High School Soldier
Inner War: Powerful Medicine

“Hey, hey! Where are you going, Nio?”

Nio looked up in shock when he heard the voice of a woman, who had just got off the operational car of one of the private TV stations. Two of Sonia's colleagues came down, and the faces of the journalist team members seemed ready to cooperate with Nio in order to find information on a number of cases.

The man who served as cameraman, driver, and communications operator and computer team named Buyung. While women were in charge of scheduling, assistant cameraman, and assistant team leader, Sonia, she was named Upik. Both of Sonia's comrades showed expression to Nio that the soldiers who would cooperate with them were like market thugs. But, they knew that behind the mask, Nio showed a smiling face and had a good impression on a team of journalists who were hated by some parties.

“What we will do now?”

The team of journalists stared at the house on the side with Nio coming out from inside the house in a bad mood, and Sonia asked, “But, you seem to have other things to do, huh?”

“Nothing, but I need to catch up with Nike and Brother Tania. They shop with girls from another world,” replied Nio.

Sonia responded to Nio's words, “You're worried? Isn't the Company 406-32 every day, every hour, every minute, every second, is in every corner of this city?”

Nio's eyes were half narrowed, as if he was feeling uneasy towards the girls' spending power. He gulped until his junkyard moved up and down, worried that suddenly the bank sent him a bill in an amount impossible for him to pay with his current finances.

“You don't have to worry. If this case we solve, then disseminate, and become big news, we will share the royalties with you,” said Sonia with a face without hesitation, as well as Buyung and Upik.

The royalties? Even Nio himself doubts if journalists prefer a clean way to earn money. Between the promised money and the case to be investigated, Nio is wary of his safety, those closest to him, and Sonia's team if the case to be examined is at high risk. Many times, there are some groups who do not like the truth to be revealed and disseminated in order to maintain their power in an organization, even the government of the state.

The girl he had never spoken to before Nio freed Sonia from her captive enemy country, suddenly asked her for help. Nio was sure, in carrying out all his duties, Sonia also did a search for her sister, Indah.

Nio complied with Sonia's request to entrust the girls' security to the Karanganyar Garrison's safety company, “Well, we won't talk about work here right? Bring your car in, we'll meet at my house.”

“Woke!” Buyung gave his thumbs up, and immediately jumped into the operational car to park in Nio's yard. Upik and Sonia walk behind Nio.

Nio still doubts if the case that the journalist group wants to solve is not a trivial problem, such as a child stealing his mother's money to play at a cafe or PS rental. Something tells him that retreating is not a good option at the moment.

He shook his head. If he pretended not to know the existence of Indah, Nio felt bad for Sonia. However, if the girl found out that her sister was an enemy of Indonesia, Nio could not imagine the reaction Sonia showed.

Leading the way for the news-seeking team, Nio pushed open the already deserted living room door. He sees Arunika sitting on the sofa, staring sadly at the letter from their parents who several years ago had changed their relationship. As soon as Arunika realized the whereabouts of Nio and the three new guests, she got up and approached them.

Nio looked at the letter that Arunika was holding, with the possibility of being obtained by sneaking into her room. Nio could not stand the feeling of tightness in his chest due to all his talk with Arunika a few minutes ago, and told Arunika, “I have a guest. They'll discuss some things with me.”

However, the reaction that Arunika showed was not understood by Nio. The girl lowered her head, as if wanting to continue the conversation earlier which would add pain to Nio's feelings.

For some things, Nio couldn't hold back the wound in his heart. Wounds from killing enemy soldiers, seeing the misery of enemy civilians, enemy torture of prisoners from Indonesia can be healed over time. Then, what about healing wounds on the heart and mental if the patient has reached the stage of ‘hampir’ is not helped?

Sonia felt there was a awkwardness between Nio and Arunika, so she asked, “Anu... sorry, did we come at an inappropriate time?”

Arunika shook her head before Nio who answered Sonia's question, “No, not at all. I'm Arunika, Nio.”'s sister

The greeting from Arunika sounded ordinary, and the girl reached out to the news-seeking group. They were somewhat surprised by Arunika's reaction, and accepted the introduction with a slight hesitation.

“Eh, yes, we are a team of journalists from TV One. I'm Sonia. My male colleague's name is Buyung, and the female is Upik.”

“Please enter. Sorry a bit messy.” Arunika pressed the button on the remote placed on the table. Round-shaped floor cleaning robots suddenly appeared, and vacuumed the entire surface of the floor.

The friendly welcome of Arunika is none other than the behavior he exhibits when receiving guests or dealing with others.

