Empire of the Ring

Park Jongil and Cha Insoo were proud of themselves as the new recruits enviously looked up to them, they now spent a lot of time training the new recruits who came to the new land with dreams. In their eyes, the two were pioneers who came to the unknown land first and made it far. Especially Jongil who shared his exaggerated stories here starting from becoming a militia instructor. He did not say anything about the CIA but when he shared the heroic story of how he risked his life traveling around the different regions of the Caucasus Mountain Range, the new recruits gave him an applause, and because of Jongil’s big mouth, Youngho was also idolized by them. When he passed by the recruits, he could see their glances of respect.

Kim Ilkwon completely left the Charles farm’s duty and now he settled as Youngho’s personal secretary and bodyguard. Youngho was going to place him at the oil exploration field but now that he established the security company, there were plenty of other guards who could be there instead of Ilkwon.

Because Ilkwon had been an elite North Korean agent, he was a useful resource who could pretty much do any job for Youngho. He would be especially useful when Youngho travels to Volgograd or Vladivostok since Ilkwon spoke Russian fluently. Of course, Jongil and Insoo did not forget to introduce Ilkwon to the new recruits from South Korea and warned them to choose words and actions wisely in front of him since he was a North Korean defector with many cultural differences. Some of them did not like the idea that a North Korean was guarding their boss Youngho, but it was natural. Some South Koreans despised North Koreans since Korea had been divided for so long, the public considered North Korea as another unrelated nation.

***

Kim Ilkwon was awkward too whenever he encountered Korean guys since both parties had been trained to fight each other as major enemies, it was such a weird experienced for them to treat each other normally.

Following Youngho around here and there, Ilkwon frequently got spiteful glances from the security crew. Youngho did not try to stop them since he thought that there needed to be a fight or something for once to resolve their feelings and to take each other as comrades. Sometimes loud and short exchanges of fists could be the best and fastest way to make friends between guys. It was something Youngho could not force.

Kim Ilkwon, who had experienced living in the free world of Baku ahead of the Korean crew, was way mature than them. It was also because he was older than them. He did not reciprocate the young Korean crew’s hatred but acted calmly. Interested by Ilkwon’s reaction, Youngho asked him why he was okay.

“Boss, I’ve gotten such hateful glances countless times living in North Korea. It would’ve been even difficult for me if they received me as their comrade so easily.”

Fond of every word Ilkwon said, Youngho patted his shoulder.

“Alright, if you say so. Those guys are not looking at you as an enemy. They look at you as a competitor. You’ve got to stay focused if you don’t want to lose your position, they’ll soon want to have a match with you to see who’s stronger.”

“I should avoid that kind of encounters, since we’ll be comrades in the future. You don’t need a match to know who’s stronger, don’t you think so?”

Ilkwon was confident. He seemed to have studied all of the opponents and concluded that he was better.

“You want to have a match with me?”

“I don’t feel comfortable having a match against you. You’ve been through all sorts of hardships, I can’t even think about that.”

Ilkwon had keen eyes. Youngho also thought that it would not be easy to subdue him in a match. In fact, if he did not use the ring’s power, he had no confidence in winning. Kim Ilkwon’s eyes and actions were sharp like a well-maintained sword.

***

It was almost at the end of the cultivation season. Because of the warmer weather than the last summer, grapes were cultivated fifteen days earlier than usual and they were sweeter than last year.

Although many people suffered from the high temperatures, Zeynep Farm benefited from the extreme heat. Gerhardt was in a good mood since the farm’s amount of crops had exceeded the estimated amount because they had a good crop in the Charles farm. Gerhardt was the one who recommended buying the Charles farm. He had been worrying about the farm’s success and since the farming seemed to be a success, he was satisfied that he did not disappoint Youngho.

***

A day before the monthly meeting at the CIA’s European chapter, Michael called Youngho.

“Lee, can you bring your friend who fled from North Korea to the meeting?”

When Ilkwon first came to the farm, Youngho had already reported about Ilkwon since he was being protected in the farm where the CIA was supporting. Youngho thought that Michael did not really pay attention to Ilkwon since he was not an influential figure but now that he wanted to see him, it was strange.

“Chief, I think it’s premature for him to freely travel around.”

“You don’t have to mind about traveling to Germany. Doesn’t he have a Russian passport?”

“Yes. I got it from asking the mafias, I don’t know if this will work at German airports.”

“If mafias made it, they could’ve made it through a legal route. If there’s a problem, the CIA can help him, so just bring him tomorrow.”

“The mafia didn’t seem to care about North Korean issues. Anyway, I’ll do as you say.”

