Empire of the Ring

Youngho was greatly relieved that the diamond ores Sergeenko handled were from the Evenk people, not from an unknown source.

The Evenks could not live on selling reindeer skin alone, so they had been collecting shiny stones for a long time. Many still roamed around raising reindeers but they were now coming out of the tundra region as more people were getting mandatory education required by the Russian government.

They needed money to support their children who lived in big cities to get an education, and that was why they were turning their eyes to the shiny stone.

But, according to Sergeenko, Irtysh was a different case. The Evenk society still kept the tribe system and Irtysh was the successor of an Evenk tribe. Although Irtysh had approached him by saying that he heard gunfire, it was all a show to make a connection with him.

Anyway, Youngho was glad that he would have to only deal with Evenks from now on.

Since Sergeenko was also an Evenk, he would not deceive Youngho with false ores. He also assured Youngho that giving combat rations and cheap rifles would easily make the Evenks on Youngho’s side.

What Youngho was interested now was not on rough diamonds, it was rather in rubies. Rubies were known to be collected majorly in Southeast Asia but he had a feeling that there would be rubies in Siberia. It was because Irtysh had mentioned about the red stone. It would not be common, but he would have mentioned it because it existed. Youngho was too excited that he wanted to search all tundra regions.

“Director Hong, send the remaining combat rations to Sergeenko.”

“We don’t have enough right now. Klimov watched us unload at the dock and handed it over to the merchants at the spot himself.”

“Did you get the money?”

“Sure. They paid in cash at the dock. I don’t know how much he made for the transaction but his facial expression was quite a spectacle. He even complained for not bringing more. I had to hold my laughter.”

“What? We filled a third of the cargo hold with the rations, and he still said it was not enough?”

“Yes, he told me to fill the ship full next time. So I called Suh Min-seok to check our stock.”

“Man, Eti’s going to love it.”

“Min-seok also liked to hear it because it’s a good profit.”

“I see. Okay, please make sure to get some for Sergeenko too. It’s better to give him so that he could save his face in front of the Evenks.”

“I don’t think he’s going to pay for it, would he?”

“No, it’s not a gift if you get paid.”

***

Since Youngho heard that the Chinese company had been actively engaging in the black market for diamonds, he wondered how much was gathered at the company so far after his last visit. He decided to visit there and check.

He stood on a street corner where he could see the window of the Chinese company’s office. Watching for more than half an hour, the lights in the office had not yet turned off even though the office was usually closed at 9 PM. This could mean only one thing. It meant someone was waiting for the employees to leave to do something in secret. Someone who must know the combination of the company’s safe must be in the office.

Without hesitation, he entered the building with a mask on. He climbed the stairs to get to the second floor and carefully turned the handle of the lighted office. It was locked from the inside. Judging by the sound coming from the inside, he was certain that there was only one person, so he just broke into the office by breaking the knob.

A man inside freaked out to see a man in a mask.

It was about ten meters from the door to the desk. As the man hastily opened the drawer of the desk, Youngho grabbed his wrist. To the man’s surprise, who could not believe that someone could move this fast—a cold, flip knife was at his neck.

***

Young-ho’s steps back to the hotel were very light.

The city of Krasnoyarsk at night was like an autumn night, so even after 10 PM, the streets were filled with people who wanted to enjoy a short summer night.

The atmosphere was almost like a summer festival, and people had alcohol bottles in their hands as they walked on the streets.

By the time we arrived at the hotel, Hong Sung-ki, who spotted Youngho rushed in.

“Boss, did you go for a walk? I came to have a drink with you and ended up waiting for you for more than an hour here.”

“Whoa, why didn’t you drink with other employees?”

“A married man can’t be hanging out with bachelors. Married men like us are the real adults.”

Youngho did not want to turn down Hong Sung-ki’s proposal since he was in a good mood.

“Shall we go to the hotel bar or shall we go back to the street?”

“Let’s have a quick drink at the hotel bar like decent adults. I’ll treat you today.”

