Calonia is a small coastal town located in the eastern region. A town often forgotten by outsiders simply because there is almost no activity there. As time went on, the city of Calonia gradually faded from memory. Eventually, many children of the present generation no longer knew of its existence. People out there truly forgot the town, thinking Calonia no longer existed, and they simply erased it from their minds.
Meanwhile, the people of Calonia never cared about such things. They focused only on their own lives, indifferent to whatever happened beyond their town. In the end, neither the people of Calonia nor those outside cared. Even so, there were a few individuals in Calonia who were curious about the outside world. Kaito Nakamura was one of them.
Kaito Nakamura, a seventeen-year-old teenager. A student of Yumei High School in Calonia. Kaito was a quiet boy, and this trait made it difficult for him to make friends at school. However, Kaito never cared about that. To him, spending time playing with classmates would only waste his precious time.
To Kaito, time was money. He constantly worked part-time jobs to earn it. Every day after school, he went straight to work. His parents had died in an accident seven years ago. To survive, he worked tirelessly. He had no desire to waste his time on playing around or indulging in romantic feelings.
The teachers at his school had granted him a scholarship. Of course, he would never waste such an opportunity. He saved every bit of money he earned through hard work. Kaito had a big dream: to go to Katsuro. Since childhood, his mother had made him fall in love with that city.
His mother once said that Katsuro was a beautiful city. During spring, Katsuro turned into a sea of pink thanks to the blooming cherry blossoms. At night, the view of the city from above offered an endless horizon of lights. There, beauty took form in drifting clouds of smoke dancing beneath red lanterns, where strangers sat side by side on narrow wooden benches, celebrating the end of the day with perfectly grilled skewers of meat and laughter that shattered the cold of the night.
Her words made Kaito long to live in that city. With his determination, he turned exhaustion into powerful motivation. For Kaito, this fatigue would someday be repaid.
...
Nearly five months passed, and nothing unusual happened during that time. Kaito continued saving his money to one day live in Katsuro.
This morning, the cold air seeped through the wooden window of Kaito's room. Still drowsy, he forced himself out of his worn-out bed. He grabbed the towel hanging behind the bathroom door and turned on the tap, hoping for warm water—but it was in vain.
When he arrived at school, Kaito went through his usual routine: studying, taking a break, then studying again. That was all he ever did at school. Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.
That afternoon, the air felt cooler than usual. Kaito walked slowly toward his house, strangely feeling no desire to work. Perhaps it was because his sleepiness had returned. In the middle of his walk, something caught the corner of his eye. When he turned his head, he saw a white envelope lying on the ground. That morning, when he passed this road, there had been no such envelope. Kaito felt curious for a moment, but his curiosity faded as he yawned.
He continued his journey home. Upon reaching his house, he saw the same white envelope lying right in front of his shabby door. He froze for a moment, realizing the strangeness of it. His curiosity now fully awakened, Kaito picked up the envelope and opened it. As he tore the top, he found a folded piece of paper inside.
He unfolded it and read the message written on it:
"Need money? Join the game we created! The winner will receive a large sum of money. You will be freed from poverty. Come and participate in our game!"
Before Kaito could think, his eyes caught a small line of text in the bottom-left corner of the paper.
"Want to join our game? Once you read this letter, you automatically become a participant in the game! See you soon, players!"
A game that could produce money? That was ridiculous—clearly a scam. To Kaito, it made no sense at all. He assumed it was just a childish prank. He tore the paper into pieces, threw it into the trash, and walked into his house.
He immediately collapsed onto his hard bed. His drowsiness grew stronger, making him too tired to even change his clothes. Sleep consumed him, and he soon fell into a deep slumber.
...
When Kaito woke up, the first thing he saw was a lamp hanging from the ceiling. He glanced around and instantly felt something was wrong. The ceiling above him was not the ceiling of his home. He quickly moved his body, struggling to sit up.
"Ah, so you're finally awake," a woman's voice came from behind him. "You really are a heavy sleeper, huh?"
"My name is Lila... Lila Tanaka," she continued. She had short white hair and blue eyes.
