Artifact Reading Inspector

Haecheol thought about it. Then he sat down again, closed one eye and asked, “But how did you find out it had been under the ocean?”

“Sujeong… I mean, when you asked my friend to restore the celadon, she did a component analysis. She then found out that part of the celadon had been processed with hydrochloric acid.”

Haejin didn’t know if Sujeong had such equipment, but Haecheol had no choice but to believe it.

“Hydrochloric acid?”

“Yes. In time, clams and shells attach themselves to the porcelains underwater. So, it should be melted with hydrochloric acid, and ultrasonic waves are used to remove the filth. Then, the porcelain should be cleaned because of the microorganisms and pollutants, and it recovers its original hue.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“So, artifacts recovered from the ocean have the remains of all kinds of chemicals. It is easy to find out.”

“Fine, let’s say that celadon is from the shore of Taean. How are you going to find the location? Can you find it?”

In fact, that was the most important part. Haejin had to make Haecheol believe him or his plans would be in vain.

“I already have a few guesses.”

“You know the location? How?”

“I had some interest in the Goryeo celadons that were found in Taean in 2007. At the time, some 12 th century celadons were recovered, and people said there were about fifty thousand high-quality celadons that used to belong to the nobles of Goryeo. So, I started to find the excavation points.”

Finding half of them would be enough to fill his new gallery with celadons.

“So, you found it?”

“I have narrowed my guesses to three spots. Here, here, and here.”

Haejin pointed three spots on the map in his smartphone. One of the spots was true, but he just picked the other two spots randomly.

However, as the ships went to and fro between China and Japan mainly went through that area, there were many wrecked ships underwater, so any spot looked reasonable.

“What if there’s nothing?”

Haecheol was right to ask that. Recovering artifacts from the ocean would cost a lot, so he had to be careful.

“Why don’t we decide this first? If we find artifacts in the coastal waters of Taean and get them successfully, how about 5:5? Half to the Haevici Gallery, and half to my gallery.”

“You are going to build a private gallery? That is a huge ambition. Well, anyway… 5:5? When we are using my money?”

“I, however, know the location. Well, if you think you can do it alone without me, you can always work on your own.”

Haecheol thought about it and spoke.

“I’ll ask again. What if we find nothing?”

“If we agree on 5:5 and nothing comes out, I will pay half the costs. I will pay back no matter how long it takes, so you won’t have to worry about it.”

“That is what people always say when they borrow money…”

Haecheol muttered to himself and thought about it. Then, he stood up.

“Okay. I will think about it.”

Businessmen never make this kind of decisions in a moment. They tell their answer after countless meetings, and that answer always prioritized their benefits, sometimes they would even backstab you.

“Okay. I will wait until tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning? Isn’t that too early?”

Unlike the surprised Haecheol, Haejin stood up and was about to finish the meeting.

“Even if we had made good deals before, we cannot trust each other about business yet. If I cannot make a deal with you, I should find someone else.”

“Khmm… you have anyone to turn to?”

“I will talk to others and, if that doesn’t work, I am going to work with my uncle. Even though it may not be enough. As he has saved quite a lot of money, we should be able to work for a short while.”

Excavating underwater cost much more because it takes so long. If Haejin could finish the excavation that would take more than a year in three months, he could save a lot of money.

“Khmm… anyway, you will get my answer tomorrow morning.”

“Then, I will wait. I hope to get a good result. Then…”

Haejin was sure he had won Haecheol over. His eyes were shaking. No man would be able to refuse a treasure ship.

As he had expected, Jeongjin called him when he left his home early in the morning. He wanted to talk about the official contract for the excavation.

Haejin said he would go in the afternoon and went to Saeyeon Gallery. It was about his gallery.

Eunhae was grinning widely when she greeted Haejin.

“You’re here! Please, sit.”

“Aren’t you proceeding too fast? I saw the ad about Renoir at the entrance.”

“Oh… I have to promote early to lure in the reporters. You’re here because of your gallery, right? My employee has found a good place nearby. It is about 230 square meters wide, but as the building is old and the location is a little desolate, it is cheap.”

“Thank you, and have you found a good curator?”

“Yes, she is a junior of my curator. She is smart and talented. The only reason she hasn’t been hired by a big gallery is that she doesn’t have many friends. I told her about the gallery you are about to build, she said that she would be willing to join you. If you want, I will set up an interview right away.”

“And the excavation team?” f𝔯𝒆𝚎𝚠𝑒𝚋𝓃૦νℯƖ.co𝘮

“Getting a job is difficult these days. So, I gathered a group of people who have studied in the best universities but haven’t been hired yet. Oh, but there’s no director with a lot of experience, so you will have to go through some trouble during the first few times.”

“Good, thank you.”

“You should thank our employees. I went to the U.S with you, but you are making an excavation team because you plan to start working immediately after you build the gallery?”

“Yes, I will start as soon as I get the permission from the authorities.”

Haejin had asked Haecheol instead of Eunhae not because she didn’t have the money. Of course, she was not as rich as Haecheol, but…

The most important reason was that even though Haejin didn’t know whether Eunhae knew or not, he was suspecting Korean artifacts were being exported through Saeyeon Gallery, so he could not excavate with her.

“Have you found a site?”

