Van Gogh Reborn!

Chapter 204:

204

The King, the Hero, and the Penguin (2)

Michel Platini could not easily accept Henri Marsos hypothesis.

Damien Carters works were the most expensive among the living artists.

They even fetched higher prices than Pablo Picassos works depending on the piece.

He could not believe that Damien Carter was an artificially created artist.

There could be other reasons. It could be a coincidence, like you said.

Thats why Im looking into it.

Henri Marso clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly.

He was suspicious of what Damien Carter and Jay Jopling had done, but even if they had committed fraud, his shattered pride could not be restored.

The Art Nouveau Contest would end today, and the fact that he was humiliated would not change.

Damn it.

Henri Marso could not forgive Damien Carter for ruining the Art Nouveau Contest.

He would expose the corruption if there was any, and even if he was clean, he would pay him back for yesterdays disgrace.

The only thing he worried about was the means and methods.

December 6, 2028, 8 p.m.

The closing ceremony began two hours before the end of the contest.

Various figures from the art world came out and congratulated the success of the Art Nouveau Contest, and the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra performed a celebratory concert.

As the closing approached, more and more people participated in the voting.

Among them, and , which had been in the lead since the beginning of the contest, widened the gap with the other works in the final stretch.

Cha Si-hyun, who was checking the voting status, was excited.

Look at this! Its less than a thousand votes difference now!

Where!

Go Su-yeol, who had told him not to care about the ranking, stuck his face out.

Cha Si-hyun and Ko Hun stepped back in surprise, while only Go Su-yeol and Bang Tae-ho stared at the contest voting status with their eyes wide open.

Thats right!

Bang Tae-ho clenched his fist.

2028 Art Nouveau Contest Voting Status

1st

Votes: 8,272,270 (28.0%)

2nd

Votes: 8,271,329 (28.0%)

3rd

Votes: 3,486,171 (11.8%)

Total votes 29,543,824.

had chased Henri Marsos to the chin before the closing.

When the difference reached up to 140,000 votes, Go Su-yeol and Bang Tae-ho, who had comforted Ko Hun by saying that the ranking was not important, could not hide their excitement.

Of course. Whos painting is it!

Go Su-yeol lifted Ko Hun up and bounced him.

Would you be so happy.

Ko Hun felt dizzy as he was happy for his grandfather, who was happier than himself.

Calm down.

Do I look calm!

Ko Hun thought that Jang Mi-rae would surely say something if she saw this scene.

The group, who had been happy for a while, saw that the vote difference had narrowed further and made another fuss.

But how did this happen all of a sudden?

It must have been possible because there were a lot of people who didnt vote until then. Anyway, it was always within the margin of error.

Bang Tae-ho said, happy for the success of his only affiliated artist and star artist.

They all recognized it. Grandpa always believed in you.

Ko Hun looked up at his grandfather.

Look at this.

Cha Si-hyun showed him an article.

It was an article related to the Art Nouveau Contest, and it was getting a lot of attention with over 40,000 comments.

Huh?

Ko Hun blinked.

It was a column-style article by Kim Ji-woo of the monthly magazine Ye-hwa.

[The Person Who Protected the Art Nouveau Contest]

Last night, Damien Carter announced his intention to withdraw from the Art Nouveau Contest.

Damien Carter, a contemporary artist representing the UK, held a press conference and said, Contrary to my intention, I deprived other artists of their opportunities and added, I wanted to correct my mistake before it was too late.

Most of the media and citizens applauded and cheered for his courageous action.

However, some of those who highly praised Damien Carters decision crossed the line that they should not cross.

On art forum sites like Michelangelo and Reddit, posts like these are popping up.

[Attached photo]

They say that thanks to Damian Carter, and won the first and second place.

Is that really true?

Since the Art Nouveau Contest began, and have been searched 1,373,019 times a day on Google.

Meanwhile, Damian Carters was searched only 33,325 times on average during the same period.

Also, according to the official application of the Art Nouveau Contest, 99.8% of the contest visitors, or 13,002,955 people, enjoyed and .

Thats a big difference from s 7,947,698 people.

The only time was ahead of and was the interim vote count that was overturned on the fourth day.

One might wonder if its a better work because it got more votes with fewer viewers.

But the interim vote count is just a part of the process.

The votes added on the sixth and seventh days were more than the total until the fifth day.

