《Empire of the Ring》Chapter 14: A Destined Encounter in Istanbul (2)
Advertisement
The next day, Youngho had to be a photographer for Park Jongil, following after him everywhere.
Jongil asked the girls walking by to take photos with him and to Youngho's surprise, they all kindly agreed to Jongil as if they were angels. Acting like Jongil would be considered crazy in Korea, but it was nothing to people living in Istanbul, a global tourist destination.
As they were resting in their room, Cho Sangchun called Youngho on his cellphone.
"Youngho. It's a boy! I just became a dad."
"What?! Can you speak slowly? Did Yunsuh give birth already?"
"Yeah. Everybody's healthy. I can't let you talk to her yet. She's in the recovery room now. I'll call you tomorrow."
Sangchun hung up on Youngho after delivering the news. Youngho was still in a shock. Although the phone call was short, Youngho could almost feel Sangchun's excitement from his voice.
"What is it? Was that from Sangchun?"
"Yeah. He said Yunsuh just gave birth to a son. He's exuberated."
"What an awesome news! His parents must be happy to finally have a grandson."
"Man. I'm happy too."
Youngho and Yunsuh were two years apart. When Youngho was serving in the military, their parents died from a car accident, leaving behind the two.
Sangchun, who was Youngho's best friend since college, helped out with the funeral process since Yunsuh was young and Youngho's break from the military was not long enough to prepare for the complicated funeral process.
Back then, Yunsuh had nobody to rely on except Sangchun, and as they were always together, they eventually fell in love. Sangchun's parents happily supported the couple, and as soon as Yunsuh got out of college, they got married. The parents hurried to marry the two young lovers because not only they did not have any other son to carry on the family line but also they liked Yunsuh's smart and keen personality.
Youngho felt strange that his little sister gave a birth. She became a mom already.
***
Youngho returned to Baku in his regular life after finishing up the business in Istanbul. While he was gone, the retailers who carried Chunho Merchant's products were doing well.
Many customers in Baku preferred Korean middle-priced clothes for their affordable prices and high qualities, and the sales were overtaking the sales of other European brands.
Youngho's direct stores near Main Police Department were the top-selling stores. A café near those stores was replaced with another high-class clothing brand store. However, Karajan told Youngho that their sales wouldn't compare to the sales of Youngho's direct stores.
Karajan was a nosy lady who wouldn't let her friends or family members walk on the street wearing other brands' clothes. She was extremely committed to Chunho Merchant.
Advertisement
It had been five months since Chunho Merchant's direct, high-quality clothing store opened and four months since the H Porcelain direct store opened. The profit of the two stores meanwhile surpassed 200 million won already. The changing weathers would affect his profits, but Youngho's stores were all settled that he would at least earn 500 million won a year.
Youngho paid his employees a big bonus pay as a commission for their job well done. Karajan became a competent manager that she could even make orders from the headquarters in Seoul, Korea by herself.
After the success of the two direct stores, Karajan wanted to open another one for business expansion to raise the company's value. She looked for a location for the new store.
Because of the help from the head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whom Youngho was introduced by the executive director of Main Police Department, Youngho did not have to pay other extra fees except tax. His profit was being maximized.
Not being a member of WTO*, Azerbaijan had an ambiguous taxation system. They taxed each container of trade items $10,000 regardless of what was in there. However, Youngho found the system helpful for his case because his company sent clothes for his direct store by airmails which were not taxed. Although, items for H Porcelain and for other retailers arrived in containers by ship, which were taxed, he did not have to pay extra fees to customs officers. Paying unofficial extra fees during clearance process was conventionally done but knowing who was behind Youngho, the customs officers never touched Youngho again.
Youngho played a little trick to step up in the officialdom. He delivered a message to the director of Main Police Department, saying that he wanted to donate some of his profit from Baku for scholarship. After hearing that news, the chief of Main Police Department contacted him immediately, wanting to meet him.
He looked surprised that Youngho wanted to donate even though his company was small.
"Mr. Lee , I've heard about you from the executive director. I know you have gone through troubles because of us, but you are willing to return your money to our society. I thank you ahead on behalf of our government."
"It's nothing really, chief. The director helped me to a great extent. I just want to return some of the money I made because of the citizens of Baku to the people of Baku."
Youngho intentionally acted modest and spoke highly of the director. He wanted to secure the director's position, so that he could continuously use him as an exclusive information source.
"Oh, that is just admirable. So, what kind of students would you like to support?"
Advertisement
"I will make $100,000 each year for scholarship. Since the director has helped me greatly, I'd like to donate this money for children of police families."
He picked police family to impress governors and officials.
"Mr. Lee, this sounds like a lot of money to you. You only have two stores here, how would you make such money?"
