The Joseon Prince Went To America And Didn’t Return – 24



< Great Earthquake (2) >

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was one of the largest earthquakes in history.

The earthquake’s destructive power was so great that in some places the ground moved as much as 6 meters.

Knock knock knock knock knock

My house which was built early this year was definitely a new house that had even been thoroughly earthquake-resistant designed.

But because of the destructive power of the earthquake the entire house began to dance and shake violently from side to side.

‘When the fuck is this going to end?’

Rattle rattle-

Every drawer opened and the items inside began to spill out.

Kitchen utensils were rolling around on the kitchen floor making a scraping sound.

‘It’s over it’s over quickly!’

I was curled up under the table protecting my head.

I just put into practice what I learned during earthquake evacuation training as a child.

‘huh?’

After about 10 seconds everything became quiet as if nothing had happened.

The earthquake seemed to have subsided as if my fervent prayers had worked.

“Brother. Are you okay?”

Kim Kyu-sik spoke.

“Brother! Brother!”

Strangely not a single finger moved as if the scissors were stuck.

Because the nightmares of the past still dominated my body.

“It’s okay.”

For a moment my body couldn’t move as I wanted but I was soon able to regain my composure with my indomitable will.

First of all isn’t there no more noise like the blaring of a cannon?

Thanks to that I felt somewhat more psychologically stable.

“Eww! Mom!”

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“Is everyone okay?”

When I open the door and go out the first thing I see is Korean residents wandering around.

It seems like everyone woke up because the makeshift tent collapsed.

That’s why he looked surprised and confused.

I turned my gaze back to Kim Kyu-sik and gave him the following order.

“First wake up the guards. We need to arm them quickly.”

“yes?”

“I have to guard this house. You never know when or how the mob might approach.”

According to the records for the next three days.

It is said that the number of people killed by the police alone is well over 500.

So the first thing to do is to be wary of looters.

“If a suspicious group that is not our people approaches fire warning shots. Drop your weapons and approach cautiously. Ask them what their purpose is here. Never let them in without my permission.”

“yes!”

It was a really good idea to create a refuge in the suburbs.

If I were in downtown San Francisco it would be hell.

By now the place will be on fire and the wounded and looters will be running wild.

“Your Majesty.”

Then Ahn Chang-ho and Park Yong-man approached me with surprised expressions.

I started giving orders to each and every one of them who were looking only at me with as indifferent an expression as possible.

“Dosan over there.”

“yes.”

“Check to see if anyone is injured. You should go with Dosan too.”

“yes.”

“Aaron!”

“Huh? Boss? Did you call me?”

“okay.”

So I called over to the Irish trio who were standing blankly in a corner.

I didn’t even bother to call their attention to the panic.

“You should check the condition of the building. Also check to see if there is a fire inside the house.”

“Yes yes. I understand. Max! Kaplan! Follow me.”

“i get it.”

“Brother! Let’s go together.”

An Chang-ho who had gone to check on the situation of the Korean residents quickly returned to me.

Fortunately good news came out of his mouth.

“There were a lot of surprised people but it seems like there were no injuries.”

“Really? Then let’s gather the Korean residents together.”

It’s April now.

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And since this earthquake occurred at 5 in the morning it was still quite dark outside.

“Is everyone here?”

If I hadn’t had a torch prepared in advance my anxiety would have been even greater.

thank god.

I stood in front of the main gate and explained the current situation to the Korean residents.

“It looks like there was an earthquake. I have a foreign friend who used to live in the same dorm as me and this is exactly what he said.”

A considerable number of Korean residents tilted their heads.

Because I had no idea what earthquake meant.

“Oh my… What should I do with this?”

When I said that it was a type of natural disaster such as a typhoon drought flood or volcanic eruption the Korean residents who finally understood what I meant began to weep from all directions.

“Your Majesty! Then what will happen to my house now?”

“All my belongings and remaining property are in San Francisco.”

The Korean residents quickly turn their heads.

It was in the direction of San Francisco.

“Your Majesty! The new San Francisco….”

I can see it with my own eyes.

San Francisco located across Richards Bay was bright even in the early morning hours when electricity was not yet widely available.

“ah….”

It’s burning.

Very lively.

Fires broke out in many places in the aftermath of the earthquake.

“no!”

“Ah my house…..”

Since they all rushed to my house no one was hurt but everyone was stamping their feet because their homes were in immediate danger of disappearing.

“Have you guys got fire insurance?”

“Oh! That’s right. There is that.”

“Didn’t His Majesty strongly advise you to prepare for any eventuality?”

Joy and sorrow intersect.

