Artifact Reading Inspector-Chapter 58: What is Hidden, What is Revealed (2)

That was quite a nice offer, but Haejin wasn’t interested. He already had a Picasso, so he didn’t want to bother himself and make a deal with Jongmyeong.

“I am not that interested. I am not giving you that buddha, no matter how valuable is the artifact you have.”

“Make your decision after you see it… you’ll see it in a few days. See it, and we’ll talk again.”

Jongmyeong hung up as if he had nothing more to say.

“What the… he’s a funny guy.”

Haejin wondered what Jongmyeong was up to, but he decided to forget about it for now. He will find out in time.

He crouched down and looked at the celadon again. Then, he raised his hand.

“Here!”

“What?”

A staff with glasses and pimples came closer. He would have been handsome if he had clean skin, it was a shame.

“Keep this celadon well. And… no one should know that we are interested in this. You know what I’m saying?”

“Of course. I won’t tell anyone.”

He understood what to do. Haejin liked that.

“And watch over it without anyone noticing it and keep it safe. I know it will be hard… but I’ll give you a bonus if we succeed in bringing it to our museum.”

The male staff readjusted his glasses with his index finger and smiled.

“You can count on me, sir. However, is this a special celadon?”

“If I’m right. Anyway, please, do what I asked.”

Haejin wasn’t sure yet, but once it recovers its true self after being cleaned, he would get to find out if he had been right.

After that, Haejin went to and fro between Taean and Seoul.

As the museum’s interior was about to be finished, he hired staff for the simple office work and called Jisu to prepare for the opening.

Even though museums were for civilized cultural purposes, an opening event was needed. Some kind of special security was also necessary…

As it was kept secret from the employees till the opening, Haejin had to prepare it alone. It was to not have thieves breaking in and steal artifacts.

Haejin picked a security service and added a bulletproof glass that could not be broken even by smashing the interior dozens of times with the hammer. That costed him hundreds of thousands.

In fact, the security had to be even more perfect than bank vaults, so he had to spend that kind of money.

He spent days like that, working busily. One day, Eunhae arrived.

As Saeyeong Gallery was only a few minutes away on foot, Haejin wasn’t that surprised, but her face said she wasn’t there to just have a look.

“You are so great. You started empty-handed, and you are already about to open a museum.”

“I was lucky.”

“If you say that was only luck, others would criticize you. Everyone admits you are a great appraiser. In that perspective, you make me look back upon myself. I tried to get help from others to protect my gallery instead of doing it on my own.”

“It is human instincts to find the easiest way out of a crisis. I think you don’t have to blame yourself.”

“I was interested in art, music and business as a child. So, I tried to do them all. And now, although I know many things, I do not excel enough in one field to become an expert like you. If I had concentrated on art, I would be better now.”

She was sentimental today. Something probably had happened.

“It’s all in the past. Move on and think about the future.”

“You are right. If you are not busy, would you come to my gallery with me?”

“Okay. You are buying lunch, right?”

“Of course.”

Haejin made Jisu handle the place and went out with Eunhae.

They went past many good restaurants in Bukcheon and arrived at the gallery. Many people were still going in and out.

“Aren’t you a little relieved after the success of this exhibition?”

Haejin said that to lift Eunhae’s spirit as she looked sad, but she smiled bitterly.

“I thought so. Shall we go in? There is a guest. Someone you know.”

“What?”

They went to Eunhae’s office. Someone Haejin hadn’t expected was there.

“Hey! It’s been a while.”

The man who greeted Haejin while reclining in a sofa was Lee Jongmyeong. Haejin could see why Eunhae was so troubled.

“What? You brought me here for him?”

Eunhae shook her head with a dark face.

“Yes, but not just for that. I have a favor to ask.”

“What favor?”

Instead of answering, she looked at Jongmyeong. Then, he put a painting on a large table.

It showed a warm Korean rural area. Haejin immediately knew that it was Park Sugon’s.

“My mom told me to never sell this when she died. However, what choice do I have? Sometimes, you must do something you don’t want to do.”

“You are going to sell this? This will give you at least two billion if you put it on auction.”

“Yes, I know that. Well, I’ll tell you my terms. I’ll give you this. This is real, you can appraise it. My mom got it from artist Park Sugon himself.”

Haejin glanced at it. It seemed real, but he didn’t intend to appraise it. He wasn’t going to trade anyway.

Although he admitted Park Sugon was a great artist, he couldn’t let the Goguryeo buddha get destroyed.

