The Crown Prince’s Visit (6)
“Are you asking me to pay 150 million dollars for a painting that might not even be authentic?”
At his question, I shook my head.
“Of course not. I’m not that unreasonable. Take the painting with you, have it appraised however many times you like, and buy it only after you’ve determined that it’s genuine.”
Crown Prince Rashid immediately understood what I was really saying.
“So you’re dumping the appraisal and restoration work on me.”
There was no way I could gather Leonardo da Vinci scholars and experts from the art world all in one place, but with Rashid’s influence and connections, that kind of thing would be easy.
“Appraisal takes a considerable amount of time and money.”
“It shouldn’t be enough to burden a prince.”
“The money itself isn’t the issue. But if I go through all that and it turns out to be a fake, it could still leave a stain on my reputation.”
For a commoner like me, I didn’t care much about dignity or face, but he was Saudi royalty. That was a different world entirely.
On top of that, he had plans to stage a coup and push the Crown Prince off the throne soon enough. At a time like this, he would want to avoid needless scandal.
To make him accept that risk, I needed him to trust me. That was why I had been talking so hard up to now.
Honestly, I probably sounded like some sort of snake-oil salesman.
“Sometimes I think you have to believe in the face rather than the painting.”
“And if the appraisal concludes it isn’t genuine?”
“Then tear it up, burn it, do whatever you want with it.”
If Rashid couldn’t secure confirmation that it was authentic, then getting the painting back would be useless anyway.
Of course, that was never going to happen.
“Then what if I confirm it’s genuine and decide not to pay you?”
This wasn’t 150 million won. It was 150 million dollars.
No matter how conscientious a man was, how many people could really keep from wavering in front of that much money?
But I answered without hesitation.
“That won’t happen.”
“Why not?”
“The value of a painting changes enormously depending on whether its authenticity is publicly recognized. If you’re the one holding a genuine da Vinci, there’s no way you’d make the foolish choice of hiding that fact.”
The chain of ownership was one of the most important factors in separating genuine works from fakes.
If he paid me, then the provenance could be made public under official terms. But if he didn’t, he’d have to pretend the painting was fake.
And since this piece already had a cloud of forgery rumors hanging over it, that would be fatal.
“Conversely, if you pay me 150 million dollars and purchase the painting, everyone else will think it’s authentic.”
People lie all the time.
But no one lies with their own money on the line.
Who in their right mind would pay 150 million dollars for a fake?
If a Saudi prince paid that amount for it, the fact alone would serve as proof of authenticity.
If it was genuine, then it was a painting worth 460.3 million dollars. He wasn’t going to betray me over the mere “paltry” sum of 150 million.
Crown Prince Rashid nodded.
“If it truly is genuine, then it would be worth paying 150 million dollars.”
One hundred and fifty million dollars was well over 160 billion won. It was such an unreal amount that even one billion or ten billion felt trivial beside it.
How many chaebol heirs could honestly say they had that much cash on hand?
But I had something I needed to do right now, and 150 million dollars wasn’t enough to do it.
“There is one condition for the sale.”
Rashid looked at me as if I’d gone out of my mind.
“You want a condition on top of 150 million dollars?”
“Yes.”
I knew I was being shameless, but there was no helping it.
“What is it?”
“I’d like you to invest an additional 150 million dollars in Continue Capital.”
Rashid’s expression hardened.
“You want me to pay 150 million dollars for the painting and invest another 150 million dollars on top of that?”
“That’s correct.”
He might think this was no different from demanding 300 million dollars for the painting, but there was a huge difference.
The 150 million dollars for the painting would come straight out of his pocket. But the investment money wouldn’t.
He was chairman of the Saudi royal family’s Economic Development Committee. Under the name of investment, he could pull any amount he wanted out of the national treasury.
Government money was always blind, after all.
“What do I gain by investing?”
“I’ll give you 30 percent of the profits.”
“So you’re taking 70 percent of the investment returns for yourself.”
“Even 30 percent would be more than double your principal.”
“Then you’d need to make at least 300 percent returns. Is that even possible?”
“Did you not see what happened with Thomas Motors?”
“One success doesn’t guarantee the next.”
That was true.
Even a brilliant investor didn’t succeed every single time. Aaron Baker had failed on more than one investment himself.
“And if there are no returns?”
“Even then, I’ll guarantee you a minimum annual return of 30 percent.”
Thirty percent a year might not sound like much, but in two and a half years your principal would double. I had thought that kind of line was only for pyramid scammers. I hadn’t expected to be the one saying it.
“If you guarantee the return, how is that any different from a loan?”
“On borrowed money, interest is paid. On invested money, profits are paid.”
