Empire of the Ring

Jong-il was surprised to hear about the conversation Youngho had with Michael at the European chapter.

“Oh, man. He must’ve pretended that he didn’t know about the French freighter all along. It’s quite scary.”

The US CIA already knew that Youngho had taken away the weapons loaded in a French freighter when he carried out a raid at France’s illegal arms deal’s site a while ago. If the CIA tried to make a problem out of it, it could have but since Youngho took them to the autonomous state—which was Arirang Farm, back then— in Kazakhstan, it had considered them as defensive means against Russia.

The number of weapons that Youngho and his friends took was not even many, so the CIA decided to keep quiet about it. Youngho had been full of himself thinking that he had deceived everyone, but now he felt stupid after finding out the truth.

“The CIA must’ve thought that it was great that those weapons did not make it to Armenia. Also, you can’t even use those weapons if you didn’t learn how to operate them from a military advisory group.”

“What? You can teach yourself through manuals. Is it that a big deal to shoot a little missile?”

Jong-il yelled it out but his voice was not strong.

“Why didn’t you tell them to just take them instead of stalking on us?”

“Man, what would the U.S. military do with those old weapons? They don’t want them.”

“Wouldn’t a tracking device be automatically turned on when those missiles are launched? Isn’t that why the U.S. military doesn’t want them?”

Jong-il was suspicious about the CIA’s decision.

“France would have simplified the functions of the missiles for the illegal trade. They wouldn’t want to be tracked down when the missiles were used, don’t you think?”

“That’s no guarantee. It means there’s a slight chance that we might get tracked down.”

“Hey, we never operated those missiles yet. There’s no problem so far, and Michael gave me his words.”

Since France did not want to be found out that it was involved in an illegal arms deal, it had no reason to reveal it to the world that their weapons were stolen. Even if Youngho got caught, he would have something to say back. He would say that he got those from Russian mafias. There was no way that people would find out about the truth since the whole world knew that mafias could do anything to make money.

Youngho told Michael that he would not use the missiles unless Russia threatened Central Asia. However, he would not use those when he was not sure what kind of gadgets was attached to them. It was too risky. He would need to have an arms expert investigate on them.

Michael told him that he would not make a big deal out of the weapons only if Youngho did not sell them to illegal organizations, but used them to protect Kazakhstan and the autonomous state.

“Man, we’re lucky to have Michael as our boss. Hey, but where are we going to get an arms expert?”

“There are many Kazakh technicians who worked at weapons research facilities during the Soviet Union era. We’ll be able to find experts among them. Tell your agents to find them somehow.”

There had been an international issue in the past when many Kazakh weapon experts and researchers had gone to North Korea after the fall of the Soviet Union. As it became a problem, many returned home but some were said to be still working in North Korea since there were no jobs left for them in Kazakhstan. This meant that there were hidden experts in Kazakhstan.

“Okay, I’ll contact them right away. We might be able to produce our own weapons if this went well.”

“You need to be careful to look for them in secret. They had been locked away from the Soviet Union’s time, so you won’t be able to find them so easily.”

***

Youngho opened his mouth after looking at the document Suh Min-seok had brought.

“Are you sure we could get a private jet at this price?”

He had organized the statistical data of different jets from different companies in Brazil, Japan, France, and America. Youngho could see the comparative performance data and prices at once. All he had to do was to pick a model from the paper.

Youngho had been a fan of Cessna, the U.S. aircraft company, and he could not resist reaching his hand to the company’s catalog. He could not believe it since the prices of jets were much cheaper than he expected.

“Well, they all vary in their airspeed and the maximum number of passengers. There are the ones that have an average speed of 650 kilometers and 970 kilometers. I think the flying range is the most important feature of a jet. If you look at the Cessna jet, the six-seater can travel up to 2,400 kilometers long and the twelve-seater can travel up to 6,000 kilometers long.”

The Cessna’s six-seater jet called ‘Citation 525’ was about 3.6 million dollars, but its twelve-seater was almost 20 million dollars. Buying two of the six-seater jet would be only seven million dollars, which was cheaper than buying one twelve-seater jet.

The six-seater jet was not as great as the twelve-seater but it was still about three times faster than the light airplanes that Youngho had now. Its flying range was quite great since it had doubled the range of his airplanes. It needed about 600 meters of the runway, so it would be able to land in any small airport including the one at Zeynep Farm in Baku.

Without stopping in the middle for fueling, it would take Youngho to Istanbul and Astana from the autonomous state. If Youngho refilled its tank in Istanbul, it would take Youngho to any city in Europe.

He did not want to buy the twelve-seater jet just because its speed and range were better for the cost of more than five times than the six-seater.

“Phew, I was going to buy ones that could have twenty people on board.”

“Yes. That’s true but we can’t give up the advantage of ‘nonstop’ travel. Should I look for used ones then?”

“No. We’ll get new ones since they’re not as expensive as I thought. How about buying two of them for a starter?”

“What? Two of them?”

Suh Min-seok dropped his jaw. Confused, thinking that Youngho got a six-seater and twelve-seater, he quickly tried to correct his words.

“I was talking about the six-seater.”

“Mr. CEO, it’s about 40 billion in Korean won even for a six-seater jet.”

Suh Min-seok emphasized the price of the jet since it cost an astronomical amount of money.

“And?”

“No, what I was saying is…”

“One is for regular flights and the other is for emergency use. I always like buying things in two.”

Youngho and Jong-il were all-time travelers, so Youngho thought it was a good idea to get two of them. He would not be able to come back to the autonomous state or to Zeynep Farm from a business trip just because an emergency happened there.

