Empire of the Ring

Princess Isabella’s visit brought many changes to the farm and ranch in Baku. It was because Youngho carefully decorated and made changes to different facilities to look nice. He worried that if she visited the Serbian descendant’s town and houses and they looked dirty inside, the Archduchess might look stingy. So, he was busy trying not to make anything look sloppy.

Although winter was the only season when Youngho was not busy, he could not be lazy making everything look perfect. Before the princess came, many pieces of furniture and daily necessities were delivered to the farm and ranch.

All of the residential houses were new and there was nothing to fix but the inside of each house that lacked many necessary appliances. People were paid sufficiently for their labors but the Serbian descendants were used to living frugally. Thus, they never decorated their houses and they shared appliances with each other as much as possible.

Youngho was compelled to buy furniture and appliances for them. Because of Princess Isabella’s unexpected visit, the townspeople received gifts. They could even be called Isabella’s gifts.

Princess Isabella could see that the Serbian residents were living better lives than other farmers in Europe. What surprised her most was that the village at the ranch in mountains was run by electricity from solar panels.

Youngho also put a new heating system for the newly-built houses. Except for the living rooms where there was a fireplace, all of the other rooms had Korean-style floor heating system. The houses had incorporated stand-up living and sedentary living at the same time.

Western stand-up living might look convenient but in Youngho’s eyes, they looked so unhygienic. How could people walk in their bedroom with the shoes that they had on when they were outside? To Youngho, who was not used to such a lifestyle, it was very strange. It might be better if they changed to indoor shoes. He also found air heating system inefficient. If the floor was heated as it was traditionally done in Korea, people could have warm feet even if they take off their shoes. With the two heating methods, the fireplace and the floor heating system, people could wear t-shirts in their houses even in midwinter.

Princess Isabella loved the unique heating system and culture. Although she had to go through the inconvenience of taking off her shoes in the guest house where she was staying, she got used to it soon. Being freed from having to wear shoes all the time, she felt comfortable now. Since she liked trying new things as an adventurous and flexible woman, everything about her visit was enjoyable.

The way the ranch people milked their sheep were also safe since they always sanitized first before using milking machines and the cheese production facility was also modern.

She had wondered if the Archduchess’ family was exploiting the Serbian descendants’ labors since they were loyal to the Archduchess, but it was an unnecessary thought. She expected that the Archduchess’ family was the only people who enjoyed their wealth and their people would be poor but the Archduchess’ meal table was rather simple. They preferred vegetables than meat and even said nuts were luxury. They did not drink too much wine either only a few sips at the dinner table. It was totally different from the lifestyles of many European royalties that she met since they all enjoyed a rather luxury lifestyle.

She spotted one strange thing about the farm people though, that they tended to drink heavily at barbecue parties. However, other than that, Zeynep Farm was an amazing place.

The owner of the farm, the Archduchess and her husband did not hold their noses in the air and the Serbian residents truly respected them. She even felt a little ashamed that she had been proud of the luxury she had.

***

Because the princess insisted to go for hunting with Szechenyi, Youngho mobilized the three light armored vehicles that he bought in Turkey.

The princess’ group was stunned to see armored vehicles stop in front of them since they thought they would be walking or using mules for hunting.

“Princess, I brought special vehicles that would be safer than mules or horses in mountains.”

“Oh my! I thought you’re going to war.”

“The Caucasus Mountain Range is extremely rough. Only this kind of vehicle could keep us safe from bear attacks.”

“What? Are there bears here?”

“I have to kill three to four a year even though I don’t want to. They attack sheep and even people.”

“Oh wow!”

She kept uttering an exclamation to new information.

“Do you know how big this mountain range is?”

“Sure, I do. I know its longer than the Alps.”

“The elk we will catch today is a big sized one that usually weighs more than five hundred kilograms. You’ll be able to see how good Szechenyi is.”

“Wait, it’s not you who are going to be hunting? Szechenyi can hunt too?”

Although Youngho wanted to catch one for himself, it was a day when Szechenyi should shine in front of the princess. It was Youngho’s plan to impress the princess. Princess Isabella, soon, would be forgetting about European boys once she sees Szechenyi’s manly side.

Szechenyi showed off his great hunting skills in front of the princess. He caught two huge elk deer by himself. The princess glowed with enthusiasm when she saw Szechenyi’s swift movements chasing the elks trying to run away from him. When he carried bleeding elks on his shoulders and put them down in front of the group, the princess’ eyes were beaming toward him. He was so highly enthusiastic that it even got Youngho worried that he might be revealing the power of the ring.

It did not stop there. Szechenyi skinned the elks and cut their heads before the princess on his own. Since he had done so much to impress her, it seemed that the princess would be Szechenyi’s captive of love forever unless the earth ends tomorrow.

Finally, the princess’ group’s departure day had come.

The princess wanted to stay more but she had to go due to another official event. The day before her leaving, she got Youngho’s permission for her future visits. It seemed that Youngho’s plan to solidify Szechenyi’s relationship with the Denmark royalty was a success.

