Sooho

Chapter 234: < Protect – Episode 224 – Green Peace [3] >

Humans came to learn that production and demand were what determined the cost of the products. And in most cases, this was the case. As soon as a quick return policy was introduced, mass production became a necessity more than a choice.

The more and faster they produced the products, the more competitive their prices would be. However, was that all there was to it? The reason why explorers set out to sea wasn’t just because of cravings for innovation alone. Honor brought wealth, and wealth gave the explorers more power to travel even further.

When it came to distribution in the 21st century, global conquest was pretty much completed. And as for the deep sea, it was going to be conquered one day. There wasn’t a single place that Fed-Ex couldn’t reach as long as humans lived there. Distribution across the world was just like a heart. If transportation and distribution stopped, it would cause all sorts of side effects.

Reykjavik’s shipbuilding company goes bankrupt!

Antoine Consulting concludes trial!

Antares Airlines reduces routes!

Cross Alliance shuts down!

In contrast to professional opinions that said things were going to get better, the world’s distribution system was on the verge of freezing. When it came to stronger nations, they were turning distribution toward themselves, so they weren’t hit as severely. However, the places that solely relied on imports were suffering beyond anyone could imagine.

The region that required the most AIDS treatments was Africa. After all, there was no reason for AIDS to run rampant in 1st world countries. In the same way, the places where water, cola, and soft drinks sold the most were underdeveloped countries. The country that drank the most cola was Mexico. Mexico pretty much replaced water with cola.

When comparing developed countries and underdeveloped countries, it was obvious that developed countries made more profits on exportation and importation. And within the shadows of the FTA and hiding behind environmental activism were environmental terrorists.

What were effective methods of pressuring competing countries or societies? Spies? Duty charges? FTA was a double-edged sword. Just like how developed countries could attack, there could be a counterattack as well.

Environmental treaties were like clever tricks.

It was their way of disregarding environmental pollution that was needed for industrial development. If a balance wasn’t maintained between development and environmental protection, there would be great fines. And since most of the developed countries had surpassed this point, they were kicked over the ladder in order to keep other competitors in check.

What was added to this was environmental activism.

Was there such a thing as environmental activists in underdeveloped countries? Of course not. They only existed in developed countries. People called it an indication of a greater civic consciousness, but Ahn Soo Ho just heard that as bullsh*t.

‘What about the nature that our grandfathers destroyed?’

The way he saw it, there weren’t activists with simple beliefs such as environmental or youth protection. There were tons of scumbag activists in the world like James Bungee. Those who put harm on others to make profits and manipulated the media to control the public were all terrorists.

Did that mean Ahn Soo Ho was a terrorist?

‘Yeah. I’m a terrorist, too.’

He had never thought of himself as a good person. Ahn Soo Ho had killed way too many people to be of goodwill. However, he still had his own code of ethics.

“James Bungee... It’s definitely him.”

Roberto Aquilan, who flew over from Germany to Nairobi, looked at the monitor with a tired look on his face. The CCTV footage of James Bungee brought energy back into his face.

He looked back at Ahn Soo Ho.

“I won’t ask how you found him... What brings you to Kenya, Soo Ho?”

“Volunteer work.”

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Is that weird?”

“The naïve public might believe you, but not anyone that really knows you.”

Ahn Soo Ho smacked his lips.

“I’d make donations, but when it comes to volunteer work... Hm, what can I do? Now that I’m a parent, I should do some volunteering.”

“Come to think of it, congratulations. I heard it’s a daughter.”

“I couldn’t be more blessed.”

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“She needs to take after her mother.”

“I... agree with that.”

He couldn’t refute it. She had to take after Jang Seol Hyun in order to have a good life. Roberto Aquilan sent a letter of cooperation to the Kenyan government, and he notified the police as well.

No matter what his reputation was as a prosecutor, he had to respect the law and regulations of other countries. Ahn Soo Ho left Roberto Aquilan with the phone and went up to his room. In order to get permission, they needed at least a few days.

Once Ahn Soo Ho entered the room, he saw Han Chae Kyung sleeping on the sofa while holding some documents and flinched. Was he in the wrong room? Not at all. If that was the case, his key wouldn’t have worked. But he didn’t want to wake her up either. So he put her on the bed and left the room.

The hotel’s café terrace was open 24 hours, so it was still bustling with people. Since it was commonly used by foreigners, there were more white people than black people.

He sat down in an empty seat and ordered a coffee. The one thing that Africa had that Korea didn’t was good coffee. Some of the African countries gathered and created a coffee cartel, and Kenyan coffee became known as high-quality coffee.

“Hi.”

