Light.
That was the first thing Salim felt. Not the dim neon light of a bus, but the soft, warm, soothing light of the morning sun. The light penetrated his eyelids, forcing his consciousness to rise to the surface.
Salim opened his eyes.
He wasn't in a cramped bus seat. He didn't smell the musty vehicle carpet or the sweat of his friends. Instead, he smelled the aroma of expensive freshly laundered linens and the scent of citrus from a room diffuser.
His body lay on an incredibly soft king-size mattress, as if he were sleeping on a cloud. The ceiling above him was high, painted pristine white with artistic minimalist chandelier ornaments.
"Am I... in heaven?" Salim mumbled, his voice hoarse.
He woke up and sat. The dizziness, nausea, and numbness that tormented him on the bus were gone without a trace. Strangely, his body felt incredibly fit. Very light. The back pain from staying up late studying was gone. His eyes, usually nearsighted and needing to squint upon waking, could now see the details of the blanket fabric clearly without glasses—though Salim reflexively reached for the nightstand to find his glasses and put them on out of habit.
"OY! WAKE UP, PRINCESS!"
A pillow flew and hit Salim's face.
Salim swatted the pillow away in shock. Across the room, Dani was jumping on his own bed like a kindergartner high on sugar. He was wearing only shorts, holding a remote control controlling the automatic window blinds.
"Look, Lim! Look!" Dani shouted hysterically, pointing at the giant glass window stretching from floor to ceiling. "This is insane! This is a seven-star hotel! The walls are all glass!"
On the third bed near the door, Rizki was sitting relaxed wearing a thick white bathrobe, sipping a cup of coffee from the capsule espresso machine available in the room.
"Morning, Lim," Rizki greeted calmly, smiling widely. "Did you sleep well? We've arrived. And it seems... Mr. Adrian wasn't lying about the facilities."
Salim got off the bed. His feet stepped on a thick, soft fur rug. He walked closer to the giant window. The view outside made him hold his breath.
They were on a very high floor. Down below lay a breathtaking futuristic resort complex. Terraced swimming pools with crystal clear blue water, tropical gardens arranged with geometric precision, and white cubic buildings that looked like a sci-fi movie headquarters. And at the far end, the open sea stretched wide, reflecting the blinding sunlight.
"Where are we?" Salim asked.
"Private Island, Bro!" Dani chimed in, jumping down and embracing Salim. "I checked the TV earlier, there's a hotel info channel. This place is called 'The Sanctuary'. They say it's a hidden island on the northern border. Crazy right? Free, Lim! Free!"
Salim touched the cold window glass. Everything looked real. Everything looked beautiful. Too beautiful.
"Don't you guys feel strange?" Salim asked, turning to face his two friends. "Last time we were on the bus, we were drugged. Mass fainting. Then suddenly we wake up here, changed into different clothes?"
Salim just realized he was no longer wearing his school uniform or denim jacket. He was wearing light gray silk pajamas.
"My clothes..." Salim touched his pajamas. "Who changed me?"
"Hotel staff, obviously, not ghosts," Dani answered casually, taking an apple from the fruit basket on the table. "Maybe while we slept on the bus, we were carried onto a ferry, then brought here. Prime service, Lim. Why overthink it? Just enjoy."
"I agree with Dani, Lim," Rizki added, putting down his coffee cup. "Using sleeping pills was a bit extreme, but maybe it was so we wouldn't get seasick. The proof is now? My body feels so fresh. All the soreness from yesterday's basketball practice is gone. That drug works."
Salim fell silent. Rizki's logic made sense. If the goal was comfort, sedating passengers to avoid seasickness was an efficient solution—albeit unethical. And this freshness in his body... was indeed an undeniable fact.
Salim walked into the bathroom. It was lined with black marble, featuring a high-tech shower and an automatic toilet. He washed his face with cold water.
In the mirror, he stared at his reflection. No dark circles under his eyes. His skin looked healthier.
"Nano-machines..." Salim whispered, recalling a sci-fi theory he once read. But he immediately dismissed it. Impossible. That technology doesn't exist yet. It must be just high-dose vitamins.
"Hurry up and shower! We're told to gather in the Ballroom for the Welcome Dinner!" Dani banged from outside. "They say there's Lobster Thermidor!"
The hotel's Grand Ballroom looked more like a royal palace than a hotel hall. Giant crystal chandeliers, round tables with white silk tablecloths, and neatly uniformed waiters bustling about carrying silver trays.
200 Rajawali High students gathered there. They all looked fresh, fragrant, and dressed in semi-formal attire that had somehow been prepared in their respective wardrobes according to their sizes.
"Salim!"
Maya waved from table number 4. She looked beautiful in a simple light blue summer dress. Rinto sat next to her, looking dashing in a polo shirt, laughing freely chatting with Sucipto (having accepted Sucipto into his group).
Salim approached the table briefly.
"Hi, May. You okay?" Salim asked.
"Really okay!" Maya answered enthusiastically. Her eyes sparkled. "I slept so well, Lim. Sweet dreams. And when I woke up, I felt reborn. How about you? Still wearing the bracelet?"
Salim lifted his pajama sleeve slightly, revealing the prusik bracelet. "Still. Won't take it off."
Maya smiled in relief. "Thank goodness. Sit here?"
"Can't, May. Must stick to room groups," Rinto refused quickly, glaring at Salim cynically. "Go back to your peasant table."
Salim ignored Rinto. He looked around. At Group 27's table, he saw his friends.
Salma was examining a napkin meticulously, her face still slightly suspicious but starting to soften. Udin was staring at an empty plate with a hungry gaze. Alya was observing the crystal glass in front of her. Rehan... Rehan was looking under the table, probably checking something.
