Fate Online: Shadow

"Why is it so dark? Where are you?"

Michael is currently on a video call with Amanda, and he couldn't help but curiously ask where she is because of how dark her surroundings are and he can't get a clear look of where she is because of it..

"Oh, I'm currently on the road outside the mansion" replied Amanda with a V sign with her fingers.

Michael quickly sat up from the bed and replied, "What do you mean? No, why are you even there?"

Letting out a surprised voice, Amanda replied, "What do you mean why am I here? It's Cathy's birthday today! This is the reason why I called you tonight to ask why you're not here yet!?"

Hearing what Amanda said, Michael was quickly irked when he finally realized what was going on.

"What!? Damn that Randy! He didn't even tell me about it! What a wretched asshat!"

Amanda raised an eyebrow and said, "Really? But he told me he sent you a message a couple of days ago"

Confused, Michael replied saying, "He said that? But I didn't receive any messages from him. That as*hole must be doing this on purpose, that narrow minded jerk"

Knowing that Randy might not have not really sent him a notice at all, Amanda could only laugh and said, "Geez, you two are so petty, aren't you?"

Shocked and a little offended by what his girlfriend said, Michael placed his hand over his chest and said with a shocked face, "Me!?"

"Yeah! You're kind of petty sometimes too. Both you and Randy always try to one up each other with every chance you get" replied Amanda with a laugh.

In the end, Michael could only laugh when he heard what she said as he realized what Amanda said was kind of right.

"Hahaha!"

'Now that I truly think about it, Randy and I also had the same kind of relationship with each other back then, and that there's not a time we would not always bump heads every time we see each other'

"Anyway, enough about him. When are you coming back? You only have two days left remaining with your leave of absence. Really, I still can't believe you took a leave of absence when you only attended your classes for a couple of days" said Amanda with a serious look on her face.

Michael replied, "I'll be back by Tuesday, so don't worry about it babe"

"Amanda! What are you doing there!? Are you coming in!?"

Then Michael heard someone calling out to Amanda from her side, so Amanda looked behind her and replied, "Give me a minute!"

And then Amanda turned her attention back to Michael and said, "Anyway, that was Miya. Come back soon, okay? Don't forget to get Cathy a gift on your way back, got it? That kid is really cute, I wish I had a sister like her"

With a chuckle, Michael said with a teasing voice, "How about having a baby instead?"

Flustered with Michael's sudden suggestion, Amanda stuttered saying, "B-baby!? A-are you mad!? An...anyway, I gotta go! Come back soon and take care over there, I love you!"

"I love you too babe" replied Michael with a laugh, and the flustered Amanda ended the call in haste.

Michael looked at his phone, and snorted softly followed by a small murmur, "A baby huh"

Thinking about it made him smile as Michael realized that he and Amanda from back then never really thought of having a child because of how they lived their lives., which was kinda sad when he thought about it.

"Maybe in a couple of years or so, but we'll leave it to fate" said Michael with a murmur as he slowly laid down on the bed as he stared at the ceiling.

A few seconds later, he quickly sat up from his bed, and leaned down and pulled out a black briefcase from under the bed, before making his way out of the room.

"Time to sort things out, I don't have much time remaining. Haa~ those bastards from HQ" said Michael as he closed the door behind him.

Meanwhile,

"Let's give a round of applause to Nitro! That was an awesome performance from them, just what you'd expect from these two rising stars!" said the MC of the show with a bright smile as he talked to his co-host.

His co-host, who was a beautiful young woman, was also smiling from ear to ear and replied, "Exactly, it's only been a couple of months since they had debuted, but they have already proven that their talent and skills are comparable to those veteran idol groups out there!"

After a short talk with the MCs, Jong Woo and Mike made their way backstage when he suddenly received a text message from an unknown number.

[Prepare yourself, it will be a breaking news today]

Jong Woo quickly looked around to see if anyone happened to see the text message on his phone. After all, even though the message was pretty vague, anyone would quickly figure out what the words meant.

Then he saw his gangster of a manager who had just come up behind him and looking at him with a dubious expression on his face, "What are you looking at?"

Quietly pocketing his phone back, Jong Woo replied, "Nothing" before making his way inside their dressing room.

The manager looked at him suspiciously as he had long noticed that Jong Woo had been acting strange starting a couple of days ago.

"This brat is certainly hiding something from us. I wonder what that message meant. Hmmp, I'll make sure to wrench it out of your mouth sooner or later" whispered the manager arrogantly to himself before following Jong Woo inside the room.

Mike and Jong Yoo were busy changing into comfortable clothes while their manager on the other hand was busy typing on his phone and would occasionally glance at either Mike or Jong Woo.

[It seems that Jong Woo is really hiding something from us, boss. I managed to catch a glimpse on his phone earlier, i don't know what it means, but it said "Prepare yourself, it will be a breaking news.."]

Then a reply soon came after, containing the following words, [Stop by at the company first before heading to your next schedule]

[Alright, boss] the manager replied and pocketed his phone after sending his reply as he looked at Jong Woo with a cold glint in his eyes.

Meanwhile,

Michael had made his way to a different building, just beside the building from where he had first observed Lee Chang Yoo.

While humming, Michael couldn't help but say, "This must be easiest job ever, but that Chang Yoo sure is careless and dumb. One of his men died, and he wasn't even doing anything about it?"

"Now then, shall we?" said Michael as he looked at Chang Yoo through the crosshair of his rifle.

On the other hand, Lee Chang Yoo is talking to a man in black suit casually taking a seat on the sofa before his desk.

"Do you have any lead on who killed him yet?" asked Chang Yoo with a menacing tone.

The person with dark skin smiled while a chewing gum and replied, "Not yet, it seems whoever killed him is very careful as he never even left any trace. It would take us a couple of days before we could get a lead on whoever it was"

"Just mak-"

The man's eyes suddenly became sharp when he noticed a glint from across the building and yelled in urgency, "Get down!!!"

"Wha-"

Psshht!

A projectile shot through the glass wall, and then penetrated through Chang Yoo's head, and towards the concrete wall.

Chang Yoo's eyes were wide open in disbelief before his body slumped down on the chair, and the dark skinned man could only stare blankly at the scene before him, as he wasn't expecting something to happen like this!

"F*ck!!!" he cursed before running out of the room while radioing his men about the incident.

*****

"All done" said Michael as he moved his head away from the rifle and started disassembling it in a matter of seconds.

"Tut, tut, tut. It seems that the person who was with him is in the same industry as me" Michael laughed when he witnessed that the dark skinned man from earlier had managed to notice him before he pulled the trigger, and then he saw the growing commotion down below the building with people panicking and the sound of emergency siren growing in the distance and quickly made his exit.