Empire of the Ring

There is a farm that is a one-fifth of the size of Korea’s Gangwon-do Province. Allegedly, the farm has its own train for the farm workers as well as several stations on the farm. It is not an impossible story since Texas is about three times bigger than the Korean Peninsula, but it is such a large farm.

Youngho wanted to make his Arirang Farm in Kazakhstan like the one in Texas. For now, he could not establish a railroad for a train but he could have buses that went around the farm in a regular cycle.

Since it would cost him a lot to make airfield and ring road, he was calculating the budget.

It was then when Zeynep showed up at his study with an excited face.

“Oppa. I found the ship. One of my friends at school has a dad who runs a shipyard. She said that no one is taking a ship that’s been completed.”

She was saying that the buyer of the ship could not take the ship because of financial conditions even though the ship had been already made.

“So? Does that mean we can take the ship right away?”

“Yes! She said it’ll be a huge problem to her family if the ship is not sold soon.”

Zeynep wanted to help her friend and buy the ship at the same time. Looking at her determined eyes, it was certain that Youngho would be in trouble if he did not agree with her.

“Shall we visit there once?”

“For sure! I’ll talk to my friend.”

Zeynep had no idea about what kind of ship Youngho was thinking about. She was thinking of a yacht but Youngho needed a large cargo ship.

***

The shipyard looked like it was doing well. It was the largest one in Baku that only treated ships that weighed thousands of tons. A ship weighed 5,000 tons was considered as a large vessel in the Caspian Sea.

At two docks, there was an undone ship and a ship that seemed that it could be driven right away. The one that was finished was a vessel in the 3,000-ton class. Its length was about 90 meters and width was 18 meters long. Zeynep’s jaw dropped for its huge size.

She pulled at Youngho’s sleeves. Since the ship looked like it would cost an astronomical amount of money, she wanted to get away as soon as possible.

“Phew, I was hoping for a bigger vessel.”

“Oppa. Are you insane? Why would you buy a ship as big as a hotel?”

She whispered to him so nobody could hear her.

“I need a ship that’s a few times bigger than this. It’s not that big.”

Leaving the little Zeynep behind, Youngho went up to the office.

The businessman who requested the ship had paid fifty percent of the total cost as a deposit but his properties had been taken away by the government due to tax felonies recently and he gave up the ship. He must be the one who did not cooperate with the government during the war against Armenia.

Although the vessel was brand new, the owner of the shipyard said he would sell it the minimum price. It was a little bit higher than a used vessel. So, Youngho signed the four-million-dollars contact on the spot. It was a good deal since he got the ship at a very cheap price and he was able to save Zeynep’s face.

Moreover, he requested to build two other ships in the 5,000-ton class. Considering the time that grains would be produced from Kazakhstan, which would be three years away from now, he had signed major shipbuilding contracts in advance. It took about two years to build a ship, so it seemed to be the right timing.

The only large-vessel shipyard of Baku was almost saved by Youngho’s several contracts. Zeynep’s friend’s dad was a vice president of the Dutch shipyard and he thanked Youngho for his business.

***

Coming back from school, Zeynep stepped on the porch proudly.

“Oppa. How rich are we? My friend is going crazy about it. How much is the vessel? How many wine bottles do you have to sell to buy such a big ship?”

Zeynep asked questions without breathing.

‘Ha! What do I tell her?’

Since Zeynep was not good with numbers, Youngho explained in easy terms that she could understand. The two other vessels that he newly signed cost more than ten million dollars and it was enough to make her jaw drop since she only received an allowance of a hundred dollars for each month.

Youngho thought it was about time to teach her about the concept of money and how to use it well. In the future, she would be getting many men’s proposals with her beauty and her royal status, and she should have some basic economic concepts.

She was another owner of the family ring and her family history was stored in the Louvre Museum in Paris. She was a little princess of the kingdom. Also, the name of Zeynep was growing as a corporation now in many fields; such as the farm, wine factory, the security company, and the oilfield service. With the Serbian descendants and knights around, she might also be able to get married to one of the European princes. That was why Youngho felt the need to teach her well.

While thinking about such things, Youngho chuckled.

“Oppa. Why are you laughing?”

Zeynep looked at him innocently.

“Zeynep, come sit down over here.”

She sat down next to him with a curious face. Although her cheeks were still chubby, she was becoming a lady.

“What is this?”

Zeynep asked as Youngho showed her the map of the Atyrau Region and Azerbaijan.

“Do you see the spot where I marked with a dotted line? Compare this region with the region of Baku.”

