“How amusing,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

This must be how the Americans welcomed their guest, then?

If so, it was pointless to try holding a civilized conversation, now wasn’t it?

However, just before Kang Jin-Ho could shatter John Factor’s jaw...!

“Hold your fire! I said, hold your goddamn fire! That’s the wrong target! Your target is that fat f*ck in his hand! I repeat, your target is that fat f*cking bastard! Lower your guns, now!”

The urgent call order coming from beyond the doorway prompted all the guns pointing at Kang Jin-Ho to point at the floor instead. Less than a second later, a man kitted out in a military uniform rushed inside at full tilt.

This man saw John Factor gripped in Kang Jin-Ho’s hand and scowled furiously.

“Mister Kang! Mister Jin-Ho Kang, please listen to me. My name is Willie Reese from the U.S. Department of Defense! Before you finish that stupid bastard off, I implore you to listen to what I have to say!”

Kang Jin-Ho smirked in amusement while studying the face of the soldier introducing himself as Willie Reese. “Department of Defense?”

“Yes! I know you’re confused by this situation, but I give you my word that we were not responsible for this mess, sir! That man was acting independently!”

Kang Jin-Ho’s head cocked to the side. “Are you thinking of throwing him under the bus?”

“Not at all, sir! We are genuinely regretful of offending you like this. Please find it in your heart to forgive us. I assure you, this situation was not what we intended.”

Lee Hyeon-Su furrowed his brow and stepped in. “Wait? Are you saying this guy is a fake CIA whatever?”

“Although it’s shameful to admit this, that man really is a CIA operative. It’s just that... Whew... This situation is a little too complicated to explain quickly. For now, I can only beg of you to accept our apology and entrust that bastard’s fate to us.”

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su glanced at each other. Rather fitting for a quick-witted man, Lee Hyeon-Su spoke in Korean first.

“That’s what he says, sir.”

“Mm...?”

“What should we do?”

“Hmph.”

Kang Jin-Ho stared at Willie Reese’s tense face before tossing John Factor to the floor.

Bang!

John Factor gripped his back and whimpered in pain after landing ungainly on the hard, cold floor.

“Hey, you! Drag his sorry ass out of here, now! If he resists, you have my permission to beat his ass up till he passes out! Goddamn motherf*cker! I always knew you’d cause us problems one of these days! Listen here, you f*ck! I dare you to resist! Please! So I can finally have an excuse for breaking your fat neck!”

Lee Hyeon-Su blinked his eyes while chuckling. Wow, would you look at that?

Willie Reese seemed this close to jumping on top of John Factor and bludgeon the latter to oblivion. If that was acting, then that man should just quit being a soldier and find a career in Hollywood instead. Every casting agent worth their salt would try to hire him with massive paychecks, after all!

The soldiers rushed around John Factor and grabbed him.

“What the f*ck! Let me go, you bastards! Or else, I will...”

Pow!

John Factor tried to say something, but his effort was rewarded with a gunstock ruthlessly slamming into his jaw. He instantly blacked out and slumped forward as the soldiers dragged him outside the restaurant.

Once the situation was sorted out, more or less, Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow and asked Willie Reese. “It doesn’t look like you’re filming a hidden camera skit, so what was that all about?”

Willie Reese sighed deeply. “To explain this mess, we’ll need a lot of time, but this place...”

The man from the DOD scanned his surroundings before spitting out yet another lengthy sigh.

“But that man sure picked a tasteless place for a conversation. Did he flush his taste down the toilet or something?”

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su clamped their mouths shut. They thought this restaurant was pretty nice, so maybe not saying anything right now was a good idea.

Willie Reese looked troubled as he addressed Kang Jin-Ho. “Although this place is not the best for a serious conversation, moving to another location after all that has happened seems out of the question now. Sir, do you mind if we stay here for a little while longer? Please. If you allow me, I’d like to explain what happened.”

Unlike John Factor, Willie Reese’s attitude was as polite as it could get.

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su glanced at each other while making weird, unreadable expressions, then nodded in sync.

***

“Okay, so...”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled in dismay at the explanation provided.

“That man was from the CIA.”

