9:56 AM. Before Atreus can reach a full, satisfactory eight hours of slumber, a familiar chime goes off close to his head: his smartphone, alerting him an incoming text message. It blares loudly enough to stir him awake to a point of lethargic lucidity, where he conjures the minimal amount of energy needed to turn in his bed and grab the device.

[It's Lee. Call me as soon as possible. It's urgent,] the message conveys a succinct plea for immediate response.

Atreus snaps awake at the text, sitting upward with an expression of bewilderment and partial fright; a rush of blood is felt through his whole body. If he wasn't totally awake ten seconds ago, he certainly is now. Before he can even turn himself to let his legs hang off the side of his bed, he initiates a call to Lee's number. It rings only once before a familiar voice answers.

“Atreus?” Lee asks with noticeably urgency.

“Yeah, it's me. Is something wrong?” the yakuza asks, wide-eyed.

“It's about Marvin Choi. I... Mr. Han spent all night last night trying to contact him, and he wouldn't answer, so he visited Marvin's apartment, and... he found him.”

Atreus's stomach drops. He can tell by Lee's tone what the meaning of the phrase 'we found him' is in this specific situation. He wouldn't have said this was urgent if this were good news.

“He's dead, isn't he?” Atreus puts two and two together on his own.

“Yes, he is,” the Blue Star officer's dejected voice confirms. “I'm still in his apartment with Han, scoping things out. We want to try and get a better understanding of what happened. If you want to take at look at the scene yourself, you can, but you have to come over right now, because we plan on calling the police soon. If we stay too long, it'll become harder to argue that we didn't do it ourselves.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can come over right now,” the augmented man accepts the invitation with a prompt hop off of his bed. “Text me the address, and I'll be there in about twenty minutes or so.”

“Alright. I'll send it to you now. We'll still be here when you arrive.”

“Okay. I'll see you in a bit.”

Atreus ends the call as he begins to quickly seize a new change of clothes with haste. As he buttons up his dress shirt, another chime of an incoming text is heard.

[Lunar Heights. 750 Daemun Street, apartment 512,] the text reads.

After confirming the address, Atreus continues dressing. He places Takiyama's phone in the pant pocket that's not occupied by his own, and completes his outfit in record time before making his way out of his apartment without so much as looking at his own kitchen, let alone taking a single bite of anything that could come close to resembling a breakfast. He summons an Automa before he touches the dirt from the staircase leading down to ground level, and a vacant vehicle arrives with expected immediacy.

The journey across Kyoba, out into Greater Los Angeles, and back into Jeonju isn't a short one, thanks to dense, hectic, and occasionally girdlocked Monday morning traffic. It leaves Atreus alone with his anxious expectations for a longer period of time, each pessimistic idea being punctuated by a tiny yawn born from his prompt exit from bed after a sub-optimal night of sleep. His left knee bounces nervously, and the second knuckle of his right index finger listlessly caresses his chin. A hurricane of bad thoughts and unanswered questions plague him for the duration of the ride.

10:25 AM. Atreus finally arrives at the six-floor apartment complex that rests on Daemun Street: Lunar Heights, a blue and grey building in an active, cramped, business-oriented part of the district, and crammed between two office complexes. The yakuza enters the lobby, where nothing seems out of the ordinary. The slate-colored vinyl floor is polished and reflective of the bright white bulbs shining overhead. He catches two tenants exiting the elevator in time, and decides to ride it up to the fifth floor. During the ride up, his anxious tics expand to his left index and middle fingers tapping the side of his left thigh alternately.

The loud ding of the elevator's arrival sounds off and the translucent glass doors slide apart, revealing more slate-colored floors and light grey walls. He proceeds down the hallway, which still seems peaceful, more or less, with no signs of violence happening recently, nor any ruckus afoot due to the discovery of a body. Atreus soon reaches a door with the number '512' in gold-plated metal at eye level, and knocks thrice. The door immediately opens, but only just enough for a person's head to fit through the gap, revealing Lee's face.

“Atreus? Here, come in. Quickly,” the Blue Star officer opens the door wider and beckons his visitor to enter the apartment.

Atreus obliges, and Lee shuts the door behind him. The curious and anxious yakuza is greeted with a gruesome sight: a completely ransacked studio apartment, with furniture and various household items strewn about chaotically, and Marvin's dead body in the center living room, between the sofa and coffee table. The once-living Blue Star member lies face up, his clothes – specifically his white dress shirt – is stained with long-dried blood, and a hole is bored into his forehead. His skin is a grotesque greyish green, and he has a foul odor to accompany his hideous, slightly decomposed form.

“Fuck,” Atreus curses under his breath; it's simply the first word that came to mind. “What the hell happened in here?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Lee responds with a baffled shrug. “I can only assume some sort of struggle happened in here, and it... didn't end well for Marvin.”

