Yug sat in his car, watching the blurry city pass outside the window. His mind returned to the incident—when he had felt dizzy while talking to Nitya. Something about it still felt wrong. He had never experienced that kind of dizziness or disorientation before. More than that, something within him seemed unusual. His behavior had been changing, shifting in ways he couldn't fully understand. The realization made him reflect on himself more carefully.
"Nitya was different today," he muttered. "She kept her distance… and I still don't know why."
His gaze fell on the wound on his arm. It was almost healed, which surprised him. The injury hadn't been deep, yet the speed at which it closed still felt unusual.
"Is this Nitya's doing?"
He wondered, his eyes sharpening as he tried to recall, unable to rule her out. A wound had healed unusually fast many times as well. Back then, Yug had simply assumed his body was sturdier than most. But recently, when he treated a wound himself, it had taken much longer to heal. Thinking about it now, the injuries that healed quickly were always the ones Nitya had treated.
Maybe she simply had a much better ointment.
"I should ask her about it." He stroked his chin and looked at the rearview mirror
Ding.
A notification flashed across Yug's phone. He glanced down as Kruti's name appeared on the screen. His brows furrowed slightly. It had been years since she last contacted him.
Still, he opened the message.
Hey, sweety. Long time, huh? I missed you. Bet you missed me too. Don't blame me though—we've both been busy.
Anyway, good news. I finally finished high school.
I'm joining your university. Already applied and got accepted. Haha, genius, right?
Give me a few weeks. I'll be there.
His expression shifted slightly. Another message followed.
"Oh, and I'm finally eligible to drink now.
So we should celebrate before classes start.
But if I find any girls around you when I arrive… we're definitely having a talk. Haha."
Yug's goosebumps rose along his arms from her message. A quiet sigh escaped him, warmth spreading through his chest.
Kruti… huh.
I had almost forgotten how steady her presence felt. For a while, I even wondered if she had forgotten me. Our relationship was never dramatic—just curiosity about each other. I still remember the day she solved a problem that made no sense to me. Even though I was the top student at school and older than her, she understood it before I could.
That was the first time I noticed her differently.
After that, we spoke more often. Curiosity turned into admiration, admiration into envy… and eventually something deeper.
Yet she never once made me feel small or out of place.
"I'm sorry, Kruti. I won't be with you anymore."
A tight breath left him, his fingers pressing against his palm. He had already decided to leave the university. Yet her arrival stirred something quiet inside him—something familiar.
Yug put his phone aside and leaned back in his seat, trying to push Kruti from his mind.
"Sir, we're here," the driver said.
Yug came out of his daze. Outside the window, his bungalow stood before him. Under the evening light, it almost looked like a small palace—elegant, polished, almost unreal.
Yug stepped out of the car and paused for a moment in front of the house. It looked better than he remembered. After a brief glance around, he walked to the entrance and stepped inside.
Yug saw that the living hall was filled with noise, servants moving all around as they worked. The place was not only cleaned but newly decorated, as if something important was about to happen. A rich fragrance lingered in the air. He had smelled it before, but never this strong. The scent, along with the familiar bustle of the household, strangely calmed him.
As his eyes wandered through the hall, they finally settled on the head servant in the distance, carefully inspecting the surroundings and making sure everything was in order. A faint smile appeared on Yug's face—not wide, but noticeable.
He's just as hardworking as ever, Yug approached the head servant, his expression faintly softened.
"Uncle," Yug called. The old head servant turned around. The moment he saw Yug, his stern expression softened into warmth. A gentle smile spread across his weathered face, and the tension in his features faded instantly.
"Yug, you're back. Things have been dull around here without you." His voice carried a hint of emotion as he raised a hand to his eyes, wiping them even though no tears had truly formed.
"I don't see any tears. Quit acting, old man." Yug smiled, though his tone carried a faint coldness.
"Yug, you're mistaken. How could I act in front of you? I'm only a servant," the old man said with a humble expression.
"Hm… forget it." Yug paused, studying the old man with a hint of suspicion before asking, "Where's my mother? I don't see her here—she would've come to pick me up."
The old man stepped closer.
"Your mother went to meet an important guest. She should be back before night," he said truthfully. Then he suddenly wrinkled his nose and looked at Yug with a strange expression. Before Yug could understand his reaction, the old man blurted out,
"Yug, you smell! What happened to you? And your clothes are a mess."
