Artifact Reading Inspector

Actually, the royal family from Abu Dhabi had asked Haejin to be their chief appraiser more than once, so getting proof from them wasn’t hard at all.

Haejin, however, thought that it was not enough, so he also asked the Medici and Albert Harrington of England. They were glad to officially appoint Haejin as their appraiser. They even said that it was wrong for them to ask for his help without giving him such a title.

The Medici then officially invited him to Italy. Haejin had to promise to visit as soon as he could because of how eager they were on having him back.

The judge read those documents and looked at Haejin, “But you are quite young, are these certificates all true?”

“Yes. there is no reason for me to tell lies that can be revealed so easily. And it’s not even my trial, I just came here to testify as an expert,” Haejin replied.

“Hmm… I see,” the judge nodded and seemed to accept it.

The prosecutor then argued again, “However, the documents only prove the witness is well-acquainted in western art. As he said himself, eastern art and western art is different, and there is no proof of his abilities about eastern art. Therefore, he cannot be trusted with this matter.”

The judge couldn’t just ignore that, so he turned back to Haejin, “I see that you are a very capable appraiser, but the court must consider objectivity. Has any institution acknowledged your skills about the appraisal of eastern art?”

Haejin stiffened his head and replied, “Not exactly…”

The prosecutor took his chance, “See? He cannot be trusted when it comes to eastern art…”

However, the old judge raised his hand to stop him, “We will listen to the witness first.”

Actually, Haejin wondered if he had to do that much for a trial that didn’t concern him, but he had to prove wrong as wrong.

Haejin then said, “The police in China has asked me for help a few times. Of course, it wasn’t officially…”

“Aren’t you just saying that? There is no record to prove it…” the prosecutor replied.

Haejin, however, continued, “Oh, but the prosecutors must have some records. Where was it? Yes, the prosecutors’ office in eastern Seoul. Prosecutor Ha Yeonsu has asked for my help. I guess she must have kept some records.”

The prosecutor was puzzled. He started hesitating, but then, he put his sharp face right in front of Haejin and asked, “Why would the police in China ask for your help when there are so many other appraisers?”

“I told you. I am the best appraiser in this country, although you are clearly thinking that it’s nonsense. If Vice Chairman Lim Sungjun of Hwajin gets an important antique to be appraised, he would call me, not the members of the Korea Appraisal Committee,” Haejin replied.

At the mention of Lim Sungjun, the prosecutor couldn’t argue anymore and started to hesitate even more. However, he couldn’t go back now: he had humiliated himself too much.

“Prosecutor, please return to your seat if you have no more question,” at the judge’s order, he returned to his seat while acting as if he didn’t like it.

Haejin left the court after he finished testifying. He was on his way back to the museum when Usik sent him a text to let him know that he had won the case.

Usik then said that his client had offered to buy Haejin dinner to thank him, but Haejin refused.

He had no time to dine like that.

“But you should have had dinner with them,” Eunhae smiled, but she didn’t mean that Haejin had to go for the meal. She meant he should go to have a breath of fresh air.

“No, it’s fine,” Haejin replied.

Eunhae then tried to convince him again, “But you keep coming here these days even though there’s nothing much to do. There’s nothing to restore, and the entire restoration team is at Gimhae…”

“But what if something bad happens when I’m not around? Oh, and what about the cat?” Haejin asked.

Eunhae smiled brightly at the mention of the cat, “He is healing very fast. I think we would be able to let him stay here again from tomorrow. Oh, and I’ve given him a name. Bambi. How is that name? Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yes, it’s not bad,” Haejin answered.

Eunhae commented, “I guess you don’t like cats as much.”

Haejin admitted it, “At least I’ve grown fond of them lately. I’ve never been an animal lover. Anyway, I’m glad to hear it’s healing fast.”

If that brave cat with the mysterious power protected the museum, Haejin wouldn’t have to go to the museum every day.

That same evening, two unexpected news surprised Insadong.

First, a few appraisers of the Korea Appraisal Committee had been involved in fraud, and second, an appraiser who wasn’t a member of the committee had been acknowledged as the best appraiser in Korea.

The news of the lawsuit about Lee Gyeongyoon’s painting even appeared on TV. People were surprised to find out the appraiser who had solved the matter in minutes was in his 20s.

Haejin was also surprised to see himself in the 9 p.m. news. Haejin, however, didn’t think much of the it.

But the next day, additional reports about him being the actual owner of the Park Haejin Art Museum, which had in the news lately, came out.

Eventually, starting from the day after that, all kinds of people came to Haejin’s museum to ask him to appraise their artifacts.

Until now, only a few people who heard about him had come, but now, people came from all the regions in Korea.

“It’s not like I can refuse them, but…”

Haejin was enjoying a coffee break with Eunhae during lunchtime.

After 1 p.m., he had to face dozens of artifacts waiting for him in his appraisal room again.

“But I’ve spent a lot of money on your appraisal room because you wanted it. You should make use of it,” Eunhae encouraged him.

“Yes, but there are too many clients,” Haejin complained.

Eunhae then said, “It’s strange though. Almost all of them accept your fee, even if it is so high.”

“That’s probably because you’ve already told them about it,” Haejin guessed.

