"Yes, finally, this is the last step. Careful, everyone." The guy in a white dress roared. He was wearing glasses and was an old, bald man. On his left chest, there was a badge that stated his position as the 'Director'.
"Connect to our boss, perfectly." The man continued yelling and instructing everyone. In the lab, there was a fist-sized crystal at the center, and several machines were connecting the crystal to many computers. There were researchers and scientists working on their computers under the old man's instruction.
The boss sat comfortably on the sofa, watching everything in the room with quiet confidence. He wore a sharp black suit that made him look even more imposing. A stylish pair of glasses rested on his face, reflecting the glow of the machines around him.
He was a middle-aged man, neat and calm, but his eyes told a different story. Behind that calmness was a strong sense of dominance and arrogance.
"Shit, shit, shit, something is wrong with the systems."
"I can't access it anymore."
The director started screaming, "What's happening? Let me see it." He pushed a researcher off the chair as he started typing on the keyboard, trying to see what had gone wrong in the system.
The director's face, which had been full of confidence before accessing the computer, began to change. Sweat covered his face, his hands trembled, and he kept missing the keys as he typed. After a while, his hands stopped. His face was full of shock.
"What happened?" the middle-aged man with glasses asked.
The old director turned around, his face drenched in sweat. "O... Our systems are ha... hacked, sir."
The crystal destroyed itself with a "BOOM."
Some of the machines shattered as smoke filled the entire lab.
Before the smoke could lift, there was a loud scream of pain. "Haaaaaa!" As the smoke started dispersing, they saw that the director had been stabbed. He was crying and rolling on the ground in pain, blood slowly tainting his white dress and dripping onto the floor.
The man took off his glasses as he stared at the researchers. All of them in the lab were trembling in fear, lowering their eyes under his cold gaze.
He hurled the blood-stained knife with a violent swing.
"Motherfucker… I'll find out who you are."
--------
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
In the hospital room, the faint scent of medicine hung in the air. The only sound breaking the quiet was the rapid clicking of a keyboard. A young man in his twenties sat propped up against the raised hospital bed, dressed in thin, striped hospital clothes. His lower half lay motionless beneath the blanket, but all of his attention was fixed on the laptop before him.
Sweat rolled down his forehead as a small, hidden smile of victory formed. With a slightly trembling finger, he pressed the Enter key.
On the screen, new text appeared:
"The System is successfully connected to [Rael]."
He let out a shaky laugh and swung both hands down in triumph, shouting, "Yes!"
But the moment of joy didn't last.
A sharp pain struck his heart.
He knew instantly—it was the end. The medicines he had taken were finally kicking in, and a cold void feeling swallowed his chest, slowly erasing the happiness he had felt just seconds ago. His mind grew numb. He had achieved his goal, taken his revenge, yet at the doorstep of death… he felt nothing at all.
But as his life began to rewind in flashes behind his eyes, emotion surged back into him. So much had happened. So much suffering, and yet… looking at everything he had achieved in the end, he felt satisfied.
His breathing grew weaker. His vision darkened. The heart monitor beside him beeped rapidly, the numbers dropping. He heard distant footsteps—nurses rushing toward him—but the world was already fading. His eyes closed completely, sinking into the darkness.
And even in death, a faint sign of victory stayed on his face.
----------
Knock knock.
"Drayen! Drayen! You'll be late for school, Drae! Wake up, honey!"
Hearing the annoying knocks and his mom's voice, he covered his ears, but the sound only grew more annoying. "I'll get up, Mom, just give me a minute!" he yelled.
He slowly opened his eyes, feeling a heavy weight on them. They were completely red—he had gamed all night and slept only an hour. His room was a battlefield: empty chip bags, scattered textbooks, glowing monitor, and a half-open energy drink can dangerously close to spilling.
"Haaaw," he yawned.
His mom started knocking louder. Drayen rolled off the bed dramatically. "Fine! Fine! I'm up! Stop knocking like a debt collector!"
From the hallway: "I will collect your life if you miss the first day of your university!"
The door swung open, and his mom peeked in with a sweet smile. "You're awake?"
"Yeah, yeah..." he replied, scratching his head and wobbling like a zombie. His mom was a beautiful woman in her forties who looked nearly fifteen years younger. Her shoulder-length black hair was tied loosely, a few strands falling across her cheek. She wore an apron from cooking but came to wake her son. She narrowed her eyes. "Drayen. Did you sleep at all?"
