Empire of the Ring

Since it was already March, the temperature had warmed up.

The wet season of the winter had ended and snow on the field melted away; the construction that was stopped over the cold winter resumed.

The medical school’s dormitories and the Arirang Hotel near the airport were getting ready to open in September. Workers were also working on the railroad that would connect the harbor and the city. It was only about 10 kilometers long, but this would be good practice for future railroad construction.

Though Youngho wanted to build a railroad between Kazakhstan’s national railroad and the autonomous state right away, it would require much more work such as dealing with the national railroad department and building multiple stations and signal systems. It would not be too late to do so after building more infrastructures. In addition, railroad construction would normally be way more expensive because there should be roadbed construction and leveling work before even getting to the railroad construction.

Fortunately, the state was mostly made of flat, dry area, and this was the best condition for railroad construction. It was definitely beneficial to have a railroad looping around the state since there were already two extra farming villages now. In addition, they needed to replace the construction materials around the state, and a train could be a big help.

When Youngho asked the follower couple to calculate the cost of building a railroad around the state, they opposed Youngho’s idea.

“I asked Mr. Kim Joo-hyuk from H Corporation about this. Do you want to see the research paper he gave me?”

“Hmm… Wait, a narrow-gauge train would be the best fit for our state? Then it won’t connect to the railroad from the harbor.”

“If we’re going to build the railroad that connects the state to Kazakhstan’s national railroad, we should definitely use the international standard railroad. But, for a train that will connect villages of the state, a narrow-gauge train will be sufficient. Not to mention, the construction and maintenance cost will also make a huge difference.”

“Can we even find these trains?”

“We can. Mr. Kim said that we can place an order. It would be less stable and slower, but it’ll be fine for our state since our roads are flat and straight.”

“I know what you’re saying, but I am thinking about the future here. I appreciate how you want to save money, but we shouldn’t be penny pinchers for this matter. Don’t you think?”

“I understand. But it is also an expert’s opinion. I think it is worth giving some thought on that.”

Suh Min-seok did not back off even though Youngho insisted his opinion. He also had a point too, so Youngho stopped arguing.

“Okay. I think you do have a point. I will consider that option too. But if the cost doesn’t differ that much, we will go with the international standard railroad right away. Got it?”

“Fair enough.”

Youngho truly appreciated Min-seok’s effort to persuade him, and his opinion was based on thorough research.

He could see that Min-seok cared about the state’s well-being as much as Youngho did.

He had changed a lot since he came to the state. He used to be a timid young recruit but now, he was a great secretary who voiced himself quite often.

***

“He challenged me and argued with me as if he didn’t even care about the fact that I am his boss.”

“Whoa. Now you have a person who openly opposes you here? Nice.”

“What am I? A dictator? I appreciate debating. I’d like to listen to other people’s opinions as much as I can.”

“Right… You are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met in my life. Sometimes, I don’t even want to continue debating with you because I know you are not going to change your mind.”

“So what? Has anything gone wrong?”

“Whatever, man. This is great. I might take him as my successor. Min-seok would be the ultimate opponent for Youngho one day.”

Youngho was quite surprised by Min-seok’s attitude, and it was such a refreshing experience since not many people had opposed him before in the autonomous state. Being the prince consort and the owner of the land had made him a difficult person to talk to by many.

“So, a narrow-gauge train? Do they still make it? It sounds pretty old.”

“This is why you need to travel around the world to widen your view. It was still popular until the 90’s in Soraepogu in Incheon, Korea.”

“Sure. You know about a tiny little train. Wow, You must know how to foresee the future too. Oh wait, were you just there chasing skirts around that period?”

“Shut up. Anyway, it is a really narrow train where two people’s knees will meet if they seat face to face. Even in my view, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to cost a lot. If Mr. Kim suggested, then he would have put a lot of thought in it too.”

“I agree with you. If it becomes a problem in the future, he wouldn’t have suggested it.”

“Who knows? Maybe it will attract tourists in the future.”

“We need to send our freighters to Volgograd. I was informed that two diesel trains, ten cargo trains, and three passenger trains are ready for us.”

“Did brother Sergey threaten somebody to get them for us?”

“They are only used trains. Probably, he bought them from a military unit.”

