Empire of the Ring

Youngho felt disheartened to think that this was the cause of all the fuss. In the end, terrorism was just used to provide a reason to mobilize German extremist groups to aggravate racial conflicts. He wondered who would be taking advantages from this. If it was to express an old grudge against Germany, it seemed to be only a tasteless joke.

Youngho’s agony was not long, because Eriksson flew to Frankfurt quickly. He did not mind coming to a place of potential terror attacks and violence. He was not sure if he was a strong person or if he simply did not have any fear.

“What urgency is there for you to fly to this dangerous place?”

Youngho was glad that Eriksson, who could resolve Youngho’s agony, had appeared. But at the same time, he was worried over what kind of a bomb he would be dropping since he did not seem to come with good news.

“Mr. Lee, I thought you’d be happier to see me, but it seems that you aren’t.”

“It’s making me nervous that you had to come despite the fact that it is the worst time for a visit.”

“I just came to monitor the situation here, and I also wanted to check if there are faces whom I know involved in this.”

Eriksson would be talking about the pawns of the mastermind of the terrorist attacks. He wanted to confirm his speculation by finding tools of the Jewish capitalist in here where the terrorist attacks were launched. However, it seemed that Eriksson was wasting his time since even if his speculation turned out to be true, the pawns of the capitalist would not be exposing their faces out in the open. They would either disguise themselves or use phone calls to control the terrorists.

“I don’t understand how someone could be gaining profits from this.”

“This might be a tactic to bring Germany into war against terrorist groups since Germany is showing a passive attitude toward them, or maybe someone is trying to weaken the euro currency. They’d be watching the situation and adjusting the intensity of their attacks, but I’m pretty sure they’re going to hit Syria or Iraq one more time soon. Even Israel vowed to retaliate against Lebanon which supported the Palestine Liberation Organization.”

“This is such a crazy world.”

“You might say that but from this, our organization has been making a lot of money.”

“…”

Youngho did not understand how they could be making money from this.

“The value of the euro is plummeting. Our agency concluded that it’s either the United Kingdom or Germany. Since you told me about the potential terrorist attacks here, we focused more on Germany and informed our clients too. They probably made appropriate portfolios for each case already.”

If it was predicted that the US dollar would get stronger due to the sudden plunge in the value of euro and the German stock market, it would have been possible for Eriksson’s clients to take preemptive measures.

It seemed that if the terrorist attacks have caused stock markets in the relevant countries to fluctuate and subsequently, for extremist groups to destabilize the political situation, the German government would have no choice but to join the war on terrorism.

“Do you still believe that a Jewish capitalist is behind all this?”

Without answering the question, Eriksson only smiled subtly.

“Mr. Lee, I told you already. Not everything is what meets the eye.”

This was the only reply Youngho received from Eriksson.

Since he did not know much about the economy, he could not figure out what the weakening of the euro meant and what kind of effect it had on the US dollar. He only thought that he should ask Sergey when he would meet him in the future.

Michael was in a terrible mood since he was manipulated by the command from the headquarters.

It seemed that the European Chapter was just a puppet to show that the CIA was actively involved in preventing terrorism.

The terrorism could have not been stopped anyway.

He was embarrassed to think that the Chapter only made a fuss over terrorism without any achievements to show in front of the German government.

The level of the recent terror attacks occurred frequently everywhere in Germany, although it was unexpected that the attacks would provoke German extreme violence groups.

“Lee, are you going back home now?”

Michael still wore a sulky look on his face that was still reddened and swollen from drinking too much with other high-rankers last night.

“Even if I stayed longer, all I’ll be witnessing is senseless craziness. I, too, don’t get why the CIA made a fuss about it, but it’s true that we put a lot of effort into this. So, why don’t we just let this go now?”

“…”

Michael did not answer, fuming.

Youngho finally slipped out the words that he had in his mind.

“I feel like we danced to someone else’s tune, but it’s the reality of the world. I should just bear with it.”

At Youngho’s remark, Michael lifted his head.

“Wait, did you feel that too?”

“It seems that we have more in common.”

***

“I had a great relaxing time at the hotel, but I feel leery,” Jongil said after he landed at the Baku Airport.

Although Youngho always made fun of Jongil’s simplicity, he always thought that Jongil was brighter than himself. He wanted to hear Jongil’s opinion.

“What about it? Just think that we had a trip.”

“It doesn’t make sense to mobilize such a number of agents for minor terrorism like this. And what are those extreme violence German groups that came out of nowhere as if they’ve been waiting for this?”

“Michael said it’s all a show. I didn’t try to dig deeper into it anymore. I had nothing to say since he said it was an operation for a show.”

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“I just have a feeling but I can’t be sure for now. I might look crazy.”

“What is it?”

“I feel like there will be a huge war in the near future, but I can’t find a reason for that.”

“Is that why you bought old mines?”

This is why Youngho thought Jongil was smart. He already inferred Youngho’s recent purchase of mines from this conversation.

