Empire of the Ring

Chapter 163: Light and Shade (4)

At dawn, Youngho, Ilkwon, and Jongil neared the Black Society's building.

All the lights were out except for the first floor and second floor where a liquor store and their office were located. They had just finished delivering liquor to a bar and were working on balancing the books.

They waited another hour. The henchmen who delivered liquor closed the door and left the building. Looking through the window, about ten of them were spotted on the second floor. Since there were rooms not seen from the outside, there might be a few more inside.

Youngho's group was all masked. As they were ready, they gestured each other to give signals.

After taking a deep breath, Youngho and Ilkwon went up the stairs connected to the entrance. Jongil, who was standing outside the building counted ten seconds, then he pulled out his pistol and immediately jumped to the windows on the second floor. He was using the power of the leather shoes but he did not forget to intentionally kick the wall in the middle of his jump, to not look suspicious to the mafias outside.

As soon as Youngho and Ilkwon heard the crashing sound of the windows, they kicked the entrance and got in the building.

Four guys were playing mahjong on a table and five other guys were drinking at a couch. It was obvious that the ones at the table were high rankers since it was unheard of for underlings who are gambling when their superiors drank.

The knives that Youngho and Ilkwon threw were stuck on the chest and the back of the neck of two guys who were sitting near the entrance.

Jongil, who had broken in through the windows, fire his pistol with silencer blindly at the ones playing mahjong. Meanwhile, two guys at the couch slipped out from the building by almost rolling on the stairs. Those guys would be taken down by the five men waiting outside.

Two high-rankers who could still move were taking out their knives. They already knew that they would not leave the scene alive since many of their men had fallen down already.

As Youngho was stepping up to fight, Ilkwon stopped him. As his bodyguard and former North Korean agent, he wanted to show off his skills.

The two guys who were already shot by Jongil were still fast with their injuries but Kim Ilkwon was almost flying compared to their movements.

It was like a scene in a movie.

Watching him fight, Youngho and Jongil wondered if the two also looked awesome as him when they were fighting.

When Kim Ilkwon's knives were stuck in one guy's neck and the other one's shoulder, Jongil boldly finished them with his gun. Ilkwon had proven his skills for the combat.

Now that everything was taken care of, they were about to search the building. When Youngho turned around, he saw the five guys who were waiting outside had already come up and watched Kim Ilkwon's fight. It seemed that they successfully took down the two guys slipped away.

They looked surprised to see Ilkwon and Jongil taking down their enemies without hesitation. Jongil also shot the ones who were groaning on the floor since they had already lost too much blood and could not live any longer.

***

On the second floor, there were many rooms but all of them were locked.

They smashed in all doors since they would not be used anymore. Some rooms looked like they had been used as a chemical lab. The chemical odors bothered their noses. Michael told them that it was a facility to make methamphetamine, or in another word, Philopon.

Another room looked like an operating room; there was a table, all sorts of medicine, and surgical equipment.

In the last room, they witnessed an unbearable sight.

Little girls and boys looking around age ten were locked in cages like animals. Youngho could see what had been going on there. The Black Society had trafficked in those poor kids to harvest their organs. Youngho cussed at the horrible sight. They were already dead but he wanted to kill them again. Those beasts had done what humans cannot do for mere money. Although he knew organ harvesting was prevalent in many parts of the world, it was his first time witnessing it with his own eyes.

Since they could not burn the building, they destroyed everything inside so that it could not be used again. The Black Society was now gone from the Chinese street.

Hearing the sound of crashing, some of the merchants came out to complain but Youngho destroyed their place too, thinking that they were worse than the Black Society members since they were the ones who hired them in the first place.

Police should have come by the scene by now since they made a lot of noises but no one was around. It seemed that the police authorities did not dare to hurt the Black Society since they were still Chinese citizens. The country's relationship with China might have been affected if they had problems with Chinese immigrants.

***

The local mafias of Kazakhstan said that they would take care of the kids who were locked in cages. Although they were mafias, they were still disgusted by human trafficking of children from their own country and not to mention by organ harvesting.

