Chapter 006: Black Card
“No. No. No. The diamond is an intact red diamond. The price I told you is the price for a 1 caret red diamond. The price of an intact red diamond of this size at least need to be multiplied by 30 times.” Mr. Kim dropped the bomb on Chrono.
“Thir… Thir… Thirty times?” Chrono stuttered after the shrapnels of the bomb blasted his brain into oblivion.
“Yes. Red diamond is that rare. The other type of diamonds would not have such a high multiplier as compared to red diamond.”
“With that amount, wouldn’t I be a billionaire?” Chrono asked after he did mental calculation.
“Yes. After the auction you would definitely be a billionaire. So what would you like to do with the diamond? To sell it or to keep it?” Mr. Kim looked at Chrono hopefully as he screamed “SELL IT!!!” in his brain.
“Of course I want to sell it. Why would I want to keep it with me? What are the choices available to me?”
“That is a very wise choice. There are three ways you can sell the diamond. First, it would be to auction the diamond via an auction hall, there would be a lot of paperwork to be cleared and it would be very troublesome. The second way is to sell it privately to a collector, which I assume that our esteemed customer do not have contact with. So the last option, which I personally think is the best, would be to sell it directly to Sotebe’s and we would pay you upfront.”
“How long till the next auction?”
“The next auction would be on 20th December.”
“If I sell it via auctioning, would my personal information be revealed to other parties?”
“Definitely, you would need to fill up forms and state where you find the diamond. Truthfully speaking, I guess that esteemed customer is not someone from this field. Hence if you were to apply for auction, there would be investigations and more investigations to check if the diamond was stolen or not and the origin of it. You would be hounded by the police and media and other trouble might follow after they reveal your identity.” Mr. Kim tried his best to dissuade Chrono from the auctioning option. Simply because if Chrono sell it to Sotebe’s directly, he would be able to take a cut from the sales as commission.
“How much would Sotebe’s be willing to purchase the diamond for?”
“For items worth more than a billion, Sotebe’s policy is to raise the price by 50%. There would not be any fees involved and the money will be directly transferred to you. This would all be settled by Sotebe’s within 3 days.” With such an attractive offer of 50%, no one would reject it. Definitely not Chrono, plus it is the only viable option to him. With 14 days left, he would be dead even before the auction. In addition, keeping his identity a secret would be better and not invite unwanted attention.
Since this was the first time such a humongous red diamond has been discovered, the auctioned price would definitely be able to hit more than 2 billion dollars. Hence Sotebe’s would be able to reap in a minimum of 200 million dollars easily by selling to private collectors slightly below the predicted auctioned price. Mr. Kim who was ready to bargain with Chrono more was surprised when he suddenly agreed with it, only requesting that everything be completed by tomorrow.
Even though it would be a little rush, but with Sotebe’s connection and influence, it would be easily settled.
“Sir, which bank would you prefer? I would suggest an offshore credit card. If such a huge sum of money is transferred to your personal account suddenly, it would definitely attract unwanted attention.” Mr. Kim then went on to explain to him what is the purpose of offshore cards and which banks are good. Chrono decided on Amorican Expross as Mr. Kim keeps pushing for it. Furthermore, using Amorican Expross would mean that he would own the legendary black card: Centurian Black. After Chrono have decided on the bank, Mr. Kim continued to tell him of the privileges and perks of using a Centurian Black.
Throughout the whole time, Audrey was pretty much ignored the whole time. However, with such a huge transaction going on, she would be too stunned for words to be of any help anyway.
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After signing all the relevant documents, Chrono left Sotebe’s 1.8 Billion dollars richer. As he stepped out of the door, he could hear Mr. Kim praising Audrey for spotting such a big fish and not judging a book by it’s cover. She would definitely be the fastest promoted employee in history due to this transaction and that the 0.0001% commission would also be transferred to her. The senior clerk stood at one side oblivious to what had happened and he wanted to kill himself after he found out what had happened.
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The next day.
Mr. Kim personally delivered the card to Chrono’s doorstep. After Mr. Kim left, Chrono stared at the card with the words “BLACK CARDTM” and his name below it.
OUCH!
Chrono pinched himself. He then laid down on his bed and continue to stare at the card for half an hour.
Suddenly, he sprang up from his bed.
I AM RICH. I SHOULD BE ENJOYING THE MONEY INSTEAD OF STARING AT MY CARD!
Quickly getting up from his bed, he started to plan on what he should do with his money after placing his card into his inventory. More importantly, how to explain to his family and friends on his sudden increase in money.
After settling on toning down the amount that he have, he went with the truth with just a lie on the stone that he found and how he found it.
That night, Chrono brought his family to the city-state’s first (and only) three-Michelin-starred restaurant, Joël Robuchon, a revered bastion of fine dining that offers contemporary French cuisine in a majestic dining room on Singopore’s popular leisure island of Sontosa.
Even though he was chided for splurging his money, his family definitely enjoyed the delicious food and the ambience of Joël Robuchon.
After giving his parents a portion of the money and buying gifts for his siblings, it was time for him to spend it on his good friends and on himself. In the process, he forgot all about his [Dead but alive: 12 days left before the special status wears out and the target dies] status.
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The next day.
“You lucky fella. Let’s party for three days and three nights!” Shane smacked Chrono on his back the moment they met up. Aloy and Kang Shuo (KS) followed up with more smacks on his back after Shane’s.
“Of course! Where should we go now?” Chrono asked as his rubbed his sore back.
“What defines a man? What are the 5 Cs? Credit card, Cash, Condominium, Country Club and last but definitely not the least, a Car!” Aloy said enthusiastically.
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2 hours later.
“MAZERATI”
What greeted the four of them when they stepped into the showroom was numerous shiny and beautiful cars.
“Good afternoon! Welcome to Mazerati. How can I help you?” A salesman greeted them.
“We would like to have a look at Grancobrio please.” Chrono said.
The salesman looked at glanced at their attire (t-shirt and berms) for a second and said,” Sure, please come this way.”
To the salesman’s surprise, Chrono produced a black card and bought a white Grancobrio after they had a test drive and heated debate on what colour to choose. After settling the paperwork, Chrono and gang left the store and went on a shopping spree.
Chrono booked two presidential suite in The St. Regiz Singopore and they partied for three days and three night.
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Three days later…
Massaging his temple, Chrono groaned as he got up from his bed. Eating lunch after he washed up, he left his house and looked for customers in the nearby park to clear his status.
Not lacking the funds to seal the contracts, Chrono managed to earn 40 years after completing 6 contracts.
[+40 years]
[Lifespan] 8 years
Whew. Finally done…
[Dead but alive: 8 days left before the special status wears out and the target dies] cleared.
The Arena?
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[Status]
[Name] Chrono Feldman
[Lifespan] 8 years
[Job]
<
Ability to shorten one’s lifespan and transfer the number of years to a target or increase one’s lifespan by receiving a specific number of years from a target’s lifespan.
[Stats]
Power/Strength - 10 +
Intelligence - 30 +
Speed - 24 +
Agility - 26 +
Stamina - 15 +
Luck - 50
Charm/Charisma - 29
Recovery - E
Control/Accuracy - D
[Skills]
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[Quest Log]
* Use
* Purchase 10 stat points. (Reward: 1 x Lucky Draw)