NT Runner

“I know you're excited to visit a 'real' city finally but this isn't a vacation, Yeong.” The harsh voice of a young woman echoed through a smartphone speaker in the small room Yeong was in. The boy had grown up on the countryside in Aoia, bordering the wasteland. It was a harsh land east of Trysk and Poren that saw little development even as the technological revolution came into full swing. He had been to neighboring cities but never to one of the real cities. Sprawling landscapes where mega-structures and incredible projects took the place of mountains on the landscape. Where the appearance from the ground level was that no one ever slept.

“I know, Halmeoni.” Yeong spoke into the receiver like someone who had never held a phone before. It sat in his hand facing up like a plate. He craned his head forward so that his mouth was close to it.

“Is that an echo? Where are you?” The voice of his Halmeoni asked.

Yeong smiled and leaned back on the toilet. He used the back of it as if it was a recliner proudly. “Bathroom. It's the sit-down kind of toilet, here. There's no urinals, though. I thought there would be.” He wondered about that idly as he sat.

The voice was silent for a few seconds. “If there's no urinals then it's probably a female restroom. Did you read the sign on the door? Your common isn't that bad...”

“Yeah. Triangle. The other one was a rectangle.”

“Rec- What? Triangle and rectangle? I kind of understand but I see why you'd get confused.” She offered, attempting to be charitable.

“But why were you confident enough in triangle being the male restroom that you just walked in and sat down?”

“I have lots of triangles. Triceps. Delts.”

“Okay.” She waited a few more seconds.

“That's two.”

“I didn't think it mattered, honestly.” Yeong shrugged.

“How progressive of you.”

“It's not that. What are they going to do?”

“Arrest you, possibly. You are talking loudly in the female bathroom as a man. You might be a creeper.”

He blinked. “I'm sorry?” As he said that he heard footsteps in the hall outside. Yeong lowered his voice. “I think someone's coming in.”

“Really? Just be quiet and keep me on the line.” Yeong nodded and sat in wait. He heard the door swing open and slam against the wall. The girls, and he knew it was a group of girls by the number of steps and speakers, came in very hot.

“We know you're in here!” One of them shouted. Yeong began to sweat. His Halmeoni on the other end of the line clicked her tongue and sighed.

“Yeah, Kai, someone saw you!” Another female voice said, clearing Yeong.

“Idiot!” A final voice added. The three girls stepped in front of Yeong's stall and knocked loudly.

“Is that you in there? Don't make us kick this door down.” The first voice warned.

Yeong held up the phone and quickly the voice on the other end of the phone said fairly naturally. “No?”

“Oh... Okay.” They moved on.

“Sorry. You guys check the other stalls.” She sounded like she was smiling as she added.

“You sound cute by the way.”

His Halmeoni giggled on the other end of the line and said. “Thanks.”

Yeong breathed a sigh of relief, but felt something and looked up. His eye twitched at the unusual, yet familiar sight of a red tail and a firm rear sliding over the top of the stall. He looked down at his phone, then back up. It wiggled and shimmied a little, trying to get over as the girls kicked doors in around the bathroom. He had no idea what to do or say as the new girl finally made it over and landed hard on his lap. He did not flinch or gasp. He was a bit too shocked for that, but he still managed to take in her appearance.

She was a punky looking girl with gold eyes, striking red hair and black-tipped red ears. She was a fox, there was no mistaking it. His eyes instinctively glanced down at her chest to see that she was severely lacking. She noticed and despite being in a rather compromising position on his lap she narrowed her eyes at Yeong and glared defiantly. He could tell she was about the same age as him, roughly. She was in the building he was in, so she was also more than likely a member of the same Mandatory Government Service program he was a part of. He was not going to say anything, but Yeong still thought it pretty bold for her to lift a slender finger to her lips in a shushing motion as stalls were kicked open all around you.

“Nothing!” The main girl exclaimed.

“Do you think that dude lied?” Another girl asked.

“We should go back and shake him down for giving us false info.” The last one offered maliciously. It made Yeong shudder that girls could sound so mean-spirited.

The main girl approached the stall again. “You didn't see anyone else when you came in?” Yeong held up the phone again. His Halmeoni spoke.

