Empire of the Ring

The world’s ninth biggest country. A territory twelve times bigger than the Korean Peninsula. A place that was bordered by five countries with a border area of 12,000 kilometers. A country that had deserted or semi-deserted regions occupying 60 percent of its territory, yet its population only reached over 17 million people. A nation with unlimited resources…

These were the phrases that could describe Kazakhstan’s current status.

Being descendants of nomads, people were generally kind to travelers.

There was a dangerous entity in the country. They were not wolves nor severe heat or cold. It was the police. After suffering from the Kazakh police, people would tell that the notorious Russian police was kind.

Policemen were fond of inspecting vehicles for there were many things to nitpick in vehicles. They would hide in quiet peripheral roads. They would appear out of nowhere and stop every car that passed by.

They would nitpick on basic violations such as not turning on the headlights and tinting the windows. They would ask for passports and residential cards if they could not find any problem in the vehicle. They would even make a violation out of not washing a vehicle properly and cleanly. This drove people crazy.

They often gave people a hard time because they wanted to ask for a bribe. Some asked for the sunglasses that people were wearing and some asked to exchange shoes, saying that they looked nicer.

This also happened frequently in Baku, so Youngho used stickers that were given by the Main Police Department on his vehicles to finally stop policemen’s evil deed. It was a shame that he did not have any sticker in Kazakhstan.

If these policemen came across a Russian or a Kazakh, their going to easily let them go. However, they would ask foreigners for identification cards if they meet foreigners.

On the way to the Atyrau Airport, which was a distance of only eight kilometers, Youngho got frustrated after being stopped by policemen multiple times. He would get paranoid every time he saw a white car since police cars were also white. Youngho and Kim Chun were now complaining about their way back.

“Commissioner Kim. Why don’t you just give them ten dollars? I’m sick of talking to them all.”

“Boss. Please stay still. I’m going to fix these guys’ bad habits. They need to let us go especially when they had already inspected us on the way here. This is not a border area, why are they acting like this?”

Using a cab would not cause this kind of problem. However, they were using their own van since it was inconvenient to argue about the taxi fare every time.

“Look, this happens all the time. Just give it up. Then you’ll feel better.”

“Look at him! He’s the one that took our money this morning.”

The policeman who just stopped Youngho’s car looked extremely serious. People would have thought that he was an officer filled with a sense of duty.

Kim Chun opened the window and was about to complain when Youngho tossed him ten dollars immediately. Then, his serious face swiftly turned into a smile and saluted them both.

“What did you just do?”

“What can I do? This is Kazakhstan.”

Kim Chun smirked at Youngho’s remark. He turned to the policeman and spoke to him in a sarcastic way.

“Hey, do you usually receive money from the same people twice a day?”

If visitors of the Arirang Autonomous State faced this kind of situation, what would they think of Kazakhstan? They would have studied the environmental factors before traveling. However seeing policemen, who were there to keep public peace and to help people, acting as robbers would be daunting to newcomers.

This would definitely happen at least once or twice to travelers in Kazakhstan. It was quite odd that police officers appeared wherever foreigners were when they were hard to find in crime scenes. It did not matter if foreigners were driving or walking, policemen would show up all of a sudden for inspections.

People said that this had gotten better over time, yet it was still pretty bad.

When Arirang Farm was first developed, countless construction vehicles and the vehicles that carried construction materials frequently came in and out of the farm. The police just counted every vehicle and charged for each.

Since the farm had found a happy medium with the police officers, the construction process was not interrupted. If Youngho refused to pay them, they would have stopped all of the vehicle licenses that went inside the farm.

Any cars that drove on a paved road would get dusty after a few hours but the police had nitpicked on it and told Youngho that it was a violation for improper care of vehicle. He had nothing to say back to the policemen’s nonsensical claim.

Everything was eventually resolved with money.

If one looked into the Kazakh society, there were too many things that did not make sense. There were many problems but it was difficult to point out. Since there were too many problems, it was hard to tell which one was a bigger problem.

Yet, it was amazing how society was still functioning and moving forward.

***

Koryoins who moved to the autonomous state that became residents were 36 families. They were the people from Old Kim Sungchan’s Koryoin town which had now become a mine of the state. The Koryoins and their families were also the ones chosen as intelligence agents.

The family members of one of the intelligence agents had been living in different places of Kazakhstan. They were spotted by one of Youngho’s friends. The family paid a bribe to an official in the administration building when they submitted their residential documents. It was a payment to speed up the process. Their behavior was proof that this kind of social convention was all over Kazakhstan.

