Empire of the Ring

Chapter 62: A Plot Hidden in the Frontline (1)

Youngho, Jongil, Insoo were at an airport in Yerevan at the immigration checkpoint. It was in the beginning of May, they had come to attend Cho Chulhwan and Um Sangtaek’s joint wedding. Because of the previous arrest of Um Sangtaek, the two friends decided to get married as fast as they could in order to receive permanent resident status and settle down in the country. Aside from Chunho Merchant’s clothing store, which their wives-to-be were running now, the two friends just started clothing retailing business at the recommendation of Youngho. Since Youngho already had experiences in clothing business in the area, they learned know-hows from him. Of course, Yunsuh in Chuho Merchant’s Korean headquarters was happy to have more business partners.

Similar from Baku, Korean clothes were received well in Yerevan. The city had a third of the country’s population, 1.2 million people, residing. The sales they made were about half of the sales that Youngho made in Baku but the clothes were still gaining more popularity.

Cho Chulhwan and Um Sangtaek’s first houses were in downtown. They each got a decent two-story house and lived with the family of their wives. The friends had bought the house with the money they saved from the militia instructor payments. It was heartrending for Youngho to see his friends made this far in a foreign country because of his call. As a wedding gift, he bought electronics from Korean L company in Yerevan and filled his friends’ house with them.

Many relatives of the grooms came for the wedding from Korea but most of them were poor people who had never been to a different country. Knowing that they had come to the wedding with a lot of sacrifices, Youngho gave them their trip expenses even though his two friends did not want him to. It was his gift for them.

In Yerevan, the wedding tradition was to invite all of the relatives and throw big parties in the bride’s house for three days before the wedding. All of the relatives gathered together and ate and drank as if they wanted to break the house. They sang and danced together for the celebration.

Because it was a special occasion for two Armenian girls getting married to Koreans on the same day in the country where Asians were rare to find, Yerevan’s broadcasting company came to cover the wedding story.

After the brawling wedding ceremony was done, Insoo and Jongil returned to Baku. Since Youngho had a meeting with agent Philip at the Armenian intelligence bureau.

With Yerevan’s Republic Square in the middle, there were a gallery and history museum toward the direction of North and a government building in the Northeast. At the South of the square, the Foreign Office, Regional Construction and Management Administration, and the Central Post Office were located. The short stone buildings were lined up together near the square.

It was where the heart of the Armenian government at. The exterior of the buildings had beautiful rose hue since they were built with volcanic tuff. During the time of former Soviet Union, Russians used to call Yerevan the Rose city because of the beautiful color of the building materials. Many famous buildings in Yerevan were built with the funds donated from Armenian diaspora in overseas.

The Armenian intelligence bureau building was also a beautiful building built out of tuff. Youngho and Philip could enter the building after being body searched by the guards. The director welcomed them to his office.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Garni, the chief director of the intelligence bureau.”

“I am agent Philip, a foreign correspondent based in Georgia and this is Lee Youngho who’s in charge of the Southern Russia and other surrounding countries.”

Agent Philip did not mention the name of Azerbaijan on purpose to the director because he was Armenian. Director Garni looked surprised to hear that Youngho was someone who was watching over a broad area.

The day’s visit was to hear about Armenia’s official stance on the militia which America had diligently supported. Youngho also wanted to ask why the police would accuse of his friends who had helped the militia as instructors.

Nagorno-Karabakh had become isolated like an island now. If Armenia was venting their anger upon the US and Youngho’s friends because the Azerbaijan’s territory which they had taken in 1933 was returned to Azerbaijan, Youngho wanted to warn them that Armenia also would be isolated in the international society.

“The Armenian army took away the militia that the US had raised with their funds and expropriated all the emergency supplies. It’s the US government’s property you took away. What do you think about this?”

“...”

“Our government tried to maintain the status quo of Azerbaijan and Armenia and to stop the war. It was agreed upon in advance by Armenia and the US but Armenia had broken the trust first. You’d know that I was abducted by the guerrilla army and I escaped from them.”

Philip bent on accusing him.

