Chapter 136: Time for the Left Behind Part 1

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

Amon immediately moved to recruit the next member.

“Are you awake?”

“Where am I?”

“Don’t worry. You’re in the hospital.”

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

“I just wanted to try it out.”

Amon, who had just visited Sunwoo after transferring from the intensive care unit to a regular hospital room, had borrowed a doctor’s gown purely for fun.

And to match Amon’s playful mood, Sunhwa was dressed as a nurse.

“Why are you…”

No, sigh…

There were many things she wanted to ask, but due to the painkillers, she couldn’t form coherent sentences.

To help Sunwoo, Sunhwa began explaining the situation.

After the disappearance of the Sword Guild, the siblings had nowhere to go, so Amon suggested joining the Special Operations Team.

Not wanting to become a monster like the man who had been both a teacher and a gang leader, she decided she wanted to join the Special Operations Team, where rules under the name of faith existed.

And she wanted her younger brother to join her as well.

“I found discipline in my sword. What about you?”

Upon hearing her suggestion, Sunwoo took a brief moment to think.

He then nodded, indicating his agreement.

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

Having swung his sword with vague longing, anger, and a thirst for revenge, Sunwoo seemed to have been deeply affected by the gang leader’s end.

Thus, the siblings joined Amon’s team.

The Special Operations Team, which had only been a name until now, began to take shape.

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

“Are both of you not wanted or anything like that, right?”

Amon, who had been particularly concerned about their past involvement in assassination, asked carefully.

No matter how much they contributed in this incident, Amon wasn’t about to cleanse their dark past for them.

Fortunately, the siblings had lived by their swords but hadn’t killed unnecessarily.

“I only hunted criminals. I did assassinate, but it was all for criminals.”

As for Sunhwa, she only drew her sword to deal with criminals that the judicial system couldn’t touch.

“I was an apprentice. The last Hunt Legion mission was my first mission as an assassin. As you can see.”

Sunwoo simply hadn’t had the opportunity.

After confirming their clean pasts, Amon decided to accept the siblings.

However, since they had worked as assassins in the past, Amon wanted to use this opportunity to cleanse their past through a ceremony.

“Then, this is our first team meal.”

Amon, who had Sunwoo, wrapped in bandages, in a wheelchair, headed to a restaurant with the key players of the incident.

***

The siblings stopped in front of the restaurant sign, staring at it in confusion.

“Mapo… tofu?”

“A specialty store…?”

The two looked at Amon, asking for an explanation.

Amon shrugged.

“Isn’t it normal to eat tofu when you’re released from prison?”

“Isn’t that usually white tofu?”

“White tofu only? It tasted bad.”

Amon had once eaten tofu after being released, and it didn’t taste good, so he personally sought out a master’s tofu to try.

The conclusion was that it wasn’t that tasty either.

Although many praised it as very tasty in Joseon, compared to the memories of his past life, it was of quite poor quality tofu.

Perhaps the environmental pollution had made the water bad, and thus, the tofu tasted bad.

Tofu connoisseur Amon thought so.

“That’s why I went for Mapo tofu.”

So, he changed his mind.

‘If white tofu tasted bad, shouldn’t the flavor be hidden with seasoning?’

That’s why Amon chose Mapo tofu.

‘If this doesn’t taste good, I guess I’ll have to find soft tofu stew.’

Seeing Amon’s strange obsession with tofu, Sonia and Cassie gave bitter smiles.

“Well, there was that time he got obsessed with pork belly too.”

“I think I just looked for side dishes back in my day.”

For Sonia and Cassie, who were used to Amon’s random foodie pursuits after missions, this wasn’t too surprising.

Compared to them, Sunwoo and Sunhwa, who didn’t know Amon well yet, were unable to follow his logic.

‘Could it be that Amon was mistaken?’

Sunhwa checked Amon’s knowledge.

“You’re not thinking that tofu is like the wine or rice cakes from Joseon, are you?”

“Of course not. White tofu is for cleansing your past sins and being reborn as a new person.”

“Then why Mapo tofu? That’s red.”

“Isn’t the inside white?”

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

“Oh, Joseon’s language is hard.”

“Bastard.”

“Cursing is bad, Sunhwa-sis.”

