Chapter 31: Travel to London (3)

“What? A party? Are you sure you mean a ball?”

“Yes, a ball. This invitation is definitely for a ball.”

I couldn’t help but be surprised at the news that I had been invited to a party.

For these kinds of parties, those who aren’t qualified don’t even receive an invitation in the first place, let alone the right to attend.

And because the qualifications were so strict, a person like me shouldn’t have been invited at all.

Setting aside the fact that I wasn’t British and was an Asian whom they looked down upon as a barbarian, I was still a child.

By Western age standards, I was barely eleven years old.

Furthermore, a ball in the United Kingdom during this era was essentially a marriage market.

It was a place where men and women of marriageable age with similar status and wealth were gathered to be introduced, dance, and find a match.

Why invite an eleven-year-old boy to such a place?

Yul also thought it was strange.

“Is a ball in the United Kingdom different from those in Europe? I don’t know why they would invite a child like you.”

“How different could it be? Parties are marriage markets everywhere. If anything, balls in Europe are more often just for dancing and socializing rather than purely for marriage.”

“That’s true. In Europe, many balls are held just for the atmosphere of dancing and having fun. But I’ve heard there aren’t many parties like that in the United Kingdom, so it’s strange that they invited you. Besides, even in Europe, people don’t take children to parties. They leave them all with the maids while only the adults enjoy themselves.”

“Who is the person that invited me?”

“It’s William Turner, a Director at Baring Bank.”

Baring Bank was undoubtedly the top bank of this era, and a Director of that bank would be a very prominent financier.

In that case, he might have invited me to the party because he knew I had deposited a large sum of money at Baring Bank.

However, I couldn’t understand the reason for introducing me to a marriage market.

I even suspected that he might be trying to make me a spectacle at the party.

In the sensibilities of people in this era, it was common for people to treat others as a source of curiosity, and I figured they might treat an Oriental boy as a spectacle without any hesitation, even if he was rich.

However, my assumption was a misunderstanding.

Edward Spencer and Jane Spencer, whom I had befriended on the way here, came to our hotel and told us that they were the ones who had invited us to Mr. Turner’s party.

Jane Spencer said, “William Turner is my uncle, and he’s also my Father’s friend. So, I asked if I could invite you and Mr. Brynner to the party being held at my uncle’s house. At first, he refused, saying you were too young, but yesterday afternoon, he suddenly asked if your name was really Victor Lee, and then he said he would send out a party invitation.”

It seemed that even though he had refused Jane’s pestering because I was a child, he became curious about me after rumors about my name began to circulate and he confirmed the deposit of the massive sum of 80,000 pounds.

“Wasn’t a British party a marriage market? What would you do with a kid like me there?”

“Oh, you misunderstood that. The season for the Debutante Ball, which is held as a marriage market, has already passed. The party being held now is a return party for my Father and me, hosted by my uncle. Therefore, the qualifications for attendance aren’t as strict as a Debutante Ball, and as long as you’re close to us, age isn’t a big problem. Usually, children aren’t invited because it’s a dance party, but since you’re a close friend of ours, it wouldn’t be much of an issue to invite you.”

In the end, it seemed my somewhat biased knowledge about the United Kingdom was the problem.

With a few days left until the party, Yul and I had new party outfits custom-made.

Tailor-made clothes like these usually take time, but we settled it with an express fee.

Accompanied by Bittu Singh and Chitt Singh, we visited William Turner’s house.

As I had expected, I was the only child present at the party.

However, several men besides Mr. Turner welcomed us warmly, as did the young ladies, including Jane.

Yul was still a young man under thirty, so he was at an age where it wasn’t rude to greet women at such a party.

Furthermore, being the grandfather of Yul Brynner, who would become a great Hollywood actor, he was quite handsome and very popular with the young women.

Thanks to Yul being surrounded by young ladies, people like Mr. Turner were able to talk to me.

The man who was an executive at Baring Bank said, “Thank you for entrusting our bank with such a large sum of money this time. By the way, Mr. Victor Lee, which part of China are you from?”

Seeing my appearance, he naturally assumed I was Chinese and asked, but I wanted to make my lineage clear from the start.

“No, I am not Chinese; I am from Joseon.”

Most of the people here seemed to be involved in trade with Asia, so they were aware of Joseon’s existence.

When I revealed that I was from Joseon, people were surprised and whispered among themselves.

“Joseon? Hasn’t Joseon yet to open its ports?”

“No, there’s a story that they recently opened up to Japan.”

“Really? Then why haven’t they opened up to our United Kingdom?”

“It’s certain they haven’t opened up to the United Kingdom yet, right?”

“What is the Foreign Office doing?”

“But was there anything profitable in Joseon?”

“There’s Goryeo Ginseng.”

“Ah, Goryeo Ginseng.”

“Goryeo Ginseng would certainly make money.”

“But to leave a country with Goryeo Ginseng alone, what is our Foreign Office really doing?”

“They probably have too many places to worry about, so they can’t reach as far as Joseon.”

Even though I, a person from Joseon, was listening, they spoke without hesitation.

It seemed they didn’t even realize that their words could sound offensive to the other person because they considered it so natural.

William Turner said, “I heard from Edward that you made money with Goryeo Ginseng. But according to Edward’s story, are you currently staying in the Far East Russia region?”

“Yes, as someone who fled from Joseon, I am currently seeking refuge in Russia.”

“In that case, you could help with opening Joseon’s ports.”

“I might be able to help with interpreting, but wouldn’t the Joseon government feel offended if a child were put forward?”