Youngho laughed when he heard the story. At the same time, he thought that Kazakhstan still had a long way to go. So, Youngho asked about the condition of that Koryoin family.

“Commissioner Kim, remember the Koryoins who paid an administrative official? How are they doing?”

“Hahaha… Bribing is sort of a culture already in Kazakhstan. So, they were surprised that the administrative office quickly processed their documents even after they refused to receive money from them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Usually it takes about a week for a document to be processed in the administration office, but they did it so quickly that they finished it in only ten minutes. The Koryoins thought that was odd. It’s because we paid them a lot already as a state. Do you know how much I had to pay when we first submitted the documents to establish the autonomous state?”

“So… Did I gave you enough money for such things?”

“I was almost out of them in the end. All of a sudden, officials who are not even related to our state came to get money after hearing that I will pay them a lot.”

Just like any other officials in the Caucasus region, or in the countries of the Caspian coast. Kazakhstan’s administrative offices were well-known in processing things too slowly. When there was no money involved, nothing could be processed in the day of submission. Seeing the official in charge was as hard as picking a star from the sky. They were never in their seats in their office hours.

Since there were many people who could replace their tasks, they did not mind leaving their seats. Their mindset was wired to think it was okay to push their own job to one another.

That was why money was power in Kazakhstan’s society.

It would seem only possible to handle things with money in a capitalistic society, but money was more effective and capable in Kazakhstan where it was deeply influenced by Socialism.

Youngho had experienced this too many times from Azerbaijan and Georgia, so he was now at a stage where he was taking advantage of such an unfair system.

Especially government officials of Kazakhstan were harsh on the weak and amicable to the strong, so sometimes Youngho had to put up a show and made him look like a person with many connections and power. He appealed to the officials of the Atyrau’s regional government with his wealth and beautiful wife when he began to live in Kazakhstan, but now he used another way.

He went directly to the head of the administration building when he was in a rush. Of course, he visited the head of the administration building after contacting the presidential palace first to arrange things in favor of his work.

Although the person who called the head of the regional administrative head official was not the president, it was often someone who served tea for the president or his secretary. Its effect was great. When a person who was serving the president closely mentioned, “This is from the president.” It would be done immediately.

This was why Youngho bribed the staffs of the presidential palace every time he visited the president. They also knew that Youngho was someone whom the president favored. Besides, it was not a good idea to complain to the president every time he was in trouble.

***

“So, they’re asking for you to pay the damages on the industrial road?”

“Yes. I’m only telling you this because I don’t understand why they’re doing this.”

Im Min-soo, the president of the highway construction consortium, was making complaints to Youngho. His face turned pale.

Heavy equipment that would be used for highway construction was delivered to the autonomous state on Atyrau’s industrial road, and now the regional government claimed for road damage. It did not make sense since the road was already ragged and old.

“Are your vehicles extremely heavy?”

“No, the road was already damaged when we drove by. If they want us to repair the road, we could do it but they’re asking us to pay money for repairs.”

This was another ridiculous situation.

Since Youngho had encountered countless events like this, he only smirked but it was driving Im Min-soo crazy.

“They must be asking for a bribe.”

“I think the amount is too big to be a bribe.”

“They would’ve charged you a regular road repair cost but you don’t need to pay them that much. Just give them whatever you can give.”

“I don’t know the culture here but I still don’t get why the regional government is being mean to a foreign consortium that came to build roads in their country.”

“This is Kazakhstan. You won’t understand no matter how many times I explain it. You can try to negotiate with them first and if they still demand a ridiculous amount of money from you, I’ll make it right for you.”

“It’s just nonsense. I’ve worked in many different countries in my entire career but this is hard to understand.”

It seemed like Kazakhstan had made another anti-fan of the country. Im Min-soo must have lost his interest in the country once and for all. It would have been better if the regional government had politely asked the consortium to repair the industrial road. Im Min-soo would have agreed gladly. He would be able to smirk at this only after spending a few years in Kazakhstan but for now—it was an absurd situation for him.

“Mr. Im. Have you met any police officer?”

“No. We don’t have any contact with the police.”

“Well, you’ll soon have many. Officers will visit you frequently, so please don’t get frightened by them.”

“Wait, why would they visit us?”

“You’ll have to clean your vehicles pretty well and often.”

“How can we clean our vehicles at highway construction sites?”

As Youngho told him about how evil the police was in the country, Im Min-soo was startled.

“Oh, please. Are you kidding me? Do you want me to believe this?”

“I told you. This is Kazakhstan and I’m only teaching you how to live in Kazakhstan.”