Empire of the Ring

A CNN news reporter was talking in an excited voice as he showed footage of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s maneuvers. It seemed like the winds of the Black Sea were especially strong today that he was all wet as he stood on a small fishing boat.

The image of the warships of Russia that sailed forward leaving foams behind, the gloomy weather, and the reporter that was consistently getting showered by the high waves was showing the pressing situation of the Black Sea.

As the screen showed another scene, three Turkish frigates that were floating on the sea could be spotted at the far corner of the screen.

It looked like that it would not be strange if the vessels started firing at each other.

“Man, those Russians are putting on a well-made show. It’s only the Turkish Navy that’s nervous.”

“Oh man. Poor new recruits, they must be suffering from seasickness in those high waves.”

The two conversed casually as the whole world held its breath by the scene. It was because even though war seemed inevitable at this moment, they knew that it would be stopped at some point.

“What if the Turkish Navy decided to fire a shot?”

“The U.S. might have informed the Turkish leadership already.”

To prevent an accidental collision, the U.S. might have let the Turkish military know in advance.

Youngho was still not sure how the Turkish military would react to the Russian Army residing in Armenia. The war would truly break out around the Black Sea if the Turkish military found out.

“Man, we’ve got to find a way to make money in this time.”

“Wait for now. We don’t know what we can do yet .”

There were not a lot of people who knew about Russia’s scheme.

The ships of the Black Sea’s coast were all frozen now because of Russia’s show, and this had caused the prices of daily necessaries and traded goods to skyrocket. Some countries were experiencing a shortage of goods on some items.

It was not only the Black Sea, but the countries of the Caspian coast were suffering as well. The light industry was not well developed in the Caucasus region and Central Asia, so countries of those regions imported their daily necessary supplies.

People in these regions would panic-buy if the state of affairs did not look good, and Ill-intended merchants would take down items on the shelves in order to raise their prices.

Youngho, who just finished calculating with his calculator, lifted his head.

“Jong-il. You can’t take the 5,000-ton bulk freighter out of delivery line, can you?”

“There are only two of them in the whole Caspian Sea. If they don’t run, what would the people of Azerbaijan do?”

The bulk freighters were the only ones that provided grains produced in Kazakhstan to Azerbaijani people. All other ships of Arirang Shipping were busy delivering minerals now.

“I only need them once to transport supplies of daily necessaries. I can handle the rest by myself from there.”

“Why don’t you use the car ferry and a 3,000-ton freighter? Aren’t they enough to deliver daily necessaries?”

“You know there are so many countries on the coast of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They’ll blame me if I provided them insufficient supplies. I want to do it properly and receive hazard pay. That’ll get us some money.”

In a dangerous time like this, no other shipping companies were willing to transport goods on the sea. Youngho thought that the retailers of the supply goods would pay him more even if he did not ask for it because of the hazardous situation he would have to face. Youngho was confident about this since he just thought of Zeynep’s friend’s father who was an owner of a shipping company in Turkey.

***

“Mr. Yilmaz. It’s been a long time.”

“I’m honored that such a famous person like you decided to visit me, Mr. Lee.”

Yilmaz was truly excited to see Youngho.

Since Youngho provided wheat that was produced in Kazakhstan to Turks, Yilmaz’ business would not have been successful without Youngho’s help. Youngho had kept his promise that he would not let other freighters invade in Yilmaz’s business range in the Black Sea. He did it not because Zeynep had made a fuss, but because he agreed to divide the Black Sea into two for each other’s benefit.

“You must be frustrated for not being able to move your freighters.”

“If this continued for a few more months, I don’t know what’s going to happen to the business.”

“I came here to suggest something. Would you like to hear it?”

“If there’s any way I can get out of this situation, I’ll go with your plan.”

Both of them had talked about Youngho’s plan for an hour. They finished their conversation with a satisfying smile and a handshake. Yilmaz felt as if he had met a savior for his company and the ship-owners who worked for him.

Since Youngho had promised to guarantee the security for his vessels, Yilmaz did not have any reason not to agree with Youngho. He did not know how Youngho could promise the security of his vessels, but he had no other choice now. He felt like he would regret it so much if he did not work with Youngho. What Youngho requested to Yilmaz was to deliver assigned freight from Istanbul to Port of Atyrau. Yilmaz would even take the devil’s offer by now, and he felt exuberated that Youngho had suggested a great opportunity for a new job.

While shipping companies were suffering from the Black Sea crisis, land transport companies were benefiting from it. However, because of their high transportation cost, retail prices of supplies were getting higher day by day. Wholesalers and retailers would reflect those prices to their products, so it was terrible for regular consumers. However, wholesalers and retailers also suffered since sales were dropping quickly due to high prices.

Most of the goods were used to be transported using the railroad in the Caucasus and Central Asian regions because the Soviet Union had built railroads all over the place in the past. However, after the Soviet Union fell, the railroads were neglected without additional investments made on them, and they were considered as the epitome of inefficiency.

Since the railroads were run by a nation, there was no concept of service. People also frequently lost their freight. Thus, most retailers preferred truck transportation companies over railroad transportation.

