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..."

the incidents that had occurred right after meeting the previous Ren, a

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted

process...it definitely

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

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

that come

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

a chess piece and having everything under my

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

ideologies inside of me.

theory suddenly pierced through

My breathing evened out.

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

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

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

my thoughts. Lowering my head, I looked

you ready? Should I

"Haaa...haaa...."

I suppressed all the anxiety inside of me. Taking

[Yeah, that would do.]

I shut off the

"huuuu..."

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

fresh air to sort out

eating

Ci Clank—!

door behind me,

***

Ding—!

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

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

with his

world did I just

he saw

the vision, and it was because he

was

me

had to be. The fact that he was desperately searching for Emma, and that the name of the black figure was 'Kevin', he didn't believe for one second

not something he had ever

been a

at the

at the

what else could it

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

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

thought of Emma dying on him hurt his very

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

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 killed

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

Kevin was sure.

fists clenched even more tightly as anger

'...He needs to die.'

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

slightly familiar

the same time, he didn't. There was this chilly air surrounding

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

head, trying to discard such thoughts from

resemblances, Kevin knew Ren.

"It couldn't be, right?"

at trying to deny what he saw, the confidence he

creep into

"Haaa...What do I do."

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

***

I knew it, my footsteps stopped in

early in the

off of things, but having walked a couple of steps out of my

"This is good too..."

moment was to clear my