“Nope. Just... Doing my business. No clue.”

They all groaned collectively and left. The girl on Yeong's lap smiled and waited for the door to shut. When it did she remained quiet and stared down at you curiously, her glance shifting subtly between you and the phone.

“Uh, I think they're gone. I gotta go.” He spoke into the receiver.

“What?” The woman on the other end sounded confused but did not ask any questions.

“Keep in touch periodic-” Before Yeong could hang up the girl nodded her chin slightly, which coincided with the phone disconnecting.

“So.” Yeong spoke, letting that word hang for a few seconds.

“Thanks.” The girl managed. She spoke that word the same way Yeong spoke most words in the common Western language. As though they were just a bit foreign to him.

“We should get outta here.” She offered. Yeong could not find a reason to disagree. She leaned forward, bringing her face close to his teasingly as she tried to find the ground with her feet. The girl stood up and leaned back once she did.

She looked under-dressed but not in a purposeful manner. Faded, loose jeans with holes, a tight blank tank-top thick enough that her nipples did not peak through, but still far too little for the weather the city was known for. Thankfully, over it all she wore a far-too-big for her jacket that was in a perpetual state of sliding off and needing readjustment. Yeong did not speak of her appearance because he had very little room to talk. The Western Aoia native was dressed for a different era, but was at least dressed for the weather. He wore a large, thick puffer jacket and dark slacks that tucked into heavy boots. Underneath all of that he had a simple black short-sleeved shirt. Around his neck he had wrapped an extravagant-looking, hand-knit red scarf that hid half his face. The other, upper half was almost obscure d by the hood of his jacket. Red biker gloves kept his hands warm in the unfamiliar weather. He was prepared for cold, but not much else.

* *

“Why were they looking for you? Are you being bullied?” Yeong questioned. He was not particularly interested in helping, but he was curious of the reason.

“Also, you're Kai, right?”

“That's right.” She tilted her head side to side, obviously questioning whether she should be truthful or not.

“They are bullies, but they were looking for me because I hacked their phones and stole some money from them.”

Yeong stopped and began to shake. He hurriedly lifted his phone and tried to check it. “Relax! You don't even have it set up so how's someone supposed to steal from you? You also can't check if you don't have it, dumbass. How were you thinking of looking? Your phone is literally blank. There's one number. Jeeze. Did you just get it?”

“My Halmeoni got it for me. She said it was a family plan.”

“So, you're not from around here?”

“What gave you that idea?”

“You sound different and you look different.” Kai stated. It was accurate, but still rude.

“How did you get into my phone?” Yeong asked. It was the more important question.

“I don't even remember the pass-key. I use the thumb print.”

“Oh my god...” Kai shuddered.

“You're so inept. You shouldn't even have a phone, but if you have one you should at least know how to use it.”

“Why shouldn't I have a phone? Because I'm inept?”

“No, because ChesAn listens in on everything and collects data on everyone to use for advertising and espionage. You don't want them having your info.”

“That seems a bit paranoid.” Yeong muttered, staring down at his device with a lack of suspicion. He pressed his thumb to the screen.

“Do you have a phone? Can I have your number?” He looked up after a short pause to see Kai shaking and blushing deeply.

“The hell are you asking all of a sudden?” She let out awkwardly.

“Your number? Your phone?” He gave her a confused look.

“I don't have a phone. I wouldn't, because I don't want THEM to have my info.”

“ChesAn?” Yeong sighed. The girl was hopelessly paranoid and probably crazy. It was partially his type, but he was wondering if it was worth it. Part of the reason he had been so eager to take the trip at his Halmeoni's request was to meet girls and relax in between his MGS duties and his investigation.

“Why bother explaining it to you. You're an idiot.” Kai stated harshly. She crossed her arms tightly and began walking away. Yeong increased his pace to catch up.

“You're in the MGS, right?” He asked.

“Yeah?” She responded in a short tone.

