A Wall Street Genius's Final Investment Playbook-Chapter 296: Side Story, The Marquis (2)

December. Rachel remained in Philadelphia during this season for the Castleman patients. Her role was to check on the conditions of those coming in for regular checkups and to explain in simple terms the latest research updates from the foundation.

“How are you feeling?”

“Perfectly fine! I could handle at least three seizures at this rate!”

Despite living with such a dangerous illness, they never lost their cheerfulness. Perhaps it was only natural. The people who came here were those who had willingly thrown themselves into Russian roulette. In other words, they were people who had chosen to face the disease head-on rather than surrender to it.

“I read the newsletter, but I didn’t understand a thing. WFOXO3A…?”

“Oh, yes. Simply put, it’s a gene that puts the brakes on abnormal cell activity…”

The work was always meaningful, always rewarding.

“All done! That was the last patient!”

But once the official duties for the Castleman Foundation were finished, the brightness faded from Rachel’s face. It was time to return to her unresolved project.

“I should get going first. I’ve got mountains of work waiting…”

Around then, David had to rush off for RP Solutions business. That left only Jessie and Rachel at the table. That was when Jessie carefully asked,

“Rachel, do you happen to have a little time right now?”

To be honest, saying she wasn’t busy would have been a lie. But…

“I need to buy a gift for Sean, and I was hoping you could help me choose. He’s so picky with his tastes…”

It was December. This month came with back-to-back big events: Ha Si-heon’s birthday and Christmas. Jessie let out a deep sigh.

“I can’t figure out what would be good. Perfume’s out because he’s sensitive to scents, clothes are out because he doesn’t wear off-the-rack. I thought about a fountain pen, but every time he borrows mine he says things like, ‘The grip’s a little off…’ That makes me think he has his own strict standards for writing instruments too…”

Rachel smiled faintly. There wasn’t a hint of exaggeration in Jessie’s words.

“Sean is just that meticulous and thorough.”

It could come across as fussy, but really, it was one of his strengths. That perfectionism—the way he noticed even the smallest details others would overlook—was part of what had made Ha Si-heon who he was today. Still, there was no denying that choosing a gift for someone like him was a difficult task.

“Please! I honestly can’t figure it out on my own…”

Rachel hesitated for a moment. Deadlines for projects due in four days circled her thoughts.

‘But I’d probably just sit staring blankly at my screen again… Maybe a short break is what I actually need.’

“Yes, of course. Let’s pick something out together.”

This wasn’t… absolutely not her procrastinating on assignments. It was simply trying a different approach to spark a new idea! After all, shopping was still a marketplace where ‘sellers’ and ‘buyers’ met… And the project she needed to solve was also tied to market systems… In that sense, this was almost like field research.

“That’s a relief! While we’re at it, how about you pick a gift too, Rachel?”

“Oh, I already prepared mine.”

“Really?! What is it?”

“Cufflinks.”

It was something she had prepared quite a while ago. She had brought it with her to Philadelphia, planning to finally give it this time. But she hadn’t managed to hand it over, so she figured she would at least do it for his birthday.

“Cufflinks? That’s perfect! Sean can’t even breathe without a suit on!”

In truth, it wasn’t just a gift chosen with his dress code in mind. She recalled a few days ago, when Ha Si-heon had rolled up his sleeves while cooking. For a brief moment, his wrist had been exposed. He had quickly pulled down his sleeve to cover it, but Rachel had already seen. The name “Milo,” and beside it, the silhouette of a small tyrannosaurus.

‘You had another one inked in…’

Her chest tightened. Especially because he had tried so hard to hide it.

‘Does he feel guilty…? Every time he sees those marks, does he blame himself, whipping himself silently inside?’

That was why she had prepared cufflinks. A bespoke design reflecting his taste, engraved with a short phrase.

―Dared to fight. Those who had already passed away were not “victims.” They were “warriors.”

Rachel prayed that whenever Si-heon looked at the names etched on his wrist, he would feel not guilt but pride. That was the heart behind her gift. But there was a problem. The gift carried… far too much sincerity and weight. That was why she hadn’t been able to give it to him when they were alone.

“It would just make things feel strangely heavy…”

And now Jessie had made this request.

“Actually, about the gift… If you’re going back to New York, could you give it to him for me? I’d like to do it myself, but realistically, it’s too much to fly all the way to New York just to hand over a gift.”

“Yes, of course!”

This was… actually a relief. Now she could deliver her own gift alongside Jessie’s without the burden of doing it alone.

‘If I give mine together with Jessie’s, the mood won’t feel as heavy…’

But Jessie added,

“You absolutely have to give it on the day! Timing is everything with gifts. If you miss the date, the impact is cut in half.”

