Empire of the Ring

It was the same in any other country but it was not a good idea to mess with local branches of the government in Kazakhstan. Officials would reluctantly follow orders from the higher order, but they were the ones who actually handled people’s businesses. So, when Youngho needed to process official documents, he would usually save time from approaching officials from the line above them and finished it with bribing local officials.

The Arirang Autonomous State had been having problems with administrative work. It was because officials would not cooperate with the autonomous state well. The major problem the state was having now was issuing a residential card to the new immigrants who recently moved to the state. The officials were now requiring bribe as if it was a step.

After receiving permission from the autonomous state, the list of newcomers would be sent to the Atyrau’s regional government but they now asked the residents to come to the government building individually. Since the autonomous state was an independent state, that was a totally unnecessary step. This meant that the regional government of Atyrau was not accepting the Arirang Autonomous State as a separate administrative entity.

Kim Chun, who could not hold his anger anymore, claimed to the regional government that the autonomous state would now be reporting its own administrative progress to West Kazakhstan Region. In fact, the autonomous state was closer to West Kazakhstan Region than Atyrau Region although the state had been buying construction materials and daily necessaries from the city of Atyrau.

“Boss. The director of general affairs from the regional government of Atyrau wants to visit us. It seems that the government doesn’t want us to communicate with the West Kazakhstan Region.”

“Phew, why didn’t you just be done with it after paying some money to the regional government? I don’t think the organization will ever change but we don’t know if the West Kazakhstan Region’s government is better or worse than Atyrau’s government.”

The autonomous state might face officials worse than now.

“I need to at least make a point now. We are self-administrative section but why do they act like they’re so high and mighty? Why don’t you tell them that you’re going to report things directly to the central government from now on?”

What Kim Chun did was against giving bribes to the regional government, now that he had become the commissioner of the autonomous state. This had to be confronted once and for all since the state would be dragged by the government if it would not deal with the issue now.

Aldar Kose, the director of general affairs of the Atyrau’s regional government, was eager to earn back the autonomous state’s trust. If the Arirang Autonomous State turned its back on the regional government, the region would lose businesses that the autonomous state had within the region. Moreover, his career in the governmental branch could be sabotaged if the president heard that Youngho, whom he favored dearly, was disadvantaged by the regional government. He reprimanded the department that had caused this problem with the autonomous state before he came here but he was not sure if that could make amends for his underlings’ fault.

“Mr. Lee, Mr. Commissioner. Please, I apologize for one of our departments’ mistake. As a person in charge, I’m utterly ashamed of what they have done.”

“A high official like you who’s always busy came here for such a little trouble.”

His countenance became even darker after hearing Kim Chun’s sarcastic remark.

“I reprimanded the department that caused this trouble before I came here.”

“We’ve experienced such inconvenience so many times now. You shouldn’t be worried. I’m just concerned that this has caused an inconvenience for our Countryside Force that’s in charge of maritime patrol duty.”

“What did you say? Our regional government has interrupted sea patrol duty?”

“Among the people who submitted the request for a residential card were coastal guards of the Countryside Force. Former noncommissioned officers of Navy were recruited by the Countryside Force after being discharged. They’re the guards who belong to the department of defense. I didn’t think their requests would be denied.”

“Oh, how dreadful…”

The face of the director of general affairs was turning pale at Kim Chun’s words.

“How can we let the people who are not even registered to live in the autonomous state work for their duties? That’d be illegal. That was why we were going to report this to the department of national defense.”

At this point, the director’s mind went blank. He shut his eyes tight. He knew that something was going terribly wrong.

Although the autonomous state was not a huge threat, its background could be a threat to the Atyrau’s regional government since the state’s Countryside Force belonged to the Department of Defense. The government would be in so much trouble if it did not recover its relationship with the Arirang Autonomous State this time since all of the vessels that went in and out of the Port of Atyrau were under the influence of the Countryside Force. It was not a good idea to upset the military organization.

Watching the director of general affairs hastily making phone calls, Youngho smiled in his mind. Kim Chun’s brazen tactic was working. All this time, Youngho had not said a single word but had only been watching them.

“Hahaha…”

As the officials from the regional government left, Kim Chun laughed loudly.

“How did you think of such ideas?”

He had not discussed his tactic with Youngho and he spoke on his own.

“This is how the world works. When they troubled us, they should’ve expected this coming in their way. Now, we should call Victor Jun quickly and recruit former navies that are discharged. We need to act fast and make documents for them.”

“I don’t know if they’ll change and treat us better for this but we sure did scare them. Now that we’ve given them the stick, the next step is to give the carrot. It’s not good to drive them to the corner.”