“Looks like he's been dead for a while,” the yakuza comments, taking a step closer to the body while holding his right hand over the bottom half of his face as he kneels down. The plating on the back of his hand slides open to reveal a built-in breathing apparatus that functions similarly to a gas mask when one simply holds their palm over their mouth and nose.

“Yes, his limbs aren't terribly stiff, but he's obviously started to decay. I'm not a forensics specialist or anything, but I'd say he's been dead a few days already. If we left him here for a few more, I'm sure the smell would've gotten bad enough for the neighbors to notice.”

Upon closer inspection of Marvin's body, Atreus sees two distinguishable holes in the corpse's chest in addition to the one in his head. The yakuza gently turns Marvin's head to the side to search for an exit wound, but finds none.

“What do you think?” Lee asks. “Anything strange?”

“Well, right off the bat, I can tell you that two shots to the chest and one to the head is the same way Will Camlin was murdered,” Atreus explains with a slight muffle due to his mouth being covered by his right hand. “According to his autopsy report, his body didn't have any exit wounds either, just like Marvin here.”

“That's because VF+ rounds were used on him, too,” a vaguely familiar voice is heard from the hallway. The augmented man turns to see Han, coming from the nearby bedroom. “Since they fragment so quickly, they almost never leave exit wounds. The shards just stay in the body, causing more damage as the person tries to move. And they're really difficult to remove surgically if the victim survives.”

“Did you find anything?” Lee asks him.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Han shakes his head. “No. Searched every box, drawer, cabinet, nook, cranny, and crack, and there's nothing out of the ordinary. We haven't found anything like a phone, tablet, or computer, either. Though if I remember correctly, he owned a laptop, which is just easier to steal and trash.” A tinge of disdain becomes apparent in his voice until he turns to look at the motionless, greenish cadaver of his subordinate, and his eyes become regretful.

“So, since Marvin was killed in a similar fashion to Camlin, and with the same type of cartridges, I'd guess it's safe to say the culprit is the same guy?” Atreus asks aloud for any objections.

“It seems that way,” Lee voices his agreement. “Considering Marvin's been dead for a while, I'd say he probably came here to do it the night after he killed Camlin – to tie up loose ends, I'd imagine.”

“Since Marvin brought the guy to my shop, he was probably the only one who knew anything personal about the killer,” Han comments, his expression growing slightly more sullen. “Without him, I have no idea how else we can track the bastard down. Marvin was a young guy, too – just had his 22nd birthday a couple months ago.” He shakes his head. “What a fucking shame.”

“Does this place have any security cameras we could check?” Atreus asks.

“There's only one in the lobby, which we already asked about,” Lee answers, waving his hand in a preemptively dismissive manner. “They delete footage every forty-eight hours to save storage space. The apartments in this place are cheap for a reason: security is damn near nonexistent.”

“Marvin actually has his own camera, up there,” Han points to a tiny upside down dome on the ceiling, in the corner of the living room, next to the front door. It's the same color as the walls and thus blends in really well.

“I imagine you haven't gotten anything from it?” the yakuza inquires further.

“Well, we theoretically could, but we'd need access to his computer or phone, which, as I mentioned, are nowhere to be found.”

“He doesn't have some sort of cloud service for it that we might be able to access?”

“He does, but the security compant is Specter, and those guys don't cooperate with anyone who isn't the customer themselves or a cop.”

“It's one of the reasons why we're just going to call the police here soon,” Lee interjects. “That, and if we allow one of his neighbors to discover his body and them instead, they might assume we did this to him. Or worse – the Sanada-gumi, which would turn into rumor after rumor and stoke the fires of a gang war.”

“You sure they'd assume that?” Atreus asks.

“Either way, they'll eventually find out what type of bullet did him in, and it won't take very long after that to find out we sell the stuff. If we call them first, we can at least get the benefit of the doubt, and maybe open the door for some cooperation. I know a guy who has some sway in the precinct here; I might even be able to obtain drone footage if they have any.”

“You're pretty well connected, Mr. Lee.”

“Not connected enough, if I couldn't prevent... this,” The Blue Star officer gestures to Marvin's corpse. “And without Marvin, I don't even know where to begin searching for the culprit on my own, which is why working with the police will be necessary to start with.” He heaves a sigh and shakes his head. “This is just... a mess, to say the least. How the hell is one man shaking up the Sanada-gumi and Blue Star so god damn well? And for what?”

“Who knows? It'll be much harder to find out why without Marvin,” Atreus responds as he stands and steps away from the body. “But I might still have one more lead.”

“Really? Who?” Lee asks with his brow raised in surprise.