“On the day…?”

“Sean’s birthday on the 21st, and Christmas Eve on the 24th!”

Which meant she had to see him in person twice, once for his birthday and again for Christmas. Not long ago, the two of them had already spent a week together side by side, and now this. For some reason, it weighed on her mind. Hard to explain why. But Rachel couldn’t find any reason to refuse Jessie’s earnest request. So, with complicated feelings, she nodded, and Jessie lit up with joy.

“Really? Thank you! Promise me, okay?”

But Jessie’s joy quickly shifted back into concern.

“Anyway, I still haven’t picked the gift. What could Sean possibly like?”

At that moment, Rachel had a good idea.

“What about bedding?”

“Bedding?”

“Yes, I heard he’s really particular about it. Gerard once flew on Sean’s private jet, and apparently Sean gave him a long lecture about the importance of bedding while showing off the bed on board…”

“Gerard… flew on Sean’s private jet?”

The instant Gerard’s name was mentioned, Jessie’s eyes narrowed.

“Hm, so he bummed a ride on the private jet but told Rachel not to get close to Sean? What a conscience… Ah, sorry. I’m not trying to badmouth your brother, Rachel…”

Rachel only smiled. She knew well that Gerard was unusually strict with Sean, and that Jessie favored Sean.

“But if it’s Sean, ordinary bedding won’t cut it, right?”

“The thread count is probably high.”

Rachel recalled the time long ago when Gerard got drunk and fell asleep at Ha Si-heon’s house. More precisely, she remembered the quality of the bedding laid out in the guest room then. But—

‘Let’s not bring that up.’

If Jessie heard he’d even taken advantage like that, she wouldn’t let it slide.

“I think I know what kind of product Sean would like…”

A little later, Jessie checked the price tag on the luxury bedding Rachel recommended and was horrified.

“This is… the price for one set of bedding? Are they insane… What is this? Does it do skin care while you sleep? Have a built-in spa function? How on earth does it cost this much?”

After making a big fuss like that, Jessie squeezed her eyes shut and hit the pay button. On the way home, Rachel stared vacantly out the car window.

‘What… did I even do all day today?’

She’d told herself she was stepping out to get fresh air for market research and idea generation. But she’d just relaxed and had fun with Jessie. It was enjoyable, but she hadn’t touched the urgent assignment she needed to solve. While she was lost in thought, Jessie chattered from the passenger seat.

“Still… I think we bought well. I’m glad you came with me, Rachel. If I’d gone alone, I never would’ve picked it. Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I feel like I’m always on the receiving end with you… If you ever need anything, please tell me! I might not be much help, but I can at least share the worry with you.”

“Share the worry,” huh…

It was a simple phrase, but today it sounded different. The Castleman project had many people joining forces, but Rachel had always wrestled with the gallery problem alone. Maybe… that was the problem. If multiple heads had come together, answers she couldn’t think of by herself might have appeared.

‘Just because I want to do it myself doesn’t mean I have to do it all alone.’

It was certainly wrong to dump everything on others. But completely shutting out help from those around her might be an overly closed-off stance. Had she made things harder for herself out of pointless stubbornness?

“Consulting others… should be fine.”

Rachel uncrossed her arms and spoke quietly.

“Actually, there is one thing. Something that might help.”

***

Back home, Rachel calmly explained the current state of Art Nest to Jessie. Jessie began thinking it through with her, as seriously as if it were her own problem.

“So… what you need is to persuade the companies that only care about efficiency, right? This kind of sounds like the Castleman story.”

Rachel nodded. Pharma firms that ignored rare-disease patients because they only weighed profitability. Companies that rejected artists because they only calculated cost-effectiveness. Different industries, but the same logic underneath. A cold arithmetic that reduced every value to numbers.

“Have you… ever discussed it with Sean?”

The implication behind Jessie’s question was clear. If they asked Ha Si-heon, he could probably cut through a problem like this. But Rachel shook her head firmly.

“Sean is too busy… I don’t want to burden him with this kind of worry.”

“Mm, true. This isn’t the kind of question you can ask like a quick recipe.”

Jessie accepted that surprisingly easily. And so began their brainstorming session.

“For now, the immediate problem is getting companies to buy works voluntarily, right?”

“Yes, we’ve already aligned on pricing. What matters now is ‘efficiency’…”

Companies are ruthlessly efficiency-driven. Sometimes, as an exception, they set efficiency aside for a moment.

“But in this industry, ‘social responsibility’ hardly works. They only move when their own benefit is guaranteed.”

