The Author's POV

‘…Aren’t these the names of Ren’s parents?’

Kevin had only met them a handful of times and didn’t know them that well. The most vivid memory he had of them was seeing them cry at Ren’s funeral.

The image of Ren’s sister crying in front of his picture left a big impact on him.

‘It’s definitely their names, isn’t it?’

He couldn’t exactly remember them, but as he took note of their last names and the pain that was permeating through Ren’s chest, Kevin could tell that they were his parents.

The real question was, why were their names imprinted on the tombstone before him?

‘It doesn’t make sense.’

Last Kevin recalled, they were still alive and well. He didn’t remember hearing anything about Ren’s parents ever passing away.

‘How is this even possible…?’

Thud—!

Kevin’s vision suddenly lowered as he fell to his knees and the scenery around him shifted.

It began with a soft whisper in the air that tickled the ear. A colorless pearl fell to the ground, landing perfectly on one of the blades of grass beneath the magically darkened sky.

Pitter.

The sound was like the glassy clinking of a champagne flute, clear and lifting.

Pitter. Pitter.

Accompanying the first drop was a second, and then a third, and within seconds, a heavy curtain of rain fell to the ground.

Phut. Phut. Phut.

The noise on the surface of Ren’s clothes which were slowly getting drenched was like that of ripened nuts made when they hit the ground. It wasn’t like the soft, clear, mellow drops that were hitting the grass; it was like baseballs being thrown against a net. Louder and fiercer.

Ren clutched his chest with one hand and grasped the tombstones in front of him with the other, oblivious to the cold caused by drenched clothes.

Pitter. Pitter.

The plummeting rain masked Ren’s tears as he kept his head lowered and sobbed.

A fierce and sharp pain was invading Ren’s chest as he slowly opened his mouth and muttered

“…N..not again.”

In uttering those words, Kevin felt a pain that he had never experienced before, and he was struggling to keep his emotions in check as Ren’s emotions slowly began to affect him.

Ren’s words were followed by a shift in weather. It was sunny once again.

As the weather changed, Ren’s position did not change as he grasped onto the tombstones in front of him. The cold that was previously embracing his body was gone, and his clothes magically dried.

This time, the pain was even worse than before. It was unbearable. To the point that one might go insane from it.

“Why…why…why…”

Kevin murmured through Ren’s mouth. Ren’s voice reflected his genuine helplessness.

…And it was precisely because he could hear the helplessness in his voice that Kevin wondered.

‘Why is the weather changing? …And why did he say not again?’

While he wondered to himself, the world around him continued to shift, but…

With time passing and Kevin staring at Ren’s memories, he was shocked to realize that all the memories were basically the same; Ren mourning the loss of his family.

The only difference between the scenarios was perhaps the weather, the time, and the seasons. Other than that, nothing really changed.

It was the same funeral scenario being replayed in front of him, over and over again.

So Kevin thought until the scene changed again, and something suddenly occurred to him.

‘The pain…’

…The excruciating pain that was permeating through his chest whenever Ren looked at the tombstones.

‘It’s milder than before…no, rather, my emotions are becoming more and more numb.’

When Kevin realized that Ren’s emotions were changing, he focused all his attention on what he was feeling the entire time, and before he knew it, he was standing five meters away from the tombstones.

He was no longer kneeling like in the past.

Weather and season changed repeatedly in the background; sometimes it would snow, sometimes it would be sunny, and sometimes it would be late at night.

Amidst the changes in scenery, Kevin realized that the agonizing pain he was feeling had completely vanished, replaced by an absolute feeling of emptiness.

All he felt was nothing.

Not even a shred of emotion.

‘How many times has the weather changed?’

Shifting his attention away from what he was feeling, Kevin realized that he had lost count of how many times the scenery had changed. He had been so absorbed trying to imprint what Ren was feeling inside of his mind, that he had long lost count of how many times the world around him had changed.

However, in spite of that, if there was one thing he was certain about, it was that the scenery changed more than a hundred times.

For one hundred times, Kevin watched as Ren attended his own family funeral over and over again.

‘He’s finally moving.’

At some point,, Ren finally moved his body that used to stare at the gravestones of his family members while his emotions numbed.

‘…Eh?

Suddenly, Kevin was faced with a scene that was even more shocking as his mind froze over.

Especially after hearing a familiar voice and seeing a familiar face.

“What is wrong with you? Do you not feel anything?”

