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

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted

thought process...it definitely changed

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

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

did that

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

had such thoughts about treating everyone as a chess piece and having everything

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

forcing traits and different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies

crazy theory suddenly pierced through my

My breathing evened out.

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

my head repeatedly. It couldn't be. Yeah, there's no way something like that

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

my thoughts.

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

"Haaa...haaa...."

suppressed all the anxiety inside of me. Taking my communication

[Yeah, that would do.]

sending the message, I shut off the

"huuuu..."

took my jacket and put on my face mask. Then, I

some fresh air

were eating away

Ci Clank—!

behind me, I walked down

***

Ding—!

The first

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

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

the world

he

was because he remembered that at the moment he

up straight, Kevin was able to

was me

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

he saw, was not something he had ever experienced

that have been a

head back, Kevin stared at the white ceiling of the

at the vision

not the future, what

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

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

thought of Emma dying

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

of the figure were obscured and so

gave him an idea of what had happened. The man

Kevin was sure.

even more tightly as anger rose within his

'...He needs to die.'

scene. But there was only one problem, Kevin

slightly familiar

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

Ren? ...No, he

to discard such thoughts from

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

"It couldn't be, right?"

trying to deny what he saw, the confidence he had within him slowly

to creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

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

***

my footsteps stopped in front

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

couple of steps out of my residence, I subconsciously made my way

"This is good too..."

the moment