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.

wasn't too sure how he would react. There was a high chance that a rift

"I see."

Kevin's foot became more prominent. This was an obvious indication to

going on with

drag

having

wasn't the least bit mad as his words

"Visions?"

Kevin ever having visions

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

type of visions

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

proceeded to take out a small book from his dimensional space

took the book. Although I was

'Let's see.'

my head and directed

serious,

"...What the?"

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

Akashic records? Black-clothed

because I didn't know any of the things that were written in

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

isn't supposed to find out about the Akashic records till later in the

that but the visions that he was currently experiencing were

My head throbbed.

in the

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

Flip—!

I flipped to the next page. Reading through the passage, my

wouldn't have had to resort to this if you hadn't been so compassionate,

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

hope this will finally clear your

head, I looked at Kevin who was looking back at me with a serious look on his

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

head and once again reading the book, my hands

"It can't be..."

disbelief as

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

it too

in my direction throughout the whole time, Kevin finally spoke

pointing at

vision was you, wasn't

"This..."

to deny his words with all my might...but I couldn't. The man described in the book reminded me an awful lot of me...or

"No, it can't be."

muttered out loud as horrifying thoughts flashed

figure something

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

'...Monarch's indifference.'

mind as I re-read

did it feel as though I would lose all control of my

chess ideology did not stem from meeting the previous Ren but from using Monarch's

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

the moment I met the other Ren. Maybe that was

down

"Huuu..."

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

one incident that particularly stood

I activated it to save Kevin.

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, under Monarch's Indifference,

was this nagging feeling inside of my head

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

shook my head,

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

incidents that 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