The foreigners that came in and out greeted Ahn Soo Ho. They weren’t greeting him with an objective. They were just casually being friendly.

It was weird to greet strangers in Korea, but for white people, it was pretty normal. He looked around and saw a National Geographics’ filming team. Since Kenya arose from the Common Wealth, it was a place where people spoke English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, and even Korean.

‘Huh? Korean?’

There was a group of people sitting a few tables down.

He remembered seeing them on the plane. He was unable to talk to anyone else because of Han Chae Kyung, but there was even an actor who worked on a project with his wife.

As soon as he met eyes with one of them, they flinched. Ahn Soo Ho smiled and nodded. They then approached his table.

“Hello, CEO Ahn.”

“Hello, Ms. Go Ah Jin.”

“Oh, do you know me?”

“Of course.”

It was strange that a celebrity was asking if he knew him. Ahn Soo Ho offered Go Ah Jin a seat.

“This is Kim Chae Yeon, right?”

“That’s right, Sir.”

They almost looked like military cadets. Were celebrities also getting military discipline?

‘I don’t think so from what I’ve heard from So Hye.’

Ahn Soo Ho mistakenly thought of Fantastic 4 as rookies. But the truth was, those girls were at a whole another level from other rookies. Ahn Da Sol kept her identity hidden, but she gave off the vibe of an apex predator, and Emily and Rachel were hard to approach by Koreans, who were afraid of foreign languages.

Did that make Lee So Hye any easier? Not at all.

She was actually the most difficult to face. Just the fact that she was Ahn Soo Ho’s sister gave her a free pass to the Blue House and even the White House.

“You seem to feel uncomfortable with me.”

“Oh, haha.”

Go Ah Jin simply laughed.

“Did you decide on a name for your daughter?”

Unlike Kim Chae Yeon, Go Ah Jin overcame the awkwardness and asked what they were wondering.

“Ahn Soo Hyun.”

“Soo Hyun? What a pretty name.”

“It’s a common name. You don’t have to be so nice.”

The conversation that followed was mostly the women asking Ahn Soo Ho questions. They must have had a lot of questions because Go Ah Jin didn’t stop. If she wasn’t in a project with his wife, he would have mistaken her for a reporter.

As soon as Go Ah Jin broke the ice, the others slowly joined and filled the empty seats. Just like how regular people thought of them as different, they thought of Ahn Soo Ho as different from them.

Go Ah Jin was similar to Jang Seol Hyun.

Both of them started acting since they were children, but the difference was that she failed at her following projects. After failing for around 7 years, she came back as an adult actress and took off.

Ahn Soo Ho asked her why she was participating in the volunteer work.

“Hm. When I was having a hard time, my parents helped, but there were many others who didn’t have that support system.”

Go Ah Jin’s family was very wealthy.

So she could have attempted acting for as long as she needed to succeed. If it wasn’t for that, she would have had to work part-time or find sponsors like her friends. These days, even celebrities needed good backgrounds to be competitive.

‘But I’m sure the talented will still make it.’

Those who were talented made it one way or another. It was cruel to those who just worked hard, but effort didn’t always lead to success.

That applied to all industries.

While the women were curious about Jang Seol Hyun, the men were curious about the world of mercenaries. What many called the mercenary kingdom was the Hosoo Guard Team, which was rumored to recruit anyone with military discharge papers. For that reason, countless men in their 20s swarmed over to Star Tower.

It was the first time so many young men were gathered in once place since the last idol concert. That was how serious the unemployment crisis was. Many old people asked why they weren’t considering smaller companies, but there were many unreasonable customs in small companies.

Labor relations were always a difficult matter.

And Ahn Soo Ho’s image and reputation were different from all other heads. Since he was known as a successful young businessman, a societal businessman, and a global leader, he definitely wasn’t recognized as a tyrant old man.

The way they found Ahn Soo Ho difficult to approach while wanting to get closer to him was kind of like a trap. He used minor magic that made people feel captivated by him.

“It’s getting late. If there’s more, let’s continue in the morning.”

Because of the time difference, the volunteer group was sent back to their hotels. Ahn Soo Ho was also just one of them, but they obeyed him well.

As soon as Ahn Soo Ho got back to the hotel security room, Roberto Aquilan looked at him with a serious look on his face.

“What’s with that face?”

“This punk... is dangerous.”

“That’s why he’s wanted in multiple countries.”

“No, what I’m saying is...”

“Nuclear fuel.”

“So you’ve known.”

Aquilan knitted his brows in response. Environmental activism and nuclear fuel didn’t go together. From the very beginning, Green Peace was against nuclear experiments. The nuclear weapons that debuted in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused a great deal of fear around the world.

After the mid-20th century, major wars came to a halt.

