Empire of the Ring

“Look at the route map, the route passing through Baku is the most efficient. Russia suggested making a tunnel through the mountain range since it’s a long way around going through Baku but we couldn’t afford the construction cost, so we kept the already existing route.”

Listening to Sevan’s explanation about the railroad, Youngho thought that Azerbaijan would be more stabilized soon. Once the railroad was completed, there would be a transit route as effective as the Suez Canal.

If Armenia interfered with Azerbaijan with their hidden weapons, Russia would not let it pass. At the thought of that, Youngho was relieved. He sunk into his chair to listen more to Sevan’s explanations.

It was not a big deal for him to buy lands where the railroad would pass through, since if he invested millions of dollars now, he would make a lot of profits when he resold the land in the future. It was not a bad investment plan at all. Youngho decided to invest his money because he was relieved that Azerbaijan would be a safer place protected by Russia, and Russia would not sit back and do nothing when Armenia was a threat to its profit.

Youngho was in a good mood since his worries had gone away. Noticing his change, Jongil teased him.

“What did you see that you’re smiling like a crazy man?”

“I just feel like the world is so beautiful. What?”

“Man, you’re finally showing the side effects of all the things you’ve done.”

“Look at this route map. Everywhere is money.”

“You’re trying to buy land on speculation?”

“It’s not land speculation. It’s an investment for the future.”

“That’s same to me. You said you were not going to invest any more in Baku.”

“Doesn’t this map remind you of something? Russia will protect the railroad no matter what. Now, Baku is a place where Russia has to secure.”

Jongil seemed to have an idea in mind.

“Whoa! Now Park Jongil’s life will bloom finally.”

Youngho looked at him in curiosity.

“You know how pretty Iranian ladies are? Think about those Iranian belly dancers!”

He must be talking about the dancers in the time of Qajar dynasty or Pahlavi dynasty. Youngho shook his head.

“What are you talking about? Stop saying such nonsense but go buy lands in there. There were thirty million Azerbaijanis living in Northern Iran, I bet you can communicate with them.”

“What? There are more Azerbaijanis in Iran than Azerbaijan?”

The Northern region of Iran used to be Azerbaijan’s territory. Azerbaijan was divided into North and South during the time of the Russian Empire but it remained divided until now. North Azerbaijan became Azerbaijan now and South Azerbaijan was subject to Iran.

Although there had been many unfavorable histories among the three countries, Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan were now cooperating for the railroad business.

***

Unlike last winter, Youngho was having a busy time this winter.

He was not physically busy but he was busy assigning the right man in the right place but he enjoyed the job. All of the things that he had started were now at the stage of development, so many management specialists were playing the key role in his businesses.

His hotels were managed by management specialists now, so he did not have to think about that and the wine business was already in its settlement stage. The shipping industry was well managed by Choi Sunkil, which made Youngho feel relieved.

Kim Chun was also managing anything related to Arirang Farm in Kazakhstan and since he was close to many officials in the regional government, things were going pretty well. As far as the security company is concerned, Cha Insoo was in charge and getting used to all of the work.

The person who was most helpful to Youngho these days was, of course, Park Youngsun. Whenever Youngho or his friends were stuck with something, he gave them necessary advice and helped to resolve any existing issues. So far, because of him, Youngho did not make huge business mistakes.

Many say, ‘the older the ginger, the spicier it gets.’

It was indeed true. As Park Youngsun’s experiences were added with his knowledge, any advice he gave was invaluable. His word was like the truth and life. Jongil once even said that Park Youngsun should be the religious leader of the new Kingdom of Serbia.

***

“What in the world are you talking about?”

Jongil was outrageous that he kept on cussing.

“Hey, hey! Calm down. Kids will hear us.”

“Do you think that makes sense? He’s such a scum! Why does he assign us to do the job? I’m sure he’s not ill from the heat in this winter!”

Youngho’s team was suddenly assigned to report situations in Kazakhstan to the European chapter and Jongil was upset. The CIA was bothered since China had been taking tons of Kazakh resources. The U.S had not been paying attention to the country since it was not a threat but China’s buy out of the country’s resources was indeed something that the U.S. had to watch out for.

Youngho’s team was not in charge of Kazakhstan, but somehow the team was assigned for the job since it was close to Southern Russia, which was the team’s region. Jongil was upset since it was an unfair job assignment.

The job was assigned by the new director of the Asian Department from the headquarters but it seemed that he did not even report it to Michael, the chief of the European chapter. System-wise, there was not a problem but it was still weird if Michael had not agreed to it. Youngho knew that there was something going on between the new director and Michael. Youngho called Michael right away.

“Chief, I assume you already know about this but is Kazakhstan under our watch too?”

“What are you talking about? You guys are busy with the Russian railroad case. You can’t possibly take Kazakhstan. Who said that it’s under your jurisdiction?”

Michael, who was nervous about Russia’s southward policy, was furious.

“Then, are you saying the director of the Asian Department decided all of this without telling you?”

“I knew something like this would happen when he came in. This guy only got his position through the connection! You know what? I’ll call you back.”

“Wait, chief! I don’t want to get in trouble by being seen as tattling you behind his back.”

“It’s not tattling when you address some difficulties in the field. I’ll say that you’ve asked for supplement the personnel to meet the demands.”

Bingo! That’s exactly what Youngho wanted.

