Empire of the Ring

Chapter 162: Light and Shade (3)

"How many people can make it from your side?"

"I think probably around five."

"Isn't that too little? They have more than a hundred on their side."

"They only have a high number. I don't think there will be only about ten skillful guys at most."

Youngho and Sergey were talking about the raiding mission to root out the Central Asian Chinese assassins organization.

"Then, we'll take a few best men from here too. My guys from Kazakhstan would be joining us too."

"Are you coming yourself, brother?"

"I'll only be a drag if I come. Michael will be in charge of our men."

Michael was one of the high-rank Russian mafias, who escorted Katya's mother and daughter to South Ossetia. He was the current bodyguard of Yaniv and was a man of skills.

"If Michael comes, we'd make a great team. I'll call you before I leave, brother."

***

"You don't even speak Russian."

"I guess English will be fine. English can be used anywhere in the world."

"Nope, not in Kazakhstan. Why are you even here if you're going to be a drag?"

Insoo and Jongil were bickering at each other.

Insoo was saying that they should leave Jongil this time instead of him. Since Insoo was now the vice president of the security company, he was insisting to go take revenge for the security crews.

"What about here? Who would take care of the security company if there were problems? And there's got to be someone here in case the European chapter contacts us. You're the perfect person, Insoo!"

At Jongil's attack, Insoo stopped insisting but his pitiful eyes looked at Youngho. Of course, it did not work since Youngho trusted Insoo in charge of everything in Baku.

He was now competent at what he was in charge of and he was a better problem-solver than Jongil. With his detailed personality, he did not miss important things.

Often times, Youngho would come to Insoo to discuss different business assignments before he went on a business trip. Since he could hold Insoo accountable for important work, he had to stay in Baku when Youngho and Jongil left for other assignments.

For this time, Youngho was taking two most outstanding security crews, Park Taeyoung and Lee Chulho. They had great potential as managers of the security company and their movements were different from others. They were hard workers who learned to speak English fluently since they came to Baku.

Since they were close with Kim Ilkwon from Vladivostok, being the same age as him, Youngho wanted to take them for a different experience.

They would learn a lot from experiences. They were excited about being picked for an important mission and for working with their superiors.

At Baku's airport, they quickly moved to run errands and take care of their seniors' luggage. Then they looked at Youngho to see if there were further instructions.

"Don't be too nervous and just act naturally."

Quick-witted Jongil told the newbies to relax.

"How many flip knives did you guys bring?"

Youngho had ordered them to bring as much Turkish flip knives as possible since they were great for throwing.

"We have twenty-five of them. There was no problem when checking the bags."

Park Taeyoung answered him as if he had been waiting to be asked.

"You two should also practice throwing first. Don't even think about close combats."

At Youngho's words, the two were tensed up. They had been excited about the mission but his words just made them realize that they were going on a life-threatening mission.

***

When the gang arrived at Volgograd after getting connected in Moscow, the gentle spring rain was falling. Although it was quite gloomy, everyone's faces were bright except for Jongil's.

Previously the two new recruits had chatted with Russian girls who sat next to him at the plane and grabbed coffee at the airport. Kim Ilkwon became a bridge between the young group of men and women with his fluent Russian. They exchanged phone numbers before parting ways. Poor Jongil wanted to join them but he was stopped by Youngho who had stroke the back of Jongil's head. A beating was great medicine for his chronic womanizing disease.

"Man, I was going to practice my Russian with them but you never help! You think I still chase after girls? I'm a dad now."

"Shut up. Don't try to deceive me because I can see through you."

Those girls had outstanding looks. Since the two newbies were lonely without girlfriends, it seemed that they would be visiting Volgograd frequently from now on.

They would only be awakened when they wasted away all of their savings for plane tickets. They were at an age to go through love burning like fire, although Youngho did not know such a thing since his only love was Fatima whom he had seen from her young age.

It was lucky that the newbies met the Russian ladies before the battle since it eased their tension. They would have made mistakes out of being too nervous. The right amount of nervousness was great for work.

"As you already know, Jongil and I married women whom we have been with for long but just be extra careful with the girls. Those pretty faces might only be a cover. I'm just saying because I don't want you to get hurt."

Youngho warned them since he was worried for them.

"…"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't go out with them but don't get too into the girls before you get to know them."

The young security crews of the company were rough but they were still innocent. Youngho was worried that they might give away all of their money to girls with bad intentions.

"Boss. We've experienced hardships in the past. We love beautiful girls but we can distinguish bad girls from good girls."

