Empire of the Ring

The reason for China’s opposition towards the independence of ethnic groups might be because it does not want to end up like Russia.

The Soviet Union, which had a hundred and thirty ethnicities and fifteen republics, was called as the prison for minorities since they were forced to stay in the frame of the Soviet Union. However, as the reform and openness policy came into effect and the former country’s power was weakened, and finally all of the republics earned their independence. There were still many ethnic groups fighting for independence and even in those republics, there were other minority groups fighting for their independence.

There were one hundred and twenty ethnic groups in Kazakhstan as well, and with the Serbian immigrants added to the country, it sure was a diverse country.

The demographics of ethnic groups were; Kazakhs 63%, Russians 24%, Uzbeks 2.8%, Ukrainians 2.1%, and there were eleven other ethnic groups. There were 100,000 Koryoins, and they were the ninth largest ethnic group.

Since there were 4,000 Serbians on Arirang Farm, they would be the smallest ethnic group among 120 groups.

Fortunately, the country did not have any prominent religious conflicts since Islam and Christianity were equally highly influential in the country.

The Kazak government had compared the characteristics of each ethnic group or the level of education, economic power, and national contribution, and Koryoins took the top ranks on average.

Koryoins were a minority group with almost all of the population firmly rooted in mainstream society. They were prominent in high-ranking posts in Kazakhstan, academia and cultural arts. The director of asset management of the president Nazarbayev was also a Koryoin.

They were forcefully deployed from the Far East to Kazakhstan in 1937 and Kazakhs helped them to get through the cold winter when they had no clothes and foods. As people believed that they could survive from the help of the local Kazakhs, they maintained a great relationship with the country.

Many economically successful Koryoins who were the mainstay of the Central Asian Koryoin groups lived in Kazakhstan. However, not all of the Koryoins were well fed and well-off. Many people struggled in remote areas, so Youngho decided to help them through his foundation. It was none other than Zeynep who played the role of the advance guard.

It would be the best if there was a field that an airplane could land for places she went for on-sight inspection, but because there were many mountainous regions in the central northern region, driving a car was necessary.

After the primary survey, an inspection was needed to see if the foundation could support the site, and as Zeynep was in charge of that, it was like the dog wagging the tail.

Youngho could not let her go with a few guards. Since he had raised her like a precious daughter, he was always worried about her safety and dozens of people followed her for inspection including the security guards and her entourage.

Since a regular car could not drive on rough, steep mountainous roads, three to four light armored vehicles from Turkey were used every time. Many things were loaded to the ten-passenger vehicles. The on-site inspection team was almost the same as a sightseeing team. For this time, Youngho decided to join the team. As he was going, his guard and secretary, Ilkwon came along as well.

***

“Oppa, I’m going to drive. I need to practice driving somewhere like this uninhabited region.”

“You’ll gain confidence if you drive to downtown for one or two times. Are you sure you don’t want to do it?”

“Phew, I don’t want to hurt anybody. I go to survey local places because I want to practice driving.”

Of course, she had her own goal. Without that she would not have volunteered to travel to inconvenient local places. It was a difficult job to spend days in remote places where there were no modern bathrooms, clean housing, and other proper facilities. No one would want to volunteer to go there.

“I should drive this car in Baku too. It has a great wide view since the car’s body is pretty tall.”

“You do whatever you want. It’s parked at the gate of the grape farm. Somebody should drive it once in a while.”

“Really?”

It seemed that she would really drive around the huge vehicle around Baku’s downtown soon. Although it was made for civil use, the light armored vehicle was wide that it would take up two lanes. Youngho would have to give several boxes of Zeynep Wine to the director of traffic police soon.

The grassy plain in May was full of wildflowers. Even though the weather was close to a semi-dried area, when the raindrops lightly touched the ground, flowers would come out and bloom beautifully. Youngho thought life was tough and strong here. The flowers must have evolved to survive in the barren environment.

“Boss. This is what I used to see in North Korea. There are so many varieties of flowers and grass. I’m just going to call this ‘Gi-Hwa-Yo-Cho*’.”

It was impossible to find out the names of the plants since the environment was so much different from Korea.

“Find something similar to mugwort or shepherd’s purse. I should make a soup out of them.”

“You can eat almost all of the herbs and greens in the spring field. I used to eat a lot of spring greens to satisfy hunger.”

In the ’90s during his childhood, when millions of people starved in the latter half of the international isolation and in famine, Kim Ilkwon used to skip meals frequently. Since he was a brilliant child, he was chosen for elite education and he could finally get out of hunger from the government’s benefit for young talents. It was no doubt that he ate any edible plants in the field.

Youngho also remembered his childhood. Since his family was not wealthy, his mother used to cook plants and herbs that she collected from the field. When he lived in a small apartment, there were many places around the neighborhood that were not developed yet, so in spring, housewives were often seen to collect herbs and plants in empty fields. Because he was reminded of the herbs that he ate in his childhood, he told Ilkwon to find some herbs.

“Wow, the phone works here!”

“Phew, Zeynep. I told you this is a satellite phone.”

“Well, I should make a call to the school newspaper team since today’s the edition day.”

