Chapter 221: < Protect – Episode 211 – Neo n.a.z.i [2] >

The Ahn Soo Ho that Jang Seol Hyun saw before marrying him was a Superman. An adult man who was admirable and capable. So strong that nothing could shake him. So determined that he never backed down from anyone. He was also honest, unlike men that just talked the talk.

That was how she felt.

However, once they got married, Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t all that perfect. He was too lazy to show interest in things he didn’t care for; he was cold-hearted when something wasn’t going to benefit him, and he sometimes stayed stuck in his own world with a blank look on his face.

Did that mean she hated him now? Not at all. Ahn Soo Ho only showed that side of himself when he was with her. That was why she liked him even more. She enjoyed being able to take care of someone. Jang Seol Hyun never knew that worrying about someone else could bring so much happiness.

“Ha.”

She didn’t know whether to laugh or get mad at Ahn Soo Ho who was pointing at the computer screen. She then sat across from Ahn Soo Ho with a scary look on her face.

“Why were you doing that?”

“Well, I just… didn’t like how people were cursing at you… It made me mad that they were saying things that weren’t true.”

“That doesn’t mean you should refute all of them. You even swore at them.”

Half of Ahn Soo Ho’s comments were curse words.

“I don’t know… I couldn’t help it.”

He smirked as if he couldn’t believe it either. After writing a few comments, the rage that was hidden within him suddenly popped out.

“Don’t do that ever again.”“Okay. But it’s pretty fun, you know.”

“Hey!”

Jang Seol Hyun knitted her brows and looked serious. He backed down in response. However, he thought differently.

‘I guess I could use my supercomputer… No, that’s no fun.’

He could have just used his supercomputer, but it was more fun to type on a real keyboard. Ahn Soo Ho rolled his eyes and Jang Seol Hyun sighed, but she didn’t scold him further. It wasn’t like he got into big trouble, so it wasn’t worth scolding.

She was actually happy.

It just proved how much interest he had in her.

As soon as Jang Seol Hyun opened her arms, Ahn Soo Ho lifted her up and took her to the bedroom. The bedroom was gorgeous. Jang Seol Hyun’s mother and Mrs. Park Ok Nam were worried about the pregnant girl, but she wasn’t that weak.

‘There’s no way she’s weak.’

He had already given her multiple strengthening treatments before she got pregnant. She probably didn’t know this, but Jang Seol Hyun was strong enough to go up the Octagon besides her big belly. She probably just thought she was in shape after being in an action movie, but that wasn’t the case.

‘Just because she made a lot of money.’

Anna-Anne’s recent technology was useless, but there were pupils of the great, great magician that were better with minor techniques more than standard magic. The drugs used in the Ultra Program weren’t totally useless. It was just unable to produce the results that they wanted. But if the new UKS-1501 was used properly, it was harmless to the human body.

That was just like Coca Cola not getting a patent. Even for Ultra, depending on the drug and brainwas.h.i.+ng methods, the people’s outcomes were totally different. He completely got rid of the brainwas.h.i.+ng methods and simply kept the body strengthening technology. If the scientists that developed the program knew about this, they would have screamed that it was unbelievable.

If he started a pharmaceutical company and sold body strengthening treatments, he would make a lot of money, but there would be more and more evil people as well. That was because when power was obtained, they wanted to show it off. If a boxer could become stronger just from a treatment, it was obvious where the world would be headed.

Once Ahn Soo Ho finished entertaining Jang Seol Hyun, it was already the middle of the night. When he got to the parking lot, he met Caroline who was wearing a grey trench coat.

“What about Hannah?”

“She’s with her mother.”

“You must be bored, Granny.”

Ahn Soo Ho smirked and gestured for his shadow—Logan—to go back inside. Logan hesitated and then headed back.

“You didn’t have to send him away… Anyway, thanks for the consideration.”

Caroline expressed her grat.i.tude to Ahn Soo Ho. Despite not being her father, Hannah called her one, and whatever the reason why, Caroline had no choice but to feel uncomfortable. On their way out of the parking lot in the car, Ahn Soo Ho asked her a question.

