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The bar wasn't big, at least not when compared to the surrounding buildings. However, it could be considered a stand-alone two-story structure. The surface of the outer wall was covered with traces of wind and frost. A wooden plaque with the words' Phantom Bar 'written in wantonly English hung above the door frame.
Sei Itō jumped off the motorcycle, parked it by the roadside, and walked into the bar.
"Creak …"
There was a strange sound of wood rubbing against each other. Sei Itō entered the bar.
In an instant, a bar with an area of about 100 square meters and a decoration that was very similar to the western style of the United States came into Ito Sei's sight. Dozens of guys dressed in fancy clothes were sitting around wooden round tables, drinking and chatting freely. Two blonde young women who looked exactly the same but with slightly different hairstyles and black and white maid uniforms were shuttling back and forth, serving drinks to the customers who needed them.
Behind the bar counter, a young man dressed like a bartender, with short blonde hair and a heroic aura that made it difficult to distinguish his gender, was quietly wiping the empty glass in his hand.
He was the owner of this bar, a Fighter, and an evergreen in the KOF series — King!
When he heard the door open, King looked up at Sei Itō.
Ito Sei let go of the arm that was holding the door panel and let it close by itself. He walked straight to the bar counter.
Along the way, the other people in the bar also looked at him curiously.
"A Bloody Mary." Sei Itō sat down on a high chair in front of the bar counter and put his hands on the counter. He looked at the blonde King in front of him.
"Okay." King replied. He put down the glass in his hand, turned around, and took out the drinks he needed from the hidden compartment under the counter. He then made the so-called Bloody Mary for Sei Itō.
In less than a minute, a glass of bright red wine was pushed in front of Sei Itō.
"Enjoy," King said softly. Then he picked up another glass and lowered his head to wipe it.
Sei Itō picked up the glass and took a sip.
"I heard you sell information?" Sei Itō put down the glass. He looked up at King and said softly.
King, who was wiping the wine glasses, paused and looked up at Ito Sei. Then he lowered his head and continued to wipe the wine glasses. "Occasionally, I'll do it."
"I want to know something." Sei Itō looked at King with a burning gaze.
King didn't say anything. He didn't stop what he was doing. However, it seemed like he was listening.
"A young female private investigator named Mary," Sei Itō continued.
"She's not from Southtown, right?" King asked without looking up.
"Yes. But I heard she has a grudge against Guise. "Sei Itō nodded and gave him a new piece of information.
"This is very dangerous." King put down the glass and picked up a new one to wipe.
"We can negotiate the price." Sei Itō smiled.
With his alchemy skills, Sei Itō was never short of money. As long as he had paper, he could make it on the spot. The only thing that could cause trouble was … The only thing he had to deal with was the identification label of the coins.
Moreover, he could hypnotize the bank staff and take the bad and dead accounts for his own use. He didn't have to worry about that.
"I'll get back to you in five days," King said softly.
Sei Itō nodded and quietly drank the wine in his glass.
"I have another job, but I'm not sure if you're willing to take it." After a moment of silence, Sei Itō spoke again.
"Celebrity bodyguard," she said before King could ask. Before King could ask, Sei Itō said it out loud.
"Tell me the details." King raised his head and looked at Sei Itō.
Sei Itō didn't explain immediately. Instead, he reached into his pocket and took out a business card. He placed it on the table and pushed it in front of King.
"Showtime Entertainment Co., Ltd., Sei Itō."
A paragraph of black text appeared in front of King's eyes.
"I'm the boss of an entertainment company. I have a few celebrities under me and I'm planning to promote one of them to a superstar. Therefore, I don't have enough security, so I'd like to hire you to be my bodyguard for a while. What do you think? "Sei Itō raised his glass and took another sip of wine with a smile.
"Why me?" King frowned.
"Because I only trust martial artists. Also, the celebrity under me is a woman," Sei Itō said softly.
"For how long?" King was tempted.
