Empire of the Ring

When the farm had just finished preparing for the special guest, Princess Isabella’s group arrived at the autonomous state.

Since her entourage would not allow her to get on any of the small Cessna airplanes, they were picked up by the car ferry at the Port of Atyrau. Since the princess had never been on a car ferry that broke the ice and to the Arirang Wharf, she and her group were constantly amazed by everything. As the farm’s residents received them with cheers when they entered the farm, the princess was deeply touched by them. People were immensely thankful for the Danish royal princess’s visit to an unknown autonomous state.

The entourage she brought were as many as twenty people. If it was her official visit, she would have brought more people but since it was an unofficial visit, the group was said to be reduced. The whole group stayed at Arirang Hotel.

The hotel was all polished up to receive its honored guests. The princess and her entourage looked satisfied after touring around the hotel building. Since the whole building was devoted to them, they did not have any complaints. Although Jong-il scolded Youngho that he should not treat her so special that way, knowing that her entourage would be pickier than the princess herself, Youngho had to suit their needs. It would be even problematic if her personal doctors and security guards nitpicked on small details. Renting the whole hotel to the group was the best solution.

After looking around the hotel, the princess thanked Youngho in an excited voice.

“I’m honored by your special hospitality, prince consort. I’m also very touched by the commissioner and the farm’s residents’ warm welcome.”

She sounded like she was quite impressed by the farm’s welcome.

“The residents rather appreciate your visit to this deserted and unknown place.”

“Deserted? Your city is amazing. I admire how the residents have built such amazing facilities in this harsh environment. Everything is full of surprise. Is it quite dangerous out there that you have to have those high stone walls surrounding this place?”

For the princess who had lived all of her life in civilized and well-organized environments, the farm that was in the middle of vast plains was quite interesting. She had never thought of a place where stonewalls were necessary to protect people from vicious wild beasts.

“The stone walls were built to block continental winds and winds blown from the Ural Mountains and to protect the people from wild animals. It’s safe inside the town. You shouldn’t be worried about it.”

“I heard there are lots of wolves here. Can we see them if we go outside the stonewalls now?”

“Sure. You can see them anytime.”

The princess was intrigued to hear about wolves. Having an adventurous personality, wolves were enough to provoke her curiosity.

***

Isabella made a fuss about the vast land as she looked around the farm on a light-armored vehicle that Szechenyi drove. Besides, after hearing that there was an alluvial gold mine at the Koryoin town which was a day-trip away from the farm, she nagged him to visit the mine immediately. It seemed that her interest was more in the alluvial gold than the wolves.

“Szechenyi, are you saying alluvial gold is just spread apart down the stream?”

“I didn’t see it for myself but Zeynep told me she touched the gold with her hands.”

“Oh my! It must be quite a lot if you can grab it with your hands. Can we go there together?”

Youngho interrupted her at that point.

“The stream in the valley is frozen during the winter. You can come and visit us in the summer and collect gold for yourself. I’ll make gold bars out of them if you do.”

“Is that true? You promised me, then.”

It looked like Princess Isabella was no different than other women. She was a princess who didn’t want anything anymore but she was so excited to hear that she could collect gold for herself. She must be thinking that the autonomous state was extremely well-off. Youngho smiled to see her excited and curious eyes.

The princess’ visit ended two days earlier than the originally scheduled time.

She was having so much fun hunting wolves, she did not want to return. If there was no scheduled event, she would have stayed more. It was quite surprising to see how much she loved hunting. Her marksmanship was great that she could shoot a wolf from the back of a four-wheel bike that was moving.

Although there was a high number of wolves living around the farm, they were not so easily spotted because they would run away as soon as they heard approaching engines. It was rather easier to capture them when they approached light-armored vehicles that was parked at night but Isabella preferred speed hunting during the day time.

Even though the continental coldness of the vast fields was not easy to endure, she did not mind that at all. She chased wolves on a bike every day until she left.

Before she left, she said that she would visit the farm every summer and winter to collect gold and hunt for wolves.

The princess’ visit brought many changes to the farm.

The residents who had been living ordinary and mundane lives at the farm became more proud of the autonomous state. Seeing that a royal princess stayed for more days than what was planned because she enjoyed her stay at the farm so much, the residents seemed to gain more confidence for the place. It was a positive change. People were now more motivated to develop the farm. Youngho thought that if they tried a little more, the farm could turn into a decent city.

***

Not long after the princess’ group left, Kim Joo-hyuk the vice president of H Rotem returned from Korea after the New Year’s holiday break. As they stayed at the newly polished Arirang Hotel, they were amazed by its new look.

“Mr. Lee. It hasn’t even been a month but it looks like there had been many changes. Shouldn’t we have to pay higher lodging cost?”

“We had to upgrade a few things because a Danish princess visited the farm with her group.”

“A Danish princess came to visit here?”

He was astounded to hear that a story that could only be heard from TV had happened in real life.

“Well, she’s seeing my brother-in-law now. I assume they’ll get married in several years.”

Kim Joo-hyuk was even more dumbfounded to think that the royal princess would be married to some fallen Archduke’s descendant of a tiny autonomous region. It was a nonsensical story. It was unbelievable but he also knew that there was no reason for Youngho to be lying about such a story.

“Well, congratulations. You’re going to have royal family-in-laws.”

“Believe it or not, this couple is officially acknowledged by the queen of the Danish royal family. She must’ve approved their relationship expecting the grand future of the autonomous state.”

“That must be true. The Danish royal family is investing in something great for the future of Mr. Lee and the autonomous state.”

Kim Joo-hyuk was quite stirred.

H Corporation had researched about Youngho’s profile and he thought that he knew everything about him. However, the story about the Danish royal family was a new story. If the Danish royal family had decided to send a princess to the autonomous state, there must be something else. He felt that he should report this as soon as possible to the headquarters of H Corporation. Youngho might not be a normal businessman as the company had thought.

He believed that any business partnership would be successful when he knew about his partners and treat them as they should be treated. He had met Arabian royalties and nations as his business partners. Having failed many partnerships in the end by rubbing their fur the wrong way, he wanted to make sure to maintain a good relationship with Youngho. Especially now that he knew Youngho was related to European royalty, he intuitively knew that there must be more benefits from his relationship with Youngho.

H Corporation that received Kim Joo-hyuk’s report about Youngho was troubled. The company had treated Youngho as another petty business partnership but he was, in fact, more than what they had thought of him.

Not knowing what Kim Joo-hyuk was up to, Youngho was busy going over the medical equipment list that Dr. Kim Dong-sung requested. He was confused with a lot of strange medical terms on the paper. Each equipment cost was extremely expensive.

Most of them were manufactured in the U.S.A or in Germany. When Youngho was deciding how to go about them at his desk, Kim Joo-hyuk entered his office.

After listening to Youngho’s concern, he spoke.

“That’s such welcoming news that Korean elite doctors will be starting to work here. Arirang Hospital will be the most famous hospital in Kazakhstan. You should receive expensive medical fees from rich Russians.”

“The doctors are coming as volunteers. I can’t damage their reputation.”

Youngho said so but his brain was working hard to count money.

“Mr. Lee. We should give you a hand since you’ve been a tremendously helpful partner for us. Our company would like to be in charge of buying some of the medical equipment.”

“…”

“I don’t think this would be a burden for our company, so we’d like to pay a contribution.”

Kim Joo-hyuk was dying to earn Youngho’s favor this time.

To Youngho, it was an unexpected gift from him. It seemed like a windfall was coming upon him all of a sudden.