Sooho

Chapter 202: < Protect – Episode 201 – Sim City [1] >

Whether East Asia was in chaos or not, Ahn Soo Ho had a relaxing time in Hawaii. Since he was no longer a Korean citizen, he had no reason to listen to the Korean government. Hosoo Entertainment Group was seized as a hostage, but no government worker had enough guts to mess with a major corporation connected to Daesan Group.

Jang Seol Hyun was busy taking care of her parents and parents-in-law and getting ready for the wedding. There was usually some disharmony in the process of preparing a marriage, but Ahn Dae Man was a specialist in personal relations.

He took care of his daughter-in-law’s family. Better than his own. Since all he did was to benefit from his capable son until now, it was his turn to return the favor. Men needed money to have a little leisure.

Since the fathers and mothers were getting along fine, Jang Seol Hyun didn’t have to worry about much. In contrast to Ahn Soo Ho’s worries, Jang Seol Hyun’s family didn’t attack him about renouncing his citizenship. He actually received a lot of support.

‘It’s probably not easy doing big things as a big man. I know you’ll get through this.’

In response to the rumors that Jang Seol Hyun could become a single mother according to Korean law, her parents just nodded their heads. It felt as though something was up, but since it wasn’t important, he looked over it.

While Ahn Soo Ho enjoyed his leisure, Korea was busy trying to put the blame on their chaos on somebody.

North Korea’s provocation was like a yearly custom, and a short downfall was understandable, but the economists worried that the 1-month long downfall would be unrecoverable.

Was this also the Ahn Soo Ho effect?

There were a few days of difference, but as soon as the renouncement of his citizenship came into light, he predicted Korea was going to begin its downfall. That was when Korea realized his true identity.

He didn’t just make capable white friends out of luck. And Chairman Kim Dae San knew that before anyone else. But the resentment was targeted toward Daesan Group. That was because while every other company plummeted, Daesan Group’s stocks rose. There was no special reason for it. It was just because he was a close friend of Ahn Soo Ho.

The specialists didn’t want to admit to such an absurd situation. If it was true that just one organism could control the economy, there was no longer a need for specialists. However, reality was cruel.

As soon as North Korea announced their collaboration with Ahn Soo Ho, the EU and America took a step back while China and Russia welcomed it with open arms.

A few days later, China, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia announced that The Spratly Islands appointed Ahn Soo Ho as the development arbitrator. That meant the southern China issue was resolved in one go.

Everyone was puzzled.

But the surprising news didn’t end there. Niger, Chad, and Libya also offered Ahn Soo Ho land for 200 years. They were praised for making such a sacrifice for the peace of North Africa.

But that was nonsense. That was because Niger, Chad, and Libya weren’t countries that could function normally due to the civil wars and terrorist groups. It was nonsense to try to change up national policies when everything else was a mess. However, those who should have been revolting didn’t make any kind of refute.

In that aspect, Sri Lanka was similar, and it wasn’t just the Muslims and Hindus but the Buddhists as well who applauded for cooperation with Ahn Soo Ho.

Were all Buddhists peaceful? Not at all.

The Buddhists of India and China weren’t that different from Islamic terrorists. What made them so violent using such a peaceful religion was the belief that they had to do whatever it took to protect their family and homeland. Crazy people were scary, but crazy people with a belief were even scarier.

“I didn’t expect Sri Lanka, Soo Ho.”

Daniel Navarros looked at the Plan-A photo and then stroked his chin.

“Africa is too far. I guess we could take a plane, but it’s better to make it closer with good rest stops on the way.”

“Hm, you’re right.”

What was needed for Ahn Soo Ho’s Emerald City plan was money.

Daniel devoted himself to the work as quickly as possible.

Emerald City – Gaesung was Emerald G

Emerald City – Rizal was Emerald R

Emerald City – Kirinda was Emerald K

Emerald City – Quaran was Emerald Q

They decided on Ahn Soo Ho’s leased ground that would connect the Korean peninsula to South East Asia to India, to North Africa. Daniel and the others had a big dream, but Ahn Soo Ho didn’t have some spectacular plan.

