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..."

had occurred right after

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted

definitely changed after meeting

to me before, but, didn't my personality

previous Ren, I started to get this weird idea that everything around me was a chess

that

to meeting the

treating everyone as a chess piece and having everything under my

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

forcing traits and different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies that I

crazy theory suddenly pierced through

My breathing evened out.

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

believe that. I shook my head repeatedly. It couldn't be. Yeah,

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

my communication suddenly rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. Lowering my head, I looked at the

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

"Haaa...haaa...."

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

[Yeah, that would do.]

I shut off the

"huuuu..."

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

fresh air to sort

thoughts were eating away at

Ci Clank—!

the door behind me, I walked down

***

Ding—!

opened his eyes. The first thing he saw

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

Covering his forehead with his hand, he supported his body

the world

he saw

everything that he saw in the vision, and it was because he remembered that at the moment

straight, Kevin was able

me wasn't

that he was desperately searching for Emma, and that the name of

not something he had ever experienced

been a vision of the

Kevin stared at the white ceiling of the

at the vision

the future, what else could

it, the more certain he was about his analysis. Whatever he just

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

thought of Emma dying on him hurt his very

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

features of the figure were obscured

him an idea of what had happened. The man had

Kevin was sure.

clenched even more tightly as anger rose within his

'...He needs to die.'

But there was

felt slightly familiar

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

have been Ren? ...No, he wouldn't

shook his head, trying to discard

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

"It couldn't be, right?"

to deny what he saw, the

started to creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

with both hands. He really did not know what to believe in

***

stopped in

woke up from the 'dream' it was early in the morning. I thought

having walked a couple of steps

"This is good too..."

the moment