𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐙𝐄 | ʰˣʰ

chapter ii.

hint!
manga reference
check out the wiki page for Beyond Netero!

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YOUR MiPHONE'S ringer recently broke and is now forever set to full volume, so whenever you pass near a data circuit and reconnect momentarily with the rest of humanity, it pings for every message you receive and the sound echoes throughout the tunnel.

You couldn't turn the ringer off even if you wanted, so it doesn't matter anyway. The messages you are receiving must be read or saved immediately. They are deleted on a timer from the chat within minutes.

No matter the reason for your noisy phone, you're actively earning dirty looks from the rest of the group and you look like an MiPad child.

You hang by the back of the pack, along the ones who are starting to fall behind and drop out as Satotz, the mouthless examiner, keeps picking up his pace. These guys will be of no consequence later no matter how annoyed you make them, unlike the stronger guys at the front.

You're not doing too amazing yourself, in all honesty. You're nowhere near your limits but you never were one to get by on pure stamina either. A quick look at the GPS on your phone tells you you've traveled at least 58 kilometers on foot already. Not even close to some of the longer distances you've ever gone on foot, yet enough to make something of a dent in your stamina.

A notification pops up at the top of your screen just as you're about to turn your phone off:

Exped 6. Private Channel 86 :
User vrchill sent
@erd3m four files.

Download IEA Containment
Report HLBL-702 +3 more?

Yes | No

erd3m
Downloaded. 👍

vrchill
are you mad at me?

erd3m
?
Anyway. Where
did you find these?

vrchill
perks of having a license!
;P

erd3m
You couldn't get these
if you had 10 licenses.
Answer my question.

vrchill
what, not even a
please or thank you?

erd3m
One file is missing.
Tell me where to look.
I'll find it myself.

vrchill
u only talk to me bc
you want access 2
the IPA database again 🥀

erd3m
Taking Hunter Exam.
Send the rest later.

vrchill
:(

erd3m
What?
Tell Beyond to answer
my messages.

vrchill
:C

erd3m
Are you drunk?

vrchill
hey
listen.
i'm just a
:3𐙚

Seen ✔️

This does not dignify any modicum of a response from you, so you leave it as is. You're not close enough to the man for him to be any true form of sad over your hypothetical anger. And you doubt he'll answer your questions anyway.