Chapter 22
His smartphone lit up with a brief vibration.
Half-awake, Si-woo absently checked the screen.
His eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
He stared blankly at the number on the display for a long moment.
[Bank of Korea]
[Deposit: 1,500,000,000 won (Shin A-young)]
The strength went out of his hand, and the smartphone dropped onto the bed with a soft thud.
It was fortunate it landed on the bed. If it had hit the floor, the screen might have shattered.
He had just woken up, still drowsy and unfocused, but the moment he saw the amount, he snapped fully awake.
One-point-five billion won, printed in stark, unmistakable digits.
It was the sort of money a person might spend an entire working life breathing and saving for, only to still never come close to touching.
And yet it had landed in his account in a single transfer.
He called Representative Shin A-young.
"Yes, Representative. This is Kim Si-woo. I’m calling to confirm that the money has been deposited."
Shin A-young sounded almost giddy.
"Not at all. If you could deposit it that quickly, I’m only grateful. But does this mean the appraisal of the artifact is finished?"
As expected.
When they drew up the contract, it had been stipulated that the money would be transferred once authenticity was confirmed, so he had known it would happen.
"That’s a relief. Congratulations, Representative."
He had been confident it was genuine through the status window, but even so, there was always the chance of being wrong.
The last trace of worry vanished.
At Shin A-young’s question, he was momentarily speechless.
A documentary offer?
Up to now, he had been flooded with offers from variety shows and YouTube channels, but they had all felt too burdensome, so he had turned them down.
At the same time, suspicion rose in him.
What on earth was there about him that made him the subject of a documentary?
"I’m not misunderstanding, am I? A documentary about me?"
"Really?"
Nutflix.
One of the global OTT giants with overwhelming influence.
And they wanted to shoot a documentary about him?
Nutflix broadcast to more than 190 countries around the world.
It was on a different scale entirely from what one would normally call a mere documentary.
Shin A-young’s explanation did not end there.
"That’s true."
"But did Nutflix contact you directly, Representative?"
This was on a completely different level from the few articles that had appeared about him so far.
He did not have to think long.
"All right. I’ll consider it favorably."
He headed to Atelier Min, the architecture office Representative Kim Young-soo had introduced.
When he arrived, a strikingly designed office stood there, sharp and elegant in form.
He rang the bell and stepped inside, where the clean scent of wood mingled with the smell of coffee.
A man in refined clothing rose from his seat.
He was Min Tae-hun, the well-known head architect.
"Welcome. You must be Kim Si-woo."
"Good to meet you. I’m Kim Si-woo. I came here through Representative Kim Young-soo’s introduction."
The moment Min Tae-hun saw him, his face brightened and he reached out to shake his hand.
"I’ve been waiting for you, Si-woo. I’d already seen your face in all the articles, so you don’t feel like a stranger at all."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Yes. I’m genuinely moved that someone like you still exists these days."
He seemed to mean it sincerely.
After exchanging a few light pleasantries, he projected the floor plan onto a large monitor and began his explanation.
"The land you purchased has an excellent location. You bought well. According to the registry, the lot is eighty-eight pyeong. In the middle of Yeonnam-dong, land like this is almost impossible to find."
It felt good to be told he had bought well.
He had bought it partly because of the artifact, but the location had truly appealed to him.
"Do you have any style in mind?"
Rather than try to describe some complicated design, Si-woo spoke about the values he cared about most.
"I don’t know much about architectural design. I just want a sturdy house where I can rest comfortably. Something that blocks noise, stands up to wind and rain, and protects privacy completely, like a fortress. Oh, and my mother likes growing plants. I’d like a large flower bed."
Min Tae-hun nodded as if he understood.
"Simple, but clear. It’s also the most difficult kind of request. Then let me show you a concept that would suit the place."
A heavy building made of black brick appeared on the monitor.
"We’d build the house like a castle wall, using black bricks fired at high temperature, then set the main house toward the front and let it embrace the garden inside. From the outside it looks like a fortress, but inside you can fully enjoy your mother’s flower garden and the open sky."
He added,
"This area is designated as a second-class general residential zone, so the site coverage ratio is sixty percent. In other words, even if you build the first floor out to fifty-three pyeong, you’d still be left with a huge thirty-five-pyeong yard."
The concept he showed was extremely sophisticated.
