Empire of the Ring

At the boisterous sound in his house, Youngho came downstairs only to meet the follower couple playing with his kids even though it was still morning.

“Hey, guys! Can’t you keep it down? I need some more sleep. I didn’t even sleep four hours since I got here early in the morning.”

“We couldn’t sleep until you got here either, Mr. CEO.”

These days, the follower couple always talked back to Youngho. It started ever since they got closer to Fatima and Leon.

“Oh, is that so? Why didn’t you sleep more then? Instead of waking me up this morning at my house?”

“I heard that Leon was looking for me.”

“Phew, is Leon your best friend now?”

Although the couple used an excuse of Leon to stay, they must have come to get a free meal from Fatima since the cafeteria at the administration building was closed on weekends. They always come to Youngho’s house to get food on weekends and holidays.

Youngho came back from the Koryoin mine village late at night with H Corporation’s Kim Joo-hyuk. It was because the road that connected the village and the new mineral open-storage yard at the Port of Atyrau had an opening ceremony yesterday.

The road from the village was paved until the outskirt of Atyrau and the rest of the road was evened out now—that the transportation of minerals would be sped up from now on.

Youngho would have stayed at the mining village for the night and drank with the miners but because the state was busy for the Koryoin immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, he had to come back as soon as the ceremony was finished.

“Are there other things to report?”

“No, there was nothing special. Oh, and I had not told you about this before but there is a person with special expertise among the new Koryoin immigrants. Would you like to meet him?”

“What specialty?”

“He majored in Oriental medicine.”

“Does he have a license?”

“No, nothing of sort. He’s learned it from his father. But in Osh, his family used to be known as a noted doctor among Koryoins. Many Koryoins after moving here said that they’d rather go see him than going to the hospital.”

“So, he’s been treating people without accreditation so far.”

“In Kyrgyzstan, people recognized him as a traditional remedial treatment doctor, and local Kyrgyz people also sought him for treatments.”

Many countries in Central Asia lacked medical systems and facilities that many people still relied on folk remedies for their illness. It was not only because western medicine was quite expensive but also because hospitals were too far away from where many lived. Even without licensure, people sought remedial doctors that were known to be skillful. Since oriental medical treatment used acupuncture and herb medicines, they did not have a lot of side effects.

“After breakfast, why don’t you bring him to me? I trust oriental medicine. Many times, they are more effective than western medical treatments.”

“Yes, Mr. CEO!”

Suh Min-seok had thoroughly reviewed new immigrants’ profiles and picked out a person that had special expertise. He also asked about his reputation to other immigrants to make sure before he reported it to Youngho.

It seemed that he was doing a great job as Youngho’s secretary.

Youngho was glad that he hired the follower couple as his secretaries since they noticed many small things that he easily overlooked.

***

Bang Sun-yeob who was in his mid-40s had majored in oriental medicine. He was as skinny as doctor Kim Dong-sung but his voice was quite low.

“Mr. Bang, I wanted to see you because I heard you’re recognized for your talent in oriental medicine.”

“Oh, my patients are too nice that they treat me as a reputable doctor.”

“You must’ve gone through a lot of hardship in Kyrgyzstan.”

“Yes, I have. I should’ve said this earlier but I thank you for your generous act for all Koryoins, Mr. Lee.”

“I should help out Koryoins since they are my countrymen. I only cared about Koryoins in Kazakhstan until now that I did not think about Koryoins in other regions.”

“There are not many people who would help others with their own money. We, Koryoins, are determined to repay you with our hard work.”

Although Youngho’s act to save about 200 Koryoins in danger was admirable, he only did it since the autonomous state needed more population and labor force.

“I didn’t do it to hear such compliments. I only did it because the autonomous state needed more manpower.”

“You say that but still, you could’ve paid anyone nearby to work for you. We will never forget what you’ve done for us and try our best to repay for your generosity.”

“Oh, you don’t have to feel burdened by this. I called you because I needed you too.”

After exchanging some stereotypic expressions of gratitude, the two started talking about how Bang Sun-yeob learned oriental medicine.