No good would come out from fighting with a regional government. Kim Chun also knew that well.

“Well, I should go to Atyrau tomorrow and drink with the director although I’m not a good drinker.”

“Sure, you should. Please take care of all of the officials related to this matter and make peace with them.”

In order not to leave a grudge behind from anyone against the autonomous state, all of the officials should be taken care of.

Kim Chun’s bold move was a great success. Sometimes, in order to survive in Kazakhstan, one needed to be bold and manipulative. Since it was easy to get disadvantaged, one had to push through things even with government’s officials.

***

Youngho met up with Lieutenant Commander Jun to receive some recommended names of former naval officers, so he could recruit them for the Countryside Force. Lieutenant Commander Jun was confident that any of the former naval officers would crowd in with the condition of offering a house for their family to live in.

“Did you change your mind?”

When Jun asked Youngho to recruit naval officers as members of the Countryside Force after they were discharged, Youngho did not give him a clear answer.

“There’s a limitation of recruiting people only from the autonomous state and also I heard that there are not plausible workplace for experienced former naval officers.”

“I’m just thankful for your offer. We’ve trained them navigation skills and mechanical skills for vessels, and I hate to see them go to waste. If you provide luxury houses of the autonomous state, they will gladly join the Countryside Force without a second thought.”

Former navies of Kazakhstan either became police officers or laborers. In big cities like Almaty, many unemployed men could be spotted walking around the streets in the day time.

“Are there any other navy officers in Atyrau who are having a hard time because their house is too far? Some of them must have families as well.”

Youngho could provide temporary housing for the families of current navies for courtesy. If they decided to stay in the autonomous state even after retiring from Navy, it would be beneficial to the state since its population would be increased by them. Because houses were still being built every month, there were at least fifty empty extra houses now.

“If you could give them such privilege, Department of Defense and Navy’s leadership would appreciate your gesture. Would you really do that for us?”

Lieutenant Commander Jun’s eyes brightened. It seemed that he wanted to move into the state.

“Well, our state might not be the best place in Kazakhstan but…”

“Are you kidding? This is the safest place with great medical and education systems. I’ve wanted to bring my family too but I couldn’t say that to you.”

He hastily cut Youngho’s words. He was eager to think that he might not get the opportunity to move into the state.

“Did you wish to move into the state as well? Would that be okay with the high officials of the Department of Defense?”

“Of course, I do! Mr. Lee.”

“Then I should assign same blocks of houses to the naval families as much as I can. That way, they could move easily when there was an emergency.”

“If you could do that, I’ll make sure to receive construction materials from the Department of Defense. It won’t be fair if we make the state pay for our housing.”

“It’ll look even funny to charge the department of defense since I offered this first. You won’t have to worry about the materials and the cost of housing. You could just go ahead and search for navy officers who would be willing to move into the state with their family members.”

“Is there a number limit?”

“We can take as many as possible but moving time could be delayed according to the number.”

As Youngho said like it was nothing, Lieutenant Commander Jun changed the subject all of a sudden.

“You know, I must’ve told you about my parents, that they were excited to hear that I went to Korea for commissioned education.”

“Of course I remember that.”

“Do you know what my parents’ last wish for life? They want to live in the Arirang Autonomous State. You’d know what ‘arirang’ means to Koryoins.”

Youngho knew about Koryoins hardship and sorrow. As Korean descents, they must have missed their hometown very much.

“Well, I hope I don’t get in trouble for collecting not only Koryoins but also Kazakhs to the autonomous state.”

“That’s nonsense. I don’t know if this is because of the huge territory but Kazakhs don’t care about what others do. No need to worry about that.”

That was true. Although Kazakhstan was populated with about 120 ethnic groups, they lived without any ethnic or religious dispute. It was because historically, people of Kazakhstan lived nomadic lives after descendants of Mongolians were separated in the land. However, Kazakhstan’s traditional nomadic culture disappeared to a great degree due to Russia.

The Soviet Union that appeared after Russia’s October Revolution tried to contain nomads in a region and encouraged women’s role in society. The traditional men-centered nomadic culture began to fade from then on.

Men, who previously rode horses on wild fields and lived off ranching, had nothing to do in big cities. All they could do was to drink and roam around.

Because families mainly ran on women’s economic activities, having a decent job meant a lot for them since they restored men’s pride and self-esteem.

The Arirang Autonomous State’s job and housing offer to the discharged navies, who did not have special things to do after their naval days, was indeed a great new start for them. This was a win-win for the state since it would be gaining allied forces too. If events like this kept happening, the future of the autonomous state would be strongly secured.