“Have you thought about it?”

“Hm.”

Caroline let out a heavy groan. She looked into the Emerald Development Plan herself, but she had no idea why he was going forth with such a crazy plan. So she just decided to ask him.

“I don’t know about Gaesung, but what do you think about the others?”

“Why?”

“It’s so complicated.”

She didn’t even have to explain the complications surrounding the South China Sea, and even Sri Lanka was always on the verge of a civil war. On top of that, the Sahara Desert was a place where normal life could barely exist.

Besides Gaesung, they were all horrible places.

“Then why would those greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds give up land that’s actually decent?”

“That’s true. But isn’t this too serious?”

“When it comes to real estate development, anything is possible as long as you give up on profits.”

Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t trying to build cities to make money. He just wanted to expand his dungeons. Of course, he still wanted to make some kind of profit, but there was no need to worry about that at such an early stage.

“The world is getting more and more dangerous, and people will put their safety first.”

And there was a limit to the Emerald members.h.i.+ps.

“Having a members.h.i.+p doesn’t mean you’re a citizen, but you get treated like one.”

“For example?”

“You get kidnapping insurance and security protection. If needed, I’m ready to act as well.”

“I like that.”

“But it comes at a hefty price.”

10 million dollars a year wasn’t cheap. But after the rumors spread, almost 200 people signed up, and he had already decided not to take more than 300 members. If he took in too many, they were going to be hard to manage later.

Since getting so many members made them 3 billion dollars, Daniel cheered with his hands in the air. That was when Caroline nodded. Emerald City was scattered all over the world like US bases. What was different was that except for Gaesung, they started at ground zero.

But Gaesung wasn’t a good place to live either.

“You’re thinking of hanging onto shaky mercenaries.”

Ahn Soo Ho didn’t respond to Caroline’s mumbling. As soon as Angola tried to pop out of the dark, the free mercenaries refuted and asked Ahn Soo Ho for the Dresden File. In the end, Angola was unable to come out into the light, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a hit.

Many in power felt displeased that mercenaries possessed sensitive secrets that could grow into national scandals. All they had to do was flick a finger to split up a mercenary group. But their relations.h.i.+p was like relatives that ripped each other apart.

As soon as he began the Emerald Development Plan, he hired 28,500 mercenaries, and he was planning to increase that number to 80,000. How much would it cost to pay 80,000 mercenaries? It depended on their rank, but they cost around 250,000 dollars per soldier.

He didn’t hire just any mercenary. Ahn Soo Ho drafted a contract that unified the mercenaries that were in a free-for-all. The times when just shooting a gun made someone a mercenary was long over.

“But America’s not included. I guess leaving North America out was your way of respecting America… but why South America?”

“Because I trust them less than Africa.”

Most people thought Africa was worse than South America, but that wasn’t true.

“South America is much worse.”

They chatted until they got to a bar in the middle of the night. It was a strange place where they sold food in the morning and afternoon, sold alcohol at night, and sold women in the middle of the night. What many didn’t know was that Germans weren’t that nice. And not all Germans were ashamed of the n.a.z.is either.

Did the German government enforce laws against n.a.z.i wors.h.i.+pers because of public sentiment? Ahn Soo Ho didn’t think so. It was because without the laws, there were too many Hitler lovers that would try to revive the n.a.z.is.

‘We’re not the descendants of a criminal!’

Happiness, sadness, and even awareness of crime had been buried over time. They didn’t care if they had to kneel on their knees and apologize to suffer. Because if they hadn’t, the other European countries would have continued to feel enraged.

One military professional once said this, if j.a.pan wasn’t an island, they wouldn’t have been able to go around shamelessly with their heads up high. That might have been true. In order to actually feel the threat of the other Asian countries, they had to cross the ocean.

An Asian man and a white woman.

A young man with an old woman.

