Empire of the Ring

There was sleet at Vladivostok Station. Although it had turned April, the place was still in winter.

Instead of flying, Youngho and Jongil were on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a train that crossed Siberia, because there was a chance of hijacking. It took eight days to get to Vladivostok from Baku, which was a shortened duration because the train traveled through Volgograd. Since Youngho brought Jongil with him, obviously they had gone through some random events on the train. Kim Ilkwon, who came to pick them up at the station, was looking exhausted.

"Boss, hyung, welcome."

"What's up with your look?"

"I didn't sleep a bit last night because of the robbers. They wandered around the complex all night."

Looking closely, his eyes were bloodshot as well. Youngho did not care about losing stored goods but he had emphasized to Ilkwon that the security crew must not be injured in any case. Ilkwon must have been stressed over Youngho's word since he was the one in charge.

The warehouse complex was insured and if stored goods get stolen or damaged by robbery or robbery attempts, the insurance company was required to compensate the lost money. This was why Youngho had emphasized that the safety of employees was more important than protecting stored items.

The fence and the security system around the warehouse complex were close to perfection. Youngho thought that he invested too much to buy the security system but it did not matter since they would last semi-permanently at the facility.

Robbers usually roamed around the complex at dawn. The complex was located in an empty field and it was impossible for anyone to intrude during daytime and that was why Youngho had assigned most of the security crew for the night shift but everyone was getting tired from the continuous appearance of robbers in the dark. This was what the robbers were aiming. No matter how tight the security was, it could not stay the same forever. They were going to tire out the security crew and raid them once the crew was burned out in exhaustion.

After Youngho was alarmed that the robbers would make noises as if they would come in at any moment but then would run away in repetition, he thought that the security crew needed another plan to combat the sneaky robbers.

"Ilkwon, we need to revise the whole security system. There's no need to patrol around during daytime since there are a lot of cars on the road and staffs working. Watching with security cameras is enough for the day. How about rotating the night workers for double shifts?"

"Yes, I think that'll be more efficient, boss."

"Would the robbers come tonight too?"

"There is a high chance. They'd come at night when the weather's irregular."

"Let's catch some tonight."

"What? Wouldn't that be too dangerous?"

"Don't worry about it, Jongil and I have a plan."

Youngho was going to use the power of the ring. He was confident that he could outrun the robber's car in the field with the ring and leather shoes. Besides, he could easily subdue a regular man even if he had a gun.

***

The sleet turned to snow as night fell. Youngho, who had gone to sleep early, was watching security monitors since 11 PM. From the camera at the back side of the complex, he spotted a car's headlight which blinked for a moment and then disappeared. It was a robbers' car that was approaching to the complex with its light off. Youngho and Jongil stepped out of the monitor room quietly, leaving Ilkwon behind.

"Youngho, there's another car at 10 o'clock. They must be a different team."

There was also another big truck starting its engine, located 300 meters away from the right side of the fence. They were fearless, and because the security guards did not come out of the fence and fought back from the inside, they parked their car near the fence trying to make a chance to get in.

"You take care of that side."

"Please go easy on them."

"Why go easy? We need to crash them so others robbers would hear that they're done for when they come to here."

Youngho reached the truck in a single bound. As his face appeared suddenly in the dark, three guys inside the truck were appalled in fear. As if the old truck did not even have door locking function, the interior light turned on when Youngho swung the door open like he was going to rip it. The robbers who did not even have masks on but they hastily put their hands into their jackets, but Youngho's hand was faster. A hairy guy screamed grabbing his chest as Youngho struck him and the guy in the middle seat soon coughed after Youngho's hand hit his Adam's apple. The guy on the driver's seat opened his side of the door and tried to escape running in the field after rolling down his body to get out of the truck but after a few seconds, his body was laid flat on the ground after Youngho's kick struck him. Youngho saw the guy on the ground under the flashlight and it looked like he was in mid-twenties.

From the rear gate, two old trucks were entering the complex. They belonged to the robbers that Youngho and Jongil just captured. Six robbers were tied in a row in a cargo section.

"Bring all of them to the office."

The security guards rushed in and pull them out as if they were pieces of luggage. As the robbers were thrown down to the ground, they screamed. Koryoin guards cussed at them and kicked them as they were trying to get up. Since they had been giving the guards a hard time every night, the guards were taking it all out on them. They only stopped when Kim Ilkwon restrained them.

***

All of the robbers who were caught that night were Central Asians aged ranging from the mid-twenties to early-thirties. The six were working as a team. They were the ones who approached the complex from peripheral sides twice or thrice of a week to tire out the security guards. They said that they sometimes met different robber groups near the complex, which meant that there were three or four more robber groups who were after the complex.

