Arthur placed his phone on the table.
Alice’s photograph was still on the screen.
He zoomed in.
Then zoomed out.
He repeated the process three times.
Something was missing.
He couldn’t see the silhouette’s face.
But he could determine where the photograph had been taken.
The building reflected in the glass.
The angle of the sidewalk.
The shadow cast by the streetlamp.
The distortion in the café window.
A few minutes later, he had the location.
Arthur smiled faintly.
“You want me to think I’ve found you.”
He turned off his phone.
“Interesting.”
If the person behind the messages wanted to remain hidden, they wouldn’t have left such an obvious trail.
Which meant the trail itself was probably the message.
Not an invitation.
A test.
The next morning, his first obstacle appeared on the way to the university.
Frank.
Arthur spotted him from a distance.
Frank wasn’t the same anymore.
Before, a single look from Arthur had been enough to silence him.
Now, he was waiting in the corridor with three other people.
Arthur kept walking.
Frank stepped in front of him.
“We need to talk.”
Arthur stopped.
“Talk.”
Frank glanced around.
“Alone.”
Arthur’s eyes moved toward the three people standing behind him.
Then back to Frank.
“No.”
Frank raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“I’m not talking to you alone.”
Something changed in Frank’s expression.
It wasn’t fear.
Hesitation.
Someone had told Frank what to do.
Arthur didn’t step back.
“Go ahead.”
The first attack came from the right.
The moment Arthur saw the attacker’s shoulder move, he shifted his head back a few centimeters.
The fist passed directly in front of his face.
Arthur didn’t counterattack.
The second person stepped forward.
This time, he didn’t throw a punch.
He reached for Arthur’s arm.
Arthur caught his wrist.
He didn’t pull.
He didn’t push.
He simply redirected the man’s momentum.
The man’s own force sent him crashing into the wall.
The third person came from behind.
Arthur turned.
Before the punch could fully form, Arthur closed the distance.
His elbow interrupted the attack.
One step.
Just one.
The man’s balance broke.
Arthur placed his foot in front of his and gave him a slight push.
He fell.
The entire exchange lasted only a few seconds.
Frank remained where he was.
Arthur looked at him.
“And you?”
Frank clenched his fists.
Arthur tilted his head slightly.
“Are you really sure you want to do this?”
Frank attacked.
This time, Arthur didn’t retreat.
He predicted where the punch would land.
He turned his head aside.
The fist passed through empty space.
Arthur caught Frank’s arm.
A turn.
Frank’s balance disappeared.
Arthur took him to the ground.
But he didn’t hit him.
He simply pinned his arm.
“Who sent you?”
Frank said nothing.
Arthur increased the pressure slightly.
“Frank.”
“Nobody.”
Arthur released him.
He stood.
“Lie.”
Frank stared at him.
Arthur turned his back.
“If you really wanted to stop me, you wouldn’t have brought three people with you.”
He paused.
“You’re just doing what someone told you to do.”
Arthur walked away.
He left four people behind him.
But his expression had changed.
This wasn’t Elera.
He was certain of that.
At least, not directly.
Elera worked more cleanly.
She left fewer traces.
Frank’s group had been different.
Crude.
Visible.
Almost deliberately visible.
That bothered him.
It wasn’t an attack designed to hurt him.
It was an attack designed to make him react.
Arthur glanced back once.
The first test.
He kept walking.
The second test came that afternoon.
This time, it wasn’t physical.
There was a bank card inside.
His name was printed on it.
Beside it was a note.
Withdraw 50,000 points using this card within three hours.
Arthur turned the note over.
There was a single sentence on the back.
If you fail, Alice will pay the price.
Arthur remained silent for several seconds.
Then he laughed.
“Too simple.”
But he put the card in his pocket.
Because he knew it wasn’t simple.
He didn’t go to the bank.
He didn’t go to the administration.
He didn’t call Alice.
Instead, he examined the card.
The printing.
The magnetic strip.
The envelope.
The paper.
The ink.
Then he checked the account through his phone.
There was no balance.
The account was empty.
The card couldn’t possibly work.
Arthur leaned back.
“So that’s the test.”
Not whether he could withdraw the money.
Whether the threat could make him abandon his judgment.
He turned the card between two fingers.
“You’re measuring my first reaction.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
He snapped the card in half.
Then dropped it into a trash can.
“Second test failed.”
His phone vibrated.
One message.
Are you sure?
Arthur’s smile disappeared.
A second message appeared immediately.
When you broke the card, check who you thought was standing beside Alice.
Arthur froze.
Alice.
He moved.
Not blindly.
Not in panic.
But faster than he had intended.