"Of course I did," he lied.
She swung her right hand fiercely, and Drayen closed his eyes, ready for the slap, but her hands slowed down as she gently flicked his forehead. "Liar. Go fresh up. You look like a zombie who failed at being a zombie." Drayen groaned and stumbled toward the bathroom, tripping over clothes.
After a few minutes.
He was still relaxed as he got out of the bathroom. He had wrapped his lower half with a towel, his hair wet. He checked the clock. Shit, shit, shit—I will be late. He started dressing as fast as he could. He was still a mess as he put two books in his bag and headed downstairs.
His hair was still wet and messy, and he wore his new uniform very badly.
His mom spoke, "Hey, you are still a mess, boy."
"Mom, it's getting late."
His mom yelled as she saw him wearing shoes to go out, "At least eat breakfast, Drae!"
"Mom, it's late. I'll eat during break. Bye-bye!"
He opened the door and slipped outside in a rush.
She gave a long sigh, looking at her messy son.
The classroom had the voice of the teacher introducing himself as Drayen rushed to the door. "Huff, huff… Excuse me, sir," he called out. It was the first day of the university, and obviously everyone was already present, but he was the only one who was late.
The teacher was a man in his thirties with a stylish beard, and his hair was white on the sides. He looked friendly enough. "Late on the first day, huh? Come in, boy," he said.
The whole class was murmuring silently. The class had single seats for everyone arranged in rows. There wasn't much space in the front row seats, so Drayen moved to the last row, still breathing ruggedly. He was about to sit down when someone from the other side made a low voice, "Drayen, Drayen, come here."
Drayen turned around to see his annoying classmate—the guy he was stuck with all the way from middle school. And now he was here again. He had been the class representative throughout middle school and high school and was a super annoying boy, his name was Fedric. He was shorter than Drayen, around 5'7", had a lean build, with blonde hair neatly combed, and wore spectacles. Drayen let out an annoyed internal sigh, but since he was a newbie here, he thought it would be better to sit with him than alone.
"Gi...Give me the window seat huff...huff," he said as he slid into the window seat next to the annoying guy.
"By the way, I didn't know you were so good with computers." Fedric gave a friendly smile as he spoke.
He added, "Honestly, I didn't expect anyone from our school to get into this uni."
Drayen scratched his head and said with a smile, "It's just my luck I got into this university."
The teacher cleared his throat and spoke, "Students, welcome to the Etherion University. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Marcellus Dordo. I'm your class teacher, and I mainly teach basic programming and computer skills. Now, you are the talented batch who managed to enter this university, so bla… bla… bla…" He continued rambling for another minute.
Drayen didn't know whether getting into this university was good luck or bad luck. In truth, he had been forced to join. He hadn't done well in the national exam, so his only chance was to apply through the university's own entrance tests. He wrote several exams for different schools under this university—arts, computer science, physical studies, and so on—but he never expected to score so well in computer science.
The moment his mom saw the results, she practically kicked him straight into the admission office.
This university was one of the most prestigious in the country, especially famous for two fields: Mysterious Science and Computer Science. Their entrance exams were notoriously strict.
So how did someone as average as Drayen get in?
Only God knew.
"Hey, Drayen," the guy beside him whispered. "Do you know there are rumors about the mysterious science course here?"
Drayen shrugged. "No man. Don't know much about it."
Fedric leaned closer. "There's a rumor that mysterious science is the best department in this entire university. But the weird thing is—they don't choose students based on exam results. Even if you pass the entrance exam, they still won't take you."
Drayen, completely unbothered, replied, "Man, I don't even know what mysterious science is. I checked a few low-tier universities, but their courses were useless. Most of them are shutting it down anyway."
—Mysterious Science.
Drayen had been curious once. He had actually wanted to take that course here… but he'd been rejected. Rumors said the field had huge value if you studied it in a top university like this one. And strangely, Drayen did know a few details—more than the average person—but the topic was wrapped in so much secrecy that even after searching online, he found almost nothing.In fact, his computer skills had developed because of all that digging.
But now?
He had lost interest. They kept the course so hidden that he stopped caring. From everything he had discovered, even the government seemed to know very little about it.
So he didn't expect much from this university either.To him, the whole thing felt like overhyped mystery that would eventually fade away.