Empire of the Ring

The light airplane that Youngho and Jong-il were on had just flown over to the border area of Kyrgyzstan.

"Should we just go straight to the south? We already contacted the Kazakh government and people must know that this is an emergency."

"Let's drop by there just for a little bit. Our agents are all waiting in Bishkek."

The Koryoin agents that worked in Almaty had already entered Bishkek which was the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Because there were 20,000 Koryoins residing in Kyrgyzstan, the Koryoin agents could be sent there without worrying about getting exposed by the public.

"Could this be a doing of Tajikistan's IS group?"

Central Asia might look peaceful on the outside but there had been disputes over the borders of many countries since they were defined by the Soviet Union a long time ago. People did not have physical battles, but diplomatic conflicts were relentless.

This was what Youngho was concerned about the most.

Many countries would look like they agreed with Kazakhstan's policy to combine the Central Asian countries under one economic bloc but there was no way to find out what smaller countries would be thinking about it.

"It could be the IS but I don't think Tajikistan would try to interrupt Kazakhstan's national project."

"That sounds nonsensical but you never know what these people are up to."

The Balkan Peninsula, Caucasus, and Central Asia were the regions notorious for ethnic minority groups' nationalism and far-right tendencies. Many people had analyzed that there would be stronger disputes in these regions than the disputes in the Middle Eastern regions.

"Man, we surely found a weird place to settle down."

"You know, there are more opportunities in dangerous regions."

"If the IS is involved in this, our winter is going to be so long."

Youngho remembered hearing that the IS organization that was active in Afghanistan had entered Tajikistan when he was in Frankfurt. Many poor young people without jobs had been joining the IS, and maybe those IS members were involved in this.

This could not be good for the autonomous state either. The state could be exposed by the IS group and it could continue to threaten the existence of the state.

Youngho and Jong-il who just landed at Manas International Airport in Bishkek met up with the agents who were already gathered there. They had not figured out what was going on in Sary-Tash. They only assumed that the IS must be after this. There could not come up with any other reasonable explanation for the current situation.

The government Kyrgyzstan also agreed to investigate this case but it could not be trusted. It was because the government in the border area was quite poor and it was less likely that IS would offer support.

Youngho and Jong-il immediately flew to Osh taking two agents with them. The city where as far as their light airplane could go. Since the Countryside Force guards that were supposed to be guarding the survey team if they had not gone missing, Youngho's group decided to join them to search for the lost team in Sary-Tash.

Youngho had a bad feeling that this winter would be long like Jong-il said.

***

The road from the city of Osh to Sary-Tash was extremely rough.

It would have been better if Youngho took the airplane despite difficulties.

It was a deadly mission to drive on rough, icy mountainous roads with the rented van that was more than 20 years old. It also made weird engine noises. It was okay when it went up and down the winding mountainous roads. But, when it crossed sloppy bridges that looked like it was going to fall, Youngho thought that it would be better if he crossed the bridge by foot. Despite the thrilling situation, the driver of the van did not care a bit and kept on driving roughly.

"Hey, can't you tell him to take it easy? I just want to relax for a minute."

"He is rushing because he has to return home tonight because he needs to go back to the hospital tomorrow."

"What? He works at a hospital?"

"He said he's a doctor."

"Why would a doctor work as a driver?"

"He said that he can't make ends meet with the 300 dollars he makes as a doctor. He works as a driver when he's off duty."

"Is he going back in the dark after driving us to the city?"

"He said he'll be fine because he knows the road."

Youngho was lost for words.

He would not dare to drive on this rough road at night if he was not out of his mind.

He boasted that he could drive the distance equal to the length from Seoul to Daegu within seven hours, which Youngho found it odd since sometimes he drove slowly. However, after entering the mountainous area, he realized that the driver was quite fast.

Considering the poor road condition and the weather condition, it was not a good idea to drive over the speed of 40 kilometers per hour. Youngho sweated badly to drive on cliff roads that did not have any guard rails and wobbly bridges. There were dents on all over the road due to fallen rocks and just when he thought that he could rest, the icy road showed up.

When he got to the entrance of Sary-Tash, he did not have any strength in his body. He was only thankful that he finally could meet up with the Countryside Force guards who were waiting for Youngho's group.

They went to the inn that the road survey team had stayed.

It was a popular lodging for backpackers and was located at the outskirt of the city. It seemed to be a great place to stay. The facility was chosen because it had an empty lot, which the light armored vehicles could be parked. Even though it was winter, several backpackers were staying there. They were not much help since they came after the survey team went missing.

The owner of the inn only shrugged to hear such news. However, that was quite suspicious since it was hard to notice when ten foreigner customers left the facility. If they were going for a road survey, they would have taken their equipment but the equipment was all left at the inn. They could have gone to tour around the city's downtown.

"Does any of this make sense to you?"