Director Garni did not say anything but his face turned pale as he listened to Philip. He was not sure how this conversation would affect the two country’s relations.

“You have arrested two people who came to serve for the militia for two years and accused them of being spies. Am I correct that you are treating the US government as hostilely?”

Feeling bad for the director who could not say a word, Youngho interrupted Philip.

“Philip, shouldn’t we give him a chance to respond? I mean we’re only here to listen to the official stance.”

“You’re right. I guess I got carried away.”

Since Youngho saved Philip,he has been compliant to his request.

“I apologize for the disgraceful incidents on behalf of our government. I heard from the CIA that you had been troubled by the militants.”

He looked uneasy. As if his mouth was dry, he kept on drinking water and continued.

“The militants who now became guerilla army are out of our control now. It’s not our intention to trouble agent Philip. Also, I’ll pay for the US property that the army had taken without any consent. Our president is also feeling sorry about the unwilling situations. He regrets listening to the army and transferring all the militia to the army. The government had judged that the US will not further support the militia from then on, and that was why they transferred the militia to strengthen the national force...”

As the director slurred the end of his sentence, Philip snapped him.

“The US never pretermitted any affairs related to the militia. Our purpose was just to maintain the status quo, not trying to make the militia an overwhelming force.”

In fact, the US was the one who was stepping away from dealing with the militia for political reasons.

“Can the US help us now? The resident of Nagorno-Karabakh are suffering. They are outrageous and we’ll not be able to take control of the state not much longer.”

Looking at the honest face of the director, Youngho thought that there might be a way to get through this.

“The Azerbaijani government recently allowed opening a market for Armenian people along the borderline. I heard that even Russian mafias joined the marketing line, so it’s not like the Armenian people in Nagorno-Karabakh doesn’t have any help. Also, the Azerbaijani government stated that they will allow the autonomy of the state. They’re not going to change their stance easily.”

“...”

Knowing that the Armenian government was highlighting the difficulties that Nagorno-Karabakh faced to the residents to induce to another war, Youngho stated the truth in advance.

“I don’t know how long the state of tension will be maintained but the first priority should be informing the residents about the truth, so that they won’t have any misunderstanding.”

At Youngho’s statement, Garni added another reason for war in frustration.

“The pressure of the diaspora overseas who send funds to the country is hard to bare for our government. Although Armenia is not at the state to provoke any more wars, but we need to show the people that we are oppressing the Azerbaijani government to some extent in order to satisfy them. If we comply to the Azerbaijani government like this, they might stage a coup against the current government.”

The Armenian government was in a sad situation where they needed to satisfy both Armenians inside the country and overseas.

“...”

At this point, Youngho thought of a certain kind of mission that would help the country out. If they picked a region of battle and let the people hear uproarious gunshot fires to make it seem like a real battle, they could sooth national susceptibilities and the politicians could protect their positions in the government. Of course they needed to get other countries’ agreement, it seemed like it could be sorted politically. The Azerbaijani government would want to comply since they wanted the war to be over. By making the director promise not to expand the war any bigger, Youngho and Philip agreed upon the mission. The director left the mission in the US CIA’s hands.

Youngho thought if he moved Yaniv the South Russian mafia boss, Russia and Azerbaijan would comply to Youngho’s mission. Now what was left to do was to go to the European chapter and receive the headquarters’ approval.

His plan was carried out with speed. Michael the director of the CIA’s European chapter was busy preparing to operate a big mission in a long time. Because Youngho was in charge of convincing President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Putin of Russia, Michael was not under pressure. He was excited for the mission since upon its success, the European chapter, which had been accused of being at loose ends without any outstanding achievements, would finally able to clear its name.

It was a mission that could kill two birds with one stone by getting rid of the lobby problems of big oil corporations and politicians’ meddling. Even the US CIA’s chief director of the headquarters flew to Europe to review the outline of the mission. When he left with satisfaction on his face, Michael hugged Youngho in excitement. The battle that would satisfy both Azerbaijan and Armenia would be unfolding soon at the borderline.