Ch.136136. Time for Those Left Behind

A few days after Sunhwa joined Amon’s Special Operations Division.

Amon immediately moved to recruit the next member.

“Are you conscious now?”

“Where am I?”

“Don’t worry. This is a hospital.”

“I can see that. But why are you wearing a doctor’s gown?”

“I just wanted to try it on.”

Amon had visited Sunwoo, who had just been transferred from intensive care to a regular ward.

Borrowing a doctor’s gown was purely his mischief.

And Sunhwa wearing a nurse’s uniform to match Amon’s prank was just a bonus.

“Why is my sister also… no, sigh…”

He had many questions, but perhaps due to the painkillers, he couldn’t form sentences properly in his head.

For Sunwoo’s benefit, Sunhwa explained everything from the beginning.

With the Sword Circle gone, Amon had offered the siblings, who had nowhere else to go, positions in the Special Operations Division.

She didn’t want to become a monster like their master and leader, so she chose to join the Special Operations Division where discipline existed in the name of faith.

And she wanted her brother to join her.

“I found discipline for my sword. What do you think?”

At her suggestion, Sunwoo took a brief moment to consider.

Soon, Sunwoo nodded in affirmation.

“I’ll go with you. I don’t want to walk toward destruction like that person.”

Having wielded his sword out of vague admiration, anger, and vengeance until now, Sunwoo seemed to have learned much from their leader’s demise.

That’s how the siblings came to join under Amon’s command.

It was the moment when the Special Operations Division, which had been a name only, was gradually taking shape.

However, there was one thing to confirm before accepting them.

“Are either of you wanted by the authorities or anything like that?”

Given their past involvement with the Sword Circle’s assassination work, this was something Amon was particularly concerned about.

Despite their contributions in the recent incident, he had no intention of washing away their dark past.

Fortunately, while the siblings had made their living with swords, they hadn’t unnecessarily taken lives.

“I only hunted criminals. I did assassinations, but only targeted criminals.”

In Sunhwa’s case, she had only drawn her sword to deal with evildoers who were difficult for the judicial system to handle.

“I was an apprentice. The Hunt Legion mission was my first assignment as an assassin. And well, you can see how that turned out.”

Sunwoo simply hadn’t had the opportunity.

After confirming their clean past, Amon decided to accept the two.

However, separate from that, since the two had been involved in assassination work, Amon wanted to hold a ceremony to put the past behind them.

“So this is our first team dinner.”

Amon, pushing Sunwoo in a wheelchair with bandages around his stomach, left the hospital and headed to a restaurant with the key figures from the recent incident.

The siblings stopped in front of the restaurant sign and read it with bewilderment.

“Mapo… tofu?”

“Specialty restaurant…?”

The two looked at Amon with eyes demanding an explanation.

Amon shrugged.

“Aren’t you supposed to eat tofu when you get out of prison?”

“Isn’t that usually plain white tofu?”

“I found plain white tofu tasteless.”

After being released from prison last time, he found the tofu tasteless, so he personally sought out tofu made by a master.

The conclusion was that even that wasn’t particularly delicious.

Although it was highly regarded in Joseon, compared to his memories from his previous life, it was quite crude in quality.

Perhaps the water quality had deteriorated due to environmental pollution, affecting the taste of tofu.

Amon, the tofu sommelier, thought so.

“So I went with mapo tofu.”

So he changed his approach.

If white tofu was tasteless, why not cover the taste with seasoning?

That’s why Amon sought out mapo tofu.

‘If this isn’t tasty either, I’ll have to try sundubu jjigae.’

Seeing Amon’s strange obsession with tofu, Sonia and Kathy smiled bitterly.

“Well, he was like this when he got fixated on samgyeopsal before.”

“I remember when I joined, he was obsessed with ssam vegetables.”

For the two who were used to Amon’s culinary explorations that emerged randomly after cases, this wasn’t particularly surprising.

In contrast, Sunwoo and Sunhwa, who didn’t know Amon well yet, couldn’t follow his logic.

Wondering if Amon might be confused, Sunhwa checked his knowledge.

“You don’t think tofu is like Joseon’s wine or rice cakes, do you?”

“Of course not. Isn’t it about eating white tofu to cleanse past sins and be reborn as a new person?”

“Then why mapo tofu? That’s red.”

“But the inside is white, isn’t it?”

“Hey, you just want to eat mapo tofu, don’t you?”

“Oh, Joseon language is difficult.”

“You bastard.”

“Swearing is bad, Ms. Sunhwa.”

