Chapter 87: < Protect – Episode 86 – Taken [2] >
Ahn Soo Ho got on a plane to Europe by himself.
Since he didn’t have an entourage, he didn’t need to go in a private jet. Since J-Law and Issac were in the middle of a war in Europe, he didn’t want to bring Alexa, Kosino, or Logan to Europe. In movies and dramas, there were scenes of men in 1st cla.s.s seats luring the stewardesses, but that was all bullc.r.a.p.
There was no such thing. If a person would try to make a move on one of them, that person would be locked in a solitary room for the rest of the trip. The flight he booked wasn’t headed straight to Italy, but it went through Dubai with the destination being Napoli. The city that was built by Ancient Greece became one that wasn’t excluded from Italy’s history for hundreds of years to come.
Italy was a developed country that was included in the G7, but the difference between the poor and the rich was so drastic that the north and south seemed like two different countries. The Italian government worked hard to target mafias, but just like it had always been, the law was far and fists were near in reality. Camorra, which didn’t care about what was legal or illegal, went after rights and interests and maintained strong relationships with those in politics.
They pretended they didn’t know anything, but it was hard to find any powerful person who wasn’t related to the mafia. The reason why Ahn Soo Ho went to Napoli before Milan was because he needed to find out the ident.i.ty of the broker involved. It was simpler to get Alexa or Kosino to do it, but considering the chaos that might ensue on sight, it was wiser to get friendly with those in power here.
The nearby countries of France, Germany, Spain, and England were going through all sorts of terror incidents. Similar events occurred in North America as well, but Europe inevitably lost a lot of tourists as a result. Despite that fact, Italy was still booming.
Following the Roman Era, Italy was full of pride due to the fact that they led the arts of Europe. When Ahn Soo Ho came out of customs, the airport police was waiting for him. Those pa.s.sing by glanced at Ahn Soo Ho.
“What a grand way to welcome someone.”
“We should have brought an army, but we toned it down.”
“So are you going to arrest me?”
“No, not yet.”
A man in a suit pushed through the police and stepped up to the front. He didn’t seem friendly, but it didn’t look like he was going to do anything by force either. This was his way of displaying his authority. And that mood turned into a more favorable one in no time.
“You still haven’t given up, Roberto.”
“Give up? That word doesn’t exist in my dictionary, Soo Ho.”
Roberto Aquilan was a prosecutor who had been making a lot of effort to prosecute Ahn Soo Ho.
“When will the powerful men of all countries stop helping you? Your popularity won’t last forever.”
“Who knows? One thing’s for sure. I’ll live longer than you, Roberto.”
He was fifteen years older than Ahn Soo Ho. When they got to the taxi stop, Roberto called over the police.
“Is Alexa doing well?”
“That’s the first thing you should have said, my friend.”
Roberto probably rushed over just so he could hear about Alexa.
“She’s doing well. She’s actually very bright and cheerful now.”
“That’s good.”
“If you’re curious, you should have visited.”
He shut his mouth in response to what Ahn Soo Ho said.
His face suddenly looked guilty. Roberto wanted to send Ahn Soo Ho to trial, but due to those in power who also needed him, it didn’t work out every time. The Ahn Soo Ho that Roberto knew was a cruel murderer who needed to be punished, but the world needed him.
They first got to know each other over ten years ago during a human trafficking case in northern Europe. Roberto was working with the UN at the time, and Ahn Soo Ho received a job from the EU asking him to chase down those who were involved. Then what about Alexa? She was one of the victims of that human trafficking case.
“I don’t think I’m wrong.”
Justice didn’t exist to protect just one person. That was why Roberto believed. Ahn Soo Ho didn’t hate him. He tried to get in the way every time, but it wasn’t anything personal. In some ways, they knew each other better than anyone.
“You don’t have to explain it to me.”
“I guess you’re right.”
Roberto let out a bitter laugh. There was a boundary line between them, so it was difficult to describe their relationship as more than what it seemed.
“Don’t forget that I’m always watching, Soo Ho.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Ahn Soo Ho responded in a playful manner to his threat and hailed down a taxi. After seeing the taxi took off, Roberto took out his phone.
“It’s me. Yes, yes. It seems like he’s just here for personal matters. Even if we put a guy on him, he’ll get away. It might be better to just use a drone. Yes, Sir.”
After ending the call, Roberto sighed deeply.
‘I hope it works out this time.’
He had always been on Ahn Soo Ho’s tail, but due to the current events of Europe, he didn’t have time to worry about that. Roberto didn’t want to acknowledge it. But Ahn Soo Ho’s retirement definitely had a negative effect on the world.
‘He’s necessary evil…’
Ahn Soo Ho’s taxi headed toward northern Napoli. After hearing the destination of the foreigner that got in his taxi, the taxi driver tried to dissuade him from it. That was because that region was crime-ridden and not even the residents of Napoli wanted to go there. As soon as the taxi driver dropped him off, he took off quickly. In order to avoid any conflicts, he used his power to not be acknowledged.
The eyes of the people were easy to trick.
Even though this was a crime-ridden region, there weren’t drug addicts shooting guns everywhere like Brazil. Shooting someone right until they die wasn’t a dignified thing to do. Mafias didn’t just go around killing everyone. They actually followed a strict procedure.
