Empire of the Ring

Chapter 44: Mafia Sergey (1)

Youngho thought for a while before answering him, “I shouldn’t be rejecting this offer as a merchandiser, but I’m worried about where to ship the trading goods.”

“To the Republic of Abkhazia’s Sukhumi Port on the Black Sea. We’ll be delivering them by train to Volgograd* from there.”

“....”

“We have the Black Sea Fleet protecting trade ships and the Republic of Abkhazia is considered a part of Russia. We also do many trades with Turkey, so the products could be transferred from Istanbul too.”

“Phew, all the places you mentioned are disputed territories. Korean manufacturers may not trust your LC, but I’ll try to make a deal with them anyway. Can you tell me your budget and the quantities for the imported items?”

“I’m expecting two million dollars. I will email you the items list and quantities. If our LC is not credited because the destination is a disputed territory, I’ll consider paying ahead before the production.”

Thinking that he went a little overboard, Youngho replied, “You don’t need to pay ahead if you ship the items to Istanbul.”

“Okay, Mr. Lee. You won’t be disappointed. I guarantee it.”

“Let me be clear. I don’t expect to make money from trading daily necessities. In fact, I am doing this to maintain a good relationship as I was suggested to do.”

Youngho wanted to draw the line with the mafias since he did not wish to be involved in their other businesses.

“Mr. Lee, I know that you are close with Baku’s officials. We’re not stupid enough to sabotage the oil development business that we invested more than thirty million dollars in. You can trust us.”

Their business scale was huge. Youngho wondered where their huge funds came from. Sergey had come out not only to bury the hatchet with Youngho, but also to take advantage of doing business with Youngho and show their cooperation. The mafias wanted to show that they were supporting Youngho to the government officials.

“Why on Earth, if I may ask, did you invest in oil development, an infamous business that is more likely to fail than succeed?”

Sergey smiled at Youngho’s innocent question.

“You never know. We can expand the area even more and we might be able get oil by tomorrow. Then the 25% of the production profit is ours. How about that? Isn’t that a worthy-to-dive-for business?”

“I don’t think I can risk that much. Please tell Mr. Yaniv that I wish for his success.”

Baku’s officials also wished for the Russian mafias to succeed in drilling oil rather than rooting for other officials, politicians, or private companies because they had received enormous amounts of funds from the mafias as a lobby. The oil development business had to succeed for everyone’s good.

“I’ll deliver your genuine wishes to the boss. I also want to say that we always feel proud of maintaining the friendly relationships with any of our business partners. My boss is a gentleman. You’ll understand if you meet him in person.”

‘Blah blah. Just don’t be obstacles to my business!’ As Sergey kept on talking about his amazing boss, Youngho cussed in his mind.

“Anyway, I hope we’ll not get in each other’s way.”

Youngho meant it. Sergey had no idea that Youngho was restraining himself from driving them away by force.

“My boss wants that too.”

After parting with Sergey, Youngho talked with Edward, the Head of the CIA’s European chapter, on the phone to report his business with the mafias. Even though it was Youngho’s private business, Youngho told him about it anyway to receive protection in case he needed it in the future. Also, because Youngho and Edward had been maintaining a trusted relationship, Youngho thought it was the right thing to report to him about any kind of business related events. Edward was positive toward Youngho’s business with the mafias. He also added that it would be useful for Youngho to maintain a good relationship with Yaniv, who was known to be a rather clean businessman.

While working as an information agent in Azerbaijan, it was very likely for Youngho to encounter mafias in any way in the future. Edward especially emphasized that the mafias and politicians were related, so it was a great opportunity for the CIA to find out about the politicians’ moves.

Thanking Youngho for his job in Baku, Edward suggested that if Youngho needed more backup agents, he would assign a few more. Youngho thought about his friend Cho Chulhwan who was working as a drill instructor in the Armenian militia but did not say anything. His friend was now dating an Armenian girl, who was a sister of his militia trainee. His relationship seemed serious, and even if Youngho convinced him, it was obvious that his friend would not join him in Azerbaijan.

