Tomb Raider King

Chapter 283: The Devil at the Exhibition (2)

Translator: miraclerifle

"Wait a minute, that person......!”

The critics who had been ripping Jaeha’s work to shreds suddenly became anxious.

Maybe it was to be expected.

‘Why did it have to be this person?’

The person standing in front of Yoo Jaeha was the US president.

Everybody was talking in shock after the president appeared with the secret service.

Yoo Jaeha was in shock as well.

‘W, why would this guy...’

He recalled that the US president had a bad relationship with the Captain.

As a result, he, as Ju-Heon's subordinate, should be on the black list as well.

Ju-Heon’s eyes were open wide in shock as well. However, it was so minimal that only his team members would be able to tell he was shocked.

Seol-A quickly whispered.

“D, do you think he’s here to get revenge? He wants to do that here?”

“Well, he's someone who might do that.”

They did take down General Keira, a Monarch working for the US and had looted the artifacts belonging to the US government during that incident at the Pentagon.

Although they made it seem as if Chairman Kwon had done it, they were still not cleared of all wrongdoings.

There was also that murder incident with Dan's trial. According to rumors, the true culprit who had falsely accused Dan... He apparently had some connections with the president.

There were many reasons this person would not look kindly upon them.

That wasn’t all.

‘Inaba Taichi, the man that the US president personally sponsors, is on the other side.’

President Grey was, without a doubt, on the other side.

Although he might talk crap about Yoo Jaeha's paintings, he would never praise them at all.

The tomb raiding team members frowned while the critics were smirking.

‘I guess he came to check out what the enemies have going on.’

‘Did he come to talk crap about Yoo Jaeha?’

‘Well, he probably doesn’t want his cherished Inaba to lose.’

Unfortunately for them, President Grey said the following.

“Would you be willing to take me on as a sponsor?”

“E, excuse me?!”

“I like your painting quite a lot. I'm sure that you’ll need a sponsor.”

“No, umm, wait......”

But at that moment...

“There’s no need.”

Ju-Heon appeared with a smile on his face. Murderous intent could be felt even though he was smiling.

He would probably have told the person to get lost if it wasn’t the president; actually, he probably would have said it anyway if other people were not around.

“I am this punk's sponsor. He does not need any more sponsors.”

President Grey smiled brightly and responded.

“That’s not for you to decide, Monarch of Predation.”

“It ain’t your decision either, old man.”

President Grey frowned while looking at Ju-Heon’s gaze.

It was quite threatening. Although Ju-Heon was being gentle with him, the pressure President Grey felt from Ju-Heon's eyes was strong enough to threaten one of the most powerful people in the world.

‘It’s at Keira's level...... No, he’s a bit stronger than her.’

He had confidently tried to start something with Ju-Heon after getting an artifact of his own but it was too much.

‘He definitely is not easy to deal with. He’s grown even stronger in such a short period of time.’

Ju-Heon was much different from how he had been prior to getting the Heirloom. It seemed obvious that Chairman Kwon and Pandora would be wary of him.

He then changed his target.

“Yoo Jaeha, I don’t think that the Monarch of Predation is a good sponsor who would help you succeed in the future. Why don't you switch sponsors?”

Yoo Jaeha's eyes opened wide.

“Of course, I would be honored to be sponsored by the President of the United ...... ugh!”

Yoo Jaeha almost suffocated because of Ju-Heon's Dominance. Ju-Heon’s Crow looked ready to rip apart and eat Jaeha's phoenix.

Yoo Jaeha was crying internally as he responded.

“I, I'm sorry, I can't do that but thank you for your kind words......”

President Grey smiled and turned around.

“Feel free to come look for me if you ever change your mind.”

“Why the hell would he change his mind? Get lost.”

Ju-Heon became angry while Yoo Jaeha sniffled once the president was gone.

"Damn it, he would have been my first true sponsor. Why did you stop him...... ugh!”

“You dumbass, do you really think that guy has pure intentions about sponsoring you? It’s to steal you away! TO STEAL YOU AWAY!”

“!”

Seol-A smacked Jaeha on the head.

“He’s so excited that he lost his wit.”

Julian chimed in as well.

“Yes. They don’t need the artist Yoo Jaeha, they need the restorer and Monarch Yoo Jaeha."

The US had lost one of the Four Emperors thanks to Ju-Heon. The US also lost the Number 1 title for artifacts in the world.

