The Joseon Prince Went To America And Didn’t Return – 40



< Bohemian Club >

If it’s the Bohemian Club is it the club I know?

I turned the card over because it didn’t seem to say anything else.

On the back was something written in white ink which at first glance looked like an address.

‘I remember the clubhouse being in the heart of San Francisco but no way….’

When I was living as lobbyist Park Byeong-jun I once visited the Bohemian Club.

I quickly recalled my memories and compared the two.

‘It matches the address written on the card exactly.’

It was true.

crazy….

I took a breath and put the card I had taken out back into the envelope.

‘Wow. Padi gave me an incredible gift?’

The Bohemian Club is no ordinary social club.

It could be said to be the best secret club since it has survived until the present day.

‘When I was working as a lobbyist I tried very hard to get into this club.’

I couldn’t sign up.

Because I failed every time.

This is because if you are not a direct descendant of an existing member you have to wait a full 20 years after applying for membership.

I remember that the sign-up process itself was extremely difficult to the point where they kept checking to see if you met the requirements even during the several years you had to wait….

‘I guess I don’t have to do something crazy like wait 20 years.’

Well this club became famous in the late 1920s.

It may not seem like much now but in time the Bohemian Club would become famous as the secret social club that produced a string of presidents.

Starting with Herbert Hoover from California through Eisenhower Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush George W. Bush Jr.

All of the Republican presidents have been members of this club.

“I’ll go in now.”

“Yes. Please take a look Your Majesty.”

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I left Giannini behind and quickly returned home.

Afterwards I prepared to head to the club and took another close look at the black card.

‘July 27th. 4pm. The day after tomorrow.’

In addition to the address the back of the card also had the date and time written on it.

Of course it would be difficult to join a secret club like this just through recommendations from existing members.

You will have to go through an interview.

You may wonder why it is so cumbersome but this is how most social clubs in America work.

Now it was just a sort of filtering device for everyone to play together.

‘More….’

It won’t have a nationwide impact yet.

But here in California it must have tremendous power.

I clenched my fist and vowed to myself that I had to join this club.

* * *

In San Francisco most of the buildings were destroyed by the earthquake.

but.

The building that housed the Bohemian Club was somewhat spared from the fire because it was a stone building.

Although some of the outer decorations were damaged the building itself was intact and appeared to have been quickly restored.

Squeak-

As I pushed through the building’s entrance several staff members guarding the clubhouse and a number of books caught my eye.

At first glance it felt like a library located in the city center.

As I slowly looked around the building a person who appeared to be an employee just like I had experienced in Hyundai slowly approached me.

“Hello. Are you looking for something?”

At those words I quietly took out the card in my arms and showed it to him.

Okay then.

The staff’s attitude changed 180 degrees and they became very polite.

“Oh you are the candidate who will be interviewing today. Could you please wait over here for a moment?”

Between the bookshelves there was a sofa for guests to sit on.

I sat there and waited for a while and then the employee I had seen earlier approached me again.

“Candidate this way.”

Thanks to all the articles that have been published most San Francisco residents seem to recognize my face.

The person who guided me used the term ‘candidate’ throughout.

I felt a little strange but I didn’t ask about it.

“There is something you must do first before you interview the candidate.”

The clerk handed me a piece of paper.

I asked as I read what was inside.

“Is this a confidentiality agreement?”

“Yes. I would like to keep what happens in here out of the media. Of course this memorandum has no legal effect.”

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However if you break this you will be penalized.

Socially.

Financially.

By mobilizing every means at their disposal.

“Candidate please understand.”

“Okay.”

What’s there to talk about in the press when you’re just having a social club interview?

I quickly signed it and handed it to the staff.

About five minutes after the employee left.

Knock knock-

A group of people appeared at the entrance through which I had entered.

I counted the number of people and there were 11 in total.

‘What the heck is that ugly outfit?’

Even if they were all wearing black suits.

They were all wearing animal-shaped masks.

There was a strong sense of will not to reveal their identities.

Maybe they are the interviewers.

“Nice to meet you candidate.”

