Minh Truong thought the man in the alley would disappear from his life.
He was wrong.
The next morning, the city felt… off.
It wasn't something anyone else could notice. The buses still ran late. People still scrolled through their phones with hollow expressions. Coffee still tasted burnt. Life continued with the same dull rhythm.
But Minh Truong saw the cracks.
He saw them everywhere.
On the subway platform, a middle-aged man stood staring at the tracks, unmoving, eyes glassy. Above his head—
Nothing.
No number.
Minh Truong froze.
The space where the digits should have been was empty, like a missing line of code in reality. His chest tightened.
Then he saw another.
A young woman at a crosswalk, standing too close to the edge, swaying slightly. No number.
A security guard slumped in a chair, asleep on duty. No number.
Minh Truong swallowed.
Three in one morning.
His own timer ticked steadily above him:
72:09:51:42
It had been nearly a full day since the alley. He hadn't lost any time overnight. That alone terrified him more than the incident itself.
At work, Minh Truong couldn't focus. His screen blurred as he pretended to read emails. Every time someone walked past his desk, his eyes betrayed him—flicking upward automatically.
Most people still had numbers.
But some didn't.
By noon, he counted seven.
They shared the same traits.
Slow reactions. Flat expressions. Delayed responses, as if the world reached them a second too late.
Not dead.
But… diminished.
During lunch, Minh Truong sat alone, stirring his food. The system pulsed faintly, a familiar pressure behind his eyes.
Then it changed.
For the first time, text appeared.
Not floating. Not spoken.
It surfaced directly in his mind.
UNNUMBERED ENTITY DETECTED
STATUS: TIME DEPLETED
RISK LEVEL: UNSTABLE
Minh Truong's spoon clattered against the tray.
"Entity?" he whispered.
The man across from him—an office worker with tired eyes—looked up. Above his head: nothing.
Minh Truong's breath hitched.
Another message followed.
WARNING:
PROLONGED PROXIMITY MAY RESULT IN TIME LEAKAGE
Minh Truong stood so abruptly his chair scraped the floor.
"Sorry," he muttered to no one in particular and walked away.
In the restroom, he splashed cold water on his face, gripping the sink.
"So when their number disappears…" he murmured, staring at his reflection, "they don't die."
They remained.
Broken pieces left behind after the clock ran out.
The system wasn't killing people.
It was hollowing them.
A memory flashed through his mind—the man in the alley, collapsing, the number vanishing instead of reaching zero.
This was the aftermath.
Minh Truong's phone vibrated.
A news notification.
LOCAL INCIDENT:
Man causes subway disruption after wandering onto tracks. No injuries reported.
Minh Truong closed his eyes.
It was spreading.
That night, he took a different route home. He avoided alleys. Avoided crowds. But the city didn't let him stay ignorant.
Near a convenience store, a child tugged at his sleeve.
"Mister," the boy said softly. "Do you know what time it is?"
Minh Truong looked down.
The boy couldn't have been older than ten.
Above his head—
Nothing.
Minh Truong's blood ran cold.
"I… I don't have a watch," Minh Truong replied carefully.
The boy nodded, as if expecting that answer. "That's okay. People keep forgetting things."
"Forgetting what?" Minh Truong asked.
The boy tilted his head. "How long things are supposed to last."
Minh Truong's number flickered.
72:09:51:42
72:09:51:41
72:09:51:39
He stepped back instinctively.
The system screamed.
CRITICAL ALERT
TIME DRAIN DETECTED
SOURCE: UNNUMBERED ENTITY
Minh Truong turned and ran.
He didn't stop until his lungs burned and the city lights blurred into streaks. He collapsed against a wall, gasping.
The countdown stabilized.
72:09:49:12
He had lost over two minutes in seconds.
Not by acting.
Not by failing.
But simply by being close.
Minh Truong slid to the ground, shaking.
"So that's how it works," he whispered.
The unnumbered weren't just victims.
They were sinks.
Time drains.
Black holes left behind by the system's judgment.
If too many appeared…
The city would rot from the inside out.
Minh Truong stared up at the night sky, the number above him glowing faintly like a curse only he could see.
He understood now.
Saving people wasn't enough.
He would have to deal with the aftermath.
Because the system didn't clean up its mess.
And somehow—without ever asking—
it had made him responsible.