“Sorry, soon it will be tidied up..” said Arunika.

“Oh, no need. Actually..” Sonia paused for a moment before continuing her words,

“Actually, we will have a conversation about a job just with Nio. Sorry if it doesn't match your estimate.”

Nio and Arunika exchanged glances, and Nio secretly hinted Arunika to come out. The request was confusing for Arunika, but she could not resist the request of the person who seemed to be doing a great job. He nodded in agreement at Sonia's request.

“Good. In that case, I will visit the house of Nike,” said Arunika.

“Thanks for the cooperation...” said a group of journalists in unison.

As soon as he believes Arunika is really heading for Nike's house, he invites a team of news hunters. They sat comfortably on the sofa as soon as Nio asked them to be relaxed.

“He was once a wonderful teacher, right? I didn't think he was your brother. But, if I see from his face, he is similar to the grandson of the owner of the largest private ammunition company in Indonesia.”

Nio confirmed the word Sonia.

Between his meetings with famous people and organizations in Indonesia, Sonia was quite interested in the Supardi family who managed to become the largest private defense company in the country. Standing in front of the granddaughter of one of the richest people was always a shame to commoners like Sonia so often made her breath gasp at the sight of the amount of wealth of the family. And according to rumors, Arunika will discuss marriage proposals with the son of the former Minister of Defense. Although it can be made into the latest news by interviewing Arunika directly, but he does not want to postpone the main job.

Nio shook his head to clear his mind of the troubling matter called Darsono's marriage proposal to Arunika.

“So, what case do we want to solve?”

As if he was a state agent, Nio asked like that.

Sonia and Upik took out a number of documents from their respective bags, while Buyung set up his laptop on the table. They seem full of preparation, and are planning to find great news for the country.

“You know some big cases in wartime such as the project ‘Drug Kuat’ involving the then Minister of Defense, Bacem Village, and the massacre of enemy soldiers who have surrendered?”

Hearing Sonia's words “Slaughter of the enemy soldiers who had surrendered”, Nio held her forehead and said, “Ya. Those are all cases that even the current administration has not been able to crack.”

After he killed the enemy soldiers with doubt and fear, aggravated a number of comrades-in-arms who died slowly and painfully as a result of the project to make the TNI a war machine without fear and fatigue, Nio has to live with dark memories that are too painful to remember again today. The way he was able to hide the mental stress of seeing comrades die, losing his right hand and eye, being roasted by the Wyvern flame bursts of enemy forces was a mysterious thing that made national researchers curious.

“He said, no one can get close to Bacem Village. I heard that the police and intelligence sent there never came back. But, the village was indeed filled with savage humans," Nio said.

“You know about Bacem Village rumors?” tanya Upik after she realized Nio said as if the man knew the secret of the case.

Nio's answer was just two slow nods.

Four of Nio's comrades were persuaded with sweet words that they would become ‘super’ soldiers, so as to defeat many enemies from other worlds and then end up as heroes. Eventually, they fell to a tragic fate. Once the Strong Medicine project began, a number of experimental rats fought like the German soldiers of World War 2 after consuming Pervitin. After fighting as a superhuman for a few days, the side effects of Strong Medicine finally appeared as a disaster.

However, neither side was willing to help the young soldiers after they had fooled their ‘ owners’. The men who protected the soldiers were expected to open their hands and help them. Unfortunately, the people who were asked to please close the door tightly, pelting the ‘s super soldiers impromptu’ with stones, showering them with dirty words and rude rejection. Finally, the weapons that fighters were supposed to use to protect the country and defend themselves, were used as a means of ending lives rather than suffering the consequences of their overconfidence in superiors.

“We were forced by ‘dia’ to shut up, although I don't know the reason he forced us to do that.” Nio said in a deep tone. “For that reason, I have a special hatred towards Major Darsono.”

“You hate him?” bidung asked with a surprised face, although with Nio's confession there are several ways out for a number of cases.

“Yes. But, I can't do anything after knowing my sister will marry him. I'm sure you know why. I don't have enough power to oppose the former Minister of Defense and one of the richest men in Indonesia. Although fighting is necessary, it feels without money and high position ordinary people like me can not do anything.”

After Nio finished speaking, Sonia and her two comrades nodded weakly approving of his words.

Just by Nio's words, the news of famous people gaining freedom or unreasonable chunks of punishment after committing lawlessness made the news seekers in Nio's house frown. Such tragedies seem to continue like a vicious cycle, until all humans have money to play with their own laws.