“Not the buddha.”

That was a firm answer without any room for negotiation. Jongmyeong took out a piece of paper and put it next to the painting.

“One billion. From Gukmin Bank and without any problems. If you want, you can get it in cash.”

“Still, no. Even if that check was worth ten billion, no.”

Haejin didn’t even blink an eye. Jongmyeong exploded.

“Aaaaak! What on earth do you want! Huh? xx I’ve done enough for you, and shouldn’t you accept it? Hey! What are you doing? Are you going to just stand there?”

Jongmyeong jumped up and down in anger. Then, he yelled at Eunhae. She calmly shook her head.

“Bringing Mr. Haejin here has already made me miserable. So, if you want the buddha, convince him or offer him something better. Isn’t negotiation like that?”

“You are crazy… you think you can hold this place after this? The vice chairman wants it!”

At that moment, Haejin realized what was going on. Jongmyeong was behind Byeoksang, but the man who wanted the golden buddha behind everything was Vice Chairman Lim Sungjun.

Eunhae knew it. That is why she had brought Haejin but couldn’t persuade him to give up on the buddha.

However, there was one thing Haejin couldn’t understand.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to ask me a favor earlier?”

“I wanted to ask you not to accept his offer. However, you have refused it already, so I don’t have to ask.”

“You are eager to be kicked out. What do you think you’ll have left without this? You can’t be expecting Mr. Vice Chairman would set you a coffee shop to make a living after he kicks you out of here.”

Eunhae didn’t lose her cool at this. She countered calmly.

“I have enough money to open a coffee shop. I am also not going to step down so easily. My grandfather gave me this gallery, so I am going to protect it. Mr. Haejin has said no, so please leave now. Seeing your face makes me tired.”

Jongmyeong put the check in his pocket and picked up his phone to call his secretary. A while later, a buffy man came in and carried out the painting.

“I am looking forward to knowing what Mr. Vice Chairman would do to you.”

“That is none of your concern. You should worry about yourself before you worry about me. Your brother, Executive Director Lee Gangjun, is not someone you can easily defeat. Don’t forget that.”

“Lecturing till the end.”

Jongmyeong left. Eunhae grabbed her forehead and fell down on her chair. She sighed.

“I’m sorry for bringing you here.” 𝒇𝔯e𝚎𝘄𝑒𝑏𝙣𝑜𝚟𝗲𝑙.c𝘰𝚖

“Your uncle made you do it, so you don’t have to feel sorry. You must do what your boss says.”

“Ha… it’s funny. This is an independent gallery, and I have a boss. Would you like to have some coffee?”

Haejin didn’t want coffee, but Eunhae seemed she had something to say, so he said yes.

“Okay.”

A while later, a female employee brought them coffee. Eunhae moved to the sofa and started to talk.

“I was shocked a lot when Jongmyeong told me about the buddha and that my uncle is involved in it. However, I then got the feeling that this was not the first time, so I checked what had happened before I came here.”

Haejin had wondered that for a long time.

“And?”

“There are no detailed records, but Chinese and Japanese artifacts were traded through this gallery. And, for a long time… I knew only then why my uncle was so eager to take this place away from me.”

That was bad, but Haejin suddenly wondered something.

“Why did your grandfather give you this gallery despite all that?”

“I don’t know. He must be involved in all this… ha… anyway, because of what just happened, my uncle will be enraged at me and will try to convince the board members to kick me out. However, why is everyone so obsessed with that buddha?”

Her eyes told Haejin that she didn’t know anything.

“Well, I wonder that, too. Why do they want it so much…”

“Anyway, you were right at not selling it. If they had bought it, they would send it to China at any time.”

“But wouldn’t it be hard if your uncle tries to get rid of you?”

“Even he cannot fire me right away. Although most of the board members are his men, they have been working since my grandfather’s days, so they know how much I meant to him.”

“That means you can get kicked out in time.”

“It depends on how I work in the meantime. I heard that Haevici Gallery is opening a Salvadore Dali Exhibition a month later.”

Haejin knew that. Yaerin had already told him.

“And?”

“We are preparing a special exhibition about Baroque to counter that. We will exhibit artifacts owned by celebrities, but this is not my exhibition.”

“Then?”

“My cousin, Hyoyeon, is preparing it.”

Haejin could see why Eunhae was telling him that. She was cunning…

“So… you want me to come here and make a fuss? Very loudly?”

Eunhae was planning to screw Hyoyeon over.