"His Highness said that to rea.s.sure you. Do you believe everything he said?"

"He's been fond of me. He'd be most heartbroken if I was put in danger, but would he send me to a dangerous place?"

"Oh, come on. Then why would the bodyguards go with you?"

"It's because I'll be meeting mafia."

"With one royal guard, we can deal with the whole local mafia. So why did we arrange three of them together? One person is enough."

"..."

When Kim Il-kwon explained in detail, Suh Min-seok stood silently.

"He said it because you seemed to be really nervous. So be on your toes."

"I already feel exhausted. Don't scare me now. How will you handle it if I get promoted to Chief of staff later?"

"Would I stay idle until you get promoted? I'm sure he'll have a higher position."

"I'll be back safely anyway, so keep up with His Highness."

"Yes, sir. Our next Chief of Staff."

***

Upon arriving in Krasnoyarsk, Min-seok began his schedule by stopping by the Vodka plant and the lumber mill first.

He planned to meet the regional mafia boss, Sergeenko, later after his official schedule was over.

There had been a lot of industrial diamonds supplied in Siberia.

But if the Russian government decided and tried to crack down on it, all of the diamonds would be gone.

Therefore, it was the opinion of the royal leaders.h.i.+p that it would secure as much diamond as possible if there was a chance.

The diamonds supplied by Lt. Col. Klimov, commander of the regional military, and by Mafia Sergeenko.

However, as the demand for industrial diamonds would grow rapidly as the Kazakh economy developed in the future, the royal family was determined to secure as much as possible.

After visiting the vodka plant to check the operation status of the plant, Min-seok asked a factory official about the production and sales volume and checked the supply and demand of raw materials.

"Are we getting enough raw materials?"

"Of course, since Kazakhstan is a grain exporter, we have enough to last for this winter."

Wheat and malt, both raw materials of the vodka plant, were supplied from Kazakhstan, so the raw materials were overflowing.

Vodka was a drink that could also be made from potatoes, corn, barley, and wheat.

"Is there any problem with the mafia having a monopoly on sales?"

"Production doesn't keep up with demand, but it doesn't matter who sells it."

"Has there been any unreasonable request?"

"We only need to convince the city officials and tax authorities in Krasnoyarsk. We've been withstanding for that level of bleeding, so it's fine."

If anyone wanted to do business in Russia, he must have to deal with the bureaucracy, which meant bribing. It was because the bureaucracy was as demanding as the mafia. The police were even worse.

Suh Min-seok, who was fully informed of the current situations before meeting the Mafia boss, entered the Hilton Hotel accompanied by only one bodyguard.

Although he wanted to bring all of the bodyguards when meeting Sergeenko, he brought only one to save his face. Besides, the meeting was at a luxury hotel in downtown in broad daylight, he did not think that anything bad would happen.

But when he entered the hotel, there were a lot of big guys all over the place.

He screamed inside. He wanted to go back to his hotel and bring back the rest of the bodyguards.

Trying to calm down his mind, he sat in front of Sergeenko.

He had met him before when he accompanied Youngho, but it was his first time to directly deal with him.

Sergeenko's appearance was quite tough that it already intimidated people.

Min-seok heard that Sergeenko was friendly despite his look, but he did not ever want to get close to him.

"Mr. Suh, is His Highness doing well?"

"Thanks to your concern. He's doing well. You seem like you're in better shape than before."

"It's all thanks to the Duke."

"His Highness was concerned that the supply of diamonds is much lower than before these days."

The word "concern" meant "displeased."

Upon hearing such words, Sergeenko's face quickly stiffened.

"Chinese companies are picking up the black market again, so the supply has been cut by half."

"What do you mean? I heard Chinese companies pulled out of the black market."

"You don't know the current atmosphere of Krasnoyarsk these days, do you? It's a completely different world. China has been given several times the area it used to develop and three woodworking plants. It's not too much to say that Krasnoyarsk thrives with the money that China spends here."

"So China is again dominating raw diamonds from the black market? Who would believe that the Russian mafia was pushed out by China?"

Sergeenko's eyebrows wriggled as Min-seok questioned the mafia organization.

He could knock down this skinny secretary, but he suddenly realized that there was the Kazakh royal family standing behind him, and then there was also Yaniv.

If he sent this skinny secretary like this, he would suffer the wrath of the Duke of Kazakhstan.

"Mr. Suh, we're in a very difficult situation, too. The Russian authorities are limiting our activities. We had to avoid the imminent risk first. But we've been selling vodka and combat food successfully, haven't we? The distribution of stones has decreased significantly not only because of China's dominance but also because of the authorities."

Suh Min-seok's fear soon disappeared after seeing Sergeenko's low att.i.tude toward him.

Sergeenko's expression of active explanation was proving that he was not playing a trick. He also softened his expression as he felt that pus.h.i.+ng too hard would provoke a backlash.

"His Highness even considered discontinuing his trade with you? I'll go back to the palace and convince him, so please show us some tangible results."

"I'd appreciate it if you could just explain what you saw here. Now I'm not the same type of guy who punches people around like I used to be. I have a lot of men to feed, so I need to keep doing business with the Kazakh royal family. Please tell him that I will never let him down."

As his sincerity was visible, Min-seok nodded.

In this part, he said something that Youngho did not even say to encourage Sergeenko.

"His Highness regards you as a brother. He said that we are a race of the same ancestry. Even if the royal leaders have complained about giving favors only to you, you should know that he ignored all of them."

Sergeenko was a descent of Evenki, the Siberian native.

At the words of Min-seok, he seemed very impressed.

"I'm aware of his grace. I'll do anything to be of help here."

At last, Sergeenko gave the answer that Min-seok wanted to hear.

He was coached by Youngho that he should wait until the opposite party showed willingness to do something on his own.

"The Kazakh royal icebreakers will begin a full-scale business in the North Sea route in the near future. Of course, they will come and go through the Yenisei River. His Highness wants to take Siberian timber. As you know, the western part of Kazakhstan is a semi-deserted zone, so wood is very precious."

"Didn't you take enough wood before?"

"How many timbers could we have transferred with 5,000-ton s.h.i.+ps? When bigger s.h.i.+ps come, the authorities will try to meddle, and that's what His Highness is worried about."

"What's the matter with this Sergeenko looking after his business? Please bring any s.h.i.+p with you. I'm confident I can fill it up to the max."

Russia was strictly banning the taking of raw wood overseas. It was intended to save resources and to create jobs for local Russians as foreign companies would have to set a processing plant in Russia. So, Chinese and j.a.panese companies were building lumber factories all over Siberia.

However, this meant a high cost for raw materials.

That was why Youngho had been illegally transporting the trees so far.

The only way to take the timber from the harbor by the Yenisei was to borrow the mafia's power or buy bureaucrats. Suh Min-seok smiled to hear Sergeenko promising to take the lead himself.