Saturday at Grand Indonesia was the definition of hell for someone like Satya. Crowds of people moving without a pattern, a chaotic blend of perfume scents from luxury boutiques, and background music trying far too hard to sound elegant but ending up merely tedious. To Satya, this mall was a manifestation of capitalism at its peak, and he usually preferred spending time in his cramped apartment, watching documentaries about civil engineering failures while cursing the world.
However, today was different. He stood near the dancing fountain on the ground floor, holding a cup of cold brew coffee that cost enough to feed Andi the intern for three days. His eyes constantly scanned the crowd, searching for a man carrying a novel with no title.
[System: User, your heart rate has increased by 15%. Are you experiencing social anxiety or simply consuming too much cheap caffeine?]
"It’s not cheap caffeine, Alpha. It’s fuel for alertness," Satya replied internally. "And stop monitoring my organs. It’s incredibly rude."
[System: I am merely performing my duty as a life navigation assistant. Furthermore, I still do not recommend this meeting. User_002 is an unverified entity and could potentially corrupt your data integrity.]
"You’re just afraid he’ll expose your secrets, aren't you?" Satya smirked thinly behind his black mask. "Why don't you just tell me what’s in that 'TRASH' folder? Then I wouldn't have to bother coming here."
The System did not answer. Alpha returned to its 'suspiciously silent' mode. Ever since that mysterious message arrived, Alpha had become more protective, frequently trying to distract Satya with nonsensical mini-missions, such as "Mission: Buy New Running Shoes to Increase Agility Stat" or "Mission: Smile at the Cashier to Increase Charm Stat." Satya ignored them all.
Suddenly, the calm atmosphere near the fountain shattered.
"STATUS OPEN!"
The voice was shrill, full of energy, and sounded completely out of place in the middle of the quiet mall. Several visitors turned their heads, frowning, then continued walking while whispering about "kids these days watching too much anime."
Satya froze. He turned toward the source of the sound. There stood a young man in his early twenties wearing a black hoodie with far too many non-functional zippers. The youth stood in a highly dramatic pose—one hand covering his eyes, the other stretched out to the side, as if he were restraining a great power about to explode from within.
In front of the young man’s eyes, Satya could see something that made him feel nauseous: a glowing red system window that was far gaudier than his own.
"Oh boy," Satya muttered, massaging his temples. "Here we go. The most dangerous species in the narrative world: The Chunibyo who actually has powers."
The youth, identified by Satya’s System as Bagas (User_005 / Type: Regressor), began talking to himself—or more accurately, to his floating system window.
"Only Level 15? Tsk, this world is still too weak for me. In the previous timeline, I was already slaying dragons at this level," Bagas hissed, his voice loud enough to be heard by anyone within a five-meter radius.
[System: Nearby User detected: Bagas. Level: 15. Class: Blade Master (In-Training). Status: Delusional but Dangerous.]
"Blade Master?" Satya stared at Bagas, who was now making slashing motions in thin air. "What’s he trying to slash? The discounts at H&M?"
Satya intended to leave. This wasn't the man with the untitled book he was looking for. Bagas was just a distraction that would draw unnecessary attention. However, fate (or perhaps a Writer too lazy to find another conflict) had other plans. Bagas’s eyes suddenly locked onto Satya.
Bagas froze. He lowered his hand, his eyes narrowing. He walked toward Satya with a dragging gait, trying to look cool like a protagonist hiding past trauma.
"You..." Bagas stopped right in front of Satya. "Why can't I see your stats clearly? Why is your name covered by a glitch?"
Satya took a long breath, calmly sipping his coffee. "Maybe because I’m not part of your circus, kid. Excuse me, I have business to attend to."
"Wait!" Bagas blocked Satya’s path. "Don't lie. I can feel the 'User' aura coming from you. Even though your level looks like a pathetic Level 1, something is wrong. You... you have 'Source Code' leaking around you."
Satya stopped. The words 'Source Code' triggered an alarm in his brain. How could this kid know?
"Listen, Bagas—that’s your name, right?" Satya pointed toward the green text above Bagas’s head that only he could see. "I’m not interested in this roleplay. I just want to drink my coffee and go home."
"This isn't roleplay!" Bagas shouted, causing a passing mother to pull her child away. "This world is heading toward destruction! A dungeon will appear in this mall's basement in thirty minutes! I came back from the future to prevent the first 'Cataclysm'!"
Satya gave Bagas the flattest look in human history. "A dungeon? In the basement? You mean the P2 parking lot that always floods? Sorry, but the only monsters down there are the parking attendants who refuse to give you two thousand rupiahs in change."
