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.

For some strange reason, Kevin felt a weird emotion while he looked for the man.

It wasn't an emotion he was familiar with, but he recalled thinking that a quick death wouldn't be enough for him.

Why exactly he was feeling that way, Kevin was still unsure...but if there was one thing he was sure about, it was that the man needed to at least know who had killed him.

...and it was exactly what Kevin did once he found him.

He could still visibly recall the look of horror on the man's face as he pleaded for his life.

Unfortunately for him, Kevin didn't care at all and killed him.

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

One of utter disgust.

"Then where did you get this from?"

Jonathan asked, his tone sounding a lot calmer than it initially was.

Lifting his head to stare at his father, Kevin answered.

"I picked it up from the ground."

This wasn't necessarily a lie. He had indeed picked up the note from the ground.

"...Are you lying to me, Kevin?"

"No."

Kevin shook his head, his face completely expressionless.

For the next minute, the two stared at each other without saying anything before Jonathan eventually sighed and stood up.

"Alright then. I 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 go give my boss a call today."

Scratching the back of his head, he left the room and went back into the house, leaving Kevin alone with his mother, who was staring back at him.

She eventually flashed a warm smile and caressed him on the head.

"Very well, Kevin. We won't go to work today."

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

"Alright then, since we have time, I might as well make my usual soup."

"..."

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

At the moment, he didn't want either one of his parents to die. At least, not until he understood the emotions that he was feeling.

For quite a while, they had been bugging him, and he wanted nothing more than to understand them, for they may be able to, in some way, help him defeat Jezebeth.

Turning around to stare at the wooden door of the house, Kevin thought to himself.

'Since the incident happens quite far from here, they should be safe for now.'

Back then, it happened while he was coming back from kindergarten, which was quite far from his house.

It was close to his father's job, which was why they chose to bring him there, but the distance from his house was still a couple of kilometers away.

Last he recalled, this area wasn't affected by the demon attack since it was further away from the inner city.

...At least, that was what Kevin thought.

Bang―! Bang―!

"Run! Bring Kevin somewhere safe! I'll ho―Akhhh!"

Watching his father get engulfed by flames as his body burned to a crisp right before his very eyes and feeling an arm wrap 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 a moment.

"Shhh....Kevin, hide in here. Make sure you don't make any sound, okay?"

Clank―!

...Same scene but a different scenario.

By the time Kevin regained clarity over his mind, he was standing in front of the corpse of his mother and what little remained of his father.

He just blankly stood in front of them for who knew how long, and something warm trickled down the side of his right cheek.

Raising his hand to touch his cheek, he found that his finger had been stained by one singular tear.

Staring at his finger, Kevin mumbled.

"Why?"

***

"You want to leave the village for a day?"

It was Kevin's fourth regression, and once again, he was presented with the same scenario as in the past.

Just like his previous regressions, he died at the hands of Jezebeth. This time, however, he was able to survive the onslaught of all the demons.

Unfortunately, by the time he had killed all of them, he was already exhausted, and all it took was a single finger for Jezebeth to get rid of him.

Time rewinded, and Kevin found himself back in the past once more.

This time, he decided to approach things differently.

Thinking about his 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 regression.

It was something that had been haunting him for his entire third life, and he was desperate to know the answer.

This time, Kevin decided to go directly out of the city.

By going out of the city, they would easily be able to avoid the demons.

Although Kevin was strong for his age, he was still a lot weaker than the demons. Had it not been for that, he would've done something himself about the demons.

"Why do you want to go out of the village? Is there something that's going on?"

"I want to go out. I've never been out."

Kevin flatly answered and pulled the same stunt as he did in his past life. He took out the banknote and flashed it before their eyes.

Similarly to his last life, the two of them looked startled at first when he pulled out the banknote but were able to quickly calm themselves down shortly after.

In the end, Kevin was able to achieve his goal, and his parents decided to bring him out of the city for half a day.

At this moment, they were all seated inside a large green bus.

The fare ticket for the three of them was 5U each, and in total, they spent 15U for the three of them.

Kevin gazed at the ever changing scenery outside of his window.

Reflected on the window was himself. His gaze fell on his own emotionless eyes that stared back at him, and time seem to slowly pass.

"Do you like what you see?"

It was his mother's voice that brought him out of his thoughts.

When Kevin turned his head to look at her, rather than answering her question, he asked something of his own.

"Why did you listen to my request?"

This was something that Kevin wanted to understand.

Although he had pulled out 50 U in order to convince them, he knew fairly well that they could've still chosen to go to work and delayed the trip to another day.

What he wanted to understand was why?

Why were they doing so much for him? It was really the records, wasn't it?

"Why did we listen to your request?"

Margaret seemed rather surprised by the sudden question. Meeting Kevin's line of sight, she smiled softly, and Kevin felt her hand caress his head once more.

By now, he had grown accustomed to this gesture of hers.

"Love is when one puts the needs of someone else before their own. Putting your needs above mine, is how I show you that I love you. Isn't that what every mother should do?"

'Love? Putting the needs of someone else before their own?'

Kevin blinked his eyes a couple of times, finding it difficult to understand exactly what she was trying to convey.

At the same time, Kevin felt that he got closer to the answer that he had been seeking, only that...

Creaaaaaa― Booom―!

Out of nowhere, the bus swerved toward the right before flipping over its head. Glass shattered, and the bus continued to roll on itself five more times.

By the time the bus stopped rolling, silence swept the surroundings, and Kevin looked around him, his ears ringing constantly.

"Mother? Father?"

The first thing that Kevin did when the situation stabilized was to look for his parents. Only for him to be shocked to see them lying on the ground without a single breath.

Kevin didn't need to look to understand that they were dead...

Throb!

When Kevin looked at the bodies of his mother and father, for some reason, he had the sensation that something heavy was pressing down on his chest.

...It hurt.

But before anything else, why did they die again?

At the same time, he also recalled the scene in which the man exported them 500 U, an eerely similar number to the one exported by the woman in the kindergarten in his first regression.

Was it a coincidence?