Empire of the Ring

The autonomous state was about 1,600 kilometers away from the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. It was a distance that took about two hours by plane and two full days by bus or train.

The rich tourists used an airplane, but ordinary people used buses and trains. However, if they had a lot of belongings to transport with them, the only option was to use a van or a truck.

Jong-il and Youngho also were inevitably driving a truck to get there because using an airplane came with a risk of exposing their identities.

“Hey, do we really have to take the hard way?”

“Yep. This is the only way not to get exposed. Besides, how are we going to bring money and gold bars if we don’t have a truck? If we buy a truck in Astana, our identities will be exposed too. The best way to do it is to directly drive a truck. Stop complaining and let’s change our seats now. I’m getting a little sleepy now.”

While monitoring the second daughter, the agents found out that she was cashing her valuables and storing the cash at her house. So, Youngho and Jong-il were on their way to steal the money. Collecting cash meant that she would soon flee to another country with her money.

“What an idiotic behavior. I would’ve deposited the money in my foreign bank account immediately instead of storing it at my house.”

“Even Swiss Banks doesn’t deal with a bulk load of money. People open secret bank accounts all the time. Who would prefer regular bank transactions?”

“So, what is she worried about? The money won’t go anywhere in the bank.”

“Jeez, you idiot. She probably won’t take it into the bank. She’ll put it somewhere else like a personal villa in Europe or some other place.”

It was a very lucky case that the agents were able to find that the second daughter was getting rid of her domestic assets.

The information equipment provided by the UK intelligence service used malware that could be controlled in a distance to hack into telegram, signal, and messenger services such as Whatsapp.

Easily said, it was a device that monitored a consumers electronics device, such as smartphones, computers and TV through the internet in real-time.

Its malicious code had a funny name which was ‘Weeping Angel.’ It allowed you to eavesdrop on people even if the electronics were turned off.

When they hacked into the second daughter’s house, they confirmed that she had already gotten rid of her stocks and valuables and kept the money at her house.

Sooner or later, it was clear that she was going to flee the country, so the two came as quickly as they could.

“Why don’t we check up on the third daughter too?”

“She won’t have a lot of money in her house. I told you we have to rob the Presidential Palace”

“The slush funds there should be left as evidence for the president’s corruption, so he won’t be able to escape from it.”

“I don’t know what the military here is doing. In other countries, the military would’ve overruled the government already.”

“That’s the evidence that they’re all corrupt too. They’ve been acting as the president’s personal army for money.”

“I hope there are useful generals left.”

“Cho Chul-hwan said he will meet the commander of the border unit, so there should be good news soon.”

“Are you thinking about a military coup?”

“Oh, I can’t bring in wolves in order to avoid a fox. That is not a good start.”

“Man, it’s a shame that there are no Koryoin high military officers.”

“Victor Jun said that there are great field officers who are loyal to their country. Let’s wait and see.”

“There are many Germans and Ukrainians in the military. I hope the country gets divided into pieces.”

***

The president’s second daughter’s house was a grandiose mansion.

“Wow, look at this building. She daubed her money all over the building. She’s just advertising that she siphoned off the country’s budget.”

“Look at the high wall. We need a ladder to climb it up.”

“Did you check the security guards here?”

“I don’t know what’s going on inside, but there are no security guards outside. A police car occasionally comes to patrol around the building.”

“Maybe the president didn’t tell his daughter about the burglary at his villa.”

“If so, that’s good news.”

“Hey, let’s climb over the fence quickly.”

The two suppressed all of the security people at the mansion and disabled the security system.

The second daughter and his husband were flustered after waking up from their gold-framed bed.

Many times, a knife was visually more threatening to people than a gun. Until the shots were fired, a gun was not something to fear. However, a sharp knife that reflected light caused extreme fear to people. When Youngho slit open the bed comforter with a sharp knife, it was enough to make the couple shiver in fear. The couple, who would have lived a privileged life until now, had never experienced such a threat before.

They knocked down the daughter and took only the husband. He was their guide to the safe.

