Chapter 42
The next morning.
Representative’s office, Eterna Gallery, Cheongdam-dong.
“Good morning, Director Shin.”
“Mr. Kim Si-woo, I’m sorry, but please wait a moment. I’m making coffee, so it’s taking a little time. Please, have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”
When I stepped into the office, Shin A-young was turning the handle of a hand coffee grinder.
The steady sound of beans being ground filled the room.
Scritch. Scritch.
I was curious about the rest of last night’s conversation, but I decided to wait.
It would have been rude to cut straight to the point while she was carefully grinding coffee for a guest.
Seeming to be in a good mood, Shin A-young hummed softly under her breath.
Warm morning sunlight poured in through the tall windows.
A bird was singing somewhere outside.
I decided to enjoy this quiet moment in full until the aroma of coffee had filled the room.
At last, the ground beans were piled neatly on top of the filter.
Shin A-young checked the thermometer with care.
“Ninety-two degrees. Perfect. This bean lives and dies by its acidity, so it can’t be too hot. If the temperature goes up even a little, the bitterness takes over and the coffee loses its original character.”
A thin stream of water dripped slowly from the narrow nozzle of the drip pot.
Whoosh-
The beans began to swell the instant the hot water touched them.
A rich, weighty fragrance rose like steam.
“It has a very distinctive aroma.”
I sat there quietly, watching her draw the coffee through to the end.
Only after extracting the very last drop did Shin A-young pour the freshly brewed coffee into a cup she had already prewarmed.
“This bean is different from the last one. It’s Saint Helena coffee. You know, the coffee Napoleon was said to drink during his exile. It’s a coffee with quite a bit of historical significance.”
Shin A-young took the seat across from me and handed me the cup.
“I’ll enjoy it gratefully. But Saint Helena?”
“Saint Helena is an isolated volcanic island floating in the middle of the South Atlantic. It’s where Napoleon was exiled after losing the Battle of Waterloo, and where he remained until his death. His line, ‘The only good thing on Saint Helena is the coffee,’ is still widely known.”
“I see.”
If I had to sum up her meaning in one sentence, it was simple.
An absurdly expensive cup of coffee.
I took a careful sip.
I tried my best to savor the flavor.
I wanted to say it was a new experience, that a deep floral fragrance spread across my palate and a pleasant acidity tingled at the tip of my tongue, but in the end, my taste buds still preferred instant coffee.
“It happens to line up nicely with what I’m discussing with you today, so I prepared it especially. The Jiaqing Emperor’s porcelain, and Napoleon, who became emperor after holding a coronation.”
“Isn’t that just forcing two unrelated things together?”
“Caught me?”
Shin A-young laughed, amused.
But after the coffee went down, the mood changed.
“Then let’s get to the main point.”
Shin A-young turned on her tablet.
At that moment, her usual softness vanished, revealing the keen edge of a businesswoman.
“This is the final proposal Sotheby’s Hong Kong sent late last night.”
Shin A-young began her explanation, swiping smoothly through the screen.
“Sotheby’s has also confirmed it as authentic. Not only the chief appraiser for Sotheby’s Asia, but also the advisory expert they specially brought in from the Palace Museum in Beijing, all unanimously certified it as a masterpiece of imperial porcelain from the Jiaqing era. In other words, there’s no room for doubt. It’s a perfect authentic piece.”
Shin A-young’s slender finger pointed precisely at the key phrase on the screen.
“The key point is the auction format. Sotheby’s has officially proposed assigning it as the Main Lot for this Hong Kong Evening Sale.”
Si-woo’s eyes widened at that.
“The Main Lot... you mean they’re putting it in the spotlight as the highlight of the auction, the most important piece?”
“Exactly. The work that closes an Evening Sale usually draws enormous attention in the room and sells for the highest price. Sotheby’s clearly believes the Jiaqing Double-Dragon Vase is worth that kind of treatment.”
As Shin A-young swiped the tablet, she pointed to another section.
“But the conditions go much further than that.”
Inside the tablet were the details of Sotheby’s proposal, line by line.
[Full waiver of consignment fee]
[Cover feature in the auction catalog and solo promotional campaign]
[Dedicated private exhibition room during the Hong Kong preview period]
[Guaranteed minimum bid]
After carefully reviewing the clauses one by one, I asked Shin A-young a question.
“Was there... some competition with Christie’s? At conditions like these, there has to be another side pushing hard behind the scenes.”
Shin A-young’s mouth fell open slightly in surprise.
“Wow... Mr. Kim, you really are quick on the uptake. The truth is, I poured fuel on both sides.”
“How?”
“I leaked the information to Christie’s Hong Kong first and got their initial proposal. Then I took that proposal and called the head of Sotheby’s Asia directly.”
Shin A-young’s tone made it sound as if she were replaying the scene.
“I asked them bluntly whether Sotheby’s was just going to sit there with its finger in its mouth while Christie’s put a Jiaqing imperial piece up as the main work of the season. I hit their long-standing rivalry right in the pride. And then the Sotheby’s people got so offended they immediately pushed headquarters hard and brought back approval for terms far more aggressive than Christie’s. That’s how I got them competing against each other.”
Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Two auction houses locked in fierce rivalry since the eighteenth century, the pair together controlling more than ninety percent of the global fine art auction market.
