Empire of the Ring

At the Baku Airport, Yunsuh’s three-year-old son and nine adults were walking at the V.I.P passageway. Youngho and Yunsuh’s whole family was on their way to a trip to Northern Europe.

“Oh my goodness! Is this really happening? Oppa, we’re going on the VIP passageway even without getting security checked?”

The siblings looked at Yunsuh, who was making a fuss, as if it was natural.

“Well… they treat me as a VIP member since I’m a foreign investor who built a huge farm. It’s nothing.”

“Oh man, oppa, you’ve really gotten ahead in the world. I need to videotape this! I’ve got to send it to my friend Miran who turned you down a long time ago. She’d be so jealous.”

Yunsuh suddenly mentioned a sad past.

“Why would you bring that up now?”

“What’s wrong with that? I’m going to brag about my brother to everyone. I’ll let them know that you’re now an owner of a farm twice the size of Yeouido and you make hundreds million won a year. Man, I already feel better thinking about their dumbfounded faces.”

It seemed that Yunsuh had turned to a big mouth since she became a mother. But, Youngho smiled, to see his little sister being proud of him.

“Yunsuh, people are looking. Stop making a noise.”

“Well, they’re looking because they’re jealous. Don’t stop me, I’m trying to enjoy this moment of being proud. Fatima! Take a photo of me with this in the background.”

Yunush was so excited that she was about to dance. Sangchun, who could not stop his wife making a fuss, did not know what to do. He was such a good, compliant husband.

The gang stayed a night in Frankfurt and did some sightseeing in downtown. The next day, they took an afternoon flight and landed at Stockholm international airport in Sweden. On the way there, excited Yunsuh embarrassed the whole family again. At the airport, a limousine that Fatima had reserved was waiting for them.

“Jeez, it feels like fall here. Hyunsung, let’s put a jacket on. You might catch a cold.”

The name of Yunsuh’s son was Cho Hyunsung and everybody called his name all the time during the trip because of his liveliness. In fact, he was too lively that he distracted everyone. He was an angel when he was asleep but when he was not, he was like a little devil. Even though Youngho adored his nephew, he gave up trying to be a nice uncle only after one day.

Although the whole of Europe was experiencing an intense heat in a hundred years, Sweden’s weather maintained 68 degrees in Fahrenheit, so they needed to put on long sleeves.

“Oppa, hold him. I need to dress him.”

Hyunsung tried to go back inside the airport after he resisted putting on long-sleeves. Yunsuh struggled for a while until she could dress him properly.

“Mother, was Sangchun like this when he was young?”

“Oh, honey, don’t even start it. Hyunsung is quiet compared to him, Sangchun was like…”

“Mom! Why are you telling a lie? Dad said I was nice.”

Sangchun’s mother’s looked at him as if he was being pure absurd.

“Yunsuh was a really nice kid, I can guarantee that.”

“Hey, every kid is naughty.”

“Man, I can’t handle your kid. You can take him then, he’s killing Yunsuh.”

Glad that her brother took her side, Yunsuh teased Sangchun with her look. Youngho was just happy to see his family enjoying the trip altogether even though not everything was perfect.

***

Michael called Youngho.

Youngho wondered what was going on since he had met Michael not long ago when he stopped by at the chapter in Frankfurt. Michael only told him that he sent a person to his hotel, so he could receive further instructions from him. He thought that maybe it could be a tour guide, but it was a representative of an information business agency. At Michael’s request, he had come to meet Youngho to see if he was a plausible person to have a direct business with.

‘Well, I see what he’s doing. He’d come to see me pretending to be accident to evaluate me.’

He thought that this agency organization might be bigger than the CIA organization.

People now live in a world where money is everything, everything is connected to money and works toward the money. One could say that all nations moved upon economic logic. Thinking that the representative came to him already knowing about his existence, Youngho’s body trembled. Organizations like Intelligence Agencies did not mean much to this organization. It was a group of elite people who only evaluated if any information was worth money, provided the information to whoever needed it, and made money from the agency commission.

The person in front of Youngho was the middleman of the organization. His appearance in an unexpected time made Youngho nervous. Maybe they had already picked him as a successor of Michael. He handed his business card to Youngho who was having a lot of thoughts.

“Mr. Lee, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Eriksson, I’m sorry if I caused you any inconvenience for my unexpected visit.”

“Mr. Eriksson, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I understand, people doing business like us don’t really have fixed schedules. If our service is needed, it doesn’t matter if it’s daytime or nighttime.”

“Thank you for understanding. This is my country and I’m also on my break, so I requested to meet you to Chief Michael.”