"I-I'm Akira Senju," said a girl standing not far from Lila.
Kaito took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before asking, "W-where is this?" He wiped the sweat from his face.
"I don't know," replied a boy about Kaito's age. "When we woke up, we were already here."
The room fell silent. Kaito tried to think about how he had ended up there. He recalled everything he had done after coming home from school.
Nothing strange. He had simply fallen asleep. He tried remembering his walk home, and that was when he realized the anomaly—the white envelope.
Could this be related to it? If so, what was the purpose? He remembered the small writing on the letter. Had he really become a player in that game?
As Kaito pondered, the boy spoke again. "What's your name? I'm Kenji Yamato."
"A-ah, I'm Kaito Nakamura," Kaito replied nervously.
Kenji tilted his head in confusion. "Nakamura?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, nothing. I just feel like I've heard that name somewhere before."
Before Kaito could process Kenji's words, the silence was shattered by the screeching sound of a heavy steel door opening. Several men in stiff black suits with perfectly tied ties stepped inside. Their synchronized movements made them seem more like machines than humans. Their leader, a man with a thin smile, walked to the center of the room.
"Welcome, players," he said, his voice slightly amplified. "Did you sleep well?"
Silence. No one answered.
"At the very least, you should respond when someone speaks to you," he continued. "Well, that's fine. My name is Watanabe Saito."
He paused briefly before continuing. "You must be wondering why you woke up here, right? Simply put, you have joined the game we created. Because you read that letter, you have become participants in our game."
The atmosphere grew tense. Kaito and the others tried recalling when they found the letters. What they once thought to be childish pranks now seemed far more sinister. Kaito realized that the sender was not some mischievous kid—but the man standing before them: Saito.
Lila finally spoke up, asking if this game truly could yield such a large sum of money.
Saito didn't answer immediately. He walked around the players and stopped in front of Lila. "That's right. The winner of this game will receive four hundred million Vex."
TL/N: Vex is the currency used in this novel. In Indonesian rupiah, it is equivalent to approximately 10 trillion.
Hearing the amount, Kaito felt his desire surge. He knew he had to participate and win. With that money, he could leave Calonia and live in Katsuro.
It was an unimaginable sum, yet only Kenji felt something was off. If the prize was truly that large, then what kind of game would they have to play?
Without hesitation, Kenji asked, "Wait—if the reward is that much... what kind of game will we play?"
Saito smiled again and leaned against the rough wall near the steel door. "What game?" he repeated. "The answer is simple. To earn such a prize, you'll be playing... a strategy game."
At that moment, Kaito briefly caught sight of Saito's smile. Just for a second. So fleeting that he wasn't sure whether it was real or not.
"Don't joke around! That much money won't fall from the sky without sacrifice!" Lila shouted, her face pale.
"Believe it or not," Saito replied calmly, almost like a weather report, "we know every cent of your debt. We know the hunger you endure, the shame when creditors knock, and the despair when you see your empty bank accounts. We've observed you for the past month. We know... you're already at rock bottom."
His words pierced their privacy like sharp blades. Kaito felt exposed; all his struggles and hidden pain laid bare under the cold neon lights.
"You're not being forced," Saito continued, his smile turning sinister. "But remember—once you step forward and that door closes, there is no way back. You will leave either as a wealthy winner... or be eliminated from this world."
Kaito swallowed hard. "Isn't that... too risky?"
"Risk is proportional to reward, isn't it? Choose: stay out there and slowly be crushed by a life that kills you every day, or play and seize the chance to become the master of your own fate. You have five minutes."
Those five minutes passed far too quickly. Kaito stared at his own hands—rough, scarred, stained by endless labor. He was tired of being a loser surviving on scraps.
"Time's up," Saito said. "Give me your answer."
One by one, with trembling voices and hearts torn between fear and poisonous hope, they spoke the words that sealed their fate.
"I'm in."
A clear smile spread across Saito's face. Kaito was certain everyone saw it—a terrifying smile. For some reason, it stirred memories from the past. Just a fleeting fragment, but enough to give him a sudden headache.
Holding his head, Kaito thought—
"When was the last time I saw that smile?"