Empire of the Ring

Eriksson received Youngho’s phone call with great pleasure. He was fully aware that Youngho only called him for a business deal.

“Mr. Lee’s phone call is always exciting. With what will you make me happy today?”

“You’d be disappointed if I called you just to say hi.”

“You’re also welcome to call me to say hi. I would have called you first if I hadn’t heard from you for a while.”

“Let me tell you what it’s all about. I’d like to sell some bonds.”

“How much is it?”

“It’s about 500 million dollars worth of government bonds.”

“That would be something our clients would like. It is also one of the items that our company can purchase first.”

“I’m in Copenhagen now. If you’re around, I’d like to meet you here tomorrow.”

“I’m in London. I can get there by tomorrow afternoon. Would you mind?”

“I’m bothering the busy man.”

“Meeting you is always a great pleasure. If it’s a good bond, we can even trade it tomorrow.”

“I’ll reserve a private room at the Imperial Hotel near Copenhagen Central Station. ”

Crowned Prince Frederick, who was watching Youngho talking to Eriksson on the phone was stunned to see how fast the whole deal was processing.

“Prince consort. Is it correct that someone’s coming tomorrow to check the bonds?”

“As soon as we confirm the authenticity of the bond, the money will be deposited immediately. Could you give me the account information that you’re managing?”

“…”

“You’d have to take out the bonds tomorrow.”

“Oh, okay. I will do that.”

The crowned prince looked completely dumbfounded.

“I can trust him because he’s been doing business with me for a long time. If the deal goes wrong, I’ll take full responsibility.”

“I am a little shook by how easy it was to sell the bonds.”

“I’m thankful that you trusted me with this, your Royal Highness. If you have any business that you don’t want to be in the front, please don’t hesitate to call me again.”

“Thank you. I have many eyes watching me, so it’s been hard to deal with private business.”

“I’m cautious to ask a private question, but I’d like to take the liberty of asking. What are you planning to do with this sale?”

“…”

“If you’re going to invest in Szechenyi’s investment company, you can do it with official royal funds. I think you have a different use for the funds. Please speak comfortably. Maybe I could help you with it too.”

He hesitated for a long time, and then he said that he wanted to give the funds to his brother-in-law after selling the bonds. The crowned princess must have talked him in to break his slush fund for her brother.

With the name of the brother of the Danish Crowned Princess, his business would be successful unless he was a terrible businessman, but it seemed that the prince’s brother’s business was going into a downfall.

“If you don’t think it’s impossible to revive the business, it’s best to declare bankruptcy and start afresh. There will be damage to the royal face, but it will easily be forgotten in people’s minds.”

“…”

“I know that you might be sorry about what I said not even asking you what kind of business it was, but you must have checked it through various channels, haven’t you? You know, the business might not be recovered even if you put all that money into it.”

“My brother-in-law said that the business will get back on the right track if I invest 50 million dollars. I was going to give that to him and put the rest in Szechenyi’s investment company.”

50 million dollars was not a little money. In other words, if the company would only be able to operate after pouring that much money into it, it would be a large corporation in Danish standards.

“Do you know what’s most lethal to businessmen? It’s missing the opportunity to put down a business. It’s because of reckless attachment. It’s not easy to throw away what you’ve been working on. However, someone has to be the one to do it to save things that could be saved.”

“That company should be kept, even if I have to pour huge funds into it.”

“I’m not kidding, I’d like to stop you from investing in it.”

***

The crowned prince looked desperate since he thought that a capable businessman like Youngho would be able to help him.

As Youngho was going to leave it at that point, the crowned prince kept on insisting.

“Prince consort, could you please take a look at my brother-in-law’s company? I’m asking you because it’s not a company that’s going to collapse.”

“I didn’t major in business administration and I don’t have the expertise to diagnose companies. It’s just an animal intuition that has been serving me all along. You can’t decide whether or not a company should exist with poor knowledge. The existence of a company should depend on a market judgment.”

“So I’m begging you to take a look. It’s one of the representative companies in Denmark.”

“Is it not that the company has lived this long because of your help, your Royal Highness?”

Youngho’s last question was unanswered.

The crowned prince loved his wife dearly, so he could not refuse her request.

The prince, who participated in the Sydney Olympics as a Danish yacht player, fell in love with a volunteer girl. Mary Donaldson, a commoner from the Australian island of Tasmania, quickly became a Cinderella after marrying the crowned prince. The princess was not loved by the Danish people because she was criticized for shopping too much with royal funds not long after her wedding. And now, her brother was not helping the royal family’s reputation.

Youngho could understand the crowned prince because he also had a beloved wife, Fatima. If she had a brother who needed help and asked for Youngho’s help, Youngho would also do as she asked to make her happy.

“Okay. I’ll take a look at the business after we take care of the bonds tomorrow. If I told you to take your hands off the business, would you listen to me?”

“But I’m going to help him at least once more. If it goes into bankruptcy, it’ll affect Isabella’s wedding that’s about to take place.”