Youngho did not trust them, although they seemed to be confident for their judgment of girls.

"Hey, hey! They're not kids! Many experiences before marriage are actually good for your future. You become a better man and husband."

Park Jongil was speaking from his true experiences.

"You should save money for your future marriage. You can't have an empty account when you finally meet the right girl, okay? Also, I'm telling you that I'm going to get a security deposit for the apartment on the farm when you get married. Don't forget about that!"

"Boss. Shouldn't you raise our pay when we live on the farm? The security would be strengthened because of us."

"The farm's security is perfect without you now. Don't worry about it. If you don't like it, you can go pay for your own apartment downtown, okay?"

Four units of three-story apartment buildings were under construction near the playground by the farm's reservoir. Youngho had planned to make smaller apartments but because some of the Serbian descendants wanted to move in there for a long-term stay, he ordered to make each apartment 1450 sq. ft. wide with five rooms.

The building not only looked great from the outside but also highlighted practicality on the inside. If he insisted on saving some money for the construction, it would only give him a headache in the future. He decided to take the long view.

The exteriors of the complex were decorated with wooden materials and they looked great with the reservoir. Each building had six apartments, so in total, twenty-four families would be able to move in.

Being three-stories, the buildings did not hurt the view but added a homey atmosphere to the grape farm. Since young couples were willing to move in, in several years, the reservoir and the playgrounds would be crowded with kids and parents. Since Youngho had been planting trees around the reservoir, it had formed the little woods.

Each building was built at some distance from each other, so it would look like a condo or villa.

Since Younhgo had announced that once they were married, the apartment would be given for free, the security crews were madly searching for wives from Korea, and because everything would be free except for their own groceries, the security crews had no reason to insist on living in apartments downtown.

The older generations of Serbian descendants preferred having single houses with their own gardens, but younger generations favored apartments more because they did not need to work as much. The new villas were a hot issue on the farm these days.

***

Youngho and the gang, who just landed at Astana International Airport in Astana, Kazakhstan, were received by some local mafias.

They were Yaniv's men based in Kazakhstan. As if they knew Michael, they hugged each other to greet him and gave an unkind look to Youngho who was standing still awkwardly.

They must have looked down on Youngho and his group, judging by their Asian look. Many low-rankers of the Russian mafia organization were Central Asians and Koryoins.

They only greeted Youngho's group politely after Michael said a few words pointing at the group, Youngho also greeted them casually. He did not have to be too kind to them either since he would not see them after completing this mission.

Also, he did not like mafias in general. Were they not the worst kind of people who bleed people dry? He wanted to draw the line. Although he had become friends with Yaniv and Sergey personally, he did not want to make more mafia friends and get involved in their businesses.

Every preparation was completed to attack the Central Asian Chinese assassins organization. There was a Chinese street in the city and that was where the hideout of the assassins was. The assassin group called themselves the Black Society but it was not based in China but in Kazakhstan only.

As Kazakhstan's economy grew from the trading relationship with China, Chinese businessmen made bases in the city and they had called the assassin group from the mainland. The businessmen had voluntarily gone under the protection of the Black Society, which meant that they had a hard time dealing with the local merchants and gangsters. It was understandable but it still was a dangerous deal that no merchants preferred. They had placed their head in a tiger's mouth to avoid wild wolves.

With AK rifles, shotguns, and portable rocket launchers, the gang was equipped with heavy firearms as if they were going on a war.

Before going to the streets, they had agreed to not hurt the local merchants and civilians since many buildings were close by each other and there were residential apartments too.

The Black Society had its own luxury building for their office and a separate living quarter building for henchmen. Since the living quarter stood alone apart from other buildings, Youngho told the local mafias to take care of the building and the henchmen with whatever means of their choice. The more important thing was the office building with the leadership group inside.

The expeditionary force was only five people from Youngho's group and three of Yaniv's men. Youngho told everyone else to stand by outside of the building while he, Ilkwon, and Jongil came in to attack first.

Michael wanted to come along but he was stopped when Youngho showed off his flip knife-throwing skill. Youngho thought that there would be skillful men in the leadership group since they were capable of sending an assassin who injured his security crew severely.

Yaniv's men were bulky mafias who majorly used guns. They could not be a match of the assassins who used knives in narrow rooms. Since in a room with little space, a knife could be as fast as a gun.

After investigating the surroundings, Jongil had come up with a plan to raid them spontaneously from different directions by breaking in through the windows and coming from the stairs.