Empire of the Ring

Anti-government protests were temporarily muted in response to strong police restriction.

However, it was like an active volcano waiting to erupt at any time.

The unstable political situation had led to a decline in the productivity of industrial goods and daily necessities factories, which even shook the working-class economy.

Kazakhstan was the world’s largest resource-rich country. Yet, it was still a poverty-stricken place despite earning huge foreign currency.

The self-sustaining industrial development had been subjugated to the economic sphere of Russia and China, as it turned a blind eye and relied on imports for most manufactured goods and daily necessities. Being a little conscious would not have led this country to such a mess. How much money would it cost to build a factory for manufactured goods or daily necessities? If only there had been a few factories built in different regions, people would not have to suffer poverty. This was because of the vicious circle of corruption in officialdom and government that siphoned off the country’s money.

However, it was a shock to President Nazarbayev that the Kazakh people who had been supporting him staged an anti-government protest. The public sector was also in a state of limbo that paralyzed their work. So, various welfare systems began to falter.

As a result, the president, who had often been seen in national events, no longer appeared in the public’s eyes. The doctors of the autonomous state went to the Presidential Palace every month to check the president’s health. According to the medical staff who recently visited there, the president had been really stressed out.

“He’s got a mental breakdown.”

“He’d better give up his power now. He needs to find an asylum instead of hiding.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have money to leave. We stole all of his money.”

“Oh, you’re funny. Why wouldn’t there be anywhere to go?”

“Who’s going to take him? Unless he owns an island in the South Pacific or something, I don’t know. By the way, the border area is quiet. The two militaries are now sorting this out, I think they’ll wrap it up at this point. Should we go again to stir things up? It’s now or never.”

“No. It worked out rather well. The border needs to be quiet for the corruption in the government to continue to be illuminated. Hey, what’s going on with the plan of convincing the police leadership?”

“A couple of mid-level officers are very favorable to our state, so we’re working on them. One of them sent a sick person from his family to our hospital, and he was very grateful. We also provided his family who came as caregivers a temporary shelter.”

“Really? That was very good. No one would hate to take care of their family. Keep it up.”

“Yeah, that’s my plan. I’m going to impress the family of the sick person while they’re here. Apparently, they loved the school and hospital here and were surprised to hear that there was a medical school too. They visited the administration office and asked about their qualifications to live in the county.”

“Then make me live here.”

The Kazakh people who originally lived in the area that was added to the autonomous state could become residents of the state, but the central government had not yet allowed accepting Kazakh people from other regions to the state. The families of the Navy or the Maritime Police were only living in the state for working convenience, but they were not official residents either.

“You’re not allowed to bring Kazaks under the current law, how are we going to bring them here?”

“We can’t break the rules. We have to find a way to make an excuse.”

“The police officers can’t leave Astana, and how can he make his family live here?”

“Dude, you have a smart brain. Why don’t you use it?”

“All I can think of is turning the whole family into patients.”

“There’s an answer. Register them all as patients and hold them as a hostage.”

***

Youngho and his friends gathered at the office to discuss the political situation.

Jong-il was now reporting the Korean applicants who applied to become the foreign legion.

“How many people have applied?”

“Over 300 people and more people are still applying. The U.D.T. Union was worried that there’s going to be too many applicants. Are all of these people really from Korea?”

“How much salary did you offer?”

“I didn’t offer a lot. It’s only 42,000 dollars in annual salary, plus combat commissions. I think they liked the fact that we provide houses and jobs for their families too. Many of them are not married, but they’re willing to bring their parents here.”

“What? They want to risk their life for only that much money?”

It was a huge amount of money for them, but by European standards, it was not a lot.

“What are you talking about? All applicants are in their mid-20s or late 20s. Imagine that people in their 20s get paid as a manager of a mid-sized company. It’s never a small amount of money for them.”

“Didn’t you say that the initial salary for a large company is well over 34,000 dollars?”

“That’s limited to great companies. Most people don’t get that much. And you know the ex-Special Forces don’t have competitiveness in big companies. Many of them didn’t even go to college.”

“It seems that Korea is not easy to live in, either.”