The strange vibe of a couple that didn’t seem to go together drew all the attention in the bar. Besides a few, they looked at them with violence more than curiosity.

It was obvious they were looking for something to attack.

“This place is full of crazy people.”

Caroline dissed them outright. In French at that. A few bald heads approached her with angry faces but stopped because of a big man that got in the way.

“Who’s this? Soo Ho! Long-time no see!”

The man looked like Hulk Hogan.

“Joachim.”

“Right this way.”

As soon as he entered the pub, there was a blind spot where one could look at the outside while not being seen.

“You came at the wrong time, Soo Ho.”

“Why’s that?”

In response to Ahn Soo Ho’s question, Caroline pushed out her phone.

20 minutes ago, there was a terrorist attack in Berlin…

Come to think of it, his phone had been vibrating since earlier. He didn’t check the caller, but they were people with great interest in Europe.

“You’re suffering a lot of harm, too.”

“Kracek? Yeah, we were.”

“You’re making it sound like you’re not anymore.”

“All the gangs and a.s.sa.s.sins in Germany are after him. Even the police are offering a reward for him.”

“How much?”

“60 million euros.”

Ahn Soo Ho whistled. 60 million euros was about 80 billion won in Korean currency. No country would ever offer that much for a violent criminal.

“Who offered it?”

“Krupp.”

“Is it…”

It was true. It was hard for a non-German to pressure the German police and prosecution.

“What about Sluski?”

“His employer is a scary place.”

“Who is it?”

“Rothschild.”

“The red s.h.i.+eld?”

The way he p.r.o.nounced it might have sounded unfamiliar, but the English called it Rothschild.

Rothschild.

A family known for their conspiracies.

There were many rumors, but Ahn Soo Ho confirmed that 99% of them were false. They weren’t going after dominating the world, and they weren’t capable of doing so either. Today’s world was too complicated to dominate with some money alone.

The fact was that Krupp and Rothschild both used money.

‘It’s true they’re rich with a lot of influence.’

But that was it.

They weren’t the kind of villains in movies that used their power to commit lots of murder every day. They actually had better morals than the average person.

As a result of the loss in World War II, many German industries suffered great losses. No one knew the exact number of Germans that left the country following the downfall.

The industries barely managed to survive. If England and France were any crueler, Germany would still have been in a crisis to this day. If w.i.l.l.y Brandt didn’t kneel down and apologized, things might have gone that way. To be more exact, the opportunity of the Cold War drove Germany to what it became today. Just like how America’s fear of communism traveling across the seas caused them to bring j.a.pan back to life.

“So they were the ones that tied up Garcia.”

“It’s half-half.”

“Are you getting support, too?”

“No comment.”

Joachim shook his head.

“Tell them to take it back.”

“We’re talking about 60 million euros, Soo Ho. Who would give up a reward like that?”

“Keep going if you want to die.”

“You have no idea how much guts people have these days.”

In the criminal world where killing was normal, countless new recruits came in all the time. And there were more that didn’t know Ahn Soo Ho than those who did.

Crash- Crash-

When he heard something break and crash, he got up. If he left it alone, there might have been no one standing afterward.

“Carol.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Caroline shrugged her shoulders in the middle of beating up a man when Ahn Soo Ho called. Around three of four fell while groaning, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. He sighed and then put a wad of cash on the table. The owner quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed it up.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes, Sir.”

The pile of 100 euro bills counted out to about 30,000 euros. That was enough to remodel the whole bar.

“You always bring around women that give us headaches, Soo Ho.”

Joachim saw Ahn Soo Ho and Caroline out of the bar.

“I really did nothing wrong.”

“So they ended up like that after trying to hit on a granny? Even if they were drunk…”

“What are you saying? I’m an unmarried woman.”

Caroline was legally unmarried.

Even after having babies, she never got married. But it was weird to call a woman over fifty an unmarried woman. No matter how much makeup she put on, it was hard to cover one’s real age.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Not bad.”