“Of course.” In Orr all citizens, or people trying to become citizens needed to perform two years minimum of mandatory service to the government. The program was set up like a community schooling, system, however. The main way that citizens were able to prove their worth was through aptitude testing, scoring and vocational studies that all reinforced loyalty in the city's regime. For Yeong and others like him it was essentially an extended citizenship test. For Kai it would have been more like a vocational school that she had to attend before any other secondary schooling she went into. Service could be shortened to a year for anyone that joined the Mandatory Military Service, but that was far too regimented for what Yeong was after.

“You can help me with electronics and city life? I'm from the countryside.” Yeong explained.

“And now it starts to make sense. So that's LITERALLY your first phone and this is your first time being in a place like Orr?” Kai asked. Yeong offered a slight nod to the affirmative. The two stepped into one of the many public elevators that took people to different levels in the multi-layered city. When developers of Orr needed more room they only had two choices. Build up, or build out into the water on stilts.

“Well you made a mistake coming here.” As she said that the elevator with it's clear glass windows crested the tops of some smaller buildings, allowing Yeong to stare out over the vast city-scape. Kai began pointing. She rested her finger on a lit-up cylindrical superstructure. It was wider and larger than anything else in the city. It was a literal mountain of metal and glass that took up hundreds of blocks worth of space in the already strained city.

“ChesAn.” She pointed to another less-impressive building that was almost as tall but not nearly as wide. It was lit up in the night sky.

“Garde, The PMC. Fast-Vac HQ is also nearby.” She then dotted the landscape by tapping the glass.

“Many many more. You think Orr is a city? No, it's a slice of bread with mold growing on it. All those corps own their turf like they're countries. Why do you think the MGS exists? They know that when all of us grow older we're going to live in some Corpo Arcology, owned by someone else. It's their attempt at keeping some semblance of loyalty. What a joke.” She exhaled through her nose.

“That isn't even getting into the gangs. The Jobbers. The DEZ rejects. The fucking-” A red light flashed as the elevator stopped half-way. An artificial female voice sounded off.

“Apply proof of residency to the keypad to ascend beyond this point.”

Kai rolled her eyes. “The ones profiting off it all? They're the worst out of all of them.” The two of them stepped off the elevator. They were almost in the clouds and there was still a ways to go. Kai and Yeong stood awkwardly near the railing looking over parts of the city. On either side they were flanked by more concrete and glass mountains stretching up into the sky. She looked at Yeong and relented.

“If you want a hand, sure, I can-” She stopped as she heard a sound. Yeong heard it, too. Revving engines. Behind them both was an active street market. Through the crowds of people a convoy of four heavy, loud bikes rolled through slowly before speeding up once they got through. They were two per vehicle, with the people on the back holding crude pistols or bats. One held a tablet and pointed the camera at Kai.

“We got 'er!” He shouted.

“Ez payday!” The gang whooped, whistled and hollered. It was so jarring that Yeong couldn't act. Even if he could he was not faster than bullets. He ducked instinctively as shots rang out. Yeong glanced to his side and saw Kai falling back. Her chest had been caved in by a bullet without an exit wound. She tumbled like a doll over the railing. Without thinking Yeong jumped after her and lost grip of his phone in the commotion. As he looked down at the girl he saw what looked like half of her head missing. The half he did not see when he jumped. When he thought more about his choice he wondered what exactly he was planning on doing? The city rapidly approached from below, but it was so high that Yeong was basically sky-diving. He glanced around calmly, already having caught up to the life-less Kai in mid air. He looked to his right and saw his phone tumbling beside him. There was a call.

Yeong pressed the green call button to accept and listened. It sounded like static. Then a voice came through. It was odd, because Yeong could not hear himself think. He could not hear the incredibly loud city. He could only hear the rushing of wind past his ears, but he could hear the voice as plain as day through it all. Deep, rasping, robotic. Broken.

“dO yOU wANT to gO bACK?” Within that voice was the sound of an old router struggling through an analogue phone line.

“Yeah...” Yeong nodded. It was obvious.

“Do you WANT to SAVE... HeR.”

Yeong thought about that, but noticed the ground approaching quickly. “Yeah... Yeah!” He offered more certainly.

“TOUCH THE SCREEN.” The voice growled quickly, seeming to be just as apprehensive about the approaching pavement as Yeong was. As Yeong touched the screen he heard a recorded phone call coming through his speaker. A smooth, professional female voice.

