Empire of the Ring

Strange things could happen in life.

Close friends would die or get severely wounded all of a sudden, projects that were doing well could get twisted, and unexpected things happened in the most unlikely places.

As the Arirang Autonomous State now had more than 6,000 people, many unexpected things happened.

Serbian residents who lived at the state were from the Balkan Peninsula, which was a triangular peninsula located in the southern part of Europe and east side of the Mediterranean. The name ‘Balkan’ was named after a mountain range in the northeastern region of the peninsula. The mountainous place had many isolated regions and it suffered many disputes.

The Serbians, who had lived in such a rough place and who possessed Slavic ethnic temperament, had heavy drinking culture as in Russia and Korea. The people who came to the state traditionally made wine on their own and each family’s wine had different taste. Many residents were saving wine and cognac that had been aging for years as a precious family treasure.

When they first moved to the autonomous state, there had been many laughable happenings. Some wine pots broke from mishandling and the smell of wine spread in the whole vessel that was used to transport the immigrants. The owner of the wine pot looked sad as if he had lost his only son.

Youngho thought that it was very odd, but he now understood how much Serbians loved to drink. Some of them were extremely heavy drinkers that could not live a day without drinking.

“Are you saying we should limit the amount of liquors we sell to each family?”

“Yes, exactly. At this rate, there won’t be only a few who could step up as heavy drinkers like Russians.”

Kim Chun, who was not a good drinker, could say that but this would sound like a death sentence to people who loved to drink. Since the leadership of the state could not encourage people to drink less while they drank heavily, this meant that Youngho and his friends would have to suppress their drink drive.

“We need to start reducing the amount now when it’s still summer so that people won’t drink so heavily during the winter when they don’t have many outside activities.”

“Commissioner Kim. No one was reported yet to have caused troubles for getting drunk.”

“Boss. You should listen to the director and head doctor of the hospital.”

Then he turned his face to Kim Dong-sung.

Kim Chun gave the doctor a glance of pressure.

Doctor Kim Dong-sung had a sour look on his face. It was because he was a surgeon but he loved to drink. He even thought that doctors who could not drink did not deserve to be called doctors.

“Well. We’ve got a few people who should get treated for alcoholism.”

“Director. It’s not a few people. It’s a lot. I know that there’s even a few among us as we stand here.”

Two people of the three who were involved in the conversation felt a prick at their heart.

Youngho was one of them. To think that he might get dragged to get treated for alcoholism, he stopped Kim Chun as soon as possible.

“Commissioner Kim. I do drink quite a lot but you know I only drink on special occasions.”

Youngho wanted to snap at Kim Chun since he had indirectly pointed him out as an alcoholic but he could not since he did not want to hear that he should stop drinking at this opportunity from Kim Chun.

“You know you can’t ignore ethnic traditions. We’re not under Communism here. If we forcefully limit the alcohol consumption, there will be a backlash. Is there any other way?”

Because Youngho could not oppose him for a personal reason, he indirectly opposed him mentioning communism but Kim Chun’s reaction was still cold.

“I want everyone here not to be seen drinking in public. I can’t even look at young people who just turned adults getting drunk in the day time. This is all because we set up such role as adults for them.”

“But you can’t stop that from drinking at home.”

“That’s something we can’t force but I’m planning to punish those who gets drunk and disturbs other people or things with a light violation of law. We need to be strict in the beginning stage to correct the wrong drinking culture.”

He already saw this as a wrong drinking culture.

Kim Dong-sung was looking the other way, not daring to join their fiery conversation.

Youngho had to drag Kim Dong-sung on his side to win the conversation over to him, so he pulled him in.

“Doctor. Is this really problematic in the medical point of view?”

“Well, the medical field views drinking a few cups of alcohol a day as an alcoholic behavior but because every person has a different physical and mental constitution. It’s hard to tell.”

At least this was a hopeful remark for Youngho and other drinkers.

***

Since Youngho had been only focused on establishing and building the autonomous state and did not see any problem among people. Now that Kim Chun had pointed out one of the cultural problems of the people and was willing to figure out a means to stop that, it was the beginning of new changes for a better state.

This had to be dealt with care since Youngho did not know why people were drinking so heavily although mainly it was cultural. Not all of the people who emigrated to the autonomous state were living a satisfying life. Some of them were recruited in the drone factory and bearing factory—and some were chosen as Countryside Force, but the majority of the residents were ranchers, farmers, and laborers at construction sites.

