Empire of the Ring

Szechenyi looked excited when he came to Zeynep Farm in Baku.

Szechenyi had been buying stocks of the Danish shipyard company while he was staying in Copenhagen. He was studying to get his MBA in Frankfurt, but his career path suddenly changed into running an investment company—due to an unexpected opportunity that was opened because of Youngho’s Siberian development business.

“Hyung, I own 2.1 percent of the company’s share now.”

“Why is it still so low? You’ve got to be more aggressive than this.”

“I am just waiting for the right timing. The stock value is going up.”

Youngho thought it would be easy to buy the share of the company because the company’s value had been underestimated for a long time.

“I guess our move made people rethink the company’s value.”

“Well, most shareholders are long-term holders. They are pretty loyal to the company.”

“Is any of the royal family members a shareholder?”

“I don’t believe so.”

“We need at least three percent to get their attention.”

“The shipyard company keeps calling me to check if we are a hostile company aiming for mergers and acquisitions (M&A).”

“Well, it would look certainly aggressive for a young investment company.”

The company’s concern made sense. Why would anybody or any investment company buy stocks of a poor shipyard company, especially when there had not been a big change in the company? It was logical to think that someone was trying to hunt down a company.

“I’m sure they already know about us.”

“Of course. That’s why they are more concerned. Investing in a company makes sense. But buying stocks? No wonder they think our goal is M&A.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them I was buying stocks because the company had so much potential. I also said I would love to invest in the company.”

“Good job. Soon we will make a small investment in the company. They might let us have some managerial rights.”

“Are you trying to be a board member?”

“Yes. It’s necessary although I am not planning on running the company or anything. I am just trying to voice myself as a major shareholder. I’m going to shake its management as a board member.”

“Good idea. The company certainly has an outstanding technology. It’s just that the company’s executives were filled with mannerism for quite a while. They also couldn’t get enough orders because of the Korean and Chinese shipyard companies.”

“Well, Korea and China cannot lower its price anymore. They are going to hit the bottom soon. Soon people will come to European shipyard companies where they can get their ships made quicker than Central Asian companies. With the company’s original technology, we won’t have to worry about being bankrupt.”

Many Asian shipyard companies were able to lower the price of their vessels because their governments covered some part of their production cost to grow their shipyard market. Because of that, they were getting too many orders which led to an extremely long wait time to build ships. People would be willing to pay a little more if they could get their ships sooner.

“Brother. It would take a lot of investment to repair old docks and improve management institution.”

“I am only going to invest until I can voice myself. It won’t be too much. Then I’ll use my connections to look for clients who’d be interested in building ships. It would be fun.”

“I can guess who you are talking about.”

“What do you think? He would be interested in this, right?”

“I think so. Well, I’m going back to Denmark soon. I’ll inform the company that we are willing to make an investment.”

“Yes. You need to go. Princess Isabella must be waiting for you.”

“I won’t even have time for her now. I have never been this busy.”

“You better make some time for her if you don’t want to lose her. You know how you have to keep making connections and impress people to stay on the surface there.”

“Hahaha… I’ll keep in mind.”

“Also, we are planning on buying a house for you two in Denmark. Could you make sure you do the interior for her taste?”

“We were going to buy a small apartment.”

“Are you kidding me? You are marrying a princess. See if you can find an old castle owned by the royal family. We’ll pay for the castle.”

This would be a far better choice than having a house in Baku or the Arirang Autonomous State since the royal family would welcome them if the princess would stay near them after getting married.

***

As soon as Jong-il came back from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to open a business office, he had to fly to Almaty. It was because the number of immigrants of the state had suddenly increased, and he was in charge of regulating the immigration of Koryoins to the state. The state needed to adjust its time plan for the moving-in population. Koryoins from Kyrgyzstan would suffer from the cold weather because Kazakhstan in April was still freezing at night. There were still not enough rooms for the immigrants in the state even after the state provided empty hotel rooms and rooms in car ferries.

“Commissioner Kim. Let’s open the Archduchess’ palace. It’s the only place left.”

“Absolutely not! The Archduchess hasn’t even been there yet. Chief Niksic will kill me if he finds out about this.”

