Empire of the Ring

Cha Insoo and Kim Ilkwon had visited Vladivostok while Youngho was on his family trip.

The storage warehouse complex was being completed in March, so they went to find out how many security guards were needed for smooth operation of the complex. There were ten warehouse units being built as of now. Things that needed refrigeration or kept warm were usually stored in the warehouses and most of them were high in value.

If some bad people intended to rob the complex, the owner of the complex had to compensate for the whole loss. So, once the warehouse was under operation, the security service would be one of the most important parts of the business.

Since the complex was located in the outskirt of the city, it could only be protected with a force that equaled to a size of a military troop. Although the security crew that would be assigned to the field was the best-skilled guards, their language ability was always a problem. It was a funny situation where in order to send the security crew for supervising positions, interpreters also needed to be assigned to them. Inevitably, Kim Ilkwon, who could speak Russian, was assigned as the supervisor for the security crew at Vladivostok. The Korean security crew now did not mind Kim Ilkwon as their supervisor since they had gotten much closer.

He had a lot of volunteers wanting to be assigned in Vladivostok, the reason for that was that Ilkwon would be returning to Baku once the Korean crew could communicate fluently in Russian. When Ilkwon leaves, one of the Korean guards would be promoted to the supervising position. Since Ilkwon’s word would be a huge influence for their promotion, they were trying to impress him.

Since it was pretty weird that Ilkwon had gotten popular among the Korean crew suddenly, Youngho asked Jongil if something happened between them.

“Jongil, Ilkwon doesn’t even like drinking and getting together with people. What happened?”

“Man, you’re the boss but you have absolutely no idea? Man, you need to hand in your position to me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ilkwon has a little sister, you know.”

“Are you talking about Sungryung?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s because she now eats well and feels comfortable but she’s gotten prettier these days.”

She was a 26-year-old lady who had been through life-threatening tortures and hardships in North Korean political prisoners camp and had successfully escaped. She was thin as a stick when she first arrived at the farm but recently she had gotten so much lively. It would have been weird if the thirty young men away from their hometown were not interested in her.

Korean people usually say that women in the North and men in the South are better looking. Sungryung was blooming into a beautiful woman and the change was enough for the young crew to be shaken by her look. They decided to impress Ilkwon first to get to his sister. It seemed that there might be a North-South Korean couple soon on the farm. It was natural for them to be attracted by a woman of their own ethnicity, who spoke their own language, rather than a foreigner.

***

Katya complained that Youngho never visited Tskhinvali anymore. She did not have a second thought about Youngho since she already knew that he was now married. In case she had affection for him, he had invited her to his wedding and although she could not make it because of the retailer shop business, she congratulated him wholeheartedly.

As Youngho left for his family trip, he asked Jongil if he could visit South Ossetia but his response shocked him.

“Didn’t you say that you’d be the father for Rena? I know you can’t visit there often but you need to visit there once in a few months. Also, I have experiences with girls. Katya is on top of your level, she won’t try to make a move on you, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“…”

He was showing off his experiences with girls but Youngho had nothing to say since it was true that Jongil knew about women more than he did.

“Then, let’s go together.”

“What? I’m very much beloved by Karajan these days since I don’t go on business trips now. Are you trying to take that away from me?”

Although Jongil was saying this, he could not hide his excitement. Since Karajan’s mother was staying in his house to take care of the baby, there had been a lot of inconvenience for him.

“Man, this is what freedom feels like. I love going on a trip!”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about. You haven’t even been married for a month. You’ll know how it really feels like once you hit your anniversary.”

Jongil’s face was stern as if he had had enlightenment. As the two waited for the plane to Moscow at Baku’s airport, they were having coffee. Youngho remembered Fatima’s disappointed face when he told her that he was going to Russia. She was having dreamy days because Youngho had been affectionate toward her ever since the honeymoon trip. She could not stop him since he told her that it was a business trip but instead, she let him go after a heated night.

“I know why you were bent over backwards to follow me on this trip.”

“Hey, when did I bend over backwards? I just followed you because I worried about you.”

The two shared the same mind as they were enjoying the freedom away from all their responsibilities. If someone had stopped them there, it would have been his funeral day.

Youngho had realized again that Tskhinvali was not a place to live especially in the winter.

