A black haired figure in a wheelchair wheeled himself into a company building.
His expression was extremely blank, while he seemed lethargic. And even though he was moving, it seemed as though he didn't have the will to live much less, propel himself forward.
Once inside the sparkling clean, and nearly empty building, he noticed the receptionist was missing.
He moved his gaze to a nearby corridor, and remained in that position, waiting patiently in the quiet and nerve-racking building. In a stillness capable of instilling madness into those who insisted on staying in its silence.
The man seemed accustomed to such silence and just stared on with an hollow gaze, blinking periodically as though he was on autopilot.
Buzz
A slight but extremely blaring sound ruined the perfect silence that had perfected itself with appearance of such an anomaly.
Buzz
The device which was to facilitate communication and provide entertainment, and had been inserted into his wheelchair buzzed once more.
He reached for it with trembling hands. His breathing hastened as he struggled to keep his hands up, or touch the device.
Tap.
After an unfortunate struggle, he had finally reached it.
Without lifting his hands, he moved his fingers to the buttons on the device with a touch sensor, and turned the buzzing off.
An action which caused a holographic screen to pop up in front of him.
"Haa…" He sighed, finally making his first sound.
His voice was extremely low and hoarse, as though he had not spoken for days, and his listless eyes moved away from the holographic screen, to his other hand.
After another round of an unfortunate struggle, he finally reached the hidden compartment in his wheelchair and brought out visor-like glasses, which he put on immediately, but not without another struggle.
His actions were exceptionally disturbing, and extremely slow, but when he turned to the screen, and read it's contents he-
"What!?", He screamed in fright, as he jumped up from his seat with an unfamiliar energy.
And before a second more could pass by, he ran into the office building, leaving the reception behind.
He slid his identification card on his own, no longer bother to wait for the receptionist to do it for him.
Arriving at the elevator, he realized it was unavailable, and although it seemed as if that slight setback had depleted his energy once more, he only sighed as felt frustrated before he began pondering over what to do.
'Maybe I should just send it to the boss… but what if it gets hacked? Such important information, I must deliver it myself!'
The thought of giving it up crossed his mind, but once he had thought it through, he felt rejuvenated and ran towards the expensive and personal funded for instance.
He stared at the payment for a trip to the 30th floor, and almost wanted to take the decorative stairs, almost, that is.
But after a an unnecessary amounts of second thoughts, he walked back to the elevator and waited impatiently.
…
In a crowded office filled with technical gadgets and busy androids, A man burst in through unusually large double doors, and ran hastily towards a door larger than the one he came through.
Ignoring the need to knock, he opened the door and burst in, prompting a frown from a man, half lying barely sitting down on a large chair, akin to a massage chair.
The man stared at him and did nothing else, but stare and frown.
He didn't reprimand him and barely shifted his relaxed expression.
However, his frown deepened even more when he realized he had looked away from the holographic screen previously in front of him.
Raising his arm up lethargically, he dragged the screen back in front of him with a simple swipe. Effectively blocking his subordinate, who was now being served a cold glass of water by an android robot.
Neither men spoke, and the subordinates who ran in, in a hurry, quietly drifted to sleep on the soft sofa in front of him.
Moments after he fell asleep, a robot came by and adjusted his sleeping position, raising his comfort level to an even higher level.
But just before he dozed off completely, a blaring alarm rang out startling the sleeping subordinate, and alerting his boss.
"Do you have a report?"
The boss asked seriously, facing his subordinate who woke up startled, but hurriedly projected his holographic screen, and showed his boss the news he had received.
The boss asked seriously, but the moment his subordinate had woken up, he hurriedly projected his holographic screen, and showed his boss the news he had received.
"It's trainee #08741! He's being disqualified!"
The boss eyes swept over the holographic screen in one swift motion, as he listened to his subordinate.
"What!? Such an important matter, why didn't you send it over?! No, who else has received the report?"
The boss shocked, jumped up from his seat in a frenzy, and walked speedily towards a physical computer set up on a desk a few metres from his main desk.
The subordinate watched his boss move so quickly, and was (shocked or dumbstruck).
His boss was rumored to have a high activity level, but they had never seen him in action, since he never really needed to leave his office.
But now that he did move, he couldn't take his eyes off him. He had never seen such an energetic ■■■ before.
"You! What are you spacing out for!? Hurry up, send an instance to the higher ups, and tell Andy to inform the Contractors to withdraw the contract!"
His boss snapped at him, feeling very frustrated and overwhelmed.
This was such a big matter yet, they barely had five people at work today.
They couldn't really be blamed, since he too wouldn't have come, if he wasn't the general manager.
Stifling a sigh, he called his superiors.
"Hello, Kias-", The operator was interrupted by the boss who spoke quickly.
"Hello! Can you put me through to the Soul observational department?"
"What business do you have with that department?" The operator asked skeptically, clearly displeased by the sudden order.
"It's trainee #08741. He's being disqualified and his soul is dispersing, and would soon enter the next cycle.", the boss said simply, toning down a bit.
"And how true is this information?" The operator asked in a condescending tone, clearly pleased by the change of attitude.
The boss paused, and wondered if he should sell out his employee or himself.
His employee was a pitiful worker who managed to land this job by a landslide, as for him he had a higher activity level, so he should be able to get another job elsewhere right?
Hence, after a moment of careful deliberation, he said;
"I have an outside source."
"A third party knows about trainee #08741 and you didn't report it?", The operator asked, bewildered.
This was such an important matter, yet he used it as a boost to get on the good sides of the higher ups.
"It's someone high up, we couldn't possibly-"
"Enough. Hand over all all the acquired information you have about trainee #08741 if you do not want to be charged."
The general manager froze, and instantly began regretting his decision.
Although he was not the one truly in contact with them, he had been the one to instruct his employee to contact them.
Hearing his silence and nothing else, the operator spoke up.
"Please compile the information and send it over, we will tend to it as soon as possible."
With that, she hung up.
Feeling weakened by that one phone call, he could only hope they treated him with leniency due to his contribution in helping them contract trainee #08741.
"Haa… damned capitalists!"
He cursed softly as he walked over to his bed-like chair, and slumped on it.
"I wonder how they even found a soul with such potency."
He muttered as he sensed a robot approaching him.
'It must have been long though, maybe about 50 years ago? Or longer? 8471… that's one of the earlier years…'
He thought, feeling more sympathetic than disappointed.
'Poor soul, his lives must have been hell…'
The thought grazed his mind as he dozed off.