Empire of the Ring

People usually think of France or Italy or the dry regions along the South European coast as major grape production countries. Youngho thought the same before he came to the regions in Southeastern Europe. However, grapes were produced all over Europe, and the regions of Moselle River Valley, a branch of Germany's Rhine River, were especially famous for great-tasting white wines.

Other than those regions, the regions around the Caucasus Mountain Range were considered to be areas producing high-quality wines due to the areas' high daily temperature ranges.

All regions produced wines with distinctive tastes and colors. Now, Zeynep Farm's wine was also gaining some popularity with the people with its distinct taste and quality.

The wine produced in Youngho's farm had a pinkish color. It had a different vibe to it when it was poured in a glass. The wines distributed in different parts of Russia were usually consumed in restaurants because of the romantic atmosphere it created.

Usually, it was rare for people to get drunk with wines since they were consumed lightly in a seating, but it was different for Russians. Russians, who were used to chugging down vodka, preferred Zeynep Farm's wine because of its smooth taste. Since they drank wine like the way they drank vodka, the consumption rate automatically rose.

Even Sergey asked if Youngho could operate his production line twenty-four hours a day. They had high demand, but the supply was limited. The wines produced at the moment were aged more than eight months in stainless steel tanks or oak casks, and Sergey was asking that they make cheaper stainless steel wines.

As a matter of fact, Zeynep Farm's wine factory's wine tanks were full because of the excessive amount of grape extracts produced this year, which was 350,000 gallons. Youngho was deciding which tank he should buy more. Youngho was thankful for Sergey's timely request. He asked to make more stainless steel wines just in time.

All of last year's oak wines were already sold out and they would be produced again next summer. So, the factory would need to fully focus on producing stainless steel wines now.

Youngho hired more workers so that the wine factory could operate sixteen hours a day in rotating shifts, and also in order to speed the construction of the newly added southern part of the farm.

A million bottles of stainless steel wine and 600,000 bottles of oak wine were waiting to be bottled by next year. Youngho calculated the estimated profit from the wines. Since their factory prices were five dollars and ten dollars each respectively, they would make him eleven million dollars. His mind was busy under the pressure because he would need to produce all of these by the next cultivation season. In order to do that, 140,000 bottles needed to be produced every month.

Eight hours of bottle processing a day in the factory could produce 4,000 bottles, and it would add up to more than 100,000 bottles within a month since eight bottles could be labeled with Zeynep Farm's logo in a minute.

Of course, it was a calculated amount of bottles. When operating the factory, random problems often happened. There were many times that they needed to stop the production line. The workers needed breaks too. Having two shifts of workers rotating was barely enough. Even if they worked during weekends, it was only enough to produce some extra wine boxes in the storage.

***

The wine production line started to operate from 4AM in the morning and was on a lunch break at 12NN. This was when the morning shift ended. The wooden building built as a resting place for workers and visitors now had turned into a cafeteria and resting area for the workers.

Because Youngho knew the poor working environments in Baku, he wanted to offer the best quality working environment in Zeynep Farm to the extent that people would not envy other big corporations in advanced countries.

By making a great working environment and giving higher payments than other companies in Baku, Youngho tried hard to make his workers loyal to the company.

His efforts were straightly paid back with great results, namely the high quality of their wines and the workers' motivation for the work. It was hard to find defective products. Other than forty-three regular workers, he hired local housekeeper wives as part-time helpers at the production line, packaging line, and the kitchen.

Because the farm was located in the remote part of Baku, Youngho also offered a minibus as transportation to the farm. His goal was to hear that Zeynep Farm, which was managed by a Korean businessman, was the best company in Baku.

It was lunchtime when the workers from both the morning shift and the afternoon shift all gathered together to eat. The afternoon shift spanned from 1PM to 9PM. The cafeteria was crowded with fifty workers.

Youngho, Insoo, and Gerhardt were eating as well, and the Fatima siblings who were on their break also joined them to help out with the farm work.