Bang Sun-yeob’s great-great-grandfather used to be a doctor who worked for the royal family of the Joseon Dynasty in the past and from then, his family’s occupation as a medical doctor was passed down to the descendants.

After losing the country, his grandfather took his family to the Maritime Province to help and treat independence fighters of Korea in the province until they were forcibly relocated to Kyrgyzstan by the Soviet Union.

He turned out to be a decent oriental doctor, not a quack since his family used to serve the old Korean royal family line.

Youngho wondered how the head doctor Kim Dong-sung would react to this news. Many hospitals would do joint treatment of western and oriental medical practice these days.

Maybe the autonomous state’s hospital could have a branch of Oriental medicine in its building too.

After meeting Bang Sun-yeob, Doctor Kim Dong-sung got quite exuberated.

Although Doctor Bang did not study in a university, his knowledge was based on handed-down discipline in his family. His experience as a remedial doctor in Kyrgyzstan also strengthened and backed up his study.

“I don’t know a lot about oriental medicine but his way of treating patients is very unique. Only by talking to him, I’m already confident in him and his skills. In medical science, there’s something called a placebo effect. If a doctor could make his patient relaxed and comforted in the process of diagnosis and treatment, the effect of treatment multiplies. There are so many things I can learn from him.”

“Is he that knowledgeable?”

“I’m lost for words for his passion as a doctor. He said that he even practiced low voice to soothe his patients and gain trust from them. I believe we can open the oriental medicine branch in our hospital and let him be in charge of the department. If Korean doctors who majored in oriental medicine met him, they’d be honored.”

Even though doctor Kim Dong-sung had not known Bang Sun-yeob for a long time, he was certain about his talent and qualification. It seemed that Bang Sun-yeob had enough qualification to attract oriental doctors from Korea. If the state offered education for a traditional oriental medical practice and provide high salary and houses to live in, it would be able to attract talented young doctors from Korea.

***

Park Jong-il, who had been helping Koryoin immigrants in Kyrgyzstan, returned to the state.

He looked a lot thinner than before.

“Hey, no matter how busy you are, you should eat well and take care of yourself first. Why do you look so thin?”

“Argh, don’t even talk about it. I stayed with Koryoin refugees all along. How could I eat good food when they can’t? I was glad that Cho Chul-hwan brought a lot of combat rations to eat. If he hadn’t, I would’ve starved there.”

“Osh is a big city, isn’t there a decent restaurant?”

“The whole city is in panic. Who’d open a restaurant in that chaos? Grocery stores are getting robbed by people now. There’s no order. I helped the migration of the rest of the Koryoins from there to the city of Bishkek. There’re about 100 there now, but the problem is the Koryoins in remote areas.”

Uzbek people still striking against the Kyrgyz government, so the whole city was paralyzed now. Since it was a cold winter, people were having a hard time finding food and daily supplies.

“Let’s wait for now since we moved all the Koryoins from Osh. We can take in the people who are in Bishkek but after them, we’ll have to wait until spring to take in more people. I’m not even sure if we have enough houses to take in 100 people at the moment.”

“It’s because the borderline was wrongly assigned by the Soviet Union. The land used to belong to Uzbek people.”

“Man, I don’t get it. People already have enough land mass in Central Asia. Can’t they just live in peace for a second?”

Since Central Asia did not have a dense population, many parts were wasted. Territorial disputes seemed odd in Youngho’s eyes since he came from South Korea, which was a small, overpopulated country. He thought that the reason must be that there were too many ethnicities living together in Central Asia.

“By the way, about those diamonds you gave me. They turned out to be quite valuable than we expected.”

“Are you serious? For industrial use or for jewelry use?”

“You know I took eight of them with me. When I showed them to an expert, he said that three of them could be processed as jewelry. We’ll have to process them and get appraised but they’ll worth at least four to five thousand dollars a carat.”

“How many carats do you think we could get out of one stone?”

“He said that most of the stones have one carat but rarely they could be two to five carats as well.”

