"Hey- Gri, did you hear?"

Grian turned around to see Mumbo. "Hear about what?"

"Tango from the marketing division has reportedly gone missing since three days ago, since he didn't come to work on Friday" He replied. "Rumor has it he's also been assassinated."

"Yeah, I've heard, but I haven't heard about that rumor- first of all, 'rumored'? So it's not certain?"

"Yeah, even though it's what everyone thinks had happened, nobody actually had proof for it."

Grian nodded absent mindedly, seeming deep in thought about something. He clicked off of his work to open the web browser and went to the news page. He typed in the web address and waited for it to load.

This site can't be reached

Hermald.com took too long to respond.

"Huh-?"

"Grian? What's wrong?"

He turned to Mumbo, showing him his screen. "The news page couldn't load, is there a problem with the wifi or something?"

"Not as far as I'm aware," the moustached man responded. "Based on what I heard, I think it's been taken down since Thursday midnight."

Thursday. Today was Monday, which means it's been 3 days, the same day that Tango went missing. "Where was it said?"

"It was announced for a brief moment before the site was taken down, but they didn't really give a reason as to why," and after that, Mumbo switched the topic. "Also, have you seen Iskall today?"

"Iskall? Did something happen to him?" Grian asked, a little disappointed at the topic change as he wanted to know more, and made a mental note to investigate what's happening more thoroughly.

"I'm not sure," the other sighed. "It's just that he seemed to be busy with something else since Friday- oh right, you didn't go to work on Friday, huh? Why was that?"

"No reason, really," He lied, before quickly trying to make up an excuse when he saw the unsure look Mumbo gave him. "I- tripped on my way back home on Thursday, and I- uh- hurt my leg a fair bit, so I decided to tell Stress I needed a day off."

"You tripped-? That's it?"

"Uh- yeah, I tripped off of that pretty high slope near the apartment-"

Mumbo looked at him, visibly a bit unconvinced, but just nodded. "Right... that slope is fairly high, I guess," he muttered.

"You two- please go back to work!" Stress ended the discussion from the other side of the room.

"Right- well- later Gri!" Mumbo briefly said goodbye as he headed back to his seat.

And with that, the convo ended as both went back to work.

Grian moved in the hallways of the marketing division, going to do his plan. He needed to investigate more about what was happening.

Thursday night, he knew the news site was still up and running. The last news that he saw was on the site?

Red Bullet's identity getting revealed.

It was a fairly simple and short article, but the contents were enough to prove their point. There were also some damning photos that would've been hard to disprove. It seemed too much of a coincidence that almost immediately after the article was posted, the entire site was taken down.

He was lucky that he got to read the article before the site got taken down- which is another mystery, why did the site shut down?

Grian walked down the corridors filled with other employees. The first thing on his to-do list was to try and have a chat with one of the two people involved in what happened on Wednesday last week, and since one of them was missing, his only option was to ask the head of the division: ImpulseSV.

First though, he needed to find him, and that could already be a pretty difficult job.

He roamed around the corridors of the building, keeping his eyes open to search. It is easier said than done, considering the countless amount of other employees wandering in the corridors alongside him. Impulse also doesn't really stand out in a crowd, adding to the difficulty of it.

Despite that, he kept looking around, and just generally listened to the conversations of the marketing employees. They were all just either chatting about last week's incidents, work stuff, suspicions, etc.

Still roaming around, he began to think about the situation. Trying to piece together the pieces of the puzzle regarding what is going on while still being on the lookout.

This all started when Cub died a full week ago, it's already been a week, and things have just been getting stranger and stranger.

The day it was found out, I also overheard a conversation the CEO, Scar, had with his right hand man, Bdubs. So Bdubs was the one that ordered 'Swifters' to target Cub, and somehow, Scar knew. I'm not sure how, but he did, and for some reason decided to keep that a secret and didn't rat him out.

Anyway, the big mystery in that case was how Swifters got into the building and killed Cub, what makes it more odd is that it was a locked room mystery, with none of the windows nor doors showing signs of damage. It meant that someone must've helped him into the building.

But then, the next incident. xB was killed by 'Hydden', in a similar incident. xB remained at the office for a late night shift, and was found dead the next morning - exactly like Cub. Both incidents seem too odd to not have a connection with each other. Different assassins were hired, but the targets were both high officials in the company.

But at the same time, I know that Bdubs was the one that hired the hit on Cub, but does that necessarily mean that he was also the one that hired the hit on xB-?

Seems like the most likely scenario, yes, but at the same time, it feels off. I think there might be more to it than just that.

