Chapter 59
***
Mensweed, who had recently been making money here and there through hacking, whistled.
He had happened to hack a company, and something far bigger than expected had turned up.
"What a bastard. This guy."
He presented himself as a devout Catholic and proclaimed that he was a righteous man as a prosecutor.
He was trying to win popularity with the public and run in the upcoming House of Representatives by-election.
But what was this man's true identity?
Ta-da!
He was a vile piece of human garbage who lusted after minors!
Not only that, he enjoyed shooting people while drunk and high, and even took bribes!
The company he hacked seemed to have kept this material to get leverage over him, but in any case, exposing even this one photograph would be enough to bury the man.
Mensweed chuckled.
Yeah. There was no need to expose this right now.
That man wouldn't stop at becoming a member of the House of Representatives.
Mayor, governor, and eventually even senator.
If he climbed that high, how powerful a leash would this become?
Mensweed smacked his lips.
'If things go well, I'll gain far more than a couple of pardons could ever offer.'
It was truly like a dream.
He picked up a can of beer.
When he cracked open the chilled can and poured the beer down his throat, a shiver-inducing freshness washed over his head.
"Ha. This is the best day ever."
And his best day.
Ended with him opening the door to someone claiming to be a pizza deliveryman.
It was the FBI breaking in.
.
.
.
Raton was stunned.
It was shocking enough that Mensweed really was there, but the laptop he had in his possession was revealing something even more astonishing.
Prosecutor Lake Austin.
A man who had won popularity by presenting himself as a devout, frugal Catholic.
A man hailed as the leading politician in the House of Representatives by-election, riding a wave of explosive popularity.
And.
A man trying to cut the FBI's budget.
The countless files on this laptop revealed exactly what he truly was.
'Hmph. We can't just leave him alone.'
The best option would be to save this and put a leash on him once he reached the highest position.
But Raton didn't think that was the right way to handle it.
'That bastard attacked Mr. Kang.'
And this material had practically been spoon-fed to him by Kang Noah.
In that case, he shouldn't use it as a leash for the FBI.
Wouldn't garbage like that stink simply by being kept nearby?
'And he wouldn't want that either.'
Raton gave a small laugh.
After tapping the laptop in his hand, he stood up.
"Let's get started."
His subordinates' eyes lit up.
The man had been a thorn in their side to begin with.
He was someone who had tried to undermine their power.
Then they had to show him.
Just how frightening the FBI could be.
Smiles spread across their faces.
It didn't take long for the prosecutor with an upright, incorruptible image to fall after it became known that he was actually a depraved piece of garbage who bought sex from minors and attended orgies.
***
There are still a few days left before I have to leave the United States.
But I don't really have anything to do.
Staying only in Washington feels a little pointless... Should we go somewhere else?
"How about Baltimore?"
"What's there?"
"There's an aquarium, museums..."
"I'm not particularly interested."
"There are lots of delicious restaurants too."
"Compared to McDonald's?"
"No, please stop eating McDonald's..."
"But American food is too sweet and salty..."
American food.
The portions were certainly large.
But it was too salty.
If I kept eating like this, I'd gain more than ten kilograms in just a few days.
"That's part of America's character. American food can't help being intense for Korean palates."
Hong Si-yeon nodded casually, as if she understood completely.
Rosetta and John beside us seemed to feel somewhat wronged, of course, but that wasn't the important thing.
"So what should we have for lunch today?"
"Hmm? How about Burger King?"
"A Whopper?"
"Whoppers sound good~!"
While Hong Si-yeon and I hummed to ourselves, Rosetta and John sighed behind us.
But no one could stop me.
I was thinking that as we were about to head to a nearby Burger King.
A red sports car passed by, then came to a stop.
Then it naturally backed up.
"Oh my God!! Noah hyung!!"
"O... Oh wow!"
A woman with glamorous blonde hair and heavy makeup got out of the sports car.
When she removed her sunglasses, Rosetta and John gasped.
"What are you doing here, hyung...?! When did you get here?!"
"It's been a few days."
The woman was delighted to see me.
She was an American pop star.
Joanna.
.
.
-
After spotting me and hopping around in delight, she let out a horrified cry when she heard that we were having Burger King for lunch and led us somewhere else.
"If you're in America, you have to eat this!!"
"It's still just a hamburger."
She took us to a hamburger chain called Five Guys.
Wasn't it pretty much the same as Burger King?
But she was confident, so she ordered their signature cheeseburger and took a bite.
"Well? Well?"
"It isn't much different from a Whopper."
"Oh, come on."
A hamburger was just a hamburger. What more could I expect?
