Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 21: Two Paintings (2)

“Careful or you might destroy it.”

Byeongguk said this since the painting had faded, it had stains and it was worn out; therefore, it was very old.

“What do you think of this?”

Sujeong carefully stretched the painting, pegged it with tweezers and asked while looking at it.

It was a painting of a peaceful urban village. You could see a man with a cow and a boy was on top of it while playing the flute.

“You want me to appraise it?”

“Yes. I have studied western paintings, but I don’t know much about eastern paintings. So, although I think this might be a good piece, I cannot be sure. What do you think?”

“Hmm… the expression is alive and each movement is described in details. Look here, the eyes are painted differently. The artist obviously cared about the gaze. He recreated exactly what he saw. He also used different lines to paint the father and the child. The background looks simple to make it focus on the men. It has a folksy atmosphere, but it’s not rough. It’s rather warm.”

“So, your conclusion is?”

It had no signature and no writings, so to assume the artist, Haejin could only find out with the painting itself.

It was a very difficult job, but a proper appraiser must be able to verify whether a painting is real or not and find out the artist of a painting without any mark or record.

It was the appraiser’s job to analyze the painting with the data in mind, like the artist’s unique mood, his style, the composition he liked to use, the touch of the brush, details, the shape of the description and determine the artist in seconds.

“I think it’s Yoon Duseo’s.”

“Yoon Duseo? Who’s that?”

Sujeong tilted her head, but Byeongguk reacted differently.

“Huh? Really? This is really Yoon Duseo’s painting?”

“Is he famous? Then, is it a good thing that I bought this painting?”

Sujeong was confused while the excited Byeongguk slapped her shoulder.

“Where did you buy it? Is it real? How much was it?”

Sujeong was surprised to see Byeongguk get so excited.

“Huh? Oh… I went to France and saw it at a flea market. It looked like a Korean painting, so I bought it because I thought it might be valuable… but is he really famous?”

“You bought this at a flea market? Haejin, do you think this is real?”

Haejin didn’t even have to use magic. It was in poor condition, but it was real.

“Yes, it’s real, but it’s too damaged… you said you are good at restoring antiques, right?”

Haejin had thought Sujeong would say okay, but her face turned dark.

“My school specializes in pottery and western paintings. I don’t know much about the paints, papers and the glues used for eastern paintings. Plus, western paintings and eastern paintings seek different things. The style is completely different.”

“Hmm… I can teach you. Shall we restore this?”

Byeongguk interrupted.

“Sujeong, a valuable artifact like this must be restored well and put in a place where it can be safe. It is our ancestors’ artifact. It should be kept somewhere with the right temperature and humidity.”

Sujeong looked at Byeongguk and frowned.

“You mean I should sell it to someone who has that kind of facility.”

“If we are going to keep it, we must have the right facility. However, my warehouse in Insadong is for potteries only, so adding a facility for paintings would cost, oh…”

He shook his head and pressed Sujeong.

“How much can we get?”

Her voice had softened. She was Byeongguk’s daughter…

“A billion at least. Right, Haejin?”

Yoon Duseo was Jeong Yakyong’s grandfather. He was praised as the leader of the artists in the late Joseon period and was called one of the Three Greatest Painters of Joseon with Sim Sajeong and Jeong Seon. His self-portrait is a national treasure and is thought to be the best eastern self-portrait.

“It is another painting of Yoon Duseo that hasn’t been revealed yet, so I think it would worth at least that much.”

Haejin said a billion for Yoon Duseo’s painting while he had agreed at five billion for Ma Won’s painting, not because Yoon Duseo was less skilled than Ma Won.

After Chiang Kai-shek took all the treasures of the Chinese imperial family to Taiwan, the mainland China got extremely sensitive about the export of artifacts and, as a result, the price of Chinese artifacts soared.

Now, many Chinese ceramics were sold for over ten million won (about nine million dollars) at Christie’s Auctions in Hong Kong, but it wasn’t the real value of the actual artifacts.

“Sujeong, I will sell this at a high price. Don’t worry.”

“Then that money is mine, right?”

Byeongguk flinched and smiled kindly.

“Okay, but you must pay me the fee. About… 10%?”

“Well, I can give you that much. Okay. Then what should I do with that money? Should I open a shop at Insadong, too? One that specializes in restoring.”

Sujeong was having happy thoughts. However, Haejin stopped that.

