Sim helped Roman up to his feet. He could see Ethan clearly for the first time. His brown eyes stared blankly into his staring blankly into nothingness like he wasn't even fully conscious.

“Hey, you okay? What is going on here?” Sim asked.

[Welcome to the beta book of a useless man.]

His head began to hurt as he stared into Roman’s eyes. His head began to throb

simultaneously with a loud cracking sound. It sounded like something breaking apart. Suddenly

Ethan vanished before Sim’s eyes, disappearing without a trace. He opened his mouth and gasped for air only to be met with the taste of blood.

“Isn’t...that my book?!” Sim shouted.

[You have no time to blabber while the town is being thrown into chaos, Sim.]

[Current status.]

[Name: Sim Owens]

[Rank: F]

[Strength: D]

[Agility: F]

[Stamina: F]

[Intelligence: C]

[Mana: F-]

[Luck: F]

[Charm F-]

[Profession: None]

“Why the fuck is my sheet so bad?” Sim asked.

[You will share Roman’s fate with him hence you must overcome both of your problems!]

“But, why does it have to be my small town?” He shouted.

The voice did not respond, and Sim sighed deeply again as he stared back into his brown eyes.

"You're such a coward!" Della shouted to Sim.

“W-What?” Sim whispered.

He was shocked that Della had suddenly spoken up. It took her by surprise as well. Sim could feel the air shift around them. It was becoming increasingly harder to focus his eyes. He began to lose himself in the feeling of dizziness once more. Sim couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the sensations around him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I lost a book when I came here,” Roman noted.

It hit Sim about a book that fell earlier this morning. It had been lying out in the open on the ground near the entrance to his room.

"A book?" Della wondered. She seemed confused.

“I am sorry! I gotta go!” Sim shouted.

Sim grabbed Roman’s hand as they ran together down the street in the direction of his home.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The pain in his head increased until he was sure he was going to faint any minute.

"Come on!” Sim cried. He knew he didn’t have much time left. As he pushed Roman harder and faster.

They heard footsteps behind them as they reached the corner of the next street. As they rounded the corner Sim immediately stopped in his tracks stunned.

“I share the same ranks as you,” Sim explained.

“I know already who you are!” Roman shouted.

Sim was speechless that Roman would know him. He thought it wasn’t any use hiding his identity because he knew he would have to work with him.

“Here…this is yours,” Sim smiled.

Handing the pendant back to Roman, Sim watched as Roman examined it curiously. His gaze became focused as he studied the small trinket.

“Lily gave it to me, but you know that,” He replied.

They walked slowly chatting whereas Sim felt it was like talking to his double more people as they got closer to their destination. Reaching the apartments they stepped inside. The rooms were dark except for the sunlight seeping through a window on the other side of the room.

Sim went back to the bookcase to find the space it was in was gone. A part of him wanted to panic as he searched his room frantically trying to locate the missing book.

It was nowhere in sight.

“But I put it up right?” he wondered.

He sat down heavily on the chair next to the bookshelf and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. This was starting to look like the start of an epic disaster.

Roman gawked through the shelf for a couple of moments before turning back to Sim. The look on his face told Sim that he was thinking about the possibility of something that may have happened to his book. He knew that he had no reason to believe it was him.

“You said the book was here, but now it’s gone?” Roman noted.

“I always talk to my books and I recall picking them up before I left,” Sim explained.

They didn’t bother to turn the lights on as they thought in the dark in case someone was listening outside the door. If it were anyone else, they might have questioned the fact that they were speaking softly with each other without saying anything. However, they wouldn’t question the reason for it because their lives depended on it.

“Did you see anyone before me?” Roman asked.

He tried to think back to everything that had happened before he entered his house. It seemed to be a regular day, he remembered waking up early and leaving his room. He went to go do an errand which led to him returning home.

“Wait...the cosplayer!” Sim shouted.

“Cosplayer?” Roman responded.

“Everything she wore was red! Jewel!” Sim yelled.

“I emerged from the fire and rubble after my home burnt down and ended up here,” Roman stated.

“I never wrote that,” He noted.

“Then someone else has our book too?” Roman thought.

Sim ran upstairs, searching everywhere. Everything was destroyed, his room had burned

paintings covering the walls, and broken pieces of furniture scattered all across his floor.

He searched under the bed, along the dresser, through his drawer. Finally, he reached

underneath his mattress and dug around.

“No! My book!” He exclaimed.

“Seriously? Both books taken?” Roman shouted.

“But can someone else even write in it?!” Sim howled.

Everything inside his mind felt like he was going mad, all his memories were swirling together

confusing his thoughts and making his heart pound. He began to feel nauseous and dizzy.

The room was spinning.

“Where did they take it?” Sim muttered.

“Calm down already! You are worse than anything that you made!” Roman scolded.

“My shitty writing is gonna kill us all!” He muttered into his pillow.

“Calm down already!!” Roman repeated, sounding annoyed.

‘Calm down? How in the hell am I supposed to calm down???’ He thought to himself.

‘What was I thinking? Why in the hell would you leave a book like this in this situation?’ He thought as he rubbed his temples in anger.

“It doesn’t matter because now it’s everyone’s problem,” Roman replied.

“We need to work on ranking up to our fittest!” Sim shouted.

The room grew quiet for a moment and Roman thought Sim had just given up, so he continued without waiting for any reply. He picked his head from beneath his pillow and looked over the mess in front of him. His bedroom was still littered with papers all over the floor and desk.

He also noticed that most of his books had been smashed by debris which was laying everywhere. There were several holes in his wall and ceiling due to debris raining into the room. His window was shattered and there was a large pile of bricks blocking one of the windows.

“Sim! Sim where are you?” A small voice cried.

“Roman, just kill me please!” Sim yelled.

The door slammed open to find his sister standing there looking worried. She glanced around in shock for a few minutes before she finally noticed him sitting up on his bed. to find his sister

standing there looking worried.

“You didn’t visit Father! You know how he has a rule that you must visit him to keep the room and it’s a mess!” She shouted.

“Look…it’s been a long day…” Sim responded annoyed.

His sister wasn’t helping anything. She kept trying to make conversation. However, Sim didn’t care enough to try and be civil with her. He was tired and stressed. So he just turned back around and buried his face back in his pillow, trying to ignore her.

Roman felt enchanted by how similar his sister looked despite being younger. She was just like. She had been born with gray eyes instead of blue, and black hair instead of blonde. When he looked at her he saw nothing but a replica of her.

“You are seriously so cute!” Roman announced.

Interrupting the girl's thoughts she gasped, looking over at the man in the room with her. Her eyes grew wide when she thought recognized the person standing before her.

“I almost thought you and Sim looked alike!” She shouted.

Sim jumped out from underneath his covers surprised, but not angry. He hadn't expected his sister to come home until later that night to visit like usual and he hoped she was going to not stay longer, but only for today. He liked spending time with her. They shared quite an interesting life together.

Roman adored the difference as he placed his hand on the top of her head while grinning at Sim.

Sim didn’t understand why his sister was so happy. Wasn’t she upset that her brother was not at home just seconds ago? Sim could understand if she was upset and if it was about something important. Like maybe, he had forgotten something important.