“Wait at the bar, I’ll be up in the room for a while.”

It was a dark place, so he did not seem to notice Youngho’s fat pocket. He was going to put the diamonds back in the hotel room and come down to have a drink.

***

“So, you had all the fun all by yourself?”

“Why should I call you to take care of an office worker? It only took five minutes to clear the safe. I filled all of my pockets with rubles and dollars. Man, it was a lot.”

Jong-il felt bad that he could not be there with Youngho.

Since Youngho disguised himself as a robber, he had to take all the money as well as the diamond stones from the safe in the office. The man who remained in the office was in charge of the safe. Youngho had rushed into the office when he was counting money with the safe open.

“I guess they’re going to be a little more vigilant next time. The general secretary had run away last time, and now a robber broke into the office when the clerk was there. They must be freaking out.”

“I did it on purpose. Let’s see where they’ll keep their valuables next time.”

“What a nerve you have. You’re so calm after committing a robbery.”

“A robbery? No, it’s called sharing.”

“Urgh, never mind. If you do it alone next time, I’ll tell the Chinese company who the robber is.”

“Hahaha…”

The amount of the diamond ores that the Chinese company had collected so far was only about 1,000, but most of them were bought in the black market after being paid for. It must be quite a loss for the company.

Since the general secretary had fled last time, the company might have stopped collecting diamonds from the Taiga region in fear of being exposed to the Russian government. If this kind of thing was repeated, the company would naturally stop collecting diamonds from the region knowing that they had been exposed.

“They’ll be a little intimidated by the robbery now. They’d think that the rumor that they had been buying diamonds in the black market got out.”

“I don’t think so. They’ll be going to keep digging for diamonds.”

“Well, at least it’s fortunate that the black market`s diamond price will be stabilized soon. They won’t be hanging around the black market again.”

“Then we can get all the diamonds in the black market instead of them.”

“Without a buyer, the price will fall to the bottom. When that happens, I’ll buy in the diamonds through an agent.”

Before the harvest, Youngho was going to travel through the tundra for a trip to collect diamonds by himself. It was not a difficult job to find the tundra region because he would just have to go down the Yenisei River from the Taiga region.

While traveling on a car ferry, he might end up meeting Evenks. It would be great if he could find diamonds and rubies with the help of the Evenks there. This could not be left to Hong Sung-ki or Choi Sang-ho.

“I’m planning to go over the Yenisei River myself next month. You should stay in the state for a while.”

“I can’t go anywhere I say. Because of immigrants, I have to travel to Almaty and to the state back and forth quite often. Why do you want to go there and suffer when the region will turn into a swamp in the summer?”

“I’m just looking around for ten days on the car ferry.”

“Man, you’re crazy about diamond ores.”

“It’s not about that, rubies are said to be the best material for laser guns. There’s only a small number of Evenks that Sergeenko knows. I think the Evenks that wouldn’t come out of the tundra region at all might have one or two rubies of their own.”

Youngho heard that the sacred red stones were known to drive away back luck and bring blessings among Evenks. If so, Evenk people would have one or two in each household.

“Isn’t ruby common?”

“It may have been common in the past, but it’s as precious as diamonds now. If I found them, I’ll send Hong Sung-ki or Choi Sang-ho to collect them.”

“Oh, please don’t send Hong Sung-ki to Siberia. All he’s thinking is to get away from the autonomous state. I feel like I should tie him up to make him stay. He’ll definitely come along if you say you’re going back there for an expedition.”

“Right. I had to force him to come back with me this time. He said the state is too hot now.”

“Jeez. What’s up with that newly-wedded guy?”

“He’s not going to go to Siberia now because he achieved his goal.”

He grilled Youngho ever since he came back to the autonomous state and managed to get several rough diamonds from him. Youngho repeatedly emphasized that he should keep it confidential, but he did not feel good since Hong Sung-ki had been hanging out with the follower couple quite frequently lately. The follower couple would get married in a few years, and it was obvious that the couple would want to have diamonds too.