“…”

Just the day before, he had been a dependable believer, but now there was an annoying foreigner in his place.

Sunwoo rubbed his throbbing forehead and muttered.

“Lord Heungseon Daewongun. You were right.”

“Oh my. The anti-foreign stele is bad. How can you mention that in the G-lobal era?”

“Hey, be honest. You’re mixed Joseon, aren’t you?”

“I was an orphan from birth.”

“…Sorry.”

When Amon deployed his invincible orphan shield, Sunwoo was left speechless.

In the end, the siblings couldn’t overcome Amon’s logic and were dragged to the mapo tofu restaurant.

Sonia and Kathy followed, looking forward to trying Joseon cuisine, and the three Net Walker siblings also headed to the restaurant without any suspicion.

Finally, the squinty-eyed priest muttered with a tilted head,

“Hmm. I know this is quite a challenging dish, I wonder if it’ll be okay?”

The priest, who had traveled the world and gained various knowledge, recalled a few facts about mapo tofu.

Namely, it originated from Sichuan province in China, known for its particularly spicy food, and has now spread worldwide with modified recipes.

Namely, in Joseon, the authentic taste has been lost, and it varies greatly from restaurant to restaurant, making it hard to know what’s what.

Lastly, even Joseon people, who handle spicy food well, classify it as a spicy dish.

‘Well, I did buy stomach medicine just in case.’

What could possibly go wrong?

With such optimistic thoughts, the priest headed to the restaurant.

***

“So, the others couldn’t come because they’re in the emergency room?”

In the separate palace of Gyeongbokgung, temporarily designated as the Crown Prince’s office after the incident.

The Crown Prince, unable to believe the report, repeatedly confirmed it with Amon, who nodded.

“My colleagues were weaker to spicy food than I expected.”

There was a fact Amon had overlooked.

The fact that the spice threshold differs between Joseon people and Westerners.

The fact that kimchi, which Joseon people eat like pickled radish, is very difficult for Westerners to eat.

‘I was fine because of my software.’

While Amon, a Westerner himself, ate it well, the other members, not knowing this, gulped down the tofu and collectively ended up getting their stomachs pumped.

Naturally, the Crown Prince didn’t readily believe this absurd report.

“Normally, if something is too spicy, one would stop eating, right? What’s the reason for eating it and then going to the emergency room?”

“I think they thought it was some kind of ritual.”

He had taken the siblings there to put the past behind them, but the others misunderstood it as an initiation ritual for joining the Special Operations Division and tried to finish their meals out of courtesy.

“You know, like the pilgrimage of martyrs. I think they misunderstood that I was trying to replace that with food.”

The price was collective fainting and stomach pumping, and Sunwoo, who witnessed this, burst into laughter and reopened his abdominal wound, leading to his readmission.

And Sunhwa, who returned from the bathroom to find everyone collapsed and her brother with a burst wound, suspected the restaurant owner of poisoning and drew her sword, resulting in her arrest.

Finally, Hyun couldn’t come because he was taking care of his crush(?) in the emergency room.

“That’s what happened.”

After hearing Amon’s explanation, the Crown Prince still couldn’t believe it and cross-verified information from various sources.

In the end, he had to accept that this unbelievable reality was true.

“I understand. So we’ll postpone the discussion about this incident?”

“No. You can tell everything to me.”

After all, all the key figures in this incident are planning to change their affiliation to the Vatican.

Hearing Amon’s response with such meaning, the Crown Prince smiled bitterly.

“Is that so? Hyun too?”

Amon nodded.

Prince Hyun had also decided to change his affiliation to Amon’s side.

During this incident, they had gone through thick and thin together, and the hacker girl Levy had accepted the prince’s feelings, leading the prince to decide to leave Joseon for love.

He had removed his brother’s right to succession to free him from politics.

But now that his brother was leaving Joseon, the Crown Prince couldn’t hide his bitterness.

Seeing the Crown Prince no longer hiding his genuine feelings for his brother, Amon continued the conversation, pretending not to notice.

“So, I’d like your help with changing the nationality of these three people.”

Amon pulled out documents containing the personal information of Sunwoo, Sunhwa, and Hyun.

These were documents created the previous day by the squinty-eyed priest, who had been typing on a laptop with a blanket over his knees in the emergency room.

– “Do you have no heart!?”

The squinty-eyed priest had cried out, but the father, who had always felt sorry for his daughter and son-in-law, ultimately followed the instructions.

Amon handed the completed documents to the Crown Prince.

Normally, such matters would be entrusted to an administrative office, but given the status of the three individuals, power was needed to resolve it without complications.

