The Author's POV

Chapter 87: Past, Present, and Future [3]

-Swooosh!

Extending his hand forward and swiping right, the scene before me changed once again. This time, instead of a classroom, it was right outside Ren's house.

Standing outside of Ren's house, Ren and Matthew stood before each other.

Compared to before, Matthew's demenour was completely different. If before he was gloomy and lonely, he now looked like an outstanding and refined young man. His very presence screamed elegance.

His warm eyes and voice would instantly cause everyone who met him to have a good impression of him.

…A stark contrast to before.

Smiling, Matthew took out two transparent potions from his pocket and showed them to Ren.

"Hey Ren, my dad was extremely happy with my results recently and he gave me two advanced potions!"

"What! How did you even get a hold of such expensive potions?"

Opening his eyes wide, Ren couldn't help but look at the two potions with a hint of envy.

It had to be noted that a single advanced potion could go for tens of millions of U. That's how expensive they were. Moreover, compared to intermediate ones, they were much more efficient.

No wonder Ren was surprised…

Scratching the back of his head and chuckling, Matthew said

"Well, I really did please my father this time. After he gave them to me, he said that it was a good investment into my future"

"…damn, I'm getting jealous here. I haven't even tried an intermediate potion, let alone an advanced one"

Nodding his head multiple times, extending his hands, Matthew put both potions in Ren's hand.

"Yup I know, that's why I'm giving them to you…More precisely give them to your parents"

Stupefied, Ren's hands shook as he held onto those potions. With his eyes wide open, Ren's voice couldn't help but tremble

"W-what are you doing?"

"I'm giving them to you"

"D-dude, do you know how expensive these things are? what about you?"

Seeing Ren's state, Matthew couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hahaha, no worries. I already had one, it's the least I can do to repay your parents for having taken care of me over the years. If I had to be honest, they're like my second parents…"

-Crack!

"…Bullsh*t!"

Turning my head, I saw Ren beside me clenching his fist hard as his hands cracked. His face became incomparably dark as he stared at Matthew with pure hatred. Biting his lips, he coldly spat

"If you truly cared about them like they were your second parents you wouldn't have…damnit!"

Confused, I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but I decided to just watch the scene before me unfold. I was bound to find the answer sooner or later…

Staring at the two potions in his hands, Ren hesitated before looking back at Matthew and once again asking in a trembling voice.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah, just take it"

Staring at Matthew, and noticing his earnest expression. Ren shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, if you're so adamant about me taking them, refusing you will just be rude on my end"

"hahaha, you've made the right choice. Thank your parents when you give them the potions. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the man I am today"

Shaking his head, Ren smiled

"Sure, I will"

Waving his hand, with a big smile on his face, Matthew turned around and left the compound.

As Matthew turned around, the smile on his face slowly faded.

"I'm sorry best friend…"

-Swooosh!

Without looking at me, swiping right, once again, the scenery around me changed. Glancing at Ren who was beside me, though he returned to his usual indifferent self, I could visibly see his body shaking with every passing scene.

Almost as if he was trying his best to not give in to his emotions…

"Y-ou ho-w could you!!"

Kneeling on the ground, outside of what seemed to be a rooftop, Ren's figure appeared kneeling on the ground as he glared upwards. His eyes contained an unimaginable amount of hatred.

"how could I? Kuku, I don't know. I guess I was just bored…"

Staring at Ren's kneeling figure, Matthew tried to hold his laughter back, but he soon burst out laughing.

"ku,ku,ku, I'm sorry Ren…I really had no choice, ku,ku hahahahah"

Opening his eyes wide, Ren stared at Matthew who was laughing maniacally before him.

"h-how could you betray me like this!?"

-Bam

"khh…I can't!"

Turning his head away and placing his palm on the invisible wall, the memory paused. Clenching his teeth hard, Ren slowly spat

"…This was the day"

Trembling all over, Ren's fist and jaw clenched tightly as he glared in Matthew's direction with pure hatred.

"This was the day my life was r-uined!"

-Vuam!

Soon a thick red bloodlust started exuding from Ren's body as his eyes became bloodshot.

Frowning, and seeing Ren's current state, I grabbed his shoulder and tried to snap him out of it

"Ohi calm down, explain to me what happened"

-Shua!

Feeling his clothes getting tugged, forcefully trying to calm himself down, the bloodlust around Ren disappeared. Glancing in my direction he said

"huuu…Do you remember the potions he had given me in my previous memory?"

"Yeah"

Nodding my head, I remembered. How could I forget?

