SOCIAL SEASONS OF SHIN-GORYEO: SYNOPSIS
For those wondering about the Social Seasons, an introductory article about it is available here.
Year Season Month City Function
1 Small Oct. Dongnae-Halifax Festival de Dongnae
- Brief synopsis: Raoul-Christophe 'R.C.' Jang-Nolan meets his friend Louise and tells her that there will be a new film project of his that could be his 'finest work', but will likely require assistance from a specific studio.
With a set plan for the presentation of the project, R.C. heads to the premiere at the Festival de Dongnae, where he lightly drops the notes of Rico Sierra, the Quebeco-Krytenian chair of the Monte-Sierra studio, of 'Barbenheimer'.
Sierra finds it amusing, but informs R.C. to give about a month before deciding on the project. - Cutoffs to occur: July 1 (Louise) - July 3 (Raoul-Christophe) - July 5 (Festival Review)
1 Small Nov. Joongyeong Bal des Ballons
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1 None Oct. Mlima Kijani Testiculos Ceremony
- Cutoffs to occur: July 27 - July 31 - TBD (Likely in DBC)
1 Large July Joongyeong Grand Prix de Joongyeong
- Cutoffs to occur: August 31 (Pierre) - September 3 (Dr. Heo) - Sept 6 (The Siblings)
- Cutoffs to occur: September 24 (Myeong-Shin) - September 26 (Ian) - September 27 (Raoul-Christophe)
- Cutoffs to occur (Likely in DBC): September 29 - TBD - TBD
2 Large May Songak Athlone Gala
2 Large July Adelphi Castle Adelphite Festival
The Social Seasons of Shin-goryeo
PART 17 - That Summer - Underground
While all of the humanly, philistinish affairs were going on among the educated, accomplished men and women of the society, there was an isolated area. Well within the confines of the City of Joongyeong proper, and very much reachable within the convenient landmarks and the tourist destinations of the Eternal City of Lights, there was an underground complex of archives.
Comprised of two major agencies - The Chunchugwan Institute of History (CIH, more commonly shortened to Chunchugwan), which chronicles all Annales of the Shin-goryeoite Dynasty, and the Royal Archives of Shingoryeo (RAS), where the Royal House of Jeongs held their respective records - the two institutions were separate agencies, though affiliated, from the Archives Nationales de Shingoryeo (ANS). Often the CIH and RAS employees belonged to the ANS, but there were a good number of employees who, being part of more exclusive staff group dedicated to the Annals of the Shingoryeoite Dynasty, did not get hired via that pathway. They, who would handle specific events and chapters issued to their fields of specialisation, would solely report to their higher-ups (usually by seniority, though exceptions would exist), who would then forward the individual archivist's ticket to the deputy-chair and sometimes to the Chair of either archive.
In the 2060-62 cycle that would conclude with the future hosting of the 2062 Afanc Strait-Jolbonopolis Olympic Games, approximately 1,258 archivists and attached staff members were employed for the two organisations. The hirees, who would wait a year-long hiring process (unpaid) and then two-year provisionary process (paid), required Developed Vetting (DV, third and highest level of security clearance for Quebecois citizens) with them hiring archivists who would often be handpicked from the universities across Quebec and Shingoryeo and abroad. Most of them you would not know of their identity - being given strong job security and highly favourable working conditions, especially when not under the usual symptoms of procastinations, they loyalty the archivists held to their institution and the Daemyeonggooong Palace were suprespilled to the public much beyond vague details.
Some of the most renowned professors of the country and abroad would work as part-time and full-time employees. This was indeed the case in past, where the nine Lotus League institutions, headed by the Big Two of St. Croix and Farrer universities, would usually have the finest teachers, but in the past decade the practices have somewhat expanded thanks to our world growing bigger and wider. Nowadays, work arrangements would be established under collective bargaining agreement the Privy Council and the Daemyeonggoong Palace had agreed upon, and in some cases the Archivists themselves would work under greater liberty thanks to the availability of teleworking and continued digitisation of the Annals and the RAS archival materials.
And like that, Raoul-Christophe was back in the 11 Gwangmoo. The Prime Ministerial residence was where his parents Arsene and Meghan (nee Casavant) called home for fourteen, illustrated years of Prime Ministership, yet he had spent so little time there. When his father was elected in the 2043 elections, Raoul-Christophe was fifteen years old. Having entered his freshman year at the His Majesty's School in Songak, the city of his father's constituency, he had boarded there for all four years before going onto read history and classics at St. Croix. So he, even as the son of the Prime Minister, held little memory of the place by the time Arsene had retired from the Prime Ministership and moving onto a comfier, but just as demanding position as the Privy Council Chair.
