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 found out any of those secrets, I wasn't too sure how he would react. There was a high chance that a rift could form between us, creating

"I see."

was an obvious indication to me that he was

going on with

with you? Don't drag it out,

having visions

me off. But I wasn't the least

"Visions?"

having visions in the novel. Another

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

type of

written them down. Take a

out a small book from his dimensional space before

my hand, I took the book.

'Let's see.'

time, I lowered my head and directed my focus on the book in

this serious,

"...What the?"

initially didn't have many 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

remnant? Akashic records? Black-clothed

because I didn't know any of the things 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 of the

to find out about the Akashic

that but the visions that he was currently experiencing were

My head throbbed.

the world is

points several times ahead of where they should've been. Sucked, but it was nothing new. Happened

Flip—!

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

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

how important of a piece you are, a piece should

this will finally clear

looking back at

say. It felt as though a lump was stuck in my throat, preventing

again reading

"It can't be..."

disbelief as

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

it too

in my direction throughout the whole time, Kevin finally spoke

pointing

the vision

"This..."

man described in the book reminded me an awful

"No, it can't be."

as horrifying thoughts

you figure something

from the side. But I didn't respond.

'...Monarch's indifference.'

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

the first time I got Monarch's indifference, I had 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

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

inside of my head came from the moment I met the previous Ren, but that wasn't true

Ren. Maybe that was why I never noticed it, and only noticed

down

"Huuu..."

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

incident that particularly stood out to

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

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 it? After all,

inside of my head that never

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

my head, trying to dispel

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

had occurred to me felt kind of forced...almost as though someone was trying to manipulate the path that I needed to take. I couldn't quite explain