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..."

had occurred right after meeting the previous Ren,

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

fidgeted all

definitely

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

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

that

the moment prior to meeting

before had I had such thoughts about treating everyone as a chess piece and having everything under my control.

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 me had

was forcing traits and different ideologies inside of

and crazy theory suddenly pierced through

My breathing evened out.

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

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

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

of my thoughts. Lowering my head, I looked at the message. It was

are you ready? Should I

"Haaa...haaa...."

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

[Yeah, that would do.]

I shut

"huuuu..."

a deep breath, I took my jacket and put on my face mask.

needed some fresh air to sort out my

thoughts were eating away at my

Ci Clank—!

behind me, I walked down

***

Ding—!

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

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

up straight, Kevin exhaled deeply. Covering his forehead with

in the world did I just

vision he

he remembered that at the moment he couldn't quite grasp what was happening

straight, Kevin was able to calm himself

me

of the black figure was 'Kevin', he

vision he saw, was not something he

a vision of the

his head back, Kevin stared at

back at the vision made his body

what

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

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

of Emma dying on him

"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

him an idea of what had happened.

Kevin was sure.

more tightly as anger rose within his

'...He needs to die.'

that scene. But there was only

slightly familiar

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

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

to discard such thoughts from his

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

"It couldn't be, right?"

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

to creep into

"Haaa...What do I do."

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

***

footsteps stopped in

I woke up from the 'dream' it was early in the

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..."

I needed at the moment was