Prologue

In my town, there were a couple of the so-called supernatural spots. One of the spots was a whole street. Officially, its name was Jalan Sulam. It was named that way because the wives and daughters of the soldiers gathered at Jalan Sulam before the country’s independent proclamation day to sew brand new uniforms for their husbands and fathers. It was a patriotic and heart-wrenching story. Sad though that nowadays, people, especially young adults like me, had taken to calling the place Jalan Suram.

Years of neglect had turned Jalan Sulam into the gloomiest street in the town—hence, the name. Despite the growing problem of the dramatic rise in the price of the lands, people still tended to avoid the cheap land of Jalan Sulam. Cars never went through there and pedestrians would often hasten their pace every time they crossed over the place. This included me.

So, you could imagine my surprise when I received an invitation to an address on Jalan Sulam via postal mail one day. People rarely used postal mail for invitations anymore. It was cheaper, easier and safer to simply use an email. It was rare and not just a little weird to receive this invitation from a stranger.

The sender was named Agus Setiawan. While I had met a couple of Aguses during school, none possessed the last name of Setiawan. A little bit curious and more than a little bit suspicious, I opened the plastic wrapper and fetched out a golden invitation.

Mrs. Novita,

100, Jalan Sumatera

Medan

Indonesia

September 19, 2016

We are pleased to inform you that you are chosen as one of the nominees of our company 100 Fire Holders contest. You had been included in the list of participants on our computer for fulfilling the contest’s main condition. After rigorous elimination, our juries had approved of you as one of the lucky nominees.

To proceed with the award, it is required for all the nominees to visit us at 10 Jalan Sulam, Medan. The nominees shall then participate in an additional elimination contest. For your convenience, we will provide living space, food and, entertainment for the duration of the contest.

Our upcoming contest will begin this October. We sincerely hope for your participation in it. After all, you just might be the winner.

Sincerely,

Agus Setiawan

Head of 100 Fire Holders Team

Putra Utama Sejati

The dubious content frankly amazed me. Without an ounce of regret, I crumpled the invitation and threw it into the dustbin. It was amazing how creative people could get in their ways of scamming some poor souls. It was a pity because their creativeness was used in the wrong way, though. Laziness was a plague for society.

A week later, the invitation was shoved under my door. With a frown, I found that it was the same invitation I had taken the pain to crumple and throw away. The feeling of uneasiness attacked me while my instinct told me that something was very strange indeed. Of course, I was not going to ignore said instinct, especially after all it had done to keep me alive that time.

Wiping out my trusty smartphone, I googled for “100 Fire Holders contest”. To my surprise, the keywords appeared on the very first link. Opening that link, I was brought to a website of a company named PT. Putra Utama Sejati.

It sounded familiar.

I glanced at the invitation. There, on the very last sentence, the company’s name was printed in the elegant, cursive font. Perhaps, I was wrong in thinking of the invitation as a scam. Perhaps, it was a very real contest.

Excited and eager, I started to click the entire link on that website. The introduction, the FAQs, contact information, and finally, the contest’s description.

Is anyone excited for an experience of a brand new kind of contest? Do you know how much is the reward? A shocking delicious five hundred million rupiahs! Are you excited? We are!

The participants of the contest are going to be selected by our very own founder, Alex Adinata, objectively. The criterion for the selection is shocking and dangerously confidential.

We aim to surprise the nominees when they receive their special invitation!

Further information will be explained on the invitation. Get this though, there are going to be a hundred nominees. A hundred participants out of millions in Medan. Anyone can be the winner!

To think the largest trading company in Indonesia was going to host this kind of obscure contest. I shook my head in amusement. My eyes were then drawn to the sentence about the prize. ‘A shocking delicious five hundred million rupiahs.’

It is indeed very delicious.

My instinct suddenly warned me that it was a bad idea. I argued that there were going to be a lot of people there. The image of Jalan Suram assaulted me. The darkness, the gloom, the feeling of utter abandonment. Who knew what was going to be in there?

My eyes were drawn again to the hundred million rupiahs part.

As a college student, I needed a lot of money to pay the College’s fee. As a young adult, I needed a lot more money for supplies and building connections. As a woman, there were a lot of demanding necessities that were not cheap. And five hundred million rupiahs was a lot. It was enough for me to get through college and live leisurely for years.

It was settled. I would go.