A secret garden for Ms. Gong hidden within a sturdy fortress.
He looked over the other concepts too, but the first one remained the best.
"The first concept is the one I like best. I’d like to proceed that way."
The decision came quickly.
Near the end of the consultation, he asked the most important question.
"Then how much will the design fee be? You’re such a famous architect that I don’t even know what I should expect to pay."
Min Tae-hun then produced a single sheet of paper.
"Ah, I’m not charging a design fee. You must not have heard."
"Pardon?"
"The design fee is free."
"No. I’ll pay you."
He was not short on money, and besides, there was fifteen hundred million won in his account now, wasn’t there?
Min Tae-hun wore a warm smile, as if lost in a memory.
"The truth is, when I was studying abroad, there was a time I had no tuition money and was about to give up on my dream and pack up my things. It was Representative Kim Young-soo who supported a nobody like me with a large sum of money, with no conditions attached, and made it possible for me to finish my studies. Later I tried to earn money and repay him, but he told me I should use that money for someone else instead."
Then Min Tae-hun said,
"So, please use the design fee to do something good for someone else. That’s how I repay the favor to Representative Kim."
Min Tae-hun’s attitude was firm, and Si-woo had no choice but to accept it.
"All right. Please proceed that way."
Min Tae-hun smiled brightly.
"I’ll send you the design drawings by the end of this month."
Back in his studio apartment, he thought carefully about his ability.
One thing was clear: he could not judge artifacts that were already widely known or works that had already been made public.
He opened the National Museum of Korea website.
National Treasure-class artifacts filled the screen.
None of them shone.
He looked up items from famous museums overseas as well, but the result was the same.
Thinking back on it, most of the artifacts I’ve found have been things I stumbled across by chance.
Objects already recognized by the world and restored to their rightful place did not react to him.
Appraisal, in the truest sense of the word, was the power to reveal a hidden value.
There was no need for it to activate on things whose identity had already been laid bare before the whole world.
"Then..."
The place where this ability would shine brightest was obvious.
Places where value had not yet been revealed.
Places where genuine antiques were treated as fakes, or National Treasure-class artifacts were dismissed as junk.
The celadon haetae paperweight I saw in Representative Kim Young-soo’s office back then.
That too had been an unrecognized object owned by a private individual.
It had been smuggled out during the Korean War, taken home by an American soldier as a souvenir, and later purchased by Representative Kim after he tracked down the information through countless inquiries.
An artifact known to the public...
He went into the old artifact gallery, but as expected, there was nothing worth looking into.
Mostly useless questions and idle chatter.
To begin with, it had been a miracle that he had found the Hye-won and Shin Yun-bok paintings Jun-hyuk had.
Even so, some regret lingered.
He was also curious how many objects he could appraise in a single day.
Could there be a limit on how many times he could use the ability within a certain period?
If so, it made sense that he had so far found objects at intervals.
If that assumption is right, then I should go after the overlooked market.
He immediately began searching overseas auction sites.
He excluded major auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s for the time being.
Most of the items there had already been vetted by experts, so the odds were low.
eBay.
The world’s largest open marketplace, where all sorts of things were listed.
It was easy to post items, bid on them, and have overseas goods shipped in.
He combed through it.
Individuals often put up worthless objects or things they themselves could not identify.
There had even been a case where someone bought a vase on eBay for one dollar and later sold it at auction for eight hundred thousand dollars as a Qing imperial artifact.
There had also been a case of someone buying a painting for two hundred dollars, only to discover later that it was a Picasso.
But cases like that were rare.
He started scrolling.
Hundreds of items were listed.
No luck again?
Maybe it had only been good fortune so far.
If something were easy to find, would it even be an artifact?
He scanned the screen until his eyes were dry and gritty.
Just as he was massaging his eyes and about to close the site after several hours of light searching.
"Huh?"
His finger froze mid-scroll.
A tiny thumbnail in the corner of the screen.
Light was pouring out of it in a sharp, intense beam.
"Found it!"
A smile rose to his lips as he looked at the pure white light.
-Ding.
At the same moment, the status window appeared.
It was the same last time with the haetae paperweight.
The fact that the status window had appeared without him touching it was no coincidence.
Has the status window evolved?
Now he could appraise objects without even touching them.
"This... is incredible."