Empire of the Ring

Youngho who rarely went out to downtown, came to Flame Towers dragging Jongil who complained to be busy, since he had a lunch meeting with Kamal, the head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was because Youngho could not take Ilkwon because being a North Korean defector, he could not be exposed to North Korean representatives.

The representative department of North Korea was uncomfortable towards Youngho. The Western world speculated North Korea to be one of the supporters of the terrorist groups and there was a political rumor that the representative department would be soon dismissed from Azerbaijan.

The reason that the Azerbaijani government was reacting this way to the North Korean representatives even when Germany and Great Britain granted their existence, was because of Youngho’s influence. Youngho always provided great information to Sevan whenever he came back from CIA monthly meetings in Frankfurt. Without his news, Sevan might have to retire even before becoming the chief of Main Police Department.

According to Youngho, the North Korean representatives allegedly brought illegal drugs to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani government did not have much business with North Korea. Since the scale of trade between Azerbaijan and South Korea had been growing, there were many South Korean corporations making their forays in Azerbaijan. If the North Korean representatives were being an obstacle to this, it was not a hard decision for the government to cut them off from the country.

To President Aliyev, who invested most of the oil funds for infrastructures and the country’s economic growth, South Korea was much more attractive than keeping the relationship with North Korea.

“Mr. Lee, I was surprised to hear from you since you are so busy with your businesses.”

“I wish I have ten bodies so I can meet you more often, Mr. Kamal. I just wanted to have lunch with you.”

Youngho and Kamal were pretty close although not close as Youngho and Sevan. Since Kamal was making more money from the Sumqayit clothing store, which he was partnering with Youngho, he looked comfortable.

“Well then, I’m going to treat you today Mr. Lee. I feel embarrassed since it was I who’s been treated by you.”

“I’ve got to choose expensive menu since you’re buying.”

They chatted for a short while and sat down at the table. During lunch, they talked about terror attacks and politics and when the dessert came out, Youngho cut to the chase.

“Mr. Kamal, I know that in Northwestern Caucasus Mountain Range from Baku, there are several neglected mines like gold mine, copper mine, and cobalt mine. Are they still being managed by the government?”

“Those are all open-cast mines and we don’t need to manage them. They’ve been neglected for more than a decade and I heard that the region had turned into grasslands.”

Being the chief of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he quickly understood why Youngho was mentioning the region.

“I’d like to buy out the region and develop a farm.”

Kamal narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice.

“Since those mines’ economic feasibility is low, the production was stopped but there is quite a lot of minerals that were still buried in there. The government is still managing it in case we run out of resources.”

Although he said that the government was managing the region, it was being treated as a wasteland but Youngho could not say anymore since it meant that the country was saving it for its descendants.

“You’re saying that I can’t have it.”

Youngho was going to give up buying the site and he was about to turn the subject to a long-term rental.

“Ahem. Why would you be so hasty to give up? I might be able to find other ways if you tell me why you chose that region when there are plenty of sites perfect for farming.”

Kamal sounded like that there was a way for Youngho to buy the region. Maybe he was going to be a broker for the deal. Whatever it was, it did not matter to Youngho as long as he could buy the region.

“Well, there must be a way then.”

“You’re right. We’ve got plenty of mines and it’s a pain to count all of them in the list for management.”

It seemed that because of lazy officials, mines that should be managed in a long time of period were disappearing.

***

After a few days, Kamal contacted Youngho to come to the government quarter. He must have found a way for Youngho to buy abandoned mines.

Youngho went over there and saw Kamal who was dressed up since it was an official meeting.

“Mr. Lee, let’s go to the conference room and talk to other related officials.”

“Thank you for a huge welcome.”

In the wide conference room, there were six high officials sitting. To each official, Youngho gave Zeynep Farm’s wine gift set and gift cards that he had prepared in advance. In Azerbaijan, even if in a government building, it was not a flaw to receive or give gifts. Rather, it served as a soft medium for conversation, it was conventional that well-off businessmen to bring gifts. The Azerbaijani officials under socialist government usually were proud to receive gifts from someone like Youngho, who was an influential businessman who frequently met President Aliyev.

“Mr. Lee, even if there are no mineral resources, leasing or selling land is a very sensitive issue. Of course, you have a permanent resident card and a domestic corporation.”

Another official added,

“As you’d know, there might also be public resist if we sell a mining site to a foreigner.”

Instead of speaking about the point, they were talking about typical theories. Youngho decided to give what they wanted.

“It sounds like I have to get Azerbaijani citizenship.”

All of the officials’ faces brightened as Youngho mentioned their point first.

