It was a dim room lit only by a fake lava waterfall that dominated one side of the wall. The interior was furnished with high-class furniture and decorated with animal parts that came from endangered species protected on Prohibited planets. The potteries also featured rare floras that most people had never seen.

All of those combined created a sense of something feral and exotic. It also spoke about the wealth of the occupant. After all, each one of those rare décors cost a mind-boggling fortune. Why? Due to the significant risk involved when hunting and collecting them, of course.

It was a room owned by a section officer of Runanthor's top criminal organization, Aratus. He was one of the Patriarch's younger sons, so he had significant authority within the organization. The man sat relaxed against his coach, watching the hologram in front of him with great concentration.

The setting of this room matched those owned by the villains of crime thrillers. Or the nemesis of those popular spy stories. Or... put simply, it looked shady as heck.

So what did this particular occupant see in his hologram projector, then? Disturbing images? Torture chamber? A drug deal in the making? No...

"LOVE! SWEETS! In my heart all these years♪♪ I'll always be loving you♪♪"

"Ooooh!! No matter how many times I hear it, Princess Yulia's voice is... LOVING IT! Again, again. Rewind to the beginning."

As Aratus commanded, the MV of the virtual idol Yulia was restarted. It was her newest song, released just under... one hour ago. He had gone to painstaking lengths to make sure he could watch it as soon as it went online.

The virtual idol Yu Lia of Xanadu. Popularly known as Yulia, she was currently the most trending v-idol riding the quantum waves. Aratus of course liked the others in her group, Stellaris, but just like the many—many others of his kind, Yulia was his favorite.

True to his fanaticism, he had already watched the preceding promotional vid dozens of times in the last few weeks. Now was the moment to reap the harvest. Or so he declared.

A soft buzz interrupted his viewing, "Sir, a message from Silver Krust's manager," came a voice from the intercom installed in the room.

"Keh!? Tch. Pause." Irritated by the interruption, Aratus nevertheless responded. "I told you I will be busy this afternoon, didn't I? Why would you do this to me?"

"Are you watching Yulia, sir?" the subordinate deduced. "I am planning to use my next break for a quick view as well. I cannot wait."

"Haha! I know you got good taste."

"A certain someone rubbed off on me, that's all. Anyway, sir, it's Silver Krust." Noticing that he succeeded in restoring Aratus' mood, the subordinate returned to the topic.

"The casino?" he remembered the place. It was one of the higher-class (at least recently) gambling dens that were placed in his jurisdiction. "What does he want from me?" He couldn't be bothered to see and reply to all messages sent to him, so he ordered his underlings to filter them.

"Around 5 months ago some of our soldiers went to them as hired muscles. It seemed that they let a runaway debtor give them the slip, so he is now lodging a complaint."

"Hoh," Aratus felt intrigued. "They must not be a regular idiot then. Our men are not amateurs."

"Indeed. The report they gave mentioned that they successfully followed him by infiltrating the surveillance cameras. That runaway escaped into Sector 3 Lower Level Utility Tunnel System."

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Aratus tried to remember. That part of the city was built to make it easier for workers to move around during the early days of the city's growth. Although in recent years, due to low traffic and a sense of seclusion, the tunnel was frequented by squatters or people who wanted to stay away from the public eye.

He knew that people had used the workers' habitats that were built at numerous points along the tunnel as a sort of refuge.

"A job well done, then. How did they fail?"

There was a short silence before the man replied, "They cornered him in a dead-end. Since he was so belligerent, they planned to subdue him by force." The voice paused, making Aratus impatient.

"In the ensuing melee, all four of them were defeated and knocked unconscious. They were all armed, I had to note."

"Heh," Aratus grinned. By all rights, he should be furious at this failure. Yet he understood that the men did all the correct things. It was just their prey that was too much for them.

His long history in this line of business taught him that there were sometimes people that never should be crossed with.

"What should we do about Sliver Krust's complaint, sir?"

"How much did they lose?"

"Since it was just a breach of contract, they didn't actually lose much," the underling stated. "But it's the fact that they lost around a few million credits in apparent profits."

"Tch, only that much and they immediately want to nag, huh? Damn that money badger, he just can't get enough of anything."

"I assume it's more about the matter of reputation. After all, he just let a prey throw mud onto their faces."

"Hah, as if anyone cares. He just got smooth business in recent years and got a big head of it," Aratus spat the words. "Not like I care that much, but I heard there's some shady fixing going on in that place?"

"It's not obvious, but there was a tendency for regulars who are... close, to the manager to have an easier time earning winning streaks and the likes. At least, that's what the regular report from our patrols said about the place."

"Well, what do we know, eh?" shrugged Aratus, seemingly losing interest. Financial matters and scandals related to a formerly small-time casino bore him.

"Forget about the geezer, what about that runaway debtor? Handling four of our agents single-handedly is quite interesting—nah, intriguing," he leaned forward on his seat.

"Unfortunately, they only have limited recordings of the man. For surveillance footage, the only clear image is from when he entered the casino."

"Hmm... What about the confrontation?"

"Not recorded, as it had happened in a previously private worker's quarter. The surveillance only caught him running around the tunnel. Although..."

"What?"

"We're not sure how, but he managed to avoid being seen by any cameras after he defeated our men. The fight with him was the last time we saw him."

"Heh, this has become even more interesting the more I heard. What do you think he did back there?"

"As I said, we don't know," the underling said, sounding ruffled. His tone became more relaxed as they went on, but Aratus didn't mind. He depended a lot on this one subordinate of his, so they were most often together. They became very frank when it was only the two of them.

"The only clue is that our men said they saw another person in the room when they rushed in. But, only that," he explained. "They were too busy being manhandled by their target."

"I see. Another person, eh? A helping hand? A friend? A stranger who just happened by? The possibilities are numerous."

"I highly doubt it was a stranger. Remember, it was a semi-abandoned tunnel. The only people who bother going there right now are probably just squatters," the man retorted. "And squatters having the capability to help a wanted man would be too absurd of speculation. They better be helping themselves instead."

"You got a point there," Aratus chuckled.

They couldn't rule out the possibility that this other person's presence was nothing more than a coincidence, but it was more likely that the two of them knew each other.

It was reasonable to assume that they were working together.

"Well, at least show me what this amusing target looked like. You said something about the surveillance in the casino?" Aratus asked.

"Yes, I'll send it to you if you want."

An image file was sent to Aratus' personal computer, which was integrated into his room. He gestured with his hand and a projection showed up on one of his walls.

It was a projection of Milanor. Of when he wandered into the Silver Krust looking to score some big bucks.

"Haha, so this is our guy, huh? He's quite young... Hmm?"

Aratus noticed something about Milanor's figure, something like familiarity.

"Haven't I seen someone like this before?" he said while looking intently at the projection, particularly toward Milanor's hair.