Empire of the Ring

The large screen of the conference room at the government complex in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, showed maps of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and then Kazakhstan.

The head of the National Territory Resources Management Agency, who was explaining the amount of each country’s resource reserves and the status of its resource exploration, stopped explaining when Youngho raised his hand.

“Chief, how many mines and exploration sites have you been to?”

“…”

It seemed that he had not been to the exploration site at all as he could not answer Youngho’s question.

Although work between working-level officials and the chief executive were separated, Youngho thought that a leader should be equipped with sincerity to visit at least a few key sites.

The head of the National Territory Resources Management Agency only delivered the report written by working-level officials like a parrot. He was clearly unaware of the situation on the site.

“Is the Director of Practice present?”

“Your Highness, I was not told to bring him here.”

Youngho did not ask because he did not know that the director of practice was not present.

It was a kind of reprimand.

“Do you know why I travel to Siberia, Greenland, Greece and so on? I’m trying to be aware of the situation in the field. That way, you can see the scene clearly even if you’re sitting at your desk.”

At the words of Youngho, the conference room was as silent as death.

The tension was eased slightly by someone’s cough. He must have been chocked while swallowing his saliva out of nervousness.

“Don’t feel burdened by it but go to the sites frequently. Listening to the voices of the field workers is also a virtue. You can correct any absurdities when you visit the field.”

Youngho continued his remarks with determination.

“It doesn’t mean that ministers or chiefs of ministries are not making efforts. If you’re trying hard, run to the scene yourself. If the country is small, it will come at a glance, but think about the size of our land. It’s so vast that you can’t even visit all the sites while you’re in office.”

After the meeting, the prime minister and other cabinet ministers were having a dinner prepared by the royal family.

After making such a heavy comment, Youngho wanted to release the tension among them a little.

“Mr. Prime Minister, I think the Cabinet members are too rigid. Should I prepare some entertainment?”

“Your Highness, we’d better keep this atmosphere going for a while. The future ministers were so proud that people’s approval ratings for the royal family and the government were soaring, but in fact, the government approval rating is high because of the support rate for the royal family.”

“I regret having stepped into the work of government when you are there.”

“Your Highness is the highest personnel authority in Kazakhstan. Who will blame you?”

“If I am involved in government affairs, I think it will be difficult for you to manage state affairs.”

Rather than the prime minister’s words leading the government, other ministers might be only trying to look like they were working hard because of the Duke of Kazakhstan. That was why Youngho was only talking to Prime Minister Kasim at the dinner table.

This was because the government would operate well when Prime Minister Kasim had more authority.

“But is it okay to leave the exploration work to only a few foreign companies? We need to give Kazakh companies a chance to improve their competitiveness.”

“Our companies still haven’t fully rid of the remnants of socialism and lack a lot of responsibility. We can’t trust them to do this.”

“I’m really worried that our people will lose all their jobs to foreigners.”

“What’s fortunate is that the Koreans and Kurds who moved to our country were also showing signs of being diligent, so the Kazakhs seemed to have been motivated.”

In addition to the idleness unique to nomadic people, the excessive social security system had made the people lazy.

The new administration had continued its enlightenment campaign and their lifestyle had improved at least, but it used to be terrible before.

“The drama is good, but it could turn into a social problem. Since it is a multiracial country, we need to make sure that there are no alienated peoples.”

“Don’t worry too much because people don’t envy the immigrants because they are well-off. They take it all as Allah’s will.”

Muslims described everything as Allah’s will, good or bad.

Kazakhstan, like Turkey and Azerbaijan, was a secular country that did not have Islam as a state religion, so its people freely believed in the Russian Orthodox Church and Islam.

However, ironically people liked to express their excuses in an Islamic way, regardless of their religion. It seemed they were comforting each other whether they lived well or not, it was Allah’s will.

“If there are companies that want to explore resources, the government should provide them with exploration equipment. When are we going to go through this large piece of land with a few companies? A lot of companies have to be mobilized anyway. Then, we’ll be able to filter good companies from the bad. If we could support more good companies, and start getting rid of the bad ones, wouldn’t we have a global company one day?”

“If that’s what Your Highness wills, I will consult with the relevant ministries and work out a plan.”

“Look out for companies that specialize in gold mining.”

“Hahaha… I wondered why you haven’t brought up mining yet. If the royal family’s interested in it, all companies will want to step in.”

