They put their trays on the opposite sides of the table, Choerry brazenly sitting on it, throwing her legs to the other side, before sheepishly looking around to see if anyone paid attention. Chuu jokingly tutted, smiling, but didn’t think about it twice, sitting down.

She got some tea for herself, along with a couple sandwiches - she wasn't hungry yet, but who knew when she would be able to eat next time this break? Choerry, on the other hand, had a full dinner on her tray and a large cup of coffee.

They ate in silence, listening to the international news broadcasted on several monitors hanging around the room. Plot about an exhibition of Rudalph Justo held in Milaw, a famous surrealist painter and photographer, whose works were rarely shown, ended as she began chewing her last sandwich. 

Next, a hot new sensation, that the presenter plastered on a serene expression for, clasping hands on the table, - a cruise ship called Tethys mysteriously disappeared in the Gaftlou sea. “Disappeared”. Its mayday message barely got out the position they were in before cutting short, leaving initial reasons of distress call unknown. Rescue airships and boats arrived as fast as it was possible at its estimated location, but found no signs of Tethys, almost no debris, and not a single survivor.

More than the mystery of the causes behind this, the plot revolved around describing the list of politically prominent or just otherwise influential people who were on Tethys.

The catastrophe itself happened in the most north part of Gaftlou Sea after it left the waters of the Bottoranean Sea, far from the nearest land and, more importantly, on the edge on an undefined line where the Moebius Lake started. The rescue airship and search brigades, both water and air-operating ones, were there as soon as possible, combing for any survivors or clues as to what had happened, working so quickly, that in two hours there was a solid wall scanning both air and water.

But nothing. Not a single survivor or body, boat or submarine.

Needless to say, as much as it was most (but still not very much) likely there was something from the Moebius Lake responsible for that, the situation was getting exceptionally politically tense.

After another minute of mournfully describing the beauty and engineering might that was Tethys, fulfilling the quota of both empathizing political loss and and attempt to make ordinary people care about it in conjunction with loss of the ship and other passengers, news moved to riots in Neta Bolgad and Chuu lost interest.

She sipped her tea, musing aloud. “Would Sea Hunters be called to assist on this or?..”

Choerry shook her head, somewhat uncertainly. “Really depends. Not all Sea Hunters are… interested in such work. Once man-caused reasons would be ruled out, they are more likely to look into it, otherwise, doubtful - not their field of work. Discovery and research - yes, investigations - nah. While Sea Hunters usually don’t ignore a newly discovered shipwreck if they stumble upon it, they have a lot of other things to do. Preliminary inspection of a recently sunken ship isn’t one of them. There is a lot of underwater, much more than there is land.” Choerry shook her head, this time dejectedly. “You don’t really know how much it really is, until you spend your time with a Sea Hunter for a month or two.”

“Aren’t there sea plants for you to discover?”

“Not at that depth and I am more keen on working on overwater flora.” Choerry took the remains of the bread and used it to gather the leftovers from the plate. “There is one Sea Hunter, who is interested in untangling mysteriously lost ships, but this one,” she pointed at the screen that was playing a short phone-recorded clip of the riot, “is thirty years too young to catch their attention.”

Makes sense, Chuu supposed. 

She took another sip. “Guesses?”

“Hmmm… Someone indebted to a young mafia family - or loyal to one - enough for a suicidal mission? Some sort of personal debt or grudge?” Choerry pushed an empty plate away from her, taking her cup of coffee off the tray. “Or, perhaps, someone made a really intense covenant,” she said less legibly, momentarily widening her eyes for emphasis, as she dumped two sticks of sugar into her cup.

---

Pressing her forehead to the window, Chuu stared at the densely gleaming city they were sailing over, her hand pressing the phone to her chest. 

What would she tell Yves and Go Won? What should she tell Yves and Go Won? 

She hadn’t done anything incriminating to think of forgoing the message entirely, not yet, at least, but the joy they will have over the possibility of her gaining new friends was overshadowed by her own worry and conflicting emotions. She already basically took HeeJin and HyunJin under her wing, she accepted that, but she never has been in a situation like this before. Was it possible to be friends with them but more of an acquaintance with Choerry? Or was it a package deal? Chuu herself was more or less slotted in the group at eleven which made them her friends by default. The previous friendships she had kinda dwindled down after that - either they grew distant or died.

It wasn’t even like she was constantly worried. Just… more taxing then usual.

