Artifact Reading Inspector

131 Chaebol, Painting, and Happy Tears (1)

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Paul was there on behalf of Howard. Haejin though he must have had some authority. So, he wasn’t just saying when he said they were going to see what they could do.

“I have to take at least three of them. The horn cup and its Shinra base, the celadon bottle of Goryeo, and the earthenware of Gaya. I would be grateful if you could give me any additional opportunity to buy white porcelains, celadons, or paintings.”

“Hmm… it can be much more expensive than you think.”

Paul didn’t say Haejin could take them for free. Money isn’t all that you needed to buy artifacts, so an opportunity to buy them was much bigger than 200 thousand dollars.

Gregory Henderson’s collection isn’t just a mere collection of Korean artifacts.

In 1991, when it was exhibited for the first and the last time in Harvard, the exhibition’s title was First Under the Heaven-Henderson Collection’s Korean Porcelains.

Among them, there were the Goryeo celadon bottle made with a clear green jade, the horn cup with its Shinra base, and the earthenware with snake-shaped decoration of Gaya. They were all good enough to become national treasures and were artifacts which Haejin had to buy no matter what. Even if they were worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Haejin didn’t have that much money now, but that didn’t matter. As long as he had the opportunity, he could get a donation, or get funded by the government or other companies.

Of course, it would be even better if he could get them without getting any help.

“Just set us a meeting so that I can persuade them. That’s all I need, and the three artifacts I mentioned must be included in the purchase list. It is imperative.”

Haejin was firm and was demanding a solid promise. Paul sighed and nodded.

“Hu… okay. We will do our best to get you what you asked for. But you must remember, it is for as long as what you know isn’t known to the public.”

“Of course. I won’t make any mistake.”

Haejin said mistake to imply that if Howard took care of this in the wrong way, what he didn’t want could really happen.

Paul could sense that. He grimly nodded and stood up.

“Then I hope you enjoy your time in New York.”

He slightly bowed to Hassena and left. Then Hassena, who had been quiet until now, looked at Saliyah.

She went out. Then Hassena, with twinkling eyes, asked, “I don’t know much about you. But at least I know that you are not rich. If you ever need money, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“Having you as my sponsor is… reassuring.”

However, it was somewhat burdening at the same time.

“I was taught that money is power, and borrowing money is like borrowing power. But it also means you will be indebted to that person, so don’t do that to anyone else except for me.”

It was nice of her to say that, but…

“Thank you.”

Haejin couldn’t just say no, so he had nothing else to say. An awkward silence fell, but at that moment, Haejin’s phone buzzed.

Buzzz…

It was Eunhae. For some reason, Haejin felt guilty. He cleared his throat and answered.

“Khmm… hello?”

“It’s me. Were you sleeping?”

“No. I took a nap and I was having dinner.”

“That’s a very late dinner.”

“Yes, but why did you call me?”

Eunhae sounded a little sulky, “How could you never call me since you left? Have you been that busy?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been through so many things…”

Eunhae laughed.

“Haha, it’s okay. I was joking. Anyway, there are people urgently looking for you.”

She said people instead of someone. It meant it was a group, not an individual…

“Who are they? Government officials?”

Eunhae’s answer was very much unexpected.

“No. It’s Hwajin.”

“Hwajin? Why would they look for me? It’s not like we’re on a good relationship with them…”

Technically, it was more about Eunhae. There was bad blood between her and Hwajin. Additionally, for that reason, Haejin really didn’t want to be associated with Hwajin.

“I’m fine. I’ve already left Saeyeon Gallery, so I don’t want to think about the past. Thinking about it makes me realize that it is hard to move on, so I even want to get close to them.”

“Even with that rude Hyoyeon?”

“She is… well, except for her… it’s fine.”

Haejin didn’t know whether she was cool or just generous, but she really sounded okay with it.

“Anyway, what do they want from me?”

“That’s a little tricky. I think they lost a painting.”

“What? It was stolen?”

“Yes.”

“Have they called the police?”

“No. I think they are secretly using the police on which they have an influence on, but they will never officially announce it.”

If they were not announcing it but using the police unofficially, Haejin could guess what was going on.

The stolen painting was extremely expensive, and the public didn’t know Hwajin had it. It meant they had bought it to evade taxes.

It was probably a contemporary art painting worth at least billions of won or an artifact that the country of its origin would officially protest about it.

Either way, Hwajin was in trouble now. Still, Haejin had a question.

“But why do they want me? I’m an appraiser.”

“They probably found something. They looked for you in a hurry, and when I told them you were not in Korea, they really panicked. Eventually, someone from the secretaries’ office came here to ask for your help.”

“That means they want me to go back to Korea, right?”

“Yes.”

Haejin was already done in the US, so all that was left was to go back, but now, he decided to raise his price.

“What did they offer?”

