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 after

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

fidgeted

thought process...it definitely changed

occurred to me before, but, didn't

now that I look back at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren, I started to get this

that

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

everyone as a chess piece and having

in 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, it really did seem as though something within me had been forcefully

was as though someone was forcing traits and different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies that I had

theory suddenly

My breathing evened out.

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

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

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

anxiety, my communication suddenly rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. Lowering my head, I

you ready? Should I come to pick you guys up

"Haaa...haaa...."

me. Taking my communication device, I quickly sent

[Yeah, that would do.]

message, I shut off

"huuuu..."

my jacket and put on my face

fresh air to sort out my

eating away

Ci Clank—!

me,

***

Ding—!

The first thing he saw as soon as he opened his eyes

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

Kevin exhaled deeply. Covering his forehead with his

in the world did I

he

he saw in the vision, and it was because he remembered

was

me wasn't

had to be. The fact that he was desperately searching for Emma, and that the name of the

was not something he had ever experienced

that have been a vision of

his head back, Kevin stared at the white ceiling of

thinking back at the

the future, what else

the more certain he was about his analysis. Whatever

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

of Emma dying on him hurt

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

features of the figure were obscured and so was his voice, but from what he saw, the figure was the one that

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

Kevin was sure.

more tightly as anger

'...He needs to die.'

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

slightly

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,

his head, trying to

figures bore slight resemblances, Kevin knew Ren. He would

"It couldn't be, right?"

Despite his many attempts at trying to deny what he saw, the confidence he had

creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

both hands. He really did not

***

knew it, my footsteps stopped in front of the training

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

mind off of things, but having walked a couple of steps out of my residence, I subconsciously made my way

"This is good too..."

moment