Empire of the Ring

Chapter 69: Katya of South Ossetia (2)

Sergey wondered why Youngho opened a retailer store in South Ossetia where there was only 50,000 residents. Upon his continuous asking, Youngho just answered that he could make a good impression to Georgia’s government by doing good business with Georgians living in South Ossetia as minorities, because they were in the serious lack of daily necessaries. He also added about Katya that he hired a local person to work in the store and she happen to be Russian and he got to help her family after listening to her story.

Now it was in a bad relationship with Russia but Georgia used to be part of the Russian Empire in the past. The country now relied on living off mostly doing businesses with Turkey, so Youngho thought it would be easy to get into Georgian market if he maintains good relationship with Georgians in South Ossetia. The CIA would be astounded by this but it was a personal business thought, and an offer Georgia would not reject as well. As Youngho shared his thought, Yaniv and Sergey exclaimed since it was a tempting idea as mafias. They had not been able to find a way into the Georgian market no matter how much they tried because of the two countries’ relationship. As mafias, it had been their wish to expand their organization’s influence over Georgia as well as other nations around Russia.

In the late afternoon of the next day, Youngho visited Katya’s mother and little daughter, Rena, with gifts in his hands. Because of yesterday’s talk, they looked calmer as they greeted him. Katya’s mother cried for a long time when Youngho told her that the moneylenders would never come back. Then the mother smiled big as she dressed Rena with the clothes Youngho brought as her gift. She looked just like Katya. Youngho thought she would have made many men’s heart flutter when she was young. After having dinner together, he helped rearranging furniture and home appliances in their apartment. It became late, so he stayed the night in their house.

The next day, he took Rena around to different stores to buy her school supplies since she would be in school in the coming September. As she walked around holding Youngho’s hand, she looked happy that she hummed to herself.

Her dad had passed away from an illness five years ago. Youngho felt bad for her since she must not remember how it was like to have a father. He spent the whole day with her just like a father would do.

Youngho came back to Baku from a long trip. Park Jongil picked him up at the train station.

“You look awful.”

“I’ve been on the train overnight.”

“Man, you should’ve come home straight from Moscow instead of going to Volgograd... tsk tsk.”

Youngho must have looked exhausted. It was no wonder since he had drank for days with Yaniv and Sergey before he left Volgograd.

When he returned to the farm, the siblings greeted him. Youngho felt like his tiredness went away because of their warm welcome. Zeynep even clung to Youngho following everywhere he went. She must have missed him a lot. When he got out of the shower, he could smell Korean chopped noodles.

‘Insoo’s mother must have made chopped noodles,’ he thought.

Youngho was happy to smell Korean food since he had been eating oily foods during his trip. Having chopped noodles and kimchi together was extremely satisfying.

Now the farm was like a little Korea town. By fall, Jongil’s house would be completed, and next year, Insoo’s child would be born. It would be crowded. Youngho sometimes felt like crying when coming back to the farm from a hectic day outside because it felt like a hometown. Even more, with Fatima, Szechenyi, and Zeynep’s welcome, he could feel happiness.

Youngho was sleeping for hours on the couch after eating. Fatima came near him and touched his forehead, she was checking to see if he had any fever. Still lying on the couch, Youngho grabbed her hand.

“I’m alright. You don’t have to worry.”

She must have been worried about Youngho since he came back looking like a zombie, exhausted from the trip.

“You’ve done a great job taking care of the family while I was gone. Since it’s your break, we should go on another trip.” Fatima’s dark brown eyes got brighter.

“Oppa, you have to rest too. You just came back.” Although she rejected in words, she looked excited to go on another trip.

“Where did our last trip end?”

“Paris, at Louvre Museum!” She must have been dying to continue the trip since she remembered exactly where the trip ended.

“Okay, we’ll leave in two days. I won’t have time if we don’t go now.”

Since Youngho had finished his job well in South Ossetia, he had requested a personal leave to the European chapter before coming back from the trip. He thought he needed a reward for himself and now he had ten days of freedom.

As if Fatima had already told the siblings, Youngho could hear the siblings’ excited screams from the second floor. Hearing that they were going on a trip as their summer break just started, they could not be happier since they had expected a trip in the winter break.

Although he was going on a trip as a leisure activity with the siblings, there was another reason, he wanted to search for the siblings’ roots. Now that they knew about the mystical relics, Jongil and Insoo encouraged his trips in hope of finding another mystical relic in exotic places.

Youngho had inquired about Fatima’s name. Her last name was Aleksandar and he found in a literature that her name was pronounced in that way in Serbia or Croatia of the Balkan Peninsula in a literature. There was a high possibility that the siblings’ ancestors were Serbians. He might be able to find some more information in French museums or libraries.

It was crowded in Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris with travelers who visited France for their summer vacation. Many of them had tight schedule since they were touring around Europe for a short period of time. However, it was different for Youngho and the siblings

This time, they were staying in Paris for the rest of their trip of ten days. They had rented a condominium instead of a hotel room, it was a great option if they wanted to cook their own food. Youngho had packed ramen and kimchi for the trip in case they got tired of French food.

After arriving to the condo, they turned on the air conditioner and ate ramen and kimchi since they were starving. After eating the spicy soup, all of them looked satisfied. It seemed like the siblings had become Koreans.

It was a hot summer day. After the sunset, Youngho and the siblings left the room with shorts and sandals on. It was a little cooler than the day time but they could still feel the lingering heat.

They were walking along the Seine River. Since it was crowded with visitors on the upper riverside road, they walked along the riverside road under bridge. As they walked, Youngho noticed three men behind them but he did not pay too much attention to them.

However, as they were about to cross a bridge, one of the men holding out a pocket knife talked in French and drove them to the end of a pier. They must have waited until Youngho and the siblings reached a quiet place. They wanted money from him. Judging by their French, which was not fluent, they must be foreigners too. Youngho stood in front of the siblings to protect them.

Zeynep’s body was shaking. She grabbed Youngho’s shirts from behind. Youngho scanned the guys and they did not seem like someone who had been trained. Since he and the siblings did not carry any bags, they must have approached them because of Youngho’s luxurious watch that was given as a gift by Yaniv.

When Youngho shrugged to them instead of giving them money, they came close to him pointing a knife to him. At the moment, Youngho grabbed the wrist of a guy standing close to him twisting it and kicked in between the legs of the guy standing next to him. At the same time, he punched a temple of the guy whose wrist was twisted by Youngho. Then he landed his turning kick on the head of the other guy whose eyes were wide open in fright. Youngho picked up the knife and threw it to Szechenyi. Since Szechenyi was into collecting knives, he was glad to have a knife. He was not surprised by Youngho’s skills because he was trained by him. It was only Fatima and Zeynep who were startled to see what just happened in front of them.