Empire of the Ring

Regardless of the coldness, the construction of the wharf at the branch of Ural River, the roads inside Arirang Farm, and the one connecting the farm and the branch river went on.

To rake out rocks and pebbles from the farm site for its conversion to farmland, several heavy types of equipment with rakes attached went back and forth on the ground. The wharf construction was rushed since it was easier done when the water was still frozen. As for the placement of concrete, it could wait until the temperature rises above freezing point.

The wharf facility construction did not seem to be an easy thing to do.

Installing a wharf that a 50,000-ton class cargo ship could be moored and three galvanized steel silos cost him about ten million dollars already. He would have to install more silos in the future but since the farm would not produce a huge amount of grains in the next year or two, three seemed enough for now.

If he did not have the wharf and silos, it would have cost him more for installing more storage units and grain delivery fees.

Building a wharf was a great decision.

As if Park Youngsun read Youngho’s mind, he flattered him.

“If you haven’t thought about making a canal, we would’ve driven to Port of Atyrau every time we had shipment supplies.”

“Don’t try to flatter me. I know it was a ridiculous idea.”

“Hahaha…”

The weakness of the Arirang Farm’s town for immigrants was that there was no doctor who would take care of injuries or illness in an emergency. There were light airplanes and six pilots who could transfer the sick or injured person to any hospitals in Atyrau but that was also difficult in bad weather. A doctor who could give the first aid was the farm’s urgent priority.

Kim Chun was struggling to recruit a doctor who can stay at the farm. There were several Koryoin descent doctors that he was acquainted with but they all worked in hospitals near city areas. Even with good salaries, they refused to come to the farm in a remote region. Many of them also worried about their children’s education.

It did not make sense that there was not even one doctor in a town where more than a thousand people resided, but it was the reality.

So, Kim Chun eventually managed to hire an old retired doctor and two retired nurses, and made them relocate to the farm. It seemed that they could at least give first aid when in need.

The school for immigrants’ children on the farm was also almost at its completion and it seemed that they could attend from this spring.

Elementary and Middle school would be opened at first and there were plenty of teachers to recruit. It was because Kim Chun had many connections to teachers from his past teaching days. Because their houses were offered at the farm and high salaries were promised, many willed to move in as a whole family.

Since this was the farm’s situation now, everything costed money.

In Youngho’s account, he had sixty million dollars left after all of the farm’s expenses. Since he had already pre-paid all of the expenses for his new hotel construction sites, this much could sustain the Arirang Farm’s town for the next few years.

If the gold vein recently found was a jackpot, he would be able to construct an even greater city at his farm. It was not only Youngho’s wish since the miners also knew that a better environment for their next generations could be made only if they mined any amount of gold. Until late next year when the grains would begin to be produced from Arirang Farm, the farm’s finance was like shoveling sand against the tide.

***

Youngho could not believe his eyes when he first went to check the vein of gold that was recently found. It was as if God had been listening to his wish. The vein of gold was as thick as a man’s thigh and it was spread into quite a length. Although he wished for a great discovery, he had not expected such rich vein to be found. He gasped at its bright sight.

It seemed that digging only one meter of depth would give a hundred kilograms of gold. Youngho could not help but smile and hum to himself. He began to think about whom to sell the gold bars produced from the mine. He would have to find a gullible buyer soon.

As Youngho was calculating the estimated profit on his calculator and humming in his study, Zeynep approached him.

“Oppa, what makes you so happy?”

“I just came back from looking at something as pleasing as my pretty Zeynep!”

“Huh! There’s no one prettier than me in Baku.”

Although she did not usually say how pretty she was to others, she was somewhat snotty. However, Youngho thought that being a little snotty was better than being an extreme tomboy.

“This oppa had seen an even prettier thing than a human but you don’t need to know what it is.”

Thinking about the money he would make, he wanted to dance but he was holding that in.

***

“Jongil, let’s go to the Netherlands again. The freighter is all ready to go, why don’t we go to America and return to Baku?”

“What? You’re not trying to travel on an empty ship, right?”

“No, there is a shipper who already requested to deliver goods on the freighter. It seems like he’s in a grave rush.”

“So, we’d be able to sail right away?”

“I think there is a ship owner’s role on the first day of sailing. Since they asked me to come, I’m thinking that the crews need some extra cash. You know, sailors have strange customs.”

It seemed that the crewmen wanted to see the ship owner’s expenditure. Youngho thought that there was a need to encourage the sailors to treat the expensive cargo ship as their own. Since the previous owner had failed them, they must be worried about consistent payrolls.

Another reason for him to spend some time with the crewmen on board was to learn about them. Although the previous ship owner sold the ship, they still stayed until the end and kept their loyalty to the ship. It was impressive that they sailed even with missed payments. That was why Youngho hired every crewman who had been working for the ship. Since they knew about the ship well, there was no need to recruit new sailors. The ship was only sold because the previous shipowner was broke and not because of the sailors.