He just wanted a rest stop to get a good break. On top of that, he wanted the convenience of civilization. It was a difficult command, but with money and will, nothing was impossible.

“Make it modern. As if it’s the city of the future.”

Emerald G, which was right between North and South Korea, was appointed as the city of the future composed of high rises and underground bunkers.

“Rizal... is for water sports?”

China decided to transfer an island to Ahn Soo Ho. And the natural resources being developed with the Spratly Islands was to be divided equally to China, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia through Ahn Soo Ho as the arbitrator.

Daniel was a little skeptical.

“Do you think the profits can be divided equally?”

“China will definitely try to get more.”

“That’ll be a headache.”

“Everything’s a headache. But it’s true that China will invest the most. So it’s fair.”

It was a given that the one who put in the most gets the most.

“What’s important... is far off from now.”

“That’s true.”

The military and development were still far off. Daniel moved on.

“In terms of investment, wouldn’t India be better than Sri Lanka?”

“On the outside, yes. But in some ways, India has stronger pride than China.”

After getting looked down upon by Europe and America, it became a military nation comparable to China. India was called a republic, but it was more socialist than China. And when people called India India, the Indians got mad.

After England colonized India, not a single coup d’état took place. In some aspects, it seemed like a democratic nation with good civilian control, but the education level of the citizens was at the bottom level. Was it because of their high population rate? That was just an excuse.

It was a relief if a politician was voted by ignorant people because when the monitoring of the people became shabby; they resorted to the temptation of crimes. It was good if they were able to look past that, but 90 percent of the people couldn’t resist the temptation.

“Considering the caste system deeply rooted in their society, they’re very far from democracy. But that’s nothing compared to racial tension.”

It wasn’t America that had the most serious case of racism.

“Along with religious conflict, there’s serious racial conflict as well.”

India was a host to Hinduism, Islamism, Christianity, Buddhism, and more. And this place was also a second stop for the Angola circle as a Maharashtra.

‘Keeping human civilization in check through a third world.’

The Angola circle led by Issac used assassinations to make the developed countries strive and the underdeveloped countries suffer. They did this in order to slow down their development.

It was an imperialistic structure.

Rather than an opposition between workers and capitalists, Issac saw the importance in the confrontation between workers. The ultimate goal of the United Industries was to create a lack of trust between workers.

While some companies succeeded, others failed. In a world where countless companies opened and closed in a day, every worker faced different working environments.

The reason why America’s capitalism caused more and more profit was in order to incite competition within every class. The logic wasn’t important. After all, the ones with less were bound to attack with those with more. If there was rationality to survival instincts, there would have been no fights, to begin with.

“India is a huge experimental field.”

“Experimental field?”

Ahn Soo Ho shrugged at Daniel’s question. He wouldn’t understand even if he explained. A normal person wasn’t able to understand the ideology of someone who lived for over 5000 years. It was true that there were many Christians and Muslims, but out of the entire population, they were just a small number, and there were believers who were willing to keep their faith in the most extreme situations.

‘Human factory.’

Behind the terror that occurred in developed countries in North America and Europe was some kind of rage. They acted behind God’s name, but it was all for their profit.

There were also suicide terrorist attacks using ignorant people.

But people knew the truth.

That heaven didn’t exist. They just couldn’t accept it. If they had, all the blood that had been shed would have been for vain. In a world like this, the existence of a supernatural being was very impactful.

‘It all depends on who accepts it first.’

But no one wanted to hold a gun.

Daniel moved on to the last point.

“As for Emerald City Quaran, there’s no profit whatsoever, Soo Ho.”

The desert between Niger, Chad, and Libia was just wasteland and nothing else. The land didn’t even produce oil and the road conditions were too shabby for any kind of intermediate trade. Even the land that already existed was about to disappear due to the sandstorms.

“Maybe. But we’re not doing this for the money, Danny.”

“But we should still maintain the status quo. We can’t do business with dirt.”

“You don’t know how expensive dirt is these days, do you?”

He wasn’t kidding. The cost of construction materials was on the rise. It was difficult finding clean sand these days.

