Suho was on his way to scout a location for the business he was planning to open, heading near the Mobility Management Bureau together with Seongsik, Jiho, Minsu, Minji, and Joshua.
The group had grown too large to travel in one car, so they split into two vehicles.
Suho’s android and Jiho’s android took the lead in one car,
while Suho, Seongsik, Jiho, and Joshua followed in another.
“We should buy a slightly bigger car… like a van or something.”
“Hyung, after what happened last time, let’s not just get a regular car but order a custom special vehicle. Like an armored car, you know.”
Jiho added to Suho’s words, and Seongsik chimed in as well.
“Oh, I know some people in that field. It’s an armored special vehicle manufacturer. You choose the model you want, and they’ll armor-modify it, or they sell cars already made for armored use. Anyway, it’s a place that does custom work according to requests.”
“Wow, nice. Seongsik, look into it for me then. I don’t care if it’s heavy or if the fuel efficiency is terrible; I want it absolutely sturdy. And big enough for at least eight people.”
“Okay, I’ll look into it.”
Suho’s car left the main road and entered a secluded riverside road.
Suddenly, two black vans appeared and boxed in Suho’s group from the front and back.
“Uh… what are those?”
“Probably just passing by?”
“I dunno…”
Something was off.
Just in case, Joshua spread a barrier widely around the vehicle.
Then, from the rear of the frontmost black van, something round and flat was ejected and stuck to the underside of each car.
*Pachichichichichijit───*
“Waaah!”
*Screeeeech─── Thud!*
With a flashing burst of light from the front, the car carrying Suho and the one ahead of it, which had been driving autonomously, stopped dead all at once.
Looking ahead from inside the car, he saw a swarm of men in black suits pouring out of the van blocking the very front.
Looking back, people were getting out of the rear car as well.
“Hmm… seems this is exactly what we were worried about?”
“Hyung, the car’s dead. The power isn’t coming on at all…”
At the sudden situation, Seongsik and Jiho began to turn pale.
“What should we do, Joshua?”
“For now, let us observe the situation from inside the car. The androids in the front car will respond somehow.”
But contrary to Joshua’s prediction, even as time passed, the androids in the front car did not get out.
With actual threats approaching from all sides, the fact that four whole androids weren’t moving at all meant something had gone wrong.
Looking around at the situation, Seongsik muttered.
“That light from earlier… I think it was an EMP round.”
“EMP? Ah…”
Combat and security-purpose androids are basically equipped with surge protectors or EMP filters as standard to prepare against electromagnetic pulse attacks.
High-end androids like Suho’s even more so.
Yet the fact that they neutralized the androids and vehicles completely in an instant meant it had been an extremely powerful, high-performance electromagnetic pulse emission.
It was proof that they weren’t easy opponents.
Even amid the rapidly unfolding crisis, Joshua, looking calm without much tension, glanced at his dead smartwatch and spoke while focusing on the flow of ether.
“The Sanarae team will arrive soon. They are almost here. Shall we go out now as well?”
“Let’s do that. Ah, just a moment.”
Stopping Joshua, who was trying to open the car door, Suho took out ten of the twenty combat androids stored and charging in his subspace warehouse.
The additional androids, unexposed to the EMP round, materialized and quickly moved to surround the assailants from the front and back.
They seemed unprepared for this, because chaos erupted on their side.
“Th-they have more security androids!”
“Th-this wasn’t in the intel!”
“What about the EMP rounds?!”
“It’s already too late…!”
The assailants in black suits hurriedly drew their guns, but they didn’t fire at the androids.
It was a wise choice.
The androids Suho had brought out were combat-specialized models; pistols wouldn’t be enough to take them down anyway.
Whether they had never planned to engage in combat, or had simply assessed the difference in power, was impossible to know, but the assailants surrendered quickly, discarding their weapons and raising their hands.
Joshua didn’t even need to step in.
There were ten of those suit-wearers over there too.
Seeing that they were armed with pistols, they probably weren’t Admitties.
The androids that had quickly subdued the assailants forced them to their knees. And just as the androids approached to bind them with special cable ties, the Sanarae Clan’s security team arrived.
*Whiiiiii….*
Fifteen Sanarae Clan Admitties who had been following at some distance approached quickly on electric bikes and pulled up nearby.
Completely surrounded by Suho’s ten androids and fifteen Sanarae Clan Admitties, the assailants were disarmed, forced to their knees, and had their hands bound.
Only then did Suho check his ring and defensive suit before getting out of the car with Joshua.