“Twenty thousand. Kill them. No need to retrieve the body, just make sure they die.”

“Understood!” It was as far in the recording as he got to hear the cackling and reving of bikes after that confirmation. Yeong touched the screen and felt himself being pulled back at the last second. Rather than the feeling of falling and hitting the ground he was standing rather suddenly and jarringly without keeping any of the momentum that he had from jumping off the ledge. His surroundings were strange and he immediately heard the sound fucking in the room he was in.

“Yes! Yes! More!” An unfamiliar female voice moaned lewdly. Those sounds were intermingled with male grunts. Yeong curiously looked over. The room was normal... In parts. There was a phone camera and cone of clear vision in front of it that almost 'illuminated' the scene of the couple having raw, bestial sex in front of it. Yeong could make out the image like something froma porno. A shot from behind of a large man's cock pushing over and over into a woman's soaked pussy. Everything outside of that cone, the scene, looked like an architectural drawing. It was blank space broken up by solid white lines in a grid; shapes forming the semblance of a room with appliances and other decorations. Yeong was standing within that space, looking completely normal. The lines rippled and the room seemed to update as the couple made noise.

“What?” Yeong questioned out loud in sheer confusion.

The couple suddenly turned to look at him. The woman screamed and covered herself, despite the fact that they were obviously filming a porno. The man got up and glared threateningly at Yeong, but he was as frightened as she was.

“W-who the hell are you!?”

Yeong was not sure what to say. “Where am I?”

“Our apartment, you freak!” The man lunged forward. He was larger than Yeong and a fair bit more muscular. Calmly, Yeong reached into his pocket and blanketed the man's face in pepper spray. He used the technique he had been taught to cross from ear to ear, then forehead to chest. The man screamed in pain and fell past Yeong.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” As the man swore the woman screamed louder. Yeong walked in front of the camera and moved towards the door. He opened it and was shocked to see Kai floating in a curving corridor with strange architecture and several doors at odd angles. The walls were curled together like wires that twisted together in a spiral pattern and extended on into infinity.

“You're alive?”

“Yeah? And you disappeared into thin air only to show up on a fucking router a kilometer away? What the hell, man?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Yeong's eyes moved instinctively down towards her chest. She was quite a bit more stacked than when he first spoke to her. She covered them as he stared. He knew he was getting off track so he explained carefully.

“Look. I saw you die. It was a biker gang. I heard a recording of a hit being accepted, then showed up here. Where are you? Is this you?” He looked her over fully. She was more sleek in her way of dressing, as well. Less ragged. In general her form seemed idealized.

“My body is back at the railing. This is my Avatar.” She glanced down at her chest and blushed.

“Obviously...”

“Has the gang shown up?”

“Not yet.”

“Do you hear engines?”

“Not yet.” She repeated.

“Okay.” Yeong slowed his breathing and thought deeply.

“Can you find one nearby if you found me? They had a tablet.”

“Then yeah, of course. They're...” She blinked.

“Oh shit, they're actually coming. Rolling slowly through the market towards me. What do I do!?”

“Get me close to them.”

“How!?”

“Where am I now?” Yeong asked.

“You are inside a fucking ROUTER somehow!”

“Can you find me a... A router overlooking the market?” Yeong asked.

“It looks like it is. The window in the room the device is in is overlooking the market. Three floors up.” Yeong nodded. He returned to the room. The woman cowered as he entered and ceased pouring murky water into the man's eyes to clear them.

“No no no! Please go away!” She begged. They had stepped out of frame of the camera and had instead become white grid-like lines that decently matched their former shapes in the periphery, like the rest of the room.

Yeong and Kai ignored her and just walked past them towards the window. “Do you see?” Yeong asked conversationally. He was still trying to understand.

“There's an unprotected cell camera hooked up to the router wi-fi. Through that I can hear them through the stream, but I can't see them if they're out of frame.” She explains.

“Ah.” Yeong nodded and stared out the window. It was blank space. He opened it and could see white lines going as far as the fire escape, but they faded into nothing quickly and the rest was simply void beyond that. He stepped out onto the platform outside and felt metal grating beneath his boots.