Sadly, Chuu couldn’t even fully root her distrust of Choerry in a potential of danger to their squad - even if that was a very legitimate worry, with apparent Crime Hunter attached to the girl - but for the most part it was a recent barrier. Could two years still be classified as recent or?..

She grimaced, closing her eyes. At times like this, Chuu thought, she disliked being the most emotionally aware between the three of them.

Despite her current indecision, she needed to leave a message. Who knows when she will get another chance? Chuu knew they were fine, but they might worry whether she was okay or not, being in the same vicinity as Hisoka. They didn’t know of anything else yet which looped her thoughts back on the issue at hand. Should they?..

Chuu sighed. Just... A quick message and then sleep. She would keep it short - this day both took and gave more than she expected. She opened Pestercard and pressed on a record prompt, holding it for a few moments. Chuu took a deep breath and forcibly smiled, letting the button go.

“Hi~! I am currently on an airship, heading towards the third phase. You would not believe how eventful this day was! The Exam is going well so far, some weirdos present, as expected, but also, hey, I found maybe three new friends?.. Two for sure, the third is a question mark?” ending the question on an uncertain note, she grimaced as if they could see her. “It’s complicated. The first phase was stamina-oriented, we had to run a marathon, the second one,” Chuu sighed, taking a pause. ”Second one was a mess, starting with cooking and ending with jumping down the ravine. I nearly poisoned our examiners, ugh,” she dragged a hand down her face. ”Can you imagine the Gardener's face if that happened?.. Other than that, it was not all that bad. Hope your mission is going well, keep safe, eat well! Love you! Mvah~!”

---

Choerry dialed the first number and stood, waiting. Since the majority of the applicants were already sleeping, the halls were empty, the only stragglers far and few between, mostly on the floor over her, where their resting quarters were. The rooms were expected to house much less people further down the line, on the last one or two stages, and were currently packed with occupants lining up walls and huddled in groups on the floor.

She listened to the beeps, looking at the stars. Choerry slowly rolled from balls of her feet to tiptoes and then back. After a while, an autoresponder offered to leave a message.

She ended her call and went to voicemail in Pestercard, clearing .

“Hello! Exam is a lot more fun than you told me, traitors! I now have new friends, three girls my age! They are very nice and doing their best and it would be great if you were able to meet them! Two stages have already passed, a marathon test and then a test from Gourmet Hunters! Gourmets were Menchi and Buhara, have you heard of them? The other one was called Satotz, I don’t know his specialty, but he is violet and very classy. And walks funny! He made us run for hours! First in a tunnel, then up the stairs, then through a swamp. Fog was extra thick and it was swarming with many hostile creatures and plants! Two of my friends got lost but found their way back to the group… Though Chuu and I returned and followed them for a bit to be safe! Afterwards we had to cook a pig to be tested by, you know, gourmets, and it was a complete disaster. They can't cook, so many people just roasted them as-is and Menchi got angrier and angrier with each one! I didn’t even get my turn, she declared that the phase ended with everyone failing. Since she failed everyone because she was throwing a fit and not for any solid reason, Chairman Netero had to intervene and we got to do another test! It was jumping into the ravine to get spider-eagle eggs, they were so delicious, you should try one someday! Um, what else?.. Oh, right, it took me so long to cook my dish because my initial one got ruined by other examinee. I planned to pay him back after the phase, but then I got failed, got angry, kinda forgot about him and then he died in the ravine.” She sighed, then frowned and added to herself in a quieter voice. “Speaking of, I should throw away those berries.” Choerry leaned against the window, eyeing the river they flew above, before returning to the message. “So! Our examiners are what you would’ve expected, but there are enough of the weird applicants too! There is one covered in pins and the other one looks like a jester and just drips bloodlust everywhere. My new friend, Chuu, said that the second one was disqualified last year after nearly killing an examiner. The difference in levels of applicants this year is crazy.” She paused, mulling over what else there was interesting that day. “We are currently on an airship, heading towards the third phase. We get a night to rest - and eat, however dinner obviously paled compared to spider-eagle eggs - so I'm going to end here and go! Have fun!”

She hung up and selected another number, this time immediately going for Pestercard, keeping the message short.

“Wow, you dirty, sneaky, filthy liar! Hunter Exam is so boring, you said, no challenges at all, you said, examinees are soooooo weak, you said. Liar! Fool! And a loser! Guess who is having fun and making friends! So much is going on here, I pity you and your exam year,” Choerry poured all dramatism she had in that last phrase, throwing hand over her forehead for complete effect. After a several seconds long pause she broke into giggles. “Have a lot to tell you when we meet next time, so just you wait! Hope you are having fun! See you later!”

