Empire of the Ring

“Insoo, did you send the flight tickets and the first month’s payments for the new recruits?”

“The flight tickets will be emailed individually by the travel agency. As for the payment, I sent five million won each yesterday.”

One might ask why they were paying their new employees even before they started working. It was because some of the new recruits coming to Baku were struggling due to financial difficulties that they could not even afford a flight ticket. Because of those who barely made ends meet, Youngho decided to send them their travel expenses.

‘What if they don’t come after taking your money?’

Youngho doubted the new recruits for a while but soon he shook his head. Since he knew how his junior comrades of the U.D.T. unit, he had faith in them. If they did not show up, he was going to consider that as a donation since it would be poor of them to not be able to make it here even after making a life-changing decision to move to Baku.

Youngho rented four mansion buildings in Baku’s downtown as the temporary lodging for the new security company employees. Sangchun’s father would be in charge of their mind and moral training, after hearing twenty young men would be coming, he volunteered to be an instructor for the mind and moral training. Looking at him, making excuses to stay in Baku even though he did not need to have a reason to stay, Youngho laughed inside.

The training field of the new security guards would be the mountain in front of Zeynep Farm. The new security company was named after Zeynep like a habit. Since the name was used for the grape farm, wine factory, and the oilfield service corporation, the three friends automatically agreed on using the name for their company’s title.

A prefabricated building was being built next to the log cabin near the river in the Southern part of the farm, this would be used as a temporary lodging for the new guards until they start working. Youngho wanted to train them in Zeynep Farm and teach them Azerbaijani and English before they could work and live in apartments in the downtown of Baku.

Learning and training with their colleagues, the company would be able to have better communication and teamwork. As soon as their training period is over, those who could speak English would be assigned as the oil drillship guards and as private bodyguards for some Azerbaijan oil businessmen and ship owners who were introduced by Sevan. One of the guards would be needed in the warehouse retailer store in Tbilisi. Thus, seven of the guard spots were already filled.

The reason that Youngho was so excited for his new company was that he could help his junior comrades from the U.D.T. unit. He did not expect to make huge money out of the security company. Preparing to welcome the new recruits passionately day and night, he did not even feel tired.

Although Youngho struggled to settle down by coming here alone without any connections, the juniors would be starting from a firm foundation of support. Youngho and his two friends’ experiences in Baku would be their strength and support. He could not wait to share his wisdom of life with the new recruits.

***

At the airport, twenty guys with bulky bodies, yet with still young-looking faces, walked out the arrival lounge, each carrying their travel luggage. The former Navy Special Forces unit, U.D.T. soldiers and the new recruits of Zeynep Security Service had just arrived in Baku.

Jongil welcomed everyone with his speech.

“Juniors! Welcome to Baku. As you may already know, this is where we’ve already built a strong foundation for newcomers from Korea. We’ve got you covered, so all you need to do is follow our instructions well and work hard. For today, you can rest in the lodging downtown and starting tomorrow, we’ll give you a tour around Baku and free time for three days.”

As Jongil was done speaking, one recruit saluted him and spoke,

“Excuse me, sir. None of us are tired from flying for a little, we can start working right now. We also don’t need to have a tour around the city.”

He was highly motivated to work. At that moment, Youngho interrupted.

“As you already know from the interview, I’m the owner of Zeynep Farm wine factory. I’d recommend you to take a few days and calm yourselves down. I admire your willingness to work but it’s important that you know about the place and society you’ll be working in. I’m not providing a fun time just so that you can enjoy, but I’d like you to learn and study your surroundings. Our company values cooperation, from now on, we’ll be moving together as a team. Remember, your work begins from now.”

Everyone replied to Youngho in unison.

“Yes, sir!”

***

Jongil and Insoo guided them around the city for three days. Although it would take years to fully get immersed into Azerbaijan’s culture, they needed to at least learn about the downtown in order to do their jobs or at least to run an errand like shopping for groceries.

People watched interestingly as more than twenty big Asian guys were moving around the city in groups, since East Asians were rare to find. The new recruits watched Azerbaijani people as Azerbaijani people watched them. It was such a rare scene.

Since common people of Baku were mostly kind and innocent, and the girls were beautiful, the guys were swelled with dreams to meet beautiful women. They were even more swelled since Jongil told them strong men are popular in here while bragging about his beautiful wife.

After the tour period, the guards who came to the farm could not close their mouths in amazement. As they drove away from the metropolitan area they could spot some houses in empty fields but after passing some point, they could only see an endless field of grape trees. Baku was a densely populated area but now all they could see was a field without a single person.

The size of the farm was shocking since it was twice the size of Yeouido, Korea. Although they drove for some time on the road that crossed the farm, they had only reached the middle point of the farm.

After the guys unpacked their belongings at the temporary lodging in the Southern part of the farm, Youngho told them that they could eat grapes as much as they could. After tasting a few grapes, they started eating them fiercely. They were in love with the grapes grown on the farm, which were different from Korean grapes.

***

For dining, the new recruits had to run to the employee cafeteria. It was quite a distance from their lodging. Since some of them had not been training at all ever since they were discharged from Navy, it was a great way to get back into training. Youngho installed a fitness room in their temporary lodging, so that the recruits could work out on their own to build their body.

The new recruits also had to take moral and mind control lectures just like in their elementary school days, instructed by Sangchun’s father, a former teacher. Sangchun’s father looked up the internet and used the materials for his lecture and even pushed them hard by giving them tests. He surprised Youngho by making all the recruits’ profiles after having an individual meeting with all of them. He insisted that all recruits should be right-minded especially now that they would be working in the foreign country. Youngho also liked his idea. Security service was a tough job.

For the company’s sake, it was better to send someone with morality. Sometimes, in dangerous situations, the guards would have to make decisions and having morality as their guidance would prevent them from making irreversible decisions. Also, having a teacher like Sangchun’s father who could be their counselor and mentor seemed like a good idea for them since it would be hard for them to settle in the new world.

Within a week of the new recruits’ appearance on the farm, Zeynep became the mascot of the company. The guys loved Zeynep as their little sister. Knowing her popularity, cunning Zeynep acted all sweet in front of the young men to take advantage of their attention.

As the cultivation season began, the whole crew of the new recruits helped out with the cultivation process too. The guys worked even more passionately when Zeynep and Szechenyi brought their friends from school to help with the cultivation work. Among them were some mature high school girls. As the young recruits tried to be friends with the school kids, they used English that they have been learning to converse with them. Since the whole farm and the school kids worked together in the farm’s busiest time of year, the whole crew got closer. Now the recruits were comfortable enough to blow whistles when Fatima showed up with snacks.

Five outstanding ones among the twenty new recruits were assigned as team leaders. They were divided into teams, now they could work in teams when there was a job. The leader position was important since they would be the one in charge of the rest during dangerous security assignments.

The whole crew seemed to be getting accustomed to their new life well. Youngho was impressed by their efforts to work hard and learn as much as they could to be ready for their new job and new life. So, he decided to call the rest of the recruits in Korea which he interviewed.