[System: Ding! Side Quest Detected!]
[Mission: Join 'The Regressor's' Party]
[Description: A hero cannot fight alone. Help Bagas clear the 'Instance Dungeon: Basement of Doom'!]
[Reward: Attribute Points +10, Title: 'Hero’s Companion']
[Penalty: If refused, User will experience extreme 'Vicarious Embarrassment.']
"I’m already experiencing the penalty right now, Alpha," Satya whispered. "Just watching him pose makes me want to vanish from the face of the earth."
Bagas suddenly extended his hand toward Satya. A notification window appeared before Satya’s eyes.
[User 'Bagas' invites you to the Party: 'The End of Days'. Accept?]
"Come on, friend," Bagas said solemnly. "Together, we can change destiny. I need someone who isn't bound by the usual laws of the plot like you. I see multiple-choice options above your head, and you haven't picked a single one. You are an anomaly."
Satya stared at Bagas’s hand, then at the party window. He thought about all the shonen tropes. If he accepted, he would be trapped in a long adventure full of sweat, screaming, and unwanted friendship. He would be forced to fight monsters that were actually just manifestations of broken code, and he would lose his precious sleep.
Satya smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile, but the smile of an employee who had just found a loophole in company policy.
"Sorry, Bagas," Satya said, straightening his shirt collar. "I truly appreciate the offer. But technically, I cannot join your party without an official assignment letter from the Risk Management division."
Bagas blinked. "What? An assignment letter? What do you mean?"
"Furthermore," Satya continued, "I have an important coordination meeting at one this afternoon. Joining a 'Dungeon Raid' without clear workplace accident insurance is a breach of contract for me. If I get injured in the basement by a goblin bite, the company won't cover the costs. So, professionally speaking, I must decline."
Satya pressed the [DECLINE] button on his system window with a very firm motion.
[System: User! You just rejected a golden opportunity to level up quickly! Bagas is an incredibly powerful 'Carry'!]
"I don't need a 'Carry', Alpha. I need peace and quiet," Satya replied.
Bagas looked shaken. "You... you rejected me? Because of a meeting? You care more about your office job than the safety of the world?!"
"The world has survived thousands of years without my help, Gas. I’m sure it can survive one more hour while I finish my coffee," Satya began walking past Bagas.
However, as their shoulders brushed, Bagas whispered something that brought Satya to a dead stop. The youth’s voice no longer sounded like a dramatic chunibyo kid. It sounded cold, old, and filled with genuine despair.
"You’re not from this timeline, are you, Satya? Or more accurately... you’re not from this version of the story."
Satya turned slowly. Bagas was no longer posing. He stood tall, his eyes staring sharply at Satya, piercing through the system windows floating between them.
"What do you mean?" Satya asked quietly.
"I’ve repeated this life three times," Bagas whispered. "In every repetition, the Satya I knew was a hero who died in the first chapter to motivate the other characters. He was the 'Fallen Mentor' trope. But you... you’re still alive. You’re cynical, you’re stingy, and you reject every mission. You are a bug in this system."
Satya felt a chill creep down his spine. "I’m nobody’s mentor."
"That’s the problem," Bagas stepped closer, his voice barely audible over the mall noise. "Someone has changed your script. Someone gave you access to the Source Code. If you keep rejecting the plot, the System will perform a 'Hard Reset.' And if that happens, it won't just be this basement that’s gone—our entire reality will be deleted as a failed product."
[System: Warning! User_005 is spreading unauthorized information! Initiating Censorship Protocol!]
Suddenly, Alpha’s voice turned into deafening static in Satya’s head. The system window in front of him began flashing red with the word [DANGER] obscuring his vision.
"Listen to me," Bagas gripped Satya’s arm. "Find the man with the untitled book. But don't meet him here. He’s being set up. Alpha is baiting you into 'Event: The Encounter' so the Writer can start a large-scale conflict. Run from here, Satya! Don't follow the script!"
Right after Bagas said that, the mall’s fire alarm blared loudly. TIIIIIIIT! TIIIIIIIT!
Panic set in. Screams erupted from the lower floors. Satya looked toward the mall’s atrium, and he saw something impossible. From the basement floor, a thick black fog began to rise, and within that fog, glowing red eyes started to appear.
"The dungeon... it spawned early?" Bagas’s eyes widened. "Damn it! They’re accelerating the plot because we talked too much!"
Bagas drew a sword that suddenly materialized from thin air—a weapon that looked far too real for a mall. "Go, Satya! I’ll hold them here! Don't let Alpha control your narrative!"