“Then how are you going to restore it?”

“Aren’t you going to help me?”

“For free?”

Only then Sujeong frowned.

“I will have nothing left if I give a share here and give a share there.”

“You know restoring is harder than selling, right? I’ll take 20%.”

“Wow… you thieves.”

Sujeong thought it was unfair, but that was how things worked in that field.

“You will give me a place to work, right?”

“O-okay. The warehouse in Insadong is big, so you can work there. I will give you the address. Come to Insadong tomorrow afternoon. I need to change the interior, and you must tell me what you need to restore this so that I can prepare.”

“Okay!”

After that, they drank wine and celebrated the finding of the treasure. Next, Haejin went home and slept.

Ziiiing…

His phone buzzed in the morning. He picked it up and answered.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Haejin? It’s me, Eunhae. Sorry about calling you in the morning. Can we talk?”

“Yes.”

“Director Yang Sojin wants to meet you.”

Haejin flinched, but he tried to pretend that there was nothing wrong.

“What did you tell her that she wants to meet me?”

“I didn’t say much. I told her we won’t accept the deal and she asked me to let her meet you.”

“What does she want from me?”

“That is something unexpected, she wants your help.”

Haejin wanted to sleep more, but his eyes were too awake so he couldn’t.

After he started to use magic, his body was full of energy and, apart from the aftereffect of mana leaving his body, he didn’t feel tired after sleeping less.

He ate a simple breakfast and went straight to Hanbit Gallery. He wondered if Yang Sojin knew the teacup’s true identity when she offered the trade, additionally, if she had found out Momoko had confessed the truth, how would Momoko react when they met again.

“Welcome.”

Just like before, Sojin was elegant and was wearing luxurious goods; however, there was a hint of nervousness in her eyes. That made Haejin curious.

“Yes, Ms. Eunhae told me you asked for my help… but I couldn’t believe you would ask me to help. What’s it about?”

Sojin elegantly drank tea and looked into Haejin’s eyes.

“Before that, I want to ask you something. After your visit, an employee from Japan suddenly disappeared during work.”

“What? But why?”

Haejin thought this may happen, but he didn’t expect that she would actually disappear. Was the pressure so heavy? Was Mizno Toru much scarier than Haejin thought?

“I don’t know that, but it is very puzzling. She was sent by the person who asked me to take care of this deal. Since this kind of thing has never happened before, and that person is very cold, I have to explain how this happened.”

So Momoko ran away because she couldn’t handle what happened… then Haejin could really see her on the news, probably dead.

“I see. What happened back then was pretty weird. I had a question about the celadon and asked, but she was surprised and babbled about something. So, I asked her why and she sat down as if someone hit her, she then ran away. I was so surprised at that time…”

Sojin looked at Haejin with doubt, but there was nothing she could really say. It was not like her CCTV could record the voice.

“Really? Okay. Then, let’s put that behind and get to the point. I heard from the Vice Chairman yesterday that the teacup is actually an artifact with a great history behind it.”

“Yes. It is a very important artifact.”

“You found out a secret that even my experts couldn’t do so quickly, so I asked to meet you.”

“Have you heard about the appraising fee? My fee is much more expensive than others…”

“I know. 1% of the appraised price?”

“Yes. Even if it’s fake, I will get 1% of the real artifact. Do you still want my help?”

“Yes.”

Actually, Haejin had come here to find out how things were going after he used magic on Momoko.

Now that he knew it, he didn’t want to take Sojin’s case. Moreover, she was an evil art dealer who exported Korean artifacts.

However, it would look strange to not accept the offer as he was already here. Especially when she was willing to pay the high fee. Haejin needed an excuse.

“Hmm… let’s see the artifact first. If it is something I can appraise, I will and, if it’s not, I won’t.”

That could sound absurd, but since Haejin had done so many strange things, Sojin nodded and stood up.

“Okay. Please, come this way.”

Haejin, Sojin and a buffy security guard went down to the warehouse of the artifacts.

It was called artifacts, but paintings, potteries and sculptures were all in different glass boxes with the best temperature and humidity. Although Sojin was a bad person, she understood antiques.

Sojin opened one of the many glass rooms and entered. In the middle, there was a wooden table.

She carefully put a painting on it.

“Getting it was not easy.”

The moment Haejin saw the painting, he laughed in shock.

“What the… how on earth did you get it? Shouldn’t this be in the National Museum?”