Nara's Hunt and a New Path
After asking the landlady when the theft occurred, Nara immediately ran to her room. She changed her clothes, grabbed her two mandau knives and blowgun, then jumped out. Since the incident had happened only about three hours earlier, she planned to find the thief herself and retrieve her mother's locket. She entered her spiritual realm and ran, tracking roughly where the thief who dared to take her valuable item might have gone. After wandering aimlessly, she finally returned to her dorm room.
Nara immediately sat down to meditate on her bed, sitting cross-legged and closing her eyes. Her grandfather had taught her how to sense presences, and now she tried to do it. She sharpened all her senses and felt the lingering presence of someone in her room. Everything suddenly became silent; the only sound was the approaching footsteps of a young man towards the door, then he opened the door. He then searched Nara's entire room. Since all the jewelry in the jewelry box was imitation, he put it back, but he was interested in the aquamarine locket.
He immediately pocketed it and left the room. Nara seemed to follow him with her astral body, continuing to trail the young man as he ran out of the house and in whatever direction he went. A moment later, Nara opened her eyes.
"So that's where he went... okay, just wait," she thought to herself.
Without further delay, Nara stood up and opened her window. She immediately jumped down, and upon landing, ran directly towards the place she had "seen" earlier. Finally, Nara arrived at a wooden pier near the harbor. There, she saw several young men sitting on the edge, laughing and counting money. Nara entered her spiritual realm and approached them, then exited her spiritual realm right in their midst.
"Hey!" Nara said.
"Aaah... where did you come from?!" a young man shrieked, falling backward.
The two other youths immediately stumbled and ran, but Nara's target was indeed the young man in front of her.
"Give me back my locket necklace that you stole from my dorm room!" Nara said in a hoarse voice, holding her mandau.
"Wha-what necklace? I don't understand," the young man feigned ignorance.
"Come on, quickly give back my necklace! Are you tired of living?" Nara asked in a hoarse voice, slightly unsheathing her mandau.
The young man stood up. Suddenly, he turned and ran. Nara smiled. Nara suddenly appeared next to the young man and blocked his neck with her arm, causing him to fall backward. Nara immediately crouched and drew one of her mandau knives, then crossed it against the young man's neck. Seeing Nara's fierce eyes, ready to decapitate him,
"P-please... I-I didn't know that necklace was valuable..." the young man said, terrified.
"Alright, where is it?" Nara asked, extending her palm in front of the young man's face.
"S-sorry... it's already turned into money," the young man replied.
"What? What did you say? Who bought it?" Nara asked.
"Um... the buyer already took the ferry from the harbor... someone from Jakarta," the young man replied.
"What?! Quickly, come with me!" Nara retorted, pulling the young man's shirt to make him stand.
Both immediately ran to the harbor. When they arrived, the ferry crossing to Surabaya harbor had just departed, and Nara could still see the ferry in the distance. Nara immediately clenched her fist, furious at the young man standing next to her. A few tears welled up as she held back her emotions.
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..." the young man said, seeing Nara shed tears.
"Do you know the person? Where's their address?" Nara asked.
"Sorry, I don't know them. It was just a coincidence earlier... Again, I'm sorry, here's the money, I'll give it to you," the young man replied.
"Grrrrr.... don't bother!" Nara roared.
Nara turned and walked away from the harbor, leaving the young man alone, lost in thought and feeling guilty. Nara ran to her school, intending to meet the principal to apply for a transfer to Jakarta.
That night, when Nara had returned to her dorm room, she lay restlessly, trying to sleep and forget everything that happened today.
"Uuugh... I can't sleep," she muttered to herself.
She picked up her smartphone, and her finger almost touched her favorite multiplayer online battle game icon, but then she didn't press it.
"Too bored to play this. I'll just play a shooting game."
She pressed the icon next to it, which was a popular FPS game. When she logged in, she saw two of her friends online and in a password-protected server. She immediately entered the server, knowing the password would be the same.
"Hey!" Nara greeted.
"Whoa, it's the psycho!" one of her friends replied.
"How are you, Putih? It's been a while since we've been online together," Nara said.
"Yeah... Kalong's AFK," Putih replied.
Nara saw there was another person besides her two friends. She was immediately surprised to read their username.
"Who's the other one? Cool name... simple and clear... 'Corpse'."
"Hahahahaha... yeah, cool username, Corpse," Putih replied.
"Why is he so quiet?" Nara asked.
"He's AFK too. He said he had something to do for a bit, that's why we haven't started yet," Putih replied.
"No wonder. Oh yeah, after this, I'm going to retire from the game," Nara replied.
"What? Why? It won't be fun without you..." Putih replied.
"I'll play again when I'm in Jakarta and have started university. For now, I need to focus on my grades. My average has to be above average," Nara replied.
"Oh, you're going to Jakarta?" Putih asked.
Nara typed with her nimble fingers, recounting the day's events: meeting the principal and asking to transfer to Jakarta. The principal disagreed, saying it was too late, as there were only a few months left until graduation for the third-year class. The principal advised Nara to aim for good grades so she could be accepted into a good university in Jakarta. The principal even offered to recommend Nara if her grades improved. Although annoyed, Nara had no choice but to accept.
"Oh, so that's what happened..." Putih replied.
"Yeah, it's annoying, but what else can I do?" Nara replied.
"If you come here, do you want to stay with me?" Putih asked.
"Eh... no, I wouldn't want to bother your family," Nara replied.
"Relax, my house is a boarding house, hehe," Putih replied.
"Oh, that sounds good," Nara replied.
"Hey, I'm back! Whoa, the psycho's here... Has 'Corpse' not returned yet?" Kalong asked.
"Hey Kalong... what's up..." Nara replied.
"Just kick 'Corpse', let's start with the three of us..." Kalong replied.
"No, don't... be patient, he'll be back soon," Putih replied.
"Hey guys, I'm logging off for now. I'll be online again when I'm in Jakarta," Nara replied.
"What?! I just got back and you're logging off? What's going on... When are you actually going to Jakarta?" Kalong asked.
"After graduation, hehe," Nara replied.
"Geez, that's still a long time. Same as me, then... that's bad..." Kalong replied.
"Hahahaha..." Putih and Nara laughed.
"Helloooo.... I'm back... want to play?" 'Corpse' asked.
"Let's go... Oh, first, let me introduce you. This is 'Psycho'... Hey, Psycho, meet 'Corpse'," Kalong replied.
"Nice to meet you, Corpse," Nara replied.
"Same to you, Psycho," Corpse replied.
The game began, and they ended up playing continuously until it was almost morning. After finishing, Nara said goodbye and logged out. Then she went into her multiplayer online battle game. She saw her two friends were still offline. Finally, she sent an offline message informing them that she was also going to Jakarta like them. After that, Nara put her smartphone down and looked at the ceiling of her dorm room, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Whoever has my necklace, just wait... I'm coming to get my necklace back," Nara thought to herself.
After that, Nara concentrated on improving her grades to get into university in Jakarta and breaking her gaming habit. However, amidst her activities, she continued to operate her private secret website to help others, her clients. Nara's appearances, seemingly disappearing and reappearing in an instant, led people and netizens to give her the name The Phantom.