Empire of the Ring

The Yenisei River was 4,120 kilometers long, and its width was about 10 kilometers long in its upper stream and 20 to 40 kilometers long in its down downstream. It was not an exaggeration to say that this was a sea since you could see the horizon at the end of the river.

The river had tributaries: the Angara River originating from Lake Baikal in the upper side, the small Tunguska River in the middle, and the large Tunguska River in the middle and lower reaches of the Yenisei. The tributaries were also huge rivers, so water transport was well developed. Although frozen for six to seven months in the winter, many ships were in the Yenisei River and tributaries from late April to mid-October.

Most of the ships there were small vessels that carried trees that were cut off from the Taiga region. As a huge freighter and a car ferry with a massive body appeared at the dock of the Yenisei River, people gathered to look at the spectacular sight of the ships.

Among them were Youngho and Kim Il-kwon.

“The ships had been here before, I don’t know why everyone makes a fuss about it.”

“Well, I guess people are still amazed by the size of our ships.”

“I don’t know if the sailors will get enough supplies in this confusion.”

“We should let them stay here for at least two days for them to get some rest.”

“We could’ve come a day or two later. We’re a bit early.”

“Well, this is better than a hot place.”

Youngho and Il-kwon hastily came to the region earlier than they had planned, to escape from the heat in the autonomous state and Baku. It was repeated every year, but this year was exceptionally hot due to the abnormal weather.

“Man, I hope the abnormal weather doesn’t change the weather in Siberia either.”

“It’s been several years or so since the news came out that winter has already been shortened here. I hope I didn’t spend money in vain to build a new icebreaker.”

“I doubt that the Arctic Ocean will melt. It’s good news for us that winter is getting shorter.”

“Well, it’s not as good news as it sounds. When the sea level goes up, all the surrounding countries will be flooded.”

“I guess, then people with ships will make a lot of money.”

Choi Sang-ho and the sailors were busy getting the ropes tied from the ship to the dock. The port staffs should be adding their hands since the autonomous state had already paid for using the port but they were also busy looking at the ship with their mouths open.

“These are a bunch of morons. They see ships all the time. Why are they so stunned by our ships?”

“You know our ships look magnificent. It has icebreaker features that make it different from other ships on the outside, don’t they? It’s amazing to see it all the time.”

“The whole port will turn upside down when we bring our new 20,000-ton icebreaker.”

“I bet a lot of professional reporters will come to cover the ship. They don’t have any news around here, you know. It’ll be a big issue.”

***

The vibrant Yenisei River was also the only resting place for people here. There was a lot of scenic islands all over the great river, so there was a lot of rich people’s villas nearby. The most magnificent of them among the villas belonged to an oligarch named Nikolay. His villas looked like palaces.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, new riches had risen in the process of privatizing factories. They were called oligarchs. Nikolay was one of the most prominent of them. At one time, the whole region of Krasnoyarsk was thought to belong to him alone. Many believed that he would fall because of Putin’s power, but he was still an influential figure. There was a rumor that he and Putin had a big deal in secret, but there were other many businessmen who survived through Putin’s prolonged one-man’s rule. Given the rumor that Putin was the wealthiest person in the world, such rumor about a big deal was not completely groundless.

And as such, a great figure like Nikolay had contacted Youngho hoping to meet him secretly.

Now that two 3,000-ton ships had arrived in the city of Krasnoyarsk, rumors must have come out, but there was no way that Nikolay would be interested in a mere lumberjack like Youngho. He probably had researched about Youngho and knew who he was already. Youngho decided to meet him to see what this was all about.

A sleek boat sent by Nikolay was moored at a pier. A middle-aged Russian man, who introduced himself as a chief secretary of Nikolay greeted Youngho to escort him to the boat.

“My name is Andrei, who’s serving Chairman Nikolay. Thank you for accepting his invitation. I’d like to take you on our boat.”

“I’m honored to be invited by such a remarkable businessman like Nikolay.”

Andrei spoke in English because Youngho was an Asian, but Youngho’s answer in fluent Russian surprised him.

“I didn’t know you were so fluent in Russian. Forgive me if I was disrespectful.”

“People are always surprised to meet an Asian speaking in Russian. Well, I can barely manage to communicate in Russian.”

Andrei was once again surprised by Youngho’s attitude. The invitation of the prominent oligarch, the godfather of Krasnoyarsk, was not a usual opportunity. Many would freak out to receive an invitation from him, but Youngho did not make a fuss about it. First of all, he spoke in fluent Russian, and he did not even try to ask questions about the invitation. Youngho was not at all nervous or intimidated.

