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.

sure how he would react. There was a high chance

"I see."

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

going on

Don't drag it

been having visions

cut me off. But I wasn't the least bit mad as his

"Visions?"

recall Kevin ever having visions in the novel.

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

of

I've written them down. Take a look for yourself and tell me if

out a small book from his

hand, I took the book. Although

'Let's see.'

my head and directed my focus on

Kevin is this serious, it must be

"...What the?"

expectations when opening the book. Why would I? I didn't think there would be anything I didn't know, but I was quickly proven wrong as my hands

remnant? Akashic records? Black-clothed

That was because I didn't know any of the things that

time couldn't be considered gods. It was a confusing concept that I decided to add

find out about the Akashic

that he was currently experiencing were also not part

My head throbbed.

the world is

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

Flip—!

through the passage,

hadn't been so compassionate, I hope

of a piece you are, a piece should

will

looking back at me with

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

my head and once again reading

"It can't be..."

in disbelief as I shook my

speaking...and

it too

direction throughout the whole time, Kevin finally

his hand and pointing at the

the vision was you, wasn't

"This..."

the book reminded me an awful lot of me...or rather, me under the influence of

"No, it can't be."

muttered out loud as horrifying thoughts flashed across my

figure

the side. But I didn't respond. I was

'...Monarch's indifference.'

repeatedly rang inside of my mind as I re-read the

always 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 though my actions were somehow getting controlled

my chess ideology did not stem from meeting the previous Ren but from using

from the moment I met

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

ran down my

"Huuu..."

to look back at any of the incidents revolving around me using

incident that particularly stood out

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

goal was saving Kevin...but was it really a fluke? It had to be, didn't it? After all, under Monarch's Indifference, all

there was this nagging feeling inside of my head that never

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

shook my head, trying

to make sense, but something

felt kind of forced...almost as though someone was trying to