Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 57: What is Hidden, What is Revealed (1)

The person behind Gong Byeoksang was Lee Jongmyeong. That young man was already trying to rip people off with artifacts. That already told you what kind of man he was.

“You have done well, breaking up with him.”

“What? I think that was the right choice… but has he done something again?”

“I think he is trying to. Anyway, I get it. Please give him my phone number.”

“Shouldn’t we ignore him? It might be bad for you.”

“No, confronting him would be better.”

“Okay, then I’ll do that. I am sorry.”

“Haha, you don’t have anything to be sorry for. Then bye.”

Haejin hung up. Yaerin was staring at him, her eyes were saying that he should tell her what that was about.

“You won’t tell me even if I ask, right?”

“I’m afraid if I do, you will make fun of Ms. Eunhae with it.”

“Oho, so it is something to make fun of.”

“You already know, why are you pretending to be ignorant?”

“Oh, you are more quick-witted than I thought.”

“Let’s go to have lunch.”

Haejin walked away lest Yaerin would trick him to tell her more. Then, he spotted something. He went to it and Yaerin hurriedly followed him.

“What?”

Haejin could feel that she was hiding her nervousness.

“Have you found the missing piece?”

What Haejin was looking at was as great as the prunus vase Haejin had recovered but, sadly, its shoulder part was missing.

“We are looking for it.”

Yaerin’s eyes were slightly shaking, so they probably had the piece already.

“Hmm… I see. It is in good condition. It can be exhibited after being restored well.”

If the porcelain was broken into a few pieces, restoring it would be easy, and it could be restored into its previous condition.

However, if it was smashed into dozens of pieces, even if the restorer was extremely skilled, there might be a tiny part missing or the glue might not hold.

Its restored condition would depend on the restorer’s skills.

In that perspective, this vase could be recovered easily, as long as the missing piece was found.

“Probably.”

“You seem disappointed about me finding about this.”

“Of course not. We are going to put all the porcelains in one place and divide them up, right?”

“Right. So, I guess I was wrong.”

“Of course. Haha, shall we go? Mr. Yeongjun! You haven’t photographed this, right? Please, do it now.”

They probably had been tempted. Should we take it? Or should we exhibit it?

Yaerin was giving instructions to take photos of that, so she had given up on it. With records, taking it in secret would be impossible.

They went to a sushi restaurant with a great view of the ocean.

Haejin suggested that they eat at the closest restaurant, but Yaerin insisted that they should eat sushi since they were on the seaside.

Food came out, and when they were slightly full, Yaerin started speaking.

“My grandfather is very happy. The painting we bought, its receiver liked it a lot.”

“David’s paintings have a political message, especially Death of Marat. It describes his political belief most dramatically… the receiver must have thought he and Marat of the painting had something in common.”

“What are you going to do after this excavation ends?”

“I should open my museum. I will invite you to the opening event. As long as you don’t fight with Ms. Eunhae…”

“You think we are kids? We do know when and where we shouldn’t do that…”

Yaerin looked a little offended. She pouted.

“It’s because you growl at each other whenever you meet. I also want to make one thing clear. Excluding the prunus vase I got, all the national treasure and treasure artifacts will be divided in 5:5.”

“What about the ship?”

There was a reason she mentioned it before.

“You can have it.”

“Hmm… okay.”

She liked that. She looked down and nodded. Taking the ship would give the gallery a symbolic meaning as the gallery that led this excavation.

Yaerin put a piece of sushi in her mouth and chewed. Then, she recalled something.

“Oh, there will be a Salvadore Dali Exhibition at Haevici Gallery next month.”

Salvadore Dali was a famous surrealist artist. He made many works of art. Most of them were sold at a high price and got great wealth.

Dali liked money as much as he liked art. Once, Andre Breton, Dali’s colleague and a surrealist artist, made an anagram with Dali’s name; Avida Dollars (crazy for money).

Dali even got carpal tunnel syndrome by signing too much after realizing that each of his signatures were worth money.

“Rich people will like it.”

Almost all the works of contemporary art after Jackson Pollock were sold at a high price that commoners couldn’t even imagine.

Ordinary people would not be able to easily understand how the result from dirty lines that look like cobwebs could be worth tens of billions.

“Most of them are not for sale. There will only be about five paintings that you can buy.”

“There will be blood, then.”

Yaerin covered her mouth and laughed.

“Ahaha! You are right. Aren’t you interested?”

“I’m not that interested in surrealism… it’s not my favorite genre. Well, if you give me one for free, of course, I would go…”

“Not for free, but at a dirt-cheap price. You are opening your museum anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to hang one more painting, regardless of the genre?”

“The moment I buy that, I’ll have to keep filling in works of surrealism and Dadaism. I give up.”

Haejin raised both of his hands. Yaerin leaned forward and said.

“Fine. I’ll give you one for free.”

“Hmm… that’s not good. I know there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. And you are giving me something for free with nothing in return, and that something is a Salvadore Dali? I can’t believe it.”