Since the third one of her best friends already explicitly told her she was not to be contacted for a while, at all, she left no message. By nature of her job, Kim Lip had periods of time where she went completely silent. She was used to it. In fact, Choerry was the most contact-ready, compared to them, unavailable only in places without coverage or when invited to accompany one of them on serious jobs which was not that often.

With her last call she immediately went to voicemail, since it would be a late night at home, her cousin already sleeping, and, as soon as she heard the prerecorded message, Choerry felt a fond smile growing on her face. 

"Hello, Yerim! I’m currently on an airship, flying towards the next stage of the exam. I already passed two stages! The first one had a lot of running, hours and hours of running. For a while it was just the tunnel, then stairs, can you imagine running half an hour on stairs? Yerim, who even needs such long stairs?!" Choerry unconsciously started gesturing at this point. "Then we had a fifteen-minute pause. Then more running! This time through a swamp. Speaking of, I also have new friends! They are mostly my age too and very friendly! You would love them! I will be sure to bring them home at some point!.. A lot of other examinees are strange though." The girl briefly frowned, but began smiling again almost instantly. "The second stage was cooking! We had to catch a pig and cook it adequately for a gourmet to accept. I thought it was easy until some idiot applicants angered one of the examiners by dismissing their occupation. And then they roasted their pigs whole, Yerim! It looked unappetizing! And presented them to a gourmet! A true disaster!" She turned her back to the window, leaning against the windowsill, and eyed her shoes and feet that she just cleaned from dried mud. "So, in general, I’m having a lot of fun and generally out of the harm’s way. I will go rest now. Hope you are doing well, too! Hear from you soon! Bye!"

---

Her first conscious thought as she was being shaken awake, was that her body was murdering her. Had she ever felt so thoroughly pushed through a meat grinder? No, definitely no. Unless this was the case with brain blocking especially painful experiences, in which case she did not want to know.

It was an experience beyond her soreness. Before HeeJin knew what was going on, her sable was halfway unsheathed and she was hissing from pain in Choerry’s face. That was when she caught up with the message her muscles sent and also realized she was nudged awake by her friend, not somebody else.

The girl was not offended at that, thankfully, and held out an unscrewed bottle of water, instead of asking anything. At that moment HeeJin understood that she was blessed by befriending a literal angel.

Miracle of her being able to get anywhere on her own merit was also called Choerry. She silently watched as HeeJin slowly stood, holding onto the wall for her life, before hurrying out the man who had the privilege of occupying the bed that night since he arrived at the room first (throwing out, her subconscious corrected - when man smirked in refusal, the girl carried him bridal-stile to the door and threw him there, a scene so weird, HeeJin wasn’t sure she hadn’t dreamed it up). She wasn’t clear, why, but then Choerry swept her off her feet, carried her to the bed and gave her the fastest and most brutal massage session she ever experienced. Choerry was good, don’t get her wrong, HeeJin was just unprepared for the assault on her tense muscles.

A unique morning for sure.

Feeling almost human, she visited showers which she was too exhausted for the previous day. She wasn’t the only one there, the other being a woman she was pretty sure she remembered carrying a sniper rifle, and HeeJin hadn’t looked up once when she couldn’t inconspicuously face the other way from her. She removed her lenses and mascara off of her moles before the shower, leaving her pretty recognizable. HeeJin carefully wasted time, silently beginning the woman to be reasonable about time left before landing and leave first. Luckily, she did. 

HeeJin was hastily towel-drying her hair as she was jumping into her spare clothes, when an announcement was made about a slight delay for an hour or so, causing her inwardly howl in joy.

Humming from boosted mood, shifting her previous outfit from washing machine into drying one, hoping that it would be ready by the time they got to the next phase and she wouldn’t have to put it in her backpack while still damp.

At breakfast she sat to the other girls, feeling as best as she could in these circumstances. As they were expected to already reach their destination, the majority of the people already finished their meals and left, leaving the room not as crowded as it must have been. The international channel at the dining hall was of little interest to her, disasters and thievery not something she looked into (and even so, there were better sources for news than, well, news, that one she learned young), allowing her to focus on an unhurried conversation as she ate. 

Chuu and Choerry were already done with their food when they reached the most predictable topic.

“So, why are you taking the Exam?” addressed Choerry them brightly. “I already can guess Chuu’s reasoning, but what about you two?”

She could? Ah, right, they got to talk when she crashed. She slowly stirred sugar in her tea. What was a most positive way to frame her reasoning?..

