Artifact Reading Inspector-Chapter 56: Secret of the Gilt Bronze Buddha (4)

“Isn’t it strange?”

Byeongguk was frowning hard as he looked at the business card Byeoksang left. It read, ‘Cheongwan Appraisal Agency’. Cheongwan, seeing the sky… that was an arrogant name.

“Yes, it’s strange. He offered two billion and set the deadline to this evening.”

“He could have set the deadline to stop you from getting other options. Or the buddha’s value drops after this evening… well, it is unlikely.”

Byeongguk thought what he said was nonsense and smiled. Then, he continued.

“He kept saying ‘we’. He wasn’t trying to hide that there’s someone behind him. Additionally, he is also offering two billion first. It means this scheme about the buddha is quite big.”

“So, the pie has to be divided among many people?”

“Of course, and the lives of some people might depend on it. He said he would give you the money in advance, and it means he has been promised more than double of that money. It also means there are at least two or three middlemen.”

Haejin only now understood what was going on after listening to Byeongguk’s explanation. If this went wrong, it wouldn’t end with just one or two people being screwed.

“Then, he must have a buyer already.”

“Of course. That buyer probably gave them some money in advance and had them proceed. So, they carried out the easiest plan and suddenly you came in.”

“What would you do if you were me?”

“Honestly, I would just sell it. Getting on bad terms with those guys does not seem good. That Gong Byeoksang is just a messenger. The person who is controlling him from behind must be keeping an eye on you, too.”

“Hmm… I should think about it first.”

They thought it was not a good time to drink, so they went back to the workshop. Haejin kept staring at the buddha for a long time. It didn’t seem to have anything special.

Eventually, he used magic to look into its past while Sujeong and Byeokgguk were busy doing something else. 𝙛𝘳𝒆𝒆𝒘e𝗯n𝗼𝘷𝚎𝚕.𝒄૦𝓶

The buddha had been in a temple, but it was taken during the Korean War. A monk fled with it during the 1.4 Retreat, but he lost it in Busan.

The person who stole it worked for Yamanaka & Co. He brought it in Japan and sold it to a collector.

However, there was a secret hidden in that story. The monk had hidden another small buddha in that buddha.

In fact, he had fled to hide that small buddha and make huge money from it, and he had picked a not- so-great buddha to hide it, but he had lost it…

“Uncle Byeongguk, I think there’s something inside it.”

Byeongguk was making coffee. He then came to Haejin.

“In this little thing?”

“Yes, someone ripped off the halo crudely, put something in it, and reattached the halo again…”

“What? Then you’ll have to damage the buddha to check it.”

“I can’t say it will happen 100%, but if I make a mistake, I might damage the buddha’s body while removing the halo. To not do that, I should cut the halo off and put it back again later, but it would leave some traces. I think I shouldn’t sell it. If I do, they will damage this to get the artifact inside.”

“What’s inside?”

“I don’t know for sure. However, I don’t want to know. I might get greedy for no reason. I will just exhibit it in my museum.”

“Okay, then do that. However, I do wonder what’s inside.”

“Me, too.”

In fact, Haejin already knew what was inside. It was a very small gold buddha. As it had been carved from real gold, it was very valuable on itself.

Plus, as it was a golden buddha made during the Goguryeo period, its value was beyond measure.

Now, Haejin could understand why Byeoksang had offered two billion. They must have estimated that the golden buddha inside was at least worth five billion.

Valuable treasures were often hidden inside buddhas and stone pagodas because buddha statues were hollow inside.

Just like nowadays, thieves often snuck into temples to steal treasures, in the past, monks would hide their treasures in buddhas and pagodas in secret.

So, experts often use X-ray to examine pagodas and buddhas to check whether there are treasures inside.

“If I leave it here, they will try to sneak in and steal it.”

However, how did they find out that there was a golden buddha inside it? Haejin suddenly thought about it. Can anyone invest two billion on something one that hasn’t seen yet?

“Yes, you should take it with you. Don’t go home today, sleep at a hotel,” Sujeong said worriedly.

However, Haejin smiled and waved his hand.

“There’s no need for that. Even if they are crazy, they wouldn’t try to steal it like that. You should still be careful,” Byeongguk said while smiling and answered Sujeong’s concerns, “You haven’t visited his home, so you don’t know it yet. It has the maximum security. It is a really luxurious apartment.”

“Okay, I’ll go now. Bye.”

Haejin took the buddha and went home and locked his door, just in case. Additionally, he even blocked the entrance with his desk. After putting it there, he thought he had actually gone too far.

Nothing happened until he woke up in the morning. Sujeong didn’t call. Haejin called her and was informed by her that Byeoksang didn’t contact her.

Haejin felt a little ashamed, although no one was looking at him. He took a shower, put the buddha in a private vault in the bank, and headed to Taean.