Allegedly, there were three to four more organizations like the Black Society. Youngho worried about Kazakhstan, it made him worried since they could grow their power and come to Azerbaijan too as they did before. He wanted to protect Azerbaijan from their hands. Before destroying the office building of the Black Society, he took pictures of each room to inform the Azerbaijani government.

***

In Kazakhstan, Korean products were widely popular. Among the products, Korean cosmetics were especially well-known that they were usually sold out. It was strange that there were no direct stores of Korean products in Kazakhstan yet.

Youngho would find out the cause soon.

It was because Chinese merchants were already carrying Korean products. The cosmetic stores in downtown and around the border were run by Chinese merchants and they only carried Korean cosmetic lines.

Since there was the Black Society protecting them, it would have been difficult for Korean merchants to make their way into the Kazakhstan market.

Youngho wanted to set up a security company here to protect Koryoins and Korean merchants but it was something that even the Korean government could not do.

"Youngho, the market here is great. You'll make money if you make your direct stores here."

"You're right. I don't know what the Korean government is doing. Everything I see is money."

"I asked the local mafias and they said there is plenty of empty lands here. The government would assign the land to anyone intending to develop it. Why don't we develop this land? We can make our own grain field, then we won't have to get them from Russian providers."

Food and resources would be weapons and power in the world from now on. Although it would be still difficult to begin agricultural business in a new country, he had enough funds at the moment. He could easily invest ten million dollars to develop a hundred millions of acres of land.

Kazakhstan was the country with the ninth largest land in the world. The government would, of course, welcome investors who would develop their land.

The business was worth taking a risk if Jongil said so. Who was Jongil anyway? His wit and a keen sense of judgment were bright as Zhuge Liang's and he had been constantly surprising Youngho with his random passing words.

***

Rather than opening direct stores of Korean products, Youngho wanted to start a large-scale business instead. His head was full of land development.

Jongil had triggered Youngho's desire, knowing that Youngho was a bit obsessed with land. He went on to look for sites immediately.

Youngho's major business focus was wine and hotel. His wine business seemed to be on the right track now that his European branch would be opened soon. The hotel chain business was also doing fine, and it would be perfect if he could open one in Frankfurt soon.

It seemed that half of Youngho's dream was already achieved.

More Serbian descendants would crowd into Baku more and their next generations would rise. Obviously, they would need a bigger place to stay. Not to mention, Youngho did not want them to be satisfied living in Baku only. He wanted to show them the bigger world and provide them with bigger land. It was necessary for future generations too.

The vast and rich soil of Kazakhstan was worthy of his investment and effort. Kazakhstan had many mountainous regions and since the average temperature was low, many regions were not suitable for farming.

According to the local mafias of Astana, there was a vast plain at the downstream of the Ural River in Atyrau of the Caspian Sea. Although the region lacked precipitation, it seemed that he could draw water from the Ural River.

Youngho liked the accessibility of the place. The place not only had an international airport and m could be reached by train in a day from Volgograd. Most importantly, it was accessible by ship from Baku.

He felt rushed.

As soon as he parted ways with Michael and his men, he flew to Atyrau, an industrial city located in the Northern part of the Caspian Sea.

Atyrau was a neat and modernized city with a population of 150,000 people. It was the capital of Atyrau Region and a transportation hub.

Since Korean thermoelectric power plant and petrochemical plant were already there, local people's perception of Koreans was relatively good. Since there was a K-Pop competition in the city last year, it seemed that they liked Korean culture.

As five Asians in suits showed up at the airport, people's eyes were all on them. It was so rare to spot Asians in there, people were curious about them. Except for Youngho and Ilkwon, who did not have outstanding looks, Jongil and the two newbies were enough to catch people's eyes.

"Dude, what did I tell you? I am attractive even in foreigners' eyes."

"What are you going to do with your good look? You're already married."

"Man, do you still feel bad about your look? Forget about it. You've got to be born with it."

"Oh, yeah? Since you're that great-looking, why don't you lead our way and be our guide?"

"What good is money if we don't use it? We should hire us a guide."

Jongil had already found a travel agency. He quickly went over there and flirted with a lady for a while. Then he looked back to his friends and showed his thumb. It seemed that he resolved their issue. Or he might have talked the pretty lady into guiding them around after work.