Shivering like a leaf in a storm, the husband opened the safe for Youngho and Jong-il.

He was so terrified that he got the combination wrong two times before he could open the safe. So, he was beaten up by Jong-il for that. Usually, a safe was used to store some cash and important documents, but the couple was using it as a jewelry safe.

After taking everything from the safe, Youngho showed a dollar bill to the husband to urge him to guide them to the place he hid the money that the second daughter cashed after selling her valuables. When Youngho threatened him by putting the knife blade against his neck, he quickly understood what the two meant. Soon, he led them to an iron door in the basement. In the room, there were packaged boxes of money that looked like the boxes they found in the president’s villa. After checking the money, the two knocked down the husband. Since they had not been speaking for an hour, they were getting tired of it.

“Finally, I can breathe now. We should buy more high-quality gloves and masks. It’s hard to breathe in it. Look at my hands. They’re sweaty as the Han River.”

“How much is all this?”

“There are 32 boxes. I’m glad there are no gold bars to carry.”

“You mean this is 320 million dollars?”

“Yep. I guess the rest of her assets are real estate.”

“Jeez, how did she collect that much money? I should go and ask her.”

“Cut it out. I’m afraid they’ll remember our voices if we speak. By the way, we should bring the truck here to move all of these. It’s not going to be easy to get rid of the police car patrolling around the building.”

“Hey, we don’t need to bring our truck. We can use that refrigerated van over there.”

Among expensive cars and motorcycles, a freezer truck was parked. It must have been used to transport food ingredients to the mansion. Thanks to the freezer truck, the two could get out of the place without any suspicion. No police would dare to stop the freezer truck that belonged to the president’s second daughter’s home.

“They prepared a truck for us.”

“Jeez, why did we even go through the trouble of bringing that truck this far.”

“You didn’t see any freezer truck through the satellite?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Let’s load them now. We should get out of the mansion before daylight.”

They hurriedly loaded all of the boxes to the freezer truck. It was not a difficult job with the strength of the two. They finished the work instantly and brought other valuables from the mansion as there was more room in the truck.

They came out of the mansion after loading all of the paintings and antiques in the house. The sun had just started rising when they hit the road.

***

The basement storage of the mansion in the Serbian ranch in Baku was filled with cash and gold bars.

“Ah, I didn’t eat dinner, but I feel so full just by looking at this.”

“Hey, are we getting some percentage of this as before?”

“I am going to buy fighter jets with it. How about that?”

“That’s great to hear. What’s their model?”

“It’s Gripen from Sweden.”

“Awesome! How did you think of buying those jets? Did Eriksson suggest it?”

“You know about their great performance for their price, right? Eriksson told me the Information Agency is a Saab AB shareholder. ”

“Eriksson must’ve been happy because of your order. I guess once they’re delivered, our state will be a key point. There’s no use if they’re delivered after the whole Kazakh situation is over though.”

“I told him that used fighter jets from the Swedish Air Force would work too. I also made him in charge of getting the pilot training.”

“Lee Youngho, you’ve become so free these days.”

“Wow, it’s an honor to hear a compliment from Park Jong-il.”

“Haha, hey, let’s butcher some sheep and have a barbecue party tonight! It’s a reward for our achievement today.”

When they got to the farm, Leon who was covered in dirt clung to Youngho.

Unlike Kazakhstan, where it was still winter in April, Baku was in spring. The ground was muddy everywhere due to the melted snow.

“Man, what have you been doing? You’re covered in dirt.”

“Daddy, kissy!”

Leon kissed Youngho’s cheek to greet him courteously.

As Youngho was having a father and son moment, Fatima came outside with the other kids after hearing Youngho’s voice.

“Hey, I thought you said you’d be late from the ranch.”

“I finished it quickly and came back. I brought some lamb meat. Are you up for barbecue?”

“Yeah!”

The children cheered to hear that they were having a barbecue for the night. They were delighted that their father would be staying with them instead of going somewhere. Youngho felt that his fatigue had gone away when he heard his children’s bright voice.