Yug blinked, then quickly sniffed his sleeve. His face tightened in disgust.
"Ugh… don't remind me," he grumbled, turning slightly away. "It's a long story."
"Let's hear it." The old man's eyes lit up at first, but the smell reached his nose again and he quickly added, "You should wash up first. It wouldn't look good if the guest saw you like this."
Yug nodded, though frustration twisted across his face.
"You're right. I'll be back." He turned away without waiting for a response.
After a long time away, he finally returned to his own room. Inside, nothing had changed. Everything was exactly as he remembered, and the familiarity stirred something he had almost forgotten. A faint look of relief crossed his face.
He began removing his clothes when a sudden jolt ran through his nerves. For a moment, his vision blurred. The room tilted slightly, as if the ground beneath him had shifted. A strange pressure tightened in his chest.
Then it vanished.
His body had already moved back.
"Huh!" Yug covered his mouth, his body suddenly restless.
"Ugh…" His stomach twisted violently. Nausea surged up his throat, as if his body were rejecting something it could not see. He pulled his hand away and stared at the thick liquid smeared across his palm.
"Disgusting."
His face turned pale. He shook his hand and hurried toward the bathroom.
***
After washing himself, Yug collapsed onto his bed. A hand pressed against his chest. His heartbeat felt slow and heavy. The uneasiness refused to fade. Turning onto his side, his gaze drifted toward the wardrobe across the room.
"I should work. Today was exhausting. Even after washing up, I still don't feel right. Maybe it'll distract me." Eyes turned toward the wardrobe. Yug opened it, revealing a concealed door, and entered another room. The room was completely dark when he stepped inside.
"Ah… this is bliss," Yug said, awed by the familiar sensation as he closed his eyes.
He stretched out his hand, calming himself before giving the command. His shoulders loosened, his body slowly relaxing into the air around him.
"Ticket, come to me."
A small, button-sized device landed in his palm. Thin laser beams shot from the four tiny holes in it. One of the beams moved wildly, searching through the darkness, its narrow line tracing the floor.
The beam finally caught something.
A tiny mechanical switch slid quietly across the ground, shifting its position again and again. Yug followed it with the thin line of light until the beam struck it directly.
"Ticket-2, lights on," Yug commanded as he advanced across the room. At once, the room flooded with brightness. The moving switch disappeared as it carried out the command, while the remote—Ticket—remained in Yug's hand. The thin laser line still moved through the air. This time another small hole in the device began scanning the room, searching for something.
The space around him was square and empty, with four smooth walls. There were no doors and no windows. It felt less like a room and more like a sealed chamber—directionless, with nothing to guide the senses except up and down.
"Ticket-3, place the system," Yug ordered confidently.
The lights faded for an instant. Then screens flickered to life along the walls, their glow spreading across the room. Yug stood quietly, gazing at the system he had built.
The table was cluttered with chips and circuit boards. Thin wires connected them to cards mounted along the walls. Through those connections, he could assemble and test chips directly from his station. Across the room sat two or three computers with keyboards pushed aside carelessly. Phones, cables, and internet wires were scattered around them, all feeding into the small system he had built himself.
"Time to work," he said as he sat at his table. Lines of data filled the screen.
He adjusted the chip's structure, reorganizing the pathways and letting the signals flow through the network of wires like threads in a web. His attention narrowed completely on the work before him. Thoughts of the outside world faded as his mind drifted deeper into the design, testing ideas, correcting errors, and rebuilding the structure again and again.
Hours slipped by like minutes, his earlier exhaustion disappearing as he lost himself in the work.
"I need to fuse this chip with the card… or create a card that compresses the digital flow." He was barely aware he was speaking.
A faint burning smell began to spread through the room as Yug remained absorbed in his work.
Then a sound broke through it.
BEEP…
BEEP…
BEEP…
The sound suddenly sped up.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Yug's eyes widened.
Something was wrong.
He jumped to his feet. "TICKET! Shut everything down!"
The warning alarm screamed louder.
Yug ran for the door.
The lock slammed shut before he reached it.
"No—no, no! Damn it!"
"TICKET! OPEN THE DOOR!"
But it was too late.
BOOM.