"Shorty, why the long face? Smile, man! You're a senior now, you should be grinning ear to ear. At least you actually passed your classes," Leo teased, waving his hand in front of Zenra's face.
"I'm exhausted. Every single day, everything is my fault. It feels like I can't do anything right," Zenra replied, staring blankly out the classroom window.
"That's just life, Shorty. If life were smooth like a highway or a paved road, there'd be no such thing as a struggle."
"You have no idea what my life is like. I'm sick of being compared to Al all the time. I feel like the most useless human being, just a freeloader in that house."
Leo threw an arm around Zenra's shoulder.
"Listen to me. If you're tired, rest. Don't listen to that useless garbage people say. Think of it like walking past a graveyard. You're bound to feel creeped out and tempted to run away, right? If you let that fear stop you, you'll turn back and never reach your destination. But if you just floor it and go through without fear? You'll get where you're going faster than you think."
Zenra fell silent. Actually makes sense, coming from this beanpole, he thought.
"Since when did you get so wise? Guess you really are a 'clever deer' (Kancil)."
"Wait, what was I before then?" Leo asked.
"A pig."
"Hey! Watch it! You calling this handsome face a pig? You blind?"
"Fine, not a pig. More like a lost monkey, to be exact."
"You're too much, man! If you weren't my best friend, I'd have punched that face already," Leo grumbled.
Zenra burst out laughing. "Hahaha, just kidding bro. Don't take it to kidney."
"It's heart, you idiot!"
"Right, right. Kidney."
Leo massaged his temples. Zenra's antics always gave him a headache.
"Whatever, I'm done with you. Hey, remember when we were kids and used to hide people's sandals at the mosque?"
"Duh! I used to hide your dad's sandals all the time when I stayed over. We'd never give them back; we'd use them as toys or float them down the river like boats. Anyway, how are Aunt Nisa and Uncle Riyadi? Are they still sane having to deal with a kid like you?"
"They're fine. Actually, they seem saner since I moved out. I call them pretty often."
"Oh right, I forgot you're boarding. Is it actually fun?"
"If you're asking if it's good, yeah, totally. You're basically free."
"Man... I want to move out too."
"But Shorty, your parents would flip. Especially Al. There's no way they'd agree," Leo said quickly. He'd known Zenra since kindergarten and knew the mess his friend dealt with at home.
"It'll be fine. I'll talk to them."
"I'm still scared of getting yelled at. Last time I saw Al, he interrogated me like a criminal."
"Relax, dude. I'll break it to them gently. Are there any empty rooms at your place?"
Leo thought for a moment. "Actually, the room next to mine is empty. The guy moved back to his village yesterday."
"Perfect! That's it. I'm moving in there."
"You serious? I mean... will they actually let you?"
"Stop being so stubborn! Of course they will. And if they don't? I'll just run away."
"You're insane."
"I am. Who ever said I was sane?" Zen snapped, while Leo just gave a thin smile. He wanted to get Zenra out of that house too, but he was terrified of making things worse.
The Great Escape & The Bitter Reality
When the school bell rang, Zenra didn't go straight home. He followed Leo to check out the boarding house. After a whole day of scouting the area, he went home and packed a few clothes in his backpack. His mind was made up: he wanted "freedom" at Leo's place. He'd just work a part-time job to pay for it; easier than begging his parents.
In the living room, Vina—his mother—was sipping tea gracefully. His father, Abi, was at a meeting and wouldn't be home until late.
"Mom."
"Hmm? What now? You want money?" Vina replied curtly, without even looking at him.
"Uh... Mom, I want to move into a boarding house. It's closer to school, and I need to focus on my senior year exams. Is that okay?" Zenra asked nervously, clutching his backpack straps.
"Oh, moving out? Good. Better than having you here just giving me a headache with that gloomy face of yours. Live wherever you want, just don't drag our family name through the mud if you cause trouble," Vina said, still not looking at him.
Zenra froze. In that moment, he realized he truly was nothing but dust in that house.
He could only offer a bitter smile.
That easy, Mom? I barely asked, and I'm already being kicked out.
He didn't notice Albiru had just come home and heard everything from behind the door. Al walked in, looking exhausted from a long shoot, but his face hardened when he heard the conversation.
"No! I don't agree!" Al cut in firmly. "Zen, you're still a kid. Boarding is dangerous. You won't eat right. What if you get sick? Who's going to look after you?"
"Bang, I'm a senior. Leo is there too. I just want to focus on studying," Zenra lied. He just wanted to stay sane, honestly. Living with his parents felt like an endless hell.
"But Dek—"
"Al, let him. He's grown up. Let him learn to be independent," Vina interjected coldly.
Seeing Zenra's stubbornness and his mother's "green light," Al finally relented, though his heart was heavy.
"Fine... but I'm paying for it. And I'm doing a surprise check every week. If you lose even a bit of weight, I'm dragging you back home!"
"I don't need you to pay, Bang. I can work—"
"What? Work? No way! I'm paying, and that's final," Al snapped in his 'protective brother' mode. Zenra's courage evaporated instantly; you didn't mess with Al when he was like this.
"I thought moving out would lighten the family's load, but I guess you're still a freeloader," Vina scoffed, completely indifferent to the wounds she was carving into her youngest son's heart.
Zenra stayed silent.