At the third wharf at Port of Amsterdam, a freighter named ‘Zeynep 1’ was moored in a dignified manner.

Judging by the water line, it seemed that the ship was loaded with quite the amount of cargo. As soon as Youngho saw it, he was satisfied. He had had his own ship but a huge cargo ship was quite impressive. His heart was thrilled.

He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in and out, and when he opened his eyes, he was calm again. He got on board and shook his hand with twenty-five crewmen including the captain. Now, he had become part of the group.

He also did not forget to give each of them the envelope of bonus commission payment. It was money to show appreciation for their hard work and an insurance cost for the freighter’s destiny since its destiny was up to the crewmen.

***

Many Korean people preferred Western horizontal workplace culture based in individualism rather than Korean workplace culture which was based in rather vertical family-like organizational collectivism. In Western culture, people drew a distinct line between public and private matters and there was a clear division between people’s part, but in Korea, the line was a blur between each other’s work part.

However, there was also a pro in the Korean workplace culture.

Since there was a mindset among workers that the company’s development is one’s own development, people worked overtime and even during weekends frequently. Then, they would get promoted according to their seniority whereas people were only promoted by their achievements in the Western workplace culture.

It was different in Korea. If one had a bland personality, he would be promoted according to his seniority and his retirement would be guaranteed. One’s achievement was considered a team or a department’s achievement, and reversely, the team’s achievement was considered one’s achievement as well.

Although many young people idolized Western workplace culture, Youngho thought that the Korean culture was more humane. Even if one lacked ability, people worked as a team and supported each other. Everything was done through cooperation and the team was more valued than individuals.

The reason that Youngho thought about the cultural difference between Korean and Western workplace cultures was that the crewmen of Zeynep 1 reminded him of the Korean workplace.

Although the captain and sailors were Europeans, they were working in a family-like environment. They were still loyal to their ship owner even when they could not be paid by them. It was common in many other workplaces that employees would report their employer if they were not paid well. However, allegedly, the crewmen had advertised their freighter to shippers to get work. It seemed impossible in Western workplaces where people valued individualism unless it was in Korea.

Even in the time of the global shipping industry’s regression, the experienced crewmen did not abandon the previous ship owner and the freighter.

Youngho inquired about that and it was because the shipowner had treated each and every crewman humanely and cared for their family events as well. It seemed that his considerate personality and warm-heart had bought the crew men’s hearts. It made Youngho wonder if the shipowner was an Asian, or even Korean.

Youngho was also the same as the freighter’s previous owner. He cared deeply for his people.

Anyway, Youngho had hired every sailor who had been on the freighter and paid everyone a commission with his first embarkation. His actions worked like a charm since everyone welcomed him on board and they all worked hard and as fast as squirrels as they sailed.

Looking at some sailors pulling ropes, Youngho was reminded of his past days in the U.D.T. Unit since he also worked on board as a Navy.

As Youngho and Jongil also joined the sailors and pulled the rope skillfully, the crewmen were impressed by their competence.

“Gentlemen, you’ve done a great job today. I’ve prepared some finger food at the cafeteria. Please come and enjoy except the ones on duty in the steering house.”

Youngho wanted to get to know about his crewmen and the atmosphere of the group. By inviting everyone to the cafeteria and spending time getting along with them, he was going to find out who had a good or bad personality, who was skilled and not, who was big mouthed and who was quiet, and who was a leader-type. Since he might deliver secretive cargo, such as weapons, in the future, he wanted to find out whom he could trust. The group of crewmen was a close-knitted group, and if he could get the leaders and big-mouthed people on his side, he would not have to deal with everyone to make them do what he wanted them to do in the future.

“Wait, how did you find that out?”

Youngho only guessed but it seemed his guess was correct.

“I just thought that everyone was dearly attached to the ship.”

Youngho asked if the previous owner of the ship was an Asian, to be precise, a Korean, and the captain was stunned to hear him.

“Yes, he was. He was such a great person but he bought many ships at once and eventually he just could not make it through the terrible recession. He only knew about ships and he especially had a special heart for this ship. This was the very first ship he owned.”

“Then, what is he doing now?”

“I don’t know. He might be drinking somewhere in Amsterdam. We tried our best to help him but it was beyond our capacity. If only the bank could wait for him a little longer, he wouldn’t have gone bankrupt…”

It seemed that the previous owner had borrowed a huge amount of money to buy many ships at once and could not keep up with loan payments in the recession.

His reputation was great. Allegedly, he was the one who knew nothing but ships.

Youngho needed an expert who would direct all of the ships that Youngho would own in the future. Since all of the crewmen told Youngho that the previous owner only went bankrupt because he borrowed money in an unfortunate timing not because he was ineffectual, he wanted to trust their words and hire him to work for Zeynep Corporation.

If he agreed, he would be able to dream again and sail on his beloved ship. Although it would not be his own business, if he was given an authority equal to a business owner, he might be interested to work for him. It was worth a try. Youngho decided to find him.