One Day Is Enough
I let the words come out cold.
"Is there something else you'd like to say?"
PD Kim bowed at a full ninety degrees.
"I'm sorry, Cheolwoo. The truth is, we needed to test you to some extent. That's why we used a fake porcelain piece to see what you could do."
I said nothing. He apologized again.
"If that offended you, I'll apologize once more. I really am sorry."
"Haa... All right. If you're going to go that far, I suppose I can't hold it against you. It's not as if I don't understand."
That was when Seo-ah, who had followed us out, started in on him.
"PD! Was that porcelain really a fake? Don't tell me you tested Teacher with a counterfeit?"
"I-I'm sorry... Seo-ah... I didn't have a choice."
"How could you do that? I begged and pleaded to bring him here...!"
As she flared up, PD Kim started to panic. This time I was the one who stopped her.
"It's all right. I've already received an apology."
Seo-ah looked at me, her eyes asking if I meant it.
"Are you sure you're okay...?"
"I'm fine. It's not as if I don't understand their position. That's enough."
"I'm sorry... Teacher."
"Seo-ah. This wasn't your fault. You don't need to apologize."
She shot PD Kim another glare. Perhaps he had never seen her like that, because he looked thoroughly rattled.
Once we were back inside the conference room, the PD announced he would at least go buy coffee and stepped out. About ten minutes later he returned with a cup in each hand.
"Let's talk over a cup of coffee."
"Thank you."
Starbucks. There were cheaper coffees he could have grabbed, but this had taken some care. He was still chewing on what had just happened, by the look of it.
He sat, took a sip, and looked at me.
"Cheolwoo. How on earth did you know it was a fake in that short a time?"
"A piece like that is C-grade even among counterfeits. Spotting it isn't particularly difficult."
He nodded.
"That's true, of course... but even for most experts, telling fake from genuine takes a fair amount of time. And yet you caught that this porcelain was a fake in under a minute."
It isn't even that hard of a problem...
It wasn't that I knew artifacts or cultural heritage especially well. I had simply looked at the porcelain itself.
"First. You can see the luster on the surface has been forcibly dulled. They were probably trying to make it look like an old piece. But genuine antique porcelain never takes on a color this strained."
"You saw that in a single glance..."
I went on before he could finish marveling.
"Second, the piece is far too heavy, and the weight is uniform. That's what you get when something is machine-made—the interior is regular, with no air bubbles. Handmade porcelain is never this even in the hand. And..."
"There's more?"
I lifted the piece and turned the base toward him.
"See this bottom? They dirtied it like this to make it look like a restoration job, but none of the stains or grime have any age to them. A week old, at most."
I set it down and looked at PD Kim, my voice sure.
"Do you need me to go on?"
He clapped, openly impressed.
"N-no! That's truly remarkable! How did you catch all of that in such a brief moment..."
Seo-ah, who had been listening quietly beside us, was just as amazed.
"Teacher...! You're incredible. That's really amazing!"
PD Kim bowed his head and apologized again.
"You're even more remarkable than I expected... I'll apologize once more for earlier."
"It's fine. You've already apologized once, haven't you?"
"Then... call it a gesture of apology. If you'll take on restorations for our program, we'll adjust the incentive from 5 percent to 6 percent."
A whole extra 1 percent...?
One percent looked like nothing on paper, but on a piece worth a billion won, that came out to another ten million.
"I'd be happy with that, of course, but are you sure that's all right? Won't the owners of the pieces object?"
"It's fine. When they appear on our program, they typically get over 10 percent more than the usual price. No one is going to turn that down."
He said it with real confidence. That much, apparently, sat within his own discretion.
Well. Nothing to complain about.
"Thank you. But that porcelain was a fake—so where's the actual piece that needs restoring?"
"Ah, would you wait here just a moment? It's in the vault. I'll bring it right over."
He stood and hurried out. The real treasure, it seemed, was stored somewhere else.
Well, leaving a hundred-million-won porcelain sitting on a conference room floor wouldn't make any sense.
I was waiting for PD Kim to come back with the piece when Seo-ah's phone suddenly rang.
"Ah, Teacher. I'm sorry. Just a moment."
She asked my pardon, took the call, and immediately started arguing with whoever was on the other end.
"What, all of a sudden? You said there was no shoot today. It just came up...? Haa... Fine. I'm at SBC right now. Yes... yes... I'll wait downstairs."
She hung up and let out a long breath.
"Haa..."
"Sounds like a shoot just got scheduled."
"Yes... they definitely said there wasn't one today... I'm sorry. I think I have to go. I'm really sorry, Teacher."
"Don't be. Thanks to you, I've landed a decent job."
She looked at me, still guilty, and tried again.
"As an apology for leaving first, let me treat you to a meal soon."