Youngho interrogated them and went to search their hideout in the outskirt of Vladivostok. It was surprising because they had quite a lot of weapons even though they were petty thieves who moved around with two cars and stole foods from remote towns or farms to sell at the black market.

They had eight AK rifles and three ammunition boxes. What was shocking the most was that they had two women in their hideout that they had abducted to satisfy their sexual desires and do chores for them. In their storage, there were electronic goods and grains that they had not sold in the market yet.

After grasping about the robbers, Youngho called the police to arrest them. When the cops arrived, they were not even surprised by the robbers since something like this was common in Vladivostok.

Because the robbers in here often committed murders, they were considered as brutal criminals. Without any trials, they were taken to lumber camps in Siberia.

Youngho brought the weapons and ammunition found in the robbers' hideout to use them for the warehouse complex. It would be a waste if he gave them to the police.

Youngho and Jongil stayed there for a week and captured four groups of robbers in total. It was half size of the robbers who had been aiming to intrude the complex. Not knowing that they had special hidden powers, Kim Ilkwon kept asking how they caught the robbers but Youngho only said that it was Korean Special Forces' secret skill. Ilkwon did not seem to believe what Youngho was saying but because the two kept capturing robbers, there was no other choice for him but to believe them.

Other robbers had not shown for the past few days as if they had smelled a rat since their competitors kept on disappearing.

Meanwhile, Youngho had a secret deal with the chief of police of Vladivostok. The security crew was only allowed to use guns only in urgency but he got the permission to use guns for threatening purposes. Since there were too many robbers roaming around targeting the complex, the chief of police allowed firing at the robbers. He had taken into account the fact that the complex was located in a remote part of Vladivostok where there was not a lot of people, especially in the night, and also Youngho's little gift of envelope was a key factor for his decision of permitting weapon usage.

Because there would be no robbers to risk their lives to steal goods from the complex, security work would be a lot easier from now on. It would be also beneficial for the policemen because the security guards would be doing the police's job by catching robbers and sending them alive to the police department.

Youngho regretted not dealing with the police department in advance. Since the chief had already tasted money, Youngho now would have to bribe him frequently.

***

"Do you think it makes sense that we can't fly because we're afraid of hijacking? I'm already sick even thinking about being on trains for eight days."

Jongil was tired of the joy from the train trip. It was quite contrastive from his previous train trip where he flirted with Russian girls on the train. Youngho was insisting to travel by train because he had emphasized to Fatima to use train only for traveling. If he went back to Baku on a flight, she would give him an earful about it. Besides, it was true that planes were dangerous in times like this.

"I'm also sick of trains but you know there are countless crazy people out there. We should travel by train even if you hate it. We'll have more fun this time because we have Ilkwon. You could empty his pocket on the way."

Jongil's eyes sparkled as Youngho suggested playing cards for money with Ilkwon.

"He's too smart. Don't you think he'll beat both of us?"

Jongil was worried about losing. Youngho thought it would be okay even if Ilkwon beats all of them.

"Anyway, we'll get on the train. Don't make me repeat this."

Vladivostok was the beginning point and terminal point of Trans-Siberian Railway. The length of the railway was 5,772 miles long and there were sixty stops between Vladivostok and Moscow. It was a long trip that lasted six nights and seven days. Youngho's company would be getting off in the middle at Volgograd, so they would be on the train for four days. Now that the warehouse complex could use weapons freely, there were no more huge risk factors for the security crew, so Ilkwon was also joining the trip back to Baku. He was excited to visit home in two months, not knowing that his pocket would be cleaned out by Youngho and Jongil on the train.

Youngho's company paid for a four-people private room. Since the compartment had an individual door that can be locked, it was great for traveling families. Because even at night, there was fear of losing valuables, many people preferred staying in two or four-people rooms despite the high price. There were three classes of travel in the Trans-Siberian Railway: six-people public room, four-people private room, and two-people private room. There was of course a dining section, since it was a long-distance train. Park Jongil and Kim Ilkwon bought a bunch of snacks.

"Hey! Who'd eat all that? There's a restaurant on the train."

"Do you only live on meals? What good is the trip if there's no alcohol?"

Jongil was speaking the truth. When three guys were traveling in a room together, the only things they could do was eating, drinking, and playing cards. Of course, it was fun to watch the scenery outside but the fun only lasted an hour or two. There was no way that they could last looking out the window for days. Traveling in a train compartment for days needed a lot of patience. However, on such a boring Trans-Siberian train trip, a fairly exciting event awaited them.