Empire of the Ring

The next day, Yaniv and his men also arrived at the Arirang Hotel.

The airport was paralyzed by a heavy snowstorm that had hit all over Moscow, but thankfully the airplane managed to land. Youngho later found out from Sergey that Yaniv was able to arrive by threatening the captain who was going to return to Volgograd. It was terrifying to hear. It was fortunate that Yaniv came to Moscow safely, but it could have jeopardized the lives of everyone who was on the plane. This made Youngho realized that this was Russia. The poor captain would have complied with the direction of the famous mafia boss, Yaniv.

Despite having made such a desperate attempt to land at his destination, Yaniv acted naturally. The commotion in the lobby was proof of that.

"My man! You're an excellent businessman. You've already contacted an American company?"

"It's only a verbal agreement, but I got a positive response."

"Lee, I've been doing so well lately because of you. How should I reward you?"

"A gift between you and me? There's no need. Get me a logging machine, the stronger the better!"

"What's wrong with giving a gift to you? I'll have to give Zeynep more money for her foundation then."

"Yes. That would be fine. Zeynep will be excited to hear that."

"She calls me sometimes. She even complained about you giving her little allowance."

"You wouldn't have given Zeynep any extra money, would you?"

"Haha… Can I interfere with the rules set by the head of her family? She must've called me so she could push me to give her some welfare money."

After entering college, Zeynep had been receiving welfare funds from everywhere. The biggest hand by far was Yaniv. She seemed to call him often as an excuse to secretly apply pressure so that he would donate more money.

In Europe, royal families and aristocrats were usually very proud of creating social welfare foundations, helping needy neighbors and providing research funds to climate research institutes. The general view of it was also very favorable. They viewed it as something worthy of their social status.

Every year in Europe, there was a massive sale called Boxing Day, which originated from the day after Christmas in the past when the landlords handed out groceries to his residents in boxes. It was because the lord's duty was to look after his people.

Therefore, often times, a nobleman or a royal blood ran a social welfare foundation. Since Zeynep was also a princess, being a descendant of the Archduke of the fallen Serbian Kingdom, Youngho put her in charge of the Arirang Foundation in advance. It was to prepare her for her future possible exchanges with other royal families in Europe. Whether or not other European royal families recognized the family of an Archduke, it was important that she maintained her dignity as a nobleman. Regardless of personal wealth, it was a tradition in Europe that a nobleman should help neighbors who were in need first.

The Arirang Hotel in Moscow belonged to Yaniv, and Youngho only had 20 percent of its share and management rights. Thus, Yaniv had a high voice in the business.

Sergey already had set up a drink table at a room that had a terrific view.

"Brother, the sun is still up. Are you going to start drinking already?"

"Lee, it's going to snow soon. Isn't this a nice atmosphere to drink? We'll have to drink anyway. It's better to set up the table before Boss gets upset."

It would be a great discourtesy if acquaintances were gathered in Russia, and they were out of alcohol. It was because the Russians were great alcohol lovers.

"Why don't we start with Zeynep Wine today?"

"He's quite hot-tempered to the point where he would land an airplane that was going to return by force. He's going to want to start with vodka on a day like this."

Suh Min-seok was now hurriedly shoving cheese into his stomach. Although Yaniv might never offer a drink to him, he was already scared of vodka.

***

There was not much in the contents of the memorandum of understanding (MOU). Although there were many implementations based on logging, this was the key: The logging section of the Taiga region was stated between 93 and 95 degrees east longitude and 58-58.5 degrees north latitude in Krasnoyarsk province.

After the land that had been logged, the lumberjack or the logging business owner had the right to develop the land first, and when the development was determined to be completed, ownership was transferred to the business owner from the Russian government.

In principle, logging trees were consumed in Russia, but there was a provision that exports could be made if the business owner established a woodworking company in Russia.

Although it is an extremely comprehensive memorandum of understanding that left some room for arbitrary interpretation, Youngho did not question it at all because it was a matter that would have been discussed only in the conclusion of this contract after conducting a preliminary investigation anyway, and he could not even think of anything to do with the wetlands after cutting down the trees. Except for the said-to-be diamond stones, which seemed to be of little money, there was no big merit to the large land.

He thought that it was unusual for logging locations to be marked with latitudes and longitudes, rather than using the measure of square kilometers. The land given to Youngho was roughly 55 kilometers in length and width. To make a comparison, the area was about five times the size of Seoul.

"Mr. CEO, when will we finish cutting down all of those trees?"

Looking at the logging area from afar, Suh Min-seok asked.

"By the time we're done cutting trees, other trees would've grown from the area that we first started cutting, and we'd have to cut them down again."

"Maybe we'll cut them faster if we cut them simultaneously here and there."

"It's a wetland. Six to seven months in the winter are the maximum time we can work on the land. It's also going to be busy during the winter since we'll have to clear the way to transport wood. By the way, I don't even intend to do random logging. If I cut down the trees, I'll plant it twice as much again."

Youngho was not a great environmentalist, but planting trees was necessary to elongate the life of the logging business. The memorandum of understanding does not set a logging period, but only marked a logging area. Since he did not want to develop the land, he wanted to keep the logging business as long as he could.

"I can't believe we've been given such a huge area that could be only marked with the latitude and longitude. I mean, we don't even have a map."

"You'll be only able to see at a glance with satellite pictures."

Youngho and Suh Min-seok could not keep their mouths shut about the huge area where they could not fathom how big it was through drone pictures or on a helicopter. He was not sure what else might be hidden in the forest, but he wanted to explore it before it became a muddy field when the summer came.

"I should go back to the state and set up an expedition team."

"What? Are you trying to investigate the forest while it's still winter?"

"This is a place where I can only go in the winter. We have to do a preliminary survey in order to present our requirements when we conclude the contract."

