The Joseon Prince Went To America And Didn’t Return – 41



< Bohemian Club (2) >

While they were making a lot of noise inside.

I was spending my time bored in the room where I had my interview.

After about an hour.

A man with a rather young face approached me.

“Hello Your Highness. Have you been waiting for a long time?”

They now call him ‘Prince’ as if he is no longer a ‘candidate’.

I felt like I could guess the outcome without even having to say anything.

“Congratulations on becoming a full member of the Bohemian Club. Here please receive your access card. If you lose it it will take quite a while to get a replacement so be careful.”

The design was very similar to the black card I had received before.

But there was something different about this card. Unlike the first one I received there was an owl drawn on the top right corner.

Ah! Now that I think about it….

The symbol of the Bohemian Club here was the owl.

Wasn’t there one carved out of stone above the main gate?

“Thank you. Oh you. What’s your name? Judging from your attire I don’t think you’re an employee here.”

“My name is Jules Eugène Pages. I am a member of the same club.”

“Phases?”

uh?

When a name I knew came out my voice raised without me realizing it.

Because when I was living as Park Byeong-jun Pazes was an artist I really liked.

“Are you the Phages who is famous for his landscape paintings?”

When I pretended to know in surprise the young man in front of me also had a puzzled expression on his face.

Then he started to scratch his head feeling slightly embarrassed.

“He is a painter and his work mainly consists of landscape paintings but he is not that famous yet.”

for a moment.

The voice is like that and the eyes are like that.

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Where have I seen this before?

I quickly crossed my arms and looked at Pajes with slightly wary eyes.

“I guess that’s the deer mask that was sitting next to the chairman earlier.”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

“Didn’t you pressure me by asking me pointed questions?”

“For the moment I don’t know what the prince is talking about.”

“Don’t be shy. You have a unique voice. Of the eleven interviewers there weren’t you the only one with a beautiful voice? That’s why I was able to remember your voice.”

“this….”

Pages sighed deeply and admitted that he had been the interviewer.

“If I knew it would be so easy to get caught I shouldn’t have worn that ridiculous mask. That’s right. I was an interviewer earlier to review the prince’s application to join the club. Well since we’re both members now I guess I can tell you this much.”

I continued to pressure Pajes with a wary look in my eyes.

“Then you must have voted against me.”

Pajes waved his hand and refuted my argument.

“No Prince. Although I harshly criticized your ideology during the interview I supported your joining the club.”

“Why is that? Your values ​​and mine are in conflict with each other. Didn’t you criticize me very sharply on the spot for viewing art as a means of investment?”

“That’s right. I still don’t agree with that.”

Pages nodded and explained why he voted yes.

“But the prince is my benefactor. How can I oppose my benefactor’s joining the club?”

“Benefactor? Me?”

What did I do for you?

I’ve never bought a single one of your paintings.

Not yet that is.

When I made a bewildered expression Pajes quickly continued.

“Yes. Thanks to you Prince I was able to draw a lot of old San Francisco scenes. Thanks to you taking pictures of various places in the city and developing them I was able to reference what San Francisco looked like in the past.”

ah….

I was just spending my own money for San Francisco my hometown.

I think this has become a butterfly effect and has won the interest of the people.

‘Now that I think about it I remember what Choi Hyun-woo said before.’

An artist once borrowed some of my photos of San Francisco.

The world is really like that….

It seems like I can’t see even an inch ahead.

Because unexpected coincidences like this keep happening.

“San Francisco is my muse in a way. How could I oppose the prince’s entry when he has preserved his lover’s old appearance so well?”

The way artists think is really….

It’s unique. It’s unique.

A city itself can become a muse.

‘Pazes often painted scenes of Paris as well as San Francisco.’

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So there are two Muses?

Are you two-timing?

“The Prince’s accession was not easy in fact. It was the most heated debate of all time.”

Perhaps because my wary gaze bothered him Pajes emphasized that he had helped me.

“The pros and cons were sharply divided. In fact I didn’t know that even the chairman would vote.”

One thing can be inferred from what Pages just said.

I heard there was a heated debate so I would have become a full member of the club by a vote of 6 to 5.

A total of 11 interviewers entered this room.

There are ten people excluding the chairman.

If the chairman had to vote at the end it would have resulted in a 5-5 tie.

‘It seems that the latter won between those who were obsessed with complexion and harbored antipathy toward Asians and those who admired my bloodline.’

By the way even though he is a prince he is like this.

Would I have passed if I was just an ordinary Asian?