“Yup. If there is war, cash currency will be useless. So, I wanted to secure mineral resources.”

Jongil pondered for a while before looking at Youngho with narrow eyes.

“Dude, don’t look at me like that.”

“You’re such a sneaky snake. I wonder how you come up with such extraordinary ideas.”

“Now you know my true worth. If you just follow this hyung around, you’ll be rolling in money all your life.”

“Man, sure I’ll call you hyung if you can really make that happen. Just don’t push in the mines.”

Jongil, fast-witted like a demon, already predicted what was going to happen to him in the future. If veins of gold were found, Youngho would not trust anyone but his two good friends and Kim Ilkwon.

“What if I found gold? Should I entrust that to strangers? If the word spreads out, the Azerbaijani government won’t let it pass.”

“Don’t you think it’s going to be too dangerous to reinvestigate hundred-year-old mines?”

“I’m going to work on the stabilization of the mines. In some of them, equipment facilities will be installed too. Also, we are wine sellers. It’s common sense to store oak casks or bottled wines in caves. To the government, it will only seem as if I’m using the mines as wine storage.”

“You’re a fox.”

While having this conversation, the two walked out of the airport.

***

The mine area that Youngho had bought was a part of the Caucasus Mountain Range and it was a two-hour distance from Baku.

The size of the land was about three hundred acres, which would be a perfect fit for shepherding. It did not need special facilities except for lodging for shepherds and hutches for sheep to stay in the cold winter. Youngho decided to buy a thousand sheep to have a small shepherding ranch.

Since the place was also great for a training course for the employees of the security service company, another lodging facility would be built for them too.

In the copper strip minefield, sheep would be raised. In the old gold mines, wine would be stored.

In the empty lot of the minefield, arch-shaped iron beams and timbers were piled up, looking like a little mountain. Hearing that the wage would be high, many miners had already gathered and made a village of small tents.

The twelve mines that Youngho would be using as wine storage were abandoned two hundred years ago.

He had only picked old, collapsed mines that were neglected by miners since they could not go deeper into them with the technology of that time. Although collapsed, they could be easily repaired by putting in pillars.

For mines that were only dug by human hands, there was a big lot in the mid-way of each mine and it seemed that they would be great for wine storage.

Inside the mines, there were engraved images of Mary and the cross on the wall and there were traces of an altar. It seemed that it was also used as lodging for slaves who were forced to work in the mines.

The stabilization work was not so complicated.

After removing the collapsed stone and erecting an arch beam, thick boards were put in in-between to prevent falling rocks. Within three months of work, the repair would be done to the end of the mines.

The process of wrapping the road to the ranch and building the shepherd’s quarters and training facilities for the security company was simply completed quickly since only standardized materials were used.

The oak casks that would go into the cave were being made in a relatively small 50-gallon size in the oak cask factory.

The first produced wine from the Southern part of Zeynep Farm would be stored in here.

It would be great if Youngho could kill two birds with one stone, but even if he did not find any gold, the place was still good as wine aging cellars.

He only thought of using the caves as wine-aging storages to deceive others when he searched for gold, but it was actually a great idea.

Jongil looked around the first cave that was repaired as a trial basis.

“It’s great. When we get tired of labor, we can open up an oak cask to drink. Laborers are all about drinking.”

He meant that the work would be exhausting but Youngho thought that the work might not be hard for him with his super senses.

“Jongil, get pickaxes. Let’s go deeper inside.”

“Hey! That side doesn’t even have an arch beam installed yet.”

“Well, the rails are already laid out and we’ve got enough materials inside. We can put the beam in. The vein is already cut off there. Let’s do a test excavation.”

Youngho could not wait since the cave was stabilized already.

The rail was already laid out until the end of the cave, so he wanted to try digging in a few spots.

He heard that the minerals here showed a vein of gold and there was a layer of sandstone underneath. Since he confirmed from the old literature that once the sandstone layer was poured out, sometimes gold the size of a fist would come out, he felt greedy.

He had an idea to collect gold mixed with other ore and to make a gold bar with a small smelting facility. His heart pounded as if it was about to find a rich vein of a bonanza.

***

When he was not doing the CIA’s work, Youngho mostly spared his time in mines. He had been also studying about mines for quite a while, so now he was a semi-expert of mines.

The rocks and ore that had been neglected for a long time were great materials for a stone wall. Ever since the stabilization work was finished in the old mines, he had been making a sturdy stone wall by mixing byproducts of minerals and cement.

The field was located mid-mountain, and there were a lot of predators that were eyeing his sheep. Since they could not be stopped by a wooden fence, a stone wall was needed.

Because of the land’s topographic characteristics, there was no need to make stone walls around the whole area.

The gold mines were made by digging into a side of a cliff, so they did not need a stone wall around them, and since there was a deep valley on the northwestern side, animals could not possibly cross there.

If some southern parts of the field and near the entrance of the ranch were walled, it would serve as a good fence.

The walls would also serve as protection when Youngho found gold but it was a little too premature of him to have fancy walls now.