"You can influence particles that are in a state of superposition!" Agung exclaimed, his voice trembling between awe and dread. He stared straight at Dr. Liem.
Liem simply gave a small nod, a thin, proud smile playing on his lips. To the scientist, Agung's reaction was the ultimate confirmation of his own genius.
Agung's smile flickered for a moment, but then the light in his eyes dimmed. He recalled the true nature of what they had just discussed. Curiosity was indeed scorching his mind, demanding answers to a mountain of questions that had suddenly surfaced, a hunger unlike any he had felt before. Yet, what stood before him felt like forbidden knowledge, and his principles were the price of admission.
The internal battle in Agung's head seemed vividly clear to the two men. Sutanta stepped closer, gently patting his star pupil's shoulder.
"I know you have strong reasons for staying on the path of moral and character education, Gung. Besides, your life has only just begun. What you're experiencing now is just one of many challenges you'll face on your journey," Sutanta said softly. "Perhaps after this, you'll be far more successful in your efforts to educate the next generation. You just need to know one thing: we would be very happy if you were willing to help us."
A heavy silence took hold for several seconds. Agung stared directly into Sutanta's eyes, searching for honesty. Slowly, he lowered his head and took a deep, long breath, releasing a sigh that seemed to shed a massive weight from his shoulders.
Sutanta's expression momentarily darkened as the hand resting on Agung's shoulder was slowly nudged away. He expected a rejection. However, Agung looked up, meeting his gaze with a faint smile. Bitter, yet sincere.
"Don't give me that sad look, Prof," Agung said. "I have far too many questions that you need to answer about magic."
Agung shook the hand that had been on his shoulder and then shook Professor Liem's hand. Sutanta, unable to contain his emotion, immediately pulled Agung into a hug and playfully ruffled his long hair.
"Actually, I'm still not entirely convinced," Agung admitted after the embrace broke. "I want to know more about Mula Gati. I have to make sure you aren't some... suspicious organization."
Agung's mind drifted to the figure of Oppenheimer. He didn't want his future discoveries to be used merely to extinguish human lives. He didn't want his contributions exploited by a system even more corrupt than the school that had just fired him.
"Not a problem," Sutanta replied, giving Agung a firm pat on the back.
Agung's doubts slowly dissolved, eclipsed by a pure enthusiasm he hadn't seen on Sutanta's face in a long time. The world of education might have discarded him, but this new world seemed to have been waiting for him all along.
"So, do I really need to join a Muay Thai camp for this job, Doc?" Agung joked.
The two laughed heartily, breaking the tension that had filled the empty auditorium.
"No need," Sutanta answered with a mysterious glint in his eye. "But you will be taught something far more powerful than just how to throw a punch."
"There is no turning back. Let's hope we aren't making a mistake," Liem remarked, watching Agung disappear into the distance.
"Don't worry, my judgment of him isn't based on personal bias."
"That's not what I meant..." Liem started to explain further, but his attention was diverted. His gaze shifted back to the horizon. It was unclear what he was witnessing on that otherwise normal street. He turned back to Sutanta, who nodded in silent understanding.
"It's a good thing we brought Pandu along as a precaution," Liem said in a tone that could make one's skin crawl.
After stepping out of the auditorium, Agung realized his footsteps were practically dancing to the rhythm of his heart. He felt like a child again—eager to get home, open his laptop, and drown himself in his hobby—a sea of research, in this case.
Though it felt naive, he was certain there was no deception from his former mentor. The only problem left was that he hadn't come with his own vehicle. He couldn't walk home with a healthy leg, let alone a limp.
As he checked his phone to order a ride-share, a familiar voice called his name.
"Mr. Agung!"
A Honda Tiger Revo pulled over. The rider was tall, wearing a black-and-red motorcycle jacket and a full-face helmet. When the visor flipped up, a teenager's face appeared with a confused expression. "What are you doing here, Sir?"
"I was attending a seminar. What about you, why are you out wandering on a bike, Dimas? You're not even seventeen!"
