Empire of the Ring

Kids' joyful noise from the reservoir equipped with a playground facility reached the Southern river of Zeynep Farm where Youngho went to seek shade.

Baku in July had become extremely hot that he had to go near the water.

The farm was crowded every day with kids that were on the summer break from the international school and the kids of the Serbian descendants.

Insoo, who was fishing for trout, picked his ears and told Youngho who was next to him,

"Those kids are loud."

"The grapes will be growing faster because of them. You know, they say plants grow faster when they hear the owner's voice more."

"Is that a proven fact?"

"Haven't you heard what Sangchun's father said? The leaves grow faster where you take a walk more."

"He must mean that you'd have to take care of them more as you visit there more often."

"I don't know, but I can tell you this, I've grown grapes for years now and the size of the grapes differ from the ones near the mansion and the ones near the fence. You know old Korean classical scholars cleaned leaves of their orchids every day to make the flower bloom. Not everything is explainable with science."

"Why don't you tell them to climb up the hills and scream at the whole farm? We'll see the results then."

"It's the wisdom of life. Any life should be taken seriously even the plants too."

Then, Jongil who had been listening to the whole conversation interrupted them.

"Yuck! Why don't you just become a monk?"

"Phew, why would I bother to talk to you?"

Most of the foreigners who resided in Baku worked for embassies of different nations or global firms. Among them, the parents of the students of the international school were usually well-off Western Europeans and many of them were off work from Friday afternoons.

Many people got tired of going to historic sites of Baku after a few times during their weekends, especially when the temperature went up high near 99 degrees in the summer, people would have to be bold to step out of their houses. Even when they wanted to visit the beach, the shore of the Caspian Sea was polluted with oil and because the air was not clear, they were reluctant to visit outdoor attractions downtown.

Under such circumstances, Zeynep Farm was a great place for people to come and rest since it was equipped with facilities for visitors such as a nice pool, shades, resting places, and a playground for kids. In the beginning, there was only a huge reservoir but it had evolved into a great mini-vacation place where people could visit for free of charge. Moreover, plenty of wine and cheese were provided to any visitors. It was a summer paradise for people who had no places to go during the heated season. That was why people had no shame to keep coming to the farm

It was not difficult to spot people in bikinis now. At first, people were stunned to see people in bikinis at the farm but now it was part of the farm's scenery.

Now, many visitors had become friends with the farm family and the workers of the farm, they did not just stay doing nothing all day long, but when there was work they naturally helped with different chores and labors. Some also fished with Youngho and his friends like now. Some active ones also followed them along for hunting.

One good thing about it was that they brought their relatives visiting in town and advertised the wine on their own. One time, one of the farm guests' relative bought five boxes of Zeynep wine as they left the country. The new visitors loved the idea of visiting the biggest winery in Baku and having a fun day at the reservoir pool at the same time.

Because many people came in and out of the farm, the security of important facilities had to be reinforced. The stone walls recently, around important facilities separating them from open areas, came handy. Youngho also ordered people to build walls around the residential place of the Serbian descendants so that visitors would not violate their privacy.

The only exposed facility around the reservoir was the residential villas that were just completed. Looking like private vacation homes, many people exclaimed seeing them and expressed their desires to live there. Youngho received many requests from visitors wanting to move into the villas at the farm. Although Youngho had to politely decline them, he was flattered every time he received those requests. They were proving that he had built amazing residential places in the local people's eyes.

***

"Insoo, how many of our security crew are at the Arirang Hotel in Frankfurt?"

"Why you ask, is there any problem?"

"At the wine distribution store, apparently some drunken people come often at night and make noise. Can you put one or two of our crew for the night shift?"

"I've sent three of our guys to Frankfurt including Lee Chulho as the team leader and others are local guards. Hmmm, I think I might be able to send one from the Korean crew and the local crew each. Should I send more crew there to protest to the police?"

"Oh, please. We'll scare the German policemen."

Although Frankfurt was a global city and public peace was maintained pretty well, there were still limitations to that since it was hard to crackdown all of the activities of bad teenagers at night. Many travelers who had been in Frankfurt also suggested being cautious to walk out on the streets at night.

Although the Zeynep Wine distribution store did not sell individual wine, it had been displaying wines to the travelers to advertise them until late nights. From that, there had been several incidents where young, drunken Germans involved in physical fights to buy some wine bottles from the store.

Most of the German people were whites and Youngho was worried about the safety of the store since young people could gather up and be involved in violent fights against his store which was run by Asians. That was why he wanted to send more security guards from Arirang Hotel in Frankfurt.

"Well, why don't you call Lee Chulho? He has a title of the hotel manager. He'd be able to help you."

"By the way, why did Lee Chulho end up in Frankfurt? Didn't he want to go to Batumi hotel?"

"He drew lots with Park Taeyoung to decide who was going to Frankfurt. He's is an ambitious guy. Then, he was busy learning German. He'd make a great representative of the security company."

"Yeah, both of them are just so talented. You need to ask their opinions when you assign them to new locations or you're going to lose them."

"Well, they're faithful people. They're not just going to leave us for that but I want to send Park Taeyoung to Moscow once the hotel is completed and teach him Russian so that he can be in charge of the security team there."