This was the case of many surrounding countries of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Russia, who had caused this mess, was finally facing difficulties.

Although the country had factories that produced daily necessaries, its own people did not prefer them due to their low qualities. The country majorly relied on European goods. As the Black sea was tied down, the whole scheme began to catch up with Russia.

However, Russia could not come clean and say that everything was a big show. Russia never meant to touch private merchant ships, but it was facing a bitter reality since no shipping countries dare to sail on the sea. On one hand, Russian authorities wanted a bold shipping country to step up to start operating again.

Oddly enough, small bulk freighters from the Caspian Sea were spotted roaming around the Black Sea fearlessly.

***

Youngho and Jong-il were having a heated conversation over the situation of Russia.

“I heard western Russia is a mess now. It’s like it has tripped over its own trick.”

They heard that the Russian government had asked for Yaniv’s help after the prices had rapidly and indiscriminately gone up. Sergey told them that the government asked to provide their Korean traded goods to the city of Moscow.

“It was a cheap scheme that would generate more loss than gain. Russia dug its own grave for being too greedy.”

“They say you should survey yourself before attacking others.”

Jong-il, who usually enjoyed playing Go, used a phrase that was frequently used by many Go players. This was a good way to describe the current situation of Russia since the country was falling apart from the inside before taking over southeast European regions.

Sergey ran out of Korean goods, so he contacted Youngho to ask for help.

The daily necessary goods that were transported from the Mediterranean were now getting all sold out in Russia before they even reached the Caspian Sea.

Sergey advised Youngho to scratch the Russian government’s itchy spot at this chance. It was a good opportunity for Youngho to save his face to the Russian government.

“What do you think? Do you think Russia’s going to thank us just like Sergey said?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care but it’s worth to try. We’ll make money anyway.”

“If it’s not the government, Yaniv and Sergey would still owe us.”

Youngho did not expect the Russian government to recognize what he was doing. All he needed was the mafias of Volgograd anyway, so he did not mind the government. Not to mention, he was selling the goods for a higher price because of the dangers he might encounter in transporting them. Making high profits was enough to be the reason for his business with Russia.

Although Russia was having difficulties, the countries of the Caspian coast had suffered the most from the whole situation.

That was why Youngho turned the third of the total amount of transported goods to the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were suffering an extreme shortage of goods.

As Youngho and Yilmaz began to provide goods to the countries of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, many countries soon began to be stabilized. The increase in prices had finally stopped. It would still take a long time until the prices stabilize once they went up.

What this meant for Youngho was that he would be extremely busy making profits for a while.

The café in the Arirang Hotel’s building in the autonomous state was crowded by retailers and traders of daily necessaries.

It was because they heard the news that Arirang Shipping would deliver goods at an arranged time if the danger charge was paid. There were no other shipping companies who would do this job in a time like this.

The coastal countries of the Caspian not only had a large number of imported goods but also had large quantities of exported goods. There was a saying that the one who was thirsty would dig a well, so eager tradesmen hastily sought the autonomous state. They had to travel to the autonomous state to get the deal even if it was too far from them because it was a first-come-first-serve deal.

“Hey, are we going to be fine? It feels like we’re overusing our power as the only shipping company operating now but what if they turn their faces after this situation is over?”

Jong-il did not like the fact that shippers had to come to the autonomous state to contract with Arirang Shipping. He had asked to open a temporary office of Arirang Shipping in Atyrau but Kim Chun stopped him and changed the location to the autonomous state.

Youngho also agreed to Jong-il, but he could not stop Kim Chun because he strongly insisted.

“So we provide them our light airplane service to make up for their inconvenience.”

“Dude, we’re not providing it for free.”

“You know, we’re merely getting paid for the cost of gas and guest rooms.”

“Man. That Commissioner Kim is giving a hard time for many people.”

The retailers and traders were wealthy people who would use more convenient travel means if they could. The light airplane service of the autonomous state was a tempting offer for them.

Kim Chun insisted that the autonomous state should be making money for this chance as well, and that was why he changed the Arirang Shipping’s office to the state.

Youngho was impressed for Kim Chun’s idea to take advantage of this situation for the good of the Arirang Autonomous State.

“Don’t you think Commissioner Kim is someone who’s born for the Arirang Autonomous State?”

“Man, you’re turning into a major fanatic of him now.”

“I’m going to let him do whatever he wants even if he stays as the commissioner for a prolonged period.”

Youngho was very pleased with his passion and hard work for the autonomous state. He could be the commissioner for the rest of his life if he continued to work like this.

“Oh no. Your symptoms are getting worse.”

“Hey, you too made a lot of money from shipping charges. Give Commissioner Kim Chun a bonus pay.”

Kim Chun charged the business guests for their room, but he did his best to provide them the best service.

“Am I the only one who made money? You took all of the danger charges in the first place.”

“You know how hard a broker’s job is? I need more appreciation than this.”

“Phew, I shouldn’t bother talking to you.”

The summer of that year was heading to its end leaving behind so many stories to talk about.

The entity that benefited the most from Russia’s poor southward policy was only the Arirang Autonomous State.