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.