"Dr. Park, you should take it easy. I'm afraid you might get sick or something."

"Well, I'm rather excited to investigate the new land. You never know what's buried under the ground."

"The resources won't go anywhere. There are so many things that I should discuss with you but I haven't been able to get ahold of you."

"I've been feeling empty since Seo-young went back to Baku. That's why I've been keeping busy."

As the New Year's season had pa.s.sed, Fatima and the children went to Baku. Seo-young also followed them because Zeynep was there too.

Fatima and Zeynep liked to stay in Baku rather than the autonomous state, as there were more entertainments available for them. Baku was a big city where huge shopping centers exist too.

"Well, this place is like a prison without bars for them. My wife also has to be mindful of the fact that she's the Archd.u.c.h.ess. She can't even laugh loudly in front of people, so sometimes they need to refresh by getting away from here."

"You'd want to spend time with your family too. But, you must be sorry that you're too busy."

"Well, now I take it as my destiny. I hope that everyone lives peacefully here."

"I'm glad that I can be of help. I've got something you might like to hear."

"What is it?"

"Aren't you curious why I finished my work early today?"

"Well, I thought you're a little early. But, I thought maybe you came to drink with me."

"That's not it. I think there will be an oilfield in the autonomous state."

"What? An oilfield?"

"Today, I was drilling for underground water but found a thin layer of gas deposits. We shall find out more about it when we drill deeper, but there's a high possibility that gas or oil crude must be deposited."

"Dr. Park, please tell me more about that."

"The workers all had to get away from the site because we found a high-pressure buildup when we were drilling."

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No, it was just pressure. Since there was no firearm nearby, no one was hurt. The gas escaped in a moment but we confirmed that there was remaining gas."

"So, you're saying that there could be underground oil deposits?"

"Geographically, the whole western Kazakhstan can be considered an oil field. That means our state can be an oil field too. The matter is how deep the deposits are buried."

"That's great news."

"We'll bring more equipment to the site tomorrow and drill deeper. But, the only concern is that it might cause trouble when outsiders find out about the oil field in the autonomous state."

Youngho would have been nervous in the past, but now that was not a problem. With the President's full support for the state, no one would dare to touch the state.

"Don't worry a thing. I'm not planning to develop it right away. But please make sure that the workers don't spread the word."

"Are you going to ignore it even if there is a tremendous amount of deposits?"

"The amount of oil produced in Kazakhstan is in a saturated condition. If we add to the production line, the oil price will drop. Let's save it for now."

"You should decide that after the amount of deposit is confirmed."

"How long would it take for you to check that?"

"I'll have to drill at least 1,000 meters deep."

"Oil's mostly found in the stratum from the Cretaceous period and the Jura.s.sic age, so we need to dig deep to find that."

"That means that dinosaurs used to live here."

"Well, dinosaurs lived any part of the earth. Like I said, the oil crude is mostly found in the stratum from the Cretaceous period and the Jura.s.sic age. I won't explain more because I'll only be using difficult words."

"I see, you're saying that I'm ignorant."

"Hahaha… It's natural for people to not know about geological eras if they didn't study a related major."

***

Kim Chun jumped at the news that there could be oil fields in the state.

"Prince consort, we should not let anyone go near that area by declaring off-limits to local residents."

"How do you create a no-man's zone when the shepherds have no choice but to follow their stock when they wander about in search of gra.s.s?"

"But we have to do it for security. First, I'll put a sign for a few kilometers in the radius of the weapons lab and where we're drilling."

"That's your own authority, so take care of it."

"There's another one."

"You're going to build more off-limit zones?"

"We'll use barbed wire to block the power plant facility, the aircraft plant, and the tank production factory. We need to maintain tight security from inside to keep the secret from leaking out."

"You treat me as a cheap talker because of what I said at the party."

"You know what? My heart almost stopped when you said that out loud. We need to stop talking about running Kazakhstan unless you're in a private setting."

"You're right. It's my bad. I have nothing to say."

"It's because I'm afraid that we're going to say it casually in public without noticing."

"That's right. I'll keep your word in mind."

Kim Chun said there could be political forces watching the state closely.

