst of shadow energy that drains life from enemies within its reach, strengthening the user with each life force consumed. The more enemies affected, the greater the user's power grows, temporarily boosting their strength and speed.]
"You brought me back," I murmured. "Why?"
Silence.
Then, finally—
> "Because heroes die. Villains rewrite the story."
A flicker of light appeared ahead of me—purple, flickering like a dying star. It pulsed with something ancient. Something terrifying. Something… mine.
> "Seo Haesoo… you were never meant to be saved."
"You were meant to be feared."
And just like that, I remembered.
The sword.
The screams.
The woman who said sorry as she drove the blade into my back.
I closed my eyes.
"I'll rewrite everything."
The void answered me with a grin I could feel in my bones.
> [First Quest: Return to the World]
[Objective: Kill the one who said "I'm sorry."]
[Reward: Name your price.]
And this time…
I won't hesitate.