Empire of the Ring

As the spring came, the farm was getting busy again.

This year, grapes would be growing in the Charles Wine Company’s farm or the Charles farm which was 300 acres and in the Zeynep Farm’s Southern part which was 600 acres. The Charles farm was surrounded by mountains, so the notorious Baku’s wind could not even reach there. There was a reservoir on the farm and the whole farm was watered by it. It was built upon a natural spring which was the main reason that the Charles farm was successful. It was five kilometers away from Zeynep Farm, so grapes from there could be transported easily to the wine factory. However, the fermentation facility on Zeynep Farm had a capacity to process 1,600 acres of grape plants only. So Youngho was building a new facility on the Charles farm.

Youngho stopped expanding his farm for now and planned to focus on making premium quality wine. The bottling process could be done in Zeynep Farm, he only needed to build oak cask aging facility at Charles farm before this fall, including crusher, press, aging tanks, and the low-temperature aging room.

The oak trees grown in the Caucasus Mountain Range were known to be the best-scented casks in Europe. That was why Youngho was building oak cask production facility in the empty field of the Southern part of Zeynep Farm.

Since it was a lot of money to buy oak casks used on his farm, he wanted to produce them on his own. Oak casks should be replaced every five to seven years in order not to lose the scent of oak in wine. The wine would be tasteless if the oak casks were not replaced. Since the number of grapes produced in his farm was now enormous, he was not sure if he could replenish all the oak casks from the farm’s own production. He decided to build a big factory, so that he could even sell oak casks to other factories too.

Many people would think if selling oak casks would make money, but their price was high. A cask of 300-gallon capacity could cost two to three million won depending on the tree’s age. Small farms would not even dare to replace their oak casks because of the high price, but their wine did not taste good because of that.

If he produced oak casks, they would sell like hotcakes, since premium wine factories were always in need of them.

Oak cask production factory did not have complicated facilities since it only needed outdoor tree storage lot, sawmill, manufacturing factory, and storage for manufactured oak casks. The quality of the production depended on how many experienced craftsmen were there because the process was mostly done manually. There were different types of oak trees including acorn, oriental oak, black oak, quercus mongolica oak, white oak, and Japanese oak, and so on. The trees used to make charcoals would be a high-value product as they turned into oak casks. Oriental oaks were especially special since cork was made from harvested bark of the trees, they were a valuable resource used as the corks of the wine bottles.

In the Mediterranean regions, there were many small farming villages that only grew oriental oaks to produce corks.

Youngho planned to mass produce oak casks by automatizing the production process, so that the craftsmen could only focus on making the casks.

***

While the farm work was naturally busy in springtime, Youngho had another work to take care of. It was the exploration work of the oil field, district 7 of the Caspian Sea. Although he was only the face of the company, he could not just sit back since he received three percent of the company’s share. Even if he did not consider that, there were a lot of troubles between the laborers of the exploration field and he was often summoned to the police department. The laborers who worked for long hours in the tough work field often were drunk and made troubles. Usually they were in physical fights but as they inflicted injuries to each other, they got indicted by the police.

Youngho had visited the department often but now there was a different reason for his visit to Main Police Department. As the person in charge, he had to bail his workers out and returned them to the work field. Since the oil field was short in staff, he could not neglect the workers in the police department. Every single day, money was passing and if they could finish the exploration process fast, they could start making money sooner.

Thankfully there was no safety accident yet in the field. However, he was being extra careful since once an accident happens, it would cause serious injuries to the workers.

Since the oil exploration technicians were not mafias, they needed to be treated carefully. They were highly stressed, so Youngho needed to find a way to relieve their stress.

To resolve this problem, Yaniv sent a Russian mafia-style consolatory visit. It was a visit of Russian ‘intergirls’, known as Russian international prostitutes, to relieve the laborers.

It was something that the Azerbaijani government would not be fond of if they found out but it was conventionally done in offshore oil fields. Not to mention, Youngho could not stop it since Yaniv was in charge. Oil businessmen would have a contract with the broker company of intergirls, so the girls visited the oil field once a week to motivate workers. It was a special culture of Russia since girls willingly became intergirls to save themselves from poverty as Russia rapidly turned to a capitalist system. The story of those girls was made as a movie and surprised the whole world but it was still enacted in the Caspian Sea.

The laborers, working at the oil field drilling and exploring oil deposits, were highly paid due to the risk followed by their job. They did not have anywhere to use the money they earned since they were in the middle of the sea. Naturally, they were drawn to women. So the deal was sealed since there was supply and demand.

Youngho noticed the increase of Russian beauties in the downtown of Baku. He thought that they were on a trip but there was a reason for that. Baku’s night culture was slowly being spoiled too influenced by the appearance of intergirls.

