Empire of the Ring

Chapter 45: Mafia Sergey (2)

Youngho named his farm ‘Zeynep’ after little Zeynep because she especially enjoyed everything in the farm. The farm’s name was now official after Youngho put up an arched sign that read ‘Zeynep Farm’ at the gate. The farm would become famous as a Baku quality wine company—but that was a story for the future. The farm crew took a picture in front of the gate as a simple ceremony. Zeynep was excited to see her name on the sign and kissed Youngho’s face in appreciation. Youngho slightly regretted naming the farm after Fatima.

Youngho was at an open-air storage yard in Istanbul with Sergey, the third in command of the South Russian mafias. They just checked the containers that arrived from Korea and transferred them to a ship that was going to Sukhumi Port in Abkhazia. Youngho’s role in this trade was completed as Sergey signed on the bill that indicated that the goods had landed. Youngho shook hands with Sergey, who was getting back on the ship with his henchmen, to say goodbye.

Now, what Youngho had left to do in Istanbul was to meet up with Mustafa and drink up raki with him. He was already waiting at the dock.

“Brother Mustafa, it’s been such a long time.”

“I thought you’d never come back to Istanbul since Fatima is gone.”

Youngho had not been to Istanbul for a while because he was too busy with many things happening in Baku.

“Brother, you’d see me or Park Jongil until you are sick of us from now on. Park Jongil is now the Vice President of Chunho Merchant. They have more than enough instructors now. Park Jongil now has the same duty as me, so he’ll have to be here often.”

“….”

“You know that this is a secret, right? I’m only telling you because I trust you.”

“Is he that great to be assigned by the CIA?”

“He is a human weapon. He’d work as a field agent.”

“Hmm, okay. Whatever you do, please help our people who are suffering.”

Mustafa was always worried about his country. Because of people like him who sent money made from a foreign land, Armenia could hold out until now.

“Don’t worry about it. We had closed the recent local battle as an accident although I had to drink a lot when meeting with the officials and businessmen in Baku.”

“I worried about that from here too. You did such an amazing job, brother. Now, let’s drink up tonight.”

“Of course, brother!”

That night, Youngho and Mustafa went to three bars to drink. When Youngho woke up, he was at Mustafa’s place. Suffering from a bad hangover and a stomachache, Youngho learned the hard way that the ring did not exert its full powers when there was no danger.

Sergey delivered a message to Youngho: His boss Yaniv wanted to meet him. Youngho agreed to meet him without any hesitation because of the previous conversation with Edward. Park Jongil wanted to come with him, but Youngho did not allow it. That was not only because there was no specific danger in meeting Yaniv, but also because one needed to stay in Baku to do the CIA’s job in Baku.

Sergey apologized in advance that Youngho would have to travel on train to Volgograd in Russia. There was no direct flight, so Youngho had to take the train. However, travelling with Sergey, who was an intelligent gentleman, made the trip feel short. Youngho did not even realize that he arrived to Volgograd, listening to private affairs of Russian mafias.

Known to be a hub of transportation, the Volgograd station was crowded with people as Youngho expected. He could see many Asians around the antique station. When he asked why, Sergey answered that they were Koryoin*. The story of the Koryoins who had lived in the Central Asia but needed to immigrate to here made Youngho feel sad. As many regions in Russian were freed when the former Soviet Union fell, the Koryoins were left without their land due to ethnic disputes. As a person of the same ethnicity, Youngho felt bad.

He thought that the Jewish or Armenians living overseas would feel the same as Koryoins. Koreans who were called Koryoins were chased away from the Maritime Province to Central Asia during the Japanese colonial era in Korea**, and now they were being swayed by other now independent countries in the Central Asia.

The reason why Koryoins were living harsh lives now was because of Korean ancestors who ruined their country due to political disputes in the past. They fought over power when they should have developed national defense. Youngho felt bitter toward Korea’s sad history. Sergey, who realized how Youngho must have felt, told him that there were some Koryoin members in his mafia organization. Youngho, instead of feeling comforted, sighed after hearing that.

On the outskirts of the city, where there were widely spread birch tree woods nearby Volga River, stood Yaniv’s mansion. The mansion was surrounded by high fences. The place was so huge that it even boasted a heliport. Youngho could guess why Yaniv built his mansion in such a remote place. It was great to hide from snipers sent by his opponent mafias.

A chubby man around his fifties with a stylishly grown mustache greeted Youngho with a big smile.

“Mr. Lee. I am Yaniv.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you. I am Lee Youngho, Mr. Yaniv.”

“It’s nice to see you. I wondered how you’d look like, and you are exactly how I imagined.”

He seemed like a gentleman. As a boss of a mafia organization, he had revealed his name first to Youngho, so Youngho also politely replied.

“I’m sorry if I was a bit rude on the phone last time.”

“What a gentleman you are. I thought it was a natural reaction after finding armed men in your farm. I’d have been worse. I appreciate that you decided to overlook our mistake.”

