109 Temptation and Gains (1/2)

.

After the night passed by, Munie Ika had a much better understanding about how the underground powers around their own prefecture worked. The operation with his boss Winter has been an enlightening one. It wasn't only that, he had a much better understanding about their own mysterious boss and how his mind worked.

He was quite the curious cat so he looked up Kazuno Mei the moment he found out that she was the company's CEO. What he learned choked him because she was not the type of person to switch affiliations just like that. She had a reputation for not giving a damn about men and their status so it just shows to mention how their boss was for having such a woman as his fiancé.

The incident that happened at their company was also an eye opener as the most recent additions of their security company and their respective heads were testament to how powerful their apparent student owner was. Who would have thought that he would meet such a person in a game he just wanted to try out?

He had his own suspicions, such as he was scouted intentionally by Winter Fog but since every pioneer employee was from the same game, this thought got buried. It may just have been fate that brought them together. He had been a person who made money mostly through dubious means so having an official role that actually helped both society and people he got along with wasn't bad in the least.

The Domyouji Group had been known associates to the three heads of their security agency. They were also involved with the purging of the group that was behind the attack on their headquarters. This was why Ika wondered why they were being punished. It was only after he learned that the person the Domyouji group was looking for actually tried to reveal information about their company while asking for their CEO herself once their company had fallen.

This was punishment. Even an ally had to pay a hefty price for trying to mess with the sanctuary they built for themselves. Ika didn't object to Kazuya's way of doing things. In fact, he was strangely in favor of it. His original occupation required utmost secrecy so any leaks would lead to his immediate demise.

He felt a little closer to Winter Fog than ever before because he initially thought that he was a young student who was still inexperienced in the real world no matter how much of a freak he was. It was then that a scary thought entered his mind. It was precisely because it had entered his mind did he feel that the possibility was more than likely.

”[Boss, I have a question I want to ask.]”

”[What is it?]”

”[Did you… have anything to do with the guy from this yakuza clan's disappearance?]” He intended the question to be vague because if it were him, such a sensitive question wouldn't be answered in messages. He gave his boss the ability to deny answering the question if it was discovered even though it was highly unlikely.

”[What do you think? You guys always call Autumn Mist the queen of the guild so how do I react if there are other guilds trying to mess with her?]”

Ika felt a cold chill after reading what his boss had to say. It was true that they basically treated their only non-employed guild member, Autumn Mist, like the queen because there had been many exceptions made for her since she was one of the first friends both Void Android and Winter Fog made in the game.

Various guilds tried to mess with them by targeting the innocent Autumn Mist only to be later destroyed by Winter Fog's assault. His Squid God was part of these operations so how could he not be familiar with his boss' ruthless methods? It only involved player killings but if they had been successful in hurting Autumn Mist, even the market would be affected just to make their targets miserable.

Their thought process may have been similar but the biggest difference between them was that Winter Fog would dare make his move in the real world if need be. Tonight even proved that it was not the only exception. Winter Fog was on the scene himself and was risking a lot for this operation. Following this thought, Ika had a lot more respect and fear towards this mysterious boss of his and anticipated the day they would finally meet face to face.

”[You've already passed the information I sent you right?]”

”[I did boss. I've confirmed the payment after all. Do you want me to set up a secret offshore account for you as well?]”

”[You don't need to be clever with me, we will meet soon enough. Just move my share carefully back to the country and give it to your CEO. It will be used to get you guys better facilities and equipment]”

What Ika didn't know was that, at this moment, Kazuya was looking through the money that Ringo brought with her. It was as he expected though. It was not a whole hundred million. Several smaller bills have been put into the stacks. Ringo wanted to take advantage of the apparent rush of Kuuga and tried to pay less.

Ringo already left with a bright a smile on her face a while ago. She already had the information along with the evidence to prove it so she didn't feel the least bit guilty by not fully fulfilling her end of the bargain. Money wasn't the issue for tonight's activities anyway so he would take what he could.

”[Well it's your fault for being purposely mysterious you know. A hundred million would go long way in our small company. How about hiring some new and promising girls?]”

”[There are already a fair amount of women employed in the company compared to when we first started right? You can't fool me because I've seen a fair share of them]”

”[YOU WERE HERE!?]”

Kazuya didn't bother to reply and stored the money along with the bag that came along with it, inside his ring before stealthily leaving the warehouse. Ringo had a couple of her own people stay behind to most likely stop Kuuga from getting the money but how could they stop Kazuya? He made sure to knock them out quietly before departing from the port.

Tonight had been quite fruitful. Not only had Kazuya completed the task he set out to do, he gained about 160 million that would soon be used for company's good. His collaboration with Ika was all that they needed to complete. The second act will depend on them and though Kazuya and Ika would keep an eye on what will happen, they couldn't care less about what was going to happen.

He arrived at the Kouzuki house feeling relieved that he was able to make it before Kyouko did. He didn't want to be questioned about his current role because he still felt like he had been tricked into agreeing, based on what he heard about the agreement between Kanade and Mei.