The Crown Prince, lost in thought, looked down at the documents and eventually nodded.

“I understand. Nationally, we’d like to keep you all, but considering your personal contributions, I’ll let you go.”

Amon nodded with satisfaction toward the Crown Prince and said,

“Then could you please call off your people now?”

“…What do you mean?”

“It’s quite frightening to have Uigeumbu people drawing swords and watching from the ceiling. I was worried you might be planning to kill us all if we didn’t let them go.”

Amon said this with a friendly smile.

The Crown Prince’s eyebrow twitched.

“How did you know?”

“The bird sounds from the eaves sounded a bit distorted. And the only people I could think of who could do this around Your Highness were the Uigeumbu.”

“Is that even possible?”

“I learned it from the Sword Circle.”

The Crown Prince gave Amon a meaningful look.

But Amon continued to respond to the Crown Prince with an unchanging smile.

In the end, the Crown Prince sighed deeply and called off his people.

“Haah… I say this to avoid misunderstanding, but I didn’t place them there out of hostility toward you. It’s because of the recent incident. I hope you understand that the palace is sensitive right now.”

Of course, Amon didn’t take those words at face value.

While the Crown Prince was kind enough to care for his youngest brother, that didn’t mean he lacked ambition.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ordered the execution of his own brother and maternal relatives without blinking an eye.

Therefore, if necessary, he might have considered killing Amon to keep Sunwoo and Sunhwa as his close aides.

However, when weighing Amon’s position in the Vatican and his combat ability, it simply wasn’t worth it, so he abandoned the plan.

‘Goodwill comes from strength.’

Amon gratefully accepted the Crown Prince’s goodwill.

“I understand, Your Highness. And I appreciate your goodwill.”

At Amon’s deliberate use of the word ‘goodwill’, the Crown Prince didn’t hide his fatigue.

“Are you really a priest? I don’t know why talking with you is so exhausting. It feels like conversing with elderly ministers.”

“I’d like to focus solely on religious life if I could. Besides, I’m not particularly well-versed in politics.”

In reality, Amon’s political skills weren’t that exceptional.

Even this conversation was possible because of Kathy’s crash course; without her guidance, he wouldn’t have understood the Crown Prince’s intentions at all.

Of course, the Crown Prince didn’t believe that.

“Fine. I understand you don’t want to get involved in Joseon politics, so you don’t need to be modest.”

There’s no way the head of the Special Operations Division could lack political acumen.

The Crown Prince, being capable himself, tended to overestimate others, including Amon.

In the end, Amon gave up trying to convince the Crown Prince and moved on with the conversation.

“Now that we’ve discussed the disposition of the three individuals, let’s talk about the rewards.”

“I received the letter you sent in advance. You’re working with the Chumon Group to create your swordsmanship, right? And you want to access Joseon’s swordsmanship techniques for that?”

Among the swordsmanship techniques sold by the Chumon Group, some were supplied to special forces or military units.

Such techniques were secured and difficult for civilians or outsiders to access, but Amon was requesting this access.

It could potentially be seen as preparing for treason against the court.

But the Crown Prince readily accepted the request.

“If you had treasonous intentions, you would have already beheaded me.”

While suspicion is a royal trait, losing trust due to excessive suspicion isn’t wise.

And the Crown Prince wasn’t foolish enough to doubt what Amon had shown so far.

“Additionally, Requetio Group’s entry into Joseon, tax reduction for the water purification business, support for Vatican Special Bureau Division 11’s activities in East Asia… you’re asking for quite a lot.”

“Is it too much to ask?”

“I’ll grant everything except this.”

The Crown Prince pointed to a corner of the document filled with requests.

– Regular supply of Hanwoo beef.

Amon’s eyebrow twitched as the (most?) important item was rejected.

“Why this…?”

“Aren’t you wealthy? Buy it yourself. This is a diplomatic document. You’re not joking, are you?”

“This is a common contract practice in the West.”

It wasn’t a joke.

In the West, when companies or individuals contract, they often include services beyond cash or goods.

A company with a certain gray mouse might offer entry tickets to XX-ney World,

and phone companies might provide repair services and support for the latest phones in addition to the contract fee.

Therefore, Amon’s request for Hanwoo beef was perfectly reasonable.

However, the Crown Prince was firm.

“That’s in the West. This is Joseon. Don’t play such jokes in diplomatic documents.”

“I’m serious.”

“Still, no.”

“Hmph…”

In the end, Amon had to sign the document without achieving his most important goal.