Chapter 144: < Protect – Episode 143 – Holly Corp. [1] >

People who knew about the a.s.sa.s.sination alliance of Angola either had power, money, or both. After the best of the a.s.sa.s.sins, Kadesh Morken got wiped out, the entire industry went crazy. Most people thought killers were psychopaths who murdered for a living, but it was impossible for people to realize the real professional a.s.sa.s.sins. The person who welcomed Ahn Soo Ho to Was.h.i.+ngton D.C. wasn’t a high official from the Pentagon or a top advisor of the White House.

“Issac.”

“I feel like we just met yesterday, but quite a long time has pa.s.sed, Soo Ho.”

“Well, it’s the new year.”

Since they met right before the London terrorist attack, it had already been over a month. The fact that the head of an a.s.sa.s.sination organization could go in and out of the heart of the United States was a funny thing in reality. But then again, since he visited London as if it was his front yard, Was.h.i.+ngton D.C. shouldn’t have been any different.

In the famous tourist destinations of Was.h.i.+ngton D.C., there were more protesters than tourists. This couldn’t be compared to the 60s and 70s when the hippies protested, but once Americans here and there started demanding introspection from the politicians, they became an entire army.

In contrast to New York, which was mourning for the reconstruction of the city, Was.h.i.+ngton D.C. was full of protests addressing the egotism in America. They caused problems by doing illogical things while using the regulations to get away with it and then avoided being punished by saying they followed the procedures. They took the democratic mindset of being loyal to the process and used it in an evil way.

“Now that it’s about to harm them, they’re all coming out with picket signs and holding protests. They’re interesting people indeed.”

“Is there a reason to criticize those who want to reclaim their rights? Maybe it’s the ones who are staying quiet that should be criticized.”

“Staying quiet can be a way of expressing one’s opinion as well.”

“Staying quiet is staying quiet and nothing else. If there’s no action, they’re agreeing with them.”

Issac was a reformer who was all about action.

If he was in politics, he would have been known as a left-winged progressive. That didn’t mean he supported the Democrats, and he didn’t believe that politics changed history. In that sense, he had a similar belief as J-Law. In contrast to most a.s.sa.s.sins who killed people to make more money, they murdered in order to lead change in the world.

“Did you know about the London Protocol, Issac?”

“That was the biggest sin that the arrogance of mankind caused.”

He caught on that Issac had supernatural powers. If he wasn’t, it would have been impossible for him to lead Angola. After all, it was also the alpha organisms who governed Kadesh Morken. The ones with a lot of power were all supernatural beings.

“So I’m guessing General Ashford has a connection to you.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“What about Ultra?”

“That was the result of an unfortunate sacrifice.”

There were more supernatural beings than average humans who got sacrificed in the experiments of the Ultra program.

“What are you devising?”

“Devise? If anyone heard that, they’d a.s.sume we’re devising some kind of conspiracy. This is… how it’s supposed to be. The world was supposed to be like this.”

“Are you going to create some kind of mutant empire?”

“Mutant is a belittling way of addressing us. We’re superior to the rest. Don’t you think it’s natural for the strong to lead the weak and lead everyone to a better future, Soo Ho?”

“That’s a dangerous way of thinking.”

“Is it? Maybe it is. Since not all of mankind are enemies. So I’ve never taken it to heart. But I suddenly changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Because I met you, Soo Ho.”

His heart would have fluttered if she was a girl, but he wasn’t happy to hear such a thing from a fellow man. Issac didn’t believe that a small number of supernatural beings could win over such a large population of mankind. So he controlled his petty abilities and hid his true ident.i.ty from the world.

“Kadesh Morken was like a symbol. They were a great performance that gave off light in the darkness. They were just… people who lived in the present. That’s why they weren’t afraid of dying.”

“They weren’t afraid of dying? They were all so servile.”

“That’s what I want, Soo Ho.”

What would happen to the war that began with Ahn Soo Ho’s retirement? Issac didn’t think the public had to know the truth.

“The truth about the witches came out, but instead of demanding the truth, they were busy getting amus.e.m.e.nt out of it. The amount of feed that’s needed to control the public is endless. Instead of asking the opinions of others, all they want to do is prove that they’re right. If Goebbels had Facebook and Instagram, the Third Reich wouldn’t have lost.”

When Logan signaled to Ahn Soo Ho that time was almost up, he nodded and talked to Issac.

“I don’t care if you gather the supernatural beings and start a war, start a coup d’état, or create a shadow administration, Issac. I’m just here to warn you that you’d better not try to drag me into it.”

“I don’t want to get on your bad side either. That’s why I took my hands off of Hector Garcia, too.”

He made it sound like he had other options.

“There are many others besides me who are interested in him.”