In Asian markets like Hong Kong, especially, they fought even harder to attract the big-money Chinese collectors.
Shin A-young had seen through that subtle competitive structure perfectly and driven the two houses straight into each other.
What made it possible was the fact that, this auction season, neither side had a truly marquee work to lead with.
The Jiaqing Double-Dragon Vase could perfectly fill that crucial gap, which made it an ideal strategic piece.
“There isn’t another imperial relic like this if you want to pull major Mainland Chinese collectors into the auction room. Both sides were desperate not to lose it to the other, so it was easy.”
She called it easy, but I could imagine that negotiating with auction houses backed by massive capital was anything but simple.
“And this is the most important part. A guaranteed minimum bid is a minimum amount Sotheby’s promises in advance to prevent the worst-case scenario, where the piece goes unsold or sells for less than expected. It’s a kind of safety net.”
USD 20,000,000 (about 26 billion won)
“Even before the auction actually starts, 2.6 billion won is already locked in.”
A guaranteed 26 billion won. No matter how I thought about it, it was an astronomical sum that didn’t feel real.
But that was precisely why Sotheby’s could do it. They were convinced the final hammer price would be much higher.
“From Sotheby’s perspective, it isn’t a bad deal at all. There’s also a buyer’s premium, you know. Even if they don’t take a single cent of commission from the consignor, the fee they collect from the final buyer alone leaves them with plenty of profit.”
I nodded and did the math in my head.
“If the Jiaqing Double-Dragon Vase sells for 50 billion won, Sotheby’s would pocket somewhere between 7 billion and nearly 10 billion just from the buyer’s premium.”
“Exactly. And if you factor in the promotional effect and brand value they gain from this auction, it’s an opportunity they absolutely can’t pass up.”
I bowed my head toward Shin A-young, grateful.
“These are excellent terms. You’ve done a lot of work, Director Shin.”
“Not at all. It wasn’t that difficult.”
I asked what I was curious about next.
“So what’s the schedule, exactly?”
“It’s been locked in for the earliest possible date. Exactly one month from now, at the Central Landmark in Hong Kong.”
Shin A-young brought up the calendar on her tablet and explained in detail.
“Global promotion starts in earnest next week. Then, about two weeks from now, the large-scale preview tour begins, going through Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei. And in the final fourth week, it’ll close with a spectacular finish in Hong Kong.”
“One month... That’s a lot sooner than I expected.”
“When the tide comes in, you have to row hard. Once this news reaches major collectors around the world, it’ll become a massive topic. We need to strike while the iron is hot. I think now is the perfect time.”
As Shin A-young put away the tablet, she asked with a teasing smile, “By the way, after the auction ends successfully, there’ll be an enormous number sitting in your bank account, Mr. Kim. What are you planning to do with the money?”
I thought about it seriously, then answered honestly.
“I’ll think about it once I actually receive it.”
I imagined what it would feel like to have that much money land in my hands.
Strangely, I didn’t feel much of anything.
Hundreds of billions of won?
I was already happy enough with what I had.
Besides, I still didn’t know where I’d spend the money I already had.
* * *
After my conversation with Shin A-young ended, I stepped out of the representative’s office and took the business card I’d received from Chairman Lee Jae-yong out of my pocket.
Thick, high-quality stock.
His title as Chairman of Samjung, his name, and his contact information.
He had told me to call anytime, whenever it was convenient.
Should I phone him right now?
I hesitated over it several times.
Would it seem too eager if I called him the very next day?
But delaying it wouldn’t change anything.
Fine. Whatever.
I gathered my nerve and dialed the number printed on the card.
Every time the line rang, my mouth went dry.
Before even a few seconds had passed, the other side picked up.
“Hello?”
I knew instantly that it was Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s voice.
“Good afternoon, Chairman. This is Kim Si-woo.”
“Ho ho. Mr. Kim Si-woo, I was honored to meet you in such fine company yesterday.”
His voice came through calm and composed, with an easy warmth beneath it.
“Not at all. The honor was mine.”
“The Raum Museum has already given me a detailed report about Mr. Jeong Seon’s Geumgang Uuido. I was told how you discovered it, and I found it truly fascinating. Truly remarkable.”
“You flatter me. It was only luck.”
“Isn’t luck also a kind of skill? And when it happens not once but repeatedly, it becomes true ability. My father used to say to keep people like that close.”
The remark was loaded with meaning.
Chairman Lee Jae-yong then moved to the point.
“Would you happen to be free this afternoon? I’d like to meet you in person and talk about Jeong Seon’s Geumgang Uuido. I’ll arrange things to suit whatever location is most convenient for you, Mr. Kim Si-woo.”
“Not at all. I have plenty of time, so please choose whatever time and place are most convenient for you, Chairman.”
He kept lifting me up like that, and it made me a little flustered.
“Then how about we meet at 5 p.m. today at the Raum Museum? I’ll have a quiet space prepared where we can talk in private.”
“Understood. I’ll see you then.”
“Then I’ll see you this afternoon. Please be careful on your way.”
“Yes, Chairman. Understood.”
The call ended.
It felt as though all the tension in my body had suddenly drained away.
To think I’d just had a private phone call with Chairman Lee Jae-yong.
Life really did throw absurd things at you.
I put the business card back into my wallet.
5 p.m.
There was still plenty of time left, but already my thoughts had begun to race.