It seemed that the applicants did not have regrets leaving Korea since they wanted to bring their parents too. Since they had no decent jobs in Korea, they wanted to come here to settle down and get married.

“I’m sure they’ll be expecting the beautiful ladies of Caucasus.”

“They’re indeed great and pretty. Look at my wife Karajan. She’s so faithful to her husband, and she keeps her radiant beauty even after having two children.”

“You made a great choice. You should thank me for the rest of your life.”

“Baku girls are pretty, but they can be spiteful. I think Armenian women are a lot better.”

Cho Chul-hwan interrupted and bragged about his wife. Then Cha In-soo also made a comment,

“A Korean woman is the best.”

“Jeez, boys! Stop bragging about your wife. Fatima is the best.”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you for getting married to the girl you raised.”

“Hahaha…”

Everyone burst into laughter despite the serious situation of Kazakhstan. It was great that they could afford to make jokes and laugh regardless of the situation.

***

Youngho flew to Istanbul to process his plans.

The chairman of Koç Holding Group, Enes Kaya, welcomed Youngho’s visit as if he had met a savior. It seemed that he was worried that all the work with Kazakhstan that he had been pushing for would be ruined because of the situations in Kazakhstan.

“I feel like my worries have disappeared now that I see you. Our business won’t be affected by this, will it?”

“The situation is bad, but the business has to be carried out according to the contract.”

“The Kazakh officials who are in charge of the business are not responding at all. I’m stuck because I didn’t get the president’s approval for the establishment of a joint factory in Atyrau.”

“Really? I’ve reached a verbal agreement with the president, and if the officials are not working on it, we’ll have no choice but to set it up in the autonomous state as it was originally planned.”

“Will that be possible?”

“You’ve already received the deposit from the Kazakh government. It doesn’t matter where the factory is built. I’ll be responsible for it.”

The Kazakh government had not yet edited the documents of the joint factory, which was originally planned to be built in the autonomous state. In other words, there were no public servants who were willing to accept such a trifle in the current atmosphere. This was a good opportunity for Youngho.

“Duke, but is it going to be alright? You said the president agreed to build it in Atyrau.”

“It was because I complained that there was no infrastructure in the state. The president didn’t force it to build it in Atyrau, so there would be no problem. Actually, the president will be pleased to hear that I changed my mind.”

“That’s a good thing, then. We’ll send our staff to the autonomous state at any moment.”

Since the president was cornered now, he would not be able to take care of the factory. Youngho also had a justification that he had to act because the joint factory was on the verge of being canceled due to the failure of related officials to follow up. Even if President Nazarbayev managed to clear the political situation, having a military tank assembly factory would not be problematic. It was because the time had already passed for the president to empower his daughter by turning the state into a threatening force to Kazakhstan. The president was not facing a more urgent problem which was to find a way for his family to survive.

Despite the political turmoil, Youngho’s self-reliant action to protect Kazakhstan’s national defense was something to be praised by the public. Youngho also agreed to build a semi-finished helicopter assembly line in the state.

The Russian aviation engineers were recovering well from alcoholism, so it seemed that they would be able to assemble a helicopter easily in the future.

Chairman Kaya also promised that his company would be in charge of training pilots and maintenance personnel. He was determined to actively help Youngho to speed up the current business with Kazakhstan. Since Youngho had quite a lot of money from the presidential villa, he did not worry about the fund.

There was another assignment for Youngho.

It was to secure the only force in the Caspian Sea, which was Kazakhstan’s missile fleet.

It would depend on how Victor Jun of the Navy would take Youngho’s suggestion, but if Kazakhstan was divided, the Navy of the Caspian Sea would be left in a state of limbo.

The Navy, which only served to defend the western coast, was nothing but useless power in the reality of confronting the Chinese and Russian borders.

Less than one-fiftieth of the Army’s force, the naval force was just old-fashioned, and Victor was always unhappy about it. If Kazakhstan was split, it would not be able to maintain the Navy’s huge budget. For the Navy, the Arirang Autonomous State was the only place to lean on. Still, it was necessary to approach carefully and ask for Victor’s intention. Youngho was desperate for any armed force that would side with the autonomous state at this time.