“I bought it. Come to think of it if I had that insurance I wouldn’t have starved to death.”

“Thanks to Your Majesty’s advice. They say that if you follow the words of a high person you will get rice cakes even while you sleep… From now on I will only follow Your Majesty.”

The remaining Korean residents all breathed a sigh of relief praising me as their savior.

“this.”

“What about this? I didn’t put it in…”

But the few who ignored my words continued to make faces as if their world was falling apart.

I guess the future is bleak.

“I’m going to form my own cooperative soon. I’m planning to establish one here and one in Hawaii… Those who are affected this time can get loans from there to cover the costs of rebuilding.”

“Are you saying that Your Majesty will save me?”

“Thank you Your Majesty.”

“When we were at home Your Majesty didn’t even look after us like this. Your Majesty….”

There are a few who don’t listen to me.

I could just leave it alone but if I do one day it might come back as my biggest anti-fan.

Of course it won’t be free and we plan to provide them with loans to help them survive.

Because a cooperative is usually an organization that helps its members when they are in trouble.

Although their faces didn’t brighten up as much as those who had fire insurance at least they stopped looking like they had lost their country.

“Instead you have to help me from today onwards.”

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I planned to use them to their full potential starting today.

“Yes! Just give the order.”

“I hope others will follow me if possible.”

No one rejected my advice.

Everyone who signed up for fire insurance found out about insurance because of me.

“yes!”

“I will help the little girl too.”

Although the majority of the residents were men there were also some women.

They didn’t sit still either.

He actively tried to help me.

“Oh ladies stay here.”

“No girls can do it too.”

“you’re right.”

“No. Stay here with the kids. That’ll help me.”

If things were as they are now it wouldn’t be strange if they really turned into a mob.

In these situations the mob is not only after money.

The women were ordered to stay here and do other things for the time being as there might be someone who would ask them to hand over their bundles in exchange for help.

“We need a lot of food and water. You stay at my house and prepare them.”

As the sun rose and day began to dawn I gathered the men together and began to move cautiously leading them.

“Some of you should follow behind with guns. We don’t know when or how the gangsters will threaten us.”

Fortunately or unfortunately there were four immigrants from the old Oh Gun-yeong and Chakhogap-sa.

That’s why they moved right next to me.

“There is something I need to do first.”

“What is it?”

“Check the road conditions up to the village entrance. Also search the surrounding area. We will begin rescue operations.”

“Yes. I will carry out your orders.”

* * *

Rescue efforts began in the area near Sausalito.

As expected the damage to every house discovered was severe.

“Are you there?”

“Who is there?”

Unlike my house which was designed to be earthquake-resistant the mansion I just visited was completely reduced to rubble.

Some were already burned so badly that it was impossible to even rescue those inside.

“Please save me.”

A woman’s and a man’s voices could be heard from within the piles of timber strewn across the floor.

The collapsed ceiling was engulfing them and they were just waiting to be rescued.

“Please wait a moment. Hey tell them there are survivors here.”

“yes.”

The Koreans flocked in.

They carefully moved the collapsed piles of timber and rescued survivors.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“thank you.”

“Here is some drinking water.”

That’s how the people of Sausalito were rescued.

I took good care of them sharing food and drinks with the local residents.

Fortunately we have no shortage of food since we used the excuse of having a picnic to store a lot of food in the annex.

‘I could sell this but…’

I’m going to save up a lot of money for fire insurance.

The plan was to distribute the stockpiled bedding temporary tents medicine drinking water food and other supplies to Korean residents and neighbors who had been affected.

I decided to invest with a long-term perspective.

“Are you the prince who recently built a villa near here? The one from the East?”

“That’s right. You managed to recognize me.”

“I met the prince once at a banquet last time.”

“Oh really?”

I didn’t recognize it because it was covered in ashes.

This is the woman I met at the banquet.

“Did the prince save me?”

“Well you could say that. They all work under me.”

“ah….”

It feels like hearts are popping out of my eyes.

Is this why you fell in love with me?

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“No. Then that’s it.”

“Hey prince. Later when will you eat? Oh he’s gone.”

He left the pretty woman behind and went to the others to check on their condition.

“Thank you for saving me.”

This time it’s a middle-aged man.

He was rescued with his wife and he kept saying thank you.

“This is Albert Nathaniel editor of the Daily San Francisco. I owe you a great debt of gratitude.”

You’re the editor-in-chief of a newspaper.

Oh! This is awesome.

But I didn’t show it and talked to Albert.

“Oh no. I heard there’s a fire going on all over San Francisco right now… I wonder if the newspaper building is safe.”

Albert sighed in relief at my concern.

