Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 83: Eight Weird Artists of Yangzhou (3)

Of course, Haejin knew. However, as it was another painting from the Eight Weird Artists of Yangzhou, it probably was real, therefore Haejin couldn’t understand why Misuk was so nervous.

“Of course. The painting they tried to sell to Mrs. Hyeonjeong was Wang Sasin’s Black Ume Flower.”

“Wang Sasin’s Black Ume Flower? They had such a thing? Then, they should have brought it to me first…”

Sungjun frowned, he was offended. That was even stranger. Normally, merchants try to sell as much as possible at once. No merchant prefers to sell one by one.

“Anyway, I’ll take a look after the meal.”

“Good. Hey! Go and bring me Jeong Pangyo’s painting I bought a while ago.”

Sungjun ordered an employee who had been watching from afar. He said yes and disappeared.

They returned to the living room after a very uncomfortable dinner. The employee appeared with a painting carefully set in a frame.

“This is what I bought from them.”

Most of Jeong Pangyeo’s paintings were of bamboo trees. What is awesome is that all those bamboos in the painting gave a different feeling.

Some were drooped low, some were standing upright. Some were dancing to the wind, and some only had dried branches as if they were about to die.

The painting was clearly old and showed Jeong Pangyeo’s unique lively bamboo trees. Anyone would have thought it was real.

“It is good.”

“Yes, it’s a good painting.”

Haejin pretended to lightly stroke the painting and used magic.

“Bamboo trees and rock are standing in harmony, so it might as well be for your long life.”

“Oho… really?”

Sungjun didn’t think of that. He smiled.

“Bamboo tree is juk(竹) in Chinese letters, and it is pronounced similar to chuk(祝), to wish. And, rock is one of the Ten Immortal Beings. It represents long life. So, this painting has the meaning of wishing for a long life. Although it looks like Bamboo and Rock Painting, it is also Wishing for Long Life Painting. Although you are too healthy to need this yet.”

“No, no… I’m losing my energy, I can feel it. It has gotten worse after you hid that buddha.”

He was so narrow-minded. At least he wasn’t blaming Haejin, he just sounded a little upset. So, Haejin replied with a joke.

“If your energy is leaving you because of such a small problem, then you do have a problem.”

“I was going to recover my energy by eating something good, and the painting I happened to buy is for wishing me a long life. It can’t be better than this.”

Sungjun laughed. Haejin wondered whether he should tell him the truth. According to what he had seen through magic, the painting was fake.

It was a delicate forgery, Haejin had been almost fooled by it. No, it was an imitation rather than a forgery.

An artist bought Jeong Pangyeo’s painting when he was working at Yangzhou and imitated it.

As the painting was drawn by a skillful artist right next to the real painting, it was good enough to be sold to anyone, but the problem was that those who had sold it probably knew it was fake.

If it hadn’t been for Misuk’s shaking eyes, Haejin would have thought it was real, but he used magic because of it and found out the truth… so at least Misuk knew it was fake.

Haejin glanced at Misuk. She blinked repeatedly, begging. Very secretly so that her husband wouldn’t find out.

“Khmm… anyway, congratulations on getting a good painting.”

“Oh, right. You said that FFS man’s wife bought Wang Sasin’s painting?”

“No, she didn’t. She just said she would think about it. As it is worth a hundred million, of course, she needs to think about it.”

“She can’t be concerned about money. That woman’s father is Handong Newspaper’s owner. As she grew up in a rich family, she is famous for spending money. She wouldn’t mind spending a hundred million… is there another reason?”

This man knew about all kinds of people.

“Haha, actually, as she only enjoyed western paintings, she was quite reluctant to buy an eastern painting.”

“Huh! That woman doesn’t know a thing about paintings… she thinks paintings should be red, yellow, and be drawn with oil. She isn’t good enough to enjoy this quiet and still atmosphere.”

It wasn’t like Sungjun only liked eastern paintings and hated western paintings. Most of the paintings at his mansion’s hallway were western paintings. He just didn’t like the attitude of insisting on western paintings.

“Eastern paintings are quiet and not messy.”

Sungjun nodded and sat down. Haejin also sat down. Misuk and Hyoyeon, who looked a lot better now, sat with them.

From now on, the real reason why Haejin had been called here would be revealed.

“Today, Eunhae submitted her resignation. Did you know?”

“Really? I had no idea.”

Haejin denied it for now. Sungjun lightly tapped on his armrest.

“Hmm… before she stepped down, she did something very troublesome. I thought that was your idea.”

“What is that?”

Sungjun stopped talking and looked into Haejin’s eyes. However, he wouldn’t be able to find out anything. Haejin had casted an illusion magic on his eyes to hide his nervousness.

Sungjun couldn’t read anything on Haejin’s eyes. He continued.

“She has leased all the artifacts in the gallery to museums abroad.”

“That’s serious. Then, what about the museum’s exhibition?”

Haejin tried to not overreact.

“That’s not a big problem. She leased little by little for a long period.”

“Then, there’s no big problem, right? And, why do you think I gave her that idea?”

“You really don’t know?”

