Rise from Zero

15

An excruciating pain suddenly struck Gatot's solar plexus, forcing him awake from the darkness. Someone had just landed a solid kick right there.

​Ugh!

​Gatot groaned, curling up reflexively on the surface of the ceramic tiled floor, which felt incredibly cold. Both of his hands clutched his stomach, while his breath caught for a few seconds from the sudden impact.

​"Wake up! Don't just comfortably sleep here!" a deep voice barked from above.

​Suppressing a wave of surging nausea, Gatot forced himself into a sitting position. He blinked repeatedly, trying to dispel the remaining dizziness that still spun around his temple from the blow of the iron mace inside the cave. He looked around, trying to process this unfamiliar environment. Where is this?

​This was definitely not inside a gate. There were no stone walls or the metallic stench of monster blood. In front of him, several people in crumpled clothes sat cross-legged on the same ceramic floor. They all had tattoos decorating their arms and wore glares that were simultaneously hostile and vacant. As Gatot shifted his gaze forward, he saw rows of sturdy iron bars separating the cramped room from a bright corridor outside illuminated by neon lights.

​"Hey, Gatot! Get out!" a police officer in a brown uniform stood behind the bars, tapping his baton against the iron to produce a sharp, clinking sound.

​Hearing the cell door unlock, several people inside the cell immediately crawled toward the bars with pleading faces.

​"Officer, me, sir! Please let me out!"

​"Officer, I won't steal again, sir! By Allah, sir, my wife and children are waiting at home!"

​The wails and begging cries echoed back and forth, vibrating inside the stuffy room. However, the police officer did not care in the slightest. His face remained flat and cold as he relocked the cell door after Gatot stepped out.

​Gatot walked with somewhat unsteady steps, following the officer's back down a corridor that smelled of cigarette smoke. His head was still filled with massive questions. How could he have ended up at a police station? What happened after he blacked out from the mace blow?

​They turned into an administrative room that was quite busy with typewriters and computers. The officer pointed to a plastic chair in front of his desk.

​"Have a seat, Gatot," the officer said, picking up a blank form and a pen.

​Gatot pulled the chair and sat down in a stiff posture.

​"Full name?" the officer asked without looking at him, preparing to write.

​"Gatot Kaca," Gatot answered softly.

​The movement of the officer's hand froze. He looked up, staring at Gatot with a deeply furrowed brow as if he were being pranked. "Seriously, your name is Gatot? Gatot Kaca? Where is your ID card? Let me see it."

​Gatot reflexively felt the pockets of his jeans, which now felt a bit loose. Empty. "My wallet... I think it fell inside the gate, sir," he answered honestly.

​The officer let out a long sigh, then opened his desk drawer. He tossed a phone with a cracked screen onto the desk, causing a small thud. "Only this phone was recovered from the scene. There was no wallet or any other identification card at the site."

​Gatot picked up his phone, which turned out to still be powered on. Quickly, he opened his digital storage gallery and presented a photo of his digital identification card to the officer. The officer grabbed the phone, matching the face in the photo with Gatot's battered face before him, then shook his head in astonishment before finally beginning to note it down on the paper.

​Right at that moment, the atmosphere in the room was slightly distracted by the sound of footsteps from the side door. The five senior hunters who had previously locked Gatot inside the cave stepped out from an interrogation room.

​Their condition was far from the gallant image they held inside the dungeon. Their faces were badly bruised, several of them wore bandages around their heads, and the large leader appeared to hold his jaw, which was still crooked. However, the moment their eyes accidentally met Gatot sitting on the plastic chair, the steps of the five men immediately halted. Their arrogant expressions vanished entirely, replaced by a very dense look of terror. They quickly averted their gaze and walked close along the office wall, as if terrified Gatot would leap up and shatter their bones.

​Not long after the five men passed, Gery appeared from the main entrance. The youth was not alone. Two well-built men dressed in neat black suits and carrying leather briefcases followed behind him with formal steps.

​Upon seeing Gatot's figure, Gery's anxious face immediately turned to relief. He broke into a small jog to approach the examination desk.

​"Officer, I will pay Brother Gatot's bail right now," Gery said in a firm tone Gatot had never heard from him before.

​The officer examining Gatot looked up, then shifted his gaze to the two suited men behind Gery. The two men immediately stepped forward, presenting several official documents and beginning to speak to the officer in complicated legal terminology. From their gestures and the way they negotiated, Gatot quickly realized that these two men appeared to be lawyers.

​Gery utilized that moment to approach Gatot, then patted his shoulder gently. "Don't worry, Brother. You will definitely be released today. Everything will be handled."

​Gatot could only nod slowly. Once the bail documents began processing, Gery invited Gatot to sit in a row of waiting chairs located a bit far off in the corner of the room, avoiding the crowd from the officer's desk.

​Gatot leaned his back, which still felt a bit stiff, and then turned toward Gery sitting beside him. "Gery... I'm still confused about what is happening right now. Why did we end up at a police station? And why are they so badly bruised?"

​Gery furrowed his brow deeply, staring at Gatot with an expression full of massive question marks. "???"

​Seeing Gatot's seemingly innocent and dazed reaction, Gery became far more confused. "Brother, do you seriously not remember at all what happened inside the cave?"

​Gatot shook his head. His last memory only reached the impact of the iron mace that caused him to lose consciousness on top of the pile of monster bones.

​Gery let out a long sigh, preparing to open his mouth, but one of the black-suited lawyers suddenly gave a waving gesture from the front desk. The administrative process appeared to be finished.

​"Tell me everything later, Gery," Gatot said in an urgent tone.

​He immediately stood up from his chair and walked quickly toward the police officer who called his name to sign the release papers. His mind was filled with a fog of mystery about what had actually transpired while he was unconscious.