Empire of the Ring

Chapter 227: Summer of the Black Sea (1)

The coastal waters of Batumi in the Black Sea were so clear and fresh, unlike the Caspian Sea.

The Black Sea was 1,150 kilometers long, 610 kilometers wide, and 2,200 kilometers deep. There were six countries, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia, that were bordered by the Black Sea and Turkey occupied most of the southern part of the sea.

Although Russia took over the Crimean Peninsula, if Turkey decided to block Russia, the country would be cut off from the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea was open to any merchant ships from the world, but military vessels were strictly blocked unless they were from the coastal states.

In case of a war, Turkey had the power to close the Bosporus Strait, so Russia would have to maintain a good relationship with Turkey.

The coastal countries of the Black Sea made a pact not to fight within the Black Sea, which meant that the sea was the safest water. The pact could be trashed if the countries decided to, but it was so far a sea of peace.

Especially, Georgia’s Batumi was the most popular vacationland of the southern regions of the Black Sea and well-known hotels of the world were all located in the city. Among them was Arirang Hotel. Since the region was adjacent to Turkey, most of the guests were Turks. Most of them belonged to the upper class since Batumi’s prices were high and it was known to be a high-quality vacationland.

Arirang Hotel in Batumi was modeled after Baku’s Arirang Hotel and hotel’s guests enjoyed the European antique atmosphere of the hotel.

Now Leon, Jelyan, and Zeynep were playing in the outdoor swimming pool at the hotel.

“Can you watch Leon? I should teach Jelyan how to swim.”

“She’s not going to learn to swim in a day. Just get her a life jacket and let her play.”

“She’s got no fear of water. I think she’ll learn it with ease.”

It was true that she did have no resistance against water. After playing so hard in the water, Leon was falling asleep, so Youngho did not have to watch him at all. Although he was a trouble maker who exhausted his parents when he was awake, he looked like an angel when he slept.

While he was looking at Leon’s face, someone put down a can of drink in front of Youngho. It was Cho Chulhwan.

“Youngho. Do you see a blonde mid-aged man sitting on a tanning chair? He wanted to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“He is interested in the hotel and asked me if I can introduce the owner. Do you want to meet him?”

“Okay, I will talk to him. It’s a good thing that he’s interested in the hotel.”

With Chulhwan’s introduction, Youngho greeted him.

The man in his mid-fifties was Yasar Kemal and he was a Turkish distribution businessman.

“I only came to stay in this hotel with my family because I liked the name ‘Arirang’ and just as I thought, you’re a Korean. Your Turkish is great though…”

Since Azerbaijani and Turkish people could speak to each other using their own languages without interpreters, it was natural that Youngho was fluent in Turkish.

“I live in Baku, so I learned some Turkish.”

“Oh! That’s great. I visit Batumi every summer and I love everything about this hotel including its name.”

“I’m flattered that you’re complimenting my hotel. I’ve put quite an effort in this.”

It seemed the gentleman was a well-off businessman since he was enjoying a vacation with his family in a five-star hotel. Many people enjoyed alcohol while on vacation, but he was not drunk at all. On the table, he had a book and a newspaper. Youngho liked the guy. He seemed to be a person whom Youngho could spend a long time talking with.

“So, I heard that you wanted to meet me…”

“Oh, excuse me. I was wondering where the hotel’s unique design had come from.”

“There’s an old hotel in Baku and the building was modeled after that. I’ve gone through some trouble to make it look the same. The building was designed by a Turkish architectural company. If you want the company’s information, I can introduce you too.”

“I see. You have some connections to Turkey.”

“It’s because we are ‘kan kardeş’.”

It meant ‘blood brother.’

“Oh, kan kardeş! I can’t forget the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when Koreans cheered for Turkey team.”

When the Korean War broke out, Turkish students were said to protest to get deployed to Korea to help. Among the UN troops, Turkey sent the fourth-largest number of soldiers which were 15,000 people and they were all volunteers. This showed how Turks thought of Koreans.

During the 1988 Olympic Games in Korea, Turkish pressmen who came to Korea were disappointed after seeing that Korea had forgotten about Turkey and it was known that they had pledged not to love Korea anymore. However, they were again impressed by how Koreans cheered for the Turkish team in the 2002 World Cup and the two countries’ relationship was recovered because of that.

Korea and Turkey had a long history of friendship and it was natural that Youngho and a Turkish gentleman were connected at the hotel that Youngho owned. They talked and drank until late at night.

“Man, you’re such a drunkard. That Kemal guy is the same as you. If Sangtaek had not intervened, you two would’ve drunk the whole night.”

“I don’t know what had gotten into me last night. It must be because I’m on vacation. Kemal was so fun and I lost track of time.”

“Are you really going to distribute your wine in his store?”