Youngho was startled by his politeness. It did not match the image of a tough mafia boss. Yaniv seemed to genuinely want have a good relationship with Youngho because of the oil development business.

“I didn’t say this in person, but I thank you for the gift you sent with Sergey, and also for conducting business with me.”

“Sergey told me you didn’t want to have business with us, but you decided to do it to save our face.”

“I’m not in a position to reject your proposal, so I took it.”

Youngho did not want to be involved with mafias. However, not wanting to have them as his enemy, he had no other choice but to take their business offer.

“Hahaha!”

Yaniv laughed out loud at Youngho’s honest expression.

“I sure like your personality. Mr. Lee, I know about your businesses in Baku and how you made it this far. Let’s keep our friendship.”

“That’s what I want too. My natural heart would’ve said not to be related to you, but being friends does not sound so bad now.”

Since he had already revealed his honest heart, Youngho did not try to hide his mind.

“Hahaha…!”

His laughter sounded like he really was having a good time. He liked Youngho’s confident attitude even though he was in front of a mafia boss.

“Yaniv, in Korea, we tend to respect people according to their ages. It’s a natural thing.”

“….”

“I’m saying you should treat me comfortably, since I’m much younger than you.”

“That’s awesome! Sergey, you’ve got the right guy! Nice work!”

Yaniv, while laughing hard and patting Youngho’s back, asked his henchmen to bring drinks.

When Youngho looked at Sergey, he smiled at Youngho. It was a smile of relief, as if he was saying that Youngho received a passing score from his boss. Youngho smiled back.

“Lee, have you ever had vodka?”

“Well, in Korea, people say Russian vodka is too hard, so much that it burns your throat.”

“What a shame. Vodka is what made us win over German forces in the winter battle near Stalingrad’s Volga River in World War II.”

“Ha, they must not have had vodka during the Korean War. Only the Chinese communist army ran wildly in Changin Reservoir***.”

It was impolite of Yaniv to talk about when their country was invaded by other forces without mentioning the time when they invaded another country. Youngho would have kept arguing, if Yaniv did not admit Russia’s fault on Korea.

“Ha! Well, I guess I’ll have to apologize for my ancestors’ fault.”

“No, it’s really not Russia’s fault. It’s because our ancestors didn’t develop the country’s power. I’m sorry; I just felt bad after seeing Koryoins at the train station.”

“Now I know why Baku’s officials like you. You are straightforward. Here, drink up! In Russia, we become friends if we drink together.”

Yaniv, Youngho, and even Sergey drank vodka all night long.

In the morning when Youngho woke up in a huge room, he was lying on a huge bed that was double the size of a regular king size bed. He did not remember anything. It did not seem like he made a huge mistake, but it was not clear. Youngho could not believe that he drank with a mafia boss until he passed out.

When he was trying to remember the night before, someone knocked on the door. It was Sergey.

“Mr. Lee, Boss complimented you. He said you were a good friend to drink with. I’ve never seen my boss drink like that with a new person.”

Sergey looked at Youngho as if he was a monster.

“Mr. Sergey, did I make any mistake? I don’t remember anything.”

“Nope, you did not. Wash and come down. Boss wants to eat together with you.”

When Youngho went down to the dining room on the first floor, Yaniv greeted him with a face of a bad hangover.

“Lee, how do you feel? I’m still drunk.”

“Did you sleep well, Mr. Yaniv?”

“No, I didn’t. My stomach is messed up. You look all right.”

“I’m not good either, but I’m younger than you. It’s only natural that I’ll recover faster.”

Even Youngho, who had a ring that could slowly recover his body, was struggling from a hangover. It was natural for Yaniv who was in his fifties to feel bad.

“I drank too much and didn’t think about my age.”

“In Korea, we say we ‘run’ all night.”

“Haha, that’s a great expression. You run as if someone’s chasing you. That’s how we drink. Anyway, let’s eat first before going to a sauna.”

They had a mildly spicy soup to soothe the stomach and went to the Russian sauna banya in the mansion to detoxify all the alcohols out of their body.

Youngho felt lighter after soaking his body in the icy cold water pool in the garden, which was pulled from Volga River. After tapping his whole body with a broom made out of birch tree branches, Youngho felt his body circulated and detoxified.

The three of them looked polished after washing and started eating a proper meal together. Youngho had not eaten a decent meal since yesterday, so he ate as much as he could with his belt unbuckled. Since they drank together until they passed out and had been to a spa together, they acted naturally like close friends. Because Russian guys also were capable of downing kegs of wine like Korean guys, they got along very well. They seemed to have a lot in common.

*Koryoin – ethnic Koreans who immigrated to former Soviet Union from the late 19th century, also called as ‘Koryo-saram.’

**Japanese colonial era in Korea – began in 1910 and ended in 1945 as the World War II concluded.

***Changin Reservoir – located in now North Korea. During the Korean War, it was where a decisive battle occurred between the UNC forces and Chinese forces in 1950.