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..."

of the incidents that had occurred right

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted

thought process...it definitely changed

before, but, didn't

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

that

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

I had such thoughts about treating everyone as a chess piece and having everything under my control. It was

felt it. I never felt the change...but now that I was looking back at them, from this new perspective, it really did seem as though something

different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies that I had never once

and crazy theory

My breathing evened out.

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

head repeatedly. It couldn't be.

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

of my thoughts.

you ready? Should I come to pick you

"Haaa...haaa...."

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

[Yeah, that would do.]

the message, I shut

"huuuu..."

put on

fresh air

thoughts were eating away at my

Ci Clank—!

behind me,

***

Ding—!

inside of Kevin's head as he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw as soon as he opened

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

straight, Kevin exhaled deeply. Covering his forehead with his hand, he supported his body with his other

the world did I

vision he saw was

he remembered that at the moment he

straight, Kevin was able to calm

me wasn't

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

was not something he

a

back, Kevin stared at the white ceiling of the

at the

future, what else could

he thought about it, the more certain he was about

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

dying on

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

were obscured and so was his voice, but from what he saw, the figure was the

the flask in his hands already gave him an idea of what

Kevin was sure.

even more tightly as anger rose within

'...He needs to die.'

eyes flashed with hatred as he recalled that scene. But there was

felt slightly

though he had met him before, yet, at the same time, he didn't. There was this chilly air surrounding the man that sent shivers down Kevin's

have been Ren? ...No,

quickly shook his head, trying to discard such thoughts

knew Ren. He would never

"It couldn't be, right?"

trying to deny what

to creep into

"Haaa...What do I do."

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

***

it, my footsteps stopped

early in the morning. I thought about going around the city

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

"This is good too..."

moment was to clear