Even by those terms, however, Raoul-Christophe was surprised to see that he was asked to report to him by the Prime Minister. Irene Kweon Binnington, for all the praises that she had drawn in both municipal and federal politics, was an antithesis to her father. Coming from the NPD as the daughter of a famous labour organiser in Twin Cities, Kweon Binnington was a woman both icy and yet anxious, whose republic-an (separate from republican in the American sense) stance she had to fold to advance her political career. Riding motorcycles, loving heavy metal and cheering for Saint John Steelers and Twin Cities Celtics of all teams (but ambivalent to other hometown teams), Irene was every bit an opposite of her suave, preppy father and her high-flying, well-dressed mother both of Joongyeongite breed.
And yet common comparisons were made between Arsene and Irene over their way of execution. Both figures preferring to be action-first, even if the principles may differ, they prioritised actions over words and were not short of bringing any personnel, even those at the entry level of federal service. That, perhaps, was why Raoul-Christophe was not surprised his father would privately praise Irene over his own predecessor (and longtime political rival), Jacques Lee Ellington, though it was unclear for Raoul-Christophe whether this would help him any bit further.
'I hear that multiple Freedom of Information requests were filed towards multiple Federal offices, which include and are not limited to: the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office, Bibliotheque Nationale de Shingoryeo, and the Daemyeonggoong Palace. Specifically over a certain line of enquiry that involves an obscure naval incident abroad back in the Southern Rushmori War.' Irene asked coldly to Raoul-Christophe. 'Are you aware of this specific request by any chance, Mr. Pineau Kim?'
'No,' Raoul-Christophe answered. He had no reason to specifically answer that question - eight-seventeen was too early in the morning to do so - and besides, he had only spent the night with her at her apartment the last time he saw her. Having woken up late, and with them going straight to the Cafe Acadienne for the lunch, there was no chance Raoul-Christophe would have found out.
'But it's not even over the basic matters of war. I don't think it is a matter of coincidence that an unnamed authority from Portelo, whose address would redirect to an university preparatory school, would call for a FOI request without a valid reason,' Irene shot back. 'There has to be something attached that is beyond our control, and likely to our implication, but still considered important enough for the Intergovernmental Office and the Privy Council to search. What would be possible options?' she asked.
Raoul-Christophe closed his eyes, before immediately having a light in his eyes. Perhaps it would be over Palace files, especially if it involves an old Prince...whose name was it? He had remembered watching a documentary about Henri VII, the warrior king who led Quebec and the allied forces to victory, a week ago. There there were multiple mentions of his brothers, Alexandre VI and Philippe IV, with a couple of royal historians talking about their family sagas.
'Perhaps it's to do with the Daemyeonggoong Palace, ma'am,' Raoul-Christophe answered, remembering the basic detail he had accrued from his terms working as BNS intern while studying at St. Croix. 'If the FOI requests had bounced around between the Government Offices, and would end up bouncing into the BNS and the Palace, then that suggests that what the files this...Azurean authority seeks to have, is likely beyond our control.'
'I see now,' Irene dropped her voice, trying to act calm even if her smiles suggested more of joy. At least, she didn't have to deal with the possible political implications, and could gladly throw it to the Palace should this end up becoming a problem. 'In that instance, would it be possible for you to deal with the BNS or the RAS? It appears that the records from that era are not exactly available in the Annals, at least from what I could imply.'
'Likely not, especially when considering the impossible lengths of records the Chunchugwan and the RAS staff would collect. I am sure that you would know this just as well as I do based on the records of Sylvain IV's annals released just last year.' Raoul-Christophe answered. 'But in this case, I'm sure that the request could have gone the way of the RAS.'
'In that case, would you able be able to contact Dr. Heo, the chief archivist at the RAS, and address the FOI request?' Irene asked.
'Your wish is in my command, ma'am,' he answered. Raoul-Christophe then gave a light neck bow to the Prime Minister, before heading out.
Being the Head of both underground Archives - that being the RAS and the Chunchugwan - were no average man's job. Dr. Heo Dong-Soo, having been in charge of the Archives for past eighteen years, was more than aware of the difficulties that had come with that, and have at various points over the past decade considered retirement. But each time he had requested a sense of duty, combined with the recommendation by Christine II to hold off for a year or two more until a succession plan was to be made, made him withdraw his words and stay into the position, perhaps for his remaining years to come.
Of course, this had partly to do with the difficulty of the work. The work at the Chunchugwan, for most part, was self-directed and in some ways, without a full-time need for the Universite St. Croix Professor to oversee. Every day and night, millions of files - both physical and photocopied - would be brought to the P8-floor basement of the mostly-underground building, and they would quickly be re-sorted into categories and eras after being brought up by multiple cargo elevators. The archivists, for most part, would find themselves enamoured by the volume of materials and their sheer potential, to the point where the scale of the fonds and the boxes would be re-distributed and sorted at a rather self-controlled pace.