Zeynep was extremely busy these days. She was involved in her school newspaper publication and worked for the Arirang Foundation. As things kept her busy, she never talked about going to France to study.

“They made a temporary shower facility next to the parked light armored vehicles. Go ahead and take a shower and please use water sparingly!”

“Oppa, you don’t need to take a shower here. A working bathroom is enough.”

Staying for a night on a plain where there was no water came with many inconveniences. Zeynep’s entourage had gone through troubles to treat her like a princess. Feeling sorry for the people’s efforts, she did not insist on taking a shower. Making a shower booth with water was only possible because the light armored vehicles had enough rooms for various supplies. If it was for a regular car, this would not have been possible.

***

Although in May, the night of the continent was chilly.

Despite having great camping equipment, the air inside the tent was cold. Youngho who opened his eyes turned on the lantern that was hanging in the middle of the tent. Ilkwon, who had been sleeping next to him, woke up to the light and looked around.

He had woken up because of Zeynep’s voice calling him.

“Boss. What’s going on?”

“I guess she wants to go to the bathroom. She drank a few sips of beer before going to bed last night.”

Looking at the clock, it was a little past three. Seeing Youngho putting on his jacket, Ilkwon also tried to come alone.

“Just sleep. She’d be embarrassed if both of us followed her to the bathroom.”

“Oh, I see. Okay.”

Youngho also took his pistol with him. The security guards were taking turns for the night watch duty, so it was safe around the camping area but Youngho habitually took a weapon since it was an uninhabited plain.

As he came out of his tent, Zeynep was jumping up and down impatiently.

“Oppa. Why are you so slow?”

It seemed that she needed to go as soon as possible.

“I told you not to drink beer before sleeping. Let’s hurry.”

When Youngho stepped out of the area, the Serbian guard who was on duty was about to follow him. Youngho stopped him with a gesture and he understood right away.

After a while, Zeynep who had gone to the bathroom ran toward Youngho.

“Oppa! Turn the light over there. I saw a blue flame sparked.”

As Zeynep made a fuss, two guards that were on duty hurriedly turned on the searchlights and searched around the place. At the peak of the highland, about twenty wolves had gathered up.

Since the ring had not given him a sign yet, it did not seem to be a threat but they must have shown up following the smell of food and people.

Youngho wondered how Koryoin people could have lived along with those wild animals. It would have been difficult to sleep well at nights. He wondered why Koryoins started living in a barren, remote area without a proper road.

At the strong searchlights, wolves began to leave the place one by one.

In the afternoon the next day, the team could finally arrive at the Koryoin town of nine families.

After passing a little stream, the group reached the edge of the town where were kids looking after goats and sheep. Stunned to see big vehicles, they all ran away. Usually, shepherds would not run away leaving their livestock but they were quite frightened.

Old broken stone walls surrounded sloppy houses and two old trucks were parked. The scenery was no different from other small rural towns in the Caucasus region. A unique thing was that there were only women and kids since there must be men in any barren place like this. Since there were kids, there must be dads and uncles but only women and kids were in the town.

After a moment, an old man with a rigid face approached Youngho’s team, guided by the kids. Youngho intentionally used Korean to greet him and told him that he just stopped by during his trip.

“Are you from a broadcasting company? We already refused and you should’ve given up already but you’re here to shoot us anyway!”

Youngho was surprised to see that he did not welcome a Korean, but now he was telling him about a Korean broadcasting company. Since there seemed to be a misunderstanding, Youngho explained why he was here. The old man’s attitude toward Youngho suddenly changed and he talked much softly now.

“So you haven’t forgotten how to speak Korean yet.”

“It’s my country’s language. I should not forget about it. It’s nothing to be complimented.”

As he said it casually, Youngho was rather embarrassed.

“Well, you mentioned a broadcasting company and I reckoned that you didn’t like it. Is there a story behind it?”

The old man explained everything to Youngho as he made complaints about the company. After hearing him, Youngho could see why he was upset.

They had a sad history that they were forcefully deployed to Kazakhstan, but a Korean broadcasting company kept poking at their difficult past trying to make a documentary film. So, eventually, the town people kicked the company staffs out. It must have been highly-motivated producers since they had come to a remote region but it did not work out well in the end.

“This is not much, but I brought some supplies. I thought it might be hard to get these items here…”

Youngho did not finish his sentence since he was afraid that the old man might kick him out too.

“You’ve brought such valuable items. They’re essentially important to us. Thank you. We’ll use them well.”

Youngho had expected a scolding voice but instead, the old man was welcoming the gifts. It meant that it was extremely hard to get those supplies from the town.

Then, he brought out a bunch of sheepskin and other wild animal’s skins. Surprised, Youngho refused and convinced him to stop the scuffle.

“You are such a stubborn young businessman. This quality skins attract a lot of people and will sell at high prices but you refuse them?”

He was sad that Youngho did not take his gift but his face was bright.

“Excuse me, sir, I’m just really curious. May I ask why there aren’t there any men in town?”

*Gi-Hwa-Yo-Cho- “the flowers and plants of fairyland”