Empire of the Ring

As soon as the gang arrived at Baku’s airport, Youngho rushed to the ranch.

He wanted to see if his bad feeling was related to the ring’s power and it was letting him know about danger around people he cared about even in a far distance. This could be something like telepathy of the ring to let Youngho know about near danger of Fatima and Serbian people to whom the ring truly belonged.

It was not at all impossible since his ring also reacted to the Serbian knights’ movements on December 25th.

As Youngho rushed into the mines, the miners looked at him in curiosity.

He told everyone to stop what they were doing and evacuate the mines. He also ordered them to put out the fire from the little shaft furnace used for smelting gold.

As people got out of the mines, the pressure that was on his chest slowly lifted up. This was proving that the ring was signing near danger of the descendants of Serbian Kingdom.

Youngho explained everything to Nermin, who was in charge of the mines, that had been feeling insecure about the ranch and asked him to keep everyone away from the mines for a while.

At a distance from the mines, everyone watched Youngho and the mines alternately. Watching them safe, Youngho’s heart was regaining the peace. His insecurities had disappeared. He was certain that something bad would happen in the mines soon.

The mines were temporarily closed down and Youngho made sure that no one would come near the mines for the time being.

The descendants appreciated Youngho for caring about their safety before gold.

He also told them to all go to a hospital for a health checkup. The mines were always dusty inside no matter how much effort was put into purifying the air. Even though the miners all wore special masks to protect their lungs but they often took them off because masks were bothersome for their labor. That was why Youngho wanted to get them all checked up for this time.

If they turn out to be sick, Youngho was going to let them stay in the hospital until they’re better. He felt sorry for the people that worked hard under the name of their kingdom’s restoration. Maybe he, also, took advantage of their labor for gold bars.

Now that the mines were closed, he thought that he should improve the work environment in the mines so that miners’ health would not be affected by working in the mines.

***

“You went straight to the mines from the airport?”

Fatima asked in worrisome voice. She knew that Youngho had been worried about the Serbian people.

Youngho had closed down the mines and sent all of the miners to a big hospital in Baku. The reason for making such a fuss was that he wanted to let the descendants know that he cared a great deal about them and they were cherished by him and the Archduchess.

“I was terribly worried for the mines.”

He explained everything about what he felt in Kazakhstan. As he said that it was like the ancestors of Serbian Kingdom had scolded him through the ring for not taking care of their descendants, Fatima’s eyes were tearing up.

“Thank you, and I’m very happy that my husband is such a thoughtful and kind person.”

She was impressed by Youngho’s heart since he cared about the people that he was not at all related to unless he did not marry her.

Zeynep, whom he had met in a long time after his business trip, was a little salty that he did not bring her any gift this time but he was on the jump in worry of the miners. There were many ways that he could melt her cold heart.

“Zeynep, have you heard of Atyrau of Kazakhstan?”

“Wait, how do you know that place? I learned about that in school. That place is a Ural River’s delta.”

“How long do you think it’ll take to get there from here by ship?”

“Hmmm, about two days…?”

“I’m going to make a farm there and it’d be fun if we could travel on a ship, right? We could even fish in the sea.”

Hearing that, Zeynep jumped up in surprise as if she already forgot about why she was upset.

“Hey, oppa. Are you going to buy a ship?!”

Zeynep was as fast-witted as Jongil.

“Well, we’d need a big one if it was going to fit all of our family. You know I used to serve in Navy, don’t you?”

Youngho was not a captain when he was in the Korean Navy, he could run a small boat but navigation of a big ship was a different story. Since it was especially difficult to anchor at a dock, no one should dare to try without a license. Many big merchant ships would hire an expert for anchoring and departure only.

“Oppa, then I’ll pick the ship.”

“That was what I was about to ask.”

Fatima, who was breastfeeding Leon, overheard their conversation and smiled.

“I was going to get Mr. Yaniv’s yacht but that’d too big, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t like that yacht, it’s too much. You need to get a sturdy one instead of a luxury one, oppa! Practicality is the best quality.”

Coming from a high school girl, her words are impressive. She did not care about the look but the quality of a ship. He would be carrying cargo on the ship for the farm, so she was right. He needed a big, sturdy ship.

“But, don’t you think the look is important too?”

“Oppa, what do you expect from the Caspian Sea? If you’re going to the Black Sea, then I’ll consider about that.”

