Artifact Reading Inspector-Chapter 168 - Dark Shadow (3)

Fortunately, Haejin didn’t have to go far. The man was staying at the Presidential Hotel in front of the city hall, and if Haejin was lucky, he was probably still going to be there.

Haejin parked near the hotel, bought a hat from a street vendor, put it on, and went into the hotel. As he was wearing jeans and a jacket, the hat looked like an odd addition to his look, but at least he wasn’t wearing a suit.

When he got close to room 1001, where the man was staying at, he saw a woman cleaning the floor. He wondered what he should do, but then he decided to go straight.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes? Can I help…” But then, her eyes turned dull.

“Could you go to room 1001 and say that you’ve left the cleaning equipment inside?” Haejin asked.

“Okay…”

Possessed by magic, she went to room 1001 and pressed the bell.

“Who is it?”

Haejin couldn’t help smiling at hearing the voice. He had thought the man would have actually already left, and Haejin was going to follow his tracks…

Was he thinking that his fraud hadn’t been revealed yet? Or was he thinking that he could get away with it even if someone came after him as he had magic?

“I left some cleaning equipment inside. May I come in?”

If the man had been just a little calmer and sensitive, he would have thought that the cleaning woman’s voice was too stiff to be normal, but thankfully, he wasn’t that thorough.

“Oh… how bothering…”

When the door was opening, Haejin kicked the door himself. He had already used the strength enhancing magic on himself.

Bam!

The cleaning lady immediately fainted and collapsed. Haejin then saw the man rolling on the floor. He closed the door and went to him.

“What, what the…” the man’s naked body could be seen beneath his hotel gown.

“Oh, my eyes… and… what, now?” The man wasn’t alone. There were two women covering their bodies with the blanket on the bed. They were also shocked and didn’t know what to do.

Haejin immediately made them sleep and turned to the man, “Hey!”

The young man waved his hand, and the small lamp next to the bed flew to Haejin.

However, Haejin didn’t panic, maybe because he had already fought with the man with the long hair before. He grabbed the lamp and smashed the man’s head with it.

“Aaaak!” Unlike before, he seemed ill. His face was pale, and his legs were shaking. He must have received a great shock when Haejin broke his spell.

“I am not going to ask you twice. Actually, I don’t have to ask, but I’m just checking, so be honest. How did you get magic?” Haejin asked.

“Fu, fxxk you!”

It didn’t seem like he was going to confess. So, Haejin punched his face with his enchanted fist.

His cheekbone was broken with that one blow, and he passed out. Haejin put his hand on the man’s earring and used magic to look into the past.

Thankfully, the earring had no magic. If it actually had magic, the man would have died because of the mana explosion.

Haejin then ripped off his necklace.

The necklace… it had a huge jade embedded on it. It was the item that had enabled him to use magic.

Haejin could feel a great amount of mana as soon as he grabbed it. The man hadn’t been able to use even half of its power. It was good.

Haejin put his hand on the man’s chest and injected some mana.

“Khuk!” His chest went up as if he was being electrocuted, but then he fainted again.

The man was never going to be able to use magic again.

Haejin had destroyed the mana in his heart, so he would probably have to spend a few years in a wheelchair.

“Ah…” Haejin stood up, but then the world spun. Even though his mana had increased, he had used too much magic in such a short time. He was momentarily feeling dizzy.

As soon as he recovered, he called someone.

“Huh? What is it? Why did you call me?” It was Hyoyeon.

“I have great news for you. Send your people to room 1001 of the Presidential Hotel. I have the man you are looking for.”

“What? Really? And the money? What did he do with the money?”

“You should ask him that yourself. Don’t ask me,” Haejin replied.

“But how did you know he was there?” Hyoyeon then asked.

“Don’t ask… you’d better send your people quickly. I’m about to leave, and I beat him up. Take care of it.”

Hyoyeon said, “Wow, you are tough. Anyway, okay. I will send people immediately. Can’t you stay there until they get there?”

“No. How can I trust you?” Haejin asked.

“What, you think I will stab you from behind?”

“Who knows? Anyway, I’m leaving. Oh, and there are two sleeping ladies here, so find a way to use them. They will still be sleeping if your people arrive in 10 minutes,” Haejin replied and hung up.

He then immediately left the hotel. He got in his car and took out the necklace to take a look. Its splendid glow was beautiful.

“You haven’t lost your light,” Haejin commented.

Hassena had told him to only get artifacts that hadn’t been corrupted, but the mana he felt with his hand didn’t feel wrong at all.