Not to mention, aircraft was a very sensitive machine that needed a thorough check-up after each flight.

“I’ll contact Cessna immediately.”

“Send an e-mail to the company with the autonomous state’s account. A representative from the company will visit the state not long after the e-mail is sent.”

“…”

“I’m their VIP customer.”

Youngho had so far bought two four-seater and five eight-seater light airplanes from Cessna, and he was going to buy two business jets from the company now. He had indeed become a VIP client.

If he bought new jets, it would take him only about an hour from Baku to the Arirang Autonomous State; two hours and a half from the state to Astana, the capital city and three hours and a half to Almaty.

“Suh Min-seok, I’ll leave everything related to the jets up to you. It’s your job to negotiate the price of the jets and their devices when people from Cessna come. Alright?”

“I got it! I won’t disappoint you.”

Suh Min-seok was excited to be in charge of a seven-million-dollar project.

Because the jets were a new model, it would be a hassle to arrange training sessions with Cessna since pilots and mechanics would have to be taught to operate and repair the new jets. Youngho wanted to see how he would handle all of the jobs.

Many people would say that operating jets were much more convenient than operating airplanes once people got the hang of it. Youngho already felt obnoxious to learn complicated maneuver of the jets. When the new jets arrived, he would have to make sure to train all of the Serbian pilots in Baku and the autonomous state. It would be a long process.

He wondered whether he should make a flying school at the state. Then, he thought of flight simulators. Many pilots would train through those before actually flying a new aircraft.

“Suh Min-seok. Also, see if you can get a flight simulator.”

“Oh, that! Mr. CEO, are you talking about that thing that looks like a video game?”

Flight simulators had gained popularity as a game, but they were originally made for pilots to have safe practice without destroying airplanes and themselves.

“Hey, hey. They’re originally made for training pilots.”

***

Jong-il brought two men in their late 50s.

They were arms experts that Kim Chun managed to find through his connections with difficulty. Jong-il was able to convince them to come to meet Youngho.

The two arms experts worked at Kazakhstan’s arms laboratory as technicians during the Soviet era and were eventually forcefully repatriated to their hometown. They also told a story of some of their coworkers who were invited to North Korea to work for a biochemical weapons lab before they were forcefully sent back to Kazakhstan.

Their story was quite stunning since Youngho had no idea that North Korea had been inviting foreign technicians to make biochemical weapons. The Soviet Union could be also blamed for this since it had allowed it to happen. When former Russia fell, it did not do a great job at taking care of arms laboratories and technicians that were scattered around many republics and regions.

After that, the two experts lived off making metal crafts out of arms shells in Atyrau, which was their hometown. Back then, there were so many laboratories in Kazakhstan, that did experiments with weapons, and there were too many shells. It was easy for them to utilize those to make a living.

“Are you still able to operate missiles?”

“Well, a missile is not a complicated weapon. Its life lies at the warhead. What makes a good missile is how intricately electronic devices and GPS are made and installed in it.”

The man sounded as if a missile was simple as a boy’s toy.

“I’m asking if you could identify a missile’s performance with inspection equipment.”

“It’s been more than 20 years but it won’t be a problem if we could learn how to use the inspection equipment. Missiles and different shells have become more complex, but they still share the same mechanisms.”

When they had chatted for a long while, Youngho asked if they would be interested in working at the autonomous state’s arms laboratory.

“The Kazakh government didn’t even treat us as researchers. It feels weird that we’re receiving your offer. I had stepped into weapons making out of curiosity in the past, but I don’t want to make weapons that harm people anymore.”

He indirectly refused Youngho’s offer.

“Our autonomous state doesn’t want to make weapons to threaten other countries or to mass produce weapons. We only want to use what we have already as protective means.”

“…”

“Of course, if our lives are at stake, we’d have to find ways to protect ourselves. Ultimately, we want the Kazakh military to be freed from Russian weapons so that the country would become more independent from it.”

“I’ve heard that the Arirang Autonomous State and the Kazakh government have a close relationship but I never knew that you’d be so worried for Kazakhstan’s future. Indeed, Koryoins are different than others.”

Youngho looked like a Koryoin to them but he did not mind it. He was rather happy to hear that.

“We never know what’s going to happen in the future. I just think that we’ll at least have a plan b if we prepare for the worst starting from now.”

As everyone seemed to have gotten comfortable to talk to each other, Youngho asked for their help again.

“I called you because I needed teachers who would teach basic knowledge to our technicians. If you move to our state with your family, you’ll receive privileges of a house, use of medical facilities, and education at no cost. I’ll also support whatever you need for teaching and researching.”

“We did not know that the Arirang Autonomous State had been developing this much but I guess there was a good reason behind it. Very well. We don’t possess great knowledge but our skills are too good to be wasted. Even though we won’t make weapons, our skills could be used to benefit people in need. We’ll join you.”

It was true that wars had progressed science in general. Ironically, the technologies that made weapons had provided convenience to all humankind.

“Thank you for making a hard decision for us.”

“Can I recommend some more workers that have worked with me in the past?”

“Of course. I’d welcome anyone who has skills.”

Youngho was already happy to have two of them joining the autonomous state but he got even more excited to have more technicians.

“You’ll even meet technicians who’d surprise you to a great extent.”

“…”

“There are so many arms technicians in Kazakhstan. They are now all doing random work to get by.”

It sounded that many of the former weapons technicians were not doing so well, and Youngho was willing to take as many of them as he could since they were all talented researchers and technicians.

“I’ll make you a laboratory for sure. You don’t have to make weapons. You could do whatever you want.”