It did not matter if he was really on his break or he was just making an excuse. It was a big step for Youngho just to be recognized by the information agency.

“Oh, then do you have any place that you can recommend for us? My family’s kind of getting tired of Stockholm since we’ve been here for days.”

“Well, I have an idea. I’m going to a little log cabin with my family, would you like to join us?”

Eriksson meant that he was going to introduce his family to Youngho. It seemed that he could trust him. Although this may be his plan all along, Youngho agreed to join his family since he was curious about the organization of information agency.

“I hope we’re not bothering you too much. We have a child, so we’d be loud.”

“You might have already guessed but as a matter of fact, I came here to invite your family.”

“Well, thank you for your kindness.”

***

Sweden’s day lasted eighteen hours long, so it was still bright in the evening time. If they had been there in May, they would have a hard time sleeping because of the white night phenomenon. It was already 9 PM but since it was bright outside, Hyunsung who had been running in the woods resisted to go to sleep. Zeynep who was carrying a lot of bags had been lively as well. Only Szechenyi who looked after little kids was exhausted by them.

Where Eriksson brought Youngho’s family was near a mid-sized lake, many log cabins were built along the shore. The beautiful place was privately owned by the information agency that was only open to their employees.

Although Zeynep Farm was quiet, this place is even more serene. Since there seemed to be nothing that could be dangerous except for the water, the kids roamed around freely. Yunsuh and Fatima loved the place, saying that it was romantic, and the other adults were enjoying the peaceful place as well.

Eriksson was an elite who held two doctorate degrees; Computer social information network and statistic. Youngho could not guess the relation of the two distant-looking degrees but he was certainly a bright man. Walking in the woods with Eriksson, Youngho only had an everyday conversation. Sometimes Eriksson look like he was surprised by Youngho’s good sense of memory but it was all due to the power of the ring.

“Mr. Lee, do you remember the kind of trees that we passed by and the splashing noises that fishes made?”

“Of course, I can hear them now.”

“If it doesn’t bother you, did you count the number of the kind of trees and how many times fishes jumped above the water?”

Youngho did not pay too much attention since it was not a dangerous place but with the help of the ring, he slowly searched his memory.

“Well, there were seven kinds of trees and fishes hopped nine times.”

Eriksson did not say anything but he gave him an admiring glance.

“You might not have noticed but a fish from that side of the bank jumped twice as well.”

“…”

“It’s all the result of training, agents like us learn how to associate things passed by to remember them easily.”

“You amaze me, I brought four people here so far but nobody could answer me like you.”

It was some kind of a test. It seemed that Eriksson had brought agents from other countries too.

“It’s just a coincidence. I’m embarrassed that you’re making a fuss about it.”

“I’m sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable. My company evaluates people who we work with from different aspects and only takes the information from those who have passed our standards. This is how we decide whom to trust. You amazed me with your insight that you did not pass on any small details.”

“Did I pass your test?”

“You’re already someone our organization had been watching. Your strength is already well-known, so I won’t say much about that. We know that even a platoon-sized military force could not equal your strength. Through our conversation today, I’m glad to find out that you have extraordinary focus and attentiveness. I hope we maintain our touch from now on.”

Since Youngho passed Eriksson’s standard, he did not say anything about it.

“Alright. I hope our business could be used as a good mean for the peace of the world.”

“Well, what you said is impressive to me. I’m glad that we’ll be business partners henceforward. It’s an honor to meet someone like you.”

‘What honor? If you put me in a problematic position, I’ll get you even from the opposite side of the world.’

Youngho tried not to trust anyone other than his family ever since he became an agent. There was always a necessary reason for meeting people and that was it. Considering people that way, he could protect himself from getting hurt by them. Also, he thought that he should be extra cautious when dealing with this kind of organization which was moved by money only. He should try to protect himself first rather than to chase money. What if there was information that could wipe out a country from the map? Could they be still nice to Youngho and not betray him for money? He thought that if he even had a little bit of doubt, it was better not to share with them.

Youngho did not want to jump into any business just because he could make money. Because he already had a wine factory, Georgia’s warehouse retailer shop, oil business, and Vladivostok’s refrigerated-storage warehouse complex, he was not desperate for money.

In case that he might need to buy information from the information agency, he just wanted to maintain a low-key relationship with them. Youngho felt that he could now wisely think and choose what he needed to do. His mind has been cleared and he had peace in mind ever since he started meditating to enhance the power of the ring, he could certainly feel the change in his mind and body.

These days, even if he saw something that surprised him, he could control his mind and act calmly. Now that he felt peace in mind, his perception of the world was widened. The power of the ring was slowly changing Youngho.