Satya froze for a moment. He saw the chaos around him. People were running, security guards were trying to calm the crowd, and shadow monsters were beginning to crawl out of the escalators. This was the cliché "First Attack" moment typical of the early chapters of any urban fantasy novel.
[System: Emergency Mission Updated! Survive the Monster Attack! Protect Civilians! Reward: Attribute Points +50!]
Satya stared at the mission window, then at Bagas, who had already charged toward the first monster with a deafening war cry.
"Alpha," Satya said, his voice remarkably calm amidst the madness.
[System: Yes, User? Quick, use your 'Punch of Justice' skill!]
"You spawned these monsters on purpose just now, didn't you? Because I rejected Bagas’s party. You want to force me to be a hero to boost the story's rating."
[System: I am merely performing narrative optimization functions. If there is no action, the readers will get bored, Satya.]
"Readers?" Satya snorted. He looked up at the mall ceiling, as if he could see through the glass roof into another dimension where people were reading about his life on their phone screens.
"Fine. You want action?" Satya rolled his eyes. He didn't grab a weapon. He didn't take a fighting stance. Instead, he walked toward the fire alarm panel on the wall near the fountain.
"Bagas said don't follow the script. And a hero’s script usually involves an epic battle," Satya muttered.
He grabbed a wooden chair from a nearby cafe, and with one powerful motion, he smashed it against the water sprinkler pipe on the low ceiling nearby.
CRASH!
The pipe burst. Water sprayed out violently, drenching the entire area, including the shadow monsters who... reacted very poorly to water. They began to hiss and fade, like ink hit by a spill.
[System: What are you doing?! That is not an honorable way to defeat enemies!]
"Honorable? This is called facility maintenance," Satya shouted over the roar of the water. He then took out his phone and dialed the emergency number. "Hello? Fire Department? Yes, there’s a gas leak and a major pipe burst at Grand Indonesia. Please send all available units. And call the police, there’s a crazy person with a sword here!"
Satya pointed toward Bagas, who was standing stunned in the middle of the downpour, his sword still raised high.
"Sorry, Gas. I can't be your mentor or your hero," Satya shouted at the youth. "But I just saved you from a monster-slaying charge. Now, run before the police get here and ask why you’re carrying a deadly weapon in public!"
Bagas stared at Satya with a look between admiration and horror. "You... you actually ruined this 'Awakening' moment with a call to the fire department?"
"Real-world logic, kid. Water puts out fire, and police arrest armed people. Simple," Satya winked, then turned and ran toward the emergency exit, avoiding the crowd and the monsters that were disappearing due to the "environmental logic" Satya had forced upon them.
When he reached the outside of the mall, under the actual Jakarta drizzle, Satya stopped for a moment to catch his breath. His clothes were soaked, his coffee was gone, and he had just missed the chance to meet User_002.
However, in the corner of his eye, a notification appeared. Not from Alpha, but from a deeper "System."
[Reader Rating: 3.5/5.0 - "Lmao, this is the most jerkish protagonist ever! He just called the fire department to resolve a dungeon event! 5 stars for creativity!"]
Satya stared at the message with a middle finger raised high toward the sky.
"Glad you’re entertained," he muttered cynically. "Now, I’m going home to change. And Alpha?"
[System: ... Yes, User?]
"Don't you dare spawn a monster in my apartment. I have the phone number of a very grumpy neighborhood head, and he is far scarier than any dragon."
Satya walked toward the TransJakarta bus stop, leaving the chaos behind him. He realized his world was indeed turning into a game. But he wasn't the player. He was the glitch that would ensure this game could never be won by anyone.
Especially not by the Writer.
[USER_001_PAST_DATA.log - Updated]
SUBJECT SUCCESSFULLY AVOIDED 'FIRST ENCOUNTER' SCENARIO.
NARRATIVE AWARENESS LEVEL: 45% (INCREASING).
NOTE: ALPHA IS LOSING CONTROL. INITIATING 'ADMIN INTERVENTION' PROTOCOL IN 3... 2... 1...
Satya didn't see the notification. He only felt a strange vibration in his pocket. When he reached in, he found something that shouldn't have been there.
A small book, with a plain black leather cover. No title.
Inside, there was only one handwritten line: "Satya, stop fighting the System with logic. Start fighting it with imagination. Meet me at the place where this story is supposed to end."
Satya closed the book tightly. "The place where the story ends? Good. I’ll go there, and I’ll make sure the story actually ends."
The world might be turning into a game, but Satya had just decided to be the only person who would perform the uninstall.
2026-01-25 18:25:04
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