“...And that’s what’s been driving us up the wall, sir,” said Willie Reese with a deep sigh. “When nicely put, the CIA is an organization boasting impressive history and tradition. But when not so nicely put, it’s like a damn tumor filled with bastards who still think we’re stuck in the Cold War. They try to use explosives to fix something that dialogues could solve, and resort to snipers when one single email could have fixed everything.”

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced a little. “Are you sure you can talk about a sister organization from your own government that way?”

“It’s fine, sir. Nobody cares. Not as a joke, but in reality.”

“...?”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips curled up slightly. He still didn’t know who this Willie Reese truly was, but one thing was certain at this point. The man from the DOD was a rather amusing individual.

“Please accept our apologies, sir. As the CIA is officially in charge of handling information from overseas, we had no choice but to ask them to handle your information, as well. The task of contacting you was supposed to be ours, but that moron just had to...”

“So, he wanted to hog all the glory? Is that what you want to say?”

“Yes, sir.”

“...? With an attitude like that?”

“And that’s precisely why we were supposed to welcome you to our country. Because their way has ruined so many first encounters until now. That son of a b*tch...!”

Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes. “Then why are you still employing a man like that?”

“As absurd as it might sound, that style sometimes works, sir.”

“...”

“You might not believe me, but that moron has produced favorable outcomes for our side several times. It’s just that he did that by forcibly inserting himself into the negotiations. As a result, he couldn’t fix his bad habit and, well... We are now in this mess.”

“Hah...”

What an absurd story this was, but when Kang Jin-Ho thought about it, it didn’t seem so implausible anymore.

If it hadn’t been Kang Jin-Ho but some other person trying to endure John Factor’s ruthless pressure, would they be able to leave?

No, that would be absolutely impossible.

Lee Hyeon-Su could walk away without hesitation because Kang Jin-Ho was with him. If he hadn’t left and instead forced himself to sit here for a bit longer to appease the CIA operative’s mood, he might have witnessed the scene of Kang Jin-Ho utterly beating the living daylights out of John Factor and dragging that bastard around the... Sahara desert or something!

Imagine if it had been Wiggins instead of Kang Jin-Ho; he would’ve tried to sit through this nonsense right till the end somehow.

This was what it meant to deal with someone enjoying the backing of America.

Willie Reese cautiously spoke up. “Before any misunderstandings can develop, let me clarify something first, gentlemen. That bastard does not represent the United States of America. But he thinks he enjoys the same level of authority as the President of this country, even though he’s a mere middle management from an intelligence agency! Of course, he won’t be able to think that way anymore. That I assure you.”

Willie Reese’s glare sharpened coldly. From the light burning in his eyes, his determination to utterly destroy John Factor was clear enough to see.

Lee Hyeon-Su tilted his head. “I’m still a bit too shocked and don’t know what to say. How is such a thing even possible, though?”

“...Well, it’s maybe because the DOD and the CIA aren’t the best of buddies,” said Willie Reese.

“Really? I’ve heard about how the CIA and the FBI don’t see eye to eye, though.”

“It feels like we’re talking about embarrassing facts about my country, but yes. Our government departments historically never enjoyed great relationships.”

“Yet your government still chugs along somehow.”

“It’s the question of... workplace culture, I guess. If every department does their best in their tasks and produces the best-possible results, those at the top will collate those results and produce even better results... That is our unofficial motto, so to speak. But such a mindset will sometimes lead to an undesirable result like this, too.”

Willie Reese got up, then bowed deeply toward Kang Jin-Ho.

“Whatever our excuses are... Please, accept our sincerest apologies for offending you.”

Now that was a surprisingly Eastern-style apology. Either this man had studied a lot about Kang Jin-Ho prior to this meeting or he simply boasted a high degree of understanding of Eastern culture.

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed softly in relief while thinking that they were finally talking to an actual human being, not an as*hole.

Well, sure enough. Of course that John-whatever fella was the anomaly!

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at Willie Reese for a while before abruptly saying something.

“Smoke.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Do you mind if I smoke?”

“No, not at all. Go ahead, please.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled while mouthing a cigarette. He leisurely lit it up while narrowing his eyes. He had been thinking about breaking John Factor’s neck and even taking out all the agents hidden around this restaurant not too long ago, but that desire vanished without a trace after Willie Reese went out of his way to apologize.

The wise old ‘they’ once said that one apology could pay for the debt of a thousand gold; that saying must’ve come from examples like this one.

