Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 61: The Father’s Intention (1)

After the lunch with Sujeong, Haejin headed to the museum. He was going to prepare for the opening and some other things.

He wanted to meet the person who would be waiting for him in there. However, when he arrived, there was no one waiting for him.

“You want me to highlight the prunus vase?”

Jisu was puzzled. As they had the dish from Ruyo, she thought it would be better to promote it instead of the prunus vase.

“Yes, do it. The Ruyo’s dish is a great artifact, but it is from China. I am not saying that Korean porcelains are the best in the world. However, the main treasures from the ship in Taean are celadons. So, the prunus vase should be promoted instead of the Ruyo dish.”

Jisu agreed with that. She nodded.

“Then, how should we exhibit the dish?”

“Give it some space instead, put it in the most important place in the B2 area. Of course, in the guide, write how great it is for the Chinese.”

“Okay. Then, how should we promote Monet’s, Francesco Guardi’s and Jacques-Laurent Agasse’s paintings?”

They hadn’t been promoted properly yet because of Picasso’s painting, but they had a considerable value. Especially the Monet…

“You don’t have to promote them. Just show them well. We don’t have enough paintings to do a special Monet exhibition, so promoting all those artists would make the entrance messy and distracting…”

“That’s right.”

“Please also pick and buy some furniture for my personal office. I need a secretary as well, so please hire one, too.”

Haejin was the director now so, of course, he needed an office. However, he had been so busy and had been delayed, so his office didn’t even have any furniture.

“Okay. I will prepare them as soon as possible, although doing so before the opening would be hard. Many people, who saw the media report, are also asking for the preview opening for the VIPs before the actual opening.”

Haejin hadn’t given invitations to VIPs nor contacted them in private while preparing for the opening.

Maybe this felt unusual to those who had been ruling the art world.

Unless Haejin was never going to sell anything like a national museum, he was just mistreating his greatest customers.

So, they were confidently(?) asking for the special event for the VIPs.

They wanted to feel that they were superior by seeing the paintings before the commoners and wanted to buy them faster than anyone else if there was something they wanted.

“I know about preview exhibition, but preview opening? I’ve never heard of it. Never mind. Tell them we won’t do such a thing. If they have paintings they want to see or buy, they should buy the tickets and come in like everyone else.”

That was unexpected. So, Jisu carefully spoke again.

“As you know well, to sell paintings, we need the help of the VIPs. The general public wants to see and enjoy paintings, but they don’t buy paintings at a high price.”

“I know. However, those are my concerns. You don’t have to stress yourself about flattering VIPs. I won’t sell paintings that way.”

“Okay, I understand.”

There would be a controversy, but Haejin didn’t care. Rather, he hoped for a controversy. With it, his museum’s value would rise even higher.

There were many art dealers and curators who would do anything to please the VIPs.

Haejin was not such a merchant.

He finished and left the museum to the security guards at around 11 p.m.

That area was desolate during the late hours. So, he didn’t take his car on purpose and walked to the metro station. Then, he saw a man with a black cat in his arms.

Black cat… Haejin immediately realized that the man had come looking for him.

He drank a mouthful of water, that he had prepared in advance, and silently used magic. Then, the man blocked his way.

“Are you the one who destroyed the Holy Book?”

Haejin couldn’t understand that. Holy Book? He wondered if the man was from the Vatican, but then the cat jumped.

Kiak!

It lunged at Haejin with a strange sound but, the next moment, Haejin grabbed it around its neck with his hand.

“What the-”

The man flinched and stopped while Haejin looked at the cat’s eyes.

“Red eyes. It’s not an ordinary cat… what did you do to it?”

The man tensely asked back, “Then, how did you…”

Haejin had used a spell that made his body react much faster after seeing the man waiting for him.

It costed a lot of mana, far more than any other spell he had used so far, therefore he would probably faint when he got home but, considering the threat, it had been the right choice to use magic in advance.

“That is not important. Who are you? And, what’s wrong with this cat?”

The cat had lunged at Haejin with a will to kill, but now, it stayed still in Haejin’s hand.

“You, you destroyed the Holy Book… you should die!”

The man wailed and lunged forward. In his hand, there was a knife.

Even though Haejin was faster with magic but, as the opponent had a knife, he couldn’t help but be paralyzed.

“Uhh…”

In the movies, the hero would naturally twist the opponent’s hand and strike back, but Haejin had never been in this situation before. He barely managed to let go of the cat’s neck and grabbed the man’s arm with both hands as it came to stab his belly.

“Die, you should die. You should have died that day.”

Haejin didn’t know what was going on, but the man had clearly been brainwashed. Additionally, he was so strong that Haejin couldn’t stop the blade from coming for his belly, even though he was pushing back with all his might.