Even I wanted to try advanced potions once. However, with the price each one went for, I could only admire them from the distance.

"…They were cursed with a Mindbreaker curse"

Abruptly turning my head, I couldn't help but stare at Ren in shock.

"What! The mind breaker curse?!"

The mind breaker curse…one of the strongest curses a demon could cast.

Once cast. No matter how far, with a simple flick of their fingers, whoever was under the curse would die as soon as the demon deemed that they were no longer useful.

It was an especially scary curse as it was undetectable. You wouldn't realize you were cursed before it was already too late…

…a demon.

"huh?"

as my thoughts paused there, opening my eyes widely, I couldn't help but stare at Matthew in shock.

Seeing that I understood, glancing back towards Matthew, Ren slowly nodded.

"Yeah…Matthew had made a contract with a demon"

"what…ah…e"

Staring at Ren for a couple of seconds, I tried to say something, but in the end, no words came out of my mouth.

"I don't know what happened, but…ever since that last memory, Matthew changed. He became a completely different person…"

"At first I thought he was trying his best to move on, but…"

Trembling, Ren covered his mouth

"I-n t-the end I only realized till it was too late. By the time I realized something strange in his behavior…he had already fallen into the depths of depression and became a villain…completely losing his sense of reasoning"

"T-he best friend I knew was gone…"

Watching Ren struggle to speak, I remained silent.

Who knew that he had such a deep backstory…

His childhood friend whom he regarded as a brother turned into a villain and in doing so cursed both his parents…

"Khhhh…damnit!"

Glaring at Matthew's image in the distance Veins pooped from Ren's forehead, as his eyes turned bloodshot.

"…From that day, I was forced to do everything he asked me to do…be it sneak inside of my parent's room to give him secret information regarding the guild operations or any other sensitive information that costed the guild quite dearly…I did his bidding for him at the expense of my parent's guild."

Turning around, and looking at me in the eyes, he shouted

"Because I trusted him so much…I was the reason why my parent's guild fell that hard!"

"The 95 million U debt? All because of me leaking the secret deals that the guild was responsible for"

"All the friends I had made as soon as they noticed that my parent's guild was going downhill abandoned me…I soon became the school outcast."

"I was alone."

"I couldn't even glance at my parents in the eyes due to the immense guilt I felt every day…"

"Every day was like hell to me…"

Pausing, Ren smiled. But it wasn't a smile of happiness. No…it was a smile full of sadness and sorrow.

"I did have some hope though…I somehow managed to get accepted into the Lock."

"Suddenly, amidst the darkness, I saw a ray of hope…"

"…but that hope too was soon destroyed."

"D rank"

"That's w-hat they gra-ded my talent to be…Although my parents didn't show it, I-I knew they were distraught with the news as they had just borrowed 30 million U from the guild with the excuse of making an investment towards my future"

Glancing at the ground, Ren's eyes became hollow. His figure looked lonely and tragic…

"…and you know what? Despite knowing I wasn't talented, they still loved me just as much as before. Moreover, they still decided to pay for the admission fee for the Lock"

"That destroyed me…especially after what I had done"

Placing his hand over where his heart was, Ren clenched it

"With each passing second I lived, it felt like pieces of my heart were being torn…I-I…" -

-Pita! -Pita!

Grabbing onto my clothes, Ren stared at me as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"T-ake my body, I don't care. Heck, I don't care if I cease to exist after this…but p-lease save them…please! I beg yo-u! I-I can't…"

"fuuuuu…"

Exhaling, I closed my eyes.

Feeling Ren tugging my collar as he desperately looked at me with hope in his eyes, I expected such a request.

From the moment he spoke about his past, I knew this moment was about to come.

…However, I didn't expect his story to be this tragic

The Mindbreaker curse.

One of the most notorious curses in the human domain. The one curse that has no cure…and the very same curse his parents have.

Once someone was under the effect of Mindbreaker, their lives were no longer under their control.

Only upon death would they be able to free themselves from the curse.

…or at least that was until the latter half of the novel where Kevin manages to find the cure to the curse.

I knew where to find the cure…but in the process, I would be completely destroying the plotline that I worked so hard to protect.

A part of me wanted to just remain indifferent…

…However, memories of these past few days started flooding my mind like a broken dam.

Specifically the warmth I felt these past few days.

Although they weren't my real parents, I couldn't forget the care that they had given me the past few days.

Maybe my emotions were still under the influence of the old Ren, but…

As the warm faces of my new family replayed in my mind, opening my eyes, I looked at Ren and smiled

"Alright…"