Ethan stepped out of the car showroom and into the open street. The glass doors slid shut behind him, cutting off the low murmur of voices and the smell of polished leather. Outside, the city moved at its usual pace—cars rolling past, people crossing the road, traffic lights changing like a slow heartbeat.
His phone vibrated in his hand.
He glanced down at the screen.
Lena.
He answered without hesitation.
"Hey."
"Ethan," Lena's voice came through clearly. "Mary and I want to see you tomorrow. Peterson Tower."
Ethan paused for half a second, looking up at the skyline. The Peterson Tower rose in the distance, tall and sharp, one of the biggest structures in the city. Even from here, it looked heavy, like it pressed its presence into the ground beneath it.
"Tomorrow?" Ethan asked.
"Yes," she replied. "There are things we need to talk about."
Ethan didn't ask what. He already had a feeling it wouldn't be a light conversation.
"Alright," he said. "I'll be there."
After the call ended, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and continued walking. His mood was steady—not excited, not anxious. Just moving forward, one step at a time, like water finding its way downhill.
He stopped near the sidewalk and pulled out his phone again. Opening the browser, he went back to the page he had saved earlier—the villa listing.
The house looked the same as before. Plain at first glance. Clean lines. Soft colors. Nothing that screamed wealth. But he knew better now. The value was hidden, layered beneath the surface, like steel under paint.
He tapped Apply for Purchase.
A form opened.
Name.ID verification.Bank confirmation.Digital signature.
He filled in the first few sections easily. But when he reached the verification step, the screen froze. The cursor blinked once… then nothing.
Ethan frowned and tapped again.
Still nothing.
He refreshed the page. The form reloaded, but the same problem remained. He couldn't type into the fields.
He sighed quietly.
"Seriously…"
He looked around and spotted a small ICT shop across the block. The sign above it flickered slightly, one letter dimmer than the others. It looked old, but functional—like a place that had seen too many phones pass through its doors.
He considered his options.
If he had his new car, he would've driven there without thinking. But the vehicle was still being tuned and upgraded. For now, walking was his only choice.
So he crossed the street and pushed open the shop door.
A soft bell rang.
Inside, the air smelled faintly of dust and warm electronics. Shelves lined the walls, stacked with phones, chargers, cables, and laptops. Behind the counter stood a middle-aged man with graying hair and calm eyes. He looked up and smiled.
"Hello."
Ethan nodded back. "Hi. I need help buying a new phone. And… do you have laptops?"
The man's eyes flicked briefly to Ethan's old phone before returning to his face. He nodded once.
"Yes. We do."
He gestured toward the display shelf. "Latest models are here."
As the man reached for a phone, he casually asked, "May I see yours?"
Ethan handed it over.
"It's been acting strange," Ethan said. "Lagging. Freezing. Some apps don't respond."
The man hummed quietly and turned the phone over in his hands. He tapped the screen, then connected it to a laptop behind the counter.
The moment the cable clicked in, the screen flashed.
Lines of code appeared.
Fast.Dense.Scrolling like rain hitting glass.
The man's expression changed—not shock, not panic. Just focus.
He frowned slightly and unplugged the phone.
Without a word, he connected it to a different laptop instead of his own.
The same thing happened.
More code. Faster this time.
The screen lit up like it was being torn open from the inside.
Ethan watched, confused.
"What's going on?" he asked.
The man didn't answer immediately. He reached under the counter and pulled out another laptop—this one worn, its surface scratched, the keyboard faded from use.
He connected the devices together.
His hands moved.
Fast.
Faster than Ethan expected from someone his age.
Keys clacked sharply as lines of code flooded the screen. Windows opened and closed. Processes were stopped, restarted, rerouted. It looked less like typing and more like a fight—two invisible forces pushing against each other.
Ethan understood only one thing.
Someone had hacked his phone.
And this man was trying to stop it.
The middle-aged man leaned closer to the screen, jaw tightening slightly. His fingers moved faster, like he was chasing something that refused to slow down.
But whoever was on the other side…
They were faster.
A warning flashed.
BREACH DETECTED.
The man cursed under his breath.
"They're already past my main defense," he muttered.
Ethan didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound good.
"Can you fix it?" Ethan asked quietly.
The man didn't look up. "I'm trying."
Outside the shop, the city kept moving. People walked past the window, unaware. Cars rolled by. A bus stopped, then pulled away.
At that same moment, across the street—
Unity Bank's main branch went silent.
Screens flickered.
Monitors froze.
Then one by one, servers went offline.
Inside the bank's control room, alarms began to sound.
Red lights flashed.
"System failure!" someone shouted.
"What do you mean mainframe access already established?"
Engineers rushed to terminals, typing commands, pulling up logs. The data didn't make sense. The intrusion wasn't forcing its way in.
It was already inside.
Calls were placed to the head branch.
The response was immediate—and terrifying.
The head office system had been breached as well.
This wasn't a random hack.
This wasn't a test.
It was precise. Clean. Quiet.
Like a knife slipping between ribs.
Back in the ICT shop, Ethan stood still, watching the man fight something he couldn't see.
He didn't know about the bank.
He didn't know about the servers falling one by one.
All he knew was that his phone felt heavier in his hand now, like it carried something dangerous inside it.
The man finally leaned back, breathing out slowly.
"Someone very good is on the other end," he said.
Ethan nodded. "Can you stop them?"
The man looked at the screen again. Code still flowed, slower now, but not gone.
"I can slow them," he said. "Buying time."
Time.
The word hung in the air.
Like a thin rope stretched tight.
Ethan didn't realize it yet, but something had already moved beyond his phone. Beyond the shop. Beyond his sight.
And the city, calm and unaware, continued to breathe around him.