Dimas laughed awkwardly. He realized that pulling over to greet his teacher was a strategic blunder. "It's fine, Sir. I've been riding for a long time, it's safe," he said, but immediately covered his face with his palm, realizing he had just dug a deeper hole.
"A long time?!"
A light smack landed on Dimas's helmet. The strike actually hurt Agung's wrist more than it did Dimas's head, but Dimas felt the puch in his feeling.
"What kind of teacher hits his student like that?! Besides, at school, the other kids bring bikes too, don't act like you just know this!" Dimas protested.
"Fortunately, I'm not a teacher anymore," Agung replied casually. His eyes drifted to the spare helmet strapped to the back seat. "Picking someone up?"
"...Yeah... Lathif. It's Friday, Anamorfis is having a regular meeting." Dimas's answer hung in the air for a moment, a reminder that Agung was now truly "free" from the school.
Somehow, the spare helmet ended up on Agung's head. With a small wince of pain, Agung dragged his limping leg and climbed onto the back seat. "Give me a lift. We're heading the same way, so it's fine, right?"
"In the end, I'm the one who ride. Weren't you just saying I shouldn't be doing it?" Dimas grumbled at his teacher's selfishness.
"You want a man with a limp to ride?"
Dimas knew he wouldn't win the argument. He swallowed his comment and hit the gas.
"Don't speed!" Agung yelled from behind. One hand gripped his crutch tightly, the other clutched Dimas's shoulder in anxiety.
"Quit whining!" Dimas's face, hidden behind his visor, wore a satisfied grin.
They took a fifteen-minute trip to a simple cafe in the Laweyan area, not far from Agung's house. Although offered a ride all the way home, Agung refused and insisted on getting off there. Dimas didn't leave immediately; instead, he killed the engine.
"Sir, are you serious... about not teaching anymore?" Dimas asked. His irritation evaporated, replaced by eyes that began to glisten as the weight of his teacher's earlier words finally sank in.
As a high school sophomore, Dimas had actually been at the school longer than the young teacher in front of him. However, it was undeniable that Agung's arrival had brought so much change—as did his departure.
"Don't cry, Dim. You should be happy. No one's around to get angry and forbid you from doing this and that."
"Yeah... but..." There were so many sentences stuck in Dimas's throat, but none made it out.
"Maybe you'd be interested in joining the Anamorfis meeting tonight? I'm sure Lathif, Arum, and Luna would be happy. Especially Lathif," Dimas said, trying to change the mood. "We're going ghost hunting in a haunted house."
"Anamorfis believes in ghosts? I thought 'Critical and Proven' was your motto?"
"You're making that up! I've never even heard that motto. In the end, we're just a bunch of people who love conspiracy theories, Sir. We shine in places where others don't believe."
Do ghosts actually exist? Agung wondered. If he had already accepted the existence of "magic" at Mula Gati, then ghosts didn't sound so strange anymore. He was just about to take out his notebook to write down this new question, but stopped when he saw Dimas get off his bike.
Without a word, Dimas spread his arms. Agung accepted the hug. Even though he knew this was just a small parting, Agung didn't want to ruin the moment. The sincere embrace from his student managed to wash away the remnants of heartache and disappointment from last week's incident, reminding him of what he had once fought for at school.
"Don't make weird lessons at your next school, okay, Sir?" Dimas said as he let go.
"I won't. I'm tired of dealing with stubborn students like you. Even if I'm not watching, don't you dare start smoking again. Remember that!"
Dimas just smirked, mounted his bike, and slowly rode away.
On the way, there was a strange, tingling sensation he feels, but Dimas didn't sense any immediate danger and ignored his intuition.
The reason Agung wanted to get off there was the alleyway currently in front of him. Agung looked at the narrow, eerie alley as if looking at a crime scene. It was a case where he had been the victim. The place where he was helplessly jumped by two thugs and beaten senseless. He had even thought the grim reaper was coming for him there.
But he didn't want the fear of the past to control him. He had walked this alley thousands of times, and he wouldn't stop just because of one or two bad incidents.
Walking at a slow, limping pace, Agung realized someone was walking behind him.
Don't be paranoid, a road is meant for people to walk on, Agung thought, reminding himself.