“What is this place? It’s about the same size of Baku if you exclude the outskirt areas.”

“This is where I’ll be developing a farm for the descendants of Serbian Kingdom.

“This much of land? Did you buy it from the government of Kazakhstan?”

“Almost.”

“How many times bigger is this place compared to our farm?”

“It’s about thirty times bigger than the area of Zeynep Farm and the Charles farm combined.”

Zeynep was stunned. Although she did not know about the numbers well, she could see how big the new farm would be comparing it to the farm where she lived.

As they were talking at the couch, Fatima and Szechenyi joined them in curiosity.

“Why do you need this much of land? People are saying the ranch and the farms are big for them.”

“I’m preparing for your future. When you make a boyfriend, I’m going to say that you’re a princess with this much properties and we are a royal family of thousands of people.”

He was saying that because many people of wealthy European families would compare how much estates people had to estimate their wealth. He did not want Zeynep to feel overwhelmed by their behaviors.

“I’m not going to date a man who approaches me for money.”

Although she had a condition, she did not say that she would not date a man. Youngho sighed feeling sorry with a father’s mind.

“I’m saying if your boyfriend’s parents ask about that, you can tell them so, okay?”

“Oppa, you already have big companies. Who would look down on me?”

“You said you wanted to go to colleges in Western Europe. People there care about how many estates you have. That’s why I’m getting hotels and lands.”

Zeynep became serious at Youngho’s remark. She was in a cultural shock since she had never thought about such things before. Fatima and Szechenyi laughed hard looking at their little sister’s serious face.

***

On CNN News, the ongoing civil war in Columbia was reported to be intensifying.

Watching the news on TV, Youngho was guilty for his arms deal with the rebels. Although those were not heavy firearms, they had now received plenty of light arms that were useful for guerrilla activities in the mountains. They had been attacking their government.

The rebels’ territory was getting bigger. The current Colombian government was at a disadvantage even with other nearby nations’ support.

By the time Youngho thought that the rebels would be short of ammunitions soon, Edward in Panama contacted him. He asked for the same amount of ammunitions as before. Youngho was going to reject his request with an excuse that he might not be able to get the money from the rebels since they were at war at the moment but Edward suggested a fifty percent advance deposit of the total cost and said that he would be giving him more commission this time.

Youngho took his offer and now it was his time to deal with Eriksson.

“Mr. Eriksson, Columbia rebels are paying fifty percent of the cost in advance for the same amount of ammunition from the previous deal. They’d appreciate it if you could give them extra ammunition too.”

“That is a very great deal. I’m going to try to get an extra commission from the arms providers this time. There are not a lot of people who want to buy older versions of conventional weapons these days.”

“How fast can it arrive? They’re in a rush.”

“I’ll make it happen within fifteen days. I’ll email you the account for the transaction.”

From this deal, Youngho could recover the cost of the cargo ship contracts.

It seemed that most of the cost for Kazakhstan’s farm development would be covered by the commission received from the Colombian rebels since he expected to get more than thirty million dollars in total for the business.

Youngho felt guilty for Colombian people. If he earned money from selling grains, he would have to send them relief food or something to comfort them. Since he received help from Colombia, he should pay them back with whatever means.

Although the money he made was dirty, he thought it was better to help people in danger through what he made since anybody would do the dirty work instead of him.

A lame sense of morality would only cause a problem in life.

***

Yunsuh, Sangchun, and their children left for Frankfurt.

From Yunsuh’s voice through the phone, Youngho could sense her excitement. She seemed to like the place. The third floor of the wine store building was a huge area only for them. There were six rooms and the living room was enough for two little boys to run around.

Youngho also remodeled the interiors since they would be representatives of Zeynep Wine. If they had important visitors in their home, the visitors would be impressed. He would also be staying there when he visits the European chapter for the monthly meetings.

Youngho was glad that he could make her little sister and nephews happy for the great environment. This was part of why he earned money. Although he had earned money sometimes through unethical ways, he wanted to use them for good causes and help people around him.

Today, Youngho received seventeen million dollars from each side as commissions for the arms deal, in total, it was thirty-four million dollars. It was the fruit of his hard work and the connections that he made. Nothing was free in this world. He had worked and searched different parts of the world to make money. Although he earned them going through troubles and hardships, he wanted to use them with a class.

In the next few days, Youngho would be singing a fifteen-story hotel building contract in Frankfurt. It was a five-star hotel worth about two hundred million dollars. He was buying the Hilton Hotel, which was a worldwide hotel chain and would be changing it into Arirang Hotel. It was a brand new start of Zeynep Corporation.