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..."

that had occurred right after meeting the previous Ren, a thought suddenly occurred to

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

hands fidgeted

process...it definitely changed after

but, didn't my personality change moments

I look back at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren, I started to get this weird idea that everything around me was a chess piece and

did that come

meeting the previous Ren,

treating everyone as a chess piece

past because I never felt it. I never felt the change...but now that I was looking back at them, from this new

though someone was forcing traits and different ideologies inside of

and crazy theory suddenly pierced

My breathing evened out.

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

believe that. I shook my head repeatedly.

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

my thoughts. Lowering my head, I looked at the

are you ready? Should I

"Haaa...haaa...."

me. Taking my communication device, I

[Yeah, that would do.]

sending the message, I

"huuuu..."

I took my jacket and put on my face

needed some fresh air to

thoughts were eating away at

Ci Clank—!

the door behind me, I walked down

***

Ding—!

eyes. The first thing

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

exhaled deeply. Covering his forehead with his hand, he supported his body with his

the world did I

vision he saw was

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

straight, Kevin was able to

me wasn't

the name of the black figure was 'Kevin', he didn't

vision he saw, was not

been a vision of

Kevin stared at the white

the vision made his

what else could it

he was about his analysis.

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

dying on him

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

figure were obscured and so was

gave him an idea of

Kevin was sure.

clenched even more tightly as anger rose within his

'...He needs to die.'

flashed with hatred as he recalled that scene. But there was only

slightly familiar

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

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

trying to

resemblances, Kevin knew Ren. He would never do

"It couldn't be, right?"

his many attempts at trying to deny what he saw, the confidence he had within him slowly crumbled

creep

"Haaa...What do I do."

with both hands. He really

***

it, my footsteps stopped in front of

up from the 'dream' it was early in the

but having walked a couple of steps

"This is good too..."

needed at the moment was to clear