Empire of the Ring

The little town of Sary-Tash was a plateau area surrounded by snow-covered mountains.

Because it was located on the way to China and was adjacent to the border of Tajikistan, there were many different types of restaurants and lodging businesses.

Its beautiful natural environment attracted travelers but it was also a place of frequent mysterious disappearance incidents.

People often thought that the unpredictable climate and wild animals must have caused unfortunate car accidents and deaths; turned out that it had been the doing of the IS.

Knowing that nothing would be changed even if they informed the police, Youngho and Jong-il decided to take care of it themselves.

It was not for revenge. It was rather for the construction work that would be conducted in the future. It was better for them to deal with the organization early.

“We should’ve done this earlier. Why did we decide to drive here before?”

“If we were on jets, we couldn’t land on an empty field like this. A light airplane is useful in many ways after all.”

The place was full of highlands since its altitude was 3,000 meters high and there were places that a light-airplane could land all over the place. Not aware of that, Youngho and Jong-il took a deadly ride for seven hours when they came here last time.

If they did not have a light airplane, they would not have been able to return to the town so quickly. After saying goodbye to the survey team and the Countryside Force guards at Osh, the two immediately flew back to Sary-Tash. They planned to leave tomorrow with the two agents that they had left there two days ago.

“Do you think anyone saw our airplane?”

“This is five kilometers away from the town. Who would’ve seen us? Let’s deal with these guys first and go to Osh before we head back to the autonomous state.”

Although the two were there to deal with the IS members, they were not nervous at all. It was not a big deal for them since they were protected by the ring’s mysterious powers.

The Koryoin agents who had been waiting for them welcomed the two.

“Did anything happen?”

“Nothing special, except the policemen who work at the guard post at the border visited the town once.”

As the survey team returned to Kazakhstan safely, the police must have been relieved to hear that. It was not a small accident if a ten-member foreign road construction survey team had gone missing at once in the country but no broadcasting company made an issue out of it.

It was because the place was located in a remote region and people really did not care since such incidents happened quite frequently somehow. People were only busy to make ends meet in this place.

“How are they?”

“The owner of the traveler’s inn busily went in and out of the building for a while but he’s now quiet.”

“He must have visited the hideout of the IS because he could not get in touch with other guys.”

“We checked again this morning but all of the members are still at their hideout.”

Since Youngho and Jong-il struck their vital points to the point that they were passed out, they would not be able to walk around normally for a while. Since the survey team was gone already, they must have no one to blame and take revenge as well.

“Did you see any new face going into their hideout yet?”

“We didn’t see anyone so far.”

The members of the survey team were already gone after reporting that they got lost in the mountains and managed to safely return, the IS members must have thought that everything was fine now. Even if the survey team reported the group, there was no proof that they had actually abducted the team.

“You two, go ahead and pack all of your belongings to get ready to leave.”

“What?”

“Get to the light airplane. There are rifles and tents inside the plane. You can get ready to camp out and wait until we’re back. You’ll find the airplane when you walk in the direction of three o’clock for about five kilometers.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We’ll camp out there tonight and leave first thing in the morning, tomorrow to Osh.”

As they heard that they would be leaving the remote region, their faces were brightened. They had been there for only a few days but they did not grow fond of the place.

“Aren’t you two coming with us?”

“We have things to do in the town. We’ll be there at night.”

After sending the agents, the two ran toward the hideout of the IS group. Since it was located in an isolated area, no one in the town would know that Youngho and Jong-il were here. Even if someone had seen the two, they would have no proof to show since dead men could tell no tales.

Since that day, nine young guys and the owner of the traveler’s inn had gone missing and no one ever saw them again.

***

“Apparently, there are more than 5,000 young people who joined the IS.”

“And?”

“Shouldn’t we also deal with them? They sound really crazy.”

Apparently, the IS had been luring young lads with sweet talks making them their own members only to use them as cannon fodder. This was what the two heard after interrogating a few members at the hideout.

There were many abduction cases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and mainly the IS was to blame for such cases. The organization had been sending abducted people to Afghanistan. Those abducted people were used to train the IS soldiers and eventually faced tragic death.

They were using living people so that the IS soldiers would not fear killing people anymore.

The IS organization in Afghanistan was much bigger than Youngho had imagined.

After returning to Osh, Youngho called Michael and explained everything.

Surprisingly, Michael said that the CIA already was informed about the IS. He told Youngho that the US Air Force had recently decided to reside at the Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan because of the same reason. It was because the power of the IS was growing rapidly that Kyrgyzstan could not suppress it with its own strength.

The U.S., that was retreating from Afghanistan had now decided to reside in Kyrgyzstan to suppress the IS forces.

The problem of the IS was that it saw other religions and Islamic entities as its enemies. According to them, even if people were Muslims, they were also enemies if they did not comply with its laws.

“How are we going to stop them? They’re a big organization.”

“But we can’t just sit by and wait until they knocked on our door. We need to do something.”

Youngho was dumbfounded by the list of IS’s expected occupied territory that he found at the hideout of the IS in the little town of Sary-Tash.

Regions in the Middle East, southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia were all of the territories that the IS was going to take over. That meant that any of the region and groups that did not comply with it would be destroyed.

There were already so many members of the IS that was expanding all over Central Asia.

Recently increasing terrorist attacks in Kazakhstan was its proof.

