Empire of the Ring

Chapter 231: Turning Over a New Leaf (1)

Youngho did not feel as happy as he used to when visiting Arirang Farm for wolf problem.

It was because his disappointment with the number of wheat yields was great.

He was shocked since it was his first major failure after starting his businesses. He had achieved great successes with business projects with tens of millions of dollars, but he was frustrated with a project worth only a million dollar. This meant that he was still an inexperienced, young businessman.

He could not accept the fact that he had failed. However, after listening to the construction director Min, he began to feel sorry that he expressed his disappointment to him.

Director Min only asked Youngho to support the reforestation project since enough water would revive the deserted land. He also emphasized that some part of the area should have more trees and walls to block winds, so it would stop the process of desertification. That way, sands blown by winds would not cover the grassland and the bad cycle of desertification would be stopped. He promised Youngho that he would make Arirang Farm a city with a forest. This was why he was connecting the walls to the palace.

The immigrants had been expecting to get paid for their farm work from exporting wheat, but what they were getting was not enough to pay back the money they borrowed from the immigrant center of Arirang Farm.

Although their housing, food supply, and education problems were taken care of by Youngho, it did not mean that their personal desires were taken care of. They dreamed to make money for their work and do whatever they had desired.

They did not complain, but their disappointments were surely great. Youngho needed something to bring up the residents’ spirits.

It was great that the farm still had a drone factory who was ready-to-go.

The drone factory was equipped with a completed assembly line and was only waiting for parts to arrive. The ninety workers who had been to D Drone’s headquarters in America for training were also well-prepared for work.

The fourth group of thirty trainees had returned and as they began to train other residents, there was enough manpower that could be used in the production line.

The production of the drone bodies and rotors had already begun and the factories located near the Arirang Farm’s wharf were making noises.

Once the drone assembly line began to run, the depressed atmosphere would be revived soon because the residents would make money from the drone factories.

In several years, the farm would be able to produce its own parts and have its own drone parts brand.

It was not a mere dream since younger generations of Serbian immigrants had exceptionally excellent learning abilities. Youngho regularly received academic achievement reports from the farm’s own schools and most of the kids in the elementary school were outstanding learners of computer and technology-related studies. The news about farm kids’ outstanding achievements was a silver lining of the farm’s future, especially in the times like this when wheat farming was a huge failure.

It would be great if the immigrants could be satisfied with grain farming, but once their basic needs were meet, they would naturally want to have better lives in which they could go on trips to overseas and buy better things for themselves. Those things cost money and drone technology would be the farm’s number one source of income in the future.

Lately, Youngho began to meditate frequently because he was disappointed in himself, after realizing that he was struggling over little matters.

He read books while listening to classical music in his study and got up early around dawn for meditation, to calm down his mind.

He was quite surprised to notice that he had been neglecting his inner self for the past few years. He had only been running forward toward his goals and living as if someone was chasing him, although there was none behind him. He needed time to look back calmly at himself and rethink about why he had been fluctuating between hopes and fears.

He even abstained himself from going out for other businesses except for going to the CIA’s monthly meeting.

Worried about his friend who was always in his study, Jong-il asked him to go out for hunting to refresh.

“Meditation is only good for a day or two. Let’s go for hunting with Insoo.”

“Sounds great! My butt was getting numb. I can’t sit still anymore.”

As the three friends went out carrying their hunting rifles, farm workers who were checking farm equipment smacked their lips already. They knew that they would be having deer meat tonight.

All the farm workers were busy checking up on harvesters since the harvest would begin in several days. The farm was full of noises from test-driving farm equipment that had been stored for a year.

Listening to the sounds of machinery was strangely calming.

“Don’t those harvesters sound like music? Is it just me who’s hearing it?”

“It might be music in the owner’s ears but it’s just noise to me.”

Jong-il’s invidious remark even sounded sweet in Youngho’s ears. It seemed that there was heaven and hell in his mind since things looked different, depending on his mindset. It was because he lost much of his impatience.

The three friends walked slowly in the mountain in front of Zeynep Farm. As they walked for about an hour chatting with each other, Insoo who was leading the group in the front pointed his finger to a ridge.

There was a huge elk grazing peacefully. A small elk was next to her as well.

“Give it up. You’re not that crazy about meat.”

Jong-il shook his head.

“Whoa, what’s gotten into you? That little one is still quite big.”

“Youngho’s into meditation lately. I don’t want to corrupt him.”

Youngho smirked involuntarily at Jong-il’s remark.

Jong-il dragged Youngho out for diversion on the pretext of hunting. It was his thoughtful gesture since Youngho had been quiet since the wheat cultivation.

“Alright. Let’s chase away wolves today then.”

Insoo also agreed with the two and took back his rifle.