“Oh… I could have given you that and boasted about it, but I guess my chance is now gone. And, we all need to help and be helped from time to time, don’t we? We should help each other.”

It was just as Haejin thought… but compared to asking for help without anything, Yaerin’s behavior was excellent.

“When you need my help, ask for it. Then maybe, I’ll get to accept Dali’s painting.”

“So be it. Well, do you want a glass of soju? If you’re going to Seoul, I’ll get you a chauffeur.”

“No, thank you. I’ll go with a clear mind.”

“Okay then.”

Haejin ate a good lunch with Yaerin and went back to the restoration site to examine the process.

Then, a male worker raised his hand.

“Sir, could you take a look at this?”

“Hum? What is it?”

“I cannot find out.”

He pointed at a celadon that still had some stains as it hadn’t been cleaned yet. It was a common dish-shaped celadon, and Haejin couldn’t understand what the man could not find out.

“You can’t find out what?”

Haejin asked without thinking much and, at that moment, the staff’s eyes shook.

“Uh… I…”

“Hum?”

“Do you mean that you can’t determine which period it’s from? Or you can’t determine the use of this dish? Or you can’t determine how much it is worth?”

“All of them.”

“You don’t know any of them?”

“Yes.”

Haejin planned to teach him well, but now he thought that something was wrong. It would be right for him to research about the excavated artifacts thoroughly to write reports and thesis, but he was asking the director everything.

Usually, in a private museum, the director was as high as the sky to its excavation, researching and restoration staff.

As the director can hire and fire all of the staff, they try hard to not make him feel uncomfortable, and this man was almost asking to be fired!

However, next, Curator Lee Jisu arrived in a hurry.

“Oh, Taeju must still be hungover from yesterday. He is normally not like this… haha, you, write me a report about this celadon before tomorrow. If you don’t know what to write, start by writing the reason behind you not knowing this. Okay?”

As there was no senior researcher, Jisu was managing the staff.

The man ruffled his hair in agony, nodded and left. However, Haejin didn’t miss him glancing at Jisu as he went out.

That reminded him of a scene from his past.

When Haejin was in university, a girl junior once asked for his help with an essay. So, he helped her but, after that, one of his friends started to act like that.

He didn’t look at Haejin, didn’t talk to him and talked bluntly for nothing. Later, it turned out he liked that female junior.

“Is he… jealous of me?”

Haejin whispered lest the other researchers hear him, and Jisu started to panic.

“No, no. No way. Jealous… hahaha! Of course not. You have a very good imagination.”

It seemed Haejin was right. He didn’t know if the two were dating or not, but that man’s jealousy had exploded.

“Go and tell him that I am not going to do what he is worried about. Of course, with that jealousy, he wouldn’t buy it.”

“It’s, it’s not like that. You don’t have to worry.”

Haejin ignored that and warned her seriously.

“If this happens again, I’ll have no choice but to hire new staff. I don’t know what he will say about me, so I cannot keep him here. Right?”

Jisu realized that things were serious. She nodded and agreed.

“Of course, I think you are absolutely right.”

“Then go.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Jisu left. Haejin was about to leave with a bitter smile, but he then looked at the dish Taeju pointed at earlier.

It still had stains as it hadn’t been cleaned yet, but assuming its original condition wasn’t hard. He crouched down to take a closer look, but he got a call.

He didn’t recognize the number. However, he could guess who it was.

“Hello?”

“Hello, it’s Lee Jongmyeong. You remember me, right?”

Haejin didn’t like him, even his voice. Why had he been given such a face, tall body, and wealth?

To think about it, he had everything. Haejin didn’t know why such a man would want to destroy an artifact.

“Yes, I heard you asked Ms. Eunhae my phone number?”

“I am in big trouble, so I had to call Eunhae. I am being humiliated, really. Asking my ex-fiancé the phone number of her new man… oh my God, my days are gone.”

There was nothing between Eunhae and Haejin, but he didn’t want to bother to point that out.

“Anyway, what do you want to say?”

Jongmyeong was straightforward. He skipped the useless stories and went to his point.

“Let’s talk man to man. That buddha, give it to me.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to say no. Even for two billion. You must know that I’m preparing to open my museum. I am going to exhibit it there.”

“Wow, look at you. Not even for two billion? You must have struck it rich? Two billion is not small.”

Jongmyeong was being rude. It made it easier for Haejin to counter him.

“If you know two billion is big, purchase it legally. Don’t try to rip an innocent woman off. Or, should I tell Executive Director Do Eunchae about this? That I found out Mirae Corporate Group is behind this scheme?”

For a moment, he heard nothing from the other side. Then, a long sigh was heard.

“Sorry… I was a little too excited. Let’s trade. If you don’t like two billion, I’ll give you something more valuable than that money. My late mom would try to kill me if she finds out what I’m about to do… but you’ll like it. Whether you’ll accept that trade, you should decide after you see what I have.”

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