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..."

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

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

fidgeted

thought process...it definitely changed after meeting

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

not noticed it back then, but now that I look back at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren, I started to get this weird idea that everything around me was a

did that come

looked back at my previous behavior, the moment prior to meeting the previous Ren, everything I did was

had I had such thoughts about treating everyone as a chess

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

ideologies inside of me.

and crazy theory suddenly pierced

My breathing evened out.

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

I refused to believe that. I shook my head repeatedly. It couldn't be. Yeah, there's no way something

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

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

tomorrow, are you ready? Should I come to pick you guys

"Haaa...haaa...."

of me.

[Yeah, that would do.]

I shut off the

"huuuu..."

on my face mask. Then, I proceeded

air

eating

Ci Clank—!

me,

***

Ding—!

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

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

his forehead with his hand, he supported

world did I just

he

was because he remembered that at the

straight, Kevin was able

was me wasn't

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

vision he saw, was not something

a vision

Kevin stared at the white ceiling

back at the vision made

future, what else

he thought about it, the more certain he was about his analysis.

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

Emma dying on him hurt

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

was another part in the vision he saw. The features of the figure were obscured and so was his voice, but from

flask in his hands already gave him an idea of what had happened.

Kevin was sure.

more tightly as

'...He needs to die.'

eyes flashed with hatred as he recalled that scene. But there was only one problem, Kevin did not know who

felt slightly familiar

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

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

shook his head, trying to discard such thoughts from

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

"It couldn't be, right?"

attempts at trying to deny what he saw, the

to creep into

"Haaa...What do I do."

both hands. He really

***

it, my footsteps stopped in front

time I woke up from the 'dream' it was early in the

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

"This is good too..."

moment was to clear my