Van Gogh Reborn!

Chapter 203:

The King, the Hero, and the Penguin (1)

December 6, 2028, 10 a.m.

The Art Nouveau Competition, which offered the largest prize money in the history of art contests, was nearing its end.

The competition had been a huge topic of discussion since before it opened, with the abolition of the jury system, the introduction of voting, and a record of 13 million visitors (including virtual exhibition visitors). It was the most successful art festival of the 2020s.

But not everything was rosy.

Since each person could vote for up to ten works, some of the remaining votes tended to go to some famous artists.

As a result, the anonymity-based purpose of the competition was somewhat diluted.

And Damien Carter, who had ranked first for four consecutive days, surpassing and , declared his withdrawal, feeling responsible for the situation.

When does the closing ceremony start?

8 p.m.

Still a long way to go

So wins in the end.

I feel sorry for . It caught up quite a bit at the last minute.

and deserve recognition. Even though there were guesses, no one really knew who they were.

Damien Carter did a really cool thing. He could have won if he had pretended not to know, but he withdrew and let and take first and second place.

Those people must be grateful to Damien Carter.

But what is this?

What?

[Henry Marso causes a commotion at the press conference]

[Henry Marso furious at Damien Carters withdrawal statement. Damien Carter ignored everyone involved in the Art Nouveau Competition.]

Why is my brother doing this?

He didnt ignore them, did he?

From Henrys point of view, he must have been upset that he prepared for the competition well, but then he withdrew in the middle.

But thats no reason to make such a fuss. Damien Carter helped the competitions purpose to some extent.

The anonymous authors of and took first and second place, so Henry should be thankful to Damien instead.

Whats going on here?

Kim Ji-woo, who had gone out early in the morning to cover the closing ceremony, cursed as he checked the public reaction.

Among the top-ranked works, only and had maintained their anonymity.

And it was being perceived as if Henry Marso and Ko Hun had won and placed second thanks to Damien Carters consideration.

Thats ridiculous.

Kim Ji-woo was sure that if Henry Marso and Ko Hun had revealed their own works, they would have received far more votes than any other work.

This is too much.

Lee In-ho, a reporter who was next to him, also shook his head.

It doesnt make sense that and succeeded because of Damien Carter.

Lee In-ho was right.

and , which had been the talk of the town since the first day, were the most visited works in the competition.

That could be confirmed on the official application event page of the Art Nouveau Competition.

Thanks to the work-finding event introduced by Michel Platini, the number of visitors to each work was recorded.

13,002,955 people, 99.8% of the total visitors, had seen and .

They were far ahead of the 7,947,698 people that Damien Carters had recorded.

In terms of search volume, visitors, and even the votes that were concentrated on the sixth and seventh days, and were overwhelming in all aspects.

Excuse me for a moment.

Kim Ji-woo turned on his laptop and created another file besides the special article he was going to post today.

He was an ordinary reporter of a magazine that was grateful enough not to be discontinued, but he couldnt just watch the distorted situation.

Lee In-ho drank warm coffee while watching Kim Ji-woo, who quickly focused on writing his manuscript despite the noisy surroundings.

Michel Platini visited the Marso mansion.

Henry?

He had come to attend the closing ceremony together tonight, but Henry Marso was drinking without even changing his clothes.

He stopped him from picking up the half-empty cognac.

What are you doing? Youve had too much.

Michel turned his head, thinking that Henry was very drunk.

But Henry Marsos eyes were not drooping at all.

He was full of anger and looked like he was about to do something.

Whats wrong?

Henry Marso didnt answer and tried to snatch back the cognac.

Michel had a rough idea of why he was like this.

I thought he knew how to protect his pride, my lovely fool.

He was a man who used his defeat as a motivation to improve himself and surpass his opponent.

If he had lost to Damian Carters and failed to win , he would have tried again for a better outcome.

Defeat could not crush his pride.

He was angry because he thought that won only because Damian Carter withdrew.

It was a humiliating thing for Henri Marso, who had a strong pride.

Ill join you.

Michelle filled his glass.

Henri lifted his head.

Youll drink anyway, even if I tell you not to.

Michelle shrugged.

He sometimes looked strange because of his eccentricity, but she believed he was not a pathetic person who would ruin himself over this.

He could handle it on his own.

Thats why she trusted and loved him, and did not give him any advice.

She just comforted him.

Henri Marso drank the liquor. He savored the aroma and exhaled.

One million euros.

It was the prize money for the contest.

Yeah. Youll make a million euros like this.

One million euros did not matter to him, whether he had it or not.

But it meant something different to him, who wanted to beat Gohun.

I can buy one with that.

What?

Michelle wondered what he would buy for himself.

He could have anything he wanted, anytime, but she could not easily predict what he would buy for himself after winning against Gohun.

A missile.

What?

A Tomahawk missile costs about 1.3 million dollars.