The next day, Youngho received the list of items and quantities from Sergey. There were twenty items, and the quantities were diversely ranged from 10000 to 50000. Their only condition was buying them with two million dollars. No matter how many times Youngho estimated the prices on a calculator, it did not look like Youngho would make a lot of money from the trade.

Not long after he forwarded the list to Cho Sangchun, he received a call.

“Youngho, it’s me. I’m looking at the email now. What is it? Who’s opening a universal supply warehouse?”

It was no wonder that he asked since such large quantities would last months for a mega shopping mall.

“Russian oil men are opening a business in Kazakhstan. Just go ahead and call the L Company. Tell them we’ll be ordering more in the future. The budget is a little tight, but we don’t want products from smaller enterprises.”

“Chunho Merchant started as an electronics trader, but now we deal with clothes and daily necessities mainly now.”

Youngho was not sure if he was complimenting or complaining.

“The destination is Istanbul. Good luck!”

“Okay, since it is the first trade, I won’t think about making high profits. I’ll send you the best quality products. Man, my department hasn’t been doing well compared to Yunsuh’s clothing department. This is good! I’ll prove that I’m worth it.”

“Haha....”

Youngho could imagine Sangchun’s smiling face. Sangchun had been surrounded by a great family since young, and he was such an optimistic person. Since he could endure Yunsuh’s nagging, it was proof of his great character. Not only that, he was also a trustworthy friend to Youngho. Youngho felt lucky that a friend like him became his little sister’s husband since Youngho would have little reason to worry about his sister.

Cho Sangchun worked fast and negotiated the price for the products with L Company at 1.9 million dollars. Because the mafias would take care of the shipping prices and taxes, Chunho Merchant would make 100000 dollars from the trade.

Youngho called Sergey and delivered him the news. He seemed surprised and impressed that Youngho picked high quality products and decided not to make high profits from the trade. The production and the rest of the parts proceeded quickly. It was a successful business.

Korean products were gaining huge popularity in Russia and Middle Eastern countries. They would be priced a few more times higher than the original price in those countries as excuse for the high taxes, but Youngho had never heard of mafias paying taxes. Anyhow, now that Youngho’s part was over, what was left for him to do was to wait and see how fast they were sold out in those countries.

Now that everything was taken care of, Youngho was not too busy. His stores were doing well by themselves under Karajan’s management, and the farm was directed by Gerhardt. Youngho sometimes visited the director or Kamal, the Head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for some tea to collect some more information.

These days, he was into farming. If he had enough time, he walked around the farm with the Fatima siblings, touching each grape plant that started budding. Gerhardt looked at Youngho’s actions suspiciously, so Youngho told him about the Korean farming myth that promised that plants grow when they listen to their owner’s footsteps.

The farm in the spring season was full of work to be done.

The empty dirt field in front of the management building was now covered with grass. Youngho planted different kinds of fruit trees in the empty parts of the farm. He also bought thirty sheep and put them in the fields where there were fences. Gerhardt’s wife especially welcomed the sheep, saying that she could procure fresh milk from them. Many Azerbaijani believed that drinking fresh sheep milk everyday maintained good health.

Youngho, who loved farming and working with dirt, spent most of his time in the farm sweating with the other farmers. This year’s grape crop was a barometer of future yields, so Youngho put his best efforts into farming. Even though Youngho had bought grape plants that were more than three years old from Turkey, how much produce he would cultivate was not guaranteed due to Baku’s different climate. All he could do was work hard, wait, and see.

Because of the large size of the farming area, the water pumped from the nearby lake was not enough to cover for all the crops and necessities. As a solution, Youngho started building a reservoir on the farm in the middle of the way from the lake. He also planned to use it as a swimming pool during the summer time, so he made a sun shade next to it. Visiting the Caspian Sea in Baku’s coast was also an option, but the sea was already polluted with oil floating in the water, so he made a pool in the farm for his friends and visitors. Until then, he had no idea how the regional battle with Armenia would change his reservoir.