***

Just the day before, Amon had been a reliable believer, but now, he had turned into an annoying foreigner.

Sunwoo muttered while pressing his throbbing forehead.

“Prince Heungseon, you were right.”

“Ah, Cheokhwabi is bad. In the Global era, how can we talk about Cheokhwabi?”

“Hey, honestly, are you Joseon mixed blood?”

“I was an orphan the moment I was born.”

“…Sorry.”

Amon, who had taken out his invincible Talulla shield, left Sunwoo speechless.

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

Sonia and Cassie followed, expecting a culinary experience from Joseon, and the three other team members also went to the restaurant without any suspicion.

Finally, the priest, who tilted his head slightly, muttered to himself, “Hm. I know this is a pretty difficult dish. I wonder if they’ll be okay.”

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

It was a dish originating from Sichuan province in China, known for its spicy food, and now it had spread worldwide, with recipes changing in different places.

He also remembered that in Joseon, the original taste had mostly disappeared, and now the dish had been altered so much that it was hard to tell what it was.

Lastly, even Koreans, who were good with spicy food, considered Mapo tofu to be extremely spicy.

‘I bought some stomach medicine just in case.’

Surely, nothing will happen.

With an optimistic thought, the priest headed for the restaurant.

***

“So, the others are in the emergency room and couldn’t come, is that it?”

Inside the annex of Gyeomgye Palace, temporarily designated as the Crown Prince’s office after the incident, Amon nodded to the Crown Prince, who couldn’t believe the report that had come in.

“My colleagues turned out to be more sensitive to spicy food than I thought.”

There was one fact Amon had overlooked.

The difference in the spice threshold between Koreans and Westerners.

For Koreans, kimchi, which was eaten like pickles, was difficult for Westerners to handle.

‘I’m fine because of the software.’

Although Amon, being Western, had no problem with it, his team members weren’t aware of this and had gulped down the tofu, only to end up getting their stomachs pumped.

Naturally, the Crown Prince couldn’t believe the absurd report at face value.

“Isn’t it enough to just not eat it if it’s bad? Why would you go through the trouble of eating it and end up in the emergency room?”

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

The siblings had been brought along to signify closing the past, but others mistook it for a ritual for joining the special forces, so they tried to finish it out of courtesy.

“Isn’t there something like the path of martyrdom? I think they mistook me for trying to replace it with food.”

The result was collective fainting and stomach washing, and Sunwoo, who witnessed it firsthand, burst out laughing, only to reopen his wound and be readmitted to the hospital.

Then, while they were in the bathroom, the group fainted, and Sunhwa, who saw her younger sibling’s stomach burst, suspected poisoning by the store owner and drew her sword, only to be imprisoned.

Finally, Lee Hyun, who had been in the emergency room taking care of his possible love interest, couldn’t make it here.

“That’s how it went.”

After hearing Amon’s explanation, the Crown Prince still couldn’t believe it and cross-verified the information he had obtained through various channels.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept that this unbelievable reality was true.

“I see. So, can we postpone discussing this incident for later?”

“No. You can tell me everything.”

After all, the main players in this incident were all planning to switch their affiliations to the Vatican.

In response to Amon’s answer, which carried that meaning, the Crown Prince gave a bitter smile.

“I see. What about Hyun?”

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 Levi had accepted the prince’s heart, leading the prince to decide to leave Joseon for love.

To help his younger sibling escape from the political scene, he had removed his claim to the throne.

However, thinking that his younger sibling would leave Joseon, the Crown Prince couldn’t hide his bitterness.

Seeing the Crown Prince no longer hiding his true feelings for his younger sibling, Amon continued speaking, pretending not to notice anything.

“Anyway, I was hoping you could help with the nationality change for these three people.”

Amon took out the documents containing the personal details of Sunwoo, Sunhwa, and Lee Hyun.

These were the papers created the previous day when the Squinting priest in the emergency room had started typing on a laptop while covered in a blanket on his knee.

“Don’t you have any human heart?!”

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

Amon handed the completed documents to the Crown Prince.

Normally, this kind of thing would be handled by an administrative office, but given the status of the three people, power was needed to finalize it without any issues.

The Crown Prince looked down at the documents, deep in thought, before nodding.

