Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

It was much easier to convince Derek and Nel in person that the incident with his disappearance wasn't worth fretting about.

However, it began giving Tristan an unpleasant feeling. He could tell both of them were genuinely worried for him, and he didn't like causing that worry.

'It's alright. No harm was done, and they will forget about it in no time. I will just try to be more careful in the future with the criminal part of my career. Perhaps I should do what the boss of Angulos did and spend more time ruling people from afar instead of dealing with things personally.'

Well, that was a nice idea to think about. Too bad that at the moment, Tristan had no choice.

When everybody was asleep, he sat on a bed in his hotel room with a laptop on one side and his status open on the other.

[======]

[Tristan Gemello (Tristan Hayes)]

[Current identity: Pop-star. Second identity: Criminal.]

[Pop-star rank: Adolescent Star.]

[Criminal rank: Made Man.]

[Pop-star Points: 1040]

[Criminal Points: 10300]

[===Attributes===]

[Appearance: 260]

[Charisma: 240]

[Fearsomeness: 476]

[Strength: 679]

[Dexterity: 228]

[Toughness: 144]

[===Skills===]

[Singing: 1857]

[Dancing: 1079]

[Playing guitar: 2096]

[Music theory: 680]

[Music production: 523]

[Acting: 1315]

[Songwriting: 1724]

[Voice control: 811]

[Stage presence: 1223]

[Playing piano: 801]

[Video editing: 217]

[Styling: 506]

[Playing flute: 1]

[Playing violin: 1]

[Sneaking: 844]

[Close-quarters combat: 1224]

[Observation: 2076]

[Driving: 618]

[Pickpocketing: 533]

[Firearms shooting: 816]

[Athletics: 419]

[Treating injuries: 201]

[Lockpicking: 1001]

[Combat analysis: 505]

[Hacking: 2431]

[Governing: 454]

[Torture: 2]

[Logistics: 4]

[Forgery: 1]

[===Talents===]

[Clark Kent Effect] [Sleepless] [Clean Hands] [Bullet Time] [Hypnotic Voice] [Sight Awareness] [Electronic Sight Awareness] [Ambidextrous] [Bilingual (Spanish)]

[======]

First of all, Tristan had to even out his attributes to not be too strong for his own good.

'I think… having 600 in each will be enough.'

He tapped the necessary buttons.

[Ding!]

[Dexterity attribute increased from 228 to 600.]

[Ding!]

[Toughness attribute increased from 144 to 600.]

[Ding!]

[As a result of attribute changes, your appearance attribute increased by 10, and your charisma attribute improved by 5.]

Tristan's body changed again. He felt a wave of electricity go through him as his bones became denser and his entire body hummed with a new vitality that washed away his previous aches.

His ligaments and joints felt like someone dipped them in oil, and Tristan's sense of balance improved, too. He felt incredibly aware of his body, as if he was drunk, but became sober in an instant.

He stood up and stretched for a moment, smiling. Now his body truly felt in balance. Although it was barely noticeable from the outside perspective, it could be seen in the smoothness of Tristan's movements.

After that Tristan had 2020 Criminal Points left, but he kept them on hand for now.

Who knew? Next time he might need to improve his forgery skill all of the sudden.

'Now, if only my business for today ended with spending system points,' Tristan thought. 'But I'm unsure if I will have a moment of rest for the night.'

Even if Tristan didn't need sleep, he was still mentally tired right now. A big part of him wanted nothing more than to lie down and scroll through memes and celebrity gossip online.

It wasn't just because Tristan had been so busy today, but because he was working hard for months at this point, living two lives in parallel. Even 8 extra hours he won by not sleeping sometimes proved to be not enough.

But Tristan pushed his mental exhaustion aside and pulled out his laptop and his Hayes phone.

During the day, he received several reports from his underlings, which he didn't have the time to deal with before. A part of them was business as usual, while the most recent ones were alarming, mentioning the strange activity of Whitman's people, although nothing too suspicious without hindsight.

Tristan was reading the reports when Kevin called him directly, proving that the mafia didn't sleep at night, and that there was no rest for the wicked.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Hayes! I hope I didn't wake you up. People sent after Martinez just got news about his location—he's in Los Angeles. I'm afraid he might try to kill you before he got killed himself."

Tristan huffed.

"It's better late than never, I guess. Who else knows this?"

Kevin was puzzled by Tristan's nonchalant attitude, but knew better than to question his boss.

"Mr. Whitman shared with the other underbosses, as well as me, since I was acting in your stead. Mr. Clavon wanted to bring more forces into the city to catch Mr. Martinez, but Whitman convinced him that those already sent will be enough."

"And how many are those?"

"Officially, there were ten. But I'm afraid Whitman might've sent more. Something strange is happening."

"It absolutely does. And what happens with Martinez's people in the meantime?"

"They were all put under house arrest so they wouldn't help their boss because of misplaced loyalty, at least until Martinez was dealt with. It's still unclear whether any of them helped him."

Tristan nodded to himself.

"Kevin, pass orders to Tomas. I need a dozen people with guns in Los Angeles by tomorrow, and I want it done quietly. Quietly means that not even Mr. Clavon should know."

There was a pause.

"I understand, Mr. Hayes. You think that, perhaps… Martinez was set up, and a police mole is still within our ranks?"

Tristan smirked.

"Well, I'm sure I don't act under Mr. Clavon's nose because I want to overthrow him or something, Kevin."

On the other side of the call, Kevin chose to just ignore this and do as he was told.

Kevin was tired, and Hayes also sounded tired. Even gangsters were just people.

"And keep me informed about any more people sent into Los Angeles," Tristan added.

"Yes, Mr. Hayes. Is that all?"

"Yes."

Tristan ended the call, but soon enough, started another.

Using the web of insignificant and semi-significant contacts he accumulated during his stay in Los Angeles, Tristan began reaching out to bosses of the Los Angeles gangs.