Slowly heading in his direction, was…

‘Is that me?’

When Kevin saw a figure that looked strikingly like him, he was shocked. The only thing that was different about him was that he looked older than he did at present, but Kevin recognized him at once.

It was himself.

‘But how is that possible?’

Kevin could not recall any of the things he was seeing. He never recalled attending a funeral in which Ren’s family died…so why was he here?

“I’ve watched you just dumbly staring there without any sign of emotion on your face. I get that you are probably shocked by what happened, but it doesn’t even look like you care at all about the fact that everyone’s dead!”

Kevin suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

‘What’s going on?’

When Kevin looked at himself and saw the anger and sorrow on his face, he was once again confused.

Why was he reacting this way?

“Speak damn it!”

Grasping onto Ren’s collars, Kevin felt his body shake as his other self shook his body in a fit of anger.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

Tears began to flow down his cheeks as he cursed.

His sudden actions startled Kevin. He was now starting to doubt whether this was really him as he simply couldn’t understand why Kevin was reacting the way that he was.

“Do you seriously not feel anything when everyone has died?”

Letting go of Ren’s clothes, Kevin pushed him backward. Stumbling a couple of steps back, Kevin watched as his other self dropped to the ground. Grasping the grass beneath him, his eyes were filled with sorrow.

“D..Did they really mean nothing to you?”

It was right as the other Kevin dropped to the ground that, Kevin caught a glimpse of what was behind him…and it was then that he saw what appeared to be even more tombstones.

The numbers were countless…

‘N-o way…’

Reading the names engraved on the tombstones, Kevin felt his heart drop.

[Emma Roshfield] [Amanda Stern] [Jin Horton] [Melissa Hall]….

‘Wh..hat is happening?’

The sudden appearance of the other’s tombstones shook Kevin to the core as he didn’t know how to react. Just what in the world was going on?

He didn’t have much time to dwell on this as Kevin felt Ren’s body patting himself on his clothes to wipe off any dirt that lay there. Slowly, he stood up.

Fixing his clothes, he directed his gaze toward Kevin who was kneeling on the ground.

Walking up to him, Ren slowly knelt to meet him in the eyes.

“Kevin.”

He called out for him. His voice sounded rather cold; devoid of any emotions.

Heeding his call, Kevin slowly raised his head.

Placing his hand on his shoulders, Ren patted him on his shoulder.

“…You asked why I don’t feel anything when I see that everyone we care about has died, right?”

“Ah, no. I…I just said that in the heat of the moment. I didn’t really mean my wo—”

Before Kevin could finish his sentence, Ren brought his face near Kevin’s ear and whispered.

“…Because I killed them.”

“Wha—”

Crack—!

Before Kevin could react, Ren squeezed his hand over Kevin’s neck, and a cracking sound echoed.

Thump.

With a low thump, Kevin’s body lifelessly fell to the ground.

In the meantime, Ren slowly helped his body up and apathetically stared at Kevin’s body before murmuring.

“Time to restart.”

The scene around him shifted.

***

Bang—!

A fist casually swung to the right, and black blood sprayed everywhere. For the next second, a black orb floated in the air.

Crack—!

Reaching out for the core, Han Yufei shattered it in his hand.

Breaking the core into pieces, he looked ahead of him. He was currently in what seemed to be a large storage room.

The place was about half the size of a tennis field, and all sorts of equipment and devices seemed to be stored there.

While his gaze swept over the equipment, he took a moment to close his eyes and channel the mana inside of his body.

The entire room was enveloped in a small hue.

“This is not it as well.”

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes again and shook his head.

He furrowed his brows tightly.

“…Where exactly is my stuff?”

At the moment, he was looking for his dimensional space alongside Ren’s and the others.

This was his task.

As Han Yufei’s dimensional space was one bound to his soul, he was the only one that could find where they were located. The only problem was that they seemed to be stored in a special container of sorts, blocking him from knowing exactly where it was unless he came close to it.

“I have already searched most of the lower floors, and I still can’t seem to find it here. Maybe it’s on the higher floors? I might end up meeting with the others…”

Ren and the others were currently on the second upper level, which was on the way.

Massaging his neck, Han Yufei unclenched his hand and black powder fell onto the ground. It was the powder that came as a result of the cracked core.

Massaging his fist, he looked at the room one last time before leaving.

“Alright, since there is nothing here, it’s best if I leave.”