“We have 50 empty rooms. Besides, it’s only going to be temporary. Can we at least ask?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you should be the one to ask him.”

“Well, I’m the host. And this host says it’s okay.”

“Boss. The palace is the most symbolic and treasured place for Serbian people. Everyone will disagree.”

“What do we do then? It’s still below freezing point during the night.”

“We will open the gymnasium for them to stay. Students will have to bear with the inconvenience.”

Two new farming and ranching villages were filled up with construction technicians from outside because the state needed lots of houses. The whole plan to let them build their own houses was already breaking down.

“It won’t be inconvenient if we set up the village similar to the central city.”

“Then, the public facilities are going to be there and the market places will be around here.”

“It will be a smaller version of the administration building.”

“I am counting on you, Construction Director Min. We didn’t expect these many immigrants to be here so soon.”

“We need more laborers. Shall we hire the immigrants?”

“Let’s do that. You can also hire our farmers. They don’t have a lot of work now.”

A little assistant from people would accelerate the building process.

“Is the underground bunker going to be at the central square?”

“I assume the central square would be the best place for it. It’s easily approachable, and the emergency storage units are close by. Most of all, the pond is nearby.”

“It’s good. We could also think about building an underground water tank.”

“We are planning on renovating the whole central square after we are done building all the houses.”

Youngho was planning on building underground bunkers for the farming villages too. It would be better to struggle now than to be sorry later.

“Will you have enough electricity?”

“We will have enough. Still, we are thinking about building a power plant near the factories, just in case.”

Now, all they needed to think about was the cost. The state had enough extra budget to cover the cost for the farming villages. Youngho was thinking about where to get some money. They still have some gold bars. Youngho needed to call Eriksson soon.

***

Szechenyi called to ask if Youngho could visit Copenhagen.

According to him, the Danish royal family had offered a royal villa to the new couple upon hearing that the couple would be staying in Denmark after their wedding and Szechenyi would be investing in the Danish shipyard company.

“The queen was exuberated to hear it.”

“You didn’t just take her offer by any chance, did you?”

“Of course, not. I said that I can’t take the royal villa and instead, I’d like to buy one of the royal castles, and she would not take that from me. She probably doesn’t want to hear that she made money from her future son-in-law.”

“Ask Princess Isabella if there’s any good castle. It should be a place where our family can easily visit you.”

“After the coronation ceremony of my sister, you’ll be her official prince consort. You won’t be able to visit Denmark unofficially. It’ll violate propriety.”

“Didn’t you know that any royal trip is unofficial? Except for a few rich royal families, people can’t afford to take a huge entourage with them. Also, I can’t follow the strict laws of royalty. I’m always going to visit you in secret.”

“Hahaha… I agree with you on that. Oh, I almost forgot to mention. The shipyard company said that our investment is always welcome.”

“Have you been collecting more share?”

“I’ve just passed three percent. There is some stock of the company in the market but its cost is extremely high.”

“Then, don’t do it. You won’t have to tolerate such an unfair deal. Just ignore it until the shareholders lower their price.”

The Danish shipyard company was only asking for a high price to Szechenyi because he was a foreign investment company. If he waited long enough, the price of the company’s share would be lowered.

“Don’t tell the royal family that I’m visiting you. I’m afraid that the queen will invite me again.”

“Okay. I’ll only inform the shipyard company.”

“Don’t forget to look for a castle in great shape. You need to pay for it no matter what. I can’t let you owe something from your family-in-law.”

“Why not take a free castle?”

“Then the royal family will never try to payback for our favor after giving you a castle. We’ve made an investment in Denmark and there should be a reward. That’s why I ordered the icebreaker from Denmark, and the royal family is silent about it until now.”

“Phew, hyung. You must be determined to sell me out for business.”

“You bet. You have no idea how much I spent to accomplish your marriage.”

“Hahaha…”

“You should hurry to find the castle because it’ll take some time to remodel the inside.”

Although Youngho was not someone who made a fuss about his achievement or contribution, he was determined to get something out of the Danish royal family. Would it not be great if he could earn a piece of the ice island?