Empire of the Ring

Chapter 48: The Godfather of Southern Russia (2)

Sergey’s father and his boss Yaniv used to be childhood friends in a slum town of Stalingrad, now called Volgograd. In the slum, children did not have many options to live on. As other children did for money, Sergey’s father and Yaniv started out with running small errands such as delivering drugs and drawing customers for prostitutes. As they got older, they delivered illegal liquors from bootleggers. One day, they were picked by local mafias. Just like that, they became a member of the dark world, from dealing with small jobs to bigger ones.

Not long after Sergey was born, his dad was sacrificed by a battle between mafia organizations. It was Yaniv who took care of him after his dad left him. Sergey was a bright child. When he received his doctorate degree in business administration, he rejected the professor position offered by his university to help Yaniv’s organization. Even though it was against Yaniv’s will, he pushed his way in the organization. He changed the substandard systems into decent structured systems and involved in legal businesses to grow the organization. Sergey told about the relationship between him and Yaniv in a calm voice as if he was telling someone else’s story.

“During the Cold War, our parents’ generation had no morality but all they did was to degradingly fight for their own interests. I wanted to break out of the vicious circle, so I became a mafia to help Yaniv instead of becoming a professor. Now I have come to know you and you saved my life. I can’t let this pass just like this, I really want to pay for it in any way I can.”

After all, his long story had a reason. He was saying that Youngho deserved to receive what he brought in the car, so Youngho should not reject it anymore.

“Phew, I get it. You’d get mad if I keep rejecting the gift.”

“Yes, you should’ve taken it already.”

What Sergey brought was gold bars from the time of Russian Empire. Somehow they attained those and because the bars did not have any serial numbers on them, they considered them a great gift. Sergey took out a heavy bag from his car and handed it to Youngho.

There were 20 gold bars, each weighing a kilogram. Its worth in today’s time would near 70 million won in Korea. As he saw what was in the bag, Youngho stepped back. However, Sergey insisted saying that the boss heard about the contract condition of his farm site and it was a gift to pay for the farm site.

Youngho could not reject the gift anymore because Yaniv thoughtfully picked out the gift for him. He received it thinking that he would give it back at a proper time. As if he knew what Youngho was thinking, Sergey added.

“Mr. Lee, we made a lot of profits due to your great products. Also there’s good news that we’ve identified a large amount of oil reserves in the oil field. Boss is happy that everything is going well after he met you. He would be sorry if you return his genuine gift.”

Youngho moved his lips but he could not make any words. Yaniv would misunderstand his gesture if he gave back his gift. At Youngho’s reaction, Sergey smiled and left with a word that he would open a LC for the next order.

Cho Sangchun called Youngho immediately after he received his message.

“Youngho, we’ll be extremely rich at this pace.”

“Don’t get too excited. This client is not an easy one. You barely make money for this anyways.”

“Don’t you know ‘many drops make a flood’? If we get orders like this ten times, we’d earn a billion won. You still say I barely make money for this?”

Sangchun was more than thrilled to receive another order. Youngho was glad to hear his bright voice.

“What about me? You two are the only ones having fun.”

“Dude, don’t say that! I give all I make to Yunsuh. These days, she doesn’t give me enough to drink, saying I should stop drinking before ruining my body.”

Youngho could imagine Sangchun living a controlled life by Yunsuh. He had told Sangchun that he should consider her personality, not only her face when they were dating. He never listened and now he was complaining that his wife managed all finances for the family.

“Sangchun, what goes into Yunsuh’s hands never comes out. You’ve got to find a way to save your own.”

Even though Yunsuh was his sister, Youngho felt bad for Sangchun.

“Yunsuh finds out like a ghost.”

“Do you want me to send you some money?”

“Don’t. She’d kill both of us if she finds out about it. I’ll just satisfy myself with a few cans of beer.”

They ended their conversation talking behind Yunsuh’s back.

Park Jongil’s facial expression when he received claymore mines made in Russia from Youngho was worthy to save. As if he reunited with someone whom he had missed for a long time, he got too excited and made a fuss that he would install them right away. Since Jongil once worked in for a security company, he was an expert about security products and he went crazy over new weapons. Youngho was sorry that he went to Volgograd by himself, so he gave a Tokarev pistol which Jongil went crazy over.