“If companies supported by government funds find gold mines, I’ll donate the gold found there to the central bank.”

“I don’t think the central bank governor will be very excited because the government already owes so much to the royal family.”

“You can pay back the money that the royal family provided for the government later.”

“It’s better to replace it with gold mines. We’ve had a little bit of budget left since last year because of that, so we’re going to increase our defense spending, how does that sound?”

Since the government debt to the royal family was replaced with gold mining rights, it could save some budget.

“I’m glad to hear that. Try to persuade the National Assembly.”

***

The resource exploration organization, led by Park Young-sun, consisted of seven teams, with two teams scouring the existing gold mine areas and the rest of the teams conducting exploration in the Altai Mountains in the northeastern Russian border area.

As the volunteer exploration members led by Park Young-sun stayed in the Altai Mountains, Youngho visited the area. Since it was a cool area, Youngho wanted to avoid the heat from the royal territory as well.

As it was his first time visiting the Altai Mountains, he was fascinated by the vastness of nature.

“This is amazing. I knew it had ice caps and glacier, but I didn’t know they were scattered around this large area.”

The view from the airplane was completely different with its view from the ground.

“It’s a mountain range over 4,000 meters above sea level. This is what we used to call the Golden Mountains. There is still a lot of gold in the valley.”

When Park Young-sun called it the Golden Mountains, Youngho unwittingly swallowed down his saliva.

Kazakhstan was a place where gold was produced a lot, but people did not openly described mountains as a golden mountain.

Neither Almaty’s royal gold mine nor Uzbek’s world’s largest gold mine received such a title, so Youngho’s expectation of the Altai Mountains grew big.

“And this area had been preserved so well.”

“For some reason, the former administration designated it as a nature reserve and banned its development.”

“Is it because they worried about a conflict with Russia?”

“The Russian territory is over the mountains. It has nothing to do with this place.”

Youngho began to get interested as he listened to Park Young-sun.

It was strange that President Nazarbayev banned development only to this area among the Altai Mountains. It was a man who had dug up a gold mine near Almaty’s Shymbulak Resort, known as Jungfrau of Central Asia.

“Where is the department that manages this place?”

“It’s a little weird. If it’s a nature reserve, it should be under the jurisdiction of the local government of Pavlodar, but it’s managed by the National Territory Resources Management Agency. So I inquired to the Resource Management Administration and it said that there should be no problem of exploration by the royal family.”

“The former regime must have put a restriction to this area to keep something a secret. There’s something that the public shouldn’t know.”

“That’s what I was thinking and that’s why I wanted you to visit this place.”

If it was under the jurisdiction of the National Territory Resources Management Agency, it was more likely to be a mineral.

“All I can think of is gold.”

“I wondered why you didn’t say that.”

“Don’t make me a gold digger.”

Park Young-sun smiled at Youngho’s response.

“It’s the golden mountain range, so there’s a good chance there’s a big gold mine here. The residents here said that they found a lot of gold in the valley.”

“So are you saying that the previous administration left it as a protected area regardless of the existence of a gold mine?”

“I think so. I think they intended to use it as a private gold safe for the president.”

“What do you think as an expert?”

“If you’ve found a lot of gold in the valley, the probability of having a vein somewhere upstream is 100 percent.”

A geological expert like Park Young-sun could not make such remark unless he was sure.

Youngho was exuberated inside but he tried to hide his excitement.

“If it’s not gold, I hope we at least find a lot of minerals.”

“The resource exploration team that I’m leading will put finding the gold as a priority. It’s the only mineral that’s going to build up national power in one breath, and I can’t think of anything else.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“I want to designate a few more places as protected areas, not just here.”

“If you have a place in mind, please mark it on the map. We can ask the Prime Minister.”

“Your Highness, is it possible to make the protected area into a royal property? That way, we can still produce the gold in the royal family without having to inform the government, even if we find it.”

“You say I’m greedy, but you completely ignore domestic law.”

“Wouldn’t we use it for Kazakhstan anyway? I think it’s more efficient to operate where the royal family needs it.”

“I’ll discuss it with the Prime Minister. Don’t worry, it’s possible to designate this place as a royal property right away.”

“Then please send security guards to guard the area.”

Park Young-sun was asking security guards as if he was about to find the vein of gold at any moment.