"How pathetic..."

Looking back at those two emotionless eyes, Jin's mouth opened and closed a couple of times.

...Though he tried, no words came out from his mouth.

-Thud!

Kneeling on the ground, Jin lowered his head and stared at his blood-soaked clothes.

Those words hit him straight into the heart.

No matter how much he wanted to refute...he couldn't.

He couldn't even defeat a bunch of nobodies, and yet he dreamt of people erecting statues of him?

'How pathetic'

...No other words better matched how Jin felt at the moment.

Expresionesly staring at Jin's sorry figure, Ren spoke

"Is this all your pride amounts to?"

"..."

Staring at the ground, Ren's words went from one ear to the other...the world around Jin became dyed black and white, and all sound around him became faint.

Seeing Jin's state, walking next to him, Ren looked down on him

"So this is the real Jin Horton huh?"

An insecure brat with an overly inflated ego.

That's who Jin Horton was...

Only in his darkest moment did his true personality become evident.

People around him thought of him as a genius and a prodigy.

They lauded his talents and efforts continuously...but in the end, all that did was fuel his ego and insecurities.

Just like a castle made out of cards, all it took was a simple push, and everything came crashing down.

-Bam!

Staring at Jin's sorry figure for a couple more seconds, Ren raised his foot and kicked him in the stomach.

"kaahhh.."

Feeling a strong force on his abdomen, Jin curled on the ground as he gagged multiple times.

"To think your pride only amounted to this much...all it took was a couple of setbacks and this is the result...pathetic"

Walking over to Jin, Ren grabbed him by the hair and dragged his face towards his.

"You disappoint me"

-Pa!

Slapping Jin on the face once, Ren released his hair and flung him to the side as if he was a piece of garbage.

"I honestly couldn't care less if you died, but..."

Looking at Jin's pathetic figure for a couple of more seconds, Ren turned around and headed towards the exit of the room.

As he left, in an almost inaudible voice, he mumbled

"...I didn't want to discard such an important chess piece"

Watching Ren's figure leaving, leaning against the wall, Jin looked up and weakly said

"Y-ou y-our that guy called Ren Dover right?"

"..."

As if he didn't hear Jin's voice, Ren kept walking towards the exit of the room.

Taking Ren's silence as confirmation, bitterly smiling, Jin looked down and softly mumbled

"It's you isn't it?"

haha.

Who would've thought another person stronger than he had shown up...

Though he didn't know the full extent of his power, he knew he killed those two black-clad individuals in a matter of seconds.

It was so fast that even he, someone who specialized in speed, couldn't react...

If even he couldn't react to it, didn't that mean he was stronger than him?

Looking up at the ceiling of the room, Jin covered his eyes with his arm

"Why is this happening to me? What did I deserve for this to happen?"

...Yet again his pride took another dent.

Just when he thought he was closer to his goal, another obstacle showed up to screw up his plan.

-Bang!

Fiercely punching the ground, Jin screamed

"Tell me why!! Why is this happening to me??"

Hearing Jin's hysterical screams, Ren's footsteps halted. Looking back at him, he said

"Why shouldn't this be happening to you?"

Fiercely staring at Ren, Jin glared at him and said

"kh...what do you know! you wouldn't understand!"

Indifferently looking at Jin, Ren opened his mouth and coldly said

"Why wouldn't I understand?...What did you actually do to make yourself stronger? Train? Spar? or suck onto your family's wealth and fame?"

"What ar--"

Before Jin could open his mouth to refute, cutting Jin off, Ren continued

"Did you ever fight with your life on the line? Did you actually ever think about what the others had to sacrifice in order to get to where they were now? You keep comparing yourself to Kevin, but do you even know what he went through to get to where he is now? You're not worthy of comparing yourself to him"

Every main character had their own setbacks.

Kevin from a very young age fought with his life on the line, Amanda was alone for the most part of her life...Emma and Melissa too had their very own setbacks that shaped who they were now.

Yet, despite all of those setbacks, they fought through it and got to where they were now.

Jin?

What setbacks did he ever face?

With his family shielding him, Jin comfortably lived his life as a rich second-generation young master that was continuously fed the best resources.

He always had an easy life with no setbacks or reality checks that helped him mature. He was merely an overgrown child with childish ambitions...

What right did he have to be prideful and claim to be the best?

Hearing's Ren's words, Jin fiercely glared at him and shouted

"Are you telling me all my effort wasn't worth crap?"

All the blood sweat and tears he shed when he trained? All the days where he would sacrifice his sleep to train and become stronger...Was that all useless?

Without looking at Jin, Ren looked at the room. Pointing towards the black-clad individuals he coldly said

"What does it matter if it was useful or not? In the end, you're the one that almost got killed by a bunch of nobodies..."

Taking a couple of seconds to look at the room which was now a mess, Jin looked at the corpses of the black-clad individuals in the room and clenched his fist.

"Ggggg bullshit! you've blabbering nonsense since coming here, what do you know!"

Holding his stomach, with the aid of the wall, Jin weakly stood up

"You know nothing about me nor what I've been through! What I did to get to where I am. How much effort I put to get to where I was...khh"

Moving one step at a time, jin walked in Ren's direction

"How dare you come to me and talk to me as if you know anything about me? What do you know about me!?"