"Hmm... I'll be the one treating you. I got a good commission thanks to you. More importantly, you should go. You'll be late."
Seo-ah apologized once more and left.
A moment later, PD Kim came back carrying a rather expensive-looking box.
"Hm? Where did Seo-ah go?"
"Ah, yes. An urgent shoot came up, so she left."
"Ah, I see."
He set the box down on the desk with great care. Watching him handle it that gingerly, I spoke.
"You treat it quite preciously. I suppose that's because it's the genuine article."
He laughed, a little embarrassed.
"Ahahaha... Yes, the estimated appraisal on this piece is quite high."
"You have it appraised in advance, before the program?"
He nodded.
"Yes. Even if we don't have an exact figure, we need a rough estimated value so we can write the script."
Well... it is television...
"I see. May I take a look, then?"
"Yes. Here it is. Um... I'd be truly grateful if you handled it carefully."
I smiled, telling him not to worry.
"Don't worry."
This is exactly why I brought these.
I pulled the white cotton gloves from my pocket and put them on, then opened the box and carefully lifted out what was inside.
This is... celadon...
It was a celadon ewer. From the weight to the soft, understated luster that seemed to well up from within—this was unmistakably the genuine article.
"This is the real thing. The weight is even, but it isn't the evenness of a machine-pressed piece. This was made by a remarkable artisan."
"Yes... that's correct. It's already been authenticated as genuine by several sources. And the appraisal came in quite high."
"A piece of this quality would have come in at three hundred million won at minimum, wouldn't it?"
PD Kim's eyes widened. He nodded.
"H-how did you know? That's right. Everyone said somewhere between three and four hundred million. However..."
"The cracks all over are the problem, I take it."
"Yes. It seems there was some damage while the client was moving house."
"For a piece worth hundreds of millions... they should have been more careful..."
"Until the appraisal, they apparently had no idea it was worth that much."
He asked the next question very carefully.
"Would restoration be possible...?"
I lifted the celadon again and checked the cracks and the chips.
Restoration isn't a simple matter. You have to recreate the era itself.
A botched restoration could actually diminish the value, which meant it had to be done with real care.
Still, something at this level is a piece of cake.
I spoke with a confidence I didn't bother to hide.
"It's possible."
"R-really?"
"Yes. It'll be a bit difficult, but it isn't impossible. What's the deadline?"
I deliberately played up the difficulty. His face brightened at once.
"The broadcast is in two weeks. Would that work?"
"Two weeks... just a moment."
I opened my phone and checked the schedule against the jobs currently sitting in the workshop.
It'll be tight, but it's doable.
"Yes. It's possible."
"Really!? Thank you so much! Ah, then when should we come for filming?"
"Ah..."
Right. This program filmed the restoration process as well.
Well, I'll only be on camera briefly. It shouldn't matter.
"Come two days before the taping."
"What? So two days is enough?"
"No. The restoration itself only takes a day. And leaving a three-hundred-million-won piece sitting in my workshop the whole time would make me uneasy besides."
"Ah, even so... really, in a single day..."
I told him not to worry, and let the certainty sit in my voice.
"Don't worry. One day is enough."
More than ten days slipped by, and at last filming day arrived.
"Materials are ready... when are they getting here?"
I had prepared everything in advance. They had said they would be here by noon, so they were due any minute.
Then a car engine sounded outside the window. A moment later the workshop door opened and people came in.
"All right, set the cameras up over here, and Hyun-tae, get ready to shoot."
The instant he walked in, PD Kim Dae-yu started putting people to work. The moment he finished handing out assignments, he came over and offered a handshake.
"Good to see you, Cheolwoo. Is everything ready?"
"Yes. All done."
I had spent a bit buying a few tools, but looking at it long-term, it would clearly be an enormous gain.
Then someone else approached and greeted me.
"Hello. I'm Choi Hyun-tae, host of Authentic & Masterpiece."
I accepted the greeting, a little flustered.
"Ah, yes... Kang Cheolwoo. I look forward to working with you today..."
And for good reason. Choi Hyun-tae had slipped a little from his prime, but only a few years ago he had been called the national MC. Even to me—a man who had spent a hundred years on Mount Olympus—that face and that voice were all too familiar.
"Wow... I'd heard the stories, but you really are young. Restoration work at that age—that's genuinely impressive."
"Ahaha... Thank you."
It all felt a bit unreal.
I'm actually trading words with Choi Hyun-tae...
You really did have to live a long time to see everything.
A short while later, filming prep was finished, and PD Kim took the celadon from the box and held it out to me.
"We're counting on you... Cheolwoo."
He still looked a little uneasy.
What's he so nervous about.
"Don't worry."
In a few hours, every last bit of that anxiety would be gone anyway.
The cameras started rolling, and MC Hyun-tae launched into the segment in a bright, ringing voice.