The Author's POV

After Hein's match, there were a couple of more matches, but none interested me, so I just made small talk with the others in order to pass time.

Fortunately, Hein's match was one of the very last ones as the round of 128 finally came to an end after one last big battle.

Though I said big, it was only like that because the two opponents facing each other were of similar strength and so was very entertaining to watch.

"This will be it for today's matches. I hope the contestants will take this time to rest for tomorrow's matches." The elven lady once again said as she showed up on the stage. Following her words, everyone stood up and left the premises.

Similarly standing up, just as I was about to follow the others out, Kevin came up to me. He had a serious look on his face.

Instantly my brows knit.

"...what's wrong?"

"Ren, we need to talk."

There was undeniable solemness in his voice as he spoke to me. Glancing around to make sure that the others had left, I slowly nodded.

Kevin wasn't the type of guy to act like this unless there really was something wrong. As such, I knew that the situation was serious.

"Where should we talk?"

"Your apartment."

"...my apartment?"

"Yeah. It's the place that has the least amount of people nearby."

"Fair."

And so we decided to head to my apartment to talk. The walk wasn't long as within ten minutes we were already there, but it was strangely uncomfortable as I felt this weird tension coming out from Kevin's face.

His face reminded me of someone who was just about to go to war.

Ci Clank—

Opening the door of my apartment and letting Kevin in, I slumped down on one of the chairs of the room.

Kevin shortly followed suit as he sat on the seat opposite of me.

"..."

An uncomfortable silence descended on the room as Kevin leaned forward, with both his arms on his thighs. Interlocking his hands together, Kevin's foot repeatedly tapped onto the ground.

Seeing that Kevin was having difficulty speaking, I decided to break the silence.

"...So? What did you want to talk about?"

Lifting his head, Kevin looked up at me.

"Say..."

His brows furrowed even more tightly.

"...do you perhaps have a secret that you can't tell me?"

"A secret?"

I was taken aback by his abrupt question.

'Did he find something out?...and isn't that rather vague?'

I had plenty of secrets, and so I wasn't really sure about which one he was referring to.

Nodding his head, Kevin's crimson red eyes continue to gaze in my direction.

"Yeah, do you have any secrets that you can't tell me?"

Leaning back, and deeply gazing into Kevin's eyes, I eventually nodded my head.

"...There are."

The fact that this world was a novel, the book, my skills, I had plenty of secrets that I couldn't tell him.

he would react. There was a high chance that a rift could form between us, creating some unnecessary

"I see."

was an obvious indication

going on

is up with you? Don't drag it out,

been having

wasn't the least bit mad as his words instantly attracted

"Visions?"

visions in the novel. Another butter-fly

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

of

a look for

from his dimensional space before handing it to

the book. Although I was confused,

'Let's see.'

my head and

serious, it must be

"...What the?"

think there would be anything I didn't know, but I was

records? Black-clothed

any of the

essentially an entity that acted as the gods of this world, yet at the same time couldn't be considered gods. It

to find out about the Akashic records till later in the

only that but the visions that he was currently experiencing were also not part

My head throbbed.

the world

a couple of plot points several times ahead of where they should've been. Sucked, but it was

Flip—!

saying anything, I flipped to the next page. Reading through the passage, my eyes opened

to resort to this if you hadn't been so compassionate, I hope her death can

a piece you are, a piece should act as a piece should

will finally

at Kevin who was looking back

mouth repeatedly, I didn't know what to say. It felt as though a lump was

head and once again reading

"It can't be..."

disbelief as I shook

way of speaking...and those

felt it too

gazing in my direction throughout the whole time, Kevin finally

his hand and pointing at the book,

in the vision

"This..."

I couldn't. The man described in the book reminded me an

"No, it can't be."

loud as horrifying thoughts flashed across

figure something

didn't respond. I was too immersed

'...Monarch's indifference.'

rang inside of my mind as I re-read the passage multiple times. I swallowed

it. Not only did it feel as though I would lose all control of my body, but

I look back, my chess ideology did not stem from meeting the previous Ren but from using

came from the moment I met the previous Ren, but that wasn't true at all...they came the moment I used

got exponentially more prominent the moment I met the other Ren. Maybe that was why I never noticed it, and only noticed it now that I

down

"Huuu..."

look back at any of the incidents revolving around me using

that particularly stood

when I activated it to save Kevin. More specifically, the time when I

that leaving Aaron alive was merely a side-effect of Monarch's indifference since my goal was saving Kevin...but was it really a fluke? It had to be, didn't

inside of my head that

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

quickly shook my head, trying to dispel such

theory was just too far-fetched to make sense, but something about that incident really bugged

back about my past, many of the big incidents that had occurred to me felt kind of forced...almost as though someone was trying to manipulate the path that