I shook my head, and Joanna clicked her tongue briefly in disappointment.
"But hey, hyung. Who's the person beside you? Your girlfriend?"
Hong Si-yeon was grinning beside me.
At the word girlfriend, her smile grew even wider.
"Nice to meet you, Joanna. I'm Hong Si-yeon."
"Oh..."
"I'm Noah's valuable collaborator, and I'm also the person who hired him."
"Oh..."
"I also owe him a great deal. Not only me, but my younger brother as well."
"Ooooh..."
"So I suppose Noah and I have a relationship that goes beyond something simple. We can rely on and lean on each other, you could say."
"I... I see."
"Of course, Joanna, you've received help from Noah too, but I feel it falls a little short of 'our' relationship."
"...Hyung. This woman is kind of scary."
Overwhelmed by Hong Si-yeon's confidence, Joanna said that quietly, but what did it matter?
"She's a good person."
Hong Si-yeon flinched and looked at me.
Then she smiled.
With a purity and clarity beyond compare.
"...Mr. Noah..."
"Hmm. If that's the case, then..."
She scratched her head and let out a small sigh.
Then she took a bite of her hamburger and snapped her fingers.
"But hey, hyung, have you done any proper sightseeing?"
"I did some people-watching."
"What about the White House? The Capitol? And all the other places...?"
She mentioned a few relatively famous tourist attractions, but I honestly wasn't very interested...
"Then do you want to come visit our studio?"
"Your studio?"
"Yeah. I think there might be quite a few things there you'd like, hyung. There are lots of singers too."
There are lots of singers, huh.
But I don't know many American singers.
I barely know any Korean singers, so why would I know American ones?
"But if you're going to people-watch anyway, wouldn't it be better to look at some singers too?"
"I suppose so. Where's the studio? I can't go if it's too far."
"It's in Baltimore. It takes a little over an hour by car from Washington."
"That's close enough to visit. But you'll show us some good restaurants too, right?"
"Of course. I'll pick out only the best restaurants."
With a grin, Joanna gave a confident thumbs-up.
After we parted ways, promising to meet tomorrow, Rosetta and John's eyes sparkled.
"Oh my God!! Joanna! And a studio!! We get to go to Swimmel!!"
"What should we do?! MAM? Could we even meet Rostilia too?"
"We might even get to meet Bob Billy!!"
They were more excited than I was.
When the two FBI agents celebrated, I smiled and said,
"I never said you two were coming with us."
"......"
"Oh... boss..."
"I'm kidding. But please do your best with the driving."
"I'll do my best!"
While they were rejoicing, I looked at Hong Si-yeon.
"Miss Hong?"
"Yes, Mr. Kang?"
"You're coming with us tomorrow, right?"
"Of course! 'We' are."
She lightly took hold of my arm.
Then she gazed up at me with glittering golden eyes.
"Because we'll be together wherever we go."
.
.
.
The next day.
The car carrying us set off.
Downtown Baltimore.
That was where Swimmel Studio was located, our destination.
"Swimmel Studio... It's quite famous, isn't it?"
It was the place I'd seen in Joanna's future.
A place that supported artists' creative work and kept them with good contracts.
It wasn't a slave contract, either, but a good company where both sides could benefit.
Naturally, only a limited number of musicians could get into a place like this, and every one of them had proven the value of their name.
In other words.
"Wow."
It meant they had plenty of fans too.
There were quite a lot of people in front of Swimmel Studio.
Fans who had come to see the singers they liked.
Fans who had come to meet their favorite actors.
Reporters and paparazzi trying to cover them secretly.
This place was practically a madhouse...
"What should we do?"
"Well, we've been invited, so let's go in for now."
John drove toward the parking lot.
When he told the security guard waiting there about Joanna, the man nodded.
"We've already been notified. Go on in."
We followed the path the guard opened for us and parked.
Then we entered the dozens-story building with the others.
And.
"Hyung!!"
A blonde woman came running toward us from the first floor.
It was Joanna.
"I can't believe you really came! I'm honored!! Oh, and don't worry about any trouble coming up."
She said it confidently.
"This is a place where even reporters can't enter at will. Only authorized people can come in!"
Hmm.
Is that so?
"How about another card after all this time?"
"Ah! Of course!"
Joanna happily flipped over the card I held out.
Then her eyes sparkled.
"What's there?"
"You see that person over there?"
I pointed to the man sipping coffee in the first-floor lobby of this building, where only authorized people were allowed to enter.
"He's a paparazzo."
"....."
"He bribed the manager in charge of access control at this studio, as well as the security guards, to get in."
Joanna's eyes turned cold.