As soon as they got to the door of the White House, they were searched before entering. Ahn Soo Ho looked at Issac with fascination. The head of an a.s.sa.s.sination organization was getting into the White House without any problems. Besides Ahn Soo Ho being angry that their security system was penetrated, the entire system was just problematic at the roots.

“Doesn’t anyone know you?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect system.”

It was harder to fool the White House’s background check than to hide out from everybody. He looked at Issac’s name tag.

“Thomas Chenyabin?”

“He’s the vice-president of United Aircraft.”

“Is that your cover?”

“No, he really exists. If he hadn’t the FBI would have caught on a long time ago.”

Ahn Soo Ho laughed bitterly at Issac who shrugged his shoulders.

“Tom!”

“Jake?”

Once they got inside, they had to go through another search. As soon as they got through, someone recognized Issac.

“You’re here early, Jake.”

“Yeah. It’s good to get stuff like this over with early. But who’s this?”

“Oh, this is the CEO of Boing, and this is… Mr. Guardian. Do you know who he is?”

“Oh!”

Issac couldn’t remember the proper introduction for Ahn Soo Ho and just called him Mr. Guardian, and this elicited a surprising change in att.i.tude.

“I can’t believe I’m meeting such a legendary figure here!”

“Whoa, calm down, Jake.”

“You sure have extensive connections, Tom.”

Just like the American stereotype, they finished their introductions and then acted like close friends. After talking about this and that, they moved on to the topic of the invitation event. In the midst of rumors regarding the US Navy invading Nigeria, the fact that many military-related companies were invited to the White House was a sign that a war was about to take place.

“It’s true that Scott Davis is a bad guy, but the ones who burned New York into ashes are the African Islams who backed the terrorist group, Dakoma. Those who backed them must be punished.”

The CEO of Boing was all for the start of the war.

“Isn’t this tragedy the result of President Davis’ abuse of power?”

“You could say that. However, the Islam terrorists were going to attack the States from the very beginning. That’s the undeniable truth.”

Since Scott Davis committed suicide, he couldn’t take responsibility. And trying to make Allen Davis, who almost died, into the evil person wasn’t politically sound. So the following hearing was to find out just how much Charlotte Davis knew. If she had conspired in the New York terrorist attack, she would likely take the fall for Scott’s crimes as well.

“Mr. Ahn.”

The chief secretary entered and looked for Ahn Soo Ho. He shook hands with Jake and Issac. He felt the strong grip of his handshake.

“The war isn’t far ahead, my friend. We have no intention of fighting with you, but as for other people… I’m not so sure.”

After his interesting way of speaking and laughing, he followed his guidance. He felt familiar with the president of the United States’ office. Was it because it was often in movies and TV shows?

“I can’t say it’s nice to see you, Mr. Ahn.”

The not-so-well-known vice president became the president all of a sudden. The reason why he couldn’t think of his name was because Scott purposely gave him the image of someone who was weak. He thought that a vice-president who stood out too much would only burden the president.

‘His name…’

They often selected a strong candidate to be the vice-president, but this time, they picked someone who devoted himself to the party for a long time in order to make a touching story. So the fact that he even became the president afterward was very lucky.

He then remembered his name.

“I give you my deepest sympathies, President Olsen.”

Henry G. Olsen was a Swedish American.

“Welcome, Soo Ho.”

“Deborah.”

Deborah Stuart, who was a member of the upper house for 15 years, was selected to be the representative of the Democratic party following the fall of the previous representative due to the Davis scandal. The Democratic party was currently in a very unstable place.

“Welcome, Soo Ho.”

“Frank.”

The representative of the Republican party was the king-maker, Frank Harnell, who got two presidents elected. Ahn Soo Ho’s eyes then focused on someone who was far away. In response, Charlotte Davis greeted him with a straight face and a nod.

“Since everyone is here, let’s move on to today’s topic. Both parties think it would be best to defer summoning Davis’ wife to the grand jury.”

In response to Deborah and Frank’s opinion, Ahn Soo Ho knitted his brows.

“Defer? Not cancel?”

“In order to calm down the anxiety within the parties, we need a better option.”

“Are you saying you’re going to keep going after Charlotte then?”

“I think you’ve misunderstood… There’s no guilt-by-a.s.sociation system in the States, Soo Ho.”

“That’s not a good enough excuse. You should very well know what the family of the woman you’re going after has gone through.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that.”

Families of serial killers or pedophiles couldn’t live a day without pain, and organized hara.s.sment fell under permitted in community customs.

“I want her to be completely exempted from criminal responsibility.”

“Hm.”

Everyone besides Ahn Soo Ho and Charlotte was perplexed.

“I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but if you’re curious about something, ask me. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Is Barbara Huxley a real witch?”