He did not want to sign a loose contract since it would be used permanently. Through a thorough investigation, Youngho wanted to make a favorable contract with the Russian government.

Youngho was the one who signed a memorandum of understanding with the government this time. However, the local agency of the American lumber company was Yaniv. The agency's job which was to be in charge of everything that went on in Russia was nothing short of a local sponsor in a broader sense.

While it was not necessary to sponsor its own people like in the countries in the Middle East, companies investing in socialist countries were receiving help from local influential people as their sponsors. In Russia, where money and power were over the law, it was convenient in many ways to have a mafia as a sponsor. If things went wrong, the mafia would resolve them all with one-stop service. Mafias were in a sense stronger than the police.

The main office of Youngho's logging company would be located in Volgograd, and Suh Min-seok was going to proceed with the corporate establishment with the help of Sergey. He was not that frightened by the mafias compared to before, as he slowly became aware of what the mafias were like in Russia. And now that he knew how influential Youngho was in Russia, he was more confident to work with the mafias than before. After finishing their work in Moscow, Youngho's group parted ways.

Youngho and Kim Il-kwon returned to the Arirang Autonomous State, while Suh Min-seok left there to return later when he had finished processing the establishment of the logging business in Volgograd. Youngho assigned Hong Sung-ki and Choi Sang-ho—who could speak Russian fluently—as Suh Min-seok's guards because he knew that Suh Min-seok would be severely disadvantaged or ripped off by the Russian police or the customs at the airport.

***

There was nothing like a Turkish long-range light-armored vehicle that could easily move around the Siberian region, but there was no way to bring it to Siberia. It seemed that it would be cheaper in terms of cost to rent a caterpillar track vehicle that belonged to the local Russian army unit for this winter. Once the logging business was carried out, the Turkish light-armored vehicle would be required to ride around swamps and be covered in mud.

Waiting for Hong Sung-ki and Choi Sang-ho to return, the state was busy preparing for the expedition team's winter trip.

Dr. Park Young-sun, a geology expert, had to join the expedition. He was now trying to improve his body strength these days by exercising in a fitness center lately. Park Young-sun was easily able to adapt to different regions due to his frequent outdoor activities, but being over 50, it would still be difficult for him to adapt to the frigid Taiga forest with temperatures ranging from minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius.

It was because the severely cold climate would exhaust people even if they were sitting inside a vehicle. Even employees of Zeynep Security Service, who had undergone extreme training found it hard to endure the coldness. To prepare for the expeditions, the team hurried to order hiking gear and camping gear that was used for polar expeditions.

As the preparation for the expedition was coming to an end, an incident broke out in an unexpected place and held the team back. A sanguinary collision broke out in Kyrgyzstan, and the autonomous state quickly transported Koryoin people living in dangerous areas. It was because a number of Uzbek people had rioted in the city of Oshu in Kyrgyzstan where it was bordered by Uzbekistan. During their protest to the Kyrgyz government due to its favoritism of Kyrgyz over other ethnic groups in the process of dividing residential areas, Uzbek people had rioted against the government.

As emotions grew more and more intense, a fight erupted, at last. It even involved weapons. It may be hard to understand for Koreans how civilians could own weapons, but people commonly carried rifles in the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The problem was that there were also Koryoins who were living in the region, who had decided to move to the autonomous state previously. They were now vulnerably exposed to the middle of the battle.

Youngho received Jong-il's urgent call.

"Youngho, it's not the best time to leave for Siberia. I'll get ready to escort Koroyins to Almaty from Kyrgyzstan."

"Okay, should I come with you?"

"No, stay there and get ready to receive immigrants that I'll be sending from here. I've already informed everyone in the primary danger zone. There's no place for people to stay here right now, I'll send them off on train as soon as they get here. There are more than 200 people in 47 households."

"I got you. Me and Cho Chul-hwan will dispatch the Countryside Force guards to Almaty Station soon."

"Okay. If the situation gets worse, we'll move all the Koryoins in the Oshu area. I'll keep an eye on the situation here and then decide."

"Do you have enough funds?"

"I do. I'm afraid we're short of housing. You need to set up yurts just in case."

"Don't worry about that. Just make sure to move everyone from dangerous areas, with force if necessary."

"Alright."

From the other end of the phone, Youngho could hear noise from the surrounding area. It seemed that Jong-il was busy since he could not talk for too long.

Youngho expected to receive Koryoin immigrants starting in the spring, but the situation would not allow him to wait for them until spring. The state could receive the number of people who would be moving now, but there were no extra houses for future immigrant groups. Since a fight had started, the whole city of Oshu would be agitated soon.

Youngho hurriedly sought Kim Chun.

"Boss. There are 53 houses, including those vacated by the Korean employees of the road construction consortium. If the number of immigrants increases, we'll have no choice but to get the former construction site accommodation ready. We can't let them sleep in yurts in this cold weather."

"It's been a long time since the accommodation had been used."

"If we fix it a little bit, we'll be able to have 20 households there. If we're short, we'll have to ask our residents to provide rooms for them. If that doesn't work, I'll put them in the hotel. They're all our poor fellow countrymen."

Youngho was proud of Kim Chun, who was worked up to explain his plan. Others might think that he only cared for Koryoin people, but Youngho did not think so. As an ethnic minority in Kazakhstan, Kim Chun knew exactly what other Koryoins might be suffering from in foreign lands as they were forcibly pushed. He had a strong affection for them.

"Commissioner Kim. There's one more thing that we can use as a lodging facility in the autonomous state."

"What? Is there a place I don't know in the autonomous state?

"We've got the car ferry with 40 rooms for four-people and six-people and 30 two-people rooms. There are also rooms for a large group."

"That's right!"