“I’m not kidding, Soo Ho. If you don’t get the amount that you put into Korea when you go ahead with the plan... you could go bankrupt.”

“What did Barbara say?”

“She said a shrinkage is unavoidable due to England’s withdrawal from the EU. She said it’s better to focus on Hosoo Entertainment America and Europe next year.”

“Is she minding the British government?”

“Her? No way.”

Barbara Huxley was the ultimate veteran of the European Witch Gathering. Since her ban was lifted, the only one who could control her was Ahn Soo Ho. Witches weren’t very strong on their own, but since they were able to metastasize each other’s skills, no alpha organism could mess with them easily.

It was Angola’s circle that made the British government oppress the witches. Not all with supernatural powers welcomed each other. If Barbara knew that Angola was behind the British government, she would probably want to fight.

“We’re low on funds... This hasn’t happened in the last few years, but we did spend excessively. So how much are we low by?”

“What’s urgent right now is around 30 billion dollars.”

“That’s a lot.”

“G and R don’t matter, but K and Q need to be built from scratch. With development, roads, power, communications, and water... there’s a lot to be spent on.”

The reason why India didn’t say much to Sri Lanka and Ahn Soo Ho’s cooperation was because a part of the deal was that they would also build 20 freshwater plants worth 6 billion US dollars in India as well.

India was still very deficient in water.

“We could get 30 billion dollars through a loan.”

“Shall we get a loan then?”

“I’m just saying.”

He could have easily borrowed money if he wanted, but he didn’t like debt.

“I have no other choice.”

When Ahn Soo Ho accepted a request, he preferred to be paid with rights than money. He liked start-up stocks, redevelopment real estate, and unregistered bonds, but he liked mining rights the most. That was because problems came with having many representatives all over the world, and no politician liked having their rights taken away by foreigners.

Ahn Soo Ho’s representatives were capable men who were making good money of their own. They might have taken it on with a sense of duty to protect their country’s rights and whatnot, but they were clearly cheating.

“For 30 billion dollars.... I’ll have to sell quite a few. Which ones should I sell?”

In response, Daniel pointed at a map of the world.

“Right here, Soo Ho.”

“A gold mine? I don’t want to lose that one.”

“The only things you can sell right away are gold, diamonds, or rare-earth elements. You wouldn’t sell uranium, right?”

Human greed for gold was still present in the 21st century. And it was more fierce than ever before. They called oil the black gold, but when it came to oil, it was likely going to be tangled up with many investments and political-related complications.

‘But not with gold and diamonds.’

Oil needed highly advanced technology and with one mistake, one could lose everything. But not with mining. Of course, having good equipment was a plus, but anyone could dig up something with a pickax if they wanted.

“Good. Go ahead.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Oh, wait.”

He stopped Daniel.

“What is it, Sir?”

“Don’t forget to take care of the representatives, too.”

“Yes, Sir.”

He had to take good care of his representatives so that there wouldn’t be any problems later. Ahn Soo Ho looked at his calendar. There were only 12 days left before his wedding.

The locals were fascinated that Ahn Soo Ho leased out all the hotels, condos, and private villas. Since Hawaii was a tourist’s destination 365 days a year, renting out a part of it was only possible for the very rich. If anything, the government wouldn’t have allowed it.

At this very moment, Ahn Soo Ho’s own airline was busy transporting all of the guests for the wedding. The friends with their own private jets would probably take their own, but for those who would have used a normal airline, he rented out chartered planes for a more comfortable trip.

Most of Jang Seol Hyun’s guests were Korean, but Ahn Soo Ho had friends from all over the world. It was likely that their wedding was going to look like a UN meeting.

The Kremlin party arrived yesterday while the White House party arrived the day before. Today, the Chinese premiere’s party arrived, and tomorrow was going to be the guard teams of Japan, England, France, and Germany.

He told them to bring as fewer guards as possible, but they wanted to show off their power. He normally would have told them to piss off, but a wedding was a joyful ceremony. So he let it go. On the other hand, he gave them a clear warning. That if they disturbed the wedding in any way, that they would get on his bad side.

Hawaii was in America.

