Empire of the Ring

An aircraft with a slick body that had just landed on the runway was now slowly turning and approaching the control tower. It was the trial jet that Cessna had sent as a service for its special customer. Suh Min-seok had promoted the autonomous state as a republic, and that was why the company was treating the state as a special customer. There was nothing Youngho could do now, so he decided to take advantage of the situation.

“Man, the sound of its engine itself is exciting. Now I get why bikers love to ride Harley-Davidson bikes.”

Jong-il expressed his excitement by comparing the jet with a bike.

The inside of the jet was quite small, but the fact that there was a restroom and he still could walk around was still impressive. There were two pilot seats at the front of the aircraft.

The complicated cockpit could be seen from the passenger’s seat in a glance.

“Are you supposed to learn all of that?”

Suh Min-seok looked suffocated by the complicated cockpit.

“It may look complicated but you only have to think about take off and landing. It has the function of instrument flight, so it can fly to the designated destination once you enter it.”

“This small jet can fly on its own?”

“This is a machine that has all the combination of the 21st century’s technology.”

Jong-il explained details of the jet to the follower couple as if he was going to fly it at once.

“I can’t believe that this tiny aircraft can fly for 2,400 kilometers long.”

“That’s why I told you to order a bigger one. With the bigger one, you can go to Frankfurt without refueling in the middle.”

Although Jong-il complained about not buying the twelve-seater which had a flying range of 6,000 kilometers, owing a jet was a huge leap for the autonomous state. Since Youngho traveled to Baku and cities in Kazakhstan most often, he did not think that it would be so inconvenient to own six-seater jets. He could travel to farther distance using other airlines, which seemed to be a less hassle.

Until now, when Youngho’s group had to land on different airports with the light airplanes of the autonomous state, they were not welcomed since the airport staff did not want to arrange a regular runway for them. However, having the jets would be different since it needed a decent runway.

“You think the airport will let us use the main runway now?”

“Can’t we land on any surface?”

“No. Airplanes with propellers can land on pasture but jets are very sensitive. We don’t want any debris getting into its engine, so we must secure a runway.”

Light airplanes that could land on any flat surface was most convenient to use in Kazakhstan. The autonomous state would have to take care of its runway from now on to land jets.

“Oh, Suh Min-seok. Call Cessna right away to send the jets as soon as possible. I love it.”

***

The weather was getting colder each day but the construction work was still going on for five guard posts of the state’s boundaries and for the Bentonite clay production facility. For any facility, sturdy stone walls that were three meters high were built around. The walls were the best way to protect the facilities from the north wind from the Ural Mountains and continental wind of Kazakhstan.

Although the state had been planting trees and forming pastures, it could take years until it was free from dust storms and harsh winds. With recently discovered large-scale underground water, one-third of the state’s territory could be covered but there was no specific plan for the rest of the territory. What was clear now was that the state would focus on forming green fields for now.

It would be better if the scale of farmland was not increased anymore since farming needed an excessive amount of water. It was not a good idea to exhaust the underground water that was recently found for farming.

As people were scattered to different locations of the state to work on forming pastures, Countryside Force guards’ patrol area had become much bigger. It was impossible to patrol a land that was twice the size of Seoul only with a hundred guards. Because there was no way to increase the number of residents, the state came up with a drone patrol system which was quite effective.

Drones had a wide patrol range and could be used in any weather around the clock. The guards would only have to monitor them inside their vehicles. Moreover, the sharp engine sound of drones often chased away wolves. So, a monitoring system was installed in every patrol vehicle now. Where there was a need, there was a way.

There were people who always had great new ideas. They were the follower couple.

“You’re not too busy these days, are you?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Then, what do you think about going to Korea now? You can say hi to your family and friends.”

Since the follower couple would be living in Kazakhstan from now on, Youngho wanted to give them some time for closure in Korea. He had always been sorry that he made the follower couple work for him hastily.

“Thank you!”

The two spoke in unison as if they had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

They were only in Georgia for a temporary business project when they first met Youngho, and ever since then, their life had an unexpected turn. They did not have time to immerse with the new changes in their lives after they left S Corporation and started working for him.

“While you’re in Korea, you can figure out the market for whole wheat flour and see if there are other business items that would be helpful for the autonomous state. You can come back after the New Year’s long weekend.”

“Mr. CEO, this break sounds too long. We still have our own job to do. I don’t feel comfortable leaving my job for such a long period.”

Since they were secretaries now, they were in charge of quite a lot of tasks at the state but at the same time, nothing terrible would happen just because they were gone for three weeks.

“Just think that you’re remotely working from Seoul. I also gave you a job to do, didn’t I?”

“I can do such tasks here too.”

“Then you can just have fun there and relax. You won’t have time to have fun starting from next year, so this is your last chance of freedom. Hurry and go get ready for your break now.”