“I need to diversify the markets for my wine. The wine distribution in the central and northern Europe will be based in Germany and if I can distribute wine from Turkey, it would be the base market for southern Europe. I’ll have to do this.”

Kemal owned one of the largest market chains in Turkey. As he suggested distributing Zeynep Wine in his market store, Youngho was tempted.

It was very difficult to enter the traditional liquor market in Turkey, so it was a great opportunity if his wine was displayed in his market store, where it had its chain stores all over Turkey.

Youngho was sure that his wine would gain popularity with one or two wine tasting events since it was hard to find organic, natural wine that was aged in oak barrel. It was a premium wine that could attract Europeans who were wine lovers.

Youngho had offered his wine to Kemal just to treat him but after a few sips, Kemal asked about the wine stock. When Youngho said that there were oak barrels that could have two million bottles of wine, Kemal was stunned. Then, he insisted to have a distribution contract with him.

When Youngho said that he could not distribute short-period aged wine because it was only sold in Russia, Kemal rather said that he would only treat premium wine that was aged at long periods of time. At this point, Youngho was the one who was more eager for a contract.

It would cost him a lot to distribute his wine in a large chain market and leave him only little from his wine sales but because he met Kemal, he would be able to display his wine in his stores, free of cost. The wine’s great taste was proven again since Kemal would not have asked to sign a contract, if it was no good.

“Oh, I thought you drank too much with the guest, so I was going to have a word with you but I guess it was a business meeting.”

“Fatima, it’s like you can’t help before money too. You look too excited.”

“Hahaha… I also contributed to grape cultivation. Don’t forget about my portion!”

“I give you label fee, what are you talking about?”

Zeynep eavesdropped on the couple’s conversation and interrupted them.

“What? Label fee? What name are you using for the label, and where does the money go?”

Youngho had forgotten about Zeynep’s presence. It was too late to change his words.

“It’s just emergency money in your sister’s account. I just call it a label fee.”

“Whoa!”

Zeynep showed an open palm to Youngho.

“What is it?”

“Oppa. I should get my portion directly from you. You know I’m going to be an adult soon, right?”

Youngho could only find common ground with Zeynep after negotiating with her for a long while. He agreed to pay 500,000 dollars of the wine sale profits to the Arirang Foundation every year.

She then kept asking how much money Fatima had saved. She only stopped and turned away smiling, when Fatima said that it was what she had saved for her wedding funds. At this point, Youngho felt that it did not matter how preciously one raised his daughter. Zeynep would eventually leave him for a man she falls in love with. If only it was a good man, how much money would be spent on her wedding did not matter, but if it was someone who did not deserve his Zeynep, there would not be any soup left for him. Thinking about Zeynep’s future always made his blood boil. It seemed that he was an obsessive dad.

Leaving all of the families in Batumi, Youngho flew to Istanbul with Ilkwon.

It was because Kemal invited him to show his distribution store.

As Youngho said that he had his own freighter to transport wine, Kemal was eager to sign the deal. So, Youngho was visiting his store first, since it would be problematic if he signed an export contract with a failing company.

He should also investigate Kemal’s reputation in Turkey and his company before deciding to sign the contract, but his mind had already leaned toward him.

“Boss. I’ve heard that there are frequent terrorist attacks in Istanbul. I hope there won’t be a problem.”

“Well, there hasn’t been terrorism in a large market store so far. It’ll all depends on Kemal’s reputation.”

Many terrorist groups would usually attack public offices to get recognition from the government and the public. On the other hand, they sometimes targeted certain companies that they held a deep grudge against. So, the businessman’s reputation was an important factor in Youngho’s decision for picking his partner.

“How is it? We’ve got quite a lot of customers, haven’t we?”

“This is amazing. It’s way bigger than a large market store in Korea.”

There were more than 20 market stores that Kemal owned in Turkey and five in Bulgaria. The business was Kemal’s family’s heritage. That meant the company did not lose public sentiment. If it was a dishonest company, people would have refused to buy products from his stores. Also, he must have maintained great relationships with providers since his store seemed to display high-quality products.

Youngho also visited a store that only treated liquors. It was as wide as a huge restaurant. Liquors from all over the world were displayed and the first section from the entrance was dedicated to French or Italian wine. The prices varied from three dollars to fifty dollars, and most of the customers put cheap wine in their carts. Youngho wondered if premium wine could survive in here.

“Most people aren’t interested in premium wine. They only look for cheaper ones.”

“Oh! That’s cooking wine. Housewives won’t buy expensive wine for cooking, but many people tend to open up their wallets during the weekend, especially men.”

Cheap wine brands were usually used for cooking and expensive wine was popular among men. Especially in an Islamic country like this, men were the main drinkers rather than women. Many men would buy pricey wine to save their faces.

So, Zeynep Wine’s marketing tactic was to use men’s mentality to want to save their faces. It seemed that men around the world had something in common.