odessanovel Chapter 272:
Chapter 272:
272
The Preliminary Battle (2)
André Masséna, the director of the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, had a big dilemma lately.
He had to hire an artist, and no one could deny that Henri Marso was the best fit for the French Pavilion.
André himself thought that Henri Marso was the ideal candidate, but the problem was his domineering attitude.
Inviting him meant giving up his role and authority as the director of the French Pavilion.
“What should I do?”
André Masséna sighed.
He had lost some of his prestige due to an unpleasant incident in the past, but the Venice Biennale was still the world’s top art exhibition.
His experience as the director of the national pavilion would give him a great boost.
He wanted to prove his ability by achieving a great result.
‘Then who should I choose?’
He thought of a few names.
Bernard Benet, Hom Eung, Dran.
They were all excellent artists, but it was uncertain if they could deliver a performance as good as Henri Marso.
Daniel Buren could also be expected to produce a good result as Henri Marso, but he was too old to participate.
“Ah.”
André Masséna sighed again.
He didn’t know what would happen if he hired another artist besides Henri Marso and failed to impress.
The art lovers would criticize him for not inviting Henri Marso, and the industry would regard him as an incompetent who ruined his work because of his ambition.
‘Maybe I should just.’
If he formed a team around Henri Marso, he could aim for the Golden Lion Award without much trouble.
He would have to give all the credit to him, but at least he could get the title of the 2029 Venice Biennale National Pavilion Golden Lion Award.
After days of repeated deliberation, he came to a tentative conclusion, when Chévasson Simon, the chairman of the association, opened the door and entered.
“André.”
“Mr. Chairman.”Th.ê most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m
Simon greeted André warmly and sat on the sofa.
“You must be very busy. What can I do for you?”
“I came to consult with you about the national pavilion.”
“Consult?”
Simon asked, holding the teacup that the staff brought.
“Yes. I want to invite Mr. Marceau, but...”
“Hahaha! I wondered what it was.”
Chévasson Simon laughed heartily when André trailed off.
He thought he was worried about how to hire the notoriously difficult Henri Marso.
“Why are you so worried? Of course you should invite him.”
“Really?”
“I’ll talk to him, so don’t worry and proceed.”
Chévasson Simon assured him.
Henri Marso, who liked to be in the spotlight, wouldn’t refuse to represent the French artists.
Besides, he was considering participating in the Venice Biennale recently, so he thought he would surely join.
“Thank you. I need to meet him once. When would be convenient for you?”
“I’ll talk to Marceau and let you know.”
André Masséna thanked him again.
He saved himself the trouble of contacting Henri Marso separately, and everything went smoothly.
‘Is this okay?’
He felt a bit uneasy as if he had nothing to do as the director of the French Pavilion, but he felt relieved when he saw Chévasson Simon’s smiling face.
“Then I’ll be going. Thank you very much.”
“Sure. There are some reporters outside. Talk to them well.”
“Reporters?”
“It’s the deadline for submitting the list of participants for the Venice Biennale. They must be curious if Henri is participating. It would be strange if I spoke for him when you’re here.”
André was touched by Chévasson Simon’s consideration.
“I’ll do my best to prepare.”
“Hah. I hope he doesn’t do his best.”
André laughed along and went outside.
As he left the building, he saw some reporters waiting as Chévasson Simon had said.
They recognized André quickly, as they were literary reporters.
“Are you André Masséna?”
“How are you planning the national pavilion for the Venice Biennale?”
└The articles are all being taken down lol
└Wow, but this is really amazing. Goseuyul, Anri, and Hun.
└I know, right? Isn’t this the best lineup ever?
└Crazy. Each one of them is enough to make headlines, but now they’re all in one place.
└I can’t really picture Anri and Hun collaborating, can you?
└They must have a plan.
└Lololololol Andre Massena can’t be reached lololol He’s not leaving his house, what to do lol ᅲ
└So that’s why Goseuyul and Hun didn’t participate in the Korean pavilion.
Shévasson Simon felt like he had been hit on the back of his head when he saw the breaking news.
He was so shocked that his eyes almost popped out as he checked the article.
No matter how many times he looked, the phrase that Anri Marceau was participating in the artist pavilion did not change.
He hurriedly called Marceau.
-Yeah.
“What are you doing!”
Shévasson Simon rarely yelled.
-What.
“How could you decide such a thing without telling me a word!”
-What are you talking about.
“The Venice Biennale!”
-Oh. That happened.
“That happened? What? How can you do this without the French pavilion? Huh!”
-It doesn’t make sense.
Anri Marceau answered calmly. Shévasson Simon, the president of the association, was furious.
“You knew that and you did it! I helped you with everything you did, but this is not it! How can you do this!”
-Calm down. Your blood pressure is rising.
“Do I look calm right now! Tell me! What were you thinking when you did this!”
Shévasson Simon was not appeased.
He had always supported Anri Marceau in whatever he did, but this time he could not let it go.
It was outrageous that he would refuse to participate in the international art exhibition that was the pride of the nation.
-If I take the French pavilion, it won’t give a chance to other people.
“...”
He was ready to scold him.
But Shévasson Simon could not say anything.
-Anyway, I’m not going to do what I don’t want to do. Tell the commissioner to take care of it.
-Marceau, what about this?
-Throw it away.
He heard Hun’s voice over the phone.
-I’m busy. Talk to you later.
Shévasson Simon was frozen with the phone in his hand after the call was cut off.
Some feedback and suggestions:
The original text is written in a casual and conversational tone, using slang, abbreviations, and emoticons. This is suitable for a web novel, but you may want to consider your target audience and genre. If you are writing for a more formal or serious setting, you may want to avoid using too much informal language.
The original text uses a lot of dashes (-) to indicate dialogue. This is a common practice in Korean novels, but not in English ones. You may want to use quotation marks (") instead, and follow the punctuation and capitalization rules for dialogue. For example:
-어.
-Yeah.
should be
“Yeah.”
The original text also uses a lot of ellipses (...) to indicate pauses, hesitations, or trailing thoughts. This is not wrong, but you may want to use them sparingly and vary your sentence structures. For example, instead of:
“.......”
You could write:
He was speechless.
The original text switches between past and present tense, which can be confusing for the reader. You may want to stick to one tense throughout the story, unless you have a specific reason to change it. For example, instead of:
속보를 접한 셰바송 씨몽은 뒤통수를 얻어맞은 듯했다.
Shévasson Simon felt like he had been hit on the back of his head when he saw the breaking news.
You could write:
Shévasson Simon feels like he has been hit on the back of his head when he sees the breaking news.
or
Shévasson Simon felt like he had been hit on the back of his head when he saw the breaking news.
The original text uses a lot of names and terms that may not be familiar to the English reader. You may want to provide some context or explanation for them, or use a glossary at the end of the chapter or the book. For example, you could explain what the Venice Biennale, the artist pavilion, and the French pavilion are, and why they are important for the characters.