America put a lot of care into Hawaii this time around, with almost every major institution joining in on Hawaii’s task force.

And they had one job.

‘Pull out the roots of crimes!’

Their plan to eliminate crimes was fully underway. American’s shouldn’t know this, but President Olsen was actively making an effort to make Ahn Soo Ho into an American.

Ahn Soo Ho’s daily routine in Hawaii was simple.

He woke up and had a morning mojito at the pub by the beach. He talked about the Emerald plans with Daniel. He also listened to the venting of Oh Joo Kyung and the executives over the phone.

At around lunchtime, he took Jang Seol Hyun and their parents out for a meal. Once they left to prepare for the wedding, he had an afternoon mojito before listening to James Black and the other vent.

And at dinner time, Lee So Hye, Ahn Da Sol, Emily, and Rachel returned from having fun and told him about what they did in Hawaii that day. He then talked with the celebrities of Hosoo Entertainment.

He wrapped up his day by talking with Jang Seol Hyun.

They just talked about small trivial things.

He normally would have told her to shut up, but he was now used to her ranting. Jang Seol Hyun was special to Ahn Soo Ho. Was it because she had his child? Perhaps. But if he could only save one of them, he would have picked Jang Seol Hyun. But she wouldn’t have liked to hear that.

“What did you do today, Soo Ho?”

“Same old.”

“I want to hear about it.”

“Okay. Today...”

Ahn Soo Ho told her who he ate and talked with. If this was before, he wouldn’t have done this.

That was how the days passed.

And then the day came.

The private beach beside a big house was full of people of all skin colors. Pretty much all the famous people around the world seemed to be there. Ahn Soo Ho hadn’t seen Jang Seol Hyun since the night before.

After the Saudi prince came with a bunch of underwear models and got kicked out for it, no one else caused that much trouble.

Ahn Soo Ho sat in the groom’s chair. The guests avoided him for some reason. Did they think he was in a bad mood? No way. He was in the best mood of his 38 years of life.

“Hey.”

“Father.”

Ahn Dae Man looked handsome dressed up. Was it because he used to party all the time? For a father who liked to drink and mingle, his son’s wedding was the best stage.

“My daughter-in-law looks beautiful.”

“Did you see her when I haven’t?”

“She’s too good for you. You’d better know that.”

Ahn Soo Ho knitted his brows in response.

“Wasn’t I the one who bought you that Armani?”

“What a good-looking couple! You’re a match made in Heaven!”

His father changed the subject. Ahn Dae Man’s past life was very clear. His father put both hands in his pocket and changed his expression.

“I can’t believe my snot-nosed son is getting married... Time sure flies.”

“38 is a late age to get married.”

“For men, you’re young enough as long as you get boners in the morning.”

“Huh? You’re not thinking of getting remarried with a young woman, are you?”

“No way! I’m not in for that kind of trouble.”

“Then maybe I’ll reduce your allowance by half...”

“Ahem!”

Ahn Soo Ho clicked his tongue at his father and then smirked.

‘I can’t believe this day has come.’

He thought he would live his entire life without seeing his father. He got up from his seat. Ahn Dae Man was on the tall side for an older man, but he looked small beside Ahn Soo Ho.

‘He’s old.’

His shoulders were narrow from the years he lived, and the number of wrinkles on his face couldn’t be fixed with any kind of skin treatment.

He saw Logan making hand gestures.

It was time for the ceremony to begin. Ahn Soo Ho passed his father and then looked back at him.

“Thank you for giving birth to me.”

“Nonsense! Thank your mother instead. All I did was provide the sperm, that’s all.”

The way Ahn Dae Man waved his hands looked cute to him. And that made him utter words that he had never imagined.

“I love you, Father.”

But what he got in response was his middle finger.

“I love you.”

“You cringy bastard! Go to hell!”

Was he implying that marriage was like death? But he didn’t care. He was having a very happy day.

“The groom is entering!”

As soon as Do Kyung Ho’s voice rang through the speakers, Ahn Soo Ho opened the doors and walked through it with confidence.

< Protect – Episode 201 – Sim City [1] > The end.