The Author's POV

Splash—! Splash—!

Splashing water onto my face I stared at my haggard figure in the mirror. Glaring dark circles bagged beneath my eyes as my mind felt numb.

Glink—!

Turning off the tap, I turned around.

My eyes paused on a certain book in the middle of the table.

My heart remained calm as I stared at the book...or rather, my head was too numb to process what was happening around me. Nothing excited nor stimulated my emotions.

Closing my eyes, I sat down on my bed and leaned forward.

"...Just what happened?"

Ever since waking up, I've been trying to make heads or tails of what had just occurred to me.

My head really hurt.

'For starters, the world I was in not too long ago was definitely not my own world...or did that world even exist in the first place?'

From the fact that I had no recollection of my parent's faces, my own name, and the fact that the prestigious university I wanted to go to was called 'Unversity A,' a name which itself seemed far too generic to make sense.

Putting everything together everything that I previously thought that I knew no longer started to make sense inside of my head.

"Aghhh."

'My head hurts.'

Grasping my head with my hands I ruffled my hair into a mess.

Everything was a mess. A mess I couldn't quite figure the answer to.

"There's also him..."

The previous Ren.

Just thinking about him spread uneasiness throughout my whole body.

There was definitely something odd about that guy. How did he know about the fact that the world was a novel? I never gave him the password of my laptop so it shouldn't have been possible for him to figure out that the world I was in was that of a novel I wrote.

Furthermore, how did he know to ask the right questions?

Like what my name was, whether I recalled my parent's faces and the name of the university I wanted to go to.

The order of the questions didn't really make sense...it was as though he already knew about my answers beforehand.

"Haaa..."

I suddenly stood up.

My head throbbed even more fiercely.

Pacing around the room, I started to think back to my first interaction with the previous Ren in search of an answer.

This wasn't hard, I had only interacted with him once throughout my whole life so I could still vividly remember what had happened.

It was the time he was showing me his past experiences with Matthew and what was going on with his parents...my parents.

I remember that time clearly.

I could see just how sad he was.

Was that a facade or was that really him? At this point, I no longer knew.

"Ugh."

I groaned.

Massaging my head, I thought even further.

'Ever since meeting him, did something strange ever happen to me?'

My brows knit tightly.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

"Something strange happening after meeting him..."

My brows which were knit together suddenly jumped up in shock.

"Wait...hold on..."

that had occurred right after meeting the previous Ren,

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

fidgeted all

process...it definitely changed after

but, didn't my personality change

look back at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren, I

did that come

to meeting the previous Ren, everything I did was completely different.

a chess

past because I never felt it. I never felt the change...but now that I was looking back at them, from this new perspective, it really

someone was forcing traits and different ideologies inside

wild and crazy theory suddenly

My breathing evened out.

"....It can't be, right?"

head repeatedly. It couldn't be. Yeah, there's

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

me out of my thoughts. Lowering my head,

the tournament will begin tomorrow, are you ready? Should I come

"Haaa...haaa...."

the anxiety inside of me. Taking my communication device, I quickly sent back

[Yeah, that would do.]

message, I shut off the communication

"huuuu..."

a deep breath, I took my jacket and put on my face mask. Then, I proceeded to head for the

air

were eating

Ci Clank—!

me, I walked down

***

Ding—!

The first thing

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

his forehead with his hand, he

world

he saw

it was because he remembered that at the moment he couldn't quite grasp what was happening

was able

me

he was desperately searching for Emma, and that the name of the black figure was 'Kevin', he didn't believe for

not

that have been a

at

thinking back at the vision made

what else

he was about his analysis. Whatever he just saw, it

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

thought of Emma dying on him hurt

"Haaa..haaa...who was that man?"

in the vision he saw. The features of the figure were obscured and

hands already gave him an idea of what had happened. The man had

Kevin was sure.

tightly as anger rose within his

'...He needs to die.'

that scene. But there was only one problem, Kevin did not know

slightly

same time, he didn't. There was

Ren? ...No,

to

two figures bore slight resemblances, Kevin knew Ren. He would never do such a thing to

"It couldn't be, right?"

many attempts at trying to deny what he saw, the

to creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

covered his face with both hands. He really did not know

***

stopped in front of

in the morning. I thought about going around the city

having walked a couple of steps out of my residence, I subconsciously made my way towards the

"This is good too..."

needed at the moment was