Black Online

Ring~! Ring~!

Fang Raon sat on the couch, listening to the sound of his phone ringing, waiting for the other party to answer.

At that moment.

Ding~!

"Master Raon!"

Sebastian answered energetically.

"Sebastian, I need you to do something for me. I need to get in contact with Kuroganehara Izan of Black Online Company.

"Can you handle that for me?"

Fang Raon asked.

"...That is not an easy task to do even as head of the Fang Family. Izan is a private figure."

Sebastian said with a troubled-sounding tone.

"I am sure he will be interested in talking with me."

Fang Raon said and looked towards the bedroom and at the Virtual Reality Pod.

He was certain that Izan would want to talk with him because of the experiment and the Virtual Reality Pod.

"I’ll see what I can do."

Sebastian said.

"Good."

Fang Raon said and was about to end the call, but then Sebastian coughed, and it seemed like he had something else to say.

"We got a call yesterday. Zodiac City’s Police Department wanted to talk with you. We ignored it, as they don’t have jurisdiction to do anything to us, but I thought you should know."

Sebastian said.

"...Is there something wrong?"

Fang Raon asked.

"No, but apparently Reality First is claiming that they got help from the Fang Family with the hacked game cards. Such an accusation, if made public, could ruin this family."

Sebastian said.

’I think Sebastian suspects that Aizen had something to do with them. He is a smart man, so he must’ve put two and two together.’

Fang Raon thought.

"I don’t mind talking with them. Give them my phone number."

He said.

"...Are you sure? Maybe you should have your lawyer with you. Fang Family has a group of lawyers if you need one."

Sebastian said with a serious-sounding tone.

"Haha, there is no need. We did nothing wrong."

Fang Raon laughed.

"...Alright then. I’ll give them your phone number. They will most likely call in a bit."

Sebastian said.

With that, the call ended, and Fang Raon, instead of heading to Black Online, kept sitting on the couch.

Twenty minutes later, his phone buzzed on the table, and he picked it up and saw that he was getting a call from Zodiac.

He answered it and put the phone to his ear.

"Yes, this is Fang Raon."

...

Zodiac City, the Police Department.

A group of police officers were sitting around a table with the phone open in the middle—on a speaker.

"Yes, this is Fang Raon."

A voice came from the phone, and everyone looked at each other, as the voice sounded really young.

They knew that Fang Family’s new head was quite young, which made their job easier, as the young were usually quite foolish.

"Hello, this is Lundgren, the head detective of the Zodiac City Police Department. We have few questions, if you don’t mind."

Lundgren, the gray-haired man, said.

"Go ahead."

Fang Raon said at the other side of the line.

’He sounds really calm, as if he doesn’t have anything to worry about. The young people are usually quite nervous to talk with the police.’

Another detective concluded with a frown.

It immediately made him feel like this Fang Raon fella didn’t do anything wrong, and he knew it.

However, they interrogated James and others further, and they told them that they worked alongside Aizen and Raon of the Fang Family.

"Do you know of James Damian Lazavik?"

Lundgren asked.

"Uhh... Could he be the Hacker James? I heard that he was hiding in Zodiac City. I don’t know of his last name or middle name."

Fang Raon said.

"Yes, that’s him. He is currently in Zodiac City’s Jail, but while we interrogated him, he told us that he had some dealings with the Fang Family.

"Have you heard about that?"

Lundgren asked.

In that same moment, he activated his Read to see whether there was any falsehood in Fang Raon’s tone.

It was easier to use Read on a person’s facial expressions, but the more skilled Read users could use it on the tone of their voice as well.

"I heard that he threw such an accusation from Sebastian."

Fang Raon said.

"Any comment on that?"

Lundgren asked.

"Honestly, it is a ridiculous accusation. We didn’t have any part in Reality First’s operations, whatsoever."

Fang Raon said calmly.

"Why would all of them say otherwise? What would they gain from trying to throw your family under the bus? I don’t quite understand."

Lundgren said with a frown.

