For most students at Rajawali High, paradise was the canteen with its Western menu, the basketball court surrounded by cheerleaders, or the parking lot to show off luxury cars. But for Rehan, paradise was a 4x6 meter room in the most hidden corner of the third floor, where the room temperature was kept constant at 18 degrees Celsius and the only sound heard was the monotonous hum of server cooling fans.
Computer Lab 3. Or more precisely, the server room behind it.
Rehan sat on a swivel chair with slightly deflated foam, his face illuminated by the blue light of three monitors glowing simultaneously. His fingers danced across a mechanical keyboard without looking at the keys, creating a fast and precise clack-clack-clack rhythm.
On the main screen, lines of green and white code scrolled down like a digital waterfall. Rehan wasn't doing his ICT homework. ICT homework was kindergarten play for him. He was doing mental defragging—reorganizing his thoughts by optimizing the school's network security code which, in his opinion, was "as strong as a soggy cracker."
"Humans," Rehan muttered softly, his eyes narrowing at the network activity log. "Always the biggest security vulnerability."
He looked at the login history on the school server.
User: Mrs_Siti_Admin
Password: Naufal2002
Rehan scoffed. He typed a few command lines, forcing the system to reset Mrs. Siti's password and sending an automated security warning notification.
To Rehan, this world was just a gigantic, chaotic collection of data. School, friendship, romance, popularity—all of it was just noise. Garbage data consuming brain bandwidth and producing no useful output. He preferred interacting with machines. Machines were honest. If there was an error, it was definitely a bug or syntax error that could be traced and fixed. Machines never stabbed you in the back, never gossiped, and never showed off their parents' wealth.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A knock on the glass partition broke his focus. Rehan didn't turn around. He knew who it was. There was only one living organism in this school persistent enough (or stupid enough) to disturb him during the second break.
"Oy, Han! Rehan! Open the door, come on!"
The muffled voice penetrated the soundproof glass. Rehan sighed deeply, pressing the mute button on the lo-fi hip hop playlist on his headphones. He spun his chair slowly.
Behind the glass, Dani was pressing his face until his cheeks were squashed, making a silly expression while waving a PS5 controller.
Rehan stared at him flatly for five seconds, hoping Dani would get bored and leave like an ignored pop-up ad. But Dani was persistent malware. He kept knocking.
Reluctantly, Rehan pressed a button under his desk connected to the magnetic door lock.
Click.
The door opened. Dani immediately stormed in, bringing warm air and noise from the corridor with him.
"You're crazy, Han! I've been banging on the door forever!" Dani protested, throwing his bag onto the floor and sitting on top of the server rack—an action that made Rehan's eye twitch in annoyance.
"Get down," Rehan ordered briefly. "That table supports a switch hub worth twenty million rupiah. Your butt isn't worth the price."
Dani chuckled, then hopped down. "So sadistic, Mr. Robot. Eh, are you busy? Surely not, right? Just staring at black screens all day."
"I'm busy guarding your failing grade data from leaking to the public," Rehan quipped, turning back to the screen.
"See, that's the use of having a hacker friend!" Dani patted Rehan's shoulder, acting overly familiar. "Btw, Han. Later after school, wanna play? I just bought the latest FIFA disc. We play at my house. Salim and Rizki are coming too. There's pizza, cola, cold AC. What more could you want?"
Rehan didn't stop typing. "I want to not do that."
"Come on, Bro! You're always in this cave. Go out once in a while, breathe fresh air, look at girls," Dani persuaded. "Maya is coming too, you know. Who knows, maybe you want to watch the Salim-Maya-Rinto love triangle drama live."
Rehan stopped typing for a moment. His hands hovered in the air.
"Dan," Rehan called without turning.
"Yo?"
"In your opinion, is social interaction efficient?"
Dani frowned, confused by the sudden philosophical question. "Um... it's fun. Why does it have to be efficient?"
"Because my time is limited," Rehan answered coldly. He spun his chair again to face Dani. "Playing games with you yields zero output. Chatting with Salim and Rizki has too many emotional variables. I don't need that. I need quiet to finish my encryption project before the study tour."
"Oh come on, Han. Don't live life so rigidly. You'll age fast," Dani sneered. "We're about to graduate. Moments of togetherness are expensive, Bro."
"Togetherness is a biochemical illusion in the brain to induce a false sense of safety in groups," Rehan retorted quickly. "You just play with Salim and Rizki. I'll pass."
Dani fell silent for a moment, looking at Rehan with a gaze hard to interpret. Between pity and annoyance.
"Okay, okay. I get it. You really are a rare species," Dani finally surrendered, raising his hands. "But remember, Han. If you keep treating other people as disturbances, one day you'll realize that being alone is... lonely."
"Loneliness is a feature, not a bug," Rehan answered.
Dani shook his head, then walked out. "You cyborg. Alright, if you need pizza, just call me."
The door closed again. Silence enveloped the room once more.
Rehan sighed in relief. Finally, the social malware was gone. He could refocus. He put his headphones back on.
However, just as he was about to type, a notification appeared in the bottom right corner of his screen. Not a system notification, but a message from an encrypted chat app he had planted in the school network.
Sender: Alya (PMR)
Subject: Urgent. Logistics Sabotage Request.
Rehan's eyebrow raised. Alya? That quiet PMR vice president? It was rare for her to contact Rehan. The last time they interacted was when Alya treated a wound on Rehan's finger that got pinched by a CPU casing, and at that time Alya worked in silence, something Rehan appreciated.
Rehan opened the message.