This was a slightly different affair at the Royal Archives, where Dr. Heo had to keep a closer rein on the materials. While most of the digital or digitised materials themselves held multiple copies, and were safe from destruction, the nature of the collections which included and were not limited to diaries, letters, papers and related records of the Royal House and related authorities, had meant that they often required careful storage and control of access towards the file.
This also meant that the requests for the public access of the RAS materials were limited, with the designating criteria being the past research history, security profile and most importantly needs of the researchers involved. This also meant that the position of RAS Chair was normally delegated towards the past Principal Secretary of the monarch. Dr. Heo, who was by no means one, was an outlier, a personal appointment made by Christine II after the retirement of Sir. Alexandre Kim, the secretary of both her and her late father for fifteen years at that point, on the second year of her reign.
Sitting on his pine-and-mahogany office at the Office, Dr. Heo found himself occupied with his own research both as faculty and historian, though he would offer advice from time to time. He was a man of relatively simple tastes and routines (even if they were lazy) and lived with his elderly father who had just reached one-hundred years of life. Having raised two high-flying children decades prior with their own lives right as his budding academic career had propelled, he found a compensatory sense of joy in being able to spend more time in writing about the political philosophies of Henri VIII, who he held great respect and had even met quite recently so (wait how?), or the past two-hundred years of modern Quebeco-Petrogradian relations.
But from time to time, guests beyond the usual realms or the RAS/CIH would come and ask about specifics, and he was not shy of providing them more direct advice or answering more specific enquiries. For most part they would be coming from a past student, or like-minded historians who would request private audience or for recommended materials, and Dr. Heo would gladly comply to them as well.
This time, however, Dr. Heo would find himself being in a more complicated situation when Raoul-Christophe Kim, a past student and an intern of his to say the least, would call him back. What do I have anything to do with intergovernmental affairs? was the first thought he held inside his head when Raoul-Christophe sent his regards via email, asking for a quick question at the Office. I won't refuse, but there's got to be a good reason. It's better to ask on phone if it's something that urgent, with so few words to be shared.
Twenty-four hours would pass, and the younger man sat right in front of him on a small, wooden chair. From the awkward, and yet giddy glare, Dr. Heo could sense that he wasn't exactly present for anything of self-interest, but wanted to know why a high-ranked deputy minister would bother to meet him this early in the morning. 'What's the matter, boy?' Dr. Heo asked, grumpiness and mischievousness in his voice both evident. 'You know that I, having read my doctorate under your late grandpa, am always welcome to help, but you do have to tell me what's the matter that requires my attention.'
'Good morning, sir, it is my pleasure,' Raoul-Christophe said. 'My mother and father would like to send your
'Just cut straight to the chase, dear Raoul-Christophe,' Arsene shrugged it off while nodding to it. He had heard enough of Raoul-Christophe's usual formalities, no matter how he, who himself was a practitioner of them, liked them. 'You don't have a lot of time, and the Archives aren't your domain no more!'
'So this involves the recently declassified files involving the Alexandre VI, who you would remember as the Henri VII's younger brother,' the deputy intergovernmental minister continued to explain. 'I'm sure you would remember him the best for his naval heroics, most notably on no less than a half-dozen battles fought over the Southern Rushmori War, and also for his part in the diplomatic missions to much of Rushmore in place of Catherine III.'
Raoul-Christophe feared harsh response from his former teacher, whose obsessions towards getting the facts right had brought fear into many of his students, but instead what followed was a smile. 'Yes, les Fonds-Evry, named after the Rue d'Evry where he had lived for most of his officer years,' Dr. Heo said, the elderly man lighting a cigarette before offering one to Raoul-Christophe. 'Do you still smoke?'
'No, sir, my fiancee has asthma,' answered Raoul-Christophe. 'But thank you for the offer regardless.'
'Ah no worries,' Dr. Heo left a light response. 'Yes, those, if I recall correctly, finally declassified last May after arriving at the Archives in 1978. Seventy-seven year period of confidentiality, but from what I have heard there were some issues...in clearing certain details regarding the security, that the Admiralty had to ask a couple of actual staffers to hold off until the time's right.' He then coughed, before continuing. 'So if there's anything, I could tell you that it did surprise me somewhat when it was finally declassified, and even more so now that somebody wants to read over it.'
'So you are suspecting that there's a possible chance the Daemyeonggoong Palace may have intervened with the files themselves, at least based on their own suspicions,' Raoul-Christophe suggested. 'That would be quite unusual.'
Dr. Heo's eyes lit up. 'You see, my boy,' he said, as the fumes started to thicken into the room after two deep puffs. 'I think I have a rough suspicion, and I'm sure you very much could guess those are. You have lived all your life in this city, or attended school in Songak, where you have met all peoples of colours and occupations, all in high classes or exceptional abilities, walking around.'
He then dropped the half-smoked cigarette burn in the ashtray and asked. 'Now remind me once again - who's the diamond of the Joongyeong season?'
