In an Old House.
On a remote corner of Jakarta’s outskirts, an old house stood arrogantly in the silence of the night. Its dull walls were full of cracks, with peeling paint and wooden window frames that looked nearly fragile.
Inside, the sound of shouting and objects being slammed shattered the stillness, accompanying the anger of a man known as a businessman.
The man paced back and forth in the main room, his leather shoes striking the creaky wooden floor. His face was flushed red, his brow deeply furrowed, and his eyes burned with anger. In front of him stood three of his subordinates Reza, Bagas, and Fajar. All three kept their heads lowered, clearly terrified.
“Do you think I’m joking?” the man snapped, slamming the wooden table in front of him so hard that a glass filled with liquor spilled over.
“I told you to teach Farez a lesson! But what happened? You were the ones humiliated instead! Damn it! You’re completely useless!”
Reza, who seemed the bravest, tried to defend himself.
“Boss, the three of them are too strong. We didn’t expect them to have fighting skills. Mr. Farez and his two friends struck back before we could even fight.”
Slap! A hard slap landed on Reza’s face, making him stagger backward.
“Don’t give me stupid excuses, Reza!” the man growled, his tone growing more vicious.
“You had one job, to beat Farez to a pulp! I don’t care who was with him or how strong they are. Now I’ve become a laughingstock because of your incompetence!”
Bagas spoke up, his voice trembling.
“Boss, we really did try to fight. But Mr. Farez, Arnold, and Joseph, they seemed to already know our plan. The three of them attacked in a very organized way.”
“Tch!” he sneered.
The cruel man glared sharply at Bagas, making him lower his head even further.
“Organized, you say? So what, you’re saying they’re smarter than us?”
“That’s not what I meant, Boss,” Bagas tried to explain, his voice growing softer.
“Then what do you mean, huh?” he shouted again.
Fajar, who had been silent all this time, finally gathered the courage to speak.
“Boss, we need a more solid strategy. If we want to try again, we need to prepare everything better.”
The mysterious man fell silent for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh, not one of joy, but a cynical laugh that made the atmosphere even more tense.
“Ha-ha-ha! Strategy, you say? You can’t even execute a simple plan without failing, and now you want to talk about strategy?”
He grabbed a bottle of whisky from the table, poured it into an empty glass, and downed it in one gulp. Then he threw the empty bottle against the wall, scattering shards of glass everywhere.
“I’ve been patient enough with you,” he said coldly.
“But this is the last time I will give you a chance. If you fail again, I won’t hesitate to replace you with more competent people! And you will face the consequences!”
Reza tried to calm his boss.
“We won’t disappoint you again, Boss. This time, we’ll make sure the plan runs smoothly exactly as you want.”
The mysterious man looked at each of his subordinates one by one with a threatening gaze.
“You’d better do it carefully! Because if not …”
He paused for a moment, then gave a thin smile.
“You will face the consequences! I will beat you mercilessly! Remember that! Do you understand?”
“Understood, Boss!” they replied in unison.
The three of them nodded quickly, not daring to look him in the eye.
After they left the room, the mysterious man slumped into an old chair in the corner. He massaged his temples, trying to ease the burning anger inside him. But his mind was still haunted by the image of Farez and the success the young man had achieved.
“Farez,” he muttered with deep hatred.
“You think you can take everything that was supposed to be mine? You think you can live happily without any consequences?”
He stared at an old photograph hanging on the wall. It showed him in his younger days, standing in front of a grand office building he once owned before his downfall. His eyes, once full of ambition, now held only resentment.
In reality, the man had begun to rise again in the business world. However, his position was now far below Farez, who had become extremely successful.
It seemed that this man did not appreciate the process of life. He wanted instant success, even if it meant harming himself and his company.
“This is all my fault,” he whispered softly.
“I was too weak. I let myself be destroyed by those who were smarter and more cunning.”
The man let out a heavy sigh, then stood up. With heavy steps, he walked to the large window overlooking the backyard of the old house. Moonlight illuminated his face, filled with despair and anger.
“But I won’t let this failure destroy me again,” he said to himself.
“I will make sure that Farez, Arnold, and Joseph pay dearly for what they’ve done. The downfall of ARJOFA will happen soon! It’s only a matter of time! You will be destroyed slowly!”
The mysterious man returned to the table and picked up a map of Jakarta filled with markings and notes. He traced the map with his finger, stopping at a location marked with a red circle.
“Joseph,” he muttered coldly.
“You’ll be the next target. If I can’t take Farez down directly, I’ll attack his friends one by one,” he growled with anger.
“Ha-ha-ha!” His sinister laughter echoed throughout the house.
He picked up his phone and made a call.
“I need a new team,” he said bluntly.
“People who won’t fail like the previous ones. You know who to recruit.”
A calm voice on the other end replied, “Understood, Bro. I’ll contact them immediately.”
The arrogant man ended the call and smiled cynically.
“This time, I won’t fail!”
However, deep inside, he felt that something was wrong. Every time he tried to bring Farez down, luck always seemed to favor the young man. Failure after failure made him begin to doubt his own abilities.
“Maybe I really am a loser,” he muttered with self-hatred.
“But if I have to be a loser, I’ll be the kind that brings destruction to those who made me this way!”
He clenched his fists tightly, determined not to give up until his revenge was fulfilled.
In the distance, the faint sound of a dog barking could be heard, as if it were a silent witness to the burning anger within the man’s heart. That night, in the old house filled with dark shadows, another evil plan was set in motion, one that might once again end in failure.