Compared to the dangerous job of selling information and running a tavern in a place like Nanzhen, being a bodyguard for a period of time was an extremely easy job for her. Judging from the situation, the pay would be high as well. Why not? After all, she had a huge debt and was worried about how to make money to pay it back.
"I don't know for how long," Sei Itō replied.
"…" King was hesitant.
Although she wanted to take on this comfortable job, this bar was still one of her properties. If it was just a bodyguard job for a short period of time, it would naturally not be a problem. As long as the bar was temporarily handed over to Sari and Elisabeth to manage, it would be fine. However, if it was a long-term job, the bar would need to temporarily close down, which was not in her interest.
"A month at most," King said after a moment's thought.
"Okay." Sei Itō nodded.
Then, there was another period of silence.
"I'll come back in five days to get the news." Ito Sei raised his head and drank up the wine in his glass. He took out a hundred dollar bill and put it on the table, got up and said.
"Okay." King quickly pressed down on the bill and took back her drink.
However, although she moved quickly, some people in the bar who had been paying attention to Ito Sei and King still saw the face value of the dollar bill. Their eyes lit up, and a greedy look flashed in their eyes.
Then. Those people looked at each other, got up together, and followed Sei Itō out of the Phantom Bar.
Although they were greedy, they weren't stupid enough to open a bar in a place like Southtown. And those who were not afraid of people coming to cause trouble either had a lot of connections behind them, or their own strength was strong enough to lay a stable foundation for themselves. They were not comparable to this group of hooligans. Naturally, they would not put their greedy thoughts on the boss, so it was very simple. The generous Sei Itō became a fat sheep in their eyes.
What's more, Sei Itō looked Asian and didn't have a big waist. He looked like a pushover. Who else could they look for but him?
Of course, King took note of their actions. His brows furrowed slightly. Then, she put down her drink, turned around, and left the bar through the back door. She quickened her pace and took a detour to the front.
Although she was fast, she couldn't beat Sei Itō's Psychokinesis. So, by the time she reached the front. She saw the gangsters with broken limbs and rolling on the ground, howling in pain.
Seeing this, King's eyes narrowed. She thought to herself, "He's a master!"
"I was wrong. I didn't expect the boss of an entertainment company to be so powerful." Then, King turned around and left, mocking herself.
On the other hand, after leaving King's Phantom Bar, Sei Itō disappeared from the streets of Southtown and returned to the villa he bought in the suburbs of Tokyo.
Then. Sei Itō left the house again and drove to the location of Mai Okinawa Dojo.
This time, he was going to use the same excuse to fool the beautiful Mai Shiranui.
Dozens of minutes later, Sei Itō arrived at Mai Okinawa Dojo and stopped the car.
Mai Okinawa Dojo was the same as other Japanese Dojos. The dojos were built in the suburbs, some distance away from the city. There were few cars around, and there was plenty of vegetation. It was very peaceful.
A white wall surrounded the dojo of Mai Chi Ryu. There was only a double wooden door in the middle of the white wall that protected Mai Chi Ryu.
Sei Itō got out of the car and walked slowly into the dojo with the door open.
In an instant, a wooden house from the Edo period appeared in front of Sei Itō.
Sei Itō stopped and shouted, "Is anyone home? Is anyone home? "
"Hey, I'm coming, I'm coming." Almost at the same time as the words left his mouth, a crisp voice that gave people a sense of liveliness reverberated throughout the training grounds.
"Tap, tap, tap, tap …"
Then, along with the sound of hurried footsteps, a beautiful woman about 1.65 meters tall, wearing a pair of black trousers and a beige short-sleeved shirt, with her long black hair tied into a high ponytail behind her head with a special hairpin, ran out from the outside corridor of the house.
"Hello, I'm Mai Shiranui, the owner of Mai Okinawa Dojo. May I know why you're here, sir?" Mai Shiranui, who walked quickly to Sei Itō, bowed politely to Sei Itō and asked softly.
"You're so beautiful. May I call you Wu?" Sei Itō first praised her, and then asked shamelessly.