The appraisal fee was expensive not just because it was 1% of the appraised price, but also because he charged that much considering the real artifact even if it was fake.

When people started to come, Eunhae announced Haejin’s fee on the news reports and articles. She also stressed that he was way too expensive compared to the other appraisers.

If she hadn’t done that, there would have been a long line of clients in front of the museum.

“Has there been any impressive artifact before lunch?” Eunhae asked.

Haejin then replied, “Not really… but what did the men from Harvard say?”

Yesterday, Eunhae had met the men from Harvard University’s museum to discuss the return of the Henderson Collection, but Haejin hadn’t gone there on purpose.

He wanted to hear through Eunhae what they were planning to give first.

Eunhae explained, “First, they were affirmative about returning the Gaya porcelain and celadon bottle.”

“Really?” Haejin was surprised.

Those two artifacts had a high historical value. Haejin had to get them back no matter what, but at the same time, he hadn’t thought Harvard would give them up so easily.

Additionally, they were offering to give them, so Haejin got suspicious.

“Yes. I even asked them for photos just in case, and they really were the artifacts we want,” Eunhae replied.

“Hmm… but why would they just give them?” Haejin asked.

Eunhae smiled bitterly, “Of course, they wouldn’t… they said they would return the Henderson Collection gradually.”

“Gradually? What, so they will return a few artifacts every time we give them what they want? Is that what they suggested?” Haejin was confused.

Eunhae continued, “Yes. They first said they wanted to lease the artifacts to our museum. As the Henderson Collection has great historical value, they would be losing some important artifacts to show their students, so they want our help with it.”

That wasn’t a bad condition.

Even though Haejin’s museum had been established recently, it had hundreds of porcelains recovered from the West Sea.

There were also artifacts Haejin had brought from abroad, and the museum also had the rights to keep the artifacts from the site at Gimhae which Haejin’s team was now excavating.

There were at least hundreds of artifacts in that tomb, so Haejin had been thinking about moving his museum to a bigger building.

Plus, the exhibition of the leased artifacts from the Louvre Abu Dhabi was about to start next month, so the museum was getting even more crowded.

Therefore, Haejin even thanked Harvard for asking to lease the artifacts.

“That isn’t bad. But there’s more, right?” Haejin asked.

Eunhae confirmed, “Yes, that is just the first condition. The second one is tricky. They want a long-term lease contract instead of just returning the Korean artifacts.”

“Long-term lease?” Haejin asked.

Eunhae then explained, “They said we could agree on a 20-year lease deal and extend the deal again and again.”

“Absolutely not! That isn’t returning. Who knows what would happen in the meantime? They will add all kinds of terms on the contract and try to think of ways to get them back. That’s not possible,” Haejin replied.

Eunhae then continued to explain, “That’s what I told them. We argued about that for some time, but when I made it clear we couldn’t accept that, they offered different terms. They want you to find them some artifacts they can be proud of.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Haejin asked.

“Harvard University’s museum has thousands of records and artifacts which value isn’t known yet. However, they are being neglected because they don’t have any expert good enough to appraise them all. They said they would return the Gaya porcelain and the celadon if you go there and find artifacts as good as those,” Eunhae replied.

“Huh…”

That must have been what they were after in the first place.

Eunhae then commented, “I’ve heard about that before, too, that there were a number of books and artifacts that are not exhibited in the Harvard museum… but I never imagined they would let you handle it. What should I do?”

Haejin replied, “Tell them yes, of course. I should give money if they ask for it, but now I have a chance to pay them with labor, so I should take it. However, you should negotiate as best as you can, like about how many artifacts I should find and how valuable they must be. You know what I mean, right?”

Because of this matter, it was giving Eunhae a headache. Now that it was solved, Eunhae could now smile in relief, “Of course, don’t worry about it. Oh, it’s 1 o’clock already. See you later.”

The lunchtime was way too short. Haejin wondered if he should extend it to 1:30 tomorrow while he went into his appraisal room.

A teenage girl was waiting there.

“Hello. I am Park Saebom, sophomore of Haegwang High School.”

She had big eyes and her glasses were even bigger.

The girl was both calm and polite. Haejin could see that she had been educated well.

“Oh, okay. Do you have something to be appraised?” Haejin asked.

“Yes…” Saebom replied.

“Then let’s take a look at it first, shall we?”

“Okay, it’s here,” Saebom then took out a rolled painting from a long painting container.

Haejin took the painting and carefully unrolled it on the table in the middle.

He fixed the upper part while slowly unrolling it, and then fixed the bottom. It was an eastern painting made with extraordinary skills.

It was the painting of a master who had his own style he himself created instead of just following the Chinese style.

“Do you want me to appraise this? Where did you get this?”

To Haejin, a high school student was still a child.

And as antique deals almost always involved huge money, appraising without verifying the artifact’s source could bring troubles that could be hard to handle.

So, Haejin usually had any minor clients come with a guardian or parent.

“It’s a family treasure, it has been in my family for generations…” Saebom replied.

“However, why do you want to have a family treasure appraised? Where are your parents?” Haejin asked.

Saebom looked down while a tear dropped from her eyes, “They passed away.”

“And this is…”

Saebom continued, “They left some debt… and the creditors told me they will take a million won off the debt for this painting…”