A few steps later, Agung turned to steal a glance at the situation behind him. Now there was another person walking a bit further back from the first. Two people. Lucky number, he thought, sarcastically recalling the number of thugs from before.
His heart began to race, even as his mind rejected the idea. There's no way it's happening again back-to-back, right? But Murphy's Law exists for a reason... still, I'll look ridiculous if I run and it turns out I'm wrong.
The third time he looked back, Agung saw the man in front pull a knife from beneath his clothes. By the time Agung realized it, it was too late. The man dashed forward, lunging at the man with the crutch who couldn't run.
"Help!"
Agung screamed upward, hoping anyone would hear and save him. Fighting two people was bad enough, especially when his body was in pain and one of the attackers had a knife.
As he looked up to scream, Agung lost his balance and fell. At that exact moment, the cold blade sliced through the air exactly where his neck had been less than a second prior.
Realizing what had just happened, his face went pale instantly. Is this the end of my life? His life flashed before his eyes. Grandpa was wrong. In the end, I became nobody. I failed to be a person worthy of my own name.
The assassin couldn't hide his shock at the miracle that had just occurred. Panic showed in his movements as he tried to immediately plunge his folding knife into the helpless, sitting prey.
With a clattering sound, the knife that was just in the assassin's hand was sent flying against the wall and fell onto the street. Agung's eyes widened in disbelief. The cause was the man he thought was the assassin's accomplice walking behind him. He only now noticed that the man didn't look like a thug at all; he was quite tidy, wearing pants and a shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His eyes were sharp, his skin olive-toned. With his hair parted down the middle, he looked like a K-Pop boyband member with a touch of local flair.
It appeared the man had kicked the killer's arm from behind. He then grabbed the killer's clothes and threw him against the wall like a bag of trash.
"A fresh-baked shaman, what can you even do? Was there really no one else?" the second man said. He glanced at Agung and gave a wink.
Seeing his enemy's attention diverted, the killer threw a straight punch at the rescuer's head. But the "boyband" man didn't lose his cool. He casually stepped to the side.
The killer threw a series of rapid punches, then transitioned into a spinning kick. for the last one, the man simply jump, resulting non of the attacks landed on anything but air.
It seemed the assassin was aiming for the moment the man landed and hadn't fully balanced himself; he threw another straight punch. However, his opponent seemed to vanish—it turned out the man had ducked immediately as his feet touched the ground.
From his position, the killer's right ribs were wide open, inviting a strike. A punch was delivered squarely to that area, right where his liver was located.
The killer's body went airborne for a few seconds. After landing, he stumbled back a few steps while clutching his right side, looking to be in immense pain.
"Oh, you can still stand?" the boyband man said with a cocky smirk.
The killer stared at him with piercing red eyes. "Mula Gati dog.**"
That word made Agung realize what was happening. It seemed he had been targeted because he was now affiliated with Mula Gati, and the man who saved him was a fellow member.
Hearing the killer's words, the man in front of him burst out laughing until his eyes watered.
"What's so funny?" the killer asked in a cold tone.
"If you lived long enough to know more about Accelerators, you'd know what I'm laughing at."
The man's laughter slowly died down, and the atmosphere turned tense again. Both took their stances.
Whether it was just his imagination or not, Agung felt the air temperature drop several degrees.
Suddenly, everything moved incredibly fast. The killer pulled out a second hidden folding knife, and with an unreasonable speed—almost like teleportation—he appeared in front of the boyband man.
The boyband man remained in the same position, as if unaware of what was happening. His entire body was a wide-open target, and the killer chose his neck as the mark.
Sshhkt!
The knife slashed. The sound of the blade cutting through the wind at incredible speed echoed in the narrow alley.
A second passed, but nothing happened. No blood, no wound. The boyband man smiled contentedly. The killer looked panicked and swung his knife again, but this time his hand was caught and twisted until the knife dropped.
After the boyband man forced the killer to turn around, he locked a triangle choke onto the killer's neck.
"If your boss asks, tell them you met Pandu."
The killer struggled for a few seconds, making incoherent sounds from his throat. A few moments later, he finally stopped moving and lost consciousness.