Empire of the Ring

The grape festival began at Zeynep Farm.

It was a yearly grape-picking event and gathering for the employees of the Korean embassy and Korean corporations, and the parents of the international school. Since machine harvester always left grapes on small branches behind, the farm needed people’s hands to finish the harvest. It was an easy process of stripping off a small branch by a sweeping motion.

People would be covered in grape juice after working for an hour. Since it was a fun activity for many people, the involvement of the festival had been growing every year. Even if they were not invited, people would just show up to join the festival.

The festival would start on Friday of the week when the machine harvest was finished and end in the following Sunday afternoon. In the Saturday evening, the reservoir on the farm would be so crowded since the lamb meat barbecue party was held. The lamb meat was provided from the Serbian ranch.

The farm was already occupied by wine factory employees, the descendants of the Serbian knights, and security service recruits but since they were scattered in the vast farm, it was usually quiet. But, the farm was so crowded now because of the people who came to the festival.

Youngho’s kids were excited to see so many people. Jelyan was looking around here and there holding Leon in one hand. As Youngho gestured her to come, she hastily came toward him with Leon who waddled toward him as well.

Leon and Jelyan were always followed by two Serbian lads because they worried about their security. Since Leon would become their Archduke in the future, they did not want him to be without a guardian. Jelyan tried to wave them off as if she was bothered by them. Youngho smiled looking at them.

He took them in each of his hand and went around greeting visitors.

People asked Youngho to make a lodging facility for visitors on the farm. The reason was that they could not drink too much wine since they needed to drive back home. Youngho thought that he was doing a service for their family by sending them back home before it was too late.

It was already after eleven o’clock at night as he saw the last visitors out of the farm.

Fatima and the kids were already asleep as if they were exhausted for taking care of the visitors. It was only an annual event but there were so many things to be prepared just to receive so many guests. People who had prepared Korean food would know that they took a lot of preparation time. Also, when foreigners were around, their taste had to be considered.

The reason that Youngho held this event in the first place was to serve Koreans who struggled to make it inside a foreign country. In fact, just leaving the grapes on the vine was more profitable for Youngho since he used quite a lot of money for the festival but there were about a hundred Koreans living in Baku. He just wanted to make a day to feel like they were in their hometown.

Youngho did not forget to give Korean products to the guests as they left the farm, and people were always grateful for Youngho’s caring heart. Although he was losing money for this, he did not mind. People’s smile and satisfaction were enough of a reward for him.

***

“Are you sure that the festival is over already?”

Jong-il, who had been gone to Istanbul during the festival period, was sorry.

“Hey, did you say that the Turkish government made you pay more for their wharf?”

Since the open waters of the Black Sea had been unsafe to sail around, Cha Insoo had suggested sailing along the territorial waters of each country.

It had reduced the distance between each stop, and this could in fact help vessels to distribute more goods as they could be reloaded at each stop. As for H Corporation, their distance of delivery would be longer now but it was something they could be happy about since they had now secured a safer route to deliver minerals.

“I think the government had some economic damage for the recent incident and is now charging more for any public facility. I think we’d better find another port in Georgia.”

“Should I ask Philip to look for one?”

“I don’t know if we should keep asking him a favor for private matters.”

“He’d rather be glad if we did that. He’s always eager to help us, just to repay us.”

Ever since Youngho and Jong-il rescued Philip who was abducted in Nagorno-Karabakh, he had been indebted for his life.

In order to find out what was going on in Armenia and to meet Philip, it was about time they visited Tbilisi, Georgia.

Because Park Jong-il was too busy, Youngho took Kim Il-kwon to Tbilisi.

Kim Il-kwon had been busy for managing the Charles Farm lately. Since his family from North Korea had been stabilized, and he was a father now, he had nothing to be jealous of.

People around Youngho were usually the ones who suffered greatly in the past and had sorrows. Many of them had regained hope of life because of Youngho’s help. Many who suffered a great pain would not be so open and faithful to other people, but it was a blessing that his friends were all trustworthy.

Youngho was willing to let them go if they wanted to leave him to find their own lives. That was why Youngho divided his business and gave them to his friends. It was to encourage them to do something else with that money if they wanted to.

It was when the two just came out from the entry of the country, in Tbilisi’s international airport.