"Hahaha. If you feel uncomfortable, please come to my store and buy some from us."
The news spread fast among government officials that Youngho donated for children of police family without hesitation. Naturally they became very favorably inclined towards Youngho, so he was invited to many different events of high officials. This made it easy for him to collect a lot of information from communicating with core officials. Not to mention, the director's position was secured because of Youngho.
The chief in return for Youngho's generous donation, assigned Youngho as a honorary police officer and issued him a certificate, telling Youngho that this would help him live with ease in Baku.
Youngho knew exactly what he meant. There were no officials who would be in Youngho's way anymore.
Learning about this news, Edward praised Youngho that he made a smart move using an unprecedented method to step into the mainstream society and he promised to compensate Youngho's donation with information payment. Therefore, Youngho was able to plant himself in Baku's mainstream society without paying a single penny.
Karajan, the manager of Chunho Merchant's Baku branch, realized the change in the officials' attitude toward Chunho Merchant when she recently went to submit trade documents.
Previously, the officials used to turn her down when she submitted necessary documents, with strange reasons that she needed to submit extra documents. However, now they easily let her go telling her that they would take care of any issues with her documents without even checking.
Although the population of Baku was 2 million, the number of government officials was not many. Having the officials helping him meant that Chunho Merchant's position was officially secured.
Youngho's efforts to step up resulted in increased sales. The direct stores had more customers than ever, that the sales representative Stephany, Karajan's cousin, even requested to hire a new salesperson.
Instead of hiring one more person, Youngho promised to use that money for his employees' professional development. He promised that he would send all of his employees to Korea for a training course in the winter.
***
The more popular Chunho Merchant became in Baku, the higher the number of orders they received. The season was changing to the summer, and the retailers boldly batted and ordered about $60,0000 worth of clothing, expecting people would buy new designs for the new season.
Cho Sangchun got busy as he could not get any help from Yunsuh who stayed home with her son. Yunsuh's friend in college, who was now a designer of Chunho Merchant, had to work double as she took over Yunsuh's job. They were happily busy to see how well their company was doing.
"Youngho, stop pushing orders in. Man, I think I might suffocate under a pile of money."
"Man, you've got to quit if you can't handle this much. Just hire some more employees, we will have more orders in the future. How long are you going to take advantage of Yunsuh?"
"You don't have to mention that. I'm planning on hiring two more people. It's overwhelming now."
"Well good then, and can you tell the designer to send clothes as soon as possible? We are almost out of stock."
To the women in Baku, the consistent designs of Chunho Merchant were appealing. The fact that Chunho Merchant did not make a lot of quantities for each design was also a selling point. They liked the uniqueness.
"Are you doing that well? Where do you use all those clothes, not for your fireplace right?"
"Dude, I think I might make more money than you soon. If you need money, just tell me. I'm your big bro. I got your back."
"I have a plenty in here, man. You can take care of yourself with that. We didn't even support you from here, how can we take your money?"
"Finally you're thinking like a person."
"How dare you, an unmarried man, say that to a dad?"
As the company was doing well, his voice was even brighter.
"Sangchun, I'm planning on having a training course for our employees in Korea in the winter. Can you look for a place for that?"
Sangchun loved the idea. He was excited to get to see the employees in Baku. He was curious about Karajan whom he had been worked with through the phone.
"Okay, don't worry. By the way, we'll be earning more than 70 million won for this order. I'm extremely busy but it feels good to make money."
"Dude, you now know the taste of money. You've got to make some herbal tonics for your parents who are helping out with the kid, under my name, alright?
"You are making me look like a bad son again, aren't you? Anyway, I've got to go. Yunsuh will give me an earful if I'm late."
"Man, you miss your son already."
"That's why you should get married too."
Feeling somewhat empty inside after hanging up, Youngho lit a cigarette. Youngho missed his newborn nephew whom he had never met.