In that moment, one of the detectives slipped a paper, which read, "Ask him about the email that he sent to Reality First."

Lundgren glanced at the paper.

They subpoenaed Reality First’s emails and found a rather interesting email from Fang Raon to them.

It made them even more suspicious of Fang Raon, but they couldn’t understand the email, as it was using some kind of code words.

"...I might have an idea, but if that’s the case, that would just make Reality First really petty."

Fang Raon said.

"Oh? Tell me more."

Lundgren said.

"At the war against the hackers, I and my siblings took part in the war. I took a big part in bringing down James and the hackers.

"I came up with the strategy to attack the hackers, and while we were attacking James, I did taunt him quite a bit.

"And once the war was over, I sent them an email, ridiculing them even further, as I thought that was the end of it.

"It was little childish for me, but I had grown really bitter towards the hackers, as I love Black Online dearly, and they made playing that game almost impossible.

"I dreamed nothing but for them to disappear, and once they were finally gone, I had to let out some steam.

"That might’ve really rubbed them off, and that’s why, in revenge, they’re trying to destroy my family’s reputation."

Fang Raon said.

The detectives around the table looked at each other around the table and looked at the slip of paper, which was useless now.

’That’s why he sent the email, but why use the code words?’

A detective wondered.

"I was curious about the email. You used strange code words. We’ve been trying to crack the code but have failed so far."

Lundgren said.

"Oh, that’s because it is nonsense. I just wanted to mess with Reality First. I didn’t expect them to get this angry over it that they’re trying to frame my family.

"You can go through Leon’s VOD and see that I took part in that final fight, even injuring James. My whole family was doing their absolute best to defeat them.

"There’s no way we were working together, and besides, how would we get our hands on the hacked game cards? We are not a big power in the gaming world."

Fang Raon said.

It also bothered him about how Aizen got his hands on the original hacked game cards, but he had a lot of secrets of his own.

"We tried looking at that Leon’s VOD, but he removed it. Do you know why?"

Lundgren asked.

"Ah... Must be because that was the worst day in his life. He got quite humiliated by James and probably didn’t want anyone else to see that.

"Even though millions of people saw it live.

"I am sure you can contact DeadPixel directly to get that VOD to help with your investigations."

Fang Raon said.

"We will do that."

Lundgren said and then looked around the table, and the detectives were thinking about what they should ask next.

Some of them had already dropped their suspicions of Fang Raon, but Lundgren was a very thorough man.

’I haven’t been able to sense any falsehoods from his words.’

Lundgren thought, but there was one more question he liked to ask, and at that moment, he opened his mouth.

"Where were you at the time of James’ capture?"

He suddenly asked.

"...Why are you asking me that?"

Fang Raon asked.

"James told us that you came to Zodiac City to meet him directly. Is that true?"

Lundgren asked.

’I didn’t expect him to rat me out completely like that. I used a fake identity to purchase a ticket to Zodiac City, but I am worried about CCTV.

’If what Shiryuu said was true, then Black Online Company was able to find me at Zodiac City at the time of James’ capture with the help of CCTV.

’That only means that so can these detectives if they start searching through CCTV’s, but by the sound of it, they haven’t yet.’

He used Read and could tell that Lundgren was genuinely curious, so if he had already found out that he was at Zodiac City, his tone would’ve been more accusative.

Fang Raon’s mind was running like a racing horse.

’I can’t pause too long before my answer or they’ll grow suspicious. I need to think of something quick!’

A second passed since Lundgren’s question, and at that moment, Fang Raon opened his mouth.

"I was at Black Online."

"Hmm..."

Lundgren wrote it down on a slip of paper and then nodded.

"Alright, that’s all we got. Thanks for answering these questions."

He said.

"No problem."

Fang Raon said and then ended the call, and at the same moment, his eyes turned cold, and his heart beat hard.

’They will check my logs, whether I was really at Black Online during that day, and they will see I lied.

’However, I know what I need to do.’

Fang Raon thought, and now, all he needed was to wait for Izan to contact him so he could cover up his tracks.

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