It sounded like wordplay, but it was actually a very important distinction.
Under Sharia law, Muslims were prohibited from receiving interest. That was why Islamic countries created bonds called sukuk and traded those instead.
There were several kinds of sukuk, and the mechanics could get fairly complicated.
But the same money could not be loaned out for interest and then be perfectly acceptable when invested for profit.
“In any case, if it’s an investment, then there’s still a chance my principal could be lost.”
“I’ll place a lien on the fund so that if the fund assets fall below the investment amount, you can recover the principal immediately.”
In other words, if the fund dropped below minus 50 percent, he would have the right to force liquidation. That would at least prevent him from running off with the money.
“You really are confident.”
“Yes. I already have a place to invest it.”
I just didn’t have the money.
Which was exactly why he had to invest with me.
Rashid stared at me for a long moment, and I didn’t look away. Nothing I had said so far was a lie.
When you knew the future, making money was easy.
After thinking deeply for a while, he spoke.
“When you’re in a place like this, you meet all kinds of people.”
Saudi Arabia might have the image of being a rich country, but its economy could not compare to Korea’s.
Even so, as political figures went, royalty in an absolute monarchy held far more power than politicians in a democratic republic.
It wasn’t for nothing that the Korean president, cabinet ministers, and chaebol chairmen had rushed out in their socks to greet the Crown Prince and his entourage.
From the start, the fact that I was meeting him one-on-one like this was absurd enough.
“Some are good people, some are bad people. Some benefit me, and some cost me. The person I thought I’d be with for a long time might turn into nothing more than a passing acquaintance, while someone I met by chance might end up walking beside me for a lifetime.”
“What do you think I am?”
At my question, he gave a faint smile.
“Well. It’s hard to judge just yet. To be honest, I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”
It made sense. From his perspective, the whole situation must have seemed absurd.
I had shown up out of nowhere, talked at length about Saudi reform, and then casually announced that I wanted to sell him a Leonardo da Vinci painting. He was probably thinking, What in the world is this guy?
“Do you know what the word Inshallah means?”
I nodded.
“It means everything is according to God’s will.”
Rashid nodded.
“My coming here after leaving Saudi Arabia, your obtaining the painting, and the two of us meeting like this—everything happened because of divine guidance. The future is known only to God. We simply follow His will.”
“……”
Of course, it wasn’t only God who knew the future.
I knew it too.
The reason I’d been able to make money, build my company, secure the painting, and meet him here was all thanks to that knowledge.
But if I said that out loud, he might accuse me of blasphemy, so I just nodded with all my heart.
“Do you really think I’ll become king?”
He no longer bothered to hide his ambition for the throne in front of me. He had already made up his mind; what he needed now was certainty.
So I gave him the answer he wanted to hear.
“Inshallah.”
Crown Prince Rashid burst out laughing.
“Hahaha!”
He would become the king of Saudi Arabia. I didn’t know whether that was God’s will, but in the future I knew, it would happen for certain.
Rashid nodded.
“Very well. If the painting is genuine, I’ll buy it for 150 million dollars and invest another 150 million dollars in Continue Capital.”
Hearing that, I felt relief rather than joy.
So I’d secured 300 million dollars in the short term. That was enough to get started.
“I’d appreciate it if you could have it appraised as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll give you an answer within two weeks.”
“Thank you.”
Once our discussion was over, we both stood.
Rashid extended his hand first.
“I hope the painting turns out to be genuine. That would mean I get to see you again.”
So if it wasn’t genuine, he had no intention of meeting me again?
I took his hand.
“I, too, hope to meet you again, Your Highness.”
He was still a prince for now, but I deliberately called him Crown Prince. He only smiled and didn’t bother correcting me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After Han Miru left, Rashid asked Asher, “What do you think?”
Asher shook his head.
“At first, I thought he might have been sent by another member of the royal family. And when he said he’d come to sell a painting, I thought he was a con man. But now I’m not sure.”
At Chairman Yoo Jae-ho’s request, I had conducted a thorough investigation into Han Miru.
He had been an ordinary securities company employee. Then, within six months, he had exposed a massive problem in a fund the company was selling and left the firm.
The hole in that fund had been close to one billion dollars, and yet, astonishingly, no one had noticed until he brought it to light.
What happened after that was even more unbelievable.
He founded Continue Capital.
Which meant he had also been involved in the Thomas Motors disaster and the acquisition of Snow Crash. It was the kind of track record you’d never believe had come from a rookie securities employee just a few months earlier.
That had intrigued him, and he had decided to meet me.
Rashid murmured, almost to himself, “How on earth did he know?”