"Nope, not at all. Leaving the facility without notifying the owner without an interpreter itself is just nonsense."

"If they were abducted, there must be some requests in exchange for their lives but we didn't hear anything yet. If so, we still have hope. Maybe they are locked in somewhere and waiting to receive directions from the higher-ups of the criminal organization."

"We need to hurry."

The survey team must have let someone know if they were leaving the facility on their own.

"Let's get all the belongings of the survey team and pretend that we're leaving. We should watch this inn for a while."

"You're also suspecting this place."

"There's always a clue at the crime scene."

"It's quite fishy. How come the Kyrgyz police did not suspect the owner of this place?"

The police must have dropped the case already since the country was not well-off enough to take care of an abduction case of foreigners. If the police were willing, it would not have left the missing people's belongings at the inn like that.

Judging by the belongings that did not have any valuables left, it seemed that any valuable goods were already taken by people.

"Let's watch this place starting from tonight. Place the agents around here in secret. The criminals are definitely related to the owner."

"How about the Countryside Force guards?"

"Let them check in at the lodging across the town and make sure that they're dressed up in private clothes. The survey team couldn't have gone far from here."

The case seemed to be a definite abduction but considering that it was a cold winter, there was a high possibility that the team must be still around. If necessary, the Countryside Force guards would be mobilized too.

***

"I just received a call. They said that there are a few suspicious-looking people who are coming in and out of a traveler's inn. The owner didn't show any suspicious activity."

Youngho was taking a rest for the moment at the lodging but Jong-il soon came into his room and woke him up.

"Tell them to stay still until we are there."

"Don't worry. They're now decent agents."

The hard training that they received turned out to be effective now. They could stake out, and tail; they were equipped with martial arts and gun-shooting skills. Each of them could take two or even three guys on his own. The Arirang Autonomous State had been treating them graciously, so they had become proud agents now.

"Tell the Countryside Force guards to stay here and let's move."

"Hey, let's put the silencer on our pistol and take the bulletproof vest, along with our night-vision goggles just in case."

Jong-il's voice was full of vibrancy because he might be involved in some actions tonight. It was the same with Youngho. The thrilling sensation was what Youngho had not been feeling for a long while.

The two ran like the wind to the traveler's inn at the outskirt of the town. The agents who were standing by near the inn were stunned to see the two. They did not get how the two got there so fast without a car.

"How many went in there?"

"Three went inside and one of them came out a little while ago. One of our guys is following him."

"Did he take a satellite phone?"

"Yes. He just contacted me that the guy just went into a cafe."

"You can join your friend there. Just tail him and don't do anything, alright?"

"Got it."

Youngho sent him away because he did not want to show what was going to happen at the inn. After the agent left, the two approached the inn. The only place that had a light on was its cafeteria. As expected, the owner of the inn they had met during the day and a man with a beard was having a conversation. He looked like he was in his late 20s. There was no drink on the table, which meant that they were having a serious conversation or they could be Muslims.

Although Youngho's hearing that was enhanced by the power of his ring could hear their conversation, he could not understand their language. He had thought that he would understand Kyrgyz since it was a tongue of Turkish but it was harder than he thought.

"Did they mention the road survey team?"

"Dang, I can't understand a thing."

"Should we just bust them?"

"Man, what if they're not the ones who abducted the survey team?"

"We'll have to torture them so that they could tell us who's behind this. What else can we do? We won't get anything out of them if we just stand here."

"You think people who can abduct others will easily slip out the truth? That's going to be a waste of time. I think they're going to move soon since they're not drinking. Let's wait for a while."

Youngho thought that it was the best until he had certain evidence. If they were part of the IS, they would not open their mouth even if they were tortured to death. A zealous religious organization could be that scary and determined. They would, in fact, willingly die for their organization's goal.

After a moment, the two guys were done with their conversation. Leaving the owner behind, the guy joined another guy that was waiting for him outside. They were now about to leave on a car.

"What now? Should we run and follow the car?"

"The road condition is terrible. I don't think the car will be able to drive at a high speed. I'm sure it'll be slower than us. Don't worry. Care for evening jogging?"

"Man, you don't need night-vision goggles but I need to run with this burdensome equipment on."

"Follow me slowly. I'll go ahead and give you the location when I get there."

"Dude, how am I going to figure out where you are? We don't even know this place."

"Oh, yeah? Then we should run for our lives. Oh! The car's starting."

As Youngho caught up with the car in one bound, Jong-il gritted his teeth as he followed him.

"Man, if they're the ones who abducted the survey team, they're dead in my hands."

"No, they'll be far gone in my hands before you do that."

Abduction was not tolerable in any case.

Agent Philip in Georgia still felt fearful until today because of the trauma that he got from being abducted by the militia of Nagorno-Karabakh. It was an unspeakable fear that could not be erased.