It’s bitter.

Because this vote once again made us realize how widespread racist thinking is in America today.

‘Thanks for the good information.’

By the way Pajes seemed to have a pretty open mouth.

Well I’ve never seen artists with such a tight mouth.

I decided to give Pazes a try because I thought it would yield some useful information if I just scratched the surface.

“Come to think of it you’ve been waiting here for an hour. You’ve been discussing me as your topic?”

“That’s right. Mr. Phelan was so against the prince’s joining… That’s why the meeting took much longer than expected. Oh I mentioned Mr. Phelan. It was my mistake. Please forget about it.”

I guess I should keep quiet about what happened in that room.

“Huh? What did you say? I was absentminded for a moment and didn’t hear you. What did you say to me?”

“Oh no.”

I quickly turned my head reassuring Pazes.

‘Phelan? I’ve heard of him somewhere….’

After settling in San Francisco I collected quite a bit of material about the city’s famous people.

When I lived as a lobbyist the information about American political history that I originally knew was still stored in my head.

I searched my memory to see if there was anyone with the last name Phelan.

‘You mean John D. Phelan?’

The current mayor of San Francisco is Eugene Schmidt.

John D. Phelan a former mayor and later a federal senator was the author of laws restricting Asian land ownership.

‘Abe Luef is enough as a fucking villain.’

Phelan was a man who used very blatant anti-Asian rhetoric during his campaign.

Perhaps because of this he is one of the politicians who receives a lot of criticism in modern times.

I learned about this in a school presentation class as an anecdote about racial discrimination that occurred in the United States.

That kid is being mentioned right here.

Suddenly anger surged.

‘Yeo-eok-si… Racists and I don’t get along.’

I quickly changed the subject putting Phelan on my list of people to watch out for.

“I heard you’re working in Paris… Have you returned to Korea for good?”

“No. I have to go back. Isn’t the vacation ending soon?”

Are you still studying in Paris?

Or maybe you’re teaching aesthetics?

I had many questions but I didn’t ask them.

“That sounds good. I’ve always wanted to visit Paris sometime.”

“Come. Many painters including myself will welcome you Your Majesty.”

I was planning to make some time to go to Paris anyway.

There must be a lot of really famous painters in this era.

If I could just sweep up all their work I could easily recoup my travel expenses.

“Ah… who is the most famous painter in Paris these days? And who do you think will be the next rising star in the art world? Aside from you?”

this guy.

As soon as I asked Pajes frowned slightly as if to say ‘I guess he’s trying to gamble with another rookie.’

But soon he listed the names of several painters.

“I like Pierre Renoir’s work. I also think Monet’s work is good. Oh! And as for rising new artists I would say Picasso.”

okay.

Picasso he must be working in Paris by now.

‘I guess next year I’ll publish The Women of Avignon a philosophical brothel.’

Although this work later became famous as the beginning of Cubism it was initially criticized by his colleagues.

For about 10 years this work was stored in Picasso’s personal storage and became unknown to the world.

If I could buy this it was clear that I would make a huge profit later on.

‘Picasso paintings are worth hundreds of millions of won.’

Moreover the painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is the first painting to use the Cubist style.

The first is the intangible value that raises the price of the painting beyond imagination.

That’s why I was so mouth-watering.

‘I want to buy it.’

For a moment I imagined buying all of Picasso’s paintings.

That was when.

Pajes stood up from his seat.

“Ah… This story has become too long. Since we don’t have much time I’ll briefly explain how to use the Clubhouse. Please follow along.”

Pages led me through a side door and began to guide me through the building.

“The bathroom is over here and if you want coffee you can use the cafeteria over here. Also we meet here every Friday to socialize. We usually play poker and today is a perfect Friday. Just follow me.”

Pages didn’t stop talking as he moved to the card room.

“Do you like golf or tennis?”

“I don’t like it.”

“The exercise group is held every Saturday. Do you remember the employee who was loitering around the main gate earlier?”

“then.”

“If you ask him for the date and location of the meeting you want he will tell you.”

Pages turned the corner and held up three of his fingers.

“In addition there are charity events and horse races once every three months and once every six months when good items are secured there is an auction among members. Once a year there is a camping event held outside of San Francisco…”

There is said to be a secret camping event called ‘Bohemian Grove’.

Pages paused for a moment as if recalling the events of that time.

“Unfortunately this camping season is over. This is because camping season is held every year at the beginning of July.”

“Really? Then I guess I won’t be able to participate until next year.”