Why?

Because if developed countries fought with nuclear weapons, it would lead to extinction. The status of countries with nuclear weapons and without nuclear weapons was as different as they could be. And it had nothing to do with military or economic power. After all, it would just come down to who could kill the most people. For that reason, all countries secretly wanted nuclear weapons themselves.

If that was the case, what was needed to make nuclear weapons? Technology and money? When it came to national projects, technology and money weren’t an issue. What was really important was where they could obtain raw materials.

The countries that weren’t acknowledged by the UN weren’t able to obtain nuclear fuel even from the black market. Nuclear energy wasn’t something that was controlled by the nation. Nuclear energy was controlled by international nuclear energy agency.

There were no exceptions.

If anyone went against this, they were going to be outcasted by the international society. The reason why North Korea could do it was because they had a uranium mine right on their land. North Korea bragged about how they had 60% of the world’s materials, but Ahn Soo Ho confirmed that they only had 3%.

Even with 3%, they had tens of tons, and that equated to 100s of trillions of won. The reason why North Korea was so obsessed with nuclear development wasn’t because of nuclear weapons alone. No matter how communist they were, they weren’t stupid.

Pig Kim was always getting insulted left and right, but the elite who controlled North Korea were all intelligent. It was not wise to look down upon the North Koreans.

‘Chae Myung Sun.’

The current head of department, Chae Myung Sun, wasn’t to be messed with.

James Bungee was a terrorist disguised as an activist. He received money for providing his services. And the services he provided were to manipulate the media in order to impair the industrial development of competing countries. In that sense, James Bungee was the pioneer of the environmental terrorist business.

And it wasn’t long ago since he started being noticed.

“There are rumors about how a substantial amount of nuclear fuel has ended up in the black market. But according to the IAEA, there are no records of it.”

IAEA’s control over nuclear fuel was astronomical. That meant they had enough power to threaten the sovereign power of the related countries.

“And then a scientist succeeded in backtracking the nuclear fear. The problem started after that.”

The origin of the nuclear fuel was Russia. To be more precise, it was disposed of during the days of the Soviet Union. But if it was just Russia, the problem would have just ended there.

“The nuclear fuel that had been recorded as disposed of in India, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even England, France, and Spain, were detected.”

The international nuclear fuel agency was in for trouble.

And they found out after re-inspecting the radioactive waste disposal sites all over the world. They had never entered the facilities. There were records, but no waste. If that was the case, where did the nuclear waste disappear to?

“The Indian ocean.”

“To be more exact, it’s the ocean near Somalia.”

“Just Somalia? They probably spread it all over the ocean where it wasn’t being monitored.”

It was true.

Many countries had disposed of nuclear wastes in the oceans of other countries. And it wasn’t just nuclear waste. If people knew just how much waste was going in the ocean, they would be shocked.

“James Bungee is fishing out the nuclear waste that was disposed of a long time ago. As an environmental activist. But...”

“Something doesn’t add up.”

“It doesn’t. He’s not someone who could lead such a big business. It’s not like environmental organizations are stupid, so they definitely would have found out. But there’s no commotion. There must be a big tycoon behind it. It’s not you, is it, Soo Ho?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Whoa, whoa! I’m just asking.”

There was a huge gap between leading environmental protests and fishing out nuclear waste and selling it in the black market. In order to collect radioactive materials, he needed experts, and that kind of support didn’t come cheap.

There were ranks even among criminals.

“Has the arrest been deferred?”

“It could become a headache if there’s someone else behind it.”

“Well... do your best.”

As soon as Ahn Soo Ho shrugged, Aquilan widened his eyes.

“Hirukawa Mai.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb, Soo Ho. I already checked.”

He replayed the CCTV footages from various angles.

“Why are you monitoring her?”

“It was someone’s request.”

Ahn Soo Ho gave up on acting innocent. He had no reason to hide it either.

“You seem to be quite close.”

“Don’t even think about arresting her.”

“Do you think she’s innocent?”

“He’s just using the innocent girl as a shield.”

It was common for honest people to be at a loss. People thought smart people wouldn’t get conned, but once a person let his or her guard down, it was possible for anyone to get caught. There wasn’t a single criminal that walked around with a sign on their forehead.

As soon as the morning sun started shining through the window, Ahn Soo Ho got up.

“I’ll give you 4 days, Roberto. If you don’t resolve it by then, then I’ll use my own methods.”

He chose a method with the least amount of side effects, but it came with many obstacles. If that was the case, he had to go back to his old ways.

‘If you get caught monkeying around, you’ll get your wrist sliced off.’

< Protect – Episode 224 – Green Peace [3] > The end.