Edward Spencer, who had been unable to join the conversation because he was introducing his daughter to people, finally managed to find a gap and joined our conversation.

“Victor is still young, so don’t just talk about difficult things.”

Only after hearing Edward Spencer’s remark did people finally realize I was young and offered me milk tea along with prepared cookies and cakes.

I wasn’t originally a tea person, but after living in Russia for a few years, tea had grown on me.

Perhaps because of that, the British-style milk tea was fine, and the cookies and cakes I hadn’t eaten in a long time were also good.

British food was notorious for being tasteless even in this era, but fortunately, it seemed cookies and cakes were an exception.

While I was munching on cake after being released by Mr. Turner and the other men, Jane arrived with a group of ladies who appeared to be around her age.

“Victor, these girls won’t believe me no matter how much I tell them how expensive and precious Goryeo Ginseng is. Please explain it in more detail. And also, tell them that this is indeed high-quality Goryeo Ginseng.”

As she spoke, she pulled out a root of Goryeo Ginseng that I had gifted her.

“That is indeed top-quality Goryeo Ginseng. No matter how little you get for it, it’s more expensive than its weight in gold.”

The Goryeo Ginseng I gave Jane was a supreme-grade root that actually looked like a person with limbs, and its color was a subtle, flawless red, making it look quite beautiful.

As I explained this, the young ladies swarmed around to look at the Goryeo Ginseng Jane held out, and each asked a man who appeared to be her father if it was true.

One man, who seemed to have lived in East Asia, explained.

“It’s true that Goryeo Ginseng is traded at incredibly high prices in Southeast Asia. But this is the first time I’ve seen one that looks so much like a person or a Chinese character. This must be truly expensive.”

I added, “Something like that is so rare that it only appears once in every thousand or ten thousand roots.”

Thanks to Jane showing the Ginseng I had gifted her, even those who had looked at me with slight suspicion seemed to firmly believe that Ginseng was the source of my wealth.

Most of the men attending William Turner’s party were financiers from The City, and they spoke to me one after another.

“If you have more money to deposit next time, please use our bank instead of Baring. I’ll promise a higher interest rate than Baring.”

“Stealing someone else’s customer is a foul.”

“What foul? Baring has earned enough all this time, so can’t they step aside this once?”

They exchanged stories like jokes, and then the others stepped away, leaving only me and Mr. Turner.

“I’m Edward’s brother-in-law, so I’ve heard the gist of your story. You’ve done remarkable things even without parents.”

“Even though my Father passed away, fortunately, many friends, including Yul, helped me so I could work.”

“It’s truly fortunate to have such good friends. And since this is fate, couldn’t we also become good friends?”

“Yes, we can become good friends as well.”

“Edward said you came to London to get Rubber Tree Saplings. Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes, thanks to Ruben Sassoon of the Sassoon Merchant House, I was luckily able to obtain the saplings.”

“It will take a considerable amount of time before the saplings grow enough to produce seeds and you can obtain rubber from them, won’t it?”

“Yes, I am prepared for it to take a very long time. Besides, I’m still young, so I have plenty of time to wait for it.”

At my words, William Turner burst into laughter and said, “When Edward and Jane talked about you and said they wanted to invite you to the party, I didn’t believe it, but you are truly amazing. It’s truly the first time I’ve seen someone your age speak like that.”

“Having lost my parents early and trying to live in the world alone, I had to learn everything earlier than others.”

“No, that’s not something that can be done just by learning. Even when talking to young men over twenty, not just children your age, I’ve never seen anyone speak of such a long time so casually. For old men like us, five years doesn’t feel like a very long time, whereas young people around twenty feel as if such a time will never come. Moreover, aren’t you only eleven? Yet, it’s remarkable that you consider the long time until you can harvest seeds and rubber as enough time for you to endure because you’re young. Although I’ve seen many clever young people while in The City, a friend like you is a first.”

“Thank you for evaluating me so highly.”

“So, that’s why I’m asking. Are you interested in the United States by any chance?”

How could I not be interested in the United States? I just haven’t had the chance to go until now.

However, I was curious about his intention in bringing up the United States.

“I am interested, but I’m curious why you’re suddenly bringing up the United States.”

“This is just my guess, but it seems like you have much more hidden wealth. Am I right?”

“I cannot answer that. And that doesn’t explain why you mentioned the United States to me.”

William Turner nodded.

“True, there’s no reason to answer such a thing to someone you’re meeting for the first time today. Let’s talk about that after we become much closer. What I want to say is, if you have more money, I’ll introduce you to an American financier, so I’d like to suggest you go to the United States together and try doing business there.”

I needed an excuse to go to the United States anyway, so this was a real opportunity.

“As you said, there’s quite a long time until I can harvest rubber, so if you introduce me to an opportunity to go to the United States, I will gladly accept.”

“The friend I want to introduce is Junius Morgan. He primarily takes British capital to the United States to lend it out. If you’re thinking of entrusting your money to him, I’d like to introduce you. What do you think?”

When I heard the name Junius Morgan, J.P. Morgan came to mind.

“May I know his age by any chance?”

“Why? Are you worried he’s too old? Junius is quite old, but he has a son around our age, so you don’t have to worry about that. Let’s see, what was his name? Was it John Pierpont? I’m certain his initials were J.P., but I’m not sure if that was the exact name.”

I found him.

That son is definitely J.P. Morgan. I’d be a fool to miss this.

“I have some money that I didn’t deposit this time. I would definitely be grateful if you could introduce me to him.”