Following Nikolay’s boat, Choi Sang-ho and the security guards were in two speedboats that had been brought from the Arirang ship. Youngho and the security team already figured out that there would be no special danger, but Choi Sang-ho insisted saying that it was not safe for Youngho to go into an isolated island alone. So, the team decided to follow Youngho.

It could be taken as a rude gesture to have security guards follow Youngho since this meant that he did not trust Nikolay, but this was what many people did in Siberia, a lawless place.

***

Waiting for Youngho, who was dropped at the dock under Andrei’s guidance, was a staircase that rose directly to the main gate of a huge mansion. The height of the whole staircase seemed to be least 20 meters high.

The mansion was much smaller than the palace of the Arirang Autonomous State, but it was quite decent. Robust men with shotguns were seen everywhere around the mansion. Such tight security was proof that the owner was insecure. Since Nikolay was not known to have a bad relationship with mafias, Youngho wondered what he was afraid of.

At the entrance, there was some scuffle. Choi Sang-ho and other security guards were carrying guns, and the security guards were alerted to see them. As they told Choi Sang-ho’s team that they could not enter the mansion with guns, the team had to leave the guns at the gate. For the guards who had been trained in the Special Forces, guns were just accessories when fighting. Not having weapons did not bother them too much.

Andrei guided Youngho to the study on the first floor.

Kim Il-kwon was troubled since he was not allowed to come with Youngho. He also did not like the fact that he did not see Nikolay’s face. Usually, the host would come out to the entrance to greet guests but he was nowhere to be seen.

Youngho did not think that Nikolay had invited him to harm him, so he agreed to enter the room to meet Nikolay without any guard.

In the study, a thin man in his 60s was lying on a cot, getting fluids injection. He was not in the condition to meet guests.

“I’m sorry. I invited a guest but I’m not in a condition to greet you from outside. I couldn’t stay in my bedroom either to see you, so I was getting my injection here.”

“…”

“Thank you for coming all the way here. I’m Nikolay, the host of the mansion.”

Youngho quickly stopped him from trying to raise himself because he did not look good at all.

“Pleasure to meet you. This is Lee Youngho. If you’re feeling uncomfortable, I’ll come back next time.”

“Not at all. I always get nutritional supplements at this time of day. I apologize again and again for making you feel uncomfortable.”

Youngho felt sorry that he mistook Nikolay as a person with ill-intention to harm Youngho when the man was only ill.

“I’m finally meeting a man of great prestige in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. I heard you’re also in the hotel business in Moscow.”

“Compared to you, I’m nothing, Chairman.”

Since he already had a good grasp of whom Youngho was, Youngho did not feel nervous. Nikolay could figure out about Youngho only with a few calls. And Youngho had already researched about him before coming to the mansion.

“I’m sorry to see you like this.”

“I hope you’ll get well soon.”

“I’ve been overworking lately, and this is the result of that…”

The businessman must have suffered enough to lie on his sickbed doing business in Russia.

“I’d like to know why you wanted to see a mere lumberjack and a stranger.”

“Oh my, I’ve got a guest here and I’ve been wasting my breath, Andrei. I need you to take this out.”

After taking out the injection, he took a deep breath and then sat down on a chair with Andrei’s help.

“I’ve done some background checks on you, Mr. Lee. Don’t get me wrong because I was just trying to confirm that you were someone trustworthy to do business with.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. The basics of entrepreneurship are information, and I don’t blame it. Sometimes I do some background checks when I encounter difficulties.”

“I’m glad you understand.”

“Then you must’ve thought you could trust me. Well, I’m honored to be trusted by someone big as you. Sometimes, I don’t even trust myself.”

“I should have met you earlier if I had known you were this cool. Hahaha…”

“I’m not a very good businessman. However, I’ve never turned my back on my partners before.”

“I’m also the same. Since you’ve been successful in a foreign country, you must’ve maintained good relationships with your partners. It’s proof that you’re trusted by people around you.”

“There are many great, trustworthy businessmen in Russia. I’m very curious about why you wanted to see me.”

“Honestly, I don’t trust many Russian businessmen even though I’m Russian too. I’d rather trust mafias. The old evils of socialism have made us distrustful to each other.”

“But do you trust a foreigner who you’ve never seen before?”

“Aren’t you going to stay here for decades from now on since you’re developing a region in Siberia? That’s what intrigued me.”

He already knew that Youngho could not easily run away leaving his hotel business in Volgograd or logging business in Siberia.

“All right, I’d like to hear what it is.”