In fact, , which had a temporary slump on the fourth and fifth days and showed a gap in votes, narrowed the gap with to less than 10,000 votes at the point of closing 12 hours ahead.

Even if Damian Carter hadnt withdrawn, he couldnt be sure of winning.

Some praise Damian Carters action to uphold the spirit of the Art Nouveau Contest.

I also respect and admire his courageous decision, but I cant overlook the fact that someone who preserved the meaning of the Art Nouveau Contest in a different way is being marginalized.

Its the authors of and .

Unlike the other top works, the two works were notoriously unclear about their authors.

There was a speculation that was Ko Huns work, but some critics concluded that it was possible but not certain.

Then why do the authors of and hide their identities and why doesnt the genius painter Ko Hun reveal his work?

I think they are the ones who keep the spirit of the Art Nouveau Contest.

The act of maintaining anonymity to the end is a way of respecting the competitors they worked with.

For the sake of those who prepared for the Art Nouveau Contest, the participants should have acted like them.

What about the other participants?

A little over half of the 977 participants avoided specifying their works.

In the end, most of the works were revealed, but half of them were works that were hard to recognize unless they were experts or fans, as they twisted their usual styles.

How pure are these 977 participants compared to the other authors who posted their work photos on SNS, used serials, or generously used their symbols?

And what about the authors of and , who never revealed themselves even in the situation of competing for the first place?

I dont know what conclusion the art lovers will draw about the two groups that took different actions in the same situation.

Ill wait for 10 oclock tonight.

-Kim Ji-woo (Yehwa)

Kim Ji-woos aggressive and straightforward article was quoted by various media and seen by millions of people.

The public reacted.

They realized something they had forgotten for a while, focusing on the great artist Damian Carter.

They agreed with Kim Ji-woos argument.

Thats right

Yeah. Honestly, Damian Carter is amazing, but arent the authors of and who didnt come out until the end the real ones?

Damian Carter wouldnt be so desperate for a million euros.

Dont bash Damian. He gave up the big contest win.

You guys were sucking up to Damian and saying that and won because of Damian, and now youre talking nonsense

They say the fans make the haters. I wonder if thats true. Just do it moderately.

Think about it, how pissed would the authors of and be Its not even confirmed yet, but they said they would give up

I looked it up and this article is right, and were crushing it except for the interim vote.

The trash media exaggerated that the winning work gave up for the sake of views.

Why do Korean reporters have such a grudge against Damian Carter and write such articles?

Right. Last time too, it seemed like they were trying to deliberately undermine Damian Carter.

What do you mean undermine The article praises Damian Carters action and reminds us of what we really forgot.

Look at that. Theres no one insulting Damian, but when you see that, you really feel sorry for Damian.

Its because of you that Damian gets hated. Please shut up.

But it really hurts to see this. and too, but there are 977 people who didnt reveal their works.

Exactly. People who do their work without saying anything dont get attention.

I can understand the people who promote themselves, but if they stay still, it becomes like that. I dont know whats right.

Look. Damian agrees with that.

[Damian Carter, Good point. I wish the silent artists would get more attention.]

Wow~ Thats Damian Carter for you.

Kim Ji-woo, the reporter, did a good job.

Bang Tae-ho, who was checking the comments, said with a smile.

Hehehe.

Kim Ji-woo laughed as he read the comments that were coming in real time.

The anger that had boiled up in the morning was nowhere to be found.

He was only moved by the thought that his voice had reached the world.

Congratulations. Really.

As Lee Inho, a reporter, came over and handed him a coffee, Kim Ji-woo scratched his head.

I was lucky.

Kim Ji-woos article was spread by some influencers shortly after it was posted.

Eric Dower, the director of the Whitney Museum of Art, linked Kim Ji-woos article on his SNS account with the phrase The truth we missed.

Alex, a YouTuber, analyzed Kim Ji-woos column on his show.

Jang Mi-rae, who runs a YouTube channel with a million subscribers, also contributed by posting a short video expressing her agreement with the related content.

And when some critics, including art historian Caroline Strick, joined in, Kim Ji-woos article quickly spread across Europe and North America.

Catching luck is also a skill. Your article moved those people, didnt it?

At Lee Inhos words, Kim Ji-woo felt a heavy lump in his throat.

It was something he did without much expectation.

It was something he thought he had to do.

But when it received an unexpected and huge response, he felt the bitterness of working in a small media outlet.

Kim Ji-woo, who had been smiling at the comments, bowed his head and shed tears.