Super Rich System

6. First Mission Completed

"First mission complete. Evaluation: successful. Approached Luna according to requirements."

Vino did not answer. He left Luna and returned to his room in silence. Relieved because the mission was over. Relieved because there would be no more victims. But the image of Mr. Tono still haunted him. That relief was tainted by a death that should not have happened, and Vino knew that stain would never truly disappear from his heart.

That night, when Vino had already returned to his room, his thoughts drifted to Luna, to his aunt's surprised expression, to his aunt's resigned attitude. He wondered if Luna was thinking about the same thing right now. Was that woman sitting in her room, thinking about Vino? Or maybe she had already forgotten about him and was busy with other things.

---

The next day on campus, after the afternoon class, Vino sat at the cafeteria table that had become their regular spot for the three of them.

Bimo had arrived earlier with a plate of large portion coconut rice plus two pieces of fried chicken, potato cakes, and stir fried tempeh.

Bram sat beside him with a plate of rice that had only been touched for three spoonfuls before being abandoned because both of his hands were already busy on his phone screen again.

"Bram, eat first then play," Bimo said while chewing his fried chicken.

Bram did not answer. His fingers moved ceaselessly on the screen, his lips moved soundlessly forming words that only fellow gamers could understand.

Bimo shook his head then turned to Vino. "Vin, did you see that Management girl who passed by the cafeteria yesterday? The one with short hair, wearing a blue skirt?"

"No," Vino answered honestly.

"Crazy, Vin. Where have you been. A girl that pretty and you didn't see her." Bimo sighed dramatically. "I've been digging for info, her name is Shinta. Third semester. Seems like she doesn't have a boyfriend yet. This afternoon I'm going to approach her at the parking lot."

"Aren't you ever going to learn, Bim?" Vino asked.

"Learn from what? A great person is not someone who has never failed, Vin. A great person is someone who fails but rises again." Bimo said that in a tone as if quoting a great philosopher, when in reality he was just justifying his habit of hitting on every girl he saw.

Vino smiled faintly hearing that. In his heart he kept the story about the system tightly sealed. He did not dare tell Bimo or Bram.

Not because he did not trust them, but because that system had already claimed a victim. Mr. Tono had died because of it. How could he casually tell that story while eating rice in the cafeteria? How could he say that the mechanical voice in his head had killed his neighbor to prove that its threat was not a joke? Vino could not. That burden was too heavy to share.

That was when the commotion came from the direction of the cafeteria door.

Vincent Salim stepped in with the same style as always, chest puffed out, chin raised high, and both of his eyes sweeping the entire cafeteria as if the place was his kingdom.

Behind him followed two of his henchmen who were always faithfully trailing him, Rio and Dimas. Both of them had large bodies though not as large as Vincent, and both of them had facial expressions that seemed to have been specifically designed to intimidate.

Vincent walked toward the food counter and began taking various dishes with unreserved hands. Fried rice, grilled chicken, iced tea, meatball soup, crackers, all were taken and piled onto his tray without looking at the prices. He even took two portions of Padang rice at once. Rio and Dimas followed behind him, each also taking food in no less amount.

Then, with a voice deliberately raised so the entire cafeteria could hear, Vincent shouted toward Mrs. Yanti, the cafeteria owner who stood behind the cash register.

"Ma'am, all this food, put it on Vino's tab okay! Vino pays!"

Mrs. Yanti looked at Vincent with a weary expression. She had this pattern memorized. It had always been like this all along, Vincent would take food, point to Vino as the one paying, and Vino would always come to the cashier with a bowed head while taking money out of his increasingly thin wallet. It had happened seven times since they started college, and the same pattern had been going on since their high school days.

But this time was different.

Vino stood up from his chair. That movement alone was enough to make several people in the cafeteria turn their heads because all this time Vino had never stood up when Vincent came. All this time, all he did was bow his head and hope Vincent would leave quickly.

"Mrs. Yanti," Vino said with a voice that sounded clear throughout the entire cafeteria, "I am not responsible for the food he took. That is all his own business."

The cafeteria suddenly went silent. Completely silent. Even the sound of Bimo's chewing stopped, even though normally no force in this world could stop Bimo from chewing.

Vincent stopped walking. The tray full of food in his hands trembled slightly, not from the weight, but from the anger that began rising from his stomach to his chest to his face that was slowly turning red. He turned his body around and stared at Vino with a look of disbelief.

"What did you just say?" Vincent said quietly, but that quiet tone was actually more threatening than a shout.

"You heard me," Vino answered. "I'm not going to pay for your food. Starting now and forever."

Vincent placed his tray on the nearest table with a slow movement full of emphasis. Every movement was calculated to intimidate.

He walked toward Vino, and with every step, the shadow of his large body increasingly covered Vino.

Vincent was indeed about one centimeter taller than Vino and maybe twenty kilos heavier. He was used to using his body size to dominate others, and all this time it had always worked, especially against Vino.

"You seem to have forgotten who you're talking to, Vin." Vincent was now standing right in front of Vino, their faces only a handspan apart. "I'm asking you one more time. Are you going to pay, or do you want me to teach you some manners?"

This was the moment that for years had always ended with Vino bowing his head.

The moment where Vincent's threat succeeded in paralyzing all of his courage, where that fierce gaze was enough to make his knees weak.

But today Vino did not feel that. He felt something else. There was a new strength flowing through his body, a strength that came not from muscles or adrenaline, but from the certainty that he knew what he could do now.

"I'm not going to pay," Vino said without shifting his gaze from Vincent's eyes.

Vincent's punch came fast. His big fist shot straight toward Vino's face. This was the same punch he had landed countless times on Vino's body back in high school, the punch that always made Vino fall and not dare to get up.

But this time Vino was faster.

His body moved before his brain had time to think. His foot pivoted, his hip rotated, and his right foot shot forward in a perfect front kick motion striking exactly in the center of Vincent's chest.

The sound of the impact was loud, not the sound of an ordinary punch but a sound that signaled great force meeting a body not ready to receive it.

Vincent was thrown backward. Not stepping back one or two steps, but truly thrown. His body flew before landing on a table that immediately collapsed under the weight of his body.