“Our country is one of the few Islamic countries that allow dual citizenship. The fact that you are not subject to a specific religion would work for your advantage.”

Youngho pretended to be thinking for a while. Although the mines were closed, if the government assigned a land full of mineral resources to a foreigner, the opposition party would not let it go easily. Especially, in a time like this when the opposition party street-protested to stop the prolonged one-man rule with young people’s lead.

There were no other conditions. There would be absolutely no problem if Youngho acquired the Azerbaijani citizenship. From the officials’ words, Youngho felt the notion that the government wanted him to stay. Since he was a successful businessman who was acquainted with the president, Youngho was admired by officials.

At first, he began to donate scholarships for children of police families and he expanded his donation to war widows and orphans since last year. Although he made contributions in quiet, the rumor was spread in the small society. Not only he was huge since he collaborated with South Russian mafia boss but he also owned the greatest grape farm in Azerbaijan. His wines were also famous in Russia that Azerbaijan was earning foreign currency through him.

At the time, when the Korean wave was hitting Azerbaijan hard that the government sent a hundred officials to Korea to learn advanced civil service system, it would have a symbolic meaning if Youngho became an Azerbaijani citizen.

Moreover, he was a businessman who provided marvelous and exclusive information to the government. Because his existence was so beneficial to the country’s development, it was natural that the government wanted to keep him in the country.

***

Youngho received a gold mine that had been worked for more than two hundred years, that no more veins of gold could be found from there, and a copper strip mine that was excavated by the Soviet Union for a hundred years.

The reason that he received a seemingly useless gold mine and copper mine was that he insisted to receive a good cobalt mine, saying that other mines would be used as farming purposes. When he insisted to get the cobalt mine, the Azerbaijani government thought that was suspicious and had a subsurface investigation over the region. As a result, they found that there was still a lot of cobalt buried in the mine.

Eventually, the cobalt mine was taken out of the sales since the government found out that the mine was productive if a modernized facility was installed. Anyhow, as Youngho had planned, he bought a gold mine and copper mine at a very cheap price, it was all possible because he decided to acquire Azerbaijani citizenship. Of course, Jongil and Insoo also became Azerbaijani citizens since they were inseparably related.

There was a reason that Youngho wanted old mines that had been excavated for centuries.In the old literature that he found in France, it said that the whole area of Baku had abundant fire and gold piled up like a mountain in the time of the Persian Empire. How could the people of old times without any advanced devices know that there was buried gold? They would have guessed from estimating the dust gold underneath rivers. Also, Baku became a central city of the Silk Road because it produced gold. Then, there should be more to the mines than as they seem to be.

Miners in the past used to give up old mines that had a risk of being collapsed because they could dig another mine to excavate gold. Since the site Youngho bought had dozens of such mines, he was hopeful that he would get something eventually.

He was going to repair the old mines to find veins of gold. The strip copper mine would be used as a farm site to distract others’ eyes.

Thinking that there would be big turmoil in the world soon, he had decided to dig up resources and became a citizen of Azerbaijan overnight. It did not mean that he gave up Korean citizenship. He planned to return to his homeland in time but for now, he wanted to make more money.

***

“Lee, why are you so busy these days that I can’t get ahold of you?”

‘What’s wrong with this man? Did his wife take it out all on his this morning? I report him about my work all the time.’

“Chief, you sound like you’re stressed.”

“There’s no single piece of good news these days. I wish I could see you, Lee. I only have a bunch of morons in here.”

Youngho could guess what he meant. Blaming his underlings meant that they did not resolve things as Michael had directed. He wanted to ask a favor for Youngho but there was not enough justification since Youngho would have to leave his team’s territory.

“Chief, don’t beat around the bush. I’ve been working under you for a while. I can see through your mind.”

“Well, Humph. Since you found out like a demon, I’m going to be frank. Can you come to Frankfurt?”

“The other day you said I shouldn’t fly. How can I make it there?”

“If there are hijackers, you can subdue them and fly here.”

He must have been under a lot of pressure since he was insisting with a stupid reason.

“It sounds like I can travel by flight from now on. Hmmm, but you haven’t forgotten what you said about not paying travel expenses for flying?”

“Don’t you hear that you speak too much these days?”

“Phew, okay, I’ll stop it now. Should I come alone?”

“Come with agent Park Jongil. It’d be great if you can bring agent Cha Insoo but someone has to stay in Baku.”

“I’ll listen to the full story in Frankfurt.”

“Very well. I like how you don’t make an unnecessary remark.”

Although Michael did not say much about why he was calling them, Youngho knew where this was heading. Since he also mentioned Cha Insoo, the answer was only one, he must be sending them to somewhere for a mission.