“Don’t make me a weirdo. We should hunt at least one or two deer. We can’t forget about the farm people. They must be waiting for us to bring deer meat.”

“It’s rather weird to be successful all the time. They’d consider us as normal people when we come back empty-handed sometimes.”

Although Jong-il said it as passing words, it touched Youngho. He was indirectly mentioning that not everything could be successful. Since he would be a senseless person, if he did not say anything to his friend now, Youngho shouted one word.

“Master!”

“You’re funny. Let’s go down. Why don’t we have lamb meat barbecue tonight?”

If he drank as much as last night, he would usually suffer from a hangover in the morning, but he felt unusually light this morning.

He had a great time with his friends, forgetting about stressful things in a long time. In the end, they pulled out a karaoke machine to the yard and sang their favorite songs. It was a party night.

Along with the friends, Zeynep and Jelyan sang on a mike and the security crew families who lived in the villas near the farm’s reservoir also joined the party.

Noticing Youngho’s movements, Leon who had been playing in his crib stretched out his arms asking Youngho to pick him up. Holding him in his arms, Youngho went downstairs to the dining room.

Nice smell that stimulated his appetites came out from the kitchen. The two sisters were busily moving their hands as they were preparing foods.

“What on earth are you making? This smells heavenly.”

“You’re up already! Oh, my Leon’s awake too.”

Fatima welcomed the two with a smile.

“Oppa. You can even be a singer. You were so good last night.”

Zeynep teased him, as she handed him some warm honey tea.

“Oh, yeah? Have I improved that much?”

Jelyan also appeared with her messy attire and hair straight from bed and hugged Leon as soon as she saw him.

It had been only night since they saw each other, but they were chatting in a language that Youngho could not understand and greeted each other so dearly.

The morning’s scene comforted Youngho’s heart.

Zeynep’s chattiness throughout breakfast time was like a bird’s singing.

It was a joyful morning in a long time.

He felt as if he would have good luck with anything today.

This was the same morning on the day he bought the Arirang Hotel in Baku. He had left the house after watching Zeynep making a big speech that she was going to be a great hotelier.

Of course, he had closed the business deal smoothly that day.

He decided to visit the head office of the continent railroad construction project after a long interval.

“Don’t you know that you need to nail a girl in order to make her your own? You need to set a seal if you want to be sure.”

Youngho shook his head at Jong-il’s cheap figure of speech.

“Dude, you have to bring up girls now?”

“The world does not run on verbal promises. Honestly, I don’t trust this. There are things you can trust and things you shouldn’t.”

As Youngho came back from Azerbaijan’s railroad project head office with a verbal approval for him to take the managing underwriter’s role, Jong-il insisted to get proof saying that a certificate was necessary, so that the head office would not change its words.

The construction of the continental railroad was still in the process of basic designing and its expense was not budgeted yet, so Azerbaijan was still keeping an eye on Russia’s opinion.

In the beginning, the railroad project was pushed by Russia’s aggressive demand, but as Azerbaijan found out how much it would make for railroad toll fees, it was not being proactively involved in the project.

Russia had put the project on hold since it was now confronted with the western world, due to its issue with Ukraine and Azerbaijan was waiting for its chance to take the lead role in the project.

In fact, the Azerbaijani government had invested in one-fifth of the Iranian railroad routes and it was in an advantageous position against Russia. The government was planning to ask for the raise of toll fees. It was expected that Russia would grant its requirement.

Since the government held the advantage, it did not really care about the railroad’s private consortium’s managing underwriter. It was only Youngho who was seeking invisible rights and interests, so he did not put much weight on receiving a certificate to become an underwriter.

“Jong-il, do you know what the major part is in a railroad construction?”

“It’s the construction of subbase course and track for sure.”

“Those are basics. It’s the train.”

“The train?”

“If double tracks were installed, do you think there will be only one trip in a day?”

“Oh! So, you’re trying to trade trains, aren’t you?”

With his facile mind, Jong-il immediately realized what Youngho was planning to do.

“There will be engines, passenger cars, freighter cars, tank cars, and so on. Think about how many cars will be needed.”

Youngho’s plan was to trade some of the cars needed for intercontinental routes. Although Russia would insist to trade all of the cars on its own, he predicted that it would be difficult for Russia to handle all of the trades. He thought that he would have a chance if he could offer a better deal for car trades.

“You’re not saying you’re going to produce the train cars by yourself, are you? Are you going to take an agency’s role?”

“Yup. Russia is the only country among the three countries that produce trains. I should find out Russia’s unit prices for cars and compete with those prices. Since it’s a sensitive issue between the three countries, Russia won’t be able to push theirs.”

“What about the train companies?”

“There’s a European company and Korean H Company. I’m going to choose the one that pays a higher commission.”

“Man, you don’t have any love left for your country?”

“This is business. You’ve got to be cool-headed.”