*WTO- acronym for World Trade Organization, regulates international trade between nations
Advertisement
- In Serial110 Chapters
Polyrhythm Time -- A Bard's Tail
Have you ever met someone who loves what they do so much that they'll skip sleep, food, love and safety to pursue it? What happens if that kind of person encounters a different dimension, yet holds on to their love of music, and specifically of rock drumming.When the world ended at the end of 2057, Kevin Snackenbridge slept through it. He'd been drumming all night. tl;dr-- System eats world -- Monsters and magic ---- LitRpg -- Practice, not levels and stats ---- MC Bard -- support class -- low power ---- MC chooses music over survival skills --tl;dr Kevin trips into the Internal Strength Dimension where Thaumaturgy is king. With the help of a talking plant and several vicious monkeys he learns that the rule is "Change or die." Kevin changes, but remains firmly a drummer/Bard in this high fantasy setting. This is Kevin's adventure, and that of the friends he meets. Kevin has the soul of a real musician. He loves music, specifically rhythm and drumming, and would give his left nut if it would help him drum better. He's a rock drummer, and his language is that of a rock drummer: slanged, duded, and frequently laced with profanity. He focuses on music, and makes decisions that even the author doesn't approve of. However, that means all his decisions are Kevin's decisions, not those of a system-optimizing power-gamer. There's points (All of Arc 2) where he wanders aimlessly. Goals seem foreign to him at points. What would you do if you were a musician, and the world fell apart and you no longer had an audience or band-mates. You'd be kinda lost. Kevin is. Arc 2 is a lot of Kevin not knowing what to do, going with the flow, and not being articulate enough to know that he doesn't know what to do. 1. Chapters start short near 500 words, and grow to 12-1500 by ch.100 2. Chapters daily
8 897 - In Serial15 Chapters
Home of Laplace
I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar mountain peak standing tall above me like seeing a skyscraper from the street. Soon the chilling burn of the snow that covered me began to invade my senses and I flung my torso upward, sitting up straight. I grabbed my head in confusion as my eyes surveyed the area around me: The corner of a mountain wall stood menacingly in front of me accompanied by thin, dangerous looking paths on either side. The likes of which only adrenaline-seeking psychopaths would use. I turned my head backwards and felt my heart drop as what looked like an infinitely long freefall met my gaze. I was sitting on the ledge of a snow-covered mountain. "CRKKKK" A heart-shaking croaking sounded from above me further up the mountain and I jolted backwards at the impossibly loud sound. 'Shit, wasn't there nothing behind me?' The sound of cracking stone accompanied the heart dropping sensation of descension. As I plunged down backwards, the last thing I saw was the deep-set brown eyes of that blue-skinned monstrosity further up the mountain. ----------------------------------------------------- Levi Laplace is a former genius biochemistry student that died a simple and laughable death on earth. Having studied profusely and written many papers published by large firms he was well-respected and accomplished in his field. But that did not prevent him from having his own problems in his personal life. Having chased behind the back of science for so long he had neglected his social life, ending up lonely and without a partner in his early twenties coming out of his studies. He decided that the best way for him to rekindle his social prowess was to retire to teaching high school science in a small town. He never ended up falling in love as he dreamed but he did find surprising contentment from dealing with the troubled raccoons he taught on a daily basis. Finding himself summoned to a strange world by unknown forces he is confronted with harsh issues and the struggles of its people. Meeting many more problem children, he is moved by his sense of duty to help them find their path in this journey through life. As well as find his own in this dangerous new world. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter updates DAILY AT 12:00 PM EST (...Is the goal, sometimes a bit later in the day or the next day at 12:00 instead :P ) Definitely at least once every two days though!
8 198 - In Serial66 Chapters
Canticle: Code Caligula
Death to you. A phrase the demon "Bloodstrider" Mura knows all too well; living out his unusual life as a would-be assassin in an unforgiving world. But in a twist of fate, Mura is exiled to Earth, stripped of his powers and is now hunted by those he once called comrades.
8 127 - In Serial7 Chapters
J&K
One day, a creature appeared on the beach of a world ruled by the human race. Born from a higher form of intelligence that was spending its immortality crossing between worlds, the creature's mission was simple : live and see. See what for yourself what the world has to offer. But what the world had to offer was sometimes quite overwhelming. ** [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] from chapter 2; be careful, chapter 1 has sexual content. Refer to the tags as the story can be quite dark. The story is a slice of life turned not so wholesome as the protagonist meets mostly freaks while becoming one themself.
8 135 - In Serial14 Chapters
For The Right Price
Follow the adventures of Jack, the aloof, carefree and highly sarcastic bounty hunter and his buddy, the all-serious, all knowing Spike, in their adventures as bounty hunters for The People's Federation, a multi-billion dollar corporation specializing in the finding and retrieval of the missing spouses and runaway mistresses of the 1%. If you have a problem, and the money to solve it, The People's Federation has the solution. Completely discreet, completely effective.
8 163 - In Serial31 Chapters
Dead Emotion
After the rises of mysterious towers all over the world, the rises of hunters came to existence to raid the towers. With the power of aretisites, hunters can wield special abilities. A young man name Lyden enter a tower without an aretisite to protect him. He only had one to chance to become a hunter, but the unexpected happens. In the tower, he turned into a powerful monster when he obtains a strange aretisite. Now with his new body, will he be hunted by the hunters and killed or will he become a being that would fight against the human race?
8 63

