Empire of the Ring

Atyrau, where the Arirang Autonomous State was located, was 2,700 kilometers away from Almaty, the economic capital of Kazakhstan. The train route from Almaty to the Port of Atyrau was about 1.5 times longer than the direct distance between the two cities.

The Koryoin immigrants who just finished their four-day train trip to Atyrau only had bags of clothes with them. Because of the sudden event, they did not have enough time to pack most of their belongings. Since it was a life-or-death situation, they had no time to think. Trusting the agents of the Arirang Autonomous State that they would be given houses and furniture, they took heavy steps for their immigration journey.

Although they did not have much living in a remote region of Kyrgyzstan, their faces were saddened by the fact that they had to leave their hometown unwillingly. Their ancestors were driven out of the Maritime Province 70 years ago, and they were experiencing the same event now.

Hearing their sad news, Koryoins who resided in Atyrau stepped in to help. Most of the Koryoins in Atyrau were middle-class citizens, and they had enough to share. They offered warm tea to Koryoins that just got off the train and gave them a ride to the port.

The autonomous state could rent some buses for the immigrants, but the state decided to take the local Koryoins' warm-hearted offer since their countrymen's help would cheer up the desperate immigrants.

Many of the Koryoin immigrants who were escorted to the port were crying. Although many of them had already decided to move to the autonomous state, they were never meant to be driven out from their homes this way. They did not have much, but they wanted to save some money after selling their properties and belongings. However, they had nothing in their hands now, just like homeless people. They found some solace in local Koryoins' kindness since they waited for them despite the cold weather.

The immigrants were startled to see a big ship waiting for them. They had thought that they would be going to the state directly from the train station, but they were escorted to a port. They were also surprised to see a ship named 'Arirang.'

Kim Chun, with a megaphone on his hand, announced to the immigrants at the dock.

"My fellow Koryoins! This is the ship that you'll be getting on! If we travel for a half day more on this ship along the river, you'll be directed to your warm houses that have been waiting for you."

The crowd chatted amongst themselves, but no one was daring enough to get on board. They were rather appalled by the luxurious-looking ship since they had never been on such ship. Many times in Central Asia, any buses and trains were quite ragged and old and people could ride on them even if their shoes were dirty with dirt or animal feces. But, seeing the clean, luxury ship, the Koryoin immigrants were reluctant to get on board so easily.

Seeing that, Kim Chun raised his voice again.

"This ship belongs to the Arirang Autonomous State. This is what you'll be using quite often and you won't get charged at all."

"Are you sure that you won't charge us for this luxurious ship?"

"Of course! Are you ready to get on board now? Hurry, it's cold outside. Our ship is warm and we've got food ready for you."

Kim Chun was encouraging people like a merchant trying to sell his products. It made people smile. Trusting Kim Chun—who introduced himself as the commissioner of the autonomous state—people started to get on board one by one.

***

206 Koryoins of 47 households from Kyrgyzstan could not believe that they were given houses and enough daily supplies. They were already informed that a wealthy Korean businessman had created the state, but it was hard to believe that he would be this generous to give away such necessities to strangers. They thought that Youngho would exploit them since he was providing them a place to stay for free.

Just as they thought, the administration of the state came out to do a census survey for the new immigrant group and investigated all sorts of details about them. The next day, Koryoin immigrants were sent to the hospital to do physical exams for the first time in their lives.

The immigrants were now certain that the state was checking their conditions before giving them hard labor positions. It only made sense to think this way since they were given all sorts of things for free.

On the third day of their arrival, the administrative officials of the state asked them if any of them could work starting from people who had carpentry or machinery skills. Also, the officials registered everyone who was in school-age for schooling. Seeing how everything was processing, the immigrants thought that what they had been thinking was right after all. But not long after that, their bad feelings had changed into hope.

The administration gave everyone a job according to their talents and expertise. Moreover, their work environment was great, and the intensity of their work was even yawning. Not to mention, they soon learned that their payment was unimaginably good compared to what people received in Central Asia.

"Commissioner Kim. How do you think people are reacting to their new lives?"

"The technicians are happy that they have jobs now. Also, many are glad to hear that farming and ranching could be their main jobs, not side jobs."

In Kyrgyzstan, where the light industry was not developed well, finding a job was as difficult as picking a star from the sky especially when native Kyrgyz people were given opportunities first before other ethnic minorities.

"Do they recognize that everything doesn't come free of cost?"

"Yes. They're aware of the facts that they'll pay for their houses if they had not built it on their own and some percentage of their pay would be taken off as a tax."