Such jobs were very important but what if some people hated their jobs? The job positions the autonomous state offered to people were not very diverse. This could be one of the reasons why many people drank heavily, out of despair. If so, it was a huge problem. To think that this might not be a simple issue, Youngho was deeply concerned.

If some people were drinking because they felt a relative sense of deprivation or because they could not adapt to their new life in the autonomous state, it was necessary to find other measures that could satisfy their desires.

If they could find new hobbies that were healthy for their mental and physical needs, such as reading books and leisure activities, they would not drink as much as now. People had been so busy only working after working, they had no chance to enjoy personal lives. Also, it was difficult to find a place to read or even to find books since there was no bookstore or a library in the state. It was a shame.

“Commissioner Kim. Have you thought about opening a bookstore or a library? I’m sure you have, you were a teacher before.”

“Boss. Do you have any idea how much it cost to build a library? I thought about it but since our stats are still at the starting stage, I thought I’d do it maybe in several years.”

It seemed that Kim Chun had not been thinking about it. If he really desired a library, he would have grilled Youngho until he got what he wanted.

“I’ll be so ashamed if there’s not a single library in the state when the medical school is established.”

“Then, should I get on it now?”

“Yes, please. It’d be great to discuss it with the construction director Min to come up with a great-looking building design. As a temporary measure, I’ll have to make a library out of an extra room in the administration building.”

People who were excited about the new library were Kim Dong-sung, the director of the hospital, and Park Youngsun. Both of them were willing to donate their own books.

As experts in their own field, they knew the value of reading books. They also said that they could easily get books through their connections. Youngho wondered if they would be willing to share specialty publication.

“Don’t you have to get those specialty books from overseas?”

“I think it’d be more valuable if students can read what you used to study with.”

“Are you talking about little notes we made on books?”

“Sure, I am. You know, you must’ve made notes and underlined important sentences.”

“I thought old books could not make it to the library.”

“It doesn’t matter as long as people can read. I know we’ve got e-books these days but I’m always a big fan of interacting with physical books.”

“That’s same with me too. I rarely read on my tablet or smartphone because I love to have actual books with me although I need to carry them around.”

The leadership group of the autonomous state concluded that people tended to drink because there was nothing much to do after work and school. So, they decided to build a library and also make a music shop, stationery store, and office supply store in the center of the city area.

Nonetheless, Kim Chun began quota restriction on alcohol consumption in the state. Since he had done it so quickly, Youngho could not stop him. It was for the well-being of the residents anyway, so he had nothing to say.

Many people still used cash to buy things in the autonomous state but the majority used the residential card. Everything people bought with care left a record in the system, so checking who bought liquor was easy. All the administration had to do was to give the limitation line for alcohol consumption.

Drinkers of the state resisted the sudden policy, but Kim Chun did not budge. He rather threatened them saying that any people who protested against the policy would be sent to the hospital to be treated for alcoholism.

Youngho could not say a word to save his face, although he dearly wanted to.

“Shouldn’t we finish our stressful conferences with drinking? That’d make our state a better place.”

“If drinking could resolve any problem in the state, I’d learn to become a better drinker. Boss, you’ve exhausted your liver with heavy drinking as well. Please let it rest for the next several months.”

Youngho gave him a pressure but Kim Chun still did not change his mind.

“You haven’t heard Dr. Kim? He said everyone has different detoxification ability for alcohol and some people can drink better than others. What about the future festivals?”

“Is a festival not a festival without alcohols? Alcohols rather ruin festivals. I won’t be so stern like this if people knew how to drink moderately. They don’t just drink. They pour down drinks instead!”

Kim Chun made Youngho blush.

Youngho had drunk a lot with friends during festivals but he never made mistakes, except for one occasion when he could not attend the great finale ceremony of a festival for being drunk. That was what Kim Chun was implying now. He would never let that go until Youngho stopped drinking once and for all.

“You won’t say that if you looked at the people who could not even join the festival and sat at the back.”

“I know them well. I’m telling you that I’ll comfort those people from now on, and you should take care of other things. There’s no winner with drinking.”

In every huge event of the state, Youngho spotted people who could not enjoy the occasion since they still could not adapt to their new life in the state. They could become a threatening group to the state in the future, so Youngho could not let them stay like that alone. To comfort them, he had been drinking with them all along but Kim Chun insisted that he would do the job instead of Youngho without drinking.