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!"

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

snapped in the direction of where the sound came from. Then,

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

before she could say anything, Kevin

"Kevin, wait up!"

Kevin's disappearing back, Emma called out for him and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed suit as their

***

the forest from above, with his hands behind his back, Douglas stared into

a solemn and pensive look

"Haaaa!"

that rang out, his brows would knit

"Should we interfere?"

Waylan had a worried look on his

were

Douglas did not

"Haaa!"

rang out. Turning his

If we don't

The consequences of

helping Ren get over his mental

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

make his move. It would only take him a second to

"Wait."

before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards

meaning of this?" Waylan asked

Douglas pointed towards a certain spot

look over

"…huh?"

to look in the direction of where Douglas had pointed

Douglas again, he

"You're not telling me…"

what

***

"Haaaaaa!"

agonized scream felt like a beautiful

I craved for more.

face revealed, I had to scar my face using this blade

through my eyes as I stared

I ran out of the

Don—

smeared the liquid inside of it all over my dagger. The liquid was

got the perfect replacement

staring at Aaron who was barely hanging onto life,

I took out a potion from my

a bit of money on this, so

hand on his chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the potion down

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

as he flung his arms around. It was clear that he was trying to protest, but I didn't care.

the ground I brought the knife closer to his face and

"Khhaaaaa!"

down half of his handsome face. Ignoring his screams, I continued

I asked, tracing the dagger along his face, creating more and

It was strange...it felt as though a part of me was slowly losing

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

given Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to

came to a

you just

"Haaa…haaa…"

Standing up and leaning my body forward to take a better look at him, I

'He already broke?'

course, he didn't

I laughed.

was no way he could've broken

I'll make you return to normal

Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at an even faster pace.

"Let's continue."

out the dagger, I traced it along his face once again.

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

my dagger along his face, I got no reaction from Aaron

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"