“You're going out of range somehow.”

Yeong exhaled and attempted to problem solve. “Electronics... Camera... Are there security cameras outside?”

“Heh. Yeah, of course.” Kai uttered sardonically. She gulped.

“Shit, I kinda hear engines, dude...”

“Okay, okay. How do I get into a security camera setup if I'm you?” He worded it in a way he thought she would understand.

“They're hooked into the city's wired network. I follow that and crack it, then I have access to everything that's being sent in real time.”

“Can you hook me into that?”

“I don't even know what YOU are. You're like a VR avatar, or your phone, or something... But not. There's so much information that-”

Yeong stopped her. “Is there anything that you can find in my 'avatar' that would allow you to hook me into the network?”

“Y-y-yeah sh-shut up. They're getting louder. This is bad, right?” Kai sounded like she was close to crying.

“It's bad, but worse if you panic. You can do it, right?” Yeong steadied his voice in order to calm the girl. She was quiet for a long time. Yeong waited patiently before asking again.

“Kai?” As he asked that she spoke.

“I got it!” The girl breathed heavily.

Suddenly the street before Yeong lit up. Several moving cones of light illuminated the market from cameras, but there were no white lines in the void like there had been in the room. There was no color in the street, either. It was grainy and in tones of black and gray. Yeong saw the bikers moving slowly through the crowd to avoid people, then noticed Kai at the end of the street near the railing a ways away, only she was a blur.

“You mask yourself?”

“Of course I do! You're fucking factory phone is how they found me, idiot! I should just throw this shit over and run...” She mumbled.

“Don't!” Yeong warned.

“Got it... Going to need your help with that once this is done.”

You gonna pepper spray all of them?” She asked sarcastically.

Yeong stood on the edge and looked down as the bikers were below and almost through the crowd. “No...” He jumped three stories and landed hard, knocking one passenger off the back of their bike. The back tire's suspension almost caved from the impact. Yeong reached forward before the rider knew what was happening and turned the ignition to full, sending the chopper flinging forward wildly into the lead bike. The two crumpled together and flung everyone off as Yeong stood up on the back and jumped to one of the two rear bikes. He turned his body in mid air and drop kicked a duo to the ground before they could fire their weapons at him. The last two grainy individuals stopped, hopped off and drew their weapons. For all that time Yeong could not hear anything. There was no sound. No crowd. Nothing. The last two bikers were speaking but no words were coming out. Before the rider could shoot Yeong he grabbed the gun, pulled it away as a shot landed in his shoulder and threw it away like a Frisbee, much to the man's surprise. The passenger raised a bat over his head, ready to strike. Yeong drew out his pepper spray and coated the mans face. He screamed a soundless, voiceless scream and crumpled at the mercy of the powerful, inhuman spices of the spray. For good measure he did the passenger, then calmly walked around to each of the felled, slowly recovering bikers to spray them while they were down. As they were reeling Yeong jogged back to where Kai was. Her eyes were closed and she was clutching his phone in her blurry hands.

When he saw it Yeong checked his pockets and realized he did not have it that whole time. It was out of his pocket exactly where it would have been at the point in time they were currently in. He tapped the screen and felt the world return to normal. Sound came back. The crowd was clearing out and the sound of idle engines filled the market. Yeong could see felled bikers and hear their groans as they tried in vain to rub the pepper spray out of their eyes. He smiled, knowing that would only make it worse. Yeong held Kai's shoulders and shook her. She blinked and appeared similar to someone waking up.

“Are you okay?”

She was extremely flustered as she looked at Yeong and offered a quick succession of nods. “Yeah. I heard gunsh-” The girl's face twisted in horror as she looked Yeong over.

“Y-you're shot! Holy fuck I'm gonna throw up... So much blood.” Her eyes filled with tears.

“Huh.” His hands shook as he felt the bullet hole.

“It's real...”

“Why are you so calm!? Doesn't it hurt?” Kai whined.

“Crying about it isn't going to make it not hurt... My Halmeoni did worse to me when she trained me.” He explained, trying to calm her down more than anything. It did hurt. It hurt a lot, but he also believed what he said. There was no point dwelling on the pain.

* * *
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