When he reached the main entrance of the campus, he saw Alice.
She was standing beside Yara.
The two of them were talking.
Arthur stopped.
Alice was safe.
Yara appeared calm.
Arthur scanned the surroundings.
Left.
Right.
Rooftops.
Windows.
Vehicles.
People.
Nothing.
Then Yara looked at him.
Their eyes met.
The faintest smile appeared on her face.
Arthur noticed it.
Not because it was suspicious.
Because it was deliberate.
Yara.
That night, Arthur followed her.
She left campus.
Took the subway.
Got off two stops later.
Then entered a narrow side street.
Arthur followed from a distance.
Yara suddenly stopped.
Arthur stopped as well.
“Come out.”
Silence.
Arthur stepped from the shadows.
Yara turned around.
“You’ve been following me for a while.”
Arthur’s gaze was cold.
“And you knew.”
“I would have to be an idiot not to.”
Arthur studied her for several seconds.
“Frank.”
Yara didn’t answer.
“The card.”
Silence.
“Alice.”
There was a tiny change in her eyes.
Arthur caught it.
“So you know something.”
Yara shook her head.
“No.”
Arthur said nothing.
Yara smiled.
“You’re still making the same mistake.”
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
“What mistake?”
“The moment you think you’ve solved something…”
She paused.
“…you assume the game is over.”
Arthur took a step forward.
Yara didn’t move.
“Who?”
Yara didn’t answer.
A motorcycle suddenly sped down the street.
Arthur reacted instinctively.
He grabbed Yara and pulled her toward him.
The motorcycle passed only a few meters away.
Yara looked at him.
“See?”
Arthur frowned.
“What?”
“Your first instinct.”
She smiled faintly.
“You protected me.”
But something settled inside him.
That wasn’t an accident.
The motorcycle had been too perfectly timed.
The street had been too empty.
Someone had wanted to see what he would do.
And they had succeeded.
At that exact moment, Yara’s phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
Only for a second.
But Arthur saw the change in her expression.
Yara immediately put the phone away.
“I have to go.”
Arthur caught her wrist.
Yara stopped.
“Who?”
She looked at him.
“Not the person you think.”
Arthur’s grip loosened.
“I’ll find out eventually.”
“Maybe.”
Yara turned around.
Then stopped.
“Arthur.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“When you meet someone who’s on the same level as you…”
She paused.
“What do you do?”
Arthur didn’t answer.
Yara continued.
“You try to defeat them.”
A brief silence.
“Wrong.”
Arthur’s eyes hardened.
Yara smiled.
“First, you find out why they don’t want to defeat you.”
Then she walked away.
Arthur watched her disappear into the street.
He didn’t follow.
For once…
he didn’t know whether following would give him information or simply give someone else exactly what they wanted.
That night, Arthur didn’t sleep.
Three things lay on his desk.
Frank’s attack.
The bank card.
Yara’s words.
He connected them.
Then disconnected them.
Then connected them again.
The result remained the same.
Someone wasn’t trying to corner him.
Someone wasn’t simply attacking him.
Someone was studying him.
His physical ability.
His patience.
His control over anger.
His reaction to Alice.
His ability to read people.
And most importantly…
how much he trusted himself.
Arthur leaned back in his chair.
He closed his eyes.
He remembered an old phrase the instructors at Area 19 used.
“You learn the most about a subject when you give them a choice.”
Arthur opened his eyes.
“You’re not training me.”
He stared into the darkness of the room.
“You’re measuring me again.”
His phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
The third test begins tomorrow.
Arthur read the message.
A photograph appeared beneath it.
This time, Alice wasn’t in it.
The photograph showed Arthur.
As a child.
Inside Area 19.
E-18 was standing beside him.
Arthur stared at the image.
Then noticed something.
Someone else was standing behind them.
A third child.
Smaller.
Half-hidden.
His face had been scratched out.
Arthur zoomed in.
His breathing slowed.
Beneath the photograph was a single code.
E-17.
Arthur stopped moving.
He had never seen that designation.
Or had he?
He searched his memory.
Nothing.
No face.
No voice.
No room.
No file.
Nothing.
Another message appeared.
Do you remember him?
Arthur stared at the screen.
For the first time in years…
he couldn’t find the answer.
Then the final message arrived.
You were never the only survivor.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
He looked at the photograph again.
Three children.
One forgotten.
One remembered.
One standing between them.
E-17.
For the first time since leaving Area 19…
Arthur felt something he almost never allowed himself to feel.
Uncertainty.
And somewhere in the darkness outside his window…
someone was already waiting for the third test to begin.
Who do you think played a key role in the development of events?