Empire of the Ring

Youngho received Michael's call when he just finished visiting District 7 and was getting off a ferry.

"Lee, there had been a large-scale battle between Chechen rebels and Russian border securities. I checked through the satellite and it looks like heavy firearms were used. Did you know anything about this?"

"…"

The Black Widows of Chechnya now made a connection with the IS armed forces, the CIA had already given up supporting the terrorist group. However, the rebel force, the Black Eagle in the Caucasus Mountain Range, was a group who were only fighting for the independence of Chechnya from Russia, and the CIA had supported them by providing supplies. Youngho had now stopped supporting them as it was almost impossible to deliver supplies through Georgia without their cooperation, and since they could buy their own supplies and arms from the money that they made from exchanging gold bars with Youngho. Even though he did not have a connection with them anymore, he wished that their legacy could be kept on.

"Chief, this is something new. I haven't been able to grasp their recent moves."

"Is that so? They fought so boisterously and that's how I found out about it."

"Are you wondering why the rebels were scattered?"

"No, not that. Our mainland is not really interested in Chechen rebels. Instead, the information agency is wondering about the rebels. I just wanted to see if they had contacted you too."

Something must have been going on with the Chechen rebels, or else Michael would not have called Youngho to ask about the situation.

"I think you should just tell the truth since we're not involved in this."

"I already did. You should also stay back when Eriksson contacts you, alright?"

"I got you. I also don't want to be related to the Chechen rebels."

"Very well. It was reported that the rebels are now getting involved with terrorist groups because they lost their ground from the recent battle, there's a high chance that they might become our adversary. In this case, we should rid of all the past evidence related to them."

Youngho felt a prick at his conscience when Michael mentioned 'past evidence.'

"I understand what you mean."

Youngho was not interested in finding out about the rebels anymore although if Eriksson asked for his help, he could have inquired about them in secret through Yaniv's connections.

It might have been Eriksson's regard to Youngho for not contacting him about this since he made it clear that he did not want to get involved with Chechnya anymore last time he saw Eriksson. Money was one thing, but he had concluded that it was a waste of time trying to communicate with the extreme terrorist group. They were now just a mad group of people who were incapable of communication. He never wanted to go on a mission to extort information from a terrorist group even at the request of the information agency. He felt like that their indiscriminate terror attacks were going to make Youngho to act extremely.

To buy additional grape seedlings, Youngho had planned on visiting Istanbul in a long time but Mustafa held him back, so he had to order them by a phone call.

Mustafa had kept him away from Istanbul because the city had become a target for extreme terrorist groups and there had been spontaneous bombing attacks in downtown. The terrorists were sacrificing innocent civilians meaninglessly just to tell their purpose to the public.

***

A suicide bombing attack was also launched in Baku. A subgroup of the IS based in Syria had launched an attack because Azerbaijan was making railroads to Iran in collaboration with Russia. It was because Russia had declared war with terrorist groups.

The safest place from terrors had been Baku, until now, but it was not a safe zone anymore. Although the police had obtained intelligence beforehand and acted fast to prevent huge damage, Youngho was in a serious shock by the news. It was threatening to think that there were random bombers in the crowded streets of Baku. He was worried because schools were not safe from them either.

As if the international school knew Youngho's mind, the school administration requested security service from his company. He gladly accepted the job since he was worried about Szechenyi and Zeynep.

Since ten of the security crew who spoke neither English nor Azerbaijani had been only training in the farm, Youngho assigned five of them at the school immediately. Although the school only had a budget for three security guards, Youngho assigned two more out of his expense.

The reason that he sent more people to the school was to teach them languages as they worked in the school, and because there were pretty students at the school, all of the Korean crew wanted to be assigned there.

After the terror attack in Baku, all of the security guards on their duty wore a bulletproof vest and carried a taser gun and pistol with them at any time. Since the Korean security crew was trained with guns until they were tired of shooting it in Navy Special Forces U.D.T. and they were capable of dealing with terrorists in no time. Youngho also assigned a guard for Fatima.

Because of the terror attack in Baku, Youngho received continuous security service requests from clients, so he had to recall six guards who were sent additionally to Vladivostok. The complex was now well settled with local security guards, it was easily operated with five security supervisors. He also recalled Kim Ilkwon because the local Koryoin guards could speak Korean with the Korean security crew.

