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.

a high chance that a rift could form between us, creating some unnecessary drama that I

"I see."

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

on with

Don't drag it out, tell

been having visions

off. But I wasn't the least bit mad as his words instantly attracted my

"Visions?"

ever having visions in the novel.

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

type of visions

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

to take out a small book from his dimensional space before handing it

book. Although I was confused, I

'Let's see.'

head and directed my focus

Kevin is this serious, it

"...What the?"

Why would I? I didn't think there would be anything I didn't know, but I was quickly proven

Akashic records? Black-clothed guy?

didn't know any of the things that were written

couldn't be considered gods. It was

to find out about the Akashic records till later in the

was currently experiencing were also

My head throbbed.

the

should've been. Sucked, but it was nothing new. Happened many times in the past and so I was able

Flip—!

the passage, my eyes opened wide

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

are, a piece

hope this will finally

Kevin who was looking back at me with a serious look on

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

once again

"It can't be..."

disbelief as

of speaking...and

it too

the whole time, Kevin finally

and pointing

in the vision

"This..."

man described in the book reminded

"No, it can't be."

out loud as horrifying thoughts flashed across my

you figure something

didn't respond. I was too immersed

'...Monarch's indifference.'

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

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

did not stem

the moment I

the other Ren. Maybe that was why I never noticed

down

"Huuu..."

I tried to look back at any of the incidents revolving around me using Monarch's

incident that particularly

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

saving Kevin...but was it really a fluke? It had to be,

there was this nagging feeling inside of my head that never

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

shook my head, trying to

theory was just too far-fetched to make sense, but

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