The closer he got to Ren, the more powerful his voice became.

"Who are you to criticize me when you hide your power like a sewer rat? Tell me!"

Remaining silent, and ignoring Jin's words as he slowly moved closer in his direction, Ren's face remained expressionless.

There was not a once of anxiety nor fear on his face...just pure indifference.

"Acting as if you know me..."

One step at a time, Jin slowly made his way towards Ren.

-Halt

Stopping in front of Ren, Jin looked at him straight into the eyes and shouted

"You have no right to talk to me like that when you know nothing abou-kkhhh!"

Staring at Jin who was only a few inches away from him, Ren extended his hand forward and grabbed his neck.

"uh?--kghhh"

Raising his body in the air, Ren coldly said

"For someone who acts all mighty all the time, you don't seem that impressive to me..."

"Khhhh...let go!"

Suddenly being lifted in the air by Ren, Jin struggled to speak as he swung his legs in the air.

"It's useless..."

Firming his grip on Jin's neck, Ren looked at him in the eyes and spoke

"When you sleep, when you eat, or when you're doing whatever you are doing...I want you to remember this moment...I want you to remember my hand at your throat as you heavily gasp for air and powerlessly lay in my grip..."

Pausing, whilst retaining his hold of Jin's neck, Ren emotionlessly looked at Jin who kept trying to free himself from his grip

"Khhh...damn it! Let go!"

...in the end, no matter what Jin tried to do, he couldn't free himself from Ren's grip. All he could was scream and curse helplessly.

"khhh"

Increasing the strength of his grip to shut Jin up, Ren continued

"...Engrave this moment inside of your mind...Realise that no one cares about that stupid pride of yours...whilst everyone around you is getting stronger, you're the only getting weaker."

"For your whole life...I want you to remember this moment...this humiliation...remember the moment where your pathetic self almost lost to a bunch of henchmen...remember me, Ren Dover beating you!"

The more he listened to Ren's powerful voice, the less Jin struggled.

Eventually, he stopped struggling altogether

Never before had he ever felt so weak...

Feeling the strong grip on his neck, Jin realized at this moment how truly weak he was

The more Ren spoke, the more Jin wanted to deny what he was saying. He wanted with all his being to release himself from his grip and beat him to a pulp

'How dare you?'

'I'll kill you'

'Just wait for the moment we return back to the academy, I'll ruin your life!'

All sorts of vengeful thoughts crossed his mind as he thought of the moment when he would free himself from his grip.

As long as he got free, he would definitely...

Pausing his thoughts for a second, Jin had a sudden thought.

He would be able to get free, right?

There was no way Ren was going to kill him...It's not like he would kill a fellow student, right?

...Staring back at those two emotionless eyes that seemed to be able to read through his soul, Jin shuddered.

'What's this?"

Feeling his hands shake, Jin felt an unfamiliar emotion wash over him.

An emotion that not even when almost dying did he feel....fear.

Looking back at those emotionless eyes, Jin felt naked. Almost as if every secret and thing about himself were laid bare before Ren's eyes to see.

Trembling, Jin put his hands on Ren's forearms and pleaded

"Khhh...s-top!"

Ignoring Jin's pleas, Ren's grip on Jin's throat increased even more

"...discard that pathetic pride of yours if you ever want to get revenge for today"

"Khh--ahh"

Trying one last futile attempt to get oxygen in his system, Jin's face became blue and eventually, he passed out.

Seeing Jin passing out, Ren loosened the grip of his throat.

...Although his actions might come back and bite him in the future, he did what needed to be done.

Under the influence of [Monarch's indifference], Ren cared nothing for his own feelings.

It didn't matter what sort of actions this moment would cause to him in the future.

In his eyes, at the moment, such small setbacks weren't something he cared for.

Under the effects of [Monarch's indifference] Ren viewed everything pragmatically...his every action was for his goal and his goal only.

...and to him, a broken chess piece was just as useless as a dead chess piece.

As he spoke to Jin, Ren's every word and action was carefully thought of.

Even under the effect of [Monarch's indifference], Ren's memories as an author didn't disappear.

Meaning that he knew Jin's character well...

He knew about his insecurities and everything about him, from his pride to his circumstances...

For someone as prideful as Jin, the more you insulted him, the more fuel you added to the fire.

Entering Jin's room, Ren saw a broken Jin.

It was as if he was looking at a dying flame...a flame that had no more fuel to burn upon.

...Everything Ren did at the moment was trying to reignite that flame.

Only by truly humiliating him and breaking his pride into pieces could he make Jin return to normal.

From the way Ren saw things, if things continued as they were, Jin's future would've been bleak.

Though his actions may result in Jin hating him, Ren didn't care.

What mattered to him was for Jin to return back to normal and for the story to continue as it should...

He tried everything he could to fix Jin...and now, only time would tell if his efforts paid off.

-Click!

Just as Ren was about to release his grip on Jin's throat, he heard a clicking sound from behind him.

Turning his head around, towards the direction of where the sound came from, Ren saw the door slowly opening...and appearing from the other side of the door was Kevin's figure.

Entering the room, Kevin froze.

Looking at Jin who was being held by the neck, Kevin slowly looked at the person who was holding him.

...then, his eyes met Ren's