“The Arirang Autonomous State is not a safe place anymore.”

“We need to strengthen our security inspection process.”

“Yeah, we should. The IS could have persuaded our residents to join it too.”

“Man, we can’t tell the residents to watch their neighbors just as in North Korea. I’m afraid that people will complain if we strengthen the inspection.”

To the IS, the autonomous state was an assembly of pagans. It was because the majority of the residents were members of the Russian Orthodox Church. There was a tiny population of Muslims among Koryoins and former navies, but they prayed in their houses.

If the IS saw the state, it could think that the state excluded Islam.

In Osh, Youngho’s group searched for the IS’s branch for several days but they could not find anything through their intelligence network.

Youngho and Jong-il wanted to take care of the group immediately but as there was no clue of where it might be, they were growing tired now.

The two, who had been staying at a hotel without doing anything, were now sick of dairy products and meat. So, they went to a Koryoin store in an open-air market.

Osh, a city located in southwest Kyrgyzstan, was a transportation hub of the country. Its population was about 230,000 people. Since the road that was connected to the Pamir Plateau began here, especially many Chinese trucks could be spotted.

Except for Kazakhstan, most countries in Central Asia were subject to China’s economic power. So, any daily goods or industrial goods sold were made in China.

Most of the goods in the open-air market were Chinese as well.

“That person who’s selling vegetables look like a typical Korean. If Koryoins had lived here for three generations, wouldn’t their appearances have changed?”

Although the environment was different, people’s appearance did not change in only about seventy years.

Where Jong-il pointed was a woman looking like she was in her forties, were selling white kimchi that was roughly marinated with ground paper. She looked like a traditional Korean lady.

***

Youngho asked her how much the kimchi was in Russian.

Having heard that 20,000 Koryoins in here had forgotten Korean unlike the Koryoins in Kazakhstan, so he asked in Russian. Surprisingly, the lady answered him in fluent Korean.

“You are Koreans. I knew that you two were Koreans ever since I saw you roaming around from the other corner. Korean travelers often come here to get Korean food if they did not like the food here.”

Asians could roughly distinguish each other’s nationalities by people’s looks, and it was the same with Koreans.

“You can speak Korean fluently.”

“Of course. I’m a Koryoin. I’ve also been to Korea for several years to work there, so I’m more fluent than other Koryoins here.”

Youngho was embarrassed that he asked such a question. Her response seemed to be asking why he was asking such a dumb question to a Koryoin.

He quickly changed the subject.

“We are living in Kazakhstan.”

“Haha, I see. But you can’t be Koryoins.”

The lady responded with a smile.

“People now call me a Koryoin.”

“I guess you really live in Kazakhstan since you identify yourself as a Koryoin.”

Most of the Koryoins living in Central Asia had lived good lives because of their hard work but Kyrgyzstan was a different case.

The country did not have a representative industry and it did not have large farmland since the country was located on highlands. Since all Kyrgyz people eked out a living, Koryoins living in the country was no different. About 30 percent of the country’s national profit was sent by the Kyrgyz overseas who went to foreign countries to work.

The Koryoin lady who sold kimchi said that she was able to have her tiny store with the money she made after working several years in Korea.

Youngho felt bad to hear about the Koryoins in Kyrgyzstan.

There were not enough factories or jobs for them even though they wanted to work, and the country gave priority to native Kyrgyz people. She also said that many Koryoins were leaving to Uzbekistan now because there was no hope in the country.

“Ma’am, if you could, would you move to Kazakhstan?”

“Oh, yes. In the past, residing there was restricted because of the Soviet Union but now we can go there if we wanted to. We, Koryoins have survived here for 70 years. Back then, they had come here with nothing.”

“But, isn’t this your hometown?”

“It is, and I’ll miss this place but I can’t hold up in the place with no hope.”

“Are you saying other Koryoins think the same as you?”

“Well, if they’re doing fine here, they have no reason to leave. But people like me must be thinking that they’re going to leave here soon. In several years, thousands of Koryoins will be leaving.”

Youngho and Jong-il looked at each other at the same time.

They nodded to each other.

“Do you have a place to go to Kazakhstan?”

“My son works in Almaty but he said the prices are too high there. I’m a little worried about that but there will be a job for me in a big city like that. I can also farm.”

“Where I live has become an autonomous state recently. The state is taking residents now because it has a little population there. Should I recommend you? The state gives you free land, free medical and education service.”

“A place like that couldn’t exist. How is the state going to survive when it gives away everything for free?”

“It is called the Arirang Autonomous State. It is a peaceful place where the Kazakh government does not bother.”

“…”

She looked at Youngho strangely since she was not sure if he was speaking the truth.

She had heard that Koreans often cheated on other Koreans in foreign countries, so she doubted the two strange men.

“Don’t make such a joke because we live poorly here. Hurting feelings of the people from the same root is a terrible thing to do!”

“Would you like to look at the picture of the autonomous state?”

Sometimes one picture could say more than a hundred words.

Youngho showed the lady the pictures of the scenery of the autonomous state on his smartphone.

The Koryoin lady smirked. Although Kazakhstan was better off than Kyrgyzstan, what Youngho showed her could not possibly be a city in Kazakhstan.

“Are you sure that this is the Arirang Autonomous State? Not a city in Europe?”