The Author's POV

Swooosh—

A gentle wind blew past a forest as the leaves rustled.

The gentle moonlight shone from above, creating a tranquil environment.

"Hey, Kevin, hold up, where are you going?"

But the tranquility did not last for long as it was soon broken by multiple individuals who ran through the forest. To be more precise, it was four individuals chasing behind one individual, Kevin.

Halting his steps, Kevin scanned the surroundings. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had not noticed the others behind him.

'The old man told me to go out this way, but where is he?'

The forest was huge.

So huge that Kevin estimated that it would take him a whole day to explore it. Finding Ren inside of the forest was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Kevin!"

Suddenly, Kevin heard a voice coming from behind him. What followed after was the sound of rushed footsteps.

Kevin slowly lifted his head.

Coming over from behind a couple of trees were Emma, Amanda, Jin, and Melissa. They were all looking at him with weird faces.

"…huh?"

Caught off-guard by the unexpected sight, Kevin stared at them with a dazed look. Then, quickly recalling what he was here for, he spoke up.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"That's the question we want to ask!"

Emma frustratingly said, walking up to him. Stopping a couple of feet away from him, she looked around the forest.

"You suddenly started acting weird out of nowhere. I called out for you multiple times but you never replied so I followed you here."

"You followed me?"

"Well…hm, yeah. You had a very serious look on your face, I thought that something was up."

Emma turned her head.

"You guys also followed for the same reason, right?"

Everyone silently nodded. Clearly siding with Emma.

Staring at them, Kevin scratched his head. He had been so focused on looking for Ren that he had lost his composure and ended up worrying the others.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you guys like that."

"Whatever."

With a deep sigh, Emma rubbed her face and then looked at the moon in the sky. 'At least she doesn't look too pissed'. Kevin sighed in relief.

But then Emma frowned and glared at Kevin.

"Oy."

"What?"

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

"Oh, right..."

Kevin turned his head before he scratched the back of it.

"Not gonna say anything?"

"…you see, things are kind of complicated."

Not satisfied with the answer, Emma's glare intensified.

"I think we deserve an explanation after you made us worried and caused a whole scene."

"Ugh." Kevin groaned. Lifting his head and staring at the others who were looking back at him, Kevin let out a deep sigh. 'How should I tell them that I was looking for Ren?'

Would they even believe him? Maybe Amanda as she already knew, but what about the others?

"…Ehew."

Eventually, he let out another sigh. He trusted everyone here, and so he didn't mind telling them about his skill, inspection. Whether they believed him or not, it was up to them.

"Haaaa!"

as he was about to open his mouth, a muffled shout rang in

sound came

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

tried to speak up, but before she could say anything, Kevin had already

"Kevin, wait up!"

at Kevin's disappearing back, Emma called out for him and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and

***

the forest from above, with his hands behind his back,

a solemn and pensive look

"Haaaa!"

scream that rang out, his brows

"Should we interfere?"

Waylan had a worried look

from the way things were going, he

Douglas did not

"Haaa!"

rang out. Turning his head,

we don't stop

Aaron. The consequences of such

hopes of helping Ren get over his mental demons,

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

It would only take him a second to arrive at the scene, so he should have no

"Wait."

could act, extending his

of

hand, Douglas pointed towards a certain spot in the

look

"…huh?"

to look in the direction of where Douglas had pointed and

Douglas again,

"You're not telling me…"

what I'm telling

***

"Haaaaaa!"

His pained and agonized scream felt like a beautiful piece of music to

I craved for more.

see...In order to not have my face revealed, I had to scar my face using this

my eyes as I stared at the

you, I ran out of the poison long ago,

Don—

the liquid inside of it all over my dagger. The liquid was pale yellow in color and was quite viscous, which was perfect as it stuck on the

got the perfect replacement for

Aaron who

I took out a potion from

quite a bit of money on

on his chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

shoved the potion down his throat. A horrified look manifested on his face as he flung his arms around. It was clear that he was trying to protest, but I didn't care. I just watched his body slowly start healing

onto the ground I brought the knife closer to his face and traced it down his

"Khhaaaaa!"

agony as a long black scar traced down half of his handsome face. Ignoring his screams, I continued

doesn't it?" I asked, tracing the dagger along his face, creating more and

as though a part of

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him, and his words started to once again

his words, my hand suddenly came to

just

"Haaa…haaa…"

Standing up and leaning my body forward to take a better look at him, I noticed that Aaron's eyes

'He already broke?'

course,

I laughed.

no way he could've broken

you return

on my knee, I once again fed Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at an even faster pace. I

"Let's continue."

face once again. Fresh blood dripped down

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

got no reaction from Aaron who just looked up toward the sky with a

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"