Youngho had decided to build a hotel in Batumi in an effort to get to the Mediterranean easily. Everything she was saying was bright. Luxury boats should be driving on the Black Sea. Since Zeynep was so smart and cute, Youngho could not stop loving her.

***

The Istanbul Construction Company visited Youngho with Batumi hotel’s design and construction plan. He showed him a simulation clip of the new Arirang Hotel’s building and its surroundings. Youngho liked how it went well with the surrounding environment, so he agreed on the construction plan. After the meeting, he treated a nice meal to the company’s staffs for developing a satisfying construction plan.

Since the new hotel in Moscow would be built with the same design, Youngho sent the clip to Yaniv too.

Now that the design was confirmed, all there was left was construction. The estimated completion of the Batumi’s hotel was in twenty months whereas the Moscow’s hotel would be built in thirty months since the construction was not possible in the winter time. Yaniv would be in charge of the construction of the Moscow’s building and Youngho’s job was only managing the hotel once it was completed.

After Batumi’s hotel design was confirmed, Youngho now turned his eyes to Frankfurt to see if there was any building to buy.

As for Frankfurt, he could only buy an already existing building because of the strict construction law. If the seller of a building liked gold bars, he was ready to negotiate with them since he had collected 800 kilograms of gold bars.

When he was thinking about it, what made Youngho insecure finally came to be true.

He went over to the mines after receiving a call about the collapse. About two-fifths of the mine in which the new veins of gold had been found recently caved in. The miners had hurriedly dug into the mines and had neglected the stabilization process of the caves. If miners were inside, they would have been buried alive under the rocks.

Youngho sighed in relief. It was lucky that he took an action right away after he sensed the ring’s signal.

The villagers thanked their ancestors and their Archduchess for protecting them, instead of Youngho, who ordered them to stay away from the mines. Well, they were not at all wrong since the ring of their ancestors helped them.

A notable fact about the collapse was that it made a huge noise and vibration which even reached Serbian Village. This might mean that there was a big empty cave underneath the ground. If there was an empty cave, it would make a great natural wine cellar too. Youngho was excited. He ordered the miners to dig up the collapsed rocks and dirt first.

***

After removing all rocks and dirt from the collapsed mine, they could find a big empty natural cave underneath. Even at a glance, it was huge that it could be about a thousand pyeong*.

The rock piles collapsed from above and from the sides of the cave were about two meters high, which was terrifying since that meant the floor of the collapsed mine had been only two meters thick. The miners had been working in danger after all.

Although the recently found veins of gold were lost from the collapse, Youngho was glad that he found a great natural wine aging cellar. The huge space was equal to a few units of wine storage which could hold tens of millions of dollars’ worth of wine. The taste of wine aged in the natural cellar without any refrigeration would be amazing.

There were still veins of gold left in two other mines, which could produce two to three tons of gold bars a year. Among dozens of mines, the stabilized mines were only about ten, so there was a high possibility of finding new veins.

Youngho was satisfied with the facts that he could save people’s lives and he confirmed another power of the ring. The descendants of the kingdom were special people. He once again solidified his resolve to protect and lead the people well as a leader. They now felt like his family.

Kim Chun in Atyrau called Youngho in an excited voice.

“Boss. The permission of agricultural development was issued today. Now, one thing they require is that you have to make a safety deposit before beginning to develop the land. For each acre, it is 20 dollars, so they’re asking you to deposit a million dollars.”

“What is the deposit for?”

“If you give up the development in the middle, they’ll use it for the restoration of the area but if you complete the development, they’d give it back once the grains are produced. They said that they’ll be giving you the monopolistic stance if you make a safety deposit.”

The government was asking ridiculous money under the pretext of restoration cost since they could not restore the land with twenty dollars but to Youngho, it was a good chance. If he paid the amount, the government would not touch whatever he planted or installed on the land if it was developed for agricultural purposes.

Kim Chung went on.

“I still don’t understand what the ‘monopolistic stance’ means.”

“That means anything under the development contract is possible. Even the autonomous security of the land.”

“What? We have to deal with security by ourselves? This is an unjust contract.”

“No. This is an advantageous term. We should make so.”

Youngho would rather have the autonomy over the land than having the government mess with the farm’s systems. It meant that one-third of the city of Seoul* would be Youngho’s kingdom that no one could bother.

*pyeong- a Korean measure of area . 1 pyeong is about 35.58 sq.ft.

*Seoul- the capital city of South Korea