Empire of the Ring

Youngho returned from the gold mine after taking Suh Min-seok and Kim In-hwa there as he promised.

He even let Suh Min-seok—who was sitting at the assistant pilot’s seat—handle the control stick and he was exuberated. It was not clear how Suh Min-seok took Youngho’s offer, but he became much more talkative lately than before.

“Mr. CEO. Do you know how big S Corporation is in Korea?”

“I do. Isn’t it an elite group?”

“That’s not always true though. Korean corporations all have particular culture and philosophy of their own and people choose to go to a company of their liking. We are not the best of the best.”

Back in Korea, there was a time when Youngho tried to get hired into large corporations, but he was not successful due to an exceptionally high competition rate. That was when he found out that each corporation had its own culture.

“Why are you talking about the culture of a corporation all of a sudden?”

“I wanted to hear your philosophy and your intent in establishing the Arirang Autonomous State.”

“This has become what it is now without any intended purpose. I was only pushed to do this because of the surroundings. Do you think I’d have a specific philosophy? I was only greedy for land.”

Youngho had nothing to say to Suh Min-seok’s sudden question.

“Could you count living life to the fullest no matter what the circumstances were as a philosophy?”

“I wondered why you asked us to stay in the autonomous state. We don’t have a lot of experience and we’re not that special either.”

“I just wanted to have you two around. Are you disappointed that I didn’t have a grand purpose or a specific plan?”

“No, sir. Actually, your answer makes me wonder even more about your philosophy. You are a businessman of global scale and I bet that you have a philosophy of your own.”

“You’re right. My everyday life is philosophical, so it’s hard to say it in one phrase.”

Youngho made a joke as the atmosphere seemed to get heavy.

“Haha…”

Kim In-hwa, who was listening to their conversation, smiled brightly.

“So, how long have you two been going out?”

“It started the day when we first met you. We went to a nice restaurant together that night.”

“Oh, man. Indirect light can do amazing tricks.”

“I can’t say that didn’t do a role in this.”

“What? Mr. Suh Min-seok!”

Kim In-hwa snapped at him.

“I have no idea how it happened, but I just naturally asked her to go out with me.”

“I guess Miss. Kim In-hwa must’ve said yes because of the romantic atmosphere.”

“No, Mr. CEO. I refused him at first!”

Kim In-hwa made an excuse out of embarrassment but her voice had gotten a lot smaller.

“Well, you two look great together and you make an amazing team. I’m happy for you two. It’s your personal life and it’s all up to you. Make decisions carefully and be responsible. Also, my offer is still valid for both of you. You’re always welcome here.”

If they would quit working for S Corporation to work at the autonomous state, Youngho would be glad to have them around. He now needed more workers under him in Zeynep Corporation now. They were talented enough that he expected them to climb towards the corporation’s top positions.

“Thank you for considering us into your plans, Mr. CEO.”

“I said I don’t have a specific plan. I offered you guys a position because I like you.”

Regardless of Youngho’s answer, the two looked excited about Youngho’s offer.

***

“The profit from our electronics industry will be up to 30 billion won. Even if we don’t succeed with our business in Kazakhstan, we’ll still reward the Arirang Autonomous State for its role in this project. Our corporation is known to keep any promises it makes from the time of our former chairman to our current chairman now. I admire his character so much.”

S Corporation’s president visited the autonomous state. He talked about the different problems of Kazakhstan and now he was bragging about the achievements and owners of his company.

Youngho laughed at him in his mind since he could tell the kind of person this president was. He seemed like he did not care about this palm-sized autonomous state. Some businesspeople had political characteristics. Youngho thought that this president must be it. These kinds of people were rather quite easy to handle.

“Oh, is that so? I’m jealous of S Corporation since your company earns the amount of money that our autonomous state could make in ten years in just a year.”

Although Youngho said that he was jealous, his physical gestures were contradictory to his words. He crossed his arms and leaned back into the couch.

He was upset that S Corporation’s president looked down on the autonomous state because of the amount of money that it was making. Also, the president’s announcement at an official event that S Corporation would be rewarding the autonomous state’s effort was not respectful. Paying a commission to an agency once a contract was obtained was commonly done by any business entities, but the president made it look like he was doing it out of generosity.

The faces of Im Min-shik the vice president and Kim Sung-ho the deputy department head were darkened as the conversation went on. Although S Corporation was a global company that made a tremendous amount of money, it was wrong for the president to look down on Youngho and the autonomous state.

“What can your company give to Kazakhstan?”

“…”

“H Corporation had announced that it would establish a library and technology cooperation center, and that’s being admired by Kazakhs and Koryoins in Kazakhstan.”

Youngho emphasized ‘Koryoins’ on purpose, but the president did not seem to care. He must be thinking that he should be respected for investing in a developing country.

“As far as I know, H Corporation didn’t even make any profit from its investment. Are you sure it announced that at this point?”

“H Corporation is doing it for the friendship of two countries.”

“Is that how it works in this country?”

He seemed distressed.

