Empire of the Ring

With its population of a million people, Krasnoyarsk was considered to be one of the biggest cities where Trans-Siberian Railway stopped.

The train stopped for each station for a long period of time, so passengers usually got off the train during a stop to walk around and buy some food for their long trips such as dairy food and pastries.

When Youngho and Jong-il got to the Krasnoyarsk station, it was crowded with passengers and merchants. The Trans-Siberian Railway was popular for backpackers from all over the world. Youngho could spot some Korean backpackers too, and it was not his first time seeing Koreans on the train.

Whenever Youngho took the Trans-Siberian Railway, he always bought too much food and ended up sharing all he had with some unknown Korean passengers. Today was not an exception because he met some young Korean backpackers on the hallway inside the train, and he gave away whatever unopened food that he had left.

“Take them. Consider me like a long lost uncle. You are going to need them.”

“It’s okay. You’ve treated us at the cafeteria twice already and shared enough food with us for our travel. Once we take the ship at Vladivostok, we will be alright.”

“Come on. You can pay me back later. We were happy to meet young Koreans on the train.”

The group of five Korean young men and women was in trouble because they lost their money bag on the train. They thought it would be more efficient to have one person to carry all the money, but the girl who was in charge had lost it. Thankfully, some of the girls had a little bit of money left, and they still had debit cards with some money, so they would still be able to get on a ship.

Since Youngho knew that they would never get their money back, he gave them some money so that they would not starve until they got home. He was impressed to see that they were still bright and hopeful despite the fact that they did not have much money left, so he spent some time with them on the train as he treated them meals. Now, they were thankful and sorry for him at the same time because he had treated them and gave them money when they parted ways.

“Thank you. We were lucky to meet you on this trip.”

“No problem. Hope you guys find jobs.”

Youngho told them to find jobs instead of saying goodbye since those young people were jobless in Korea. Due to the high unemployment rate, finding a job was a very competitive process. Many backpackers seemed to have money but most of the young Korean backpackers did not have a full-time job. They saved money from working multiple part-time jobs for a year before taking a trip like this.

Hearing this made Youngho feel sorry.

“If you have guts to face hardship, think about applying for international companies. You all have college degrees and speak English pretty well. You will be successful if you could get international job positions.”

“You two misters must have a successful career in an international company.”

“I am not sure if it is a success, but I can afford some stuff.”

“Thank you for your advice.”

“You’re welcome. Good luck.”

***

“Aren’t they supposed to be better off in Korea by now? It’s a shame that they came out because they almost gave up on getting a job.”

“I love Korea, but I am concerned about the future of Korea’s young generations. What has the Korean government been doing?”

“I bet the government was trying to survive from the interference of large countries like China and the U.S.A. Oh, speaking of which, look who is here.”

As they expected, the Chinese people they met on the train also got off at the same station.

“Their destination is here too. Wow, look at their carriers. They’re big.”

“Looks like they are going to stay here for a long time.”

“Man, if they cross us, I’ll take all of my wrath on them. The reason that Korea is divided and could not grow is because of these countries that surround us!”

It was only Youngho’s personal opinion, but it was a lie. Korea was always invaded and influenced by its surrounding countries.

Youngho was planning on dumping his anger on them.

“Let’s go and enforce our law.”

“We are starting it today?”

“We’ve got to hurry before they make their move.”

“What’s up with you? Didn’t you say you want to be discreet?”

“They are playing in our playground without permission. We are applying the Siberian law right away. Call the agents. I want them to find out where the company hid their collected resources.”

“Would a mere under clerk know the location?”

“He is still the number two of the company’s local branch. He should know.”

“They are taking a taxi.”

“Let’s follow them.”

Three Chinese guys went into an old hotel, and it meant that they were neither entrepreneurs nor diplomats.

“They must be agents sent by the security department. They normally have their own lodging, but they are staying at a hotel because they are keeping this visit a secret.”

