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,

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

fidgeted all

definitely changed

didn't my

at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren, I started to

that come

the moment prior to meeting the previous Ren, everything I did was completely different. My personality was

before had I had such thoughts about treating everyone as a chess piece and

too much thought into it in the past because I never felt it. I never felt the change...but now that I was looking back

though someone was forcing traits and different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies that I had never

and crazy theory suddenly

My breathing evened out.

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

that. I shook my head repeatedly. It couldn't be. Yeah, there's no

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

of my thoughts. Lowering my

Should I come to pick you guys up tomorrow

"Haaa...haaa...."

I suppressed all the anxiety inside of me. Taking my communication device, I quickly sent back

[Yeah, that would do.]

the message, I shut off the

"huuuu..."

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

air to

were eating away

Ci Clank—!

behind me, I walked down

***

Ding—!

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

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

with his hand, he supported his

the world did

he saw

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

straight, Kevin was

me

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

not something he had ever experienced

been a vision of the

head back, Kevin stared at the

at the vision made

what else

it, the more certain he was

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

of Emma dying on him hurt

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

were obscured and so was his

in his hands already gave him an

Kevin was sure.

fists clenched even more tightly as anger

'...He needs to die.'

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

felt slightly

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

Ren? ...No,

quickly shook his head, trying to

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

"It couldn't be, right?"

at trying to deny what he saw, the confidence he

creep into his

"Haaa...What do I do."

both hands. He really did not know what to believe in at

***

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 going around the city to

of steps out of my residence, I subconsciously made

"This is good too..."

I needed at the moment was