"Rehan, need help sabotaging PMR logistics system. Urgent. We need to forge a medicine order to the school's partner pharmacy before this afternoon. The lives of the entire cohort are at stake."
Rehan read the last sentence twice. The lives of the entire cohort are at stake.
"Dramatic," Rehan muttered. But there was something in that message that piqued his interest. The word "sabotage". And the fact that Alya—the rule-abiding model student—was asking for help to do something illegal. This was an anomaly. And Rehan loved anomalies.
He typed a brief reply.
Rehan: Details?
Two seconds later, a reply came in.
Alya: Ridha cut the budget for Painkillers and Antibiotics to buy Sunblock. I need you to hack into the order system, change the item 'Sunblock' to 'Amoxicillin' and 'Tramadol' without changing the total price shown on the final invoice so Ridha doesn't get suspicious. Can you?
Rehan smirked thinly. The corner of his lips lifted forming a rare smile.
Ridha, the narcissistic PMR President? Rehan knew exactly who she was. The type of human Rehan hated most: High maintenance, low performance. Changing a cosmetic order into life-saving medicine? That wasn't just sabotage, that was an act of purging stupidity.
Rehan: 5 minutes. Consider my debt for the finger plaster last month paid.
Rehan closed the chat window. His fingers stretched for a moment, cracking his knuckles.
"Okay, let's play," Rehan whispered.
He opened the command prompt terminal. A black screen with green text appeared.
Target: Rajawali High Logistics Server.
Security Level: Low (Standard Windows Firewall).
Rehan typed a series of simple SQL Injection codes. The school's security system was pathetic. Whoever the admin was, they definitely used the default password.
Access Granted.
Rehan's monitor now displayed the school logistics admin dashboard. He searched for the folder "PMR – Study Tour Submission".
Click. The file opened.
There lay the shopping list Ridha had approved.
* Sunblock SPF 50 (Import) – 50 bottles – IDR 5,000,000
* Vitamin C Collagen Drink – 20 boxes – IDR 3,000,000
* Aloe Vera Face Masks – 100 pcs – IDR 1,500,000
"Crazy," Rehan cursed softly. "Is this a study tour or a spa day?"
Rehan got to work immediately. He couldn't just delete the items because it would change the budget total and trigger suspicion from finance. He had to do masking.
He entered the product code database. He swapped the product Ids.
He changed the descriptions in the backend system, but left the frontend display (which Ridha would see later when printing the report) looking like cosmetics. However, the order sent to the pharmacy supplier would read the actual codes.
Sunblock SPF 50 Code changed to: AB-500 (Amoxicillin 500mg)
Vitamin C Collagen Code changed to: TRM-50 (Tramadol/Painkiller)
Face Masks Code changed to: BND-01 (Elastic Bandage & Sterile Gauze)
Rehan adjusted the quantities so the prices matched. He inserted a small script so that the petty cash price difference would automatically go into the "Student Donation" account, making the balance sheet zero.
Three minutes and forty seconds.
Enter.
Changes Saved.
Order Sent to Supplier: Sehat Farma Pharmacy.
Rehan leaned back in his chair, rotating his stiff neck. Done. Without Ridha realizing, she had just ordered a truckload of hard drugs instead of face whitening creams.
"Alya... Alya..." Rehan muttered. "You're the only human in this school whose brain functions besides me and Salim."
Rehan closed his access, wiped his login logs, and returned to the empty desktop view.
On a whim, Rehan opened another window on his third monitor. School CCTV access. This was his personal entertainment. Watching humans was like watching ants in a glass aquarium.
He clicked on Camera Corridor 2 – Front of Class XII Science 1.
In black and white, he saw Salim walking out of class with Maya. Rehan zoomed in (pixelated digital zoom). He could see their body language. Maya laughing, touching Salim's arm. Salim looked uncomfortable but resigned.
Rehan shifted the camera to the Basketball Court. He saw Udin sitting alone on the sidelines, re-wrapping the bandage on his leg. Udin's face looked hard, staring blankly ahead.
Then the Canteen Camera. He saw Dani surrounded by other friends, laughing widely while showing off his new shoes.
And finally, the Student Council Room Camera. He saw Salma scolding someone on the phone, her face tense and tired.
"Variables," Rehan whispered. "You're all just random variables moving without a pattern."
Salim with his logic.
Udin with his physique.
Salma with her rules.
Alya with her medicine.
And Dani with... his noise.
Rehan felt safe behind his screen. Here, he was the observer. He was the controller. He didn't need to get involved in their emotional drama.
"Study Tour," Rehan looked at the digital calendar in the corner of the screen. "Three days left."
He wasn't enthusiastic. To him, the study tour just meant he had to be away from his beloved computer and forced to socialize in a cramped bus for hours.
Rehan opened his desk drawer, taking out a small device he assembled himself. A Portable Signal Jammer and a mini Hacking Deck he built from used phone components and a Raspberry Pi.
"At least I'm bringing my own toys," he said to himself.
He didn't know that those small "toys", along with his finger's ability to dance on the keyboard, would soon be the only things capable of killing the signal of death and manipulating the map of their fate on that cursed island.
Dani's offer to play games earlier was indeed a disturbance. But the real game was currently loading. And in that game, Rehan wouldn't be able to just be a spectator behind a CCTV screen. He would have to be a player.
Rehan turned off the monitors. The room went pitch black, lit only by the server indicator lights blinking red and green.
In that darkness, Rehan felt comfortable. Solitude was his blanket.
"System normal. Humans... error," he whispered, then closed his eyes for a quick nap before the entry bell rang.