Sungjun asked calmly. Haejin’s heart dropped. The leader of the biggest corporation of Korea was remarkable indeed, his gaze alone was enough to make Haejin feel like being scanned from the bottom to the top.

He told himself that he should believe in his magic and be bold. He asked back.

“Being so sure that I would know is even stranger. Is there something I do not know?”

Sungjun thought about it and shook his head.

“No. Hmm… if you really haven’t given that advice to Eunhae, could you do me a favor?”

“A favor?”

“My wife will explain the details. It’s been a good conversation. I hope to see you sometimes.”

“I’ll make an arrangement.”

Usually, people would try to immediately arrange an appointment or a meeting, but Haejin said that just to be polite.

“Okay. I’ll wait.”

He didn’t have to… anyway, Sungjun left after that. His wife, his daughter and Haejin were left in the living room.

Misuk made the employees go away and opened her mouth.

“As my husband said…”

Haejin interrupted her.

“Before that… don’t you have something to tell me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think you do have something to tell me.”

Misuk frowned and spoke in a low voice.

“Mr. Park Haejin, do you know where you are now?”

Haejin had thought she would act like that. However, she shouldn’t have pleaded like that earlier.

“Then, would it be okay if I tell Mr. Vice Chairman that the painting is fake?”

Misuk was shocked. She couldn’t say anything. Hyoyeon then raised her voice.

“What nonsense are you talking about? You’re saying the painting my dad bought is a fake?”

“Lower your voice!”

Misuk stopped her before Haejin could say anything. Then, she glared at Haejin.

“What do you mean? It’s fake?”

“It is fake… weren’t you pleading me to not tell him? I took it that way.”

Strictly speaking, Misuk didn’t plead or beg. She rather hoped for Haejin to not realize the truth. On the other hand, Haejin had taken it as pleading.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Then, I can tell your husband, right?”

Misuk bit her lips, she couldn’t answer. Hyoyeon spoke for her mother.

“Would my dad be glad to hear that? If he finds out that you have lied to him earlier, he will hate you even more.”

“You misunderstood. I never said it was really Jang Pangyeo’s painting. I just said it was good.”

“Doesn’t that mean the same thing?”

Hyoyeon stood up in anger, but she couldn’t raise her voice because of her shocked mother.

“No. Although it is not Jang Pangyeo’s, it is a good painting. It’s an imitation that was drawn right next to the real one, so it has Jang Pangyeo’s line.”

“Huh… then there’s no proof that it’s fake?”

“There’s no signature. If it was Jang Pangyeo’s, why does it have no signature?”

“That’s… painting without signatures can also be real…”

She started to babble.

“Yes, but in Jang Pangyeo’s Qing period, all artists left their signature.”

“Then, then does it make sense to make a fake and not forge the signature?” She even spoke for the frauds.

“That happens when the painting wasn’t painted to be sold as paintings. Practicing by imitating is one of the oldest methods of learning painting.”

Hyoyeon couldn’t say anything more. Misuk dragged her arm to make her sit down, and she admitted it.

“I’m sorry. Please do not tell my husband.”

Just as Haejin had thought. She already knew that it was fake, but she still bought it. There was only one possible reason: she was planning to get some secret funds.

“Then, what can I get?”

“What do you want?”

Receiving black money wouldn’t do him any good.

“I’ll think about it and tell you later. I can’t think of anything now.”

“If you want money, I’ll pay you.”

“I don’t want money. It’s not like I cannot support myself… where were we earlier? Did you say you want to ask me a favor?”

Misuk frowned and sighed.

“Hu… yes. My daughter is going to manage Saeyeon Gallery from now on, and the first thing she’ll do is a Baroque special exhibition. My husband wants you to help her with it.”

“Mr. Vice Chairman is very generous. He must have been very offended about the buddha, but he called me again…”

“He likes talented people.”

Of course not, Sungjun had to be up to something. However, Haejin couldn’t refuse now, so he thought it would be alright to go along with that.

“Fine. How can I help?”

“It’s simple, I want you to help her select artifacts. It used to be Eunhae’s job.”

“Then, will Ms. Hyoyeon accept everything I say?”

“She’ll accept what she should, and not what she shouldn’t…”

In short, she wanted Haejin to act like Hyoyeon’s servant. Of course, he waved his hand before she finished talking.

“That can’t be. It’s not like I am Ms. Hyoyeon’s employee…”

“That’s how all the other consultants work.”

“Then, hire those consultants instead. It means even if I tell her everything I know, she can still ignore me if she doesn’t like it. I don’t want that.”

“My daughter should be the leader in this.”

Misuk said determinedly, she couldn’t back off.

That was irritating. Haejin thought about leaving, but he couldn’t just refuse without a reason because of Sungjun, so he changed his mind.

“Hmm… fine. What about the contract?”

“We’ll give you a hundred million won. By officially signing a contract with Saeyeon Gallery.”

It means they were going to spend the gallery’s money instead of their own.

“No, I don’t want to make a contract like that. I’ll appraise by receiving a fee for every painting. Will you accept it?”

Misuk looked astonished.

“You do know that there are more than a hundred artifacts to appraise, right?”

“If you can’t do that, I can appraise the ones that have to be appraised.”

Would Eunhae be able to select the artifacts that have to be appraised?