But then, the cat, which had been lying on the ground, stood up and lunged at the man’s face.

“Aak! Go away! Go away!”

The man didn’t let go of the knife even though the cat was clawing at his face. However, his arms lost their strength.

Haejin blocked the knife and kicked the man’s balls while he was distracted by the cat.

“Khuk!”

Even though he had been brainwashed and was as strong as a Winter Soldier, since he was a man, there was nothing else he could do.

He fell to the ground. Haejin kicked his face as if it were a soccer ball. That was the end.

“Pant… pant…”

The cat had backed off the moment Haejin kicked the man’s balls. It was standing next to Haejin.

Haejin didn’t need to worry about what to do with this cat. He knew the magic would end soon, so he quickly moved to the metro station.

However, the cat didn’t follow Haejin. It kept looking at the fallen man.

After Haejin left, he suffered in pain for some time. When he got up, the cat slowly went to him.

“Don’t, don’t come!”

The man realized its hostility was aimed at him. He managed to stand up and stepped back.

The cat locked his eyes on him. The man soon turned around and ran.

“Don’t come! Don’t come!”

He was an entirely different man from when he had appeared in front of Haejin. He ran as if he was possessed by something. His pupils shook like he has seen something terrible. It showed that there was something wrong in his mind.

The man kept running and jumped into an eight-lane road. And…

Screeech!

Bam!

His body was hit by a 1-ton truck and flew into the air.

After Haejin returned from the battle to the death(?), he threw up because of the mana exhaustion and collapsed.

When he woke up, it was afternoon.

“He was mad, he came after me with a knife…”

Haejin had casted the magic to be careful, and it saved his life. If he had met that man with his guards down, he would not have survived.

With a heavy heart, he took a shower and headed to the museum. There was something waiting for him at the very alley where the fight had occurred.

It was that black cat. It was sitting on the wall and looked at Haejin. The difference was that it didn’t look as hostile anymore.

Haejin kind of liked the cat as it had helped him yesterday.

However, he didn’t go closer just in case and walked away. Then, the cat followed him.

“Good afternoon, sir. Huh? It’s the cat!”

Jisu greeted Haejin and saw the cat behind him.

“Really? This is the cat that broke in yesterday?”

“Yes, but why is it following you?”

“I don’t know.”

If it had felt ominous, Haejin would have kicked it out, but it didn’t. The cat leisurely lay at the entrance where the sunlight came in.

Jisu spoke to the staff next to her.

“Eunjeong, could you buy some cat food from a nearby convenience store?”

Eunjeong then crouched in front of the cat.

“Okay. You are so pretty. What’s your name?”

Haejin couldn’t help but smile at seeing this. The cat’s eyes had no emotion, but he knew it was there to protect him.

Two days passed in a flash, and the opening day for Park Haejin Art Museum finally arrived.

“I know it’s the first time. Of course, you can make mistakes. However, you don’t need to be nervous. Just explain what you know. Okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

After that short speech, they opened the front door. Then, people started flooding in.

They had sold the tickets online and, as they sold a limited number of tickets for each time slot, although there were a lot of people, the museum was not that full.

“Khmm… is that Picasso?”

“Oh, it’s really great.”

It was strange. Even though the tickets had been sold online, all the people who came in were celebrities.

“Hello. Congratulations.”

“Oh, thank you for coming.”

Among the first guests were Do Eunchae and her husband. He was ashamed, so he said hello in a small voice and went somewhere else.

“Please understand. He is too ashamed to face you.”

Haejin could see why. If he hadn’t been blinded by jealousy, they would still have that buddha.

“However, there is nothing about that buddha in today’s exhibition.”

“Yes, we haven’t exhibited it yet. We thought it would disperse the attention, so we are going to take it out the next month.”

“Good strategy. Although there are more than enough to see already. But… there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

“Excuse me?”

Eunchae waved her hand to a man in his late 30s, who was a few meters away. He came closer, he was more than 180cm tall. He looked kind and very gentle.

“Hello. I am Lee Gangjun of Mirae Innovation.”

This was the Lee Jongmyeong’s rival. However, what was he doing here?

“Oh, nice to meet you. You are the executive director of Mirae Innovation, right?”

“Oh, you know me?”

“I happened to hear that you are a great man who will lead Mirae Corporate Group one day.”

“Haha, no, that’s just an exaggeration.”

He smiled and waved his hands. Eunchae then spoke.

“Actually, he wanted to meet you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. When he found out that you are also an appraiser, he said he had to ask you something.”

Haejin looked at Gangjun who carefully continued to speak.

“In fact, there’s something I must have appraised. Would it be possible?”

“What is it?”

“A painting of Park Sugon.”

At that moment, Haejin recalled the painting Jongmyeong had brought a while ago.