The man in the middle of the 11 interviewers smiled greeted me and sat down on the sofa across from me.

Only then did the other ten people sit down in their seats.

ah….

You are the boss here.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Before we begin the actual interview I have one question to ask you.”

“Tell me.”

“This is the invitation you gave me. Could you tell me who gave it to me?”

* * *

It’s interesting from the first question.

They are desperate to hide their identities by covering their faces.

You’re asking me who my recommender is?

Do you know me as a fool?

“Isn’t it you?”

“yes?”

“One of you must have handed me this card.”

The one wearing the rabbit mask on the far left quickly joined the conversation and asked.

“What the Chairman is asking is who exactly gave you that card?”

As expected the man sitting in the middle was the chairman.

After confirming this I answered their questions again.

“Everyone is wearing a mask to hide their identity so you want me to reveal who recommended me here? Doesn’t something seem contradictory? If you’re really curious take off your mask. In that case I’ll also reveal my recommender without hesitation.”

As he said that he looked at each of them.

Because he was wearing a mask I couldn’t read his facial expression.

But since I could observe their gazes I exchanged glances with each of them as much as possible and tried to guess what they were thinking.

“I came here after receiving this card. It doesn’t really matter who gave it to me. What you need to figure out here is how helpful I can be to this club.”

Second from the right end.

The man wearing the peacock feather nodded as if satisfied with my answer and asked me:

“What kind of club do you think our Bohemian Club is?”

“Well I haven’t heard anything so how could I know? But you seem to like playing masks so I guess you have a great interest in theater.”

“Haha… is that so?”

I am a prince.

So there is no reason to bow down to them.

Rather if I show a humble attitude they might think of me as a pushover and oppose my joining.

Because we live in an age of blatant racism.

The moment I act without thinking about my status as a prince I will become their prey.

So I might have been a little arrogant but I went into the interview as confidently as possible.

“Have you ever had a gathering like this in your home country?”

This time a man wearing a frog-shaped mask sitting third from the left asked me a question.

‘what?’

There was a hint of curiosity in his voice.

It felt more like I was genuinely curious rather than signing up.

“Isn’t it the same everywhere people live? In my home country too secret meetings of societies would have been held in places like love rooms.”

“Did you join that group? What was the name of the group and what did you talk about?”

“What about signing up…..”

I snorted and retorted to the frog mask man’s question.

“I am a prince but there are also many forces that hold me back. If I get involved in such a gathering and something goes wrong my life will end there.”

I hastily added the following:

“Oh of course America would be different. After all there’s no one here who’s after my neck.”

“Yes. Who would threaten the prince’s life?”

The person who seemed to be the representative reassured me.

“As your Majesty said we are a private club of like-minded people. Most of us here have a keen interest in the arts.”

okay.

You may say that on the outside.

But I was a man with ears and eyes.

Aren’t the modern-day Bohemian Clubs not only comprised of many artistic figures but also of all the people who shake up American politics and business?

Did they really only talk about art?

If it were really just about art how come so many Republican presidents would have come out of this club one after another?

“Are you interested in art?”

“Yes that’s right.”

“I’m one of those people who see art as an investment. I wonder if you guys would get along with me.”

“You see art in terms of money?”

The voice of the man who had been watching me boredly next to the representative suddenly grew louder.

this.

He looks a little upset.

“Did I say that too bluntly? Art is a more promising investment activity than any other.”

“Huh… that’s an insult to art.”

“That may be true. But that’s what I think. Oh don’t be so negative about people like me. Isn’t it because of collectors like me that poor artists can escape their miserable lives?”

The man next to the representative looked very upset but the others looked sympathetic.

I lost one vote but I won the sympathy of many so I finished my speech confidently.

“Investing in art will be promising in the future. When you have the chance everyone should buy one. It depends on your taste.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

There were many stories exchanged after that.

Most of it was about my personal life.

It seemed like they wanted to hear about my life story and compare how I fit in with them.

“Thank you for the good information.”

The person who seemed to be the representative opened his mouth that had been tightly shut again.

“Candidate. As you just gave us good information we are a group that helps each other.”