“You know that all those cases are high risk?” nio asked, and was answered a soft nod by the three of them.

“Because of that, I think asking for the help of a military person like you is the right choice,” Sonia responded in a hopeful tone to Nio.

Nio walked towards his room, making the three news hunters look at each other to find answers. Of course Sonia and her two comrades only shook their heads in response to their question mark-filled gazes, and an answer might be obtained after Nio opened a black suitcase that was not yet known to be contained.

“If you still want to continue the hunt for news about those cases..”.

Nio opened his black suitcase, and revealed the contents that fascinated them. Two 9mm pistols and 6 spare magazines, a 9mm mitraliur pistol with 3 magazines, and a 5.56mm carbine assault rifle and 3 spare magazines. Obviously these items are very limited in circulation, even among the military though.

The general public is not allowed to carry self-defense weapons even in times of war. Only soldiers and law enforcers are allowed to walk around in public while carrying firearms while on duty, and will be kept in storage again when on holiday or not in urgent circumstances.

“It's all illegal weapons,” Nio said as he picked up a gun, loaded the magazine into the handle, then docked it so the gun was ready to be used as a murder weapon.

“Nio, so you've been involved in the black market?”

Nio responded to Sonia's question with a sinless smile. Nio tapped on the screen several times on his phone, and showed a message that an additional ‘order’ will be arriving soon. The number listed is named ‘mbak olshop’, but it is not clear the order in question. Mata Nio pointed out that she was very calm transacting inside the illegal trade.

“You're from Company 406-32, right? Why not ask your company to deliver weapons instead of buying them on the black market?” Sonia asked again.

Nio noticed the astonishment of the news seekers, even though they raised their respective chosen weapons with sparkling eyes. As a soldier who made transactions on the black market, he proudly said, “Walau slightly more expensive than the normal price, I ordered that the weapons have specifications above the military. They're really good-looking, right? I mean, those weapons can be used by civilians without special training.”

Nio was completely calm despite the great risk that his dark transaction was known. The three of them work without the protection of the bodyguards, so hunting for news about big cases requires the security of certain parties, such as Nio from the military. In essence, the safety and dismantling of the case depended on Nio's help.

“Do you buy all this if at any time you are ordered to do a certain mission?” tanya Upik is holding a mitraliur gun.

“No. I bought those weapons for self-defense. What's the problem, besides the price is a little expensive than buying it on the official market?”

Then, after a pause of a few seconds, Nio showed a serious expression and said, “To solve the cases that you filed, there are many parties who try to block even not hesitate to finish off anyone who has the potential to uncover their secrets. You guys want my help, right? But, I do not guarantee will do the job without leaving a stain.”

Nio kept thinking about his safety and everyone who knew him. A group of civilians who asked for the army's help, making the conditions seem like a client's request to a mercenary company. Often times the hired mercenaries will get into trouble that the tenants are not talking about. But, even though Nio knew he would face the authorities, Nio felt it helped to handle the big news to be disseminated to the public, even though the news seemed to show the bad side of the previous government even seemed dark.

“I won't ask you again about the source of these weapons. Now, let's talk about work,” said Sonia.

Nio returned his entire weapon, and noticed every request of Sonia and her comrades.

“So Nio, you were once a ‘rabbit trial’ for an artificial limb project for the TNI, right?”

The question was a surprise to Nio who had lost his artificial hand, and made himself aware even though the device was only a prototype.

“Why does he know?” Nio wondered in his heart. Perhaps because the military and government deliberately spread the word that the trial of mounting artificial limbs for soldiers who lost organs was successful, although there are a number of shortcomings that are still being refined.

“What is the government planning to create a new project for TNI?” ask Nio, because the conversation will definitely lead to that.

Sonia replied, “Entahlah. But, after the project ‘Drug Strong’ failed, there was information leaked and lucky I who heard it, about the next super army creation project.”

“Creation of super soldiers next?” Nio considers if the project is about the manufacture of special medicines from the refinement of ‘Strong’ Medicine that has caused many casualties.

Then, Buyung showed Nio the screen of his laptop, and appeared an article that discussed the advanced project to create a super army, “Kata, the advanced project was not held by the SOE company, but the largest private defense company in the country,” said Buyung.

“Arunika family-owned company?” ask Nio.

Upik responded to Nio wondering, “Not. The Supardi family company specialized in making various types of ammunition. There are much larger private defense companies, and potentially rivaling SOE and overseas defense companies.”

Nio nodded with a grim expression. As expected, the cases that Sonia and her colleagues wanted to solve would definitely spread to something that Nio did not know.