Empire of the Ring

It was the next day when Youngho heard about Kim Chun's accident.

Both the car and the people in awful shape made it near to the city of Kulsary, but Kim Chun was in a critical condition.

Since both of them could not pull out from the operation, only Youngho rushed to Atyrau by airplane.

At the intensive care unit, Kim Chun was lying down on a bed with a respirator on and Marco the Serbian had his arm in a bandage. He was devastated. Thankfully, Kim Chun's life was safe but he was still unconscious.

Youngho wanted to move him to a huge general hospital in Western Europe but Kim Chun was not in a condition to travel. He only asked hospital staffs to give him the best treatment. It was fortunate that there was a hospital in a medium city, which could take patients in critical conditions.

Youngho emphasized safety all the time but Kim Chun was trying to drive back to the farm in the dark and was targeted by robbers.

Marco said that they could only save their lives since he broke through a barricade by running over it, but Kim Chun was shot on his arm and chest when he tried to fire back at the enemies. Although Kim Chun was brave, Youngho thought that he should have spared himself since he was not a trained person.

Such robbery did not happen often in Kazakhstan. Many times, no evidence was left and people were reported as missing and returning alive was a lucky case. The car that Kim Chun and Marco drove was taken by the city police. There were countless bullet holes on the car. It was a miracle that the engine did not shut down and they could make it to Kulsary.

Judging by the fact that bullets penetrated the body of the car, it was highly possible that the robbers used Russian machine guns. Also, they must be a robber organization since they were in a group.

Youngho thought that he should not allow driving at nights for the people of Arirang Farm and give them light armored vehicles if they had to drive at nights.

It was two days after Youngho's arrival at Atyrau that Kim Chun's consciousness returned. Although he was conscious, he still could not talk.

Youngho only thought that the very critical condition had passed.

The police said that it was impossible to catch the suspects since the accident happened on an industrial road in an uninhabited region. It seemed that it would be faster for himself to investigate the case.

As Kim Chun's position was vacant, the farm's work and related businesses were experiencing troubles. With their supervisor gone, the Koryoin workers could not work efficiently. As business was about to be paralyzed, Youngho rushed and called Kim Ilkwon to the farm.

"Ilkwon, tell people to use light armored vehicles when they go outside the farm. It's same for you. I think some people are targeting our farm since it's doing so well. We should take caution from now on."

"Boss, I should train the town watch here. If they can receive systematized military training, they will be able to effectively take actions in case of emergency."

"How are you going to train them in this coldness?"

"There are some empty warehouses. Some basic cross-order drill, marksmanship training, and squad operation tactics would do the job."

Since there was a Serbian town watch, it seemed that they would keep the security of the farm when they were systematically trained. They had been protecting the town from wild animals until now but now it was time to protect the town from thieves or robber organizations.

A person who could replace Kim Chun was needed. Youngho worried if the Koryoin employees could do their job without Kim Chun's supervision. He was a great branch head that Youngho could not miss. Since the robbers almost killed him, Youngho could not sit and wait for them to make the next move. They went too far by blindly firing at the car just for some cash. If Youngho left them alone, they would not stop making other victims.

***

"Drive slowly. You're wasting gas."

"We can only drive this because gas is cheap here. You said it has great mileage but it doesn't look like that's true."

"It's very efficient compared to regular armored vehicles."

They had filled the gas tank when at the farm's lubricator but the arrow of the vehicle's oil gauge was already dropped down to the two-thirds level.

Youngho and Ilkwon were now driving on the industrial road between Atyrau and the Oral River. They had come out to find the robbers. If they showed up today, it would be their funeral day.

Although it was an industrial road, there were almost no vehicles on the road at night time. The road was not managed well and the damaged parts of the road were not visible at nights, so people were reluctant to pass the road at nights. Moreover, there were plenty of dangerous elements to drive on the road in winter nights.

If a vehicle broke down in the middle of the road, people would have to be locked in the car and might freeze to death and even if they make a fire in the field, they would be an easy target of wild animals.

It had been three days since Youngho and Ilkwon had been looking for the robbers and they still had no luck. Youngho had come out thinking that it would be his last day of searching them. If he would not be able to find them today, he was going to conclude that the robbers were laying low for a while to avoid police search for firing at civilian's car.

Without too much expectation, Youngho and Ilkwon left the farm after having a dinner meal. The light armored vehicle clearance was high, that he had a wide view like a truck. When Ilkwon was still driving, Youngho spotted a light flashing for a moment before disappearing from a distance. It seemed that the light had disappeared because they just entered a downward slope.

"Ilkwon, I saw a light flashing. You'll see it once we hit the uphill road. Get ready."

"What? Was it a car? I didn't see it."

"It was for an instant. I don't think it's from a car."

Since Youngho's vision was as many times as brighter than others, Ilkwon could not have spotted the light at such far distance.

Ilkwon thought for a while and got off the road. He was trying to go around them and catch them from an unexpected side. Since the light armored vehicle could drive freely off roads too, it was a great idea.