“I was able to get in contact with someone last night who claims to be a witness of Camlin's murder. I wasn't necessarily expecting it, either. It sort of just... happened,” Atreus explains with minimal detail, unconsciously caressing the pant pocket Takiyama's phone is in.

“Seriously? Can you trust this person?”

Atreus shrugs. “I'm not sure. I'm going to continue talking to him to find out.”

“I trust your judgment, but do be careful. If this killer is as slick as he seems to be, he might've noticed you closing the gap on him.”

“You're not the only one who expects this to be a trap,” the yakuza admits, thinking of Devin's reluctance from the night before. “But it's not like I can just ignore it; I'm not really in a position to pass up leads, even if they might look sketchy.”

“Yeah, I don't blame you. Is there anything else you want to look at before we call the police over?” Lee looks around the room, wondering if his guest has anything else to examine.

“No, I don't think so. Although I noticed the door wasn't busted, since you were able to open and close it just fine. That'd mean no forced entry, right?”

“Right. I'd assume Marvin thought the killer was here for a friendly visit, and then the struggle happened.”

“Do you think it's possible Marvin could've injured the guy in the fight?”

“Marvin wasn't really much of a fighting type,” Han interjects with his own answer. “He brought in customers, but he never owned a weapon himself. Sad as it may sound, I don't think he put up much of a fight.” He glances over at the body again with dejected eyes.

“I know you mentioned the guy was really 'normal-looking', but I don't suppose you could give anything else to go on?”

“Well...” Han tilts his head back, trying to find the words to describe the culprits plainness in a helpful manner. “He had short black hair, a square jaw, prominent cheek bones, somewhat thin lips, and brown eyes. He was about five-eight, maybe five-ten; seemed slim under his clothes. I don't think I can get more descriptive than that; he didn't have any visible scars, tattoos, moles, or anything.”

“Fair enough,” the yakuza gives a halfhearted shrug, not fully content with a description that would fit any athletic-looking Asian man, but if that's the best description Han can give, then there's not much he can do. “Well, I'll get out of your hair now. Give me a call if you find out anything new, even just the smallest bit of information.”

“I'll do that,” Lee responds with a confident nod. “And I'm sorry this happened. I know you depended a lot on talking to Marvin, but... it turns out he was already dead while we were having that meeting, and we had no goddamn clue.” In the rare show of frustration, the Blue Star officer clenches his fist and grits his teeth for a short instant.

“If anything good comes from my self-proclaimed 'witness', I'm sure word will get around to you, if not by me directly,” Atreus says before turning around and approaching the front door. As he grabs the knob, he hears Lee's voice again.

“I hope you catch this guy,” the well-dressed, but agitated man comments; Atreus turns to see a glint of anger in his narrowed eyes, “before he makes a fool out of both our gangs.”

Atreus quietly acknowledges the plea, and, for an instant, feels a sudden and powerful force of malice coming from Lee's brief glare. The Blue Star officer might now show it on the outside very much, but he feels extremely slighted by this mystery killer who's been making the two biggest gangs in Los Angeles look like imbeciles. There's a desperate, furious man hidden underneath the normally calm, collected, professional exterior of Hak-sun Lee, and Atreus can't help but feel that it's for the best that this version of the man doesn't come out.

Atreus exits the apartment, making sure that the hallway leading to the elevator is clear of passers-by before swinging the door open enough to allow his body to slip through. He takes the lift down and casually crosses the lobby, then exits the complex and comes out to the sidewalk along the busy Jeonju streets. The asphalt sees as a much traffic as Kyoba does, evoking a sense of familiarity in the gangster. He takes his phone out of his pant pocket, and begins to walk down the block as he calls for a ride, which soon meets him at the nearby street corner. From there, he takes the taxi on a long trek back to Kyoba, where he makes a straight journey to the Asano family office.

During the ride, the revelation slowly begins to dawn on him after the initial shock finally wears off: with Marvin dead, the success of his investigation hinges solely on the unknown, self-proclaimed witness that he spoke to over the phone last night. Outside of this mystery person, there's no other link that he's aware of that could connect him directly to the killer. It's unlikely any other witness or video evidence would simply fall out of the sky, so Atreus has to go above and beyond to ensure that this person is legitimate. If they are, then he has to make sure they stay alive long enough to help bring the investigation to a close, which is another obstacle entirely.

The reluctant detective takes a long, deep breath. When he was first given this job, he felt completely out of his element, having no optimism about success coming anywhere within arm's reach. However, now that he's begun to close in on a resolution, he suddenly feels the weight of everything at stake: not just Sanada-gumi's money, but also their relationship with the Blue Star, the potential effects Atmos could suffer from if their data is stolen, and what that stolen data could possibly lead to from whatever person or group wants it to begin with.