“I understand. Nationally, I’d like to keep you all here, but personally, considering your merits, I’ll let you go.”

At that, Amon nodded contentedly and said, “Then, would you mind sending the people over?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Well, it’s just that the people from the Office of Special Affairs are a bit scary, you know, with their swords drawn from the ceiling and all. I was worried you might want to kill them instead of sending them away.”

Amon said this with a good-natured smile.

The Crown Prince’s eyebrows twitched.

“How did you know?”

“I heard some distorted bird sounds from the eaves. The only people who could do such things near you would be from the Office of Special Affairs.”

“Is that possible?”

“I learned it from the Sword Guild.”

The Crown Prince gave Amon a meaningful glance.

However, Amon merely continued to smile and respond to him.

In the end, the Crown Prince let out a deep sigh and agreed to send the people over.

“Sigh… I hope you don’t misunderstand, but I didn’t keep you as an enemy. It’s just that it was right after that incident, so I hope you understand that the palace is a bit sensitive right now.”

Of course, Amon didn’t believe those words entirely.

The Crown Prince was kind enough to care for his younger sibling, but that didn’t mean he lacked a thirst for power.

If he were entirely without that, he wouldn’t have ordered the extermination of his own younger sibling and maternal relatives without blinking an eye.

Therefore, if needed, the Crown Prince might have had plans to kill Amon and keep Sunwoo and Sunhwa as his inner circle.

However, considering Amon’s position at the Vatican and his combat abilities, such a plan wouldn’t be practical, so he had abandoned it.

‘Favor comes from power.’

Amon graciously accepted the Crown Prince’s favor.

“I understand, Your Highness. And I appreciate the favor.”

The Crown Prince didn’t hide his exhaustion when Amon used the word ‘favor.’

“Are you really a priest? I don’t know why this conversation is so tiring. It feels like talking to an old minister.”

“I would prefer to focus on my religious life. Besides, I’m not very good at politics.”

In truth, Amon’s political skills weren’t that remarkable.

This conversation was possible because he had received some outside assistance from Cassie’s abilities.

If she hadn’t told him, he wouldn’t have understood the Crown Prince’s intentions at all.

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

“Right. I know you don’t want to get involved in Joseon politics, so there’s no need to be humble.”

The head of the special forces couldn’t possibly lack political skills.

The Crown Prince, who believed in his own competence, assumed the same about his counterpart, thus overestimating Amon.

In the end, Amon gave up trying to persuade the Crown Prince and continued the conversation.

“We’ve discussed the fate of the three people, so now let’s talk about the merits.”

“I received the letter you sent earlier. You’re collaborating with the Chumon Group to create your swordsmanship? You want to review the sword styles of the court?”

Some of the swordsmanship sold by the Chumon Group was used by special forces or the military.

These swords were classified, making it difficult for outsiders to access them, but Amon was requesting access.

It could look like he was preparing a rebellion against the court, but the Crown Prince accepted the request without hesitation.

“If you had any rebellious intentions, you would have already killed me.”

While suspicion is natural among royalty, excessive suspicion is not wise, and the Crown Prince was not foolish enough to doubt Amon to that extent.

“Also, your requests for the Reketio Group’s expansion into Joseon, tax reductions for the Pure Water Project, and support for the Vatican Special Forces’ activities in East Asia… you’re asking for quite a lot.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Except for this one, I’ll grant everything.”

The Crown Prince pointed to the corner of the document, where the request for Hanwoo regular supply was listed.

Amon’s eyebrows twitched at the rejection of what he thought was the most important item.

“Why is this…?”

“You have plenty of money, don’t you? Just buy it yourself. This is a diplomatic document, not a joke.”

“In the West, this is a common contract method.”

Amon wasn’t joking.

In the West, it was common for companies or individuals to include services, such as tickets to events or phone repair services, along with cash or goods in contracts.

So, Amon’s request for Hanwoo was completely reasonable.

However, the Crown Prince was firm.

“That’s the West. This is Joseon. Don’t make jokes like this in diplomatic documents.”

“I’m serious.”

“Still, it’s not happening.”

“Hmph…”

In the end, Amon couldn’t achieve his most important goal and had no choice but to sign the documents.