***

Even in this busy time, Youngho and Jongil went to the village of Shatili to exchange money with gold bars. He now had gathered 450 of gold bars in total. The money he paid to the rebels summed up to 14.8 million dollars. In Korean currency, he paid 16 billion won and earned 26 billion won worth of gold bars. The gold bars could worth any amount of money for a person who really needed it. Youngho did not know what to do with them for now but he visited Shatili from time to time when he was about to forget about them.

As the Chechen rebels had enough money, they had bought the latest weapons and were getting used to them. Even Youngho envied the weapons they bought from the ammunition depot located in Grozny, Russia.

Wanting some of the weapons for himself, Jongil even said to bring a car next time to get some of the weapons from them.

As May was just beginning, the Caucasus Mountain Range started to smell like spring. They could not bring their cars before since the mountains were still icy.

Youngho told Michael of the European chapter that they should stop supplying the Chechen rebels since they had enough now. If a tail is long, it must be stepped on. Likewise, it was time for them to draw the line with the Black Eagle. It was no doubt that the CIA and the Black Eagle would still maintain good relation but signs that indicated danger were showing up because the second generation of the Black Widows was established and they were now launching terror attacks in different places.

Although they were fighting for their independence, the Western world could not accept their attacks on many and unspecified persons. The CIA would help them if they directly fought against the Russian army as armed rebels.

***

After passing the borderline of Azerbaijan, Youngho passed the wheel to Jongil. Because it was their last time going to the village of Shatili, they decided to take their car.

Although Youngho desired more gold bars, he had a bad feeling about dealing with the Black Eagle anymore, so he decided to stop after this time. No matter how many gold bars they wanted, what the two could carry in their backpacks were 120 bars at maximum. Since Youngho still had 1,300 dollars left from selling the oil information with Michael, he wanted to use up all of his money for the gold bars. This time, he planned to ask for more with a reason that selling gold bars cost him more for the commission fee. He trembled his body to think that he was turning into a greedy gold seeker. He turned on classical CD and leaned back to the passenger seat.

“Are you asleep?”

Jongil who had been driving spoke to him. Since Youngho was listening to the music with his eyes closed, Jongil must have thought that he was asleep.

“Nope. I’m enjoying the music.”

“Dude, it doesn’t even suit you. By the way, you got any worries?”

“Why, do I look like I’m worried?”

“Yeah. Talk to your brother. Are you in trouble that I don’t know of? I can help you pick up your mess.”

“…”

“Man. You really are in trouble, aren’t you?”

“No no you stupid. You’re writing a fiction novel again.”

Lately, Youngho’s head was filled with the idea that he needed more money to have power. He was guilty that he was turning into a slave for money, and fast-witted Jongil already found out that he was troubled.

When a person on the passenger seat falls asleep, the driver also gets tired. So Youngho asked Jongil to switch with him but he said that he was fine. He was worried about Youngho.

“Jongil, do you think I am going crazy for money?”

“What? Why? Did anybody say that to you?”

“No. I just feel like I’m like that these days.”

“Youngho, you’re just soft. I’m rather worried that you’re busy giving your money away. Dude, you’ve done great so far and you’ll continue to do the same.”

Receiving a compliment from Jongil, Youngho felt weird. They were always busy joking around with each other since they had cringes when talking seriously.

“The Chechen rebels risk their lives for their country’s independence, but I feel like I’m only interested in my profits.”

“Hey! You’re not taking advantage of them, it’s a win-win deal. You’re paying them more than the black market, other brokers would try to rip them off. I don’t know if you think you should be honest but business is a business. It’s how it works.”

Although Jongil was also right, Youngho still felt guilty. He was in a minor identity crisis these days.

“Youngho. It’s my opinion and probably Insoo would feel the same way but we all could have opportunities because of you. You always took care of people around you and didn’t use money for yourself. Nobody would see you as blinded by money, so don’t confuse yourself with needless thoughts. Look at me, I live a simple life. I can’t push you to live like me though, phew.”

“…”

Youngho envied Jongil who said that he lived a carefree life. Thinking too much was not good for anything. He already started his businesses. Whether it was the wine business or information business, since he decided to start, he thought that he should try to be the best and make money.

“Okay. I’ll try to be empty-minded like you. I started things already. Let’s make money out of them. I can care less about being blamed for it.”

“Man, don’t you think I’m empty-minded. I meant that once I have a goal, I don’t think about anything, okay?”

“Hahaha…”

“…”

“Thank you, Jongil. I can live on the foreign life because you are here.”

“Did you eat something spoiled? You’re being weird today.”