The current strong faction was the C-R Alliance. China was expected to be a leader thanks to having Zhen Cai Yuan.

There were also the European Nations, Middle East, Korean, and Japan using artifacts to quickly become strong nations.

Most artifact users were associated with a country.

‘If we don’t have any homegrown Monarchs, we can only steal them away from others.’

Ju-Heon’s tomb raiding team was special in that none of them were aligned with a country.

They would probably have been buried or plucked away a long time ago if they didn't have the protection of the Holtens, who had the political and economic power to even destroy the US army.

Their past life was proof of how they would have ended up.

They were an extremely desirable prey in many ways.

Now that the entry restriction artifacts were destroyed, there were quite a lot of hyenas who were salivating to drag Jaeha to their country.

“Nice to meet you. This is who I am.”

“Hello sir!”

They couldn't approach Ju-Heon because he was too scary so they were trying their luck with the others.

“Your painting was magnificent. Please look kindly upon our corporation.”

That kind of conversation happened over and over.

Yoo Jaeha gasped.

“Nobody came to see the paintings.”

He really meant it.

The nicer ones would at least peek at the paintings before trying to chat with him.

Ju-Heon said something as Yoo Jaeha sulked.

“It’s not like you didn't expect this.”

The others whispered to each other after hearing that.

“I think it’s just because the Captain-nim turned it into too big of an issue...”

“It might have been better if it was a small exhibition with no publicity. Then the people who came might have come for the art itself...”

Ju-Heon started to sweat after hearing those comments.

However, Yoo Jaeha shook his head.

“No guys, I'm truly thankful that the Captain-nim even gave me such an opportunity. How else would I get to do a personal exhibition like this?”

He was extremely lucky to have such an amazing opportunity.

Yoo Jaeha started chuckling.

“It’s okay. I really don't mind if I don't sell any of my paintings. I wasn’t expecting to sell any of them anyway.”

He was happy enough having people see his paintings.

Everybody started to sulk. Ju-Heon called out the doggies as if he had made up his mind.

“I'll be back after getting rid of all the useless fools.”

The rest of the team wanted to help as well.

“I'll use my ghosts to kick them out.”

"I can use my thunderbolts.”

“I have my knife.”

“Then I can use my power of destitution!”

Yoo Jaeha gasped and shouted toward them.

“Aigooooooooo! It’s fine! It’s fine! You guys not doing anything is helping me out! You’re going to make everybody run away!”

The critics were laughing quite hard watching this take place.

They had come after being bribed by Chairman Kwon’s side, however......

“The painting really sucks.”

“Even if selling paintings is important, anybody who buys them is just doing it to earn his favor.”

“There’s nobody buying it because they like the art itself.”

This happened quite frequently in the art world.

People would buy paintings from celebrities or the children of celebrities to network with them.

‘It’s the same for Yoo Jaeha.’

He was one of the many who would disappear without a trace.

Well, he might be able to continue his life as an artist if someone in a position of power or a wealthy sponsor liked his art and told him to continue.

“He should be happy to be a Monarch. He can continue promoting himself as an artist thanks to the attention he gets as a Monarch.”

“Maybe he can restore people's artifacts and force them to buy his paintings in response. Hahaha!”

“Alright, we got our money so let's go write our reviews. Yoo Jaeha's personal exhibition is the focus of the entire world right now.”

“I guess we can title it, ‘Terrible, Horrible.’”

As the critics were about to head out...

“Umm, is it possible to purchase this painting?”

“E, excuse me?”

There was one more viewer standing in front of Yoo Jaeha.

She was an older woman.

“Your paintings were all so great that it took me some time to look at all of them.”

The woman smiled brightly.

“I want to hang them at my school, is it possible to buy them? Ah, maybe you’re not selling at all? I'm sorry, I've never bought a painting before......”

Silence filled the room for a moment.

The woman who looked like a professor really seemed to like his painting.

The woman waved her hand after seeing Yoo Jaeha blankly standing there.

“Umm, excuse me......?”

Yoo Jaeha jumped up from the ground.

“T, thank you very much!”

“Can I buy it?”

“Yes, yes, yes yes! O, of course you can buy it! U, umm, please put this sticker next to the painting you like to show your intent to purchase and an employee will help you with the process...!”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to stop by again if you have any more exhibitions.”

"Thank you very much! Thank you very much!”