“The Daily San Francisco is a young news organization with a small headquarters near Sausalito so it was fortunate that it escaped this catastrophe.”

“exactly?”

“Yes. By the way… Your Majesty. How many Koreans are currently helping with the rescue efforts?”

As a reporter I start by asking about the situation as it quickly unfolds.

This sight must have been very impressive as Koreans were diligently helping with rescue operations without even removing the black marks on their faces.

“Everyone in this city is helping with the rescue efforts. In fact we held a party for the Korean residents at our house yesterday. So… fortunately they were all able to escape.”

“Ah… I see.”

Albert took a notebook out of his chest and began to write something.

It seemed like he was roughly writing down information to include in the article.

I explained the current situation in detail to Albert and showed him how hard we were fighting against the catastrophe.

“Author… Follow me around and do whatever it takes for me. If I have any questions answer them as sincerely as possible.”

“yes.”

After that I secretly told the Koreans to pay special attention to Albert.

‘Things are going smoothly as I planned.’

I looked around and sighed in relief.

In fact this relief effort is very important.

Because it is an opportunity to dramatically raise the reputation of Koreans in one fell swoop.

‘Preconceptions are surprisingly scary.’

Why does everyone cover their noses when they see a Chinese person?

This is because the prejudice against not washing exists in the minds of white people in this era.

On the other hand when Japanese people appear in the market they face less discrimination than other Asians.

This is because Americans of this era consider the Japanese to be a civilized Asian race.

‘It may sound like nonsense but even President Theodore Roosevelt thought that way.’

It is said that Roosevelt was relieved when Joseon fell into the arms of Japan not Qing or Russia.

However it was because they maintained an anti-Russian policy in the international situation.

On the one hand they probably thought that Westernized Japan would govern the citizens of the Korean Empire efficiently and with law and order.

‘The reason why Japanese people were excluded from next year’s immigration law that restricts immigration of Asians was because the Japanese people’s image was good.’

But this time history will be different.

Because I will prevent such a law from ever being enacted.

“majesty.”

“okay.”

“It looks like the relief effort in Sausalito is pretty much over. What do we do next?”

Sausalito is one of San Francisco’s suburban satellite cities.

That’s why the population was relatively small.

The relief work also ended quickly.

“Really? Then I guess I should take the next step.”

Across the river San Francisco is still burning.

According to records the entire city burned for 72 hours so it will probably take two more days for the fire to calm down.

“Isn’t there a ship that our citizens came on?”

“Are you talking about the ferry that we chartered for a week?”

“Okay. Let’s take that ship tomorrow and head to San Francisco. We’ll do more relief work there.”

“yes.”

After I have assigned personnel to guard my home I plan to move to a bigger place with the spare personnel.

That way our reputation will be further enhanced.

‘So far everything is going according to plan.’

It’s not over yet.

Because if everything went according to plan I had to meet him.

* * *

Arrived at North Beach Pier located northeast of San Francisco.

Knock knock-

Every time you move ash rises.

Some houses are still burning.

‘This is miserable.’

As we approached we and the Korean residents checked to see if there were any survivors.

“Your Majesty this place is…..”

“Yeah. My lumber yard.”

In order to enter the trading business he bought a warehouse near the dock.

I also bought a lot of high-quality lumber inside so if I hadn’t taken out insurance it wouldn’t be strange if I sat down here and burst into tears right now.

But I have five different fire insurance policies on this warehouse.

So I just look at it indifferently.

“There are still flames everywhere. What is the city fire department doing?”

“They say the person in charge died on the day the earthquake occurred.”

Since the one who was supposed to lead is gone the structure has no choice but to become a mess.

I once again feel keenly how important the presence of a leader is.

If I had run away to Washington instead of staying in San Francisco things would have been similar for our family.

“Can you help us?”

Some citizens were there.

They tried to take preemptive action to prevent the fire.

“I will help you as much as I can. What do you want me to do?”

“I would like to demolish part of the building to prevent the fire from spreading.”

“If I do this wrong won’t I end up in a lawsuit later?”

America is a nation of lawsuits.

If you mess with private property carelessly you could get in big trouble.

“It’s okay because it’s a city-owned building. An emergency ordinance just went into effect.”

“aha.”

Well then that’s a relief.

He ordered his fellow citizens to help them.

Irya- Irya-

While we were working hard on the rescue operation we heard the sound of a carriage from far away.

Two carriages are coming across this burning downtown San Francisco.

I looked at the carriage one corner of my mouth raised.

‘As expected you’re coming downtown through this hellish disaster. Come on in.’

< Great Earthquake (2) > End