“A first-class plane ticket, to start with…”

“That’s not enough at all…”

Haejin had a billionaire eager to be his wife, so of course, a first-class ticket wasn’t good to satisfy him.

“And 3% as the appraised price…”

“Ask for 10%.”

“What? But that’s a little…”

Eunhae was thinking it was too much. In normal circumstances, no one would give 3% of the price as an appraisal fee, but Haejin was asking for 10%.

“Tell them to take it or leave it. I’m in no hurry.”

If he hadn’t met Hassena, he would have stopped at 3%. Considering his museum, Haejin had to make money.

Additionally, his museum would earn brokerage profit in the future, so offending Hwajin would have been a bad choice. However, Haejin wasn’t bound by money anymore.

He had no reason to bow to rude chaebols, so he could be bold now.

“Hmm… okay. Then I will tell them so.”

“But they will not say no to 10%, probably,” Haejin replied.

“Do you really think so? If the painting is worth billions, the fee would be more than 100 million won, and they will have to pay you in cash without writing it in their account book… would they really do that?”

“The more expensive it is, the more they will look for me. They can’t even officially announce it, but they are using the police. It means if this bomb goes off in the wrong place, they wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences. Then, they won’t be stingy about a few billion won. They would rather want to solve this matter fast.”

“Oh… it might go that way. Okay, I will tell them so and see how they react.”

“Okay.”

Haejin hung up, and Hassena asked, “What was that about? I couldn’t understand at all as you talked in Korean…”

“Oh… an owner-family of a huge corporation group in Korea has asked for my help.”

“A huge corporation group in Korea, is that chaebol?”

The word chaebol only existed in Korea, but it was so famous that even Hassena knew it.

“Yes. Do you know Hwajin?”

Hassena smiled and shook her phone.

“Of course. I use Hwajin’s phone, but they asked for your help? Then it must be a very important piece of art.”

“I don’t know what it is yet. One of Hwajin’s painting was stolen, and they found something that is assumed to be it. But they are not sure if it’s real, so they want me to appraise it… I just asked for 10% of the appraised price as my fee.”

“Oh, is it okay to ask that much?”

“They couldn’t even call the police officially. So, they must have bought it in secret, probably illegally. To evade taxes…”

“Oh…”

“Honestly, I wish them not to find that painting. But the painting itself has done nothing wrong, so I asked 10%. It’s like take it or leave it.”

“Then, do you think they will give up?”

“I want them to give up so that it would mean it is not that serious. If they are willing to pay that much… then it is something serious. Oh, of course, if they manage to find a better appraiser than me, they would have that person appraise it instead… but if they can’t do that, they will pay 10% and try to find the real painting.”

Haejin wasn’t just talking about the price when he said it was serious. He was talking about the meaning the painting had.

“I see. This trip to Korea would be even more interesting.”

She looked at Haejin with excitement. He found that gaze quite uncomfortable, but her trip had been planned days ago. He couldn’t object to it, so he decided to just accept it.

He was planning to go to Abu Dhabi, meet Prince Sahmadi and solve this matter right after her trip to Korea.

They had dessert and talked. Eunhae then called him soon, they had reached a conclusion sooner than Haejin had expected.

“What happened?”

“They accepted your terms. I really didn’t see that coming, but I guess you were right. They didn’t tell me what it was, but according to what they said, it is worth billions. They cannot let the public find out about it.”

“Hmm… okay. I see. Then when should I leave?”

“They’re in a hurry. They said they will send you a ticket plane that will leave at 9 a.m. in New York.”

To get on a plane that would leave at 9 a.m., Haejin would have to get up before 6 a.m.

“Oh, my… they want to meet me at midnight?”

“Yes.”

The flight from New York to Incheon Airport takes about 14 hours. Hwajin didn’t want this to go over the day after that.

“Okay then, it is settled. I will meet them at midnight tomorrow.”

Haejin hung up and Hassena asked again, “How did it go?”

“Oh… I think I will have to take a plane to Korea tomorrow morning.”

“Then I should get ready, too.”

“But it might not end well if we go together. So why don’t we go to Korea separately?”

She accepted that easily.

“Okay, I will go later. You will have to leave early in the morning, so you should get some sleep.”

Haejin returned to his room and fell asleep right away.

The next day, Haejin woke up early and got ready. He went to the airport after a short goodbye from Hassena. Then, he got on the plane to Incheon with the ticket Hwajin sent him, then he got a text.

Haejin thought it was from Eunhae and took out his phone. But to his surprise, it was from Hyoyeon, Vice Chairman Lim Sungjun’s daughter.

[Incheon Port, container No. 5429, Roy Lichtenstein]

‘Lichtenstein?’

Haejin had had his guesses, but the painting was pretty much a blockbuster. It was worth at least 5 billion won… and apart from its value, Haejin realized the situation was extremely bad.

Sungjun could get arrested because of this.