The grapes were starting to grow, but because there was not much to be done in the farm until the fall, it was quiet now. It was a great timing to install security systems when there were no people to look. It took a week for Youngho and Jongil to install security cameras and alarms on the lights stand at regular distance along the fence line. They decided to wait before installing claymore mines since they were too dangerous. They were now safely and soundly resting in the safe room.

The monitors for the cameras were set in the office on the first floor of the management building. Youngho hired three guards to monitor the cameras and guard the farm during night time because Youngho or Jongil could not guard the farm over nights without sleeping.

Youngho was not sure when but Jongil had planted Korean vegetables such as lettuce and crown daisy in the empty field of the farm, now they were almost ready to pick. Jongil insisted that he would make everybody eat his fresh vegetables but the actual person who watered the plants every morning and evening was Youngho.

It had just entered May and the weather was great for outdoor activities. All the kids ride four wheelers along the little trails of the farm enjoying the nature. Youngho and Jongil, who liked people and drinking, invited people over for barbecue parties every weekend. Youngho hoped peaceful days like these would go on forever but the ways of the world did not seem to grant his wish.

Edward notified Youngho that there would be a month-long training course in the European chapter. It was located in Frankfurt, Germany. Doubting Youngho’s long trip to Europe, Fatima asked lots of questions.

“Oppa, you have many jobs to do in Germany? You can’t even visit us during the weekends?”

Even though Karajan agreed to stay in the farm when Youngho was gone, Fatima felt uneasy for Youngho’s long absence. He could not say anything about the CIA, so he made up words that he was going on a business trip.

“Don’t worry. I can come during the weekends. I have to establish the market and retailers in Europe because we’ll be producing wines in the future.”

Fatima did not care about the business but she was happy to hear that Youngho would visit them during the weekends.

“Don’t you have to live there if you’re going to export wine to Germany?”

“No. I’ll only deal with retailers. I’ll be able to take care of them through phone calls.”

Fatima looked relieved by now. Because of her, Youngho would have to make international trips over every weekend.

The CIA’s European chapter was located in Frankfurt in Germany. It was in the center of German economy, finance, and transportation. Just in time when Youngho got there, the city was crowded with people from all over the world due to a world’s fair.

The population of the city was just a bit more than 600,000 but as an international city of commerce and industry, it held an international exposition every year and an auto fair every other year. As soon as Youngho landed at the Frankfurt airport, he went to the European chapter. Michael, the head of the European Chapter office greeted Youngho. After a little interview with him, Youngho was escorted to the American base.

Because Youngho had not gone through any training or testing ever since he became a field agent, he was tested for his physical abilities by drill sergeants such as: strength, shooting, viability, and self-defense. As Youngho scored high in those categories, they nodded in satisfaction. Youngho’s stats just proved why Edward gave him such high points. His skills such as communication through Morse codes which he learned from Korean Navy Special Forces unit also proved that he was capable of more things than other agents. The high officials decreased his time of training in half after seeing his capabilities, considering he was a field agent who had to stay in the field.

Youngho called Fatima and let her know that he would be back in fifteen days, so he would stay in Frankfurt for this weekend. Fatima and Zeynep were happy to hear that he would be back soon.

It was the weekend. Since he could enjoy free time, Youngho wanted to visit museums in the city but he stopped the thought of going because he did not like crowded places. Instead, he thought about the German graduate student couple, Arsen and Batzen, whom he met a checkpoint near Armenian border. Arsen said to call him whenever Youngho visits Frankfurt, giving his business card. When Youngho called, Arsen greeted him happily.

“Mr. Lee. It’s nice to hear from you. I had been thinking about you. You were such a great help to us during our Armenian trip.”

“I hope I’m not bothering you. I was on a business trip and you popped up in my head, since you said you lived in here.”

“Thank you for contacting me. I talk about you all the time with Batzen.”

Youngho decided to meet up with Arsen and Batzen at a famous beer bar. When Arsen told him to introduce him to German beer, Youngho was exuberated. Talented doctorate students, Arsen and Batzen studied Pharmacology at Goethe University in Frankfurt. They were living on scholarships from the world-renowned pharmaceutical company, B. The 27-year-old couple impressed Youngho with their dream. They had been studying with a vision to make medicines for ill people of the world. Comparing their purpose of study with Youngho’s own college years, he felt ashamed. He did not have any dreams or purpose when he was in college. In fact, he was just a kid. Even though their starting lines were different, Youngho now had a bigger dream.