Empire of the Ring

“What is wrong with these people? They want to take advantage and make money in Kazakhstan, but don’t want to make a little contribution to the country?”

“Well, that’s what companies are made for.”

“But they shouldn’t act that way. They are not being asked to do charity work but invest for their future business instead. Besides, they never contributed to Koryoins in Kazakhstan. They know that there are many Koryoins here. Don’t they have compassion for distant relatives?”

Jong-il also complained about Korean companies. Youngho and Jong-il expected Korean companies would be better for the sake of Koryoins in Kazakhstan like they would do in other countries. They were quite disappointed in those Korean companies. It seemed that they could not expect a lot from Korean companies anymore.

“I am done with these companies. Next time, we will only contact foreign companies. This is so not right.”

“Agreed. Business needs to be clean and clear. We will be better off with non-Korean companies.”

“Still, we will keep the ramen noodles factory going here.”

“Of course. We have no reason to discard them. Ramen is popular worldwide.”

Jong-il visited several food companies in Korea to make deals, but he decided to give up on other food supplies except for ramen noodles. He was hopeful since he was going to get treated well because he was Korean but that was not what happened.

If he had visited those companies as a foreign businessman, he would have had a better shot. Since he and the follower couple visited there as Korean businessmen from a poor Central Asian country, the companies almost ignored them.

Eventually, Jong-il had to give up because he knew that he could get the equipment and facilities in other European companies. After that, he decided to enjoy his vacation in Korea by meeting all of his friends from college and spending time with his family.

“We’ve got a call from Eti the food company. They want to visit the state to talk about building their factory in here.”

“Doesn’t the company have a factory in Kazakhstan?”

“They want to have one in Russia too, and they need our help.”

Eti was a well-known Turkish company for combat rations and diet food. Eti and Youngho had built a close bond when he imported combat rations for Armenian militia way back.

“I guess they are trying to get into Russia with our brand power since we provide wine to the Russian market.”

“Or maybe they thought that building a factory in the state will earn them some credit in the future.”

“Don’t Russians hate Turkey though? Do you think Turkish products will sell in Russia at all?”

“Well, if they make it in the Arirang Autonomous State, it could be a different story.”

“True that. We’ve got Russia.”

“Sergey will be so happy when he hears about our food company.”

“Wine and food. Everyone in Volgograd knows about Zeynep Wine. We need to use the Zeynep brand for our food company.”

“That is a good idea. I hope Zeynep doesn’t charge us for the brand name.”

***

Mehmet the sales manager from Eti—the food company—had been promoted to an executive. Mehmet handed his business card that had his name engraved in gold.

“Congratulations to your promotion!”

“Thanks to you, Mr. Lee. The combat ration sales with you got me this far. I’m counting on you with my future promotion too. Hahaha.”

“You will become a CEO one day. A successful one, I bet.”

“Mr. Lee, ever since I met you, everything has been going so well. I was having a drink with Mustafa a few days ago, and I’ve heard that you’re planning to open a food factory so I came here right away.”

Mustafa probably subtly spilled the news. Mustafa had made quite a lot of money by selling luxury carpets made in the Arirang Autonomous State.

“So, you’d like to start a business in Russia?”

“That’s right. I hope you would help my way into the Russian market.”

“I don’t see why you can’t sell the products from Eti’s factory in Atyrau. Aren’t they technically Kazakhstan’s products?”

“We are selling a small amount to Russia. The problem is that they already recognize our products as a Turkish brand. But if we provide all the materials to you and the state produces them, it would be products of the Arirang Autonomous State.”

Mehmet meant that he would get rid of Eti’s brand from the product. It would be a new brand coming from the Arirang Autonomous State.

“So? What do you think? We will pay for all the ingredient supplies, equipment, and facilities. The state will be in charge of production and sales.”

“It sounds very fair. We will have half of the profit, and you take the other half. How would you like that?”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. My CEO will also be happy to hear that.”

“By the way, you realize that we are not only planning on selling our products in South Russia but also in some cities in Siberia.”

Mehmet was speechless.

“I am starting a lumber business in Siberia. Soon, our ships will cruise along the North Sea route as well.”

“I feel like I won a lottery today.”