Of course, not many military units would decline a Mafia boss’ request since they might have made several illegal transactions with them in the past already. Aged military supplies needed to be replaced after a certain period of time anyway. They would go through an inspection to see if they were still usable but someone in the military must have embezzled the trains for Yaniv since the military personnel in charge of such matter conventionally sold them a scrap metal without the inspection process.

“Even the scrap iron itself must be quite expensive…”

“It’s Yaniv’s gift for recruiting the American lumber company into Russia.”

“He’s going to take advantage of us later for this.”

“Well, he might now. He asked me to send him some rifles from our state.”

Youngho asked Sergey for some used trains previously, and the trains were ready sooner than expected. Youngho was going to raise the price of his wines, but it seemed that he should wait because Yaniv did a big favor for him and the state. Youngho was sure that Yaniv already had this in mind before helping him.

Regardless of the deal, soon the people of the state would hear the sound of diesel trains.

***

Among the second group of Koryoin immigrants from Osh, nine households that had relatively young families were not given their houses yet. They were staying at the barracks used for constructors in the beginning stage of the autonomous state. They were roughly built but since one household was using a few rooms, it was not too inconvenient for them. Besides, they now had hope of living a safe and stable life, and their faces were bright.

When Youngho’s group visited them, they were about to have their dinner. As soon as they saw him, they stopped eating and stood up to greet him.

“Please don’t stand for me. Finish your meal. I feel like I picked the wrong time to visit you.”

“It’s okay. Di… did you have your dinner yet? Do you want to join us?”

Their Korean was not proficient, but it was intelligible.

Youngho was surprised to hear his Korean. The man in his late 30s still had Korean language and customs embedded in his life.

“Do you have extra food for me?”

“We always make more than we need because kids might get hungry later at night.”

“Great. I would love to join you. Hope you don’t mind if we eat too much.”

As Youngho’s group started to eat, the whole cafeteria went back to their meal and became rowdy. He kept checking around as he ate because he heard that this group of Koryoins was particularly in a very poor condition due to their hard life in Kyrgyzstan.

At a corner of the cafeteria, a mother and a teenage boy were having a quiet argument. It looked like the boy was not happy with the food. Youngho quietly asked Kim In-hwa to check it out for him since there was a lot of food on the table, and there was no reason for the boy to complain about the food.

When Kim In-hwa came back, she looked concerned about the situation.

“The boy wants some ramen noodles. His mom said that he does this every meal time, so we shouldn’t be worried.”

“He doesn’t like this food?”

“It looks like he hasn’t tried ramen noodles before, and he wants it so bad. He seemed to be bit smaller than other teenage boys. It’s obvious their life in Kyrgyzstan was full of struggles.”

Youngho checked others during a quiet conversation with In-hwa. If the boy could not even have cheap ramen noodles, he wondered what kind of life these people had before.

“Can we make some ramen noodles for him? It’s not going to make him sick.”

“They don’t have any more ramen noodles left.”

“Give them more.”

“We have no more ramen noodles now. The whole group of Koryoin immigrants only wanted ramen noodles the entire week. Nothing is left in the stock.”

Since Serbian residents also loved ramen, the state had been importing them in containers from Korea. Especially, young Countryside Force guards loved to eat them as night snacks when they were on patrol duty.

After Youngho finished his meal, he could not leave the cafeteria, he felt bad that the immigrants could not even eat ramen noodles in Kyrgyzstan. Instant ramen noodles were cheap food in Korea that many college students and people between jobs ate it. It came across as a little shock.

“Suh Min-seok. Make a call to Korea and ask them to send us ramen noodles immediately. Tell the supplier it’s urgent. You could also call the importers in Istanbul and see if they can send ramen noodles. Give them the price they want.”

“Yes, sir. How many containers would you like to get?”

“I’ll leave it up to you.”

Min-seok was glad that Youngho cared about Koryoins. If Youngho did not ask, Min-seok was going to spend his own money to order some ramen noodles.

Youngho could not forget about the scene he saw at the Koryoin immigrants’ cafeteria.

Though he was not planning on building a big state like this at the beginning, he eventually grew empathetic for Serbian immigrants who had struggled to live in their previous homes. That was the reason why he began building the city and poured his heart in building the state.

Now, seeing Koryoins struggling hard this way, it reminded him of the days when the autonomous state was still starting. Rather than blaming someone for their hard life, Youngho wanted to find ways to help them. So, he called a few people to the conference room to discuss it.