The table lapsed into silence.

“Okay, got it, too personal,” said Choerry in the same upbeat manner. “So what do you think of our examiners?”

HeeJin quickly shook her head. “No, no! I mean, yes, but, I was just choosing the phrasing, just give me a second...” she clasped her hands in front of her, staring at her fiddling thumbs. Truth or omission, truth or omission?..

HyunJin looked up from her second serving of omelette with personalized toppings. “I want access to information only Hunters get,” she said.

“Just information?” raised her eyebrows Choerry. “Not benefits or opportunities?”

“No. I am looking for an answer… There was an unnatural event near my town and I want to know what happened there,” said HyunJin, gathering the last bits of her breakfast.

“How unnatural?” asked Chuu.

HyunJin chewed, looking at her spoon with half-lidded eyes, before putting cutlery away with a finality. “Supernatural.”

Choerry hummed. “Then it is a great position to look for the explanation.” 

HyunJin nodded sagely, biting off half of the bun.

Well, if they weren't the prying type… “I need a document.”

Three pairs of eyes stared at her unreadably.

“An identification, recognizable as official around the world,” she hurriedly added, her fingers fidgeting under the table. Should have she said it was for legal protection? Or else, lied completely?

Something flashed in Choerry’s eyes and she lifted her chin in understanding. “How many fields have you filled on an application form?”

HeeJin's jaw went slack for a moment before tensing til her teeth hurt. Was she too conspicuous?

Before she could form an answer, Choerry closed her eyes, raising both open palms, nodding regally. “I have no idea of the specifics, but you’re fine. You are well-behaved and clearly indulged, but that’s not too noticeable,” she waved her hand pacifyingly.

HeeJin did not feel like she was fine, she felt like she should shave off her hair after the exam, instead of just shortening it. Should she pretend to be a boy for a while? Her voice was sufficiently deep, that might work if she didn't talk much…

More importantly, had she made a mistake not having a full disguise for the exam?!

“You are really pretty, but not memorable enough, relax,” said Chuu, as if reading her thoughts, probably seeing the building panic on her face. She smiled reassuringly, pushing HeeJin’s cup of tea closer to her before turning to Choerry, switching the topic. “And what is your guess about me?”

“Benefits,” stated Choerry as HeeJin clasped the cup for stability. “You could’ve gotten information from your friends that already passed. And you told me you weren’t after the Hunter lifestyle.” 

Chuu leaned back on one arm, thoughtfully eyeing Choerry. “You aren’t against that? I will be using my Hunter title for whatever I fancy at the moment.”

“No,” Choerry gave her thumbs up. “I do not care what you do with your license. Being Hunter is different from getting a license. You aren’t a Hunter just because you got a piece of plastic, there is more to it. You can do whatever you want with the benefits!”

Chuu slowly nodded, seemingly deep in thought.

“And you?” HeeJin turned to Choerry, shifting conversation to the only unknown.

Choerry smiled so brightly, HeeJin’s worries almost completely evaporated. Almost.

After more than an hour later, in which she even got to make a full set of her stretches, getting a chance to show off her split done with one leg on the backpack for extra angle, they finally saw their destination in the distance. When HeeJin looked in the window, she was clearheaded enough to come to two conclusions.

First, that tower was incredibly tall, the top of it lost in the low clouds.

Second, that came as a startling realization after the first one, amplifying it, - it was wide.

To land on top of, the dirigible steered upward and HeeJin watched in anticipation as the tower grew and grew, approaching. 

She was still a bit dazed by the fact that she was stepping on a real-life Babylonian tower, when she got out of an airship. By Choerry’s estimation (HeeJin's distance guessing was spotty at best), it was almost two kilometers in diameter and, after hearing that, she decided not to think about its height.

It was cold, but not as windy as she feared. The tower was built out of large concrete slabs, both the platform and its completely vertical, cylinder-shaped base. 

When all of them got out and initial rhetorical murmurs died down, Beans cleared his throat.

“We are at the top of Trick Tower. This is where you enter the third phase. As for the test itself, the examiners have informed me that you have seventy-two hours to reach its base alive.”

Seemed… reasonable, unless they expected them to climb on the outer walls. She hoped that was not the case as she watched nearby clouds.

The dirigible rose into the air and the loudspeaker , loud enough to be heard through rotary wings and barely working, at that moment, turbines.

“Begin your descents! Good luck to all of you!” 

