Empire of the Ring

Some things were quite different from what they looked like on the outside. This implied that there was an element of surprise.

That was exactly what Jelyan was to Youngho.

Jelyan, who was indirectly warned by Fatima to act cautiously, carefully asked Youngho about the situation.

“Dad, I heard that this attempted kidnapping is not only about adults, but also about young girls.”

“Who said that? Young women are the target, not young girls like you. And don’t worry, they won’t be able to get involved in the crime in Kazakhstan. They were arrested before they attempted to abduct someone.”

“I was worried because mother told me to be careful. I’m a princess and I’m safe because I have bodyguards, but I’m more worried about the Kurdish kids at the Kurdish camp.”

“You can rest assured because the Kurdish people have their own security forces and police officers are also patrolling now. Why are you so worried about the Kurdish camp? Is there something wrong?”

“I think there’s a bit of a problem at the camp. I heard that some of the migrants are a little worried because there are a lot of idle men. It’s said they’re more dangerous than human traffickers.”

It seemed that this problem had been happening frequently since it went into Jelyan’s ears.

“Can you tell me about that in detail?”

Jelyan was helping Kurdish women in the Kurdish orphanages whenever she had time to help Kurdish war orphans who moved to the royal territory. There, she often saw and solved the difficulties of the migrants.

The migrants who knew Jelyan was doing volunteer work at the orphanage were using it as an opportunity to complain about their difficulties since if they went through Jelyan, problems were resolved quickly.

It would be strange if there was no problem where millions of people had just settled down.

There was a bad marriage tradition that still frequently happened in Kazakhstan, but the Kurds were also suffering from it. There was frequent abduction of women to get married. When a woman spent a few days in captivity in a man’s house, the woman’s side of the family was forced to agree to a marriage. It was a horrible custom, but the real problem was that even young girls were targeted.

Women’s voices were relatively high among the Kurds than other neighboring nations, but it was ridiculous that such absurd custom was still alive.

“Daddy did not care about the Kurds enough. We have to punish the perpetrators by law. I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

“I’m sorry that I’m making you worried. I know it’s none of my business.”

“Oh, Jelyan, you are my daughter and you don’t have to be sorry. Besides, you are a princess of Kazakhstan and of course, a princess should listen to the voices of her people. Keep in mind that your presence is a great force, especially for the Kurds. If there is any part that I miss, you should tell me like today. Okay?”

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Youngho gave her a big hug as he was proud of her. She was behaving so maturely like a fully grown adult already.

“My pretty girl, is there anything you want or want to do?”

At Youngho’s words, Jelyan smiled but hesitated to speak. She seemed to want something but was too embarrassed to say it.

“Tell me. I’ll do anything for you. If you want to study abroad like Aunt Zeynep, I’ll consider that, too.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I just want to stay with mom and dad.”

“Is there anything you want to get?”

“I don’t need anything special because mother does everything for me.”

It seemed she wanted something but it was not something she could ask Youngho. A girl at her age would need a mother’s help more than her father’s. So, Youngho decided not to say anything anymore. He would just have to tell Fatima about it later.

“Daddy’s study is always open, so come and tell me if there’s any other issue.”

“Yes. Dad.”

Youngho had a gentle smile on his face looking at Jelyan’s back as she walked away in a gentle manner. She was so lovely.

***

When Youngho told Kim Chun what he heard from Jelyan, he was shocked.

“What is wrong with those guys? Others are eager to serve as soldiers and at other workplaces, but they’re useless. The princess must have been very hurt. I’ll get on it right away.”

“Mr. Commissioner, please punish them properly this time.”

“Don’t worry. If there are any victims, we will compensate them and punish the assailants heavily.”

“I was embarrassed to hear this from my daughter. She seemed to be quite shocked by this. Would you please keep it a low profile when you resolve this?”

“Of course. It’s not something we’re proud of. It’s a disgrace to all of us that this is happening in the royal territory.”

“And how are the traffickers doing in jail?”

“They’re comparatively cooperative. It’s because we told them that they’ll be excused if they help us. But how do you want us to deal with them? Since they’re Romanians, we’ll be limited to punish them.”

If they were to be released easily, they would keep committing the same crimes over and over and there would be more victims.

“I’d like to send them to the Siberian logging site. That way, they won’t be able to be released back to the society.”

“Wouldn’t there be a problem in the future?”

“They must have committed so many crimes so far enough to deserve the death penalty. Apart from the law, they should be kept away for the sake of peace and repent until they die.”

“Sounds good. It’s hard for anyone to escape that place.”

Among the Kurds who moved to the royal territory, some men went to work in the Siberian logging site. For them, Siberia was not a place of punishment, but a place where they could make as much money as they suffered.

There was trouble working in the cold, but the intensity of the work was not so high, and the people who had visited once were willing to go again because they were paid greatly.

The working environment was also great as the accommodation for the workers was well constructed and it was not inconvenient to live there.

Once they were in, there was no way to escape by land. The only route for escape was through the Yenisei River, which made the logging site a great place for house criminals.

Criminals did not need to be managed separately because if they behaved badly, they would be banned from their quarters, which was a great punishment itself.

If they were kicked out of their quarters, they would have to survive on their own. They would starve to death soon because it was an isolated site that they could not be found by people. Even if they were lucky enough to meet the natives and get food, the next problem was surviving the cold, wolves, bears, and even tigers.

It was by far the best prison for criminals.

***

“Are you saying that the boss doesn’t even know who requested it?”

Youngho asked back to Jong-il who just delivered the report from the agents in Romania. They were investigating the human trafficking ring.

“I heard that our agents had interrogated them for 24 hours, but they still couldn’t get an answer. It seems that they really don’t know their clients.”

“If there’s nothing more to come out of those scumbags, tell them to destroy them.”

“Man, we’re going to get dirty blood on our hands for this.”

“Think of this as a war. If we don’t get rid of them now, we’ll only have another victim.”

Since the Kazakh Intelligence Department was already exposed to the human trafficking ring, erasing them was inevitable. If they lived, they would make other victims and come back to the royal territory for retaliation.

“We don’t know the main culprit, but we’ve only hunted the small fry.”

“We have identified the person who called the ring to request to capture Princess Jelyan, so we’ll be able to track him down in the near future. We’re already on a 24-hour watch. They told me that he doesn’t seem to know that it has failed yet.”

“What makes you so certain?”

“He is allegedly walking around openly. I don’t think the human trafficking ring has told him that it has failed. Don’t you think he would’ve hidden already if he knew that the operation failed?”

“Don’t rush too much. Even if it takes time, we must find the person who commissioned him.”

“Wait a minute. Won’t he notice if we took down all of the human trafficking ring members? If he can’t reach them, he would know that something’s not right.”

“You’re right. Let’s keep the boss alive and keep an eye on him around the clock. I’ll also contact Yaniv since the ring might have something to do with the mafia.”

“Okay, I’ll let Hong Sung-ki know about this.”