“It looks like that.”

“If you join this club I expect you will benefit greatly. But on the other hand… what will we benefit from? Please give us your final word.”

I shrugged and answered.

“Seeing you interviewing me like this you probably think that my status is special but that’s not enough. But the person who recommended me wouldn’t have recommended me to join this club because of my status. Isn’t there one thing that can be considered beneficial? What I can offer is my secret to investment success. If I get the chance I’d like to share it with you which will be my next meal.”

of course.

I will eat most of the kernels and throw away the scraps.

“I see Mr. Candidate. I heard you well.”

The representative stood up and said.

Then the remaining ten people also stood up from their seats.

“Could you please wait a moment? We need to talk amongst ourselves.”

* * *

In another room relatively far from the one where the interviews took place the 11 interviewers began discussing Lee Kang’s topic.

“Let’s start the discussion before we vote for or against membership.”

Everyone took off their cumbersome masks and started talking about the new candidates.

“If you have anything to say about Prince Lee Kang’s admission to the Bohemian Society please speak up.”

“I disagree.”

The man wearing the rabbit mask frowned and clenched his fists.

“Why are you against it?”

“Aren’t you an American?”

“Haha. Are you telling me to listen to that? I’m not even American.”

The man wearing the frog mask said with a smile.

The one wearing the rabbit mask pushed back his bangs that reached down to his eyebrows and admitted something he had been hiding in his heart.

“I’ll be honest with you. Isn’t he an inferior Oriental? If he comes in the waters here will get muddy.”

James Stanford who wore a peacock mask immediately contradicted his statement.

“Only an Oriental can be a prince.”

“What about the prince?”

“What is the prince talking about? It’s said that royal blood flows through his veins.”

“I am not from Europe nor am I from China or Japan I am just a royal family from a small oriental country. What is that?”

The man wearing the frog mask got angry at those words.

“How many properly civilized kingdoms are there in this world… And the author although he has fallen to the status of a Japanese protectorate is still the legitimate heir to the throne of a kingdom. And he is second in line.”

The chairman quickly corrected the statement he had just made.

“It might get pushed a third time.”

“Either that or that… Anyway royalty is royalty. It means that you can’t look down on someone just because they’re Asian.”

“Huh… You’re really talking royally having been given a noble title in Europe.”

“What? The interest is…..”

The chairman quickly resolved the internal strife among the interviewers.

“Everyone’s voices are getting too loud.”

“I’m sorry. You got mad at my childish provocation.”

“what?”

The man wearing the frog mask muttered ignoring the protests of the man wearing the rabbit mask.

Afterwards he tried to persuade the men gathered there again.

“Aren’t we all in this club for our own benefit anyway? What does it matter if our skin is white or black? As long as it benefits each of us that’s fine.”

“So do you agree?”

“I like it.”

“I agree with you. You’ve captured the governor’s heart in this short time. There may be some special charm we don’t know about.”

“What charm is that guy who passed the information about Louv to the governor?”

The man wearing the rabbit mask banged on the table and protested.

“Everyone is keeping quiet and pretending not to know but don’t most of the people here know? I don’t know how he found out but this prince has informed the governor over there of Abe Luef’s plan to replace his candidate.”

“Well being lucky is attractive. And having the courage to let it be known is attractive. How many people can bet when they need to bet?”

“Because of that author two of our members went to jail.”

“They are breaking our club rules so what’s the problem?”

“What?”

“You clearly said at the last meeting that you would not get involved in this gubernatorial primary. It was Ruef who broke that promise. Didn’t you try to unilaterally push for the candidate you wanted as the gubernatorial candidate?”

A blond man who had been watching from a distance chuckled and gave his overall opinion.

“That’s interesting. I’ve never seen a candidate like this before. I can’t wait to see if the author joins the club. I’ll vote yes.”

“what?”

“Mr. Hurst are you serious?”

The chairman slowly looked at the interviewers.

He calculated something in his head and then made a serious expression.

“Five against five. This is a first.”

“Chairman. What do you think?”

< Bohemian Club > End