Empire of the Ring

President Nazarbayev said as if it was no big deal, but Youngho felt his hair standing on end. The president had already known that the Arirang Autonomous State would go the path of an independent nation someday.

"Mr. President, how dare can I dream of such a thing? Less than 10,000 people live in our state. I'm already more than thankful for the Kazakh government for recognizing our state. I cannot ask for more."

"Maybe you won't do it in my generation, but in the future when the times get hard, you will naturally think of separating away from our country. Kazakhstan also dreamed of independence for a hundred years, and one day, it came all of a sudden."

"…"

"Looking at the current world situation, Kazakhstan's future isn't that bright. Other nations are only looking for a chance to take our resources, and I don't know who's going to succeed in my position, but I'm not going to be able to close my eyes even if I'm dead in worry of the future of Kazakhstan."

"Sir…"

"You should get ready in advance if you don't want to rush around by then. If you hold on to a corner of Kazakhstan, I will close my eyes at ease. Please don't forget our people's favor done for Koryoins when that time comes."

As he left the presidential palace, Youngho's steps were heavy.

The President was predicting that the future of Kazakhstan would not be smooth. Unless he was senile, his insight must be correct. The reality was that nearly 30 percent of the population was Russian or Slavic. Their call for independence in the borderland of Kazakhstan that was adjacent to the Russian border was impossible without Russia's influence.

The president's concern was that Russia would not stop only by taking the borderland. It was because there were still a lot of Russians scattered around the country. In the worst scenario, Kazakhstan would be dismantled and exist only as a small autonomous state. The only hope for Kazakhstan was to wish that Russia would collapse or change its mind.

To keep Russia in check, Kazakhstan would have to keep building its military strength by developing formidable weapons. This was the only way to maintain an equal relationship or establish an international standing. For an opponent who was difficult to counter by force, international interests must be complicated to prevent arbitrary behavior.

That was why the Kazakh government tried hard to attract large-scale foreign investments and form military and economic alliances with powerful countries. Thus, Youngho's role in attracting global companies to invest in Kazakhstan and U.S. military aid was quite important.

As Youngho was thinking about this, he realized that the autonomous state was no different from Kazakhstan. No matter how much the world acknowledged it—it would collapse without strength and help from around it. The thought shook his whole body. It was then. Youngho shuddered and at the same time, the ring responded.

Though not as strong as during the coronation, the color of the stone of the ring quickly showed different colors as if the relic was communicating with Youngho's spirit.

He did not know whatever this meant, but his already complex head was more confused. This was because such a change in the old literature from the museum did not even mention it.

He had laughed when the old literature wrote that the ring would give its owner the unusual power and strength, but seeing this kind of change made him think that he had to revisit the literature.

***

Niksic reported that about 630 descendants of 126 families of the Serbian kingdom would move to the autonomous state by next year.

About 40 families said that they would have to move at any moment, so he requested for a ship to be sent to Romania's Port of Constanta a week later. A week was also a tight time to make immigration documents. When he ordered Kim Chun to make related documents as soon as quickly, the answer was surprising.

"Prince consort, you could send a ship to the Port of Constanta first, documents may be dealt with later. It takes a long time to get documents processed even if I submit documents now to the state government of Atyrau. It doesn't matter if we submit the documents after they got here."

"But this is immigration. Wouldn't there be trouble later if we don't process it now? I don't want to hear that the Arirang state had violated Kazakhstan's rule."

"When people came from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, I was stressed because the paperwork was not processed until it was late. The documents were processed after the immigrants were done settling down at the state. There's no official in the government to pick it up."

The government officials, who had been slow to work all along did not even care about such process. Moreover, some officials even would say that anything related to the autonomous state was outside their administrative scope. Perhaps if the state made its own passport and applied for a visa to Kazakhstan, there would be some stupid officials who would pass the visa without thinking about it.

"Commissioner, why don't you go receive the new immigrants yourself this time?"

"What? May I?"

"You are a baron of the Arirang state. You are fully qualified. And your personal secretary and bodyguard will be arranged soon. Accompany them whenever you have an outside activity."

"Prince consort, how can I afford such luxury?"

"You have to do so, not only because of your sake but also for the sake of our state's dignity."

"Is it necessary to do that?"

"It's a kind of learning effect. We need to create awareness that you are a person who can't be underestimated."

"Can I pick the secretary myself?"

"Do you have someone in mind?"

"Yes. This is a bright young man at the administration office. The poor guy deserves a better position. He's a Serbian, but he's fluent in Russian."

The idea of Koryoin Commissioner of the state hiring a Serbian lad as a secretary was refreshing. Youngho had been insisting on people who could speak Korean such as Kim Chu and Suh Min-seok around him.

