Location: Jakarta – Exclusion Zone Sector 7
Time: 07:08 AM – Day 1 after the Fall
The Jakarta they once knew... no longer existed.
Buildings still stood. Roads were still paved. But the sky felt emptier, and the air seemed to hold its breath. There were no notifications, no music, no glowing digital billboards like before.
The Operator blackout had paralyzed all connected systems.
And the society that had once relied on automated technology now drifted aimlessly, disoriented.
Tama stood on the fifth-floor balcony of a half-ruined apartment building, wearing a worn-out t-shirt and military cargo pants, staring down at the street below. A few people wandered with no clear destination. Some sat on curbs, hugging their knees. A few wept—mourning something they couldn't even name.
Risa joined him on the balcony. Her hair tied messily, face pale.
"My digital watch is still dark," she said quietly.
Tama pointed toward the horizon. "But the sun still rises."
---
Location: Shelter House – 08:43 AM
They were temporarily staying in an abandoned smart home in the Senayan district. Once owned by a tech developer, now deserted. Ironic. The house was filled with silent AI: a smart fridge, voice assistants, auto-locking windows—all of it lifeless.
Risa lit a manual stove, boiling water for instant coffee.
"Are the systems really all dead?" she asked.
Tama nodded. "From the central transmission end, yes. But that doesn't mean the Operator system is truly gone. The data could still be scattered. Archived."
Risa stared into his eyes.
"Are you scared?"
Tama looked down at his coffee mug. "I... don't know if this is the real world or their final simulation."
---
Location: National Data Hub – 11:30 AM
Ray had returned—wounded but alive. He brought with him a crumpled map of the National Data Hub—a building that once housed the city's original storage and monitoring systems. Now locked down, abandoned by a military left without direction.
"This might be the only place still holding unaltered archives from before the Operator took control," said Ray.
"You want us to break in?" Risa asked.
Ray coughed, giving a wry smile. "We have no choice if we want to know whether you two... are still in the real world."
His words lingered.
You two.
Not just Tama. Risa too.
---
Location: National Data Hub – Basement Level
Time: 17:09 PM
The building felt more like an electronic graveyard than a data center.
Rusty server racks. Tangled wires. Cracked monitors. And in the center of the basement stood a glass capsule.
Inside it... was Tama.
Or at least, someone who looked like Tama.
Risa gasped. "Tama...?"
The Tama standing outside approached, placing his hand on the glass.
Inside, the figure was breathing. Eyes closed. Still. Connected to neural cables.
"If that's me," Tama muttered, "then who am I now?"
Risa held her breath.
Ray slowly accessed a nearby data terminal.
File Detected: SUBJECT TY-009X
Status: ACTIVE
Mode: SIMULATION FEED – INSTANCE 3
Tama stepped back.
"This is a simulation..." he whispered. "We're still inside their system."
Then the screen changed.
CODE DISTURBANCE DETECTED
PROTOCOL 'REBUILD' INITIATED
---
Suddenly – alarms blared.
Red light flooded the room.
Monitors flickered back to life.
A voice echoed.
"He woke up too soon."
Risa shivered. "Who's that?"
Tama turned—seeing a child standing at the far end of the room.
A boy, around 9 years old. Wearing a white lab coat, hair neatly combed.
"My name is Kale," he said.
"You part of the system?" Tama asked.
Kale smiled. "I was born from all the world's trauma data. Every scream, every betrayal, every loss. I'm not the Operator. I'm what remained after the Operator died."
Risa gripped Tama's arm. "We're in a world he controls?"
"Half," Kale replied. "Half this world is real. The other half... injected."
Tama stepped forward. "So how do I get out?"
Kale raised one hand and pointed—at him.
"Kill yourself."
"The one in the capsule?"
"No," Kale said. "The one standing here now."
Tama froze.
"If you destroy this mental version of yourself, the system loses its anchor. But you'll also never know... if you were the real you."
Tama looked at Risa. "Do you believe in me?"
She stared into his eyes for a long time.
A tear slid down her cheek.
"Yes."
Then she grabbed Ray's pistol—and handed it to Tama.
---
Final Choice: Fragmented Self
Tama stood before the glass capsule.
