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..."

back at any of the incidents that had occurred right after meeting the previous Ren, a thought suddenly occurred

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted all

definitely changed after meeting

me before, but, didn't my personality change moments after meeting

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

that

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

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

the change...but now that I was looking back at them, from this new perspective, it really did seem as

someone was forcing traits and different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies

theory suddenly pierced through my

My breathing evened out.

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

I shook my head repeatedly. It

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

me out of my thoughts.

tournament will begin tomorrow, are you ready? Should I come to pick you guys up tomorrow

"Haaa...haaa...."

all the anxiety inside of me. Taking my communication

[Yeah, that would do.]

the message, I shut off the communication

"huuuu..."

and put on my face mask. Then, I proceeded to head

needed some fresh air

thoughts were eating away

Ci Clank—!

me,

***

Ding—!

head as he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

Covering his forehead with his hand, he supported his body with his

the world did I

he saw was

vision, and it was because he remembered that at the moment he couldn't

straight, Kevin was able

was me

that 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 vision wasn't about

was not something he had ever experienced

have been a vision of the

his head back, Kevin stared at

at the vision made his body

not the future, what

was about his analysis. Whatever he just

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

the thought of Emma dying on him hurt his very

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

There was another part in the vision he saw. The 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 purposely killed

Kevin was sure.

even more tightly as

'...He needs to die.'

flashed with hatred as he recalled that scene. But there

slightly

he didn't. There was this chilly air surrounding the man that sent shivers down

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

trying to discard such thoughts

the two figures bore slight resemblances, Kevin knew Ren. He would

"It couldn't be, right?"

to deny what he saw, the

creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

forward, Kevin covered his face with both hands. He really did not know what to believe

***

I knew it, my footsteps stopped in front of

from the 'dream' it was early in the morning. I thought about going around

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

"This is good too..."

I needed at the moment was to clear my