But then, there's the incident with 'Red Bullet' and Impulse. Like the last incidents, a different assassin was hired, and the target was an official. But the difference is, it took place outside, and most importantly, it failed.

It's also the incident with the less clear circumstances, and I'm pretty sure nobody else really knows about it... or wait- is that really the case?

The disappearance of Tango, and the sudden identity reveal of the 'Red Bullet' that was cut off by the site getting shut down, possibly to stop anyone from discovering that truth. But who put the article out? Who abruptly made the site shut down?

All of the events happening are all too odd to just be a normal coincidence. There must be something bigger happening behind the scenes.

And I need to figure out what.

To me, the assassination on Cub does stand out more than the other two. First of all, he was Scar's secretary, meanwhile the other two were head of divisions. It's also what sparked the start of these chain assassinations, accidental or not. And unlike xB's assassination, where some people did have theories on how 'Hydden' entered, nobody has any theories how 'Swifters' entered, considering the fact that they took place on different floors, and the higher floors were harder to access...

Oh, wait, I almost forgot!

The hidden entrance from the back of the building which requires a password. Yeah, that's strange. It could just be a hidden confidential room, but considering the fact that 'Hydden' came into the building through that door, I doubt that's the case.

If 'Hydden' went in through there, does that mean that 'Swifters' could've hypothetically also used the same route? But then, that could imply that Bdubs was the one that gave 'Swifters' access to the building, which means that he knows the password, which would mean that he was the one who ordered the hit on xB as well.

That means, if I could just find the password to the door, I would be able to access what's beyond, and see the truth for myself. But what could the password be-?

He snapped out of his train of thoughts as he saw a blond figure in the distance.

He didn't find Impulse, but he found a Zedaph, who looked like he was also looking for someone.

Deciding this was probably his best option if he can't find Impulse, he walked towards him to try and strike up a conversation.

"Um- excuse me?"

Zedaph was caught off guard as he realized someone was trying to talk to him. He turned around to see a short, blond haired person wearing red.

"Oh- good day," He responded. "I've never seen you around here, are you from a different division?"

"Yes, I'm Grian, from the finance division," Grian introduced himself. "And I'm assuming you're Zedaph, the deputy head of the marketing division, right?"

"Correct, do you need anything?"

"Well, I want to talk with the head of the division, ImpulseSV," Grian went straight to the point. "Is he available?"

"Well, about that, I'm not too sure," Zedaph sighed. "I haven't really seen him today."

"Oh. Did he not come to work or something?"

"No, no, he was here, but I'm pretty sure he's been avoiding me, and just avoiding being here for too long in general. So, I'm not sure where he is, sorry." He explained.

"Oh, that's fine then," Grian stated. "I'll try coming back another time. Thanks for telling me."

And with that, he walked away, leaving Zedaph to do what he was doing.

So Impulse is now avoiding Zedaph? Why would he do that? Grian started pondering to himself as he walked back down the halls, heading for the elevator to go back to his division.

There's something odd going on with the higher ups in this place. First Scar and Bdubs, the assassinations, and now this. Adds to the pile of mysteries that I need to solve.

He knew he had no real business in the current events, and that he'd be better off just leaving all of the investigation to someone else, but he didn't really care about that. But he was curious, and he knew that these incidents may affect his night time job if he isn't careful. He wanted to know what was going on in the company, and so he will search for the answer, and he won't give up.

First things first, he's going to have to try and enter through the secret entrance.

"...yeah, yeah! I know, that was a reckless move..."

Grian stopped. He was in one of the lonely corridors on the right side of the building. He hears some sort of conversation around the corner, and debates whether or not he should eavesdrop on it.

What's more? He recognized the voice as Iskall's.

He remembers Mumbo's statement about Iskall acting more closed off and generally more not around than usual. Was there a reason for that?

"...I know, I know, he could've survived the fall, and yes, I didn't actually see him fall."

Grian started getting intrigued more by the conversation, as he silently walked closer to the source of talking, before stopping just so he was still out of view and so he could run at any moment if Iskall hears him eavesdropping.

Once he got closer, he realized that Iskall was on the phone, rather than talking to someone.

"...I swear though, there was no way he could survive that fall! While I admit I didn't check down there to see if he actually did go splat, there was no way that he would have survived unless he had help," He could hear Iskall frustratingly trying to tell the person on the phone.

He was close enough to the convo that he was able to hear the person's reply.

"'Freeze Eye', you're missing my point. While it might be true that 'Red' couldn't have survived that fall, it is also a fact that his body was never found down there, and a lot of undertown civilians go down that route everyday."

You know the saying, curiosity killed the cat.