“Yeah.”

President Olsen was shocked while Deborah and Frank weren’t that surprised. Ahn Soo Ho added a key point.

“It wasn’t just the States who was pocketed from Ultra. Look through the collaboration programs between the CIA and MI6.”

Again, besides Ahn Soo Ho and Charlotte, everyone else was puzzled. How could they use this to their advantage? The stances of the American president and the two party representatives were bound to be different. They were probably going to fight over private gain and public gain.

The States and England were close yet far away from each other.

“I’ll give you a day, Soo Ho. The Ministry of Justice needs at least a day for this.”

“Okay.”

As soon as President Olsen got up while laughing, Ahn Soo Ho also got up and shook hands with him. He then shook hands with Deborah and Frank as well. Once Ahn Soo Ho and Charlotte got out of the meeting room, they just looked at each other. It was Charlotte who acted first.

Slap-

The sound of the slaps didn’t end there.

Slap-

He was capable of stopping her, but he chose not to.

“Do you feel…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because of the third slap. Right after the huge slap, Charlotte’s face loosened up and turned into a smile.

“Better.”

An elegant woman using violence was quite s.e.xy.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t go to the funeral.”

“That’s okay. If you came, it would have been too chaotic.”

Scott’s funeral was broadcasted live on television, and it was really no joke. There were protests ridiculing the death of the man who was the hidden traitor behind the New York terrorist attack, and there were also many insults directed at the church and the priest. He ended up getting a bad reputation comparable to that of Benedict Arnold.

“What are you going to do now?”

“We have to protect Davis’ wealth.”

The Davis family was prestigious, and the reason why they stayed prestigious for so long wasn’t just because they did good things. It was all about the popularity and recognition by the public.

“I’m going to endure all of this and then rid my husband and my daughter of their disgrace. I believe that day will come. I have to hold on until then.”

Seeing how she didn’t mention Allen Davis, she must have cut him off. Ahn Soo Ho couldn’t get to the point. If he had proposed it now, he would have gotten another slap across his face. The person who greeted Ahn Soo Ho on his way out of the White House was Scott Warren.

“Why do you look so down, Soo Ho?”

“It’s not easy dealing with people.”

“Hm? Are you talking about your dating life? Is your relations.h.i.+p with Ms. Jang not going well?”

Ahn Soo Ho shook his head, but Scott didn’t believe him.

Whether he believed it or not, he didn’t want to waste energy on trying to convince him. The two of them headed over to a big filming set nearby. For all the broadcasters and producers, they had a base in every city with the only variant being its scale. Not all filmings could take place at Hollywood Studio.

And if the setting was Was.h.i.+ngton D.C., the famous streets and buildings had to be shown in at least 10% of the content so that the viewers could be satisfied. But since the natives of the city wouldn’t like filmings to take place 24/7, they set up a separate set nearby.

“There’s one here, there’s one in New York, there’s one in Miami, and there’s one in Hawaii, too. Our outstanding infrastructure is really our strong point.”

This was only possible because their country had a lot of lands. A filming was taking place, so the place was bustling. Whether there was a terrorist attack or if the political situation was horrible, filmings still needed to take place.

“Wait here, Soo Ho.”

Americans didn’t all stop what they were doing and gathered because of an important person’s visit. If they were asked to, they probably would have, but Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t the type to want that. While Scott excused himself, he used that opportunity to look around. The place was as big as Everland, but it was on the small side of America.

‘Huh?’

What caught Ahn Soo Ho’s eye was the kids getting ready for their auditions.

Didn’t Disney film at Disneyland? This studio was usually where the dramas were filmed. People thought American parents were better, but there were parents who had high expectations for their children in every country.

“What’s that over there?”

Ahn Soo Ho stopped an employee and asked. The employee noticed the VVIP sign on his neck so she immediately turned friendly.

“That’s the regionals for American Idol.”

“I see. Thank you.”

She was willing to help further, but Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t interested. As soon as he stood in front of them, a security guard glanced over, but as soon as he saw his gold pa.s.s, he looked away.

‘People want to be celebrities all over the world.’

Since America gathered people from all over the world, it seemed like there were even more. Did American Idol only pick those with American citizens.h.i.+ps? Hollywood was like a last attempt for many stars who were popular in their own countries.

‘Whoa! Look at their growth!’

The sign said 15 to 16 years old, but the boys and girls looked like fully-grown adults. When it came to white people, they had a totally different vibe to them. And in this place, regardless of how talented they were, they had to be good-looking to have a good chance.

“Soo Ho?”

Ahn Soo Ho turned around in response. It was the vice-president of Holly Corporation, Hanna Erikson.

“What are you doing here?”

< Protect- Episode 143 – Holly Corp. [1] > The end.