The Signal

Chapter 1

THE SIGNAL

"What? I don't think I should've attempted that question," a teenage boy muttered in frustration, staring back at the question paper spread across his wooden desk.

His name was Skan. With messy black hair and a simple pair of shorts, he looked far too exhausted to continue studying. Even so, he stubbornly forced himself to stay awake.

"Oh, it's already two o'clock... and I still have to figure out the mechanism before I can sleep," he murmured, glancing at the old analogue watch strapped to his wrist.

With a weary sigh, he closed the books scattered across the table. Their covers were faded and their pages worn with age, yet they had somehow endured years of constant use.

He rose from his chair and poured himself a glass of water, taking slow sips in an attempt to shake off his fatigue.

Outside, the monsoon raged across the outskirts of the city. Powerful gusts of wind battered the building in uneven waves, their restless howls blending into a constant, distracting murmur.

A single dim light illuminated the study table, leaving the rest of the room cloaked in darkness.

Tuk... Tuk... Tuk...

A falcon pecked lightly at the window with its beak. Clutched securely in its beak was an envelope.

Hearing the tapping, Skan turned toward the window. The bird's silhouette stood out against the rain-speckled glass, outlined by the faint glow from the room.

He opened the window, carefully took the envelope from the falcon's beak, and placed it on the study table.

Grabbing a towel, he gently dried the bird's rain-soaked wings.

Afterward, he walked over to a cupboard filled mostly with old, dust-covered books. Tucked away in the bottom-left corner was a small packet of bird feed. He retrieved it, poured some into a small bowl, and placed it in front of the falcon.

"Don't worry, pal. Food's on me for the whole month," Skan said with a gentle smile.

On the front of the envelope were the words:

To: Skan Steins

From: Marxz

Curious, he turned it over.

Printed in bold capital letters across the sealed flap was a single word.

BACKEND

Skan's eyes lit up, and a faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he carefully opened the envelope and began reading the letter.

Maybe it's time to expand the team. I think we finally found the main source... And lastly, don't get too lazy, or you might not make it to the next Physics Olympiad.

He folded the letter with care and slipped it into his pocket. The exhaustion lingering in his eyes disappeared, replaced by quiet determination.

A serious expression settled across his face.

Sliding both hands into the pockets of his shorts, he calmly said,

"It's time to set up."

...

Two men in white lab coats worked side by side in a university laboratory. One appeared to be a university student, while the other was an experienced professor.

The student's name tag read Skan Steins, while the professor bore the name Kalyx Medow.

Skan, now in his early twenties, was a tall young man with neatly kept black hair and olive-green eyes. Beneath his lab coat, he wore a casual hoodie paired with comfortable jeans. A beaker rested steadily in his left hand, complementing the composed, elegant air he naturally carried.

Professor Kalyx Medow, on the other hand, looked like an ordinary man in his early fifties. His short black hair, calm brown eyes, and composed expression reflected decades of experience in both teaching and research.

The two discussed the day's experiments while making small adjustments to the electronic equipment they had assembled earlier.

"Professor, do you remember the day we finally got the radar to work?" Skan asked.

A nostalgic smile spread across the professor's face.

"It's been exactly nine months since January 9—the day we completed the radar. Even now, I can't forget the joy we felt after spending an entire year struggling through failure after failure."

Without realizing it, both of them smiled as they returned their attention to the experiment.

Keeping his eyes on the apparatus before him, Professor Medow said, "You know, Skan, the thing that keeps us moving despite countless failures is the curiosity of discovering what comes next."

...

Silence gradually settled over the laboratory.

Having grown quite close to the professor over the past few years, Skan decided to break it.

"Professor, could you pass me the potassium chloride?"

The professor bent down and searched beneath the experiment table.

"Here it—"

Knock... Knock... Knock...

The sudden interruption echoed through the room.

"Did anyone reserve the lab today, Skan?" the professor asked quietly.

"I checked the schedule earlier. No one has booked the laboratory for the entire week," Skan replied, looking toward him.

The knocking came again.

Knock... Knock... Knock...

This time it was louder and more urgent than before.

After exchanging a brief glance with Skan, the professor walked to the door and unlocked it.

The moment it opened, a man hurried inside and immediately locked it again behind him.

He wore a black overcoat over a white shirt, paired with a black tie and matching trousers.

"Huh... Huh... Huh..."

He leaned forward, breathing heavily as though he had just sprinted across the campus.

"Wait... What happened, Marxz?" Skan asked as the man struggled to catch his breath.

"We found something on the Soul Radar," Marxz said between breaths.

"You're not pulling another trick just to get yourself out of probation, are you?"

"No..." Marxz replied, shaking his head. "This time, I ain't lying."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"This time... we found the clue that's been holding us back."

He paused.

"The Signal."

For a brief moment, silence engulfed the laboratory.

Then, almost instinctively, all three of them repeated the same words.

"The Signal."

"Shh... Why are you saying it so loudly?" Professor Medow asked, lowering his voice.

"What, me?" Marxz protested. "You guys were the ones making all the noise."

"Yeah, whatever," the professor said with a small wave of his hand. "I think we should get going now."

The professor and Marxz headed toward the door, only to realize Skan was still standing exactly where he had been.

"Hey, aren't you coming?" Marxz asked.

"I'll be there after this cigarette. You two should go ahead and calculate the signal's location. It'd be better if you found it before I arrived," Skan replied, a faint smile appearing on his face—a rare sight these days.

"Alright, but don't take longer than an hour," Marxz said with a grin. "Otherwise, you might miss whatever ultra-grand thing is about to change the game."

Although he sensed something unusual about Skan, Marxz chose not to pry. Whatever was weighing on his mind, he trusted Skan would speak about it when he was ready.

The two left the laboratory and made their way toward the library.

After the two disappeared down the corridor, silence returned to the laboratory.

Skan slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He picked up the lighter resting on the laboratory table, lit one, and took a deep drag.

"Ugh... Ugh..."

The smoke barely reached his lungs before a fit of coughing seized him.

With a weary sigh, he crushed the cigarette against the edge of the table and tossed it into the dustbin.

He then slipped a hand inside his lab coat and withdrew a neatly folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, he stared at the words written across it with a calm, unreadable expression.

Emergency Earth 911

"Huh... Trying to test me again?" Skan muttered, a faint grin tugging at lips. "Well, I think that test is going to end soon."

He flicked the lighter open once more and held the paper over the flame.

The edges blackened and curled inward before the fire quickly consumed the sheet. Tiny flakes of ash drifted through the still air, scattering across the laboratory instead of falling neatly into the dustbin.

Skan watched them for a brief moment.

"Should I call this nature... or just pure luck?" he murmured to himself. "I don't know. But I'm sure I'll figure it out somehow."

Closing the lighter with a soft click, he placed it back on the table before making his way toward the laboratory door.

The corridor outside was quiet.

As soon as he stepped through the doorway, a cold breeze swept past him.

He instinctively looked up.

Snow.

Soft white flakes drifted silently from the sky, covering the campus despite the season.

"Huh... Snow? In September?" Skan murmured, watching the flakes settle across the ground. "Well... they did mention something like this in the weather forecast a few days ago, so I guess it's not that surprising."

With one last glance at the sky, he slipped both hands into the pockets of his lab coat and quietly made his way toward the library.