"Alright. You take care of that but call Chulho about the distribution store and assign a few to the store. Yunsuh keeps calling me about it and it's so annoying."

"Okay. She must be giving Sangchun a hard time now."

Then, Youngho's smartphone showed a new message that was just delivered.

"See? It's Yunsuh. You've got to take the call and comfort her, I'm out of here."

Youngho thought that he should do an armed protest or something when he visits Frankfurt for the CIA's monthly meeting. There had been many attacks on Asians in Germany by young German white racists. Although the country was one of the most developed countries in the world, the unemployment rate had reached a serious number. There were many unjust organizations that had been tempting young Germans who did not have anywhere to go such as Skinheads or Nazis. The world was changing and falling into turmoil.

When Youngho was deep in his thought, Jongil called him.

"Youngho. The Cessna airplane is here! Come out to the flying school."

"Where are you?"

"I'm just stepping out from the office of Department of Energy. Let's meet up with everyone at the school."

His voice was excited like a child who received a new toy. Youngho contacted Cha Insoo and Kim Ilkwon to meet up at the school together.

***

"Why is this so small? Can four people get in this thing?"

It was Jongil's question after seeing the new airplane which was just delivered to the farm. In Youngho's eyes, the plane looked like a hummer with wings. It cost him 300,000 dollars but the height of the whole craft was only 2.5 meters.

"Airplane is lighter than a compact car. It's only about 700 kilograms."

"Man, I think four of us can lift and move this."

Cha Insoo, who was the biggest of the gang, added.

"You need to lose some weight if you want to fly this thing. We need to lose other things because of your weight. In total, we should not go above 1.1 ton."

Looking at Insoo's body, Jongil complained.

Youngho was worried if the airplane would fake off with Insoo on board. Comparing the Cessna airplane, even the old airplane at the flying school looked trustworthy.

"Why didn't you buy a bigger one? Jongil's blaming me for this."

Both Jongil and Insoo were underestimating the most popular, latest product of the Cessna Aircraft Company. Nonetheless, they all paid attention to the pilot and the engineer who delivered the aircraft to learn about the basic features and operation of the plane.

"Youngho, Ilkwon said you can't land this at the international airport here. What are you going to do?"

Insoo asked in a worrisome voice but it was not a problem. No international airport would empty a runway for this small light airplane but what he did not know was that there were short runways for light aircraft at national airports.

"Don't worry about it, I took care of that already."

Insoo was still worried but soon, he decided to trust his friend.

"Why don't we let Ilkwon take control and fly all of us since we're all newbies?"

"Boss. I don't feel comfortable taking all at once. Why don't we divide the group? I think it'd better for you to fly with a professional pilot for several times more."

Ilkwon wanted to make sure that the airplane was safe. He had not piloted a plane for such a long time that he was not confident in his skills either. Since anything could happen, he wanted to divide the group, so not everyone would fall in danger altogether.

That day, the gang flew around the flying school until the gas was almost emptied.

Youngho felt dizzy at the end of the practice.

They all practiced taking off and landing the plane until all of their clothes were wet from sweats in the hot weather because the most important and dangerous parts of flying were taking off and landing. Although the airplane was proven to be safe, it still made Youngho feel like he was going to wet his pants taking off and landing the airplane while controlling its fast speed.

***

"Katya, how are you doing?"

"Boss! I've worried about you since you haven't called me lately."

"You know I've been busy. I was busy taking care of the hotel in Frankfurt and the other hotels under construction now."

"Well, I'm fine with that but Rena is missing you so bad. She's been waiting for you. She thought you'd visit during the summer break."

"I'll be there in a few days. If you'd be willing to see if we could use the military airport, I can get there by tomorrow even."

"Did you buy an airplane? Mr. Kim said you were learning how to fly."

"Yup. Please let me know how it goes. I'll be able to get there in two hours."

Youngho was proud. Now that he had a light aircraft, he could fly to South Ossetia in two hours. Since Kim Ilkwon was a proficient pilot, there was nothing to worry about even if he had some problems during a flight. He wanted to give a flying tour around Tskhinvali to Katya and Rena.

***

Youngho barely managed to leave Jongil in Baku.

It was because of Ilkwon who insisted that the number one and number two should not be together in a potentially dangerous situation at the same time. He convinced everyone to fly together after the safety of the airplane was proven by this flight. Youngho agreed since he was not confident in his flying skills yet.

"Boss, Jongil hyung will kill me as soon as we land in Baku. Did you see his glare? I'm getting all the blames for not taking him for this trip."

"You are such a stubborn child. Why did you insist to leave him there?"

"To be honest, this is my first time flying for a long distance. I didn't feel confident enough to take both of you. I'd rather get the blame."

"Man, you know how long Jongil will have this in mind…"

"Hahaha… Well, I know several ways to melt his heart. Don't worry about me."

It felt like Youngho only chatted with Ilkwon for a short while but they were already flying above Tskhinvali. It did not even take two hours from Baku.

As they went lower and circled above Arirang Hotel making the engine noise, the guests all came out to see what was going on. The Cessna airplane landed at the little runway at one side of the military base. It was Youngho's first try of landing.