“This could be a good deal for that fella, so tell him that he doesn’t need to worry.”

“Yes, chief. I’ll see you at the chapter.”

“Alright. Bye.”

Youngho still felt weird after hanging up the phone.

He had heard that the CIA was gathering influential North Korean defectors. He wondered what was going on and why Ilkwon was needed. The other day, Edward, the CIA agent who was demoted and assigned to Panama in Central America, told him on the phone about the CIA’s plan to form a North Korean government in exile for defectors.

Time to Time, Edward had been calling Youngho and giving him information that he could not hear from Europe, since he was thankful for Youngho helping Armenians. A government in exile. What on earth was that supposed to mean? When Korea should be united, making a government in exile for North Korean defectors meant that Korea would stay divided forever. Maybe, it might be a plan to prevent Chinese intervention after North Korea falls. The problem was that only Koreans wanted to be united and powerful nations of the world but did not want Korea to gain power by uniting the North and South.

Although the US CIA seemed to act as the world police, they ultimately moved for their own country’s benefits. Youngho did not wish to expose Kim Ilkwon’s existence to the CIA but because a Korean secret agent made a huge fuss out of Ilkwon’s issue and made it too obvious for watchers, Youngho had no other choice than to come clean to Michael. If Youngho was the Korean agent, he would not have made it too obvious. He was concerned with what the CIA was up to regarding North and South Korea.

The next day, Kim Ilkwon, who was waiting for the flight to Frankfurt, looked stressed. He seemed to have stood overnight worrying about going to the European chapter. If it had not been Youngho whom he was serving, he would have fled from the Charles farm taking all of his family with him. Youngho also thought for long before he could tell Ilkwon that the CIA wanted him. From Ilkwon’s changing facial expressions, he could see that Ilkwon is trying to suppress hard feelings because Youngho was his and his family’s savior.

When Ilkwon was introduced to Youngho by the Korean secret agent, he knew that the agent must not have introduced him to anybody. He thought that Youngho was a businessman who did government’s job too. He thought that it was interesting when he found out that Youngho was related to tge Navy Special Forces. However, he never expected Youngho to be related to the US CIA. Out of nowhere, Ilkwon was summoned to the CIA and he was confused and scared, Youngho was also taken aback by this situation. He would rather have Ilkwon run away overnight with his family but seeing Ilkwon driving to Zeynep Farm in the morning, he knew that Ilkwon was determined. Now it was his turn to protect him from the CIA.

“Ilkwon, I know I seem suspicious. I’m just going to share my honest heart with you.”

“…”

Before the flight arrived, Youngho decided to give another chance to Ilkwon. He was worried that Ilkwon might be disadvantaged by the CIA. If the CIA asks to take Ilkwon, there was nothing he could do but to comply. If he did not, everything he had built in Baku would be taken away. It was probably better if Youngho reported that Ilkwon disappeared at the airport.

“If you don’t want to come with me, you can leave now with your family. I will try to protect you as far as I can but I’m not sure if I have that much power in the organization. I know you might be blaming me but know this, my heart for you was true and I took you in as my friend and brother.”

Youngho almost teared up while he said this, he hated his weakness that he could not even protect his own people. He also hated the fact that he could not reject Michael’s request.

“…”

“Somehow I was connected to the CIA while I came here and struggled to survive, but I’m not a trash to sell you out. I was told that it would not be a big deal. I heard that lately, the CIA had been helping North Korean defectors to form a government in exile and maybe this is related to that but I can’t guarantee that. Even if I reported that I lost you in here, it would not affect me negatively. You can decide your future now, please tell me in ten minutes.”

Ilkwon pondered for some time and opened his mouth.

“Boss. No, Youngho hyung. Thank you for telling me your side of the story. If I get taken away by the CIA, could you please take care of my family?”

“You don’t even need to mention that. I mean, wouldn’t you do the same for me? And also, the US is a free democratic country. They’re not going to force you to do something against your will, I’m just regretful that your trust for me and my friends had been broken over this.”

“You don’t say, Hyung. I pondered upon this many times but I’ll never regret serving you. You never tried to take advantage of me but helped me out of pure compassion. Since you came as an agent of your organization, I know that you can’t reject the command.”

“…”

“I will keep what you just said in my heart forever. Whatever you do, you are still my brother.”

If Youngho had not opened his heart to Ilkwon at the airport, Ilkwon would have had bitterness toward him for the rest of his life. As a North Korean agent, he had been trained not to trust people and not to mention, in the end, he and his whole family were also betrayed by their own country. It was important for him to know if he could trust Youngho.

“Phew, man. You impress me so much. Hey, let’s think about how we could react to this in the plane.”