Into the Apocalypse: Saving My Favorite Villain-Chapter 105: Mathew’s POV I

Mathew — POV

This girl...

She knows my name?

The sound of it—Mathew—cut through the fog in my head like a blade. I lifted my head the instant I heard it, my body reacting before my mind could catch up.

And what met my eyes was... breathtaking.

For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

Her voice lingered in the air, soft and clear, like the echo of a bell in an abandoned cathedral. It didn’t belong in this world. Neither did her face.

Large, almond-shaped black eyes stared at me, wide and glossy, as if they carried an entire ocean of emotions within them. Her lips were soft and red, not painted, not forced—just naturally alive. Long hair spilled down her back in loose, unruly strands, catching the light as if it had a will of its own.

She was wearing blue pajamas decorated with a small bunny.

A ridiculous detail.

And yet it struck me harder than any blade ever had.

Her hair was messy, like she had just stumbled out of bed without even thinking to comb it. Her cheeks were flushed a gentle shade of red, and her posture was loose—sleepy, unguarded. She looked like someone who had been pulled from a warm dream into a colder reality, her body still clinging to rest.

She didn’t look like someone from my world.

She looked... untouched.

The eyes staring back at me were filled with emotions I couldn’t immediately name. They weren’t afraid. They weren’t hateful.

Maybe sorrow.

Maybe pity.

And that alone made my chest tighten painfully.

Either way, the girl who had called my name was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Or maybe it only seemed that way because I hadn’t seen a clean, well-kept human face in a very, very long time.

All I was used to were monsters wearing human skin—walking bundles of muscle and scars, eyes hollowed out by despair. People whose souls had been scraped clean by hunger, violence, and survival.

I was used to blood.

To screams.

To the sound of bones breaking and cities collapsing.

I was used to a world that smelled like rust and rot.

I was also used to being one of them.

Someone with a monstrous appearance. Someone humans recoiled from. Someone, even monsters, is regarded with suspicion.

Yes.

I was someone fated to be hated and cast aside by the entire world.

So why...?

I tore my gaze away from her.

Not because of the man standing beside her—though his eyes burned with naked hatred, his killing intent thick enough to choke the air.

No.

I looked down at my hands.

They were pale. Smooth. Clean.

Unscarred.

Unchanged.

No ulcers. No blackened veins. No grotesque mutations twisting my fingers into inhuman shapes. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

They looked... human.

How...?

After being trapped inside the belly of a mutated sorcerer, half my body had transformed. My skin had corroded, eaten away by foreign mana, reshaped into something hideous. Even I hadn’t been able to look at myself without nausea.

My hands had been a nightmare—twisted, blistered, reeking of decay.

And now...

They were not only healed.

They were better than before the end of the world.

Something was wrong.

No—everything was wrong.

My heart pounded violently as my thoughts spiraled out of control.

How did I end up here?

Why am I healed?

Where am I?

Ever since I woke up, my mind has been a chaotic mess. Thoughts crashed into one another without order. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe properly.

All I wanted was to escape.

But escape from what?

Why was my chest burning with anger? With desperation so thick it made my hands tremble?

...Ah.

I remember.

I died.

The realization hit me like a hammer.

Yes.

I was killed.

By that man.

And before that... I learned the truth.

The family I had loved. The family I had protected with my life. The family I had fed, sheltered, and bled for.

They had never been my family at all.

How ironic.

After everything I sacrificed—including my dignity, my humanity, my very soul—I couldn’t warm their cold hearts even a little.

To them, I was nothing more than a hunting dog.

Useful when unleashed. Disposable when injured.

They smiled when they needed me. They turned away in disgust when they didn’t. If I hadn’t possessed special abilities, they would have killed me long ago.

The memories flooded back violently.

My childhood.

My loyalty.

My obedience.

My entire life replayed before my eyes like a cruel joke.

At last, everything made sense.

I remembered what happened before my death.

So... I really did die.

I would never forget that sensation.

The cold.

The emptiness.

The way death crept into my bones, numbing everything until even pain vanished.

But then—

Where am I now?

If I’m dead, how am I here—breathing, seeing, thinking?

I moved my restrained hand and slammed it hard against the armrest of the chair.

Bang.

Pain exploded through my palm.

Sharp.

Immediate.

Real.

Blood welled up and dripped down my fingers, staining the floor.

I stared at it with detached eyes.

Compared to what I’d endured, this was nothing.

I had drowned in blood before.

But apparently, someone else didn’t see it that way.

The beautiful girl rushed forward, her steps hurried, her expression breaking into anger and panic.

"Are you stupid?!" she shouted.

Her voice was gentle—too gentle for the words she was using—almost musical, as if she were scolding me through poetry rather than anger.

"Why would you hurt yourself?! If something’s wrong, think of a solution! Why damage your own body, you idiot?!"

She was about to come closer—

But the man beside her grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her back.

I had thought, briefly, that I might have crossed into another world.

But when I truly looked at his face—

I recognized him.

So I was still in my own world after all.

The man standing before me was the very same person who had killed me.

I met his gaze.

Empty.

Cold.

Emotionless.

Of course, there was no hatred from me toward him.