The leader of the Sanarae Clan team assigned to security duty for the day asked,
“Sorry we’re late. What happened? Are they kidnappers? How… should we handle them?”
Their lives were essentially in Suho’s hands.
But Suho shook his head.
“They weren’t that aggressive. Let’s hear what they have to say first. Hey, mister, who are you guys?”
Among the assailants was a potbellied middle-aged man who didn’t look like an agent at all.
Suho judged him to be their leader and spoke to him.
“Ahem…”
An awkward standoff continued for a moment with the assailants, who wouldn’t open their mouths, as if something was troubling them.
But when Suho threatened them once more, the middle-aged man, realizing he was in an absolutely disadvantageous situation, spoke up.
“…We are not bad people. We simply wish to talk.”
It was in English, but the translator cleanly converted it to Korean for him.
“Bullshit. Looking at what you’ve done, you’re the textbook definition of bad guys. You surrounded us and tried to neutralize my security androids, and now you want to talk? You wanna die? Who are you?”
“It was difficult to approach Admitti-nim Suho from the beginning. We applied for a meeting through normal channels but were blocked by the Management Bureau, and tried to meet through various other legal routes but were continuously stopped by the Bureau’s security personnel.”
The man quickly adopted a low posture and bowed.
“We had no choice but to do this to obtain an opportunity to speak with Admitti-nim Suho. We apologize for using such a rude method.”
It was a ludicrous statement.
If Suho hadn’t possessed his current level of force, the positions of power would have been reversed, and he would have been forced to talk on their terms.
Thinking so made irritation well up in him.
“Enough. I’m asking what you are. Where did you come from? If you don’t reveal your affiliation by the count of three, forget talking—you’ll all die here. One, two.”
“W-we are agents dispatched from America.”
“America?”
“Yes. We wish to speak with Suho-nim alone.”
The middle-aged man looked around and requested a private audience.
But Suho refused outright.
“That won’t happen. Everyone here is my closest confidant, so just speak here. I won’t listen to a word otherwise.”
“Hmm…”
Finally, the man’s mouth opened, and out came a story that was sufficiently predictable.
It was a reason anyone would know. Their intention was obvious: approaching Suho to request that he naturalize to America.
They had come thoroughly prepared to somehow make the recruitment succeed, having both sweet rewards and pressure ready.
Though the middle-aged man spouted lengthy words, it was a story that might as well not have been heard. Suho cut him off and asked point-blank.
“You’re rambling, and it’s annoying. Keep it simple. What can America offer me?”
“Everything. First, treatment. We can provide you with unimaginable wealth. We can offer you the finest mansion as your residence, and legally grant you various immunity privileges, and…”
Suho snorted.
So that was the best card they had prepared.
“Then what do you expect from me?”
“As an Item Collector, we ask that you grant America priority purchasing rights to the items you acquire, rather than selling them at the auction house. Of course, it won’t be free. We will pay top prices.”
“Oho.”
“How about it? This isn’t a bad—”
“Rejected.”
“Ex…cuse me?”
“Everything, you say? You sure like the word ‘everything.’ From where I stand, America has nothing to offer me. Are you sure you properly looked into how much wealth I possess?”
“Of course. Taking into account the recent profits from the Ontower auction house and other assets…”
“I thought so. My assets aren’t mere pocket change like that. Take any single item I own as a standard, and it’s worth far more than what all of America possesses. Understand?”
“That’s absurd…”
“Also, immunity privileges? What unpleasant people, treating me like some troublemaker… I don’t need that stuff. And a mansion? Are you sure you looked into how much the house we’re building right now costs?”
“The mansions we can prepare are incomparable to your current residence—”
“Sigh… Look at this. Embarrassing. Is American intelligence really this incompetent?”
“……”
“Anyway, shut up. I’m not leaving here. I have family and friends here…”
“If you wish, we can of course arrange immigration for your family, and even your friends—”
“I’m not finished. What about my memories of my hometown, my alma mater, my regular spots… all those things that can’t be converted into money?”
“Th-that much… Still, if you wish, we will do our best to help you accumulate new memories. Anyway, such things aren’t very important…”
“No, it is important. It’s important to me.”
Suho’s eyes flared.
“You’re suffocating for someone old enough to know better. How much time needs to pass before newly accumulated memories become cherished ones? This is your first and final warning. Never come to me with such an offer again. I wouldn’t bat an eye even if you offered me a quadrillion won, because what I value means something different to me.”
While they were being subdued and the conversation was ongoing, people from the Management Bureau and the National Intelligence Service arrived.
