Artifact Reading Inspector

“Hmm… I see. You didn’t need to bother yourself by coming here. I will buy you both dinner, someday.”

Yaerin frowned hard. Haejin said that he would buy them dinner, but it actually meant that if they had no more business, they should go.

“Please tell your grandfather that I thank him for appreciating my skills. You can just send my fee to my account. As for the celadon, which must be in the pool now, it would be better to show it to the public after it has been cleaned and restored properly so that it won’t be damaged. It will take a week at most, so there’s nothing to be impatient about…”

“I understand.”

Yaerin stood up and so did Eunhae.

“There’s nothing more I can do for your museum. As you have recovered a good artifact, I hope things go well for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Then, I will see you again.”

They left. Byeongguk came and lightly hit Haejin’s shoulder.

“Wow… you are the director of an art museum now!”

“A museum of which the interior is still in construction. Well… although she didn’t mention it, I’m sure Yuseong helped in secret. Getting the permission this fast is hard. We are working together at Taean now, so if my museum is not opened in time, they will be in trouble.”

“Why would they be in trouble? If your museum doesn’t exist, they can keep all the artifacts.”

“That’s not how it works. I already have signed a contract to divide the artifacts in 5:5 with Mr. Chairman so, if they take those artifacts, they would be spending money to store artifacts that don’t belong to them.”

“Well, yes. Even if their share of artifacts gets sent to a museum, it would still belong to Yuseong, so Yuseong would be gaining a lot. However, if they take your share, it will draw a little more people, but storing it properly would be troublesome, so they have no reason to do so.”

“Hmm… I must go home first. I need to take a shower.”

Haejin tried to leave, but Byeongguk grabbed him, closed the door and quickly came closer.

“Show me. What is it?”

Haejin smiled and took out a container.

“Don’t get too shocked. Hhh…”

“What is it? Let me see.”

Sujeong leaned forward.

“You both know everything you see in here is a secret, right?”

“Of course.”

Haejin carefully took out the paintings one by one.

There were four paintings and a book. Haejin picked up a red painting container and slowly took out a painting.

“Huh? This is Monet’s!”

Sujeong was surprised. She looked closely. As she knew a lot about western paintings, she was trying to find out if there’s anything wrong with the painting.

“Yes, one of the Haystacks series.”

“Its condition is not bad. And? The others?”

The painting Haejin took out next was the one he didn’t have enough time to properly examine back in the cave.

It showed Venice with its beautiful harmony between the city, the water, and the people of the time living their busy lives. They were depicted with great accuracy.

“This is Francesco Guardi’s, right?”

Sujeon said the answer again quickly. Guardi had painted various aspects of Venice, so Sujeong could recall his name although she wasn’t an appraiser.

“Yes, he often drew landscape paintings like this, and the fast touch of the brush that shows Guardi’s pictorial style is on it. I cannot think of anyone else apart from him.”

“More, more!”

Byeongguk just blinked his eyes with surprise while Sujeong demanded more paintings like an excited child.

Haejin carefully put back the two paintings and took out another one.

It was the painting of a lady, on a white horse, having a good time with a hunting dog.

The horse was elegant and beautiful, while the hunting dog was walking next to the horse.

However, the water had smudged the blue sky and clouds in its background and there were some dirty stains.

“This is…”

This time, Sujeong didn’t know the answer.

“It’s Jacques-Laurent Agasse. He was great at painting racehorses. He was quite famous in England as racehorses were popular in his times.”

“However, this part needs to be restored.”

As Sujeong said, exhibiting it in its current condition was not an option. It needed to be restored…

“You are working on that porcelain. Can you do this, too?”

“What choice do I have? I cannot leave it like this, so I’ll have to use my great skills. Leave it here. I must practice first, so it will take some time.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to finish it until the museum opens. Take your time.”

“Okay, then I’ll do it as fast as I can. Well, more, more!”

“This is the last.” f𝘳𝚎𝑒𝚠𝑒𝚋𝘯o𝘃eƖ.co𝓂

The hero always comes last.

Byeongguk and Sujeong frowned while staring at the painting as it was unrolled little by little. And, the moment the painting was fully revealed…

“Uh! What the! This is Picasso!”

Unlike Byeongguk, who thought it was a good painting and nodded, Sujeong was shocked and yelled, she then quickly lowered her voice at mentioning Picasso.

“Yes. I think Picasso painted this during his adolescence. He probably wanted to make another painting after drawing Boy with Pipe.”

In the painting, there was a little girl with a garland on her head. She was holding a small flower with both her hands and was looking at the artist.

The background was the same as Boy with Pipe, but the girl’s plaintive and gloomy mood contrasted Boy with Pipe’s emotionless expression.

“Do you know at how much the Boy with Pipe was sold on auction?”

“About a hundred and thirty billion won.”

“You are crazy… how did you…”

Byeongguk and Sujeong couldn’t close their mouths.

“The world’s top experts would have to come to appraise it again. Before that, this won’t be acknowledged like that…”

“However, those great appraisers would be coming to your museum. That is great on its own. Then, your museum would be one of the world’s greatest…”

That’s right. A museum with a great artifact from humanity is a global tourist spot on its own.