Salim walked toward his table. However, halfway there, his stomach felt uneasy. Not hungry, but queasy. Maybe the effect of his body's metabolic transition.
"I'm going to the toilet for a sec," Salim excused himself to Dani as he passed their table.
Salim walked out of the Ballroom, toward the quiet corridor. The toilet was located at the end of the hall, near the kitchen area and staff room.
The corridor was silent, lined with thick carpets muffling footsteps. The walls were decorated with modern abstract paintings.
When Salim finished in the toilet and washed his hands, he heard a conversation from behind the slightly ajar "Staff Only" door across from the toilet.
The voices sounded heavy and serious.
"The subject in Sector 3 shows excellent neural response. Synchronization reached 98%."
Salim froze. His wet hands hung in the air. Subject? Sector 3?
He approached the door crack slowly, peeking with one eye.
Inside the room, which looked like a monitoring room full of screens, stood two people. One wore a white lab coat (like the one who injected them), and the other wore the Rajawali High teacher's batik uniform.
It was Mr. Bambang. The Civics Teacher.
Salim's heart stopped beating for a second.
"What about the dose for the large-bodied ones? Like Asset number 045?" Mr. Bambang asked. His voice sounded worried, but also... involved.
"We've adjusted it, Sir," answered the man in the lab coat, pointing to a graph on the screen. "We increased their sleep dose by 20% on the bus. Now their memory is stable. They won't remember the pain of the injection."
"Good," Mr. Bambang nodded. "I don't want parents complaining their kids were traumatized by injections. Make sure they're all happy. Make sure they feel this is a vacation. We need their mental condition at its peak before... the test begins."
"Relax. Environmental manipulation is active. We're stimulating their dopamine hormones through the air conditioner."
Salim stepped back slowly, breath caught in his throat.
Salim's world collapsed.
Mr. Bambang... The teacher who taught social justice... he knew? He was involved?
Salim turned, about to run back to the Ballroom to tell his friends. However, his eyes caught something odd on the corridor wall.
An elegant antique analog wall clock.
Its second hand was moving.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
But the minute hand stayed at 12. And the hour hand stayed at 7.
Salim stared at the clock for ten seconds. The second hand rotated a full circle, returning to 12. But the minute hand didn't move forward. The second hand kept spinning, but time didn't add up.
"Time..." Salim whispered, cold sweat pouring down his back. "Is this clock broken? Or..."
He looked out the corridor window. The sun shone brightly. But the shadow of a coconut tree in the garden... didn't move. The wind seemed to blow hard seeing the leaves sway, but its shadow on the ground remained still in the same position.
Salim touched the wall. It felt smooth, too smooth. He knocked on it gently. The sound wasn't the solid thud-thud of a concrete wall, but a hollow clack-clack. Like hollow metal or... plastic paneling?
"This is fake," Salim's breath hitched. "All of this is fake."
He ran back to the Ballroom. The door opened. Laughter and the clinking of forks welcomed him. Hundreds of his friends were eating voraciously, their faces beaming, deceived by the illusion of comfort.
Dani waved, mouth full of lobster. "Lim! Come here! It's crazy delicious!"
Salim stood in the doorway, staring at them all with horror. He saw Mr. Handoko on the main stage toasting with a wine glass filled with red liquid.
"Enjoy the farewell dinner... with your old world," Salim whispered, realizing the double meaning of this situation.
They weren't hotel guests. They were lab rats being fed full before being put into the maze.
Salim walked slowly toward Group 27's table. His face was deathly pale, contrasting with his friends' fit faces.
"Salim? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Alya asked, her medical instincts lighting up instantly.
Salim sat limply in the chair. He leaned forward, looking at Salma, Udin, Rehan, and Alya.
"Don't eat," Salim whispered trembling. "Or if you eat, just pretend. Don't swallow."
"Why? Is there poison?" Udin asked warily, his fork stopping in mid-air.
"Worse," Salim looked into their eyes one by one. "This place... This Hotel... The Teachers... Everything is a lie. We aren't in a hotel. We are inside an incubator."
Before Salma could ask further, the Ballroom lights suddenly went out completely.
Pitch black.
Startled screams were heard from several tables.
"Calm down! Calm down! Maybe just a power outage!" Mr. Handoko's voice sounded nervous.
Then, amidst the darkness, a mechanical voice was heard from the speakers. A different voice from Mr. Adrian. A cold female voice, emotionless, like a digital assistant but with a malicious tone.
"Good evening, Participants. Acclimatization time is over. Nano-Machine Synchronization: 100%. Phase One: The Long Sleep Initiation begins in 3... 2... 1..."
Whoosh.
The sound of hissing gas came from AC vents all over the room. White odorless gas spread quickly in the darkness.
"Hold your breath!" Salim shouted, covering his nose and mouth with a cloth napkin.
But it was too late. That gas wasn't ordinary sleeping gas entering through lungs. That gas reacted with skin, reacted with sweat, reacted with the Nano-Machines already inside their blood.
One by one, standing students collapsed instantly like puppets whose strings were cut. The sound of bodies hitting the floor was heard consecutively. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Salim saw Dani fall, his face planting into a lobster plate. He saw Rinto fall on top of Maya.
Salim tried to hold on. He looked at Salma whose eyes had rolled back, fainting in her chair. Udin tried to stand to fight, but his legs were weak and he fell crashing onto the table.
Damn it... Salim thought. His consciousness was forcefully pulled into a black abyss far deeper than before.
In the last second before his eyes closed, Salim saw the giant digital wall clock on the stage light up red.
The numbers didn't show time.
The numbers showed a countdown: 09:59:59.
And below it text: WELCOME TO THE GAME.
Salim fell to the floor. The luxurious world collapsed, replaced by the real nightmare.