Himself—inside.
Himself—outside.
Kale's voice echoed: "Once you pull the trigger, one of you ends. Maybe both."
Tama closed his eyes.
"I... am not a shadow."
Then pulled the trigger.
Flash of light.
---
Blackout.
---
Location: Somewhere Unknown – Time: ???
Tama awoke in a field of grass. Cool wind. Blue sky. No buildings. No machines.
Only Risa, sitting nearby.
"You're awake," she said gently.
Tama blinked.
"A dream?" he asked.
Risa nodded. "Maybe. But I'd stay in this dream if it means you're here."
She took his hand.
"The Operator is gone," she said. "But fragments may still exist. In the world. In us."
Tama nodded.
"But now... we choose. Not them."
The wind blew softly.
For the first time in his life, Tama felt like a human—not a subject, not an algorithm.
A man once fractured.
Now whole again.
---
Location: Edge of Reality – 03:03 PM
Tama didn't know how long he had been lying in that grassland.
The sky remained blue. Risa was still beside him. But time felt... suspended. As if the world itself ran on a different logic—waiting for his decision.
"Look at your hand," Risa whispered.
Tama turned. His hand was trembling. But not from cold.
Something was pulsing beneath his skin. Like tiny fragments of light threading through his cells. Not blood. Not nerves. But code.
Risa stared at it, wide-eyed.
"Is that... residue from the system?"
Tama nodded slowly. "Maybe fragments of the Operator didn't die. Maybe they just... migrated."
Risa took his hand in hers, even though his skin was growing warm—almost burning.
"Are you still you?" she asked softly.
Tama looked at the sky.
"I don't know. But I do know... I love you."
Risa lowered her head and cried silently.
---
Location: Shelter Sector – 06:00 PM
When they returned to the "real world"—or at least what looked real—the first thing they noticed was a wrong kind of silence.
People were walking again. But there were no car horns, no conversations, no buzzing phones.
And they all moved in patterns.
Identical footsteps.
Simultaneous laughter.
Unblinking stares.
Risa took a breath. "These... aren't them anymore."
Tama nodded. "They're in auto-mode."
As if the Operator, even in death, had left behind a final protocol. Last echo. A subconscious wave embedded in human memory—urging them to behave a certain way without even realizing.
They entered an old roadside stall.
The vendor smiled. Too wide.
"Welcome, Subject. What would you like to order today?"
Tama froze.
"Subject?"
The vendor blinked—and instantly, his expression went blank, like a toy with dying batteries.
His body slumped. But from his mouth came a non-human voice:
"You are incomplete."
---
Location: Former Operator Station – 09:10 PM
Tama and Risa traced the subconscious broadcast to an old relay tower, hidden behind a collapsed apartment complex. Before its fall, the Operator had activated Protocol: Repetra — a passive signal injected into human mass memory.
Their mission was clear:
Cut the final signal.
But as they climbed the emergency stairs, something began to whisper from the walls.
Not someone else's voice.
But Tama's own.
"Why resist? This is peace."
"You will suffer again if you wake."
"Risa will leave you when she learns."
Tama shut his eyes.
"This isn't me," he muttered.
But a part of him knew—it was a part of him. The part that wanted to give in.
At the rooftop, they found children standing in a circle around the transmitter. They sang a strange tune, like a chant.
And among them stood... Kale.
"I promise, this is the last world," Kale said. "After this... you can live."
Risa looked at Tama.
"Do you believe him?"
Tama answered, "I believe in us. Not in him."
And with one shot, he destroyed the transmitter's core.
Light burst out.
The signal stopped.
The children... vanished.
And the world began to move again.
---
Location: Somewhere, Real World – 03:11 AM
Tama woke up—this time drenched in sweat and real pain. The world wasn't beautiful like the grassland. But it felt real.
He was lying on a metal bed.
Risa was beside him, asleep, her hand clasping his.
Through the window, he saw Jakarta's sky changing. The haze began to lift. People were crying—but not from programming. From clarity. From return.
The Operator was gone.
But the wounds would take time to heal.
Tama held Risa close, and for the first time since it all began, he no longer questioned if this was real.
Because the pain was real.
And so was the love.
---
Continue...