It took a full day to get to Roki Tunnel crossing the Caucasus Mountain Range, and they spent another day after crossing the tunnel to get down from the mountain. It was all possible because Russian soldiers had removed snow diligently.

There was no airport in South Ossetia, so if the mountain roads were blocked by nature, the region could not help but to be isolated from the rest of the world. He was amazed by the ancestors who decided to settle down in a place like this.

It was evening when they arrived at the old hotel in Tskhinvali. Youngho called Katya to let her know that he arrived at the hotel and to tell her to meet the next day. She agreed since she knew how much trouble he went through driving on the rough roads. Because of the weather conditions in the winter, the delivery trucks did not work during the winter time. So, all of the daily necessities at Katya’s retail store was stored busily from the spring through the fall period.

Even Jongil, who was usually not easily scared, held the handle in the passenger’s side too strongly that his arm was hurting at the end of the drive. Although they had put chains around the tires and drove down the mountain at a slow speed, it was still scary that Youngho almost wetted his pants.

***

For the first time, Youngho and Jongil did not drink at all for the business trip but slept soundly in their hotel room. After driving on the deadly road for hours, they were so exhausted.

The next day, at hotel’s café in the lobby, the two had a relaxing brunch and was now drinking coffee. The hotel’s many guests peeked at the two as if they had never seen Asians in the area, but as soon as Katya entered the lobby, their eyes were all on her. Despite the eerie weather and atmosphere, the whole hotel was brightened by Katya’s glamorous appearance. She had brought Rena with her.

Rena, who had found Youngho, ran into his arms, calling him ‘papa’. It was a situation where anybody would mistake Youngho as Rena’s dad who just returned to Tskhinvali from a long trip. Katya also gave him a big hug, which did not really help out with the situation.

There would be no men in the small town who did not know about beautiful Katya. She must have had enough from guys who tried to impress her. After she had opened the retailer shop for daily necessities, sharp and scary-looking Russian men increased around her, and one day her mom and daughter moved to Tskhinvali. It was rumored that an Asian man was the father and people finally found out who that was.

Youngho realized that Katya had intended the scene for them to look like a family. He knew that Katya was suspicious since she did not hurry to come and see them last night upon their arrival. Youngho also joined the play. It was because he saw a few cocky men at the café, sighing after seeing them. If he was going to join her, he decided to really help her by acting even more actively. He hugged Rena and gave her a big doll that he bought as her gift to look like a father and a daughter. All of the people in Tskhinvali would find out about the father later of the day.

After joining the unexpected play, the two went over to Katya’s house.

Katya’s mother greeted Youngho and Jongil who had not visited them for a long time. Since Rena would not stay away from Youngho, he had to hold her in his arm for the entire time, being a nine-year-old, she did not weigh much to him. Looking at Rena, who had been missing a dad figure, Katya’s mother’s eyes turned watery. Youngho also was sad but there was nothing more he could do for them. Acting as Rena’s dad was something that needed courage but he had accepted the role since his existence could give hope and dream to young Rena.

Although Youngho and Jongil had eaten before, they could not refuse the meal that Katya’s mother had cooked only for them. They were full but they ate all of the food without leaving any leftovers. They tasted great as well.

Rena, who had disappeared for a while, came back with some friends in town. She wanted to brag about her dad since everyone else had a dad except for her. Since Youngho had brought a lot of school supplies for Rena, he also shared some to her friends.

Although Tskhinvali was the capital of South Ossetia, school supplies were valuable in here and it made a perfect gift for children growing in here. It was a day for Rena to prove that her dad was alive to her friends, If he had not visited this time, taking even longer before his visit, the three women would have held grudges toward him.

Although it was a difficult and tiring trip to make, Youngho could act as the father of the family a hundred times if he could help Katya’s family settle down well. It was what it took to share a little happiness to them.

He had helped the family out of compassion but it was also satisfying for Youngho to see how well they were doing because of him. He wanted to come more often to see Rena growing into a woman even if Katya refused. He had not been visiting often because he had no idea of how much his existence meant for Rena but his heart was warmed by Rena who seemed to have the whole world in his hands only because of Youngho’s short visit.

He could not stop her calling him ‘papa’ now since it would crush her, he could not take that happiness away from her. However, what if Fatima found out about this later? He thought that she would probably understand because she was a kind woman but for now, he wanted to keep it a secret. He did not want to stress her out over this by exposing Katya and Rena now.