For the next step, he would be sending the stuffed elk’s heads from today’s hunting to the royal family along with some Zeynep Wine to remind Szechenyi’s existence to the family. If necessary, he was also willing to send gold bars with the Archduke family’s emblem on them to show off his family’s wealth and it would be a great reminder for Denmark royalty that Szechenyi would be a great spouse for Princess Isabella.

***

If one ignores the entry process when crossing a country’s border with a private airplane, it could be a cause for huge trouble in the future. Since Arirang Farm was not fully developed yet, it did not hold its extraterritoriality yet. To establish the farm’s position, the farm must show that it supported the government’s policies and abided by the country’s law.

Considering all of these facts, Kim Chun received approval for the establishment of Arirang Farm Airfield as an official private airfield. Now, anyone could enter Kazakhstan through Arirang Farm Airfield. All they needed to do was to report their entry to Atyrau Airport from the farm. Kim Chun had established a legal basis for Baku-Atyrau air route.

Youngho’s group was getting entry stamps on their passports at the immigration office under the control tower on Arirang Farm.

After Kim Chun gave everyone the stamp, he made a copy of their passports and sent them along with filled-out entry forms to Atyrau Airport. After finishing all of the steps, he brightly smiled and opened his mouth.

“Boss, and everyone, welcome again!”

Everyone gave him round applause and complimented his achievement. He had done a job that no one ever could have done.

The officials of Kazakhstan would have been sick of Kim Chun because of his grilling. Without granting his request, they would not have been able to work normally. It was obvious that he also mobilized his past students to achieve all of this.

“Mr. Kim, you’ve achieved a great deal. I appreciate your efforts.”

“Boss. I’m a third generation immigrant in Kazakhstan, I would’ve been ashamed if I couldn’t make it. If you trust me with other things as well, I will show you what I can do.”

As everyone complimented his achievements, Kim Chun was giving a grandiose speech. Anyway, all things were achievable because of his outgoing and active personality. Youngho thought that he deserved a bonus commission to reward and encourage him.

“Then, you think this is the perfect location, Dr. Park?”

“Think about it, it’s a mansion of the Archduke family. It won’t look nice if it’s built on low ground.”

“Hmmm. The mansion will be exposed to harsh winds of Kazakhstan if it’s built on a hill.”

“We’re not installing a yurt. The mansion will be in the form of a stone castle. Why do you worry about winds?”

Because there was a high chance that Szechenyi would be marrying with Princess Isabella, a great-looking mansion that was suitable for the Archduke family to show that the family held an equally high status with Denmark royalty. Since Youngho had mentioned a castle to the royal family, he was eager. Although he did not like fancy things, he thought that a magnificent building was needed to show the Archduke family’s dignity.

When he called Park Youngsun to discuss the matter, he pushed him to start as soon as possible, so Youngho flew over to Arirang Farm immediately.

Although Denmark royalty was only symbolic to the people of Denmark, it held a high status in Europe. Since many members of the royalty had married to other royal families of Sweden, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands, if Szechenyi married her, the Archduke family would be related to them as well. Pointing that out, Park Youngsun strongly claimed that a proper building was needed.

***

Baku was also called the City of winds due to its windy weather. However, once one got away from the Caspian coast, it was not so windy in hilly areas and in mountains.

The farm and the ranch were located in hilly areas and much cozier than in the urban areas.

However, Kazakhstan’s continental weather was as windy as Baku near the Caspian coast. Also, because Arirang Farm was located in Northern Kazakhstan, its winter was unimaginable. Although stonewalls around the farm, which was built because of Kim Chun’s insistence, were blocking some winds, they did not seem enough. Only several layers of tree belts would be able to save the farm, so Youngho was discussing it with Park Youngsun.

“I’m concerned that kids are locked inside their houses because of the extreme cold.”

“How about building an indoor gymnasium? If we place various sports and exercise equipment, adults would be able to utilize them too.”

“Do you think any facility would stay in heavy winds? The storage unit next to the runway is already jarring now.”

They stopped talking because they had no plausible solution. Then, Kim Ilkwon, who was listening to them from a side, threw an idea.

“Boss, what about making an underground facility? I heard people made most facilities underground due to coldness in Montreal, Canada.”

“You’re not saying that we should build an underground town.”

“If you make an underground gymnasium facility at the sheep ranch near stonewalls and maintain the ranch, it’ll be well hidden.”

“There’s nothing to hide though.”

Park Youngsun interrupted Youngho.

“It’s a great solution. We’re building a new city anyway. We would need a shelter in case of any danger. We could use the underground facility as a gym and an emergency shelter too.

As Park Youngsun agreed to his idea, Kim Ilkwon excitedly shared his idea in-depth.

“You can make an entrance at the inside of stonewalls. Then, you won’t have to go around the walls to enter the gym and no one would find it from the outside. Because I’m from North Korea, all I can think of is the air-raid shelter.”

That day, Ilkwon even drew pictures and suggested many things, such as the ventilation system, lighting system, how the shelter needs a lodging system, and where the food and necessities should be stored.

Because he was trained as a spy, all he learned was related to war. Youngho only thought about having a gym but it took an unexpected turn because of Ilkwon’s idea. Anyway, it seemed that they had come up with a solution for long and cold winters of Kazakhstan.