From Michael’s mouth, he mentioned ‘supplement the personnel’ first. He had been postponing it with an excuse of budget deficiency. Youngho smiled that he finally admitted it with his own mouth.

“Well, if we possibly have more people in our team, I’m willing to take over not only Kazakhstan but also Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan…”

Michael stopped him as Youngho was now listing names of Central Asian countries.

“Okay, okay. You can recruit two more people for field agents. No more than that, okay?”

Youngho suddenly received a special offer to recruit two more people for his team. It felt like Michael was teamed up with the director of the Asian Department and Youngho was dragged by Michael’s seasoned trick but he did not mind since it was a sweet offer.

Now it was time for Youngho to come clean to Park Youngsun.

He would not say anything about gold mines or secret arms deals but he would have to tell Park Youngsun about the CIA. There should be a few people as possible who knew about this but it was difficult to lie every time. Also, Youngho concluded that Park Youngsun was a trustworthy person from the past several months of getting to know him.

Youngho also wanted to tell him how he and his friends became intelligence agents and get advice from Park Youngsun.

***

Youngho, Jongil, and Insoo were quietly waiting for Park Youngsun’s reaction like students who were waiting for their test results.

After listening to Youngho’s story, Park Youngsun’s facial had been changing from one to another. He breathed a breath that was more like a sigh and opened his mouth.

“That’s just amazing. How did you get to decide that you want to involve in such a rough path? If it was me, I would’ve run away from anything related to them as far as possible.”

So far, Park Youngsun did not give any opinion but just let out exclamations. Youngho felt like he did something wrong.

“In the beginning, I couldn’t help but to rely on the CIA and by the time I wanted to step out, I was already too deeply involved in the organization. If you don’t think it’s a great idea, I’m willing to let go of it any time soon. That was my future plan anyway.”

Park Youngsun suddenly looked up at Youngho as he said that he was willing to quit.

“No, no. Don’t get me wrong. Why would you quit? That’s a great position. If you’ve been taking advantage of being an agent, you should keep doing that, using the invisible power. It’s a very special privilege.”

“…”

“We’re about to settle down in Kazakhstan. Since three of the regular agents were here, the US government would not neglect the country. It would try to use you to establish the position of the US in here and we should take advantage of the government’s support too.”

This was Park Youngsun’s take about the current situation of the U.S. and Kazakhstan. The U.S. had not been able to approach Kazakhstan easily since it was under Russian influence and Kazakhstan had to somehow comply with Russia. However, as the Serbian descendants established their town in the country, an obstacle that had been hindering Western European people’s favor to the country was now removed.

Regardless of whatever Russia thought about it, the Kazakh government now had an excuse to take more Europeans in to increase its population.

Park Youngsun suggested emphasizing this fact to the CIA. In order to suppress China’s dominance over the country’s resources, increasing more Western Europeans in the country would be the best way. The Kazakh government’s help was necessary to help new immigrants settle down, so if the U.S. helped the government as an indirect route to connect to the country, Russia would not try to stop the U.S. Also, decisively, the only West European immigrants would be the Serbian descendants. It would be great if the U.S. could help the descendants with their funds and establish their connection to the Kazakh government at the same time. It was a win-win strategy for the U.S. and for the Serbian descendants.

“This is a chance for us. If it weren’t for you three, I was going to get some investments from my connections in the U.S. anyway.”

Since Park Youngsun did not know about the existence of gold mines, he had been looking for a way to find funds for Arirang Farm and the town of the descendants. He also had no idea about Youngho’s relationship with mafias since it was unnecessary information for Park Youngsun’s part. Also, he thought that it was good for him to have secret money sources that the advisor did not know of.

“I have funds that I’ve saved and it’s enough for establishing Arirang Farm and the town. Also, I’ve made money from working as an agent.”

“That’s great but it’d be perfect if we could get the CIA’s funds. It’ll be like having a strong ally. It’s unlikely to happen but even if Russia or Kazakhstan oppresses the farm, having the U.S. on our side, they won’t be able to touch us.”

On that day, a new unofficial agent was recruited.

Although Park Youngsun would not be hired and get paid by the CIA, all of the related information would be shared with him from now on.

He also had a great idea for recruiting new field agents. He suggested using young Serbian lads. Since they were loyal to the Archduchess, they would not let out the secret and they could also be promoted to higher ranks in the CIA in the future. Saying that if Serbian descendants could be in higher positions in the CIA, it would be helpful for Arirang Farm, he seemed excited.

When he mentioned that colored people like Youngho and his friends might not be able to be promoted because the majority people in the CIA were whites, Jongil snapped at him but somehow it was true in many cases. Youngho thought that not suffering from racism was good enough for now.

“Dr. Park, I’m sure you know that you’ve already become a target of our enemies from the moment we shared our secrets.”

“What are you saying? Why would they…”

“When they take you and torture you, they could easily get words out of you. So, why wouldn’t they? I’m saying you should keep whatever between us only to yourself.”

“No, of course, I agree to that but…”

Looking at him freaking out, Youngho wanted to tease him more.

“It’s already late. You now stepped into the agent’s world as soon as you found out about our identities. You’ll be a regional agent from now on. It’s an unofficial position and a secret among us.”

“Are you saying that I have to carry guns and fire at people?”

At his words, everyone began laughing and grabbing their stomach. Imagining a fifty-year-old big-bellied man firing at people was enough for them to laugh.

Park Youngsun now noticed that Youngho had been joking. The tense atmosphere of the conference turned amicable.