"Mom, it's only fair I pay for my own brother. Besides, Zen is still young. You should support him, not—"
"Shut it, Al. Go to your room. You have a photo shoot at 9 PM," Vina pressured, and Al, defeated, went to his room.
The Bakso Aci Incident
Two weeks later, Zenra was officially a resident of Leo's boarding house. And of course, he was already causing chaos.
"Shorty! Get online! The neighbor's WiFi is super fast, I think he just paid the bill!" Leo yelled through the wall.
Their rooms were side-by-side. Al had made sure of that so he could keep an eye on Zen.
"Hold on! I'm putting my 'looted' lighter collection into the jar!" Zenra yelled back from his bed. On his desk was a massive glass jar filled with dozens of lighters he'd "secured" from classmates and guys at the coffee shop. To Zenra, swiping lighters wasn't a crime; it was art.
"You're crazy. You've got the whole neighborhood's lighters in there. You starting a shop or planning to burn the place down?" Leo asked, suddenly appearing at the door.
"It's an investment, dude! When the internet apocalypse hits, these will be worth a fortune," Zenra joked. "Come in, stop standing there like an uninvited ghost."
"Right. So, what's the WiFi password?"
"Our neighbor is so cringe. The ID is 'Ask_The_Owner'. I actually tried asking him, and he almost threw water at me. Luckily, I'm a genius. I hacked it with my friend's app. Here, type this: antighibahghibahclub."
Zenra cracked up. "For real? Is that a password or a spell to ward off gossip? He clearly spends all his time talking about people."
"Probably the king of gossip, Zen. He just fills his password with whatever's on his mind."
"Neighbors are the weirdest species. When you're struggling, they laugh. When you're doing well, they look for ways to pull you down. And when tragedy strikes? They're the first ones there... not to help, but to get the latest update so their gossip is 'valid' at the vegetable stall the next morning."
"Wait, aren't we gossiping right now? Stop it, or we'll end up as gossip admins ourselves," Leo rolled his eyes.
Since moving here, Zenra felt alive. No more being compared to Al, no more hair-pulling, no more insults. Just him, Leo, stolen lighters, and free WiFi. It was enough.
But no one expected that his "freedom" would lead to such an un-elite death.
It was a fateful afternoon...
Zenra was walking back from the convenience store with some instant bakso aci. He was scrolling through memes on his phone, laughing at a video of a cat falling.
"Hahaha, look at this dork—"
Gulp.
Because he was laughing while eating, he choked on a raw bakso aci ball. His throat was blocked. He gasped for air like a fish out of water, hands clawing for a grip.
Right above him, on the second-floor balcony, the landlady was franticly taking down laundry. Between the heavy wind and her "heavy life problems" (and heavy wet sheets), a metal laundry rack full of wet blankets and—of course—her underwear, wobbled and...
CRASH!!!!
The metal pole and the pile of wet laundry fell directly onto Zenra's head while he was still struggling to cough.
Everything went black. The last thing he saw wasn't Al's worried face or Leo's goofy grin, but a pink lacey pair of panties draped over his lifeless face.
"HELP! Someone's been crushed by a laundry rack!!!" the landlady screamed.
Zenra was dead. Not killed by an enemy, not by a terminal illness, but by a snack and a neighbor's laundry.
The System & Kara
[Bwahahahaha!! What kind of death is that? That's so not elite!]
The System's laughter echoed after hearing Kara's story. It couldn't wrap its head around such pathetic luck. Kara snorted. Should've kept my mouth shut.
"Is that it, Bang? Just that?" Cruel's cold voice sent shivers down Kara's spine.
"That's all I remember. Right after I died, I was sent here for this 'forced labor'."
[Forced labor? How dare you! This is a second chance. Be grateful!]
'A second chance to get bullied by a new world, you mean? You have no idea, System. My life was already a mess, and you just made it messier! Look, I'm a pro at acting like the happiest guy on earth. You want a laugh? I've got it. You want a joke? I'm your guy. But don't you dare ask me how I feel when I lock my door and turn off the lights. That's when I realize that laughing all day is more exhausting than a marathon, because it's not just your lungs working—it's your soul.'
[Ooh, how poetic. Truly, no one would believe you died such a pathetic death with words like that. No insurance, and totally embarrassing.]
Kara glared at the System. So chatty. He wanted to stuff a sock in its mouth, but he had to be patient.
"Aren't you curious about what happened after you died?"
Kara looked at Cruel and ruffled his brother's hair. "Curious, sure. But the past is the past. No point digging it up. Let's just live our lives now. Think of the past as a lesson that moves us forward, not back."
"You're actually okay with being treated like that? How do you even learn to be that selfless?"
Kara gave a thin smile. "Selfless? It's like this, El... if you help someone and they don't say thank you or even smile, don't get mad. Just let it go. Not every beautiful thing has a beautiful ending, right?"
"I'd rather have money than a thank you, Bang. 'Thank you' doesn't fill my stomach."
Kara facepalmed. Where did this kid learn this? "Fine, fine. Let's just go eat out. My treat. I've got some extra cash."
[Ooh! Someone's eating good tonight! Treat me too!]
'Pay for yourself, you freeloader.'
[Come on! You know I don't have money. I don't even have a body!]
'Blame your boss, not me. I'm just a regular human, not a god.'
[Who ever said you were an angel anyway?]
Kara groaned. Dealing with this System was a mental workout. "Whatever, I'm in a bad mood now. Let's go, Dek."