As soon as Youngho was done speaking, the two shouted for joy and left Youngho’s office excitingly. It made him chuckle.

“Hey, without the followers, your office feels like a Buddhist temple.”

Jong-il looked bored like a boy who lost his toy after the followers were gone to Korea.

He had been entertaining himself by teasing the followers when they were around. Youngho also felt weird without the follower couple. They had not recognized this before, but it seemed that they were attached to the young couple now.

“Man, I feel the same. It feels empty without them following me around.”

The follower couple had been sincere to Youngho. They would always get him coffee when he needed it even though he did not ask for it. Their presence was greatly missed at the office.

“I should be nicer to them when they’re back. I think I might’ve gone too far with the teasing.”

“Hey, they know that you’re teasing them. Your jokes and tease might have made them adapt to the state more quickly. They always laugh around you.”

“Man, I thought they didn’t get it. I don’t know how we’re going to hold up three weeks until they’re back.”

***

“Why aren’t they out of reach? Don’t they have satellite phones?”

“The survey team must’ve changed the course of their route on their own.”

“Are you serious? What were they thinking? Do they think that they’re still in Korea?”

As Youngho was frustrated, he raised his voice.

Im Min-soo, the president of the road construction consortium, could not say anything back to Youngho’s outrage. His reaction somehow made him even more angry that he finally said what had been on his mind.

“Mr. Im, did you tell the survey team to hurry up?”

“No, no. I never ordered such a thing. I emphasized that their priority should be their safety no matter what circumstances they were in.”

He swung his hand in the air to deny Youngho’s speculation.

“Wasn’t the survey team pushing itself in an attempt to make achievements in a short period of time?”

“I don’t believe so. The members of the team are not that kind of people. They have enough experience overseas and they wouldn’t push themselves if there was a slight possibility of danger.”

Shocking news that the road survey team that went to the construction site for the road project that connected Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had gotten lost was delivered to the autonomous state.

It was time for the Countryside Force guards to rotate with the next group, so the survey team of the construction consortium was supposed to wait at the temporary lodging in Sary-Tash, but the whole team was gone without a note when the new team of guards reached there. The team must have gone to do the survey job ignoring the given instruction, or they could have faced an unexpected event.

“Our agent made sure that they should wait at the lodging until the new guards arrived there.”

It was Jong-il’s words.

“The agent was sent to do an interpreter’s job. Where was he when the team got missing?”

“He was also left Sary-Tash because another agent was coming for them.”

Sary-Tash was not a dangerous city. It was quite strange that the whole team had gone missing without any note, especially when they had satellite phones to contact the H Corporation’s consortium office. They were said to be experienced engineers, so it did not make sense if they did not follow the instruction.

Youngho thought that he would find them faster if he went there to search for them.

“Jong-il. Send more agents to the city, and let’s go there together too.”

“You mean, us?”

“Yeah, are you going to sit and wait here, and do nothing?”

“That’s not our style.”

Youngho’s heart was resentful on the missing Korean survey team members, but Jong-il got all excited. He wanted to use a light airplane to get there.

“Hey, let’s fly there on the light airplane even if we’ll have to refuel the tank on the way. We need to go straight to Kyrgyzstan.”

Youngho’s mind was busy. Sending a hundred Countryside Force guards would not resolve this issue. In an emergency like this, Youngho and Jong-il who had the ring’s power could be more helpful.

The latitude of Kyrgyzstan was lower than the Arirang Autonomous State but its average altitude was more than 2,700 meters high throughout its territory. It was called the Switzerland of Central Asia.

The country, which was a little bit smaller than the Korean Peninsula, consisted of more than ten mountain ranges. Thus, only about eight percent of its territory could be utilized for farmland and other land uses.

The place where the road construction survey team was had a mountainous region of altitude of 3,000 meters. It was a dreadfully cold region, and if the team had been roaming in the mountains, they could be in a fatal condition by now.

Another thing that concerned Youngho was that Tajikistan was not fond of the road construction project that would connect the two countries due to the borderline problems. So, people of Tajikistan might have harmed the survey team in order to stop the construction project.

He did not want to think about it but he could not shake off the bad feeling. If the survey team moved with their own will despite the given instruction, Youngho could get away from the moral and legal responsibilities but if the survey team was abducted by any group of people that tried to get money from H Corporation, it would be Youngho and the autonomous state’s responsibility since the Countryside Force guards were hired to ensure their safety. Since the guards were gone when they began missing, it would be work negligence.

Regardless of what it must be, he was worried about the lives of the Korean survey team.

On top of that, the weather was not in its most preferable condition. He had to hurry to save them.

Every winter, big or small incidents frequently happened and it seemed that this winter was not an exception.