Now, there were no safe zones in the whole Europe because of extreme terrorist groups' spontaneous and random suicidal attacks. Youngho thought Zeynep Farm was the safest place in Baku but he and his family could not always stay in the farm. Fatima also understood Youngho's worry, so she refrained from going out to crowded places of the city.

Fearing the possibility of hijacking, the European chapter announced the provisional cancellation of the monthly meeting and told all agents to refrain from flying unless it was necessary.

Youngho pondered upon the recent terrorist attacks and suddenly, he had a realization. There seemed to be a correlation between the fact that the information agency inquired about the cause of the Chechen rebel's large-scale battle against Russian border securities through Michael and the recent spontaneous terrorist attacks all over Europe and the Caucasus regions.

'Something's coming.'

He concluded that the terrorists might have all grouped together to fight back against the Russian government that had declared to root out all the terrorists. He called Michael again to find out what was going on and Michael confirmed that there would be large-scale bombardment on Russia in near future.

Since the information agency is an organization that made money from selling information, Youngho figured that the agency must have provided the information already to corporations that would make money or lose money because of the news. It was such an incredible organization. It was run by a small group of people but they could manipulate unconfirmed information and have deals with it. He did not know who was behind the group but he knew it must be a group or a person of tremendous power and intelligence.

***

Fatima who just had breakfast did not feel good. She started retching. She had become extra sensitive and tired lately. Youngho was worried if she had gotten sick, and he wondered why she was not recovering since she had the mystical ring on her finger.

Youngho let her skip school for the day and called a doctor to check upon her sickness. Unlike in Korea, many family doctors made house calls in Baku and other European regions. Although Fatima said that it was nothing more than some dizziness and nausea, it was worrisome since she had never been sick, even for a small cold.

Hearing that Fatima was sick, the Yunsuhand Sangchun with his parents also paid a visit to Fatima.

As the family was coming down the stairs to the living room, they brightly smiled. Thinking it was absurd to act that happy when someone was sick, Youngho was about to say something.

"Oppa, congratulations."

"Youngho, congratulations!"

"…"

"Oppa, are you really an adult? How can you not even doubt a little bit for her pregnancy? The doctor will make sure once he sees her, but I'm certain that she's carrying a baby. You don't have to worry about her."

"…"

"Hey! Snap out of it!! Are you okay, oppa?"

Youngho's head turned blank, all he knew what that he missed Fatima so much. He ran to the second floor immediately.

Zeynep, who had returned from school, leaped with joy as she found out about the baby. Since she loved babies, it was a natural reaction from her, and Szechenyi's face turned peculiar since he could not handle too much joy. He hugged Youngho and picked him up and put him down. This was how teenagers congratulated each other in Baku these days. Youngho was surprised that Szechenyi had gotten so strong now.

The news of Fatima's pregnancy had spread to the farm. Now that she was a mother, she had really become the madam of the farm. As her pregnancy was confirmed by the family doctor, everything needed to be changed for Fatima and her baby's security. She immediately applied for a leave of absence and did not go outside of the farm anymore to buy groceries or any other things.

***

Kim Ilkwon, who was scheduled to return to Baku, was still tied up with warehouse business in Vladivostok. There had been more robbery attempts.

There was a reason why warehouse business was not active in Vladivostok. It was because no matter how tight the security was, security guards who sided with robbers would pocket stored goods from the company and the business owners would have to compensate for the lost goods to the shippers. Luckily, the complex had hired Koryoins and because they had a special bond of being countrymen, nothing like that happened yet at the warehouse complex. However, there was a possibility that the Koryoins might turn their backs to the company in the future.

The robbers moved in small groups and did not have any specific bases. Also, the problem with robbers was that a normal person could turn to being a robber overnight. When local people faced financial difficulties, many people decided to have easy cash by robbing goods from stores and warehouses, this was the reason that black markets were easy to find. What were sold in the market were usually stolen goods. Since they were sold at cheaper prices than the original, even officials bought goods from there, and the number of robbers was increasing day by day.

Since this was the reality, people did not try to open warehouse business in Vladivostok. This was something that Youngho and Sergey did not know about when they started the business. Youngho thought that the business would be an automatic success once the facility was built, but it was a business that everyone else had given up.