They were the ones that started the fight, but Caroline was the one that ended it. She felt like she relieved some of her frustration.

“You’ve worked with Krupp before, right, Carol.”

“Krupp? Oh, the steel king? Yeah. Why?”

Carnegie was the steel king of America while Krupp was that of Germany. Germany had been defeated, and America won. No matter how much history was written from the eyes of the winner, lies could not be created.

Krupp was a pioneer just like Carnegie.

“I want to meet them…”

“Huh? Why don’t you call in person?”

“Because this is a sensitive issue.”

“A sensitive issue?”

As soon as Caroline tilted her head, Ahn Soo Ho waved his index finger around.

“A battle of honor.”

“Oh.”

It wasn’t just Islams that committed honor killings. There was a time when the royal families in Europe also battled it out to protect their families’ honor.

And it wasn’t different today.

‘Or maybe it’s a little different.’

The main difference between Europe and America was how they approached honor. While America’s approach was more utilitarian, Europe was more pedantic. Europeans were obsessed over showing off their families. It was possible that Europeans were more hung up about surnames than Asians.

Of course, this only applied to capitalists and the rich rather than the laborers and commoners. In particular, the families with more history were greedier for honor, and if anyone tainted it, they were at risk for murder. What was scary was that they didn’t do it out on the streets like Islams, but did it quietly without anyone knowing.

Caroline finished her call and returned.

“There’s a party tomorrow.”

“Where?”

“Hamburg.”

******

It was shocking how much Europeans liked parties. The Europeans didn’t think much of the rich and powerful of Korea partying the day after a terrorist attack.

The most important thing was to live on.

They showed the will to leave their plans unchanged and not surrender to terror. It was good to sympathize with those who were harmed, but they thought it was more important to make it known that it didn’t affect their lives.

Returning to everyday life was the most important.

“Welcome, Mr. Guardian.”

Ahn Soo Ho was dressed in a tuxedo while his partner—Caroline—was in a beautiful dress. Why wasn’t it Jang Seol Hyun on his arm? That was because it wasn’t a good place for a pregnant woman to be. They probably attended parties 6 times a month and 70 times a year.

People who enjoyed parties probably would have loved the European culture, but Ahn Soo Ho just wanted to get out of there. Curious eyes were chasing him down from all over the place. The guest of honors was shocked by the unexpected guest’s appearance as well. And it as Wolfgang Ginger who was the most shocked.

“Soo Ho? You should have told me you were coming to the party. Then I would have sent someone for you.”

“I decided last minute.”

“Last minute?”

He looked confused and then put on a serious face.

“Is it because of Kracek?”

Ahn Soo Ho nodded.

“No way.”

“It’s probably what you’re thinking, Wolf. The German intelligence agencies, military, and the high officials probably already know. You… were used.”

The music in the banquet hall stopped.

Calling upon the most famous musicians became a custom just like how they often donated cultural art. The more famous the musician a person invited, the higher that person’s reputation got.

The top balcony overlooking the banquet hall.

An old man watching from above.

As soon as the others applauded him, so did Ahn Soo Ho.

‘Otto Krupp.’

Germany was famous for making cars, but Germany’s main industry was still steel, followed by chemistry and red biotechnology. America had United Industries while Europe and more specifically Germany had Karl-Hasen-Kloud.

The cutting-edge technology of France, Germany, and England were integrated into a technology agreement, but as soon as England left EU, the financial and pharmaceutical industries had no choice but to retreat.

“Is Krupp really involved in the Kracek case?”

Ginter couldn’t believe it. Ahn Soo Ho chugged his champagne. If anyone else did that, they would have been criticized for lacking cla.s.s, but not a single person gave him a glare.

“Yes.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Well…”

Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t sure even up until he attended the party. But now, he was certain that Otto Krupp held the key to this case.

The reason being…

“He’s here.”

The person he had been waiting for was here.

“Alexander Kracek.”

Ahn Soo Ho could see everything.

< Protect – Episode 211 – Neo n.a.z.i [2] > The end.