The legendary Al Capone of Chicago was actually looked down upon in Northern Europe where he was originally from. Al Capone’s disloyal methods toward his members were looked down upon by the traditional mafias that stressed the importance of family.
It was true that the mafias were extorting protection tax. However, there were times when mafias held hands with small businesses and stopped policies that harmed them in any way. They weren’t just using fear, but they also did image-making to make themselves needed.
‘They know how to use their heads.’
The currently most famous mafia in the entire world was a Russian gang called Red Mafia, but it was internally unstable, and there was no telling how it would change. But it was different for Italian mafias. They had respect and traditions to uphold, so no matter how rich a leader was, they had to be more loyal than anything.
People might ask what was the point of tradition and respect in mafias, but there were rules in the criminal world as well. It was especially wrong to cause an accident in someone else’s region. Unless they wanted to stay at war, they steered clear of other organizations’ land.
Ahn Soo Ho found a shabby café.
It almost didn’t need a sign since there were no tourists or neighborhood customers. Even before he opened the door, he smelled the scent of espresso. Italians habitually insisted that Americano wasn’t a real coffee.
Ding-
The old bell on the door made a clear sound. Since there weren’t many Asians in this area of Napoli, a lot of people looked his way. The barista, who was cleaning gla.s.ses, either smiled or frowned and greeted the Asian guest.
“Sir, it’s best that you leave before something bad happens to you.”
The barista spoke English in a way that wasn’t fluent but easy to understand. He was just trying to do the right thing, but he didn’t know that the tourist wasn’t just an ordinary man.
“An espresso.”
“Sir?”
“Don’t worry about me and get me an espresso.”
The barista was startled by Ahn Soo Ho’s clean Italian accent.
“Are you an immigrant?”
Italy also became a major immigrant country with over 5 million immigrants. So it wasn’t weird for an Asian Italian to exist. Ahn Soo Ho just smiled. Was that his answer? The barista no longer told him to leave. Thanks to his fluent Italian, people started to pay less attention to him.
If he was Italian, he would have known the currency, so they probably judged that they couldn’t rip Ahn Soo Ho off. But there were always exceptions. A man with his hair pushed back approached Ahn Soo Ho.
“My name is Alfonzo. My friends call me Al.”
The big-eyed man got close to him.
“Where are you from?”
“Korea.”
“Korea? North or South?”
It was already impressive that he knew that Korea was separated into north and south. Koreans didn’t know this, but there were more people in the world who didn’t know Korea than those who did. When a person asked Europeans about Asia, China was the first country to pop up, and the second was j.a.pan since they were a major country during World War II.
After that was either North Korea or South Korea.
Was that embarra.s.sing? Not at all. Korea should actually be proud of it. That was because Korea hadn’t been known to Europe for a long time. On the other hand, when Koreans were asked about Europe, they knew England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Greece, but they didn’t know Andorra or Liechtenstein.
“Korea song? K-pop? I like K-pop.”
“Really? You have a unique taste.”
What he noticed in Europe before his retirement was that not many liked K-Pop here.
“I even went to a K-Pop concert in Paris. I want to visit that country one day.”
The way he dressed made him look like a thug, but he acted like a close friend. It wasn’t easy to do this during the first meeting. The northern Italians were cold at first, but once they got close to a person, they were willing to do anything for that person.
“Did you immigrate here from Korea then?”
“No.”
“No? But you just…”
“That man just a.s.sumed.”
The barista was simply fooled by his fluent Italian. Ahn Soo Ho chugged his espresso and wrapped his arm around Alfonzo.
“You work for Camorra, don’t you?”
Alfonzo was startled by what Ahn Soo Ho said. His eyes lost their focus as a result.
“Take me to your base.”
Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t here to fight.
He was trying to resolve everything with words. The base was located at a ma.s.sage parlor located at an inn. Tourists who enjoyed adventure and thrill liked to go to brothels where anything was possible as long as they paid money. The ones in Rio, Brazil looked horrible from the outside, but the one here looked like a simple residential building.
“Al?”
“We have a guest. Where’s our leader?”
“Upstairs.”
The man in front of Ahn Soo Ho stepped aside after receiving a signal from Alfonzo. The 1st and 2nd floors were a bar, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors were a brothel. Ahn Soo Ho tilted his head while heading upstairs. The Camorra he knew didn’t have such a large brothel.
‘Probably because there were many crackdowns and it’s perceived to be dishonorable.’
In Italy where most were Catholics, they looked down on prost.i.tution more than drugs. They were better off managing a high-cla.s.s escort service related to a motel agency than operate a brothel. As a result, the Italian prost.i.tution market got handed over from northern Europe to immigrants.
‘What is this?’
Did their rules change? He found out once he met the leader.
“Luca?”
“Soo Ho?”
Why was the number 3 of Camorra’s opposing criminal organization, Ndrangheta here? Ahn Soo Ho’s surprise didn’t end there.
A man was a total mess and tied to a chair.
A bunch of women was trembling in the corner.
He didn’t know the women, but the beat up man looked familiar.
“Han Kyung Il?”
Han Kyung Il, Ahn Soo Ho’s Naval Academy cla.s.smate and a member of the sworn brothers. He heard from Choi Jung Yeon that he transferred to Italy.
‘What is a diplomat doing here?’
< Protect – Episode 86 – Taken [2] > The end.