"Well … Sir, we're not familiar with each other. You'd better call me by my surname." Mai Shiranui's face flashed with a trace of surprise, and then she politely refused.
"May I know why you're here, sir?" Then, without giving Sei Itō a chance to refute, Mai Shiranui asked again.
"Well, I have a job here that I want to invite Miss Wu to perform." Sei Itō still called Mai Shiranui "Wu" cheekily.
"Job?" Mai Shiranui asked doubtfully.
Because of her doubts, she didn't even care about Sei Itō's brazen address.
"Yes, job." Sei Itō said with a smile, "Shall we talk here?"
"Excuse me, sir. Please come with me." After being reminded, Mai Shiranui, who suddenly came to her senses, hurriedly bowed to Sei Itō again, and invited him sideways.
Sei Itō didn't refuse and followed Mai Shiranui to the guest room of the dojo.
A moment later, Sei Itō and Mai Shiranui both came to the guest room.
Mai Shiranui first asked Sei Itō to sit down on the tatami, then she turned and left the guest room again. It wasn't until a few minutes later that she came back with a round wooden tray with two porcelain teacups on it. She knelt down opposite Sei Itō.
"Please have some tea." Mai Shiranui put one of the cups in front of Sei Itō and said politely.
"Thank you." Sei Itō picked up the teacup, put it in his mouth, and took a sip.
"Great tea ceremony," Sei Itō praised.
"Let me introduce myself first. I'm Sei Itō, the president of Showtime Entertainment Co., Ltd." Sei Itō put down the teacup, took out a business card from his pocket, and handed it to Mai Shiranui while introducing himself.
Mai Shiranui leaned forward, took the card with both hands, held it in front of her, and looked down at it.
"I took the liberty to visit you this time because I have a job to give to you, Miss Wu, a well-known martial artist," Sei Itō continued.
"What job?" Mai Shiranui put down the business card and asked in confusion.
"An artist's bodyguard," Sei Itō said with a smile.
"An artist's bodyguard?" Mai Shiranui frowned.
"Yes, our company recently prepared to vigorously promote one of our artists and help her to become a top star. But because the plan was in a hurry, we didn't find a suitable bodyguard, which made a loophole in our original publicity plan. So in order to avoid danger, I thought of you." Sei Itō made up a story casually.
"To tell you the truth, Miss Wu, I'm also a martial arts enthusiast. I was lucky enough to watch the King of Fighters Competition held not long ago. It was at that time that I saw your heroic figure and was instantly fascinated by you."
"Ha, ha ha …" Mai Shiranui laughed awkwardly.
"Let's talk about the job."
Not wanting to continue the topic, Mai Shiranui hurriedly brought it back to the point.
"Miss Wu's job is very simple. You are to be the bodyguard of Ma Gong Athena, an artist of our company, until we find a suitable bodyguard to ensure her personal safety during the publicity process," Sei Itō nodded and said seriously.
"Well … Who did you just say?" Mai Shiranui asked in surprise.
"Ma Gong Athena," Sei Itō repeated.
Sei Itō certainly understood why Mai Shiranui was surprised. In the 1994 King of Fighters Competition, Ma Gong Athena had participated in the competition with Gui Quan Chong and Zhen Yuan Zhai. She had met her female fighting team. Although they were not familiar with each other, they knew each other. So naturally, she would be a little surprised to hear the name of an acquaintance from others.
"Mr. Itō, since you have watched the King of Fighters Competition, you should know that Athena is also a martial artist, right?" Mai Shiranui could not help but ask.
"Of course." Sei Itō nodded to confirm.
"Then why …" Mai Shiranui was puzzled.
"In the King of Fighters Competition, she is naturally a martial artist. But in private, she is just an ordinary artist of my company. I naturally have to consider her safety. I can't let her fight in person if there is an accident during the publicity. That will damage her image, "Sei Itō explained very patiently.
"I see." Mai Shiranui suddenly understood, then nodded and agreed. "Well, I'll take the job."
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