Her eyes sparkled. Of course, she was curious.

“Yes, thankfully…”

“Hmm… I guess it’s a secret. Okay, I won’t ask. You have helped me enough, anyway. The board is greatly surprised by the result of our trip to the U.S. I had spent so little for a Renoir that they are now looking at me differently.”

Eunhae seemed to be satisfied enough about bringing a Renoir to Saeyeon Gallery.

“Congratulations. Then, you won’t have to trouble yourself with that guy anymore.”

Haejin was talking about Lee Jongmyeong. Eunhae had gotten engaged to him to protect her gallery but, in time, it became a bad decision and almost hurt her badly.

“This is why both men and women should meet good spouses. I almost lost this position because of a momentary mistake… thank God it didn’t happen. Shall we leave now? You should sign the contract for the lease yourself.”

“Of course.”

Haejin followed Curator Jeong Mina of Saeyon Gallery to the place that would be his gallery. He liked it more than he had thought.

The building was old, but the red brick exterior was beautiful.

He signed the contract with its owner, met the interior designer and agreed to start the construction immediately. Next, he met the management consultant, that Eunhae introduced to him, to talk about the business plans.

He worked hard without having the time to eat lunch and headed to Yuseong for the deal of the excavation, but then he got a call.

“Huh?”

Surprisingly, it was Captain Hwang, the construction worker with which Haejin used to work together. fre𝙚𝓌𝒆𝚋noѵel.c𝚘m

He thought Hwang would never see him again, so what was this about?

“Hello?”

“Haejin? It’s me, Hwang.”

“Oh, yes. How have you been?”

“As usual… I am sorry about the last time. There was a misunderstanding.”

It was a huge misunderstanding, but it was about Yang Sangman, the building’s owner. Hwang was only a helper, so Haejin had no reason to hate him.

“It’s in the past. Plus, I got those porcelains at an extremely low price…”

“I know. You remember Cheonjiin Appraising Agency? They came to Mr. Yang and confessed there had been a problem with the appraisal.”

“So?”

They probably got scared after confessing the truth to Haejin.

“So, things went really crazy. Mr. Yang said he had to get those porcelains back from you, crying and yelling but, as you had written that contract, there was nothing he could do about it. Then, he got ill for a few days and got up only a while ago.”

“That’s a shame, but there’s nothing that can be done…”

“Yes, there’s nothing that can be done. Anyway, that is not why I called… actually, a relative of mine is building a new house and he found an artifact buried in the ground. I told him he should go to Insadong, but I told him about Mr. Yang before. So, he is scared of getting fooled in Insadong and wants to have it appraised by you.”

“What is it? Is it a buddha? Or porcelain.”

“Porcelain, porcelain. White porcelain. Similar to the things you have bought from Mr. Yang.”

“Really? Okay. Send me the text, but you should tell him that I take a fee.”

“Yes, of course. I already did. Then, when will you come?”

“I will leave Seoul before evening.”

“Oh, really? Okay. I will tell him so.”

Haejin was not curious about the porcelain. He was thinking that he might be able to find another historical site other than Taean.

He didn’t mention the 1% appraising fee because although he thought he should receive a lot from the wealthy people, he didn’t want to demand so much from ordinary citizens.

He went into Yuseong, negotiated about the details of the deal, agreed to start the excavation next week and left.

The address was Pocheon, Gyeonggido. As it was far, when he arrived, it was 8 p.m. The sun had set.

It was a desolate site for a country house. Materials for construction were on one side. The workers had all left, and a man in his 40s saw Haejin’s car and reached him in a hurry.

He was small but, judging from his dark sunburn skin and wrinkles, he had worked hard on something like farming for a long time.

“Oh, are you the appraiser, Park Haejin?”

“Yes, I thought you would call me to your home, but this is the site.”

“I was worried that I might make a mistake if I touched it, so I left it where it was found yesterday. My family is guarding it in turns.”

“Let’s see it first.”

Haejin wanted to skip the unnecessary stories and get to the point. He was famished as he didn’t eat anything the whole day.

“This way, please.”

Although the man was much older, he politely bowed to Haejin and walked in front of him.

He took Haejin to the north corner of the construction site. Haejin spotted a white porcelain that was lying on the ground. Half of it was still buried.

There was a lot of dirt on it, but guessing its original shape wasn’t easy.

“This is it…”

They dug half of it and called someone because they thought they couldn’t do more, and Haejin thought that was great. Making a mistake while digging and damaging the porcelain would be a great loss.

“Wow… you are lucky.”

It was a Moon Porcelain, about 40cm tall. The clean milky-white porcelain without any pattern was simple but touching. It was a great artifact that had the unique spirit of Joseon White Porcelain.

“Am, am I? Is it good?”

“Yes. If you clean it, it will show its true self.”

“Haha, that’s good.”

However, Haejin suddenly thought something was wrong. He didn’t know exactly what, but he was getting a bad feeling about it.

Strangely, the man was looking at Haejin instead of the porcelain, although he clearly looked delighted.

It was clearly strange. Haejin applied some saliva on his finger and used magic. It was to see how the porcelain ended up there, and…

“You have won a fortune.”

“Haha, thank you.”

Surprisingly, that porcelain had been implanted on the ground by the man. He also had an accomplice…