Most of the Serbian residents used to live in the mountains, so only a few people had received higher education. Even though Youngho wanted to give them a chance, they had been excluded from administrative work because they were undereducated. But now, there were many Serbian young people who had graduated from autonomous state schools, and others who went abroad to study at prestigious universities in the world. It was time to give children who had finished their studies a chance to become state servants.

"Please select a lot of Serbian young adults from now on. The Koryoins had been taking control of the administrative work, but there are more Serbian people who are qualified from receiving higher education. We should give them an equal chance."

"I was planning on that too. Now that their Russian has improved much, I think they can handle simple administrative documents."

"The Kazakh government can't ignore us only when the Koryoins and Serbians are well united. Even though many ethnic groups speak their own language, like Switzerland, I have always envied them to live without noise."

"We will be more united than Switzerland one day."

***

At last, massive airstrikes had begun on IS that were based in Syria and Iraq.

Youngho was watching live news broadcast on CNN from his office at the Grand Palace. Watching TV, Cho Chul-hwan swung his fist.

"What are they doing? They're only causing dust. They're fine inside the bunkers."

"They don't want to waste their expensive missiles to strike them. Also, that's where the civilians live. They'll be in so much trouble later on if they bombed the civilians too."

"That's not the problem. The problem is that terrorist attacks will take place in all parts of the world from tomorrow. How are our security guards doing at the hotels in Turkey?"

"They're all in bulletproof vests and they're all heavily armed. But the hotel managers are complaining because they can scare their guests. It's a problem."

"They're constantly bombed but they never learn. If they keep talking nonsense, you'll have to withdraw our guards. I felt bad about sending our guys to such a dangerous place. Tell them we're going to take this opportunity to breach the contract."

"Let's wait and see for now."

"No. There's definitely going to be terrorist attacks over and over again. Especially hotels, where people gather for various reasons, are a good target. They made a claim first, so notify them they're interrupting our work and we'll withdraw the guards."

Dozens of Zeynep Security Service guards were on duty under security contracts at seven luxury hotels in Istanbul. The security guards of the company were all trained from the Korean Navy Special Forces, and because of their tight security, they gained popularity in Istanbul's hotels. However, now that they were fully armed when on duty, which was done in preparation for terrorist attacks, hotels complained that they were chasing away guests with their scary looks. If this conflict kept on, Youngho was willing to cancel the contracts and pull all of them out of the city since he was worried that he had sent the guards to a dangerous place.

Most of the security guards who were dispatched to Istanbul hotels returned to the autonomous state. Their family members were happy to see them return from a dangerous place, although some of the single guards were sad that they were taken away the opportunity to meet beautiful Istanbul girls. Istanbul was a crowded place where 13 million people lived, so it was not a safe place when terrorism was in its full swing. Since there was plenty of work for the security guards to do in the state as well anyway, Youngho was glad that he made such a decision. They would be appointed as team leaders for the Countryside Force soldiers.

France, Turkey, Russia, and Britain, including the United States, were involved in the raid on the IS organization, which was almost one-sided with little resistance.

Six large strongholds were bombed, and even training fields were destroyed. So, the IS seemed to be almost demolished. As a result, the IS in Syria and northern Iraq had been completely cleared up.

The IS called for a holy war through Arab media, but they were almost annihilated after losing most of their power. The majority of the IS leaders were killed.

As the IS leaders of Syria and northern Iraq were destroyed, terrorist attacks started from different mountainous regions. It was finally starting to happen. The IS remnants would soon be launching more intense attacks. The world was nervous about what they would do after they braced up themselves.

After the raid, the Kazakh government also reacted quickly.

The government diligently imported daily necessities and tightened security inspections throughout the nation. In fact, it was unclear if the IS were responsible, but an attack was launched in the northern industrial city, Aktobe.

When the world was shaking in fear of terror, a car ferry that would be headed to the Port of Constanta, Romania, was getting ready to leave the Arirang Wharf making a loud sound of a boat horn.

"Commissioner, please don't forget to stop by Istanbul and bring the daily goods on the way back."

"There's a lot of cargo space on this ship. Should I bring you something else?"

"No, the staff at the pier would be enough. Don't even think about getting off the boat and walking on the streets of Istanbul. The security guards will help workers when they load goods at the pier."

"You know I can protect myself. I'm the first one who got shot while working for the autonomous state, remember?"

"I am well aware of your skills. But if you get hurt, the state will be paralyzed."

Several years ago, Kim Chun was shot by robbers on the road when he was returning to the state from Atyrau. This story was talked over and over again as a legend. As the years went by, the number of robbers was increasing somehow.

Jong-il said that the size of a fish that was caught by a fisherman would grow every year, and it was the same with Kim Chun. For example; the first fish would be palm-sized, and the next year, it was bulky, and the next year it grew to an arm's length.

Anyway, the day when Kim Chun left the pier, the autumn sky looked exceptionally clear and high.