Yoo Jaeha bowed to thank her over and over. He looked like he wanted to cry but he couldn't help but smile.

‘I sold one for the first time in my life!’

This was the first time he had ever sold a painting. His own painting and not something he had forged had sold!

He was extremely happy about that fact.

However, it didn't end there. People started to gather around Jaeha one after another.

“Are you the artist?”

“The paintings were so great.”

The people who were true patrons of the art and not here for their own benefits came over to ask about the paintings and wanted to know when he would be having his next exhibition.

The number of people wanting to purchase his paintings grew as well with intent to purchase stickers being placed all around the room.

There was one on every painting now!

The rest of the team was happy to see this happen.

The employees were shocked as well.

“Holy crap, he's already sold that many?! This is just the first day of the exhibition!”

“All of the brochures have sold as well! We asked the print shop to print some more.”

The critics dropped their jaws in shock.

They could tell what had happened.

The people who came to look were buying Jaeha's paintings as well as the brochures that had an explanation about each piece.

These people weren’t as crazed as the people in the western hall but people really seemed to like the pieces.

That meant that these were good paintings!

As they were watching with disbelief...

“The pieces that the critics talked so much crap about are selling like wildfire!”

“Hey, this is a major scoop!”

The reporters who had come after sniffing a story rushed over to the critics with excitement.

“The paintings you said were terrible are selling quite well. Could you please make a comment?”

“Why do you think this is happening?”

The critics started to frown.

“It's because the paintings are cheap! He's selling them for almost no profit.”

“Excuse me? Cheap? Ah... It is cheaper compared to the works of famous people but... They are priced normally for any new artists. To say that he is selling them cheap to sell more is a bit...”

“These prices are nothing to the rich.”

“But a lot of regular people are buying them as well.”

The critics didn't know what to say.

“The popularity of a piece and its quality are separate issues!”

“Just because a piece is popular with the masses doesn't mean that it is a good piece of art.”

They gave excuses while secretly grinding their teeth.

“We weren’t wrong. Those morons who don’t know anything are buying his crappy paintings because they think it’ll make them look more cultured!”

“Those dumbasses are buying it with herd mentality because someone bought one! They don’t know anything and just think it’s great!”

It was at that moment.

“Hey, did you hear? Apparently it’s going pretty well for Yoo Jaeha.”

“What?”

The five artists selling paintings on the west side were hearing about Jaeha’s situation.

The patrons who had run away had returned and they were having no trouble selling their paintings.

But what?

“Yoo Jaeha has had so many people wanting to buy the paintings that he had to change it to auction style!”

“He is having trouble because he can't answer when his next exhibition is going to be!”

"What the hell did he draw?”

The five artists looked anxious seeing the curators all heading to the eastern hall.

“Are you sure that the son of a bitch didn’t use da Vinci's artifact?”

Inaba Taichi just started laughing.

“They’re just interested because it is a Monarch's painting. They probably think they could resell it for profit. Damn pigs.”

"But such tricks won't work in front of my master.”

“What? Your master...... Master Andrew?”

He was a famous artist who was currently serving as a critic as well.

“Master Andrew is here?”

“Yeah. He came to see my paintings. He said he might as well see Yoo Jaeha’s while he’s here.”

All of them started to laugh.

"Wow, he’s screwed. Master Andrew is extremely picky. He’s so blunt with his critiques.”

“He’s also extremely influential. One word from him and a person's image can plummet to the ground.”

“He was also pretty close to Jean Richard, wasn’t he? He was upset that Yoo Jaeha threw Jean Richard in prison.”

"Ah, Yoo Jaeha is done for.”

Andrew and other famous artists from around the world were entering Yoo Jaeha's exhibition hall at that moment.

Critics, curators, reporters... All of them, including the art merchants, turned toward them.

“Master Andrew!”

“Wow, pretty much all of the famous painters are here!”

They went around looking at Yoo Jaeha’s paintings. Even the general public was whispering.

Some of these artists were so famous that even people who knew nothing about art knew who they were.

The critics who had been talking crap about Yoo Jaeha approached them with excitement.

“Masters, what do you think about these paintings?”

“It’s just a copy of Jean Richard's, right?”

Andrew, who had been staring at a painting, frowned as he made a single comment.

“How stupid.”

“Right? That's what we thought.”

“Yes. You guys are extremely stupid.”

‘Excuse me?’