If the Danish royal family was bashed by the public, the wedding would not be blessed by them either. Youngho would not accept it since he wanted to honor Szechenyi’s wedding. He would rather have the wedding in the Arirang Autonomous State.

“I can’t ruin Szechenyi’s wedding. He’s like my brother. They should have a blessed marriage.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“Your Royal Highness, I’m only helping because of Szechenyi and Princess Isabella.”

“I understand that.”

***

“I’m sure Denmark will be your front yard from now on. Aren’t you going to be the in-law of the Danish royal family soon?”

“You got the invitation, didn’t you?”

“Yes, it came from the Danish Royal Family. My superiors are competing against each other to attend the wedding.”

“Should I send you more invitation cards?”

“Oh, there’s no need. They don’t want to be exposed anyway.”

“So, I guess I’m going to see one of them at this wedding.”

“He might sneak in and out quietly, or he can even secretly contact you. It’s hard for me to guess.”

Eriksson took a laptop and a portable scanner out of his bag and smiled at Youngho. He wanted to see the bonds.

“Alright, shall we get down to business?”

“Here you are.”

“It was a U.S. government bond.”

Eriksson scanned the bonds, sent them to his laptop, and then pretended to wipe off the sweat that didn’t come out. He looked annoyed.

“I should’ve trusted you and made a deposit from the beginning, but I couldn’t ignore the procedure, please forgive me for doing it.”

“The process of verifying the bonds is rather fortunate to me. If I had fake bonds, it can’t be good for both of us.”

“Thank you for your understanding. It’s just a confirmation process from the U.S. central bank and now it’s over.”

“I see. So, this is how you confirm the authenticity of bonds.”

“Yes. There had been some fake bonds lately.”

Youngho wondered what kind of organization could reach out to the U.S. central bank. The more he knew, the more fear he had overawe at this huge organization. If he became hostile with this kind of organization, he would be screwed in many ways. He wanted to maintain a friendly relationship as much as possible.

“I brought it with little doubt because it came from someone I could trust.”

“I see. Our company also has a 100 percent confidence in any dealings with you, Mr. Lee. You’re already known as a man of loyalty from the incident in Chechnya.”

“In that situation, anyone would have done the same. Someone had to take you out. We’re trained agents, but you’re a civilian, isn’t it?”

Youngho once went to Chechnya with Eriksson to deal with Chechen rebels and saved Eriksson. He just naturally carried Eriksson when there was a danger. Eriksson still remembered it.

“It’s hard to take care of oneself in that kind of situation, and it’s even difficult to run with a big man like me. I just can’t understand it even now. I’ve never heard of anyone in the U.S. intelligence community who’s strong as you.”

“When you’re in a crisis, your hidden power comes out.”

“Do you want me to believe that? You’re not taking any special medicine, are you?”

“You’re not going to take me to your lab and dissect me, are you?”

“Hahaha… If it’ll make money, I will offer it without hesitation. You could be a test subject for money.”

Eriksson’s phone rang in the middle of a lighthearted exchange of jokes. The bond seemed to be real, given that his expression was bright.

“They’re 20-year bonds, and it seemed like the seller had them for 14 years. I’ll include the interest that had been paid for the length of the period it had been owned. Please give me your account number.”

“With interest too?”

“For important clients, such service is our standard. Our organization also prefers U.S. treasury bonds the most.”

“I have poor economic terminology and knowledge, so I need to study from now on.”

“Why would you study hard when you can use capable people to do the job?”

“Nobody comes under the owner who is too ignorant. I wouldn’t work under him either.”

“If my superiors heard that, they’d be disappointed. They have not studied economics or business management. Yet, they have ghostly business senses. You don’t need to study economics to be a good owner.”

Putting together what Eriksson just said, his bosses in the Information Agency would be geniuses with an uncontrollable amount of money since they had not even studied business but they managed to get smart people like Eriksson to work for them.

“Well, I’m not really smart and knowledgeable like you, so I’m just going to use my physical strength as I’ve been used to it.”

“I envy it the most. You have to be strong enough to fight like a rhinoceros without knowing how tired you are. I’m always tired because I’m not physically fit. In fact, I’m very tired right now.”

Eriksson indirectly said that the conversation was over. Youngho also didn’t want to be there anymore since he felt like his shallow knowledge would be revealed if he talked too much in the presence of a smart person.

“Then make yourself at home in this room. I should get going.”

“Do you think so? We don’t have a commission for you on this deal, so our higher-ups decided to give you a technology transfer. How about that?”

“That’s the most exciting news.”

“You could ask for any technology.”

“I don’t want to ask too much from you. Mr. Eriksson, please recommend something suitable. I’ll take it without a complaint.”

“It would be advantageous to specify what you want. There’s no good in transferring useless technology.”

“Wouldn’t it be a problem if I asked the technology that your company doesn’t have? From our state’s point of view, any technology would be welcomed. I’m just thankful to receive anything.”

“You give me homework to do. You’d blame me if I gave you an improper technology.”

“I’m not an engineer and I have no insight in this category. It would be best if you could recommend it for our state since your company probably has a better perspective on our state.”

“Oh, now you’re burdening me.”