"Oppa, I can't work in the afternoon. My friends are coming to the farm."

Zeynep talked with bread crumbs on her face. Youngho smiled at her clumsiness.

Youngho noticed that the workers in the afternoon shift were relieved at Zeynep's claim of not being able to help. Youngho could not but laugh. She had been putting the farm's label on the bottles, but it seemed that she had been interrupting other workers rather than helping them out, although she seemed to fully believe that she had been helping.

Since it was wintertime, Youngho had made the reservoir on the farm an ice rink by taking out most of the water and letting the rest freeze in the cold. Zeynep's friends came often to skate on it.

Since the farm was located on a hilly area, its regular temperature was a few degrees lower than the city, and once the water froze, it did not melt throughout the whole winter. Kids loved playing on ice, having not much to play with during the winter season.

It was Cha Insoo's idea to freeze the reservoir for Gerhardt's children, the Fatima siblings, and the part-time workers' children who followed their moms along to the farm, but Zeynep's friends from school seemed to enjoy the ice rink the most.

***

When Youngho was calculating the number of bottled wines to be distributed in his office, his smartphone vibrated on his desk. Michael, the Chief Director of CIA's European chapter, appeared on the screen.

"Hello? Chief Director?"

Since Michael had only called Youngho before when there was a problem, Youngho was worried first.

'Dang, he always calls me when he needs something.'

"Lee, can you go to Chechnya?"

'Right. He won't call me just to say hi.'

"Yes, Chief. What is the occasion? Is there a problem?" Youngho suppressed his frustration and answered him casually.

"We'll be investigating the rebel forces in Chechnya. An armed forces unit called the Black Widows requested the help of the US CIA. Can you go investigate that?"

The Chechen Republic, also known as Chechnya, suffered from countless civil wars with Russia in the past.

"Chief, I'm still in charge of many areas. Are you trying to make me in charge of the whole Caucasus?" being reluctant to take the mission, Youngho asked.

"Right now, you're our only choice. The fact that you're an Asian helps a lot for missions in places like this since people would not be repulsed by your appearance. If you need a backup agent, you can take an agent with you."

In Southern Russia, people with Asian-looking appearances were spotted often. It was because many Central Asians settled in Russia and through interracial marriages, their appearances were affected. The European chapter considered how Youngho's appearance could blended within that region. Listening to him, Youngho remembered that people did not recognize him as a foreigner in Volgograd. Although Michael appeared as if he was asking a favor, to Youngho, it was a command from a superior.

Michael, who was soon turning fifty, had been pushing agents around to achieve a signal success because of his ambitious goal to be promoted to a position in the US CIA headquarters. Recently, he had been getting along with Youngho every time Youngho visited Frankfurt to attend the monthly conference.

It meant that he was expecting a lot from Youngho since he was overseeing Russia, Azerbaijan, and South Ossetia with a single backup agent, Jongil, whereas ten local agents were in charge of France, and eight are in Turkey. There were 200 agents working in different parts such as accounting, collecting, analyzing, communication monitoring, and field agents, but actual agents who carried out missions were not many.

After Youngho saved Philip, his skills were recognized and he became Michael's center of attention. In any organization, it was inevitable to give more work to a more competent person, and Youngho was that person in the European chapter. Of course, he was receiving commissions for his work. He almost forcefully took this job that he did not want. Not being able to help, he just started reading the data for the mission he received in his email.

***

From Baku, it took twenty hours by train to get to Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, which was connected in Dagestan.

Youngho frowned while looking at the data about the Black Widows. They were known to be an organization of female suicide bombers. 'What had driven them to form a group like this?' he sighed.

While Youngho was reading, Jongil was snoring in his sleep innocently. Upon receiving the mission overseas, Jongil danced in excitement. He had been tired of the same daily routines of his life. Now that he went everywhere with Karajan 24/7, from house to work, he needed some refreshment in his life. Youngho thought the long mission abroad would bring Jongil and Karajan even closer since they would miss each other. Looking at Jongil's face in sleep, Youngho smiled.