“Boss. Look over there.”

Where Il-kwon pointed his finger at the Asian man and woman. Looking like backpackers, they were explaining things to security guards in English. They looked flustered.

Youngho approached near them quietly and smiled inside because he spotted Korean ramen. It seemed that they were new around here. They must have brought ramen as an emergency food in case they were sick of foreign food, but they had no idea where Georgia was.

A Russian poet and novel writer Alexander Pushkin had once said, “every Georgian dish is a poem.” Georgian food was the best in East Europe that even it became common in Russia.

Their belongings on the security device consisted of gifts such as high-quality pens and catalogs of electronic products. Youngho could tell that they must be from a trading company.

“Boss. Why do you smile like that?”

“It just feels like I’m looking at myself in the past.”

As Youngho spoke to Il-kwon in Korean, the woman in her mid-20s screamed and asked if they were Koreans.

“Please calm down. Can you tell me why you’re in trouble?”

***

“Hahaha…”

Youngho laughed so hard to the point that he cried as he listened to the story of the new Korean friends.

“I’m embarrassed that we did not have enough knowledge about the country. As employees of a trading company, we should’ve known better.”

The two young people were new employees of S Corporation. They worked in Turkey but they signed up to go to Georgia just because someone recommended the place.

They just got hired in February and as they were sent to a new location to sell the company’s products as they were just getting used to the company’s culture. They were struggling to describe what their items were to the security guard, and Youngho, together with Il-kwon had appeared just in time to save them.

Youngho’s passport of a U.S. diplomat was a free-pass in Georgia so he could take them away without difficulty. They were in trouble because their items were too expensive and the security guards wanted to make them pay tax for the gifts.

As Youngho explained that they could easily get themselves out of trouble by giving gifts or money to taxman or policeman, they nodded. They could have gotten help from other employees of the S Corporation’s branch in Tbilisi, but it seemed that the company was training them the hard way.

Youngho had now helped the two Korean employees and bought them coffee. It was time for them to walk away but they were reluctant to get up. They were desperately expecting something from him, and he could not wave them away.

Knowing that Youngho was a U.S. diplomat who traveled freely around Georgia from Azerbaijan, they wanted to see if they could sell their products to him. Although their attitude as a salesperson was admirable, it was all a bother to Youngho who was busy with his work.

So, Youngho decided to see how long they would last.

They also felt friendly as his own little brother and sister.

“You two don’t seem to have a specific destination now.”

“You helped us in the first place. How about helping us until the end? You know they say even brushing past a person is fate.”

They were determined to follow Youngho around.

“You’re not trying to sell stuff to me. Do you want me to introduce you to local people who might be interested in your products?”

“Mr. Lee. You are a local person. Who else would we need to find?”

They were being rather bold now.

“Then, I’ll take care of your day today. I can’t be so cold-blooded to turn my back to Koreans whom I met in a foreign land. Il-kwon, can you bring these fellas to the hotel? I’ll talk to Philip and follow you.”

“Jong-il hyung will kill me if I left you alone, Boss. I’ll rather wait for you at the airport’s cafeteria.”

As Il-kwon called him as a boss, the two young employees looked at Youngho with respectful eyes.

“I heard that there is a decent open-air storage yard near the Poti Sea Port. The staffs seemed to welcome foreign ships.”

Any countries liked to have foreign vessels moored at their port since foreign people would spend a lot of money while they stayed. Especially when vessels would sign a contract to come routinely to unload their cargo, their vessel staffs would reside around the port to look after their cargo. This had a great impact on the city’s economy.

“The storage yard and wharf charge would be much cheaper than Turkey.”

“It’s not just cheaper. If you think about Georgia’s prices, you can consider it free.”

“We won’t have to lobby the wharf staffs?”

“It looks like they’re going to lobby you in reverse. They’d be happy to see you. Why don’t we meet the staff from Maritime Affairs and Port Office tomorrow?”

“I owe you big for this, Philip.”

“Oh, please don’t say that. I’m glad that I can be of help.”

If Youngho could have a successful business with the port this time, it would not matter if the Black Sea turned upside down from now on.

In fact, he wanted it to be turned upside down again.

If a shipping company kept on doing its business despite the danger, any shippers would want to ship their goods through that company.