After three hours of driving, he arrived at the spot. It wasn’t the excavation spot but the restoration spot. There were hundreds of porcelains standing in rows under a huge tent.

Inside the pool where Haejin had put the celadon prunus vase, there were many more porcelains.

“You’re here!”

The ground was wet, and the mud was everywhere. However, curator Lee Jisu’s white pants and blouse were as white as new. It showed her clean and neat personality.

“I heard the media is eager to know what is going on here.”

Jisu shyly smiled and shook her fist.

“Yes. It’s great!”

“How are things at the excavation site?”

“As you have chosen the right point, things are going well. I heard the sea has been calm a few days, so the divers are working without danger.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes. Yuseong is supporting the work well. There are lots of divers who have volunteered to work. So, now they are working in 5 shifts. No one is overworking, and they are progressing fast.”

Jisu looked quiet, but she was quite talkative and friendly.

“I see. Let’s see the blue prunus vase first.”

“This way, please.”

She went past the pool and led Haejin to a small hall which they had rented in advance.

“Hello.”

“Good morning, sir!”

The staff, who had been working hard, stood up and said hello. Haejin greeted them and walked in.

Then, he saw a prunus celadon on a huge table. It was about 40cm tall and had an overwhelming aura. ｆ𝘳e𝒆w𝗲𝐛𝘯𝐨νe𝚕.cｏ𝓶

There was a dragon surrounded by clouds flying in the sky on that jade-green vase. It was so real and elaborate that Haejin couldn’t take his eyes off for a while, even though he had seen it before.

“Everyone who sees this for the first time will lose track of time while watching it.”

“And it was sleeping under the water for centuries.”

“We were lucky.”

“That luck has come to us, so we should use it well, right? Who is in charge of Yuseong’s workers? Is it Ms. Song Yaerin?”

“Oh, you knew?”

“I knew she is here, but I didn’t know she was in charge. Anyway, she’s in charge, right? Okay. Please go back to work now. Reporters will call you to schedule interviews and photographs, so pick a good time to do that. And you should give the interview…”

“Oh, you are not going to give it yourself?”

Jisu tried hard to not smile and asked. She was thrilled. Haejin could understand her feelings.

She had just joined a small art museum that hadn’t been opened yet, and she was already getting a chance to be famous.

“I don’t care about those things. Plus, promoting artifacts that will be exhibited is the curator’s job. If I wanted it, I would have been the curator myself, right?”

“Haha, you are right.”

There was a joy that couldn’t be hidden in Jisu’s awkward smile. Haejin left her and went to Yuseong’s restoration site.

It was not that far, so it took less than five minutes to get here. The site was buzzing with people, unlike Haejin’s site.

Additionally, in the middle of that was Yaerin, who always acted cool. Haejin had thought she was just an arrogant daughter of a rich family, but to see her instructing her workers with her unique charisma, she looked slightly different.

“Are you busy?”

“Oh, you should have called me if you were about to come. Have you had a meal? It’s lunchtime, will you eat with me?”

“If you are eating with someone else, you should go. I don’t want to eat with strangers…”

“You are shier than you look. I don’t have any appointments, so let’s eat together. If you called me in advance, I would have made a reservation at a nearby sushi restaurant.”

“We can eat anywhere. Anyway, how are things going?”

“We think we have excavated about 60% so far. We will drag up the ship when the excavation is 80% finished, so we are preparing for the PEG.”

Wood that has been underwater for centuries will have holes like a sponge as the fiber leaves it.

Those holes get filled with water, so if you dry them like that, it becomes distorted.

So, you should remove water and the salt slowly, then put in PEG. This chemical fills those holes and hardens them to make the wood keep its shape.

“Hmm… do you want the ship?” Haejin asked.

Yaerin said that first for a reason. Restoring a ship that had been wrecked would be a symbolic artifact on its own.

Yuseong probably looked for something for the Haevici Gallery after Haejin took the prunus vase and therefore chose the ship.

Yaerin was about to answer, but…

Buzzzzz…

“Oh, I’m sorry. I have to take this.”

It was Eunhae of Saeyeon Gallery. Haejin then answered the call.

“Hi, it’s me, Eunhae.”

“Hello. Why did you…”

“You are not in Seoul now, right?”

“Yes, I’m in Taean. You were there when we talked about this. I must discuss some things with Ms. Yaerin.”

“I know. I called because… I know this is absurd, but Mr. Jongmyeong wants to meet you.”

“Mr. Jongmyeong? Your ex-fiancé?”

“Yes.”

“Why does he want to meet me?”

“He didn’t tell me. However, he asked me to tell you one thing.”

“What is it?”

“That you and him should find a way for a win-win situation. It never belonged to you anyway… what does this mean?”