Lee Hyeon-Su muttered. “I’m still a bit flabbergasted. But listening to you, it kinda makes... No, it doesn’t make sense, but oddly enough, it does, in a way. What a strange situation this is.”

“I apologize.”

Lee Hyeon-Su casually waved his hand. “Nah, it’s fine. Besides, it sounds like you shouldn’t be the one apologizing, anyway.”

“Haaah, what an unenviable position that bastard has put us in...” Willie Reese groaned again and again. “Even Mister President is paying close attention to this matter, Mister Kang, Mister Lee. That was why the CIA had been repeatedly warned to keep that son of a b*tch under a tight leash, but this... Those f*ckers must’ve egged him on.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression cramped up. What the...? I’m not interested in your domestic affairs, okay? Why are you complaining about that to us?

Although it was rather... eye-opening to listen to this amusing topic, Lee Hyeon-Su had no desire to sit here and keep listening to an old uncle complain about his workplace. So, he sneakily changed the topic.

“Your side was planning to contact our Assembly Master?”

Willie Reese nodded affirmatively. “Yes, we were. We’ve been making preparations to welcome Mister Kang the moment he applied for a visa.”

“How come?”

Despite knowing the answer already, Lee Hyeon-Su had to ask. It was possible that the American way of thinking might differ from the Martial Assembly, after all.

“Of course we must make preparations. Why wouldn’t we, when such a bigshot is about to visit our country? Since you arrived with such a large company, we didn’t want to inconvenience you and left you alone. However, had it been only the two of you, we would have laid out the red carpet the moment you stepped out of the plane.”

Would you listen to that?

Leaving Kang Jin-Ho alone because of his company? That could only mean the Americans already knew about Kang Jin-Ho’s wish to hide his identity from the Seongsim kids. To think they would already possess information like that...!

Wasn’t this far too different from that John-whatever bastard was like?

Lee Hyeon-Su frowned. “Hold on. Didn’t you say the CIA is in charge of information coming from other countries?”

“Officially, yes. Officially. However, let’s not forget there are... issues of efficiency to consider in our line of work.”

When unpacked, Willie Reese was implying that the DOD had its own network of intelligence-gathering agents. But the American federal government’s structure meant they had to “officially” ask other departments for cooperation.

What the hell... Huh. I guess America is also not immune from a badly run government, then?

Then again, looking at the recent run of Presidents of the USA... They weren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, no?

“Let’s stop all this unnecessary preamble.”

Kang Jin-Ho, who had been silently listening while puffing away at his cigarette, suddenly cut in between the two men’s conversation.

“We’re not close enough to share useless banter, after all. Get to the main topic. Why did you want to contact me?”

“You’re mistaken, sir. We didn’t have a particular reason.”

“Mm?”

Willie Reese smiled airily when Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Sir, if one of the Three Kings suddenly visited South Korea, I’m pretty sure you would also have tried to contact them.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression grew unreadable just then. Although it’d depend on which of the Three Kings, without a doubt, he would pay close attention.

No, that’s not right. The odds of me trying to meet them will be high.

After all, one of the Three Kings entering South Korea would indicate that something abnormal was going on. And when he thought about it some more, contacting the other party sounded like the right move, whatever their reason for entering the country was.

“However, if I’m being honest... Now that you’re here, there is something we’d like to run by you, sir,” said Willie Reese.

“I see. So how is this any different from that, then?”

“It is different. Just a tiny bit.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned. “Fine. Speak.”

“Before I start... I’d like you to know that I’m merely a messenger. I do not dare claim to be the representative of our nation, nor am I important enough to speak to you as your equal. However, if this brief discussion ends on a positive note, someone matching your status will contact you at a later date. Are you okay with this arrangement, sir?”

“Fine.”

Kang Jin-Ho wouldn’t give a damn anyway if the contents of what this man wanted to say was the same nonsense from the other idiot before him.

Willie Reese sucked in a deep breath. “Sir. Are you aware of the United States Forces Korea?”

“Every Korean knows about it, so yeah, I do.”

“We’d like to attempt something similar, sir.”

“We? And something similar?”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head as confusion crept in.

“Please give us your permission to station some of our martial artists in South Korea.”

“...What?”

Kang Jin-Ho deeply furrowed his brow.