If the state gave away everything for free just because the immigrants were in a pitiful situation, they would soon lose motivation to work and become lazy.

When the first generation of Serbian immigrants came to the autonomous state, houses were provided at no cost because they helped to build houses and cities to establish the state. But now, new immigrants already had great infrastructures and an established city that they could enjoy without any effort.

In order to be fair for all residents, the state decided to make immigrants pay for the houses if they did not build them.

"They don't have much yet. Please give them enough daily supplies."

"Well, at least now we get to use the daily supplies that we had stocked up because of Russia's tyranny at the Black Sea."

"You should provide only basic home appliances and furniture. The original residents will only help them when we do so."

If everything was ready for the new immigrants, there would be no room for original residents' help. They would only share when there was a need for it. This would provide more opportunities for people to connect with each other.

"By the way, you must be bummed because the Siberian expedition was delayed now."

"Commissioner, I don't even think about that now. I'm only glad that we've got more population in the state now."

"Even if we get more immigrants in the future, we won't have to worry about their housing since we can use the car ferry."

Although the urgent issue was resolved now, Youngho was still standing by at the autonomous state since he did not know what would happen next. Jong-il asked him to stay until he returned to the autonomous state, and it seemed that there was a sign that something else was about to happen.

"I'll be moving when Park Jong-il returns. While waiting for him, I'm going to master how to fly the Jet. I feel sorry that we always ask the pilot instructors from Cessna to fly the Jets for us."

"Oh, I think there might be a way to fly the Jets."

"What is it?"

"I think we might be able to recruit some of the Jet pilots and mechanics sent by Cessna. There are a few of them who are going out with Serbian girls."

Serbian girls were pretty, but they did not give a chance to men so easily because they were quite conservative. Once they entered the marriageable age, they acted very carefully.

Youngho took the news by surprise since he could not believe that Serbian women would date foreign men.

"Whoa, they must be great with girls. How did they develop such a relationship with the Serbian girls?"

"You know, they're young and passionate. There are plenty of spaces to meet up with each other such as movie theaters and cafes."

It was funny how conservative Serbian girls were helping Youngho out by dating American men. The pure Serbian girls who had been living in the mountainous region in isolation must have looked like angels to American pilots and mechanics.

Since most of the dispatched pilots and mechanics sent from Cessna were not married, Youngho wished them to stay at the state, and now it did not seem like an impossible story.

***

The first group of Kyrgyz Koryoin Immigrants was very satisfied with their new life.

Although the natural environment was not as great as Kyrgyzstan, which was often referred to as Switzerland of Central Asia, the autonomous state's system was just above their expectations.

The public order of the autonomous state was naturally formed because of the peaceful life that the residents had now. The state was full of respect for each other which was unimaginable in Kyrgyzstan where people were desperate to make ends meet. The new immigrants had never experienced such an advanced culture up until now.

Whatever they did, it was natural that they lacked basic public order.

Youngho only found this out because of Kim Chun who came to his office to complain about them.

"Whoa, commissioner. Are there that many people who received penalty points?"

"I guess they didn't have to keep basic order in Kyrgyzstan."

"They're not used to the life here yet. If they could learn from how our residents live here, they'll soon change."

"I don't know. I think we should be stricter in order to change them."

Kim Chun reported that the Koryoin immigrants from Kyrgyzstan were ignorant of basic public order. It must be not a problem in Kyrgyzstan to throw away trash anywhere, but the autonomous state did not allow such thing, not even wasting water on the ground.

It was expected to line up and be quiet in public places in order to be considerate of others, but the new immigrants did not care about such rules and were not ashamed of their behaviors.

Since this could be a huge issue in the autonomous state's society, which could be even expanded to a division between people, this had to be addressed directly. Education was necessary for new immigrants.

"Commissioner. Why don't we gather all of the working people, and educate them for a while? It's not that they're bad people. They just don't know."

"Great. I was going to discuss that with you anyway, Boss. They had been living in a disordered social setting for such a long time and education seems to be a must at this point."

"Yeah, it's discouraging that their lifestyle is really different from how we live, but we should focus on what we can do for them now."

"Okay, Boss. Ha… I should go ahead and think about how I can teach them now…"

Kim Chun sighed as he left.

His shoulders were drooping. Although Kim Chun was glad that new Koryoins were coming to the autonomous state, it seemed that it would take a while until they could adapt to the new custom and life of the state. They were just so different from Kazakh people.

Many of them also lost their identity as Koryoins. It made Kim Chun very sad.