Pendant of War

The rising sun illuminated the bustling city of Depok, filled with the cacophony of angkot's (city transport) horns competing for passengers.

Exhaust fumes from cars and motorcycles swirled in the air, intensifying the already scorching heat of the equatorial region.

The city clowns, wearing children's cartoon costumes, can be seen wandering around the traffic lights. They greet the cars that stop, trying to look cute and adorable.

However, their costumes, which have absorbed too much exhaust fumes, appear blackened and worn.

Many of these costumes look far from the cartoon characters they depict.

As a result, the clowns instill trauma in the children inside the cars. Yet, their parents remain silent, with deadpan faces that seem uncaring.

This is one form of child education in Depok city, teaching those young spirits that the real world is not as beautiful as fantasy.

So, when they cry in the market, asking for toys to be bought, what will they remember is how terrifying these clowns are.

Various students who had just left their classes could be seen seeking meals at the affordable warungs lining the streets.

Despite the dust and smoke from the congested roads, they were undeterred in their quest for a meal within their daily budget constraints.

Their tapered shirts bore witness to the sweat drenching their bodies.

As a result, sweetened iced tea was a must-have accompaniment for their midday meals.

However, some with a penchant for sweetness disregarded the adverse effects on their bodies and ordered extra-joss susu, solely focused on quenching their thirst and cooling down their bodies to prevent heatstroke.

However, some seasoned warriors or student veterans opt for hot coffee. Not as a meal companion, but to enhance the flavour of the cigarettes they smoke, tightening the lingering taste of cloves on their tongues.

Rarely did one see a perfectly fit body among them; most displayed either excessive weight or a gaunt appearance, with weak bulges around their midsections.

This was understandable since those with fitter bodies typically didn't frequent roadside warungs like these. If they did, they were social butterflies capable of blending into any group.

Considering the relatively high costs of maintaining a healthy diet and gym membership, it wasn't surprising that such expenses were beyond the monthly budgets of most college students.

After deducting expenses for rent, meals, tuition, books, and contingency funds, what remained was barely enough to fund their monthly recreational activities, which occurred only once a month.

Yet, hanging out with friends over sachet black coffee was far preferable to watching a movie alone at the cinema without a female companion.

However, those who could still afford to eat at the warungs on dates like this were considered relatively fortunate.

In stark contrast, other students had to cook rice using small rice cookers in their boarding rooms for lunch.

One such student was Aditya, who currently sat blankly, waiting for the small rice cooker's light to blink to the red light.

His stomach felt uneasy because last night he only had a cup of black coffee, and this morning he skipped breakfast to save money.

However, he didn't complain because his fate seemed better off compared to his friends who had to fill their empty stomachs with antacid tablets.

The room, with its small 3x3 size, appears crowded with books and everyday items.

A wooden table with a plastic chair is placed facing the window, which is the only source of sunlight in the room.

Beside the study table, there is a four-tier plastic wardrobe filled with Aditya's clothes. In front of the wardrobe lies a kapok mattress stuck directly on the floor. Next to the mattress, Aditya sits on a plastic mat that is riddled with holes.

The door is left open to allow fresh air to enter during the day, but it will be closed at night due to the abundance of mosquitoes seeking food. Or some naughty rat that comes to bite his fingers.

As a result, Aditya has to tighten his belt to buy a small fan so he can sleep without dying suffocating at night.

Not long after, the rice cooker's light blinked, and the long-awaited *ding sound echoed.

Aditya smiled eagerly as he opened the rice cooker lid, feeling a rush of joy as he saw the enticing white steam rising high and slapping his face. But instead of white rice grains, he saw yellow noodles that had slightly swollen from their original size.

Yup, Aditya wasn't cooking rice; he was boiling noodles for his lunch. Plain boiled noodles without eggs or vegetables as accompaniments.

Based on his calculations, buying a liter of rice for 7000 rupiah ($ 0.44) was far less economical than buying 6 packets of noodles.

If it was Indomie noodles, Aditya wouldn't gain much, but if it was Sarimi with double content, then he could split it into two meals.

He felt clever with his economic skills.

If only he had been born into a family of entrepreneurs, he would surely have made his parents' company profitable under his leadership.

A chuckle escaped his lips as he daydreamed about something impossible.

However, Aditya remained cautious. He was someone who planned from A to Z. That's why beside his kapok mattress, there was a box filled with various medications like antacids and pain relievers.

His principle was simple: if an illness healed within less than a week, it didn't require a doctor's visit.

If he felt unwell, adequate sleep and plenty of fluids were his first aid.

If it persisted for more than three days, he would seek help from his neighbors in the boarding house for a Kerok (a traditional Javanese treatment using a blunt object rubbed against the skin till it became red).

If it persisted for more than five days, he would take pain relievers and traditional herbal medicine Jamu Tolak Angin.

Only after more than a week would he consider seeing a doctor for treatment.

For Aditya and many other migrant students, going to the doctor wasn't for treatment but for consulting on which medications to take.