Youngho, who tried to joke about how funny was Kim Chun's reaction at the end of the year party, felt rather embarra.s.sed.

"By the way, is there anyone in Kazakhstan who could be our political opponent?"

"Politicians tentatively all desire the presidency. What I'm concerned about is the president's eldest daughter. She has the t.i.tle of deputy prime minister."

"She's been quiet though, hasn't she?"

"She once married an ambitious politician, but his plot to overthrow the current President was found, so they got divorced."

"That's what happened. So what about the previous husband?"

"They say that he was arrested for the involvement of another case and died somewhere in a foreign country, but no one believes that."

A new concern emerged.

Since the president only had three daughters, it was not a big concern for Youngho until now. This was because women rarely partic.i.p.ated in politics in the Muslim world. For this reason, Nazarbayev supported Youngho like his grandson.

However, Kim Chun's story was shocking. It was unlikely that the eldest daughter of the president was not aware of her husband's ambition. She might even have encouraged him.

If the President had known about his daughter's ambition, it did not make sense that he gave her the post of deputy prime minister. Maybe he had no idea about his daughter's secret ambition.

If she was ambitious for power, she might already know the existence of Youngho and might even be watching the autonomous state.

It was possible for her to make a dent in the reputation of the autonomous state by having collusion with the current political forces. If she manipulated public opinion and continued to highlight negative images of Youngho and the state, even the president would have to turn his back on him. Until now, however, the president had not said a word or two about his eldest daughter's political ambitions. There was also a chance that she may not have been mentioned because she could be a secret ally.

***

"Are you starting a power game already?"

"This looks like a power game to you? That woman might destroy our state."

"What if she's a friend?"

"The president didn't tell me about her because he believes that she's my helper?"

"Yeah. Maybe she's a really talented politician, so the President had put her in the position of the Deputy Prime Minister."

"Oh, I wish she is an ally. This is important for the future of Kazakhstan and the Arirang state."

"I don't think the President will pa.s.s down his power to her unless he's insane."

"Who knows? He might lose his brightness as he gets older. She might be waiting for that to happen."

"Okay. I'll send intelligence agents to investigate her and her surroundings. Meanwhile, why don't you find out about the President's intention?"

"What do I say to the president? I can't ask him if he will make his daughter the next president."

"I don't know?! You need to find a way. I'll investigate the deputy prime minister. "

"You call yourself a genius but you don't have any idea?"

"Have I even met the president in person before? I need to talk to him face to face to guess what's going on inside him."

"Other intelligence experts can even guess only by looking at a picture of a person."

"What? I'm not a reader of faces. Haven't you felt something weird when you conversed with him?"

"There was nothing like that. I told you, he even gave me his own slush funds and asked to prepare for the future."

No matter how much Youngho recollected his conversation with the President, there was no other family story, except for anything related to bribery. He said that there was not a single one that he could trust.

As Youngho tilted his head, Jong-il grilled him as if he noticed something.

"There was something, wasn't there?"

"He said that he gets criticized for not managing his relatives and friends. He complained that his kinsmen are only after bribes."

"Look at it. I think he trusted his children but they fell short of his expectations. That's why he chose you! He won't choose a daughter as his successor unless he's crazy."

"Phew, I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting."

Youngho felt like he was caught off guard since he thought that everything would be a smooth sail with the President's full support.

It was not just a political opponent, but a dark horse has come to the surface.

The position of deputy prime minister also could mobilize governmental authority of power.

She had a grip of the huge police force, so if she was Youngho's opponent, it was virtually impossible to beat her. Then, he needed to get the police force on his side.

"Jong-il, tell your agents to look into the police force. "

"Why do you want to find about those rotten b*st*rds?"

"The police force is a group that the President relies on most. We need to get friendly with them in advance."

"You want me to find out the corruption of the head group?"

"If they have weak points, we can use that, and if they have an itching spot, we will scratch it for them. We need to do whatever it takes for us to become an ally."

"Well, that's not a bad way. If we put our efforts in it, the police force could fall into our hands in a few years."

Although Jong-il hated the corrupted police force to the core, it seemed that he was interested in taking over the force to control it. Youngho wondered if that would be so easy as he just said.