“Then, what is that?”

The remaining thing was not a painting, but a book wrapped with newspaper.

Haejin hadn’t seen this book properly, so he also wondered what it was very much.

He removed the file, unwrapped the newspaper and the vinyl. From there, an eastern book that was about to crumble came out.

“The paintings were all western. Why is there an eastern book?”

“Yeah… I wonder that, too.”

Haejin slowly opened the book, but then he saw a very faint red signature on its cover, right under the title.

“Huh? It’s a signature. Byeongguk, do you have a magnifying glass?”

“Yes, wait for a moment.”

Byeongguk stood up in a hurry and soon came back with a small magnifying glass that was used for appraising.

Haejin took it and studied the signature. Although it had faded a lot, he knew to whom it belonged to.

“Wow… Byeongguk, this is Kim Hongdo’s signature!”

“What? Kim Hongdo? Then, this is his picture book?”

“I think so.”

Kim Hongdo was the best folk painting artist in Korea. He left a lot of paintings. Most of them were known, but it is still estimated that there are more paintings from Kim Hongdo that haven’t been revealed yet.

“Huh… then how many more Kim Hongdo’s paintings is this country about to get?”

“It depends on this picture book.”

Haejin carefully turned the cover page. Then, a painting of a large lonely tree was revealed. It looked simple at first, but the tree’s sturdiness, the delicate and excellent line that depicted the leaves, and the grain of wood made them all exclaim.

After that, there were four paintings of landscapes and people, and six paintings of trees, flowers and birds.

“How many?”

“Ten.”

“That’s great. Even Jeon Hyeongpil couldn’t get such great artifacts at the beginning, but you already have collected awesome relics.”

“It’s not enough yet, but not bad, right?”

“Park Haejin Art Museum will be famous in the future. Countless artists and appraisers will come.”

“I hope so. Anyway, I should go now. I’m tired and need to take a shower.”

“Okay. Hhhh… I’m already excited. Your museum will be crowded on its opening day.”

Byeongguk and Sujeong rejoiced as if it were their own business.

When Haejin opened his eyes, it was bright outside. He picked up his phone. Sujeong had sent him a message asking if they were going to the auction today.

Haejin replied of course, then took a shower and headed to the workshop straight away.

“Where’s your dad?”

Byeongguk, who used to stay there and play baduk with the other merchants, was not there.

“Dad left in the morning. Someone called him. I don’t know more…”

Sujeong didn’t leave the workshop for a while, so she was now wearing beautiful clothes and makeups. Her skin was clean, and she looked cute so, after the extra effort, she looked even more beautiful.

“Wow… you look good.”

“My work is giving me a headache these days, so I prepared myself to get some fresh air. Lead the way.”

“Oh, really?”

As Korea Auction was close to Insadong, they arrived there after 10 minutes of walking and chatting.

As Haejin had been here before, he didn’t ask the staff and went to the exhibition room on the ground floor. He took two catalogs and gave one to Sujeong.

“Do you often come to the previews?”

Sujeong flipped through the catalog and shook her head.

“How can I? I was stuck in the lab and the restoration room the whole time when I was in university. Although I often went to galleries and museums, I didn’t have the time to go to auctions. Oh, this white porcelain, is it yours?”

Haejin glanced at her catalog. It was the porcelain he had entrusted before.

“Yes, that’s mine.”

“Oh… it looks good. And it is in good condition… how much do you think you’ll get?”

“Now much. Between thirty million and a hundred and twenty million? To get more than that, there must be something else about the porcelain, but it’s just white porcelain, so I can’t get more.”

“Hmm… is that so? I don’t know much about it.”

“That’s because you only restore things.”

“Then, what if you put the celadon you got at Taean, how much will it be?”

“That’s not for sale.”

“That’s why I said, ‘what if’.”

Haejin didn’t think about it as it was impossible, but now that Sujeong was asking, he estimated the price.

“Well… at least a billion, I guess.”

“Wow! That’s great!”

“Yes, that’s great. I cannot sell it, but owning it is great on its own.”

They moved while talking like that, but then, Haejin felt someone slightly touching his arm.

“Excuse me…”

Haejin turned. It was the Executive Director Do Eunchae of Palas Hotel who Haejin had met before.

“Oh, hello.”

“Oh, you remember me? We met here before…”

“Of course, I do remember.”

Eunchae was happy to hear that. She covered her mouth and laughed.

“Hohoho! I was a little worried that you might not remember me, but I’m delighted. Are you here to help her pick things?”

She glanced at Sujeong.

“Oh, back then I came to help the director of Saeyeon Gallery, today, I came to just watch. This is my friend.”

“Hello, I am Yang Sujeong. I restore porcelains and western paintings.”

Sujeong spoke with an awkward smile. Eunchae also greeted her back with an awkward smile.

“Is it because you are handsome and capable? You get around only with beautiful ladies.”

“Haha, do I?”

Haejin smiled awkwardly. Eunchae hesitated and spoke, studying Haejin’s face.

“Are you busy today?”

“Excuse me?”

“I would really like to invite you to my home today.”