Youngho was feeling down that he had been tricked by Lieutenant Colonel Klimov, but Jong-il’s words got him excited now.

“What about the ones for industrial use?”

“He said that we should keep them for now. They could be used for many purposes since they are a strategic item.”

“Whoa, these are really valuable stones.”

“You need to go to the Siberian expedition as soon as possible. I want to go along but we can’t be both absent from the autonomous state.”

Although Klimov knew the value of the diamonds, he could not find a market for the illegally collected diamonds. The Russian government would not allow him to make profits even if he opened this up. 50 dollars for each stone was the best price he could get from his deal with Youngho.

Now, there was another reason for Youngho to go back to Siberia.

If Youngho could get Eriksson to sell the diamonds, he would get him the best price for them since he had all sorts of information from his connections to all sorts of organizations and corporations as a middleman of the Information Agency.

Youngho thought that it would not be late for him to go to Siberia after contacting Eriksson and trying to make a deal with him. He called Eriksson right away.

“Eriksson, do you treat diamonds as well?”

“As long as they’re not blood diamonds.”

The blood diamond that Eriksson mentioned were the diamonds collected from a diamond mine that caused the civil war in Sierra Leone. They were named blood diamonds because so many innocent people shed their blood to produce them. The term was now used to refer to diamonds produced illegally.

“That’s nonsense. They were inherited in the Archduke’s family.”

“Okay, that’s good to know. Will you give me the honor to sell them?”

No one doubted the Archduke family’s inheritance, especially when it was not processed. Many European royal families stored jewelry and gems as family inheritance just in case.

“I’ve got 540 rough diamonds.”

“Hmmm, that is a lot more than I expected but I guess big customers would love that.”

“As for the commission, I’ll follow the usual business custom.”

“I like the fact that you’re so easy going. I’ll get the best price for them for you. Now, where would I receive the items?”

“Well, airports in Europe have tight security. Why don’t we meet at Arirang Hotel in Batumi?”

“They don’t have strict rules for rough diamonds but we’d better not to expose our identities. Then, I’ll see you there in two days.”

The next day, Youngho flew to Batumi on his light airplane.

Um Sang-taek who was now solely in charge of Arirang Hotel in Batumi greeted Youngho with excitement.

“Man, you’re doing a lot on your own.”

“Well, it’s not much. The manager does all the work. You guys are the ones who’re going through a lot.”

“You know, all of your friends are idiotic. We want at least one among us to be knowledgeable by earning a doctorate degree. You should finish what you started without worrying about other things including the tuition.”

“Thanks, Youngho.”

“What are you saying? It’s between us. You don’t need to thank me. Hey, by the way. Chul-hwan and his family are gone now, is your wife okay with that?”

“She complains all the time but she knows that she needs to stay with her husband.”

“If she gets too lonely, why don’t you and your family move to the autonomous state? You can work and study here during the week and come back to the state during the weekends.”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that lately. I also don’t like the fact that this is a vacationland. It can’t be good for my children’s education.”

“If you feel that way, send all of your family and your wife’s family to the state. I’ll make room for them.”

“You always take care of us. I really appreciate that, man.”

“Phew, stop saying it! If we get too busy with the Siberian business, you might have to stop your study for a while.”

“Well, that’s fine with me any time.”

Arirang Hotel grew this much because of Um Sang-taek and Cho Chul-hwan’s effort.

His friends thought that Youngho was being generous with them, but in Youngho’s perspective, his friends were helping him. No business could be done alone. Since he had trustworthy friends who worked for him, he could focus on other things not worrying about his local businesses.

Many people would betray his close friends when they had money but his friends never did such a thing so far. It might be because they had been comrades in the Special Forces Unit who shared sweats and deadly training together. Even after their naval days, their bonds had been staying strong that they took care of each other.

Youngho truly appreciated their friendship. Now, they shared the same goal of establishing and developing the Arirang Autonomous State.

Um Sang-taek might have to temporarily stop his study if the Siberian business got bigger. Therefore, Youngho wanted to move Sang-taek’s family before he got busy.