“Yes. If you are interested please join us. We will have a lot of interesting stories that day.”

Given the closed nature of social clubs no one can predict what will happen.

As a modern person I have not been able to join the Bohemian Club.

I was able to attend several other secret meetings which were truly spectacular.

‘They make love to one woman in a promiscuous manner. They also smoke cocaine together and have drug parties.’

Wall Street and Washington.

It was a place so dirty and filthy beyond imagination that you shouldn’t judge anything by the standards of ordinary people.

Because they have a lot of money and a fair amount of power.

Because there are too many people who think they can do anything.

‘How about this meeting?’

It’s both exciting and worrisome.

Because I absolutely hate illegal activities.

That was when.

Pajes stopped walking completely.

“Ah… I told you earlier right? We play poker here every Friday.”

“I can’t see the door…”

“Just hold here and turn it.”

Let’s gently push one of the books on the shelf.

chin-

And the bookshelf opened.

As I followed the page and entered another world unfolded before me.

* * *

“If you want to weave a spider web don’t come here.”

As soon as I entered the secret room a phrase caught my eye.

It was ironic that it seemed like a warning not to socialize inside.

‘Who comes to the secret club to hang out but to network?’

I slowed my pace slightly and took a moment to adjust the clothes I was wearing.

‘I can hear the sound of singing.’

The country blues that were popular in the 1900s are spreading inside the secret room.

People who appeared to be singers and musicians were busy playing poker sitting in groups of three or four while others sang from a distance.

“There aren’t many people today. I guess everyone is a little tired from going camping last week.”

I walked slowly across the poker room guided by Pages.

“Huh? Asian?”

At the appearance of a new and unfamiliar person everyone stops playing their cards and glances at me.

“Hey don’t you know the most famous socialite in California these days?”

“That guy?”

“This is the prince from the East.”

“Wow a prince? A member of the rumored royal family?”

“Yes. Rumor has it that he is also high in the line of succession to the throne. Was he second?”

“oh….”

It may sound like they’re whispering but I can hear them all you guys.

As I was slowly looking around the poker room a man approached me.

“Your Majesty. It is nice to see you again.”

“Were you a member of this club too?”

“Yes. I didn’t know that the prince was a regular member.”

The person who came to see me was Anthony Rohout.

The new president of the Southern Pacific Railroad the largest railroad in California.

This is someone I had previously greeted at the last Republican National Convention.

I think Giannini called Iza a greasy eel?

“Would you like to play a game of cards with our group?”

Anthony led me to a poker table off to one side and introduced me to the group.

“Let me introduce you to Prince Lee Kang a popular figure in Chang’an.”

“Oh nice to meet you. My name is Francis J. Henney.”

who?

As I tilted my head slightly Anthony whispered softly.

“This is the prosecutor who caught Abe Luef right away.”

“Ah… nice to meet you.”

Anthony Iza really was a bitter enemy of the former CEO.

If you look at him playing poker with the guy who arrested the former president.

“Can I join you here for a moment?”

“Mr. Hurst?”

Hurst?

William Randolph Hearst?

As a media tycoon who runs a media holding company in New York Hearst is a representative figure of provocative yellow journalism.

Anthony pulled out his chair and Hurst also welcomed him.

“Yes everyone is welcome at this table. Oh! Is this prince okay with you? Even Mr. Hurst is welcome to join.”

“I like it too.”

He was instantly put among the big shots.

At some tables people looked at me with envious eyes.

‘What concept should I use?’

I’ve played a lot of poker while working as a lobbyist.

There are times when I have to hide my true abilities so I always play with a concept in mind…

I was a little worried about how I should act today.

“This is a game called poker. I don’t know anything about it…”

There’s nothing like a lucky beginner for your first meeting.

Francis J. Henney looked at me with concern and told me the rules.

“Your Majesty we are going to bet a small amount of money… Is that okay with you?”

At this Anthony smirked and poked his side.

“This is the prince. Aren’t you one of the richest men in California? To the prince the stakes here are like the price of a piece of gum.”

Whew.

That oily baby eel.

I feel like I can sense some slyness here.

I turned my head and looked at Hearst.

“You keep smiling.”

“It’s funny because this scene is so funny. Actually I was really looking forward to it. I didn’t know I’d be playing poker with the prince on the first day.”

hmm.

Hurst’s eyes and voice.

It’s a voice that I think I’ve heard somewhere before.

“Okay then let’s turn the tables.”

< Bohemian Club (2) > End