They were approaching the strangers with all the lights turned off. Through the starlight scope, seven figures of men were spotted. The robbers were warming themselves around a bonfire and blocked the road with a barricade as if they were police officers doing inspections.

Due to the heavy noise of the wind, the armored vehicle's engine noise was drowned.

Youngho asked Ilkwon to park at about a hundred-meter distance from the robbers, and took out his sniper rifle. Opening the roof of the vehicle where the machine gun would be installed, Youngho aimed at one of the robbers' car. He planned to strand them first.

Aiming at where the gas tank was, he fired at once. The first shot was a fail since his night vision goggles wavered and he could not see well. He consecutively fired two more shots and luckily they were not missed. Soon, he also made the other car the same as the first one.

Through the oil leaked, the cars caught on fire. Due to the explosion of the cars, two were knocked down on the ground.

Ilkwon drove the car near them until about fifty meters of distance.

They were yelling at each other watching their cars burning, and they did not even notice that a light armored vehicle was approaching them. The rest of them were taking care of the guys who fell on the ground.

Youngho fired shots at the thighs of the people who were checking their friends on the ground. As they were knocked down out of nowhere, others panicked. They had no idea what just happened to them.

Youngho also shot at a guy who was going to take out his pistol realizing that there was an enemy nearby. Then Ilkwon turned on the headlight and searchlight of the vehicle at once.

At the sudden light, two people who were not shot raised their hands in fright.

The robber organization of the Atyrau-Oral River industrial road was caught. Now that Youngho captured seven robbers, the police would be able to find out how many people were sacrificed by them until now. The people who were reported as missing were probably sacrificed by them, or there might be other organizations as well.

Not long after catching the criminals, Youngho received a message that Kim Chun had made a lot of progress and he could finally talk and engage in short conversations. He would be able to stay in the general ward soon. Youngho was relieved to hear that since he was worried sick about him.

He decided to take this opportunity to reinforce the security system of Arirang Farm. The public order of this vast country was still not satisfactory. He had only been focusing on overcoming the natural environments but it was naive of him. He had not prepared anything for security.

It seemed that he learned it the hard way that wintering in Kazakhstan was not easy.

***

When Youngho was done taking care of urgent problems, Jongil returned to the farm.

The border operation had won success.

As an aftermath of Youngho and Jongil's causing of conflict, the Kazakh government adopted a hard line and summoned a Chinese ambassador. The government knew that the Chinese police was involved in this since Youngho delivered evidence through Agent Smith. With clear evidence, China could not make any more excuses. From this incident, Russia and the U.S. were most benefited. The U.S. wanted to be involved in the pro-democracy movement of Kazakhstan but it had to wait due to the current political situations.

The border market would not open for a while but it would probably re-open in several months since there was high demand and where there is high demand, there must be high supply.

***

When Youngho first decided to develop Arirang Farm, he was going to use Koryoin workers for farming. Then, he inadvertently received Serbian immigrants to the farm site.

As the rumor was spread that the owner of the farm was Korean and he gave preference to Koryoins, many struggling Koryoins who were scattered around Atyrau had been requesting to move in as Arirang Farm's residents.

There were plenty of jobs to offer at the farm but Youngho was worried since he had just enough houses for the Serbian immigrants who would be moving in this spring. Moreover, he was not sure if it was a great idea to make two different groups of people live together.

"What are you worried about? You can make another town for Koroyin near the branch river. Then you don't need to make another school for them and they'd be a great help for Serbian immigrants to settle down here."

"A village doesn't just pop up. You need to install houses and basic infrastructures. The money is not the problem, but it's going to take some time."

In fact, the school and gym facilities were built near the ranch area next to the Serbian town. It actually sounded great if there was another town over the ranch area from the farm and if the ranch could be a boundary between two towns. The problem was if both people could get along with each other. If people could mingle by living together from the beginning, they would be able to resolve issues together but if they lived separately, there might be conflicts between each other as the farm grew.

"I should take everybody in without separating them. I should make living together a natural thing."

"Won't those Serbian immigrants who were to be moving in this spring get upset? We have built houses for them so far."

"I should convince them. Just like Fatima and I are living together, people should do the same. That's the only way that people would get accustomed to living in Kazakhstan."

Now, whenever he decided anything, he felt that any future problems would be considered and he should be as careful as possible. He could not give too much money for people in case they lose self-surviving abilities and he should not ask too much of people's sacrifices.

That was why Youngho needed advice from someone like Park Youngsun.

Park Youngsun repeatedly emphasized that the city developed only relying on the farming industry would not last long, so Arirang Farm should develop light industry as well. Since it was necessary to use machinery in a large-scale farm, farming could be handled by a minority. Then, it was critical to use the manpower of the people who did not farm.

His idea was to start a specialized light industry like Swiss Watch or Swiss Army Knife. Any items that could earn money for the town people and benefit Kazakh economy would bring a high status of Arirang Farm in Kazakhstan.

Thinking about Park Youngsun's suggestion, Youngho decided to ask if production of light industry goods were possible at Arirang Farm. Since the current president was determined to achieve the country's economic growth, it seemed that the president would be willing to support the farm's industry.