“I guess the Chinese government doesn’t trust its own enterprise.”

“They must be here to find out the corruption of their employees.”

“They have a lot of things to hide in here then.”

“Maybe we should wait until they catch corrupted employees?”

“No. We will make our move before them. If we steal what they’ve collected, their executives will be accused of corruption. They will be summoned to their country. Then we do that again when the new executives come.”

“A sneak mission is not my style.”

“Who cares about your style? We just have to get the job done when there’s an opportunity. Now is the time!”

***

It was dark, so Youngho and Jong-il moved through the blind spots avoiding the streetlights.

“There is no security camera here.”

“Camera wouldn’t work in this cold weather. Who would walk around in the freezing night anyway?”

“I hope we don’t leave empty-handed tonight.”

They could not find out the location of the valuables since the agents had failed to get the location of the resources from the Chinese under clerk. However, they assumed that the general secretary of logging of the Chinese enterprise would keep all of the valuables in his office. They searched the office, but they still could not find a single safe. Therefore, they rerouted the destination to the general secretary’s place.

“If we can’t find anything from there, let’s interrogate the general secretary. We need to have our masks on and speak only in Russian. No Korean or English.”

“We are going to have to interrogate the general secretary anyways because if there is a safe we won’t know the combination.”

The general secretary’s luxurious house was located near the Yenisei River. The fact that a person in charge of the Chinese government-run enterprise was so well-off meant that he originally had a rich background, or he had been secretly taking money from the government.

“Man, this guy must be really rich or corrupted. I bet he also bribed a lot of high officials in China.”

“I wonder what kind of things he has been hiding in this big house.”

“Let’s get in.”

***

The general secretary babbled in Chinese as the cold blade of Youngho’s knife was pressed against his neck. He pretended that he did not know Russian.

“Where is your safe? Tell me the location or you die here. Your choice.”

“…”

“Do you want me to send a picture of you I just took to your family in China?”

He shook his head strongly then finally opened his mouth to talk. It was because he was with a half-naked young Russian woman on his bed. He had his family in China but was enjoying his life in Siberia with a local mistress.

He was afraid of the picture being sent to his family mostly because his wife’s family was involved in the government. He feared that he would lose his power and position.

“It’s in the basement.”

“We know what you’ve been doing at the logging site. You are lucky that we won’t be reporting you to your government. We will visit you frequently, and all you need to do is pay us well.”

“…”

He just nodded without a word. He assumed that Youngho and Jong-il were mafias.

Sung-ki and Sang-ho did not know Youngho and Jong-il had come to Krasnoyarsk because they asked other agents not to tell them. As Youngho and Jong-il walked into the office in downtown, Sung-ki, who was taking a nap, hurriedly got up from the couch and started to yell at them.

“Oh, you can’t do this to me. I am the chief director of this branch office. You can’t just walk in without informing me ahead of time. Have you secretly come to check on our work?”

“I thought Sang-ho was the director here. Jeez. And why would we want to secretly check on your work? We don’t care. Just go back to sleep.”

“I thought you came to check us out because you don’t trust me. I just finished all the work yesterday, and I was planning on going back to the state tomorrow after taking a day off”

“Oh, cut your crap. We stayed up all night to entertain the officials around here.”

As Jong-il yelled at him, Sung-ki went quiet. He realized that he overreacted because he was so surprised to see them in the middle of his nap.

“You could’ve told us to do it.”

“We knew you would be busy and tired. So you are going back tomorrow?”

“Yes. The temporary lodging and the harbor at the Yenisei River are done. We already loaded the lumbers on the ferry. It’s time to go back. Are you done with your work?”

“Yup. We are going back today on a plane. This is what Russian officials gave us. Take them to the ships and keep them safe.”

What Youngho and Jong-il gave him was a little chest with a lock on it.

Although curious, Sung-ki did not ask any question since he was a fast-witted person.