Hearing that they were agents of the American Admitti Security Bureau, and watching the government agents of his own country arrest them with extreme caution, left a bitter taste in Suho’s mouth.
Truthfully, a delegation sent from America that was essentially a group of terrorists was an awkward group to deal with.
Killing them all lacked sufficient justification,
and even if they were handed over to the government, there was little a weak nation like theirs could actually do.
They would probably be repatriated before long.
Still, the politicians would gain some degree of justification from this.
Since exploiting that was the politicians’ domain, Suho left the complex political matters to them.
* * *
“Ex…clusive security detail…?”
“Yes. I received a report that you encountered another unpleasant incident today.”
While looking at a building to use for the store, Suho was bewildered to suddenly face Lee Danbi, while Jiho and Seongsik’s mouths hung open.
Could they even scout for a business site properly like this? He began to worry.
“I believe many people from the Sanarae Clan are already here for me…? Probably even now…”
“That is separate. I intend to provide close protection.”
“But I already have… Joshua?”
“Yes.”
Joshua revealed himself from empty space, and Lee Danbi was slightly surprised again.
“As you can see, Admitti Joshua Evans is constantly by my side.”
“I know. That is precisely why I am even more necessary.”
But Lee Danbi was adamant.
“Why?”
“Because Joshua Evans-nim also needs to rest, sleep, and undergo maintenance. Who will protect Suho-nim when Joshua-nim is sleeping?”
“Hmm…”
It was true, actually.
Though Joshua did his best to stay by Suho’s side, he was still a human with a physical body.
He spent as much time as possible with Suho, but Suho always felt sorry about that.
No matter how much of an Admitti he was, he wasn’t an android. He had to eat, sleep, wash, and rest.
Especially since Joshua was a family man. He was someone who definitely needed time to spend with his family.
Perhaps judging from Suho and Joshua’s expressions that permission was as good as granted, Lee Danbi slightly lifted her chin.
“Mr. Joshua Evans, why don’t you and I split it half and half? Suho’s guard hours, I mean. One of us takes the day, the other takes the night. We can rotate every week if you like.”
Joshua fell silent for a moment, as if the proposal tempted him.
But he had made a promise to Suho, and he owed him a debt, so he could not decide so easily.
Feeling that leaving things as they were would only add to Joshua’s anguish, Suho made the decision for him.
“Sounds good. Let’s do that. Then I’ll give you the same compensation I’m giving Joshua.”
“Huh? I don’t need any compensation at all. I’m doing this because I want to.”
Lee Danbi flatly refused payment.
“Then when would be best for you, Mr. Joshua Evans?”
After pondering Danbi’s direct question for quite some time, Joshua said,
“I will... take the night. From 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. the next day, fixed.”
“Oh, then that works for me. I can take from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.”
Not even a rotation—he was volunteering for the night guard shift every single day. Startled, Suho tried to dissuade Joshua.
But Joshua shook his head.
“This is better if I am to spend time with my family.”
“Ah...”
As expected, the head of a household was Superman.
Somehow, matters of great importance were being settled in a flurry, leaving him with no time to collect his thoughts.
As Suho headed for the next location, Jiho’s voice came from behind him.
“Um... um, Admity Lee Danbi, if it isn’t too much trouble, could I get your autograph...?”
“Of course!”
Suho shook his head and stepped out the door.
* * *
- You fool... You’ll be repatriated soon, so prepare yourself. How did the meeting go?
“The negotiations fell through.”
- ...You did properly emphasize that America could offer him the very best treatment in every respect, didn’t you?
“I did, more than enough. But he said America couldn’t give him what he wanted.”
- What the hell does he want, then? What is there that America can’t give? We can give him wealth, honor, even power.
“He says what he wants is meaningful places and memories, and his hometown.”
- Ha... Unbelievable. Memories are something you can just make anew...
“I said that too.”
- Said what?
“That America would do its utmost to help him make new memories as well.”
- And what did he say?
“He said it was a foolish thing to say. He asked how much time would have to pass before newly made memories could become memories.”
- Hoo... This won’t be easy.
“He seems to be more of a childish brat than I expected. He said what he has is worth more than all of America’s assets combined.”
- Good grief... With that kind of ignorant nonsense... He looked fairly old, but is he still going through puberty...? In any case, it’s unfortunate that the benefits America can offer don’t work on him. We’ll have to think about it further.
“Also, more importantly... there’s a major problem...”
- What is it?
“Joshua Evans. He was acting as Jeong Suho’s bodyguard.”
- What did you say? Are you certain?!
“I’m certain.”
- Damn it...
The voice on the other end cut off with a sigh.