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 to

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

fidgeted

process...it definitely changed after meeting

to me before, but, didn't

the previous Ren,

did that

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

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

in the past because 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 as though something within

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

theory suddenly pierced through my

My breathing evened out.

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

my head repeatedly.

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

out of my thoughts. Lowering my head, I

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

"Haaa...haaa...."

me. Taking my communication device, I quickly

[Yeah, that would do.]

sending the message, I shut off

"huuuu..."

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

some fresh air to

thoughts were eating away

Ci Clank—!

behind me, I walked down the

***

Ding—!

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

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

exhaled deeply. Covering his forehead with

world did I

he

saw in the vision, and it was because he remembered that at the moment he couldn't quite grasp what was happening

Kevin was able

was me wasn't

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

saw, was not something he had

been a vision of

at

at the vision made his body

not the future, what else

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

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

thought of Emma dying on him hurt his

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

questioned. There was another part in the vision he saw. The features of the figure were obscured

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 was only one

slightly

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

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

trying to discard such thoughts from

Ren. He would never do

"It couldn't be, right?"

to deny what

started to creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

forward, Kevin covered his face with both hands. He really did not

***

my footsteps stopped

early in the morning. I

couple of steps out of

"This is good too..."

at the moment was to clear