“Then how about we channel Sean and think like him for a minute? Imagine what he’d do in this situation. Sean’s style would be… hmm, ‘Solve it with money.’ And if that doesn’t work, ‘Push twice as hard.’”

It was a very Ha-Si-heon answer, but it didn’t apply here.

“We can’t exactly tell companies, ‘If you buy here, we’ll give you money.’”

“What if it’s not money, but some kind of reward?”

“That’s hard too. Our work has a different nature. Strictly speaking, it’s more of a social enterprise than a business, and even within that, it’s close to a nonprofit…”

The platform Rachel ran was one of the Marquis Foundation’s projects to support artists’ economic independence. The platform covered fixed costs like workspace, materials, marketing, and return liabilities needed to produce the works. But if a piece sold, the revenue went entirely to the artist.

“Because it’s a social enterprise, spending is strictly restricted. Especially if we provide rewards to specific companies—”

Using the nonprofit as a front could be misconstrued as secretly offering financial incentives to particular firms. That was absolutely unacceptable.

“Mm, then what if Rachel builds a two-minute fulfillment system? The biggest complaints on the company side are ‘time’ and ‘hassle’… If you modularize products, set style templates, and ship immediately by configuration, wouldn’t that work?”

“That would, in effect, turn artists into tools to crank out ready-mades. The value of creation couldn’t survive that. It would gut the meaning entirely.”

“Fair point. Ummm…”

Ideas kept bouncing back and forth, but no sharp answer surfaced. After a long silence, Jessie spoke again.

“Has Sean ever talked about a similar problem? Not exactly this, but anything you could repurpose as a hint when it comes to galleries…”

Rachel lifted her head and thought for a moment. Then she immediately recalled something Ha Si-heon had said quite a long time ago.

“He said my background and network are weapons no one else has.”

That was what Ha Si-heon told her when he first proposed the gallery project.

“Hmm, in truth, your network is incredible. Is he saying you should really put those people to use…?”

By “network,” she did not mean interior firms like the one Gerard had introduced this time. She meant the real network entwined with Rachel’s background. In other words, social capital of a different order—names like Kissinger, Rockfeller, Venterbelt, and Gettys.

“Asking them to directly buy works on the platform… wouldn’t that be tough? People like that usually pick up massive pieces from auction houses.”

“Right. In reality, it’s mostly patronage. We host charity events several times a year, and they make large donations under operating-cost line items…”

At that very moment, a light switched on in Rachel’s head.

“Wait… I think I’ve got something!”

“Really? What is it?”

“We host a quarterly ‘Night of Artist Exchange’ under the Art Nest name. Basically a charity event. It’s what we’ve always done, really…”

Nothing unusual so far. But—

“We also invite VIP users to it!”

“Aren’t they all VIPs?”

“No, I mean we send invitations not only to my contacts, but also to VIP-tier members among actual Art Nest purchasers!”

“Huh?”

Jessie didn’t seem to fully get it. Rachel carefully explained.

“The guest list for these charity events is usually fixed. It’s mostly the same faces.”

Invitations to such gatherings go only to the very top of the upper crust. Which means only people inside “their” network can attend.

“But the VIPs I’m talking about are simply customers who buy a lot of art on Art Nest. Normally, these people could never get invited to those charity events.”

“So if they buy a lot of works, they get to attend?”

“Yes. It’s a chance to meet people they normally couldn’t.”

In short, the bait Rachel was offering was an entrance ticket to an upper-crust social party. It was a privilege that money usually couldn’t buy. But if you purchased works through Art Nest, you could get that ticket. Effectively, it was issuing a pass into high-society social circles—something money alone could never buy.

“It’s not the direction I first envisioned…”

But right now, they had to persuade companies that moved solely for self-interest. They wouldn’t budge for “artists,” but what about for “upper-class connections”?

“Then that’s our answer?”

“Probably. But there’s a small problem. My family will likely dislike it.”

“Ah…!”

Jessie caught on immediately. In effect, this system would make it possible for ordinary people to gain entry to venues previously reserved for nobles only. And in those closed spaces that were originally the sole domain of the elite, people who didn’t meet the original criteria—would be brought in. Would the existing members find that pleasant?

Of course not. There would inevitably be discomfort and pushback.

“It might not end at simple nagging…”

If they judged it to damage the family’s dignity, the consequences could go beyond a scolding. A delicate issue. In such cases, there was someone Rachel always sought counsel from before deciding.

“This is sudden, but I think I need to go tomorrow.”

“You’re heading back to New York?”

“No, to Virginia.”

“Virginia?”

“Yeah.”

Virginia was where the Marquis family’s main house and headquarters were located.

“I need to meet Gerard.”