Slowly, the crowd started ambling in different ways, the forty-six of them soon to be barely seen on the expanse of this platform. HeeJin did a quick head count, as they walked away. Frowned, stopping. Counted again.

“Something happened?” asked HyunJin, Chuu and Choerry hopping in a different direction, almost racing to the edge.

“There were forty-six examinees passing the second phase, weren’t there?” No, she was right the first time. Weird.

“Yes,” HyunJin cocked her head in confusion, also looking at the wandering applicants.

“There are only forty-four now,” slowly said HeeJin. “I did count us.” HyunJin blinked in puzzlement and her eyes began jumping from person to person, checking for herself. “We lost two people somewhere.”

“Huh. Weird,” seconded her thoughts HyunJin.

Silence wrapped them again. They slowly walked towards the edge of the tower, more to get away from other applicants than to approach it. Time limit was strictly set, examinees having only seventy-two hours, but HeeJin desperately wanted to delay facing the dangers below these slabs, even if just for a few minutes, and HyunJin seemed to be indulging her for a while, until she decided that “enough” was “enough”. 

HyunJin shook off a slightly melancholic mien she had, looking to the edge of the tower and facing her. “Do you think the secret doors are just scattered wherever?”

“Probably,” agreed HeeJin. It was the only logical conclusion of what an entrance looked like - trapdoors, hidden in the smaller rectangular slabs. She turned around and squinted, trying to see what other people were doing, but they were scattered way too far for her to see clearly. “We should search for ours. Unless you want to look off the edge?” she noticed two familiar figures running towards them and waved her arm to show that they were noticed.

“I’ll pass,” said HyunJin. “Don’t trust the possible wind there.”

“Ah,” lowered her arm HeeJin, turning to the girl. “You’re right. I was hesitating since yesterday's ravine - not looking forward to that experience so soon - but you made that fear sound more grounded.”

HyunJin nodded, looking away.

HeeJin tilted her head. For whatever reason, the girl got less spirited as soon as the tower showed over the horizon. HeeJin was in no condition yesterday to keep track of her friends’ moods, but, maybe, the first day of the exam was more taxing for HyunJin than she gave it credit.

Smiling softly, HeeJin gave HyunJin’s hand a quick comforting squeeze, hoping that her eyes conveyed the support and understanding she intended. Her reward was HuynJin’s momentary jolt of surprise and, after a second, a small smile. To her bewilderment, the girl returned the hold for a few moments, before they both parted their hands.

(The fact that amount of comfort she got in last two days was more than what HeeJin received in almost half a year was a depressing thought and it was shoved far away before she could take notice of it)

“Have you looked over the edge?” asked giddily Choerry, barrelling into them. “We are so high!”

“No, we decided that, maybe, another time,” said HeeJin, catching Choerry by elbows, steadying her. “You?” she asked, knowing the obvious answer.

“We did!” replied Chuu, coming to a stop on her own, before Choerry could open . “It is amazing! The walls are so even, you see them gradually melting in one another in the perspective. It is also possible to climb it down, there are enough handholds for a skilled climber,” HyunJin inhaled in exasperation on her right, “but probably shouldn’t be done - some gigantic ugly creatures are flying close-”

“-And we both think that they are a safeguard against that,” finished for her Choerry. “So how is a secret door hunt going?”

“Not great,” said HeeJin, scratching her head. Huh, her hair was still a little bit damp, she should get her beanie off. “We were kinda lost in thought for a while and didn’t look for it.”

“Neither did we,” shrugged Choerry. “Shall we, then?”

They found the first door soon enough, but Chuu, who found it, opted to help others to find theirs instead of going down. Now that they knew what size of slabs they were looking for, the rest of the search was finished in under ten minutes.

“We probably won’t see each other for some time,” stated Choerry looking at her door, as they gathered around it. Each of them picked one and the last one automatically went to her.

“Most likely,” replied HyunJin, smiling. “Good luck, everyone.”

“See you at the bottom,” said HeeJin, feeling nervous at the prospect of having to do this all by herself. Breathe in, breath out. If she couldn’t theoretically do it, she would’ve failed long ago. She can do it.

“I’ll do a countdown!” nodded Chuu, hopping to her door, the furthest one.

HeeJin returned to hers and stood in front of it. For the first time since the beginning, she would be as alone as possible. Gratitude she felt for the support and help she got from the girls was difficult to put into words, but it was time for her to do her best. By herself.

Chuu threw her arm up into the air, three fingers outstretched. With a small wave, she held it up again, two. One. Chuu raised fist and swung it down.

They stepped forward.