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..."

right after meeting the

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted

definitely changed after meeting

me before, but, didn't

but now that I look back at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren,

that

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

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

the change...but now that I was looking back at them, from this new perspective, it really did seem as

and different ideologies

and crazy theory suddenly

My breathing evened out.

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

head repeatedly. It couldn't

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

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

you ready? Should I come to pick you guys up tomorrow

"Haaa...haaa...."

my eyes, I suppressed all the anxiety inside of me. Taking my communication device,

[Yeah, that would do.]

sending the message, I shut off the communication

"huuuu..."

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

some fresh air

eating

Ci Clank—!

the door behind me, I walked

***

Ding—!

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

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

deeply. Covering his forehead with his

in the world did I

vision he saw

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

up straight, Kevin was able to calm

was me

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

was not something he

have been a vision

head back, Kevin stared at the white ceiling of the

at the

the future, what else

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

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

Emma dying on him hurt his very

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

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

flask in his hands already gave him an idea

Kevin was sure.

clenched even more tightly as anger

'...He needs to die.'

hatred as he recalled that scene. But there was only one

felt slightly familiar

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

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

quickly shook his head, trying to discard such

figures bore slight resemblances, Kevin knew Ren. He

"It couldn't be, right?"

to deny what he saw, the confidence he had within

creep into

"Haaa...What do I do."

both hands. He really did not know what to believe

***

footsteps stopped in

the 'dream' it was early in the morning. I thought about

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

"This is good too..."

needed at the moment was to clear