Empire of the Ring

Chapter 55: Zeynep’s Wine Company (2)

In the agent meeting in Frankfurt, Youngho asked about the situations in Armenia but even Philip who was in charge of Armenian region seemed to be frustrated for not having any information to provide. There was something going on in Armenia. He also called Sergey to see if Russia was involved in this but he said that there was nothing special going on with the Russian army. In Youngho’s eyes, the Armenian government seemed to move for the unknown third party behind it. If there was a war, it must be happening for the third party’s benefits.

The recent decision of the Armenian government to absorb the militia into the official army did not seem to make sense. If Armenia was not going to give up Nagorno-Karabakh, they should have kept the militants in the militia, instead of drafting them into the official army. The militia should exist as the militia. The politicians might have decided to give up Nagorno-Karabakh and maybe the big oil corporations were behind this decision. No matter what, there was nothing Youngho could do in Nagorno-Karabakh’s side. He decided to forget about his relations to Nagorno-Karabakh. Instead, he decided to do what he could from his side.

To give information about the state of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Azerbaijani government, Youngho went to Main Police Department to see the director.

“What brings you here? I heard you’ve been busy working for the farm.”

“Mr. Park must’ve not told you about it then. I’ve been busy installing wine producing facility on the farm.”

“I heard about how the Charles company treated you. I’m embarrassed as an Azerbaijani.”

“Hahaha... Well, problems can happen anywhere. We’ve sorted things out. It’s all good now.”

“You’ve become a true businessman of Baku.”

The director seemed to be sorry for Youngho. As a government official, he wanted to support foreign investors but Azerbaijani businessmen were not helping.

After having a small talk, Youngho cut to the chase.

“I visited Frankfurt recently and there were strange rumors going on. It was just weird, so I had to come. I hope I’m not causing any trouble for telling you this.”

The director was intrigued. He pulled his chair closer to Youngho.

“Oh, you won’t be a problem to me ever. You can tell me anything. Since businessmen from all over the world gather in Frankfurt, I’m intrigued to hear what it is. This might be useful.”

“Okay, I’ll just tell you exactly what I heard. I met a German businessman. He recently gave up his project to invest in Yerevan. When I asked why, he said that the militia was being transferred to the Armenian army and they were preparing for a big war. I also heard that Russia was upset that the Armenian politicians decided all this on their own.”

“Is that so? We’ve been receiving reports about the militia but I’m curious about the Armenian politicians who’d move against Russia’s will.”

The director did not seem to get what he was saying. Youngho kept on.

“Russia is against Armenia’s provocation of war. Right now they can’t justify their involvement in the war against bad international opinions.”

“But wouldn’t they just sit still in the back when they lose their influence if Armenia loses?”

“You know, if Armenia was in their way of the Southern route business, they’ll overlook Armenia. Why would they ruin their business for Armenia? Hearing this, I thought it was a great decision to stop having businesses in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia might be giving up Nagorno-Karabakh soon.”

Youngho’s information implied important facts. If Russia was not going to be involved in their dispute, Azerbaijan could get rid of Nagorno-Karabakh easily.

Youngho repeatedly made sure to the director that Russia would not involve itself in the dispute. By giving this information to the director, Youngho expected that he would talk to the president about this, and the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia would come to an agreement on the current state.

Youngho’s prediction was correct. He was invited to the president’s palace once again.

Having tea with President Aliyev, Youngho had light conversations about how his business was doing. The president’s face was brighter than ever.

When Youngho was leaving the palace, the president patted his shoulder. He thanked for his involvement in the country and encouraged him for more involvement. Youngho could guess that the presidents had met already and came to an agreement. The president also mentioned that the director was promoted to a general manager. This meant that Youngho’s manipulated information acted as an important role in their decisions. He felt bad for Nagorno-Karabakh but the international situation were working against the state.

The Azerbaijani government was moving their official army to the border area of Nagorno-Karabakh in secret. They were determined to pay back to Armenia and get back their taken land if Armenia provoked a battle once again.

Youngho also let Sergey know about the government’s movement, so he could prepare more grains and daily necessaries to produce during the war time. He also called Edward and told him what was going on. It was his way to care for Edward, so he could call his friends or family in Nagorno-Karabakh to take refuge before war broke out.

The shadow of the coming war made Youngho’s heart heavy but in contrast, his farm was busily operating. The fermented grapes were now in aging tanks turning into tasty wine. The empty field of the farm was filled with construction supplies and workers were busily installing aging room and an automated factory facility.

Since he already secured the market for the wine, there was no risk of investing money for the wine producing facilities.

Now he had his information expense payment saved in his bank account and 30 gold bars received from Yaniv. He had nothing to worry about. His business scale was not even up to a mid-sized company but what he was expecting to earn was about what a regular corporation would make.

Youngho requested a personal leave at the CIA’s European chapter. For the siblings’ winter break, he went on a trip with the siblings to show them around different countries in Western Europe. Youngho thought it was a good opportunity for them to see different parts of the world. Jongil wanted to follow them but he had to stay because of Karajan. After their business trip to Yerevan, they seemed to be much closer with each other.

Youngho’s plan was to visit Frankfurt for a short while for work first and then move to Zurich in Switzerland by taking the train from there. It was their first trip after visiting Seoul last year.

On the airplane, Zeynep, who has been excitedly chatting, was quietly asleep. Fatima took out the world map and showed Youngho the cities and attractions where the siblings wanted to visit. The siblings had planned the whole trip, and it seemed like hr needed more days off to visit all the places they had planned. Fatima even planned to camp out at the Zurich Lake for a night in the cold weather.

When they arrived, they checked in for a room at a Hilton hotel. Youngho left the siblings at the hotel and left to the European chapter.

Youngho briefly reported the situations in Azerbaijan and asked for an extended break. Michael looked at his monitor and said that he could use more personal days, since he had 45 personal days he did not use from the past. Now, that all was taken care of, Youngho came out of the building lightheartedly.

He and the siblings were now on the train to Zurich, Switzerland. The siblings, who were tired from two days of tight sight touring in Frankfurt, were sound asleep on their pulled-back seats. The train’s first class offered a meal even during a four-hour long trip. The siblings who had been even snoring woke up soon and ate their meal hurriedly. Zeynep who just ate up Youngho’s croissant started to talk with crumbs around her mouth.

“Oppa, I like being on the train. There are more to see than being on the plane.”

“But if you get on the plane, you can save more time and you can tour around more cities.”

“No, the bread tastes better here than plane.”

Zeynep seemed to be fond of train because of the bread. It was typical, silly Zeynep.

“You’d become so big if you keep eating croissants. Are you okay with that then?”

Zeynep suddenly flinched. She just remembered that she had been saying how uncomfortable it would be if she became big like some German people she saw in Frankfurt.

Sipping on the wine that was offered as a part of the meal, Fatima’s face had turned red already. She complained that the wine tasted bitter here. In fact, the wines produced in the Caucasus regions, where the daily temperature difference was big, generally tasted better.

Fatima gave a much better rating to Baku’s wine. She recently started to drink since she turned 20, so her opinion was not credentialed, but Youngho also thought Baku’s wines had good tastes. Youngho’s goal to make Zeynep Farm’s wine worldwide popular was not an absurd idea. Looking out the window, he smiled.