“That’s what your information team would have to figure out. As a person who introduced you to the Kazakh government, I only want your company to maintain a good relationship with it.”

He was startled by Youngho’s answer. It was because he had just spoken about how much money S Corporation was earning.

“This is a comparatively new country that became independent after it was under a socialistic rule for a long time. You could lose a lot if you approach this place in a way that you used to invest in other foreign countries.”

“Mr. Lee, you were the one who brokered us with this country. You should help us until the end.”

“I will help as much as possible, but I can’t always be there for you.”

Youngho’s expectations for S Corporation had already disappeared from his heart.

“Okay, I guess I was asking too much from you since you’ve already done so much for us. I’ll discuss it with my company’s leadership team.”

It was lucky that he understood Youngho quickly, but it seemed like S Corporation would be struggling a lot in Kazakhstan.

The leadership team of S Corporation from Seoul left and Youngho was left in his office.

Youngho did not want to expect too much from S Corporation any more. It seemed like the company did not want to help improve Koryoins’ position in Kazakhstan. When Youngho mentioned the Koryoins, the president looked like he could not find any connection between his business and the Koryins in Kazakhstan. It was Youngho’s mistake to think of asking S Corporation to donate to the Koryoins, but he wanted to try since the president of the company was bragging about how much his company had made in a year. Youngho blamed himself for trying to ask him for a donation, he shook his head.

***

Suh Min-seok and Kim In-hwa came to Youngho’s office.

They looked somewhat down.

“I guess your boss must’ve walked all over you. You know you’ll grow strong. You’re always trodden on. People say barley sprouts grow stronger and better when they’re trodden on.”

Youngho tried to cheer them up with a joke but Kim In-hwa still looked serious.

“Mr. CEO. Will our company still be able to proceed with this project?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mr. Kim our deputy department head looks like he’s going back to Korea.”

“Suh Min-seok, Kim In-hwa. Look at me and tell me what’s going on.”

“We heard that our company’s president had made a mistake about you. Mr. Kim says he can’t even look at you in the face because he’s so embarrassed and sorry.”

“Mistake? What mistake? People at such position make all sorts of comments, and that doesn’t bother me at all.”

“Are you sure, Mr. CEO?”

“Tell Mr. Kim to come to my office. Man, who does he think I am?”

“Mr. CEO. Please call him later and listen to us first.”

Youngho was having his second cup of green tea.

His throat felt somewhat dry and somewhat itchy, and he had to drink a cup of cold water before he could clear his throat.

“Okay, both of you, have you come to this decision on your own?”

“Yes, we have and we’d never regret it.”

“Phew, that almost sounds like you’re already regretting it.”

His followers announced that they would resign from S Corporation and take Youngho’s offer. They said that they realized that the world was bigger than they thought and were charmed by Youngho’s lifestyle since he worked on a global scale.

They also wanted to be like Youngho.

“Alright. But help S Corporation’s power plant project until the final contract is signed, as administrative staff of the autonomous state. You can be as bossy as you want.”

“Yes, Mr. CEO. We’ll do our best to work for you!”

“Very well. Then I’ll give you a written appointment letter and the permanent residency of the autonomous state first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Are we in such a hurry?”

“Yes, we are. There is so much work to do. You’ll constantly be flying around the globe.”

“…”

“First, you’ll need to look around the Arirang Hotels in each country. Then, you’ll go to Baku’s Zeynep Oilfield Service, which is an oil exploration company, a warehouse store in Georgia, Zeynep Foundation, Zeynep Wine factory, the wine distribution store in Frankfurt and to study their work as well.”

“Wait a minute. Mr. CEO, you’ve got an oil company too?”

“Oh, it’s an offshore field and we’ve been drilling gas from there.”

Surprised by what Youngho was telling them, they could not say a word.

“Lastly, you’d be in charge of keeping things updated from the warehouse complex company in Vladivostok and Zeynep Security Service which are the companies under Zeynep Corporation. It’s all yours.”

Kim In-hwa looked dumbfounded.

“What? How many companies do you even have, Mr. CEO?”

“Compared to S Corporation’s businesses, any business branch of Zeynep Corporation is a small shop business.”

“How is an oil exploration company a small shop business?”

“My share is not much. The mafia boss of southern Russia has most of the share of the company. I’m only managing it.”

Suh Min-seok looked stressed when he heard about mafias. He must be thinking that he had gotten himself in big trouble when he took Youngho’s offer.

“Isn’t it going to be dangerous to deal with the mafias?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. If you say my name, no one will touch you. There’s going to be a war if they lay a finger on you.”

Their faces were turning pale now. It seemed that Youngho scared them enough tonight. He was about to stop since he did not want them to have nightmares.

“Are there any more surprises, Mr. CEO?”

Suh Min-seok stepped up to ask boldly.

“That was the least surprising thing. You’ll get to see so many fun and unexpected events around me.”

“…”

“I’m going to introduce you to the mafia boss of southern Russia. You’ll have to contact him frequently from now on.”

At Youngho’s remark, the teacup which Suh Min-seok was holding began shaking hard.