The necklace would have been corrupted if he had been just a little late. Its stupid previous owner had left all kinds of traces ever since he got it, and the organization after the vestigiums had almost taken it.

Someone had helped SH Global smuggle in artifacts. The bank account where Hyoyeon had sent the money to also belonged to them.

The man was young, and if it hadn’t been for Haejin, he would have been in trouble.

No, it wasn’t over yet. The other members of SH Global would be here once they found out that one of them had been injured.

Haejin went home and then took out the necklace. It was really beautiful.

He caught his breath for some time and then put some mana into it, just like he had done before. Then, he fell down as if he were dead.

“Oh… he isn’t answering! I will make him pay for this…”

Oh Dongchun hung up and went into the hotel, sweeping up the few strands of hair he was left with.

He must have had a wild party with some girls, so Dongchun was worried about how to convince him to leave.

He wanted to beat him up, but the young man was the chosen one. He would kill Dongchun before his superiors could even punish him for that.

“Idiot… you don’t know whom you have messed up with…”

He had tricked the only daughter of the most powerful person in Korea, and now, he was playing with some girls in a hotel!

He was supposed to leave the country immediately, but he trusted his magic too much.

Dongchun got off on the tenth floor. But then, he realized something was not right. He stopped, took a deep breath, and looked into the hallway.

The door of room 1001 was open, and a buffy man in a suit was standing guard in front of it.

Dongchun took out a long stick and put on some earphones. Then, he carefully put down the stick on the floor, with its end pointing at the room. He then heard the conversation that was happening.

“You cleaned it all?”

“Yes.”

“And the ambulance?”

“It will be here in a minute.”

“He isn’t dead, right?”

“Yes. He has lost some blood, but not at all enough to die. But… he isn’t opening his eyes. He should have woken up by now.”

“Is he really okay? It doesn’t matter if he is dead, but we should call another team then. Tell me.”

“He isn’t dead.”

After hearing the conversation, Dongchun retrieved the stick and left the hotel through the emergency stairs.

“Hu… that idiot… I knew this would happen,” Dongchun kept cursing and then called someone. “The VIP is down.”

Dongchun had spoken Korean using the Chinese’s unique accent, but now he was speaking English with a British accent.

“No, the target was bad. He tricked the most powerful chaebol in Korea. I couldn’t do anything. I’m sorry. I know, I’m sorry. He isn’t dead yet. Although we will have to go to the hospital to know the details, he is certainly not dead. Yes, yes. Then I will see you then.”

Dongchun hung up. He didn’t know what to do for some time, but then he yelled, “Ahhhh!”

People looked at him, wondering if he was mad, but he didn’t care.

“That bastard! You should have died alone if you had a death wish. Why are you dragging me, too! Oh… if you die, I will really kill you.”

He steamed, but then he saw the ambulance arrive at the hotel. He got a cab and waited. When the ambulance left, he made the driver follow it.

When Haejin woke up, he caught his breath and checked his condition. After he absorbed the power of the necklace, he could feel a lot more mana swirling in his body.

He felt thrilled because of it. However, there was something else that surprised him even more.

The necklace had had more than just mana and new magic. It also had information about the forgotten continent, too.

“Antarctica…”

To his surprise, the land where the ancient race used to live was Antarctica, the frozen land where no one could live now.

Actually, Haejin didn’t care about finding traces of the old mankind and getting their power.

His dream was to live a long and happy life and retrieve the Korean artifacts that were abroad whenever he could afford to, so having more power was of no use to him.

However, there was one thing that bothered him. One of the legacies, the ancient race had left behind, was about the awesome power of finding all the treasures in the world.

Haejin could understand why that organization was trying so hard to find the legacy of the ancient race. If they could find it, it would be as if they found a gold mine with an unlimited supply of gold.

He wondered whether he was supposed to go to Antarctica to find it first or just live his life in peace, but then someone knocked on the door.

He stood up to open it, but then he realized that he was not expecting anyone.

The staff in his museum and Eunhae would never come without calling him first, even if they knew where he lived.

Byeongguk would have called if it was him, and Sujeong had a boyfriend now. She couldn’t come in the middle of the night like that.

There was no parcel he was waiting for, and the caretaker of the building had never come up like that.

He carefully checked who it was with the interphone, but then he almost fainted in shock.

Princess Hassena was standing there with a veil on her head.

“No way…”

Even though her hair was covered, those blue eyes were clearly Hassena’s.

Haejin quickly opened the door. Hassena was there with her eyes were full of tears. She looked at Haejin and then ran into his arms.

“What… what happened?”

Instead of answering, she buried her face in his shoulder.

“I missed you.”