The Author's POV

"What, what has gotten into you?"

Margaret looked at Kevin with a helpless expression. Johnatan, who was standing beside her, also wore a similar expression.

"Kevin, you know that we need to work, right? If we can't work, we won't be able to pay our bills and continue living in this house."

Standing in front of the door of the house and blocking the two of them from leaving was Kevin, who still wore the same expressionless look on his face.

If there was one thing that was different about him, however, was that his eyes weren't as detached from reality like in the past.

Of course, this wasn't a change that Kevin was aware of as he currently stood in front of the door and stopped the two of them from leaving.

"Do not go to work today."

"...Can you tell us why?"

Rather than being angry at Kevin's behavior, the two of them bent down and caressed his head.

Kevin's face didn't change at their touch, and he repeated.

"Do not go outside today."

"Yes, we understand that you don't want us to go outside today. But is there a reason?"

Margaret asked, her face completely calm and devoid of any frustration.

The same was true for Johnatan, who sat on the ground outside the small apartment and curiously looked at Kevin.

Seeing that he had gotten their attention, Kevin didn't say anything and hugged Margaret by the neck, startling her completely.

It wasn't just her that was startled; his father, Jonathan, was also startled and also somewhat jealous.

Both of them looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

Their reactions were understandable. After all, this was the very first time in his life that Kevin showed any glimmer of affection toward the two of them, and they were naturally taken aback.

'They might listen to me if I do this...'

On the other hand, Kevin had different thoughts, as the sole reason for hugging them was to manipulate them into listening to his request.

Since he couldn't reveal to them the exact reason why they couldn't go to work today, he could only try this method, which, in all fairness, seemed to be working quite well as the two of them started hesitating about going to work.

Of course, Kevin knew that this wasn't enough for him to convince them completely.

It was hence why he reached out for his pocket and took out a 50 U banknote.

"...I found this outside."

Contrary to Kevin's expectations, the faces of the couple changed completely the moment he took out the banknote and immediately asked.

"Where did you get that from, Kevin?"

"Don't tell me that you stole it, Kevin? You know that stealing is bad, right? Although our financial situation is not good, we would rather starve than steal."

Under the barrage of questions, Kevin merely cocked his head and answered.

"I didn't steal it."

It was actually a lie. This note was, in fact, the same note from the bald guy from a while back.

When everything was said and done, and his mother handed him the money, Kevin secretly found the man and killed him, taking away all of his possessions.

felt a weird emotion while

wasn't an emotion he was familiar with, but he recalled thinking

was one thing he was sure about, it was that the man needed to at least

what Kevin did

of horror on the man's face as he

didn't care at all

last moments before his death, Kevin looked at him with the same expression that he had previously

One of utter disgust.

where did you get this

sounding a

head to stare at his father, Kevin

it up from the

indeed

lying

"No."

his head, his

the two stared at each other without saying anything before Jonathan eventually sighed and stood

trust my son. Since he is going this far to stop us from leaving, I guess I won't go to work today. Let me

back into the house, leaving Kevin alone

eventually flashed a warm smile and

We won't go to

his mother stood up and headed for the kitchen. Pulling down her sleeves, she murmured

have time, I might as well make

"..."

a fleeting moment, Kevin started to regret his actions. It was only a

he didn't want either one of his parents to die. At least, not until he understood

a while, they had been bugging him, and he wanted nothing more than to understand them, for they may be

wooden door of the house, Kevin thought

from

while he was coming back from kindergarten, which was quite far from

to bring him there,

this area wasn't affected by the demon attack since it was further away from the inner

least, that was

Bang―! Bang―!

Kevin somewhere

around his waist, dragging him away from his house, which was rapidly getting engulfed by the flames, Kevin felt the world around him move in slow motion as his brain stopped working for

in here. Make sure you don't make any sound,

Clank―!

but

his mind, he was standing in front of the corpse of his

in front of them for who knew how long, and

to touch his cheek, he found that his finger had been

his finger,

"Why?"

***

to leave the village for

was presented with the same

died at the hands of Jezebeth. This time,

killed all of them, he was already exhausted, and all it took was a single finger for Jezebeth

and Kevin found himself back in the

he decided to

parents and how they died in his previous regressions, Kevin decided to approach things differently...he wanted to understand what he felt during his previous

something that had been haunting him for his entire third life, and he

decided to go directly

out of the city, they would easily be able to avoid

was still a lot weaker than the demons. Had it

out of the village? Is there