Michelle blinked.

Henri had a unique taste, but she could not understand it. She doubted if civilians could buy such a thing.

Ill blow up his house.

Michelle laughed incredulously. He sometimes made jokes like this when they were alone.

Dont say things like that, even as a joke. You sound serious.

Henri Marso took another sip of cognac.

Are you serious?

He tapped the table three times. A web browser popped up on the glass table.

Read this.

Michelle pulled the screen closer and started reading the articles.

[Jared Saatchi, Foundation for Artists]

Jared Saatchi, the owner of Saatchi Gallery, established Daemon, a foundation to support the revival of British contemporary art.1)

[Damian Carter, First Solo Exhibition at Saatchi Gallery]

Damian Carter, a British artist, opened his first solo exhibition.

His works, which contain a deep philosophy on life and death, can be seen at Saatchi Gallery for two weeks from the 19th.

The dates of the two articles were a week apart.

Damian Carters , which had no achievements until then, was sold for 50 million pounds.

I remember.

Michelle Platini knew well about Damian Carters first solo exhibition.

, which was exhibited there, was later sold for a whopping 50 million pounds at Sothebys in Britain, breaking the record for that year.

It was a hot topic, even for Michelle, who was young at the time.

I guess Daemon Foundation sponsored Damian Carter and Saatchi Gallery gave him the exhibition.

That makes sense.

Michelle nodded.

She could tell from some articles that Daemon Foundation highly praised Damian Carter, who was unknown at the time.

Their judgment was accurate and , which was announced at the first solo exhibition, attracted a lot of attention.

It was the beginning of Damian Carter, the leading contemporary artist in Britain.

Why?

Michelle asked.

It was a surprising thing, but she wanted to know why he paid attention to the old story from 20 years ago.

There was a guy named Jay Jopling in Daemon Foundation. He seems to have left now.

Henri showed her a picture.

It was a photo of the founding ceremony of Daemon Foundation.

The middle of the first row. The man next to Jared Saatchi. Do you recognize him?

Michelle moved her eyes.

I could tell that the man in the photo was Jay Jopling, even though it was taken a long time ago.

His appearance hadnt changed much from 18 years ago to now.

Ah.

I recalled the conversation I had with Henri Marso yesterday.

Henri had revealed that Jay Jopling had denied his relationship with Damien Carter and interfered with their communication.

Thats strange. How could he not know? He was a board member of the sponsorship organization.

Thats not it.

Henri Marso showed me another article.

[Eternity sold for 50 million pounds]

At Sothebys in the UK, Damien Carters was auctioned off for 50 million pounds.

The buyer was Jay Jopling, the owner of Black Cube Gallery and a London councilor.

Jay Jopling said that life was heading towards death and that was valuable, and introduced as a special work.

What?

The person who bought was Jay Jopling, who belonged to the Daemon Foundation that sponsored Damien Carter.

How is this possible? How could this happen?

It was unthinkable.

Legally, there was no prohibition on buying the works of the sponsors, but if the rumor spread in the narrow art world, it could turn into a big problem.

It was possible.

Henri Marso accessed the Daemon Foundation website.

There was no mention of Jay Jopling anywhere.

Even if I searched for the Daemon Foundation and Jay Jopling together, I couldnt find any articles that had any relevance.

Its clear that Jay Jopling is related to the Daemon Foundation. Otherwise, he wouldnt have taken a commemorative photo at the inauguration ceremony, standing right next to the chairman.

Yeah.

But apart from this photo, there is no record of Jay Jopling being related to the Daemon Foundation.

He might have hidden it on purpose.

Yeah.

I looked at the photo again.

Why did he do that?

We have to find out.

Did he want to avoid being criticized?

Thats possible.

Henri nodded.

If Jay Jopling hesitated to buy because of his position, he might have hidden the relevant information.

He was a London councilor at the time, and a few years ago he was also a member of parliament, so as a politician he might have wanted to avoid unnecessary rumors.

Where did you get this photo?

From Chevalson. The first one on the left in the first row.

I moved my eyes.

The fat old man with a beret was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a young and thin intellectual-looking middle-aged man.

Oh my.

He went to congratulate him. He said he shook hands with Jay Jopling.

Hmm.

I thought again.

It didnt seem like a big deal, but Jay Jopling, who tried to hide his involvement with Damien Carter, was suspicious.

Henri Marso showed me another article.

I checked how much the other works were sold for when was auctioned off for 50 million pounds.

I doubted my eyes.

None of the other works were traded at the exhibition where the work was sold for a record amount.

None of them were sold?

Henri Marso lifted his cup.

If everything was just a coincidence, there wouldnt be a big problem.

What if it was someones intention?

Yeah.

Henri Marso put down his cup and said.

Its a play.

1)Daemon: A demigod or a divine being in ancient Greek mythology.

Source: Oxford English Dictionary.

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