So, if they knew the procedures and the required medication, they wouldn't need to pay for the doctor's consultation. Moreover, with the current 3G internet connection in Depok City, they could still consult Doodle for free.

Aditya started by opening the sachet containing seasoning powder and pepper into the rice cooker easily.

But when it came to the sachet containing kecap (soy sauce) and chili sauce, he paused momentarily, preparing himself to face this challenge once again.

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling, Aditya stared at the plastic sachet in his hand as if it were the biggest enemy in his life.

With a single flick of his hand, Aditya failed to open the sachet containing kecap.

Melancholy started to fill his heart, and his lips pressed tightly together, filled with resentment.

If only this plastic sachet could be opened by hand, then he wouldn't have to feel so despondent. But unfortunately, his greatest enemy couldn't be defeated so easily.

Consequently, he had to resort to another method.

Aditya searched for a sacred weapon in the box filled with miscellaneous tools, but unfortunately, he didn't find any.

"Fuck! Why do I always forget to buy scissors?"

Aditya's sense of despair grew. If he didn't have such strong determination, he might have already begun uttering curses that would likely get him kicked out of this cheap boarding house.

There was only one other way to open the accursed sachet in his hand. However, Aditya was hesitant to use this method.

The last time he did it, it made him feel like he couldn't sleep for several days.

But he had no other choice because his protesting stomach had been demanding to be filled, and the noodles in the rice cooker were showing signs of swelling.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Aditya once again managed to calm himself.

Closing his eyes and holding his breath, Aditya bit the end of the soy sauce sachet and tore it open.

The thick black liquid squirted out, drenching his teeth and making Aditya's taste buds feel the sharp acidity.

"Ewww!!"

Quickly, he poured the soy sauce into the rice cooker.

Looking at his messy hands, Aditya could only curse his miserable fate.

But the challenge didn't end there; there was still a sachet of sauce that he had to open.

It crossed his mind not to open the sauce sachet, but he knew that his boiled noodles wouldn't be as enjoyable without it.

Besides, throwing away a full sachet would make him feel uncomfortable because he felt like he was losing out. He bought a packet of boiled noodles that included noodles, seasoning sachets, pepper, kecap, and sauce, so everything should have been there when he started eating his boiled noodles.

Once again cursing his fate, Aditya tried to calm himself down.

With his hands still messy with soy sauce, Aditya bit the end of the sauce sachet with his molars and tore it open with a single flick. But unfortunately, as if wanting to spit in Aditya's face, a drop of sauce squirted out from the sachet and aimed for his eyes.

Aditya, sensing the danger, tried to dodge it, but unfortunately, his untrained body couldn't avoid the thick red projectile.

As a result...

"AGHH!!! MY EYE!!! MY EYE!!"

Pained groans could be heard from inside the small dorm room, where Aditya was seen writhing in pain, clutching his right eye.

However, his hands, still smeared with kecap, swept across his face, filling his sense of smell with the scent of fermented soybeans.

"ARRGGHHH!! ITS STINK!!!"

--------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, Aditya was seen smiling as he enjoyed the boiled noodles.

One of his eyes was reddened, and his hair, still damp from washing his face, looked greasy.

Up close, he resembled a warrior who had just defeated his toughest foe and was now relishing in his victory feast.

Yup, that's exactly how Aditya felt at the moment.

In less than two minutes, all the noodles in the rice cooker were gone, and Aditya made sure to slurp up all the remaining broth with gusto.

However, his stomach still didn't feel satisfied. Without rice accompanying their meal, Indonesians don't feel like they've eaten, even if they've consumed the same amount of carbohydrates.

But Aditya didn't want to cook the remaining half of the noodles.

He wanted to save them for dinner. So, he ignored his protesting stomach and instead turned to his smartphone's touchscreen.

On his screen was a picture of a cat he had downloaded from the internet, serving as his wallpaper.

Despite the word "Smart" in the technology he held, he didn't feel the intelligence of this device as it took ages to load the apps he opened. Or maybe it was because of his poor internet connection.

Aditya didn't really care because he successfully opened his social media app and began scrolling through short videos one by one.

He still had half an hour to rest before the next class, and Aditya had no intention of arriving on time.

The main character always arrives last, he thought to himself, trying to forget the reality that no one in his class cared about his presence.

"Hmm? New game?" Aditya said, his thumb pausing on a short video ad showcasing the latest smartphone game.

"Pendant of War? Wow, catchy name, huh?" Watching the less-than-a-minute video, Aditya found himself intrigued by the game's advertisement.

Especially with the promise of being able to make money, as advertised.

However, he had been deceived by games with the same allure before. But the game called Pendant of War seemed a little different because its gameplay mode was similar to the trending Pokeman game from a few years ago.

"Well... what's the harm in trying? But I won't download it using my phone's data," Aditya said, starting to get up and prepare to go to his class.

Not because he wanted to listen to the lecture from the professor, but because he wanted to use the campus Wi-Fi to download Pendant of War.