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.

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

"I see."

tapping of Kevin's foot became more prominent. This was an obvious indication to me that he

going on with

is up with you? Don't drag

having

off. But I wasn't the least bit

"Visions?"

ever having visions

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

type of visions were

sure, but I've written them down. Take a look for yourself and

out a small book from his dimensional space before handing it

my hand, I took the book. Although I was

'Let's see.'

more time, I lowered my head

is this serious,

"...What the?"

opening the book. Why would I? I didn't think there would be

Akashic records? Black-clothed guy?

confusion on my face became. That was because I didn't know any of the things that were written

essentially an entity that acted as the gods of this world, yet at the same time couldn't be considered gods. It was a confusing concept that I decided to add near the end

about the Akashic records till

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

My head throbbed.

the world

butterfly effect of my actions had pushed forward a couple of plot points several times ahead of where they should've been. Sucked, but it was nothing new. Happened many times in the past and so I was able to quickly recompose

Flip—!

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

to this if you hadn't been so compassionate, I hope her death can finally set your mind

piece you are, a piece should

will finally clear your

looking back

my mouth repeatedly, I didn't know what to say. It felt as

head and once again reading the book, my hands

"It can't be..."

muttered in disbelief as I shook

of speaking...and those words...that's definitely

it

my direction throughout the whole time, Kevin finally spoke

and pointing at

person in the vision was

"This..."

in the book reminded me an awful lot of me...or

"No, it can't be."

horrifying thoughts

you figure something

asked from the side. But I didn't respond. I was too immersed in my

'...Monarch's indifference.'

mind as I re-read the passage multiple times. I swallowed a mouthful of

had my reservation about using it. Not only did it feel as though I would lose all control of my body, but it also felt as

aside...now that I look back, my chess ideology did not stem from

that the ideologies that were being implanted inside of my head came from the moment I met the previous Ren, but that wasn't

moment I met the other Ren. Maybe that was why I

down my

"Huuu..."

a deep breath, I tried to look back at any of the incidents revolving around me using

incident that particularly stood out to

activated it to save Kevin. More specifically, the

really

this nagging feeling inside of my head that never

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

shook my head, trying to dispel

to make sense, but something about that incident really bugged me

many of the big incidents that had occurred to me felt kind of forced...almost as though