The truth was that it was Youngho who won a lottery since Eti would be providing all of the ingredients and facilities for the food factory at no cost. The market for the food products would be taken by Yaniv since he trusted anything produced by the Arirang Autonomous State. If he started with Russia, it would not be difficult to gain popularity in the Central Asian market either. Soon, his products could be more popular than Chinese food products. It was obvious that Eti—the food company—already did its math before approaching Youngho. Otherwise, a 50:50 deal would be a losing deal for the company since it was going to provide all the necessary materials.

“How lucky are we.”

“Man, are you sure you didn’t expect this? Were you playing us when you sent us to Korea?”

“Come on. At least you went to Korea and enjoyed your time.”

“Well, if you consider being looked down by the Korean companies as enjoying—then yes! We did.”

“Now we know that we don’t want to deal with Korean companies anymore.”

“That’s true.”

Jong-il was glad to hear the state’s project with Eti—the food company. Jong-il was a big deal in Central Asia, but it seemed that nobody knew him in Korea.

“They will regret that they didn’t take the chance to work with me when I visited them.”

“They probably won’t care about our state at all.”

“Trust me. One day, they are going to have to come to us. You know what? If the Korean construction companies in our state don’t do well, I will kick them out of our state.”

“Bro, don’t take it out on them.”

“I am not taking anything out on anybody. I’m just saying that these companies might think they’ve got the job because they are great.”

Jong-il was pretty upset about the Korean companies’ bad treatment of him.

Since Youngho did not know what really happened in Korea, he thought that he should ask the follower couple when he had a chance.

***

Royal guards were marching on the street of Copenhagen. The marching of the royal guards was for tourists as well as for the reputation of the Danish royal family. If Chief Niksic saw this, he would try to do the same at the autonomous state for the glory of the old Serbian Kingdom.

While the marching was going on, Leon kept trying to get out of Youngho’s hand since he wanted to follow the royal guards in the march. The look of the royal guards in furry hats was enough to make a little boy curious. One time, Leon almost touched one of the royal guards, but Youngho managed to stop him from making more trouble.

“I’m taking Leon to the playground.”

“There’s a playground around here?”

“I’ll build one for him if I have to. If not, he’s going to ruin the whole marching ceremony if I don’t take him somewhere.”

The chance would be very thin, but there would be no other way to calm him down. It was not only Leon but also Jelyan and the follower couple who seemed to be mesmerized by the march.

Yesterday, Youngho’s group visited the Danish palace to pay a visit after coming to Denmark and also to sign the contract for ordering an icebreaker. Today, the group was touring around the streets of Copenhagen.

Since it was an unofficial visit to the royal family, Youngho did not want to bring a big group but still, his group was twelve people including his family, the follower couple, and some security guards.

Last night, they had dinner with the royal family including the queen, Princess Isabella, and Szechenyi at the palace while talking about the icebreaker. The royal family treated Youngho and Fatima as its future in-laws. The queen and other royal members were quite surprised by the wealth and potential of the Arirang Autonomous State. The queen was impressed when Youngho mentioned that he was exploiting an area in Siberia since it was not easy to earn the Russian government’s trust as a foreigner.

They also greatly appreciated Youngho’s decision for requesting an icebreaker from a Danish shipyard company. Princess Isabella was also proud of it since she now proved that she was marrying a man that was not from an unknown family, but a family of great power and wealth.

Szechenyi made a swift move to buy the Danish shipyard company’s stock so he could be a major shareholder as Youngho suggested.

“Mr. CEO. Are you trying to be the largest shareholder of the company?”

“No. a major shareholder would do the job. I just want to voice myself at the business meeting. If I attract some clients for the ships, other shareholders of the company wouldn’t be able to ignore me.”

“You want to do the sales too?”

“After I buy enough stock, I’m going to have to find a way to increase the value of my stock.”

“Can we compete with Korean shipyards? They will make ships for a lower price.”

“We will work on special ships only. I am not planning on competing with them.”

“Oh!”

Min-seok looked at Youngho with sparkly eyes.

“You want to see how the North Sea route will change?”

“Yes! I bet it would be a revolutionary change since you are here.”

“Revolutionary? I’ll move subtly and quietly, but I guarantee that you will see a big change.”