Artifact Reading Inspector-Chapter 188 - Terms of Return of Artifacts (5)

More accurately, Man Cheon Myeong Wol Ju In Wong means ‘although there is only one moon and there are ten thousand flowing streams, when the moon is reflected on the water, it is both on the stream in front and the stream in the back. When there are ten thousand streams, there are ten thousand moons. However, there is only one moon up in the sky’.

The streams meant the people, and the only moon meant the writer.

It might sound arrogant, but as the writer was king Jeongjo, Haejin could understand it.

“King of Joseon… then it must be quite important to you.”

Fina nodded, but she was just considering Haejin’s situation, not admiring the painting itself.

As she knew almost nothing about eastern paintings, Haejin didn’t feel offended.

She must have had reasons to study Asian porcelains as they had great influence in Europe, but compared to porcelains, eastern paintings are much lesser known.

Even though Japanese paintings used to have an influence on European art, it alone didn’t require appraisers to study Chinese and Korean paintings.

Of course, there were some western appraisers who had studied eastern paintings, but at least Fina wasn’t one of them.

“As I already know it’s here, I cannot leave it here. I’d like to get it back along with the Henderson Collection.”

Fina looked at Angelica as she couldn’t give any answer herself.

“Give us time until tomorrow evening,” Angelica replied.

She was half bought now.

Haejin then said, “No, the plane leaves tomorrow morning.”

“But there’s no reason to rush like that.”

Haejin continued, “I am very busy, I don’t even know if I would be able to come back to America. And even if I come back, I might not be able to come to Boston. Time? Stop thinking your president’s time is gold and my time is not. You may not know it yet, but my appraisal fee is the highest in the world. Additionally, I have examined all of these artifacts. It means you have traded the Henderson Collection with money that is way beyond your imagination.”

“…”

Angelica and Fina couldn’t believe it. Their jaw dropped, and they couldn’t say anything.

Haejin continued to press them, “Don’t even think that you can make the decision after I go back to Korea. So, the moment I tell you what the ten-million-dollar artifact is, I will simply take the painting. Of course, your museum should take care of the legal procedures.”

“That’s, that’s…”

“Why don’t you stop arguing with me and run to your president? We won’t see each other again after this evening,” Haejin said.

Angelica hesitated, but she soon turned around and left.

Fina looked at her as she walked away and glanced around the storage.

“Impressive. You charge more than any other appraisers… I had no idea.”

“You will get to find out in time,” Haejin replied.

“Yes, unless you are lying. Although Albert Harrington will be shocked if he finds out about this.”

Haejin knew that Albert Harrington.

He had been given the royal brooch, which was given to only the best appraiser in the UK’s appraisal committee, and he was a High Appraisal Member of France’s antique appraisal institution.

They had a first bad encounter, but in the end, they had parted as friends. Haejin hadn’t known he would get to hear Albert’s name in the storage of Harvard University.

“Albert Harrington… are you talking about Albert of Britain’s Harrington family? High Appraisal Member of France’s antique appraisal institution and private appraiser of the Medici family…”

“Oh, but how do you know him?” Fina asked while being genuinely shocked.

Her face even started to get strangely distorted.

“I’ve met him, at a charity auction event of the Medici. He was a little arrogant, probably because he was a nobleman, but he wasn’t that bad,” Haejin answered.

“Oh, yes, right?”

Judging from her reaction, she didn’t even know Harrington personally.

Haejin continued, “I know he is quite famous in Europe. Well, I didn’t know when I met him for the first time… anyway, what I can tell you is that he never protests about my appraisal. And about my fee, of course.”

“…”

Fina couldn’t say anything. She pretended to look at the artifacts around her and left in a hurry after a short goodbye.

“Anyway, it has been nice to get to know you. I hope we get to meet again someday.”

After that, Haejin ate lunch at the students’ dining hall and returned to the storage.

He was thinking that he would get a reply on that day, so he wanted to kill time at the storage, but there was someone waiting for him there.

“You must be Mr. Park. Please, call me Lionel.”

The man stretched out his hand.

As Angelica was standing behind him, he had to be the president of Harvard University.

“Nice to meet you. I guess you have heard from Ms. Angelica here about the offer I made?”

“Yes… actually, I never really liked this deal. But after hearing her story, I started to think this forced deal may not be all that bad.”

His own employee’s advice was much more persuasive than the opposing party’s offer.

Eunhae had said the president was against any more deals, but now, he was quite open to it.

“Okay then, let us go to see it.”

Haejin didn’t waste time. He immediately took Lionel to the artifact.

“Is this that magnificent artifact?” Lionel seemed to be confused at seeing a huge pot that looked like any pots in Buddhist temples of China and southeast Asia.

“Yes,” Haejin replied.

“Please, tell me what kind of artifact it is.”

Lionel sat down on a patio chair nearby and looked at Haejin.

Even though he knew almost nothing about antiques, he was the president of Harvard University. He had enough experience and knowledge to verify frauds.

“Shang Dynasty period is one of the times when bronze was produced in great quantities in China,” Haejin started explaining.

“Shang Dynasty? Isn’t that about B.C. 1500?”

Haejin confirmed, “Yes, this pot was made in the late days of the Shang Dynasty.”

“Huh… this is more than three thousand years old…”

Lionel stood up and examined the pot’s patterns carefully.

However, if examining carefully could give answers, experts wouldn’t be needed.

He looked up at Haejin asked, “Is this pattern on the surface what makes you think so?”

“No, it’s not about the pattern, but the letters engraved on the inside and at the bottom. These letters are called Myeong Mun (銘 文). They are even older than the oracle bone script.”

“I have heard of it! I must look…”

Lionel quickly turned on the flash in his phone and used it to look inside the pot.

Soon…

“Oh… this is that Myeong Mun. I’m seeing it with my own eyes… remarkable.”

Lionel was really admiring it.

Actually, it wasn’t the first time Haejin was seeing Shang Dynasty’s Myeong Mun. He had seen it a few times before when his father still robbed graves.

Funnily, he hadn’t known what those letters meant back then.

His father also didn’t know much about letters of the Shang Dynasty, so he sold it without giving any thoughts to it. Later, Haejin was so surprised to learn about them at university.

There had been a few artifacts he and his father could have sold at a much higher price if they had known they were from the Shang Dynasty.

Because of it, Haejin had been able to recognize the letters inside that old pot.

He couldn’t make the same mistake again.

“It has been preserved well and the letters have not faded. As China is eager to get artifacts like this, if you put it in Sotheby’s or Christie’s auction, it will get you at least ten million dollars.”

“Oh… yes, I’ve seen an artifact similar to this get sold at an extremely high price on Sotheby’s auction. However, I am not going to sell this.”

Lionel smiled and stood up.

Haejin then said, “Really? But it wouldn’t be bad to put it on auction, for your student’s scholarships…”

Ten million dollars was a huge sum of money.

Lionel could use that money for Harvard…

However, he just smiled and shook his head while saying, “There’s no need to do that. Thing like this happened before once, and someone from a museum in China came to us in secret.”

“Oh…”

“Anyway, we will preserve it well. Oh, and you want to take a painting in exchange for this artifact, right?”

“Yes,” Haejin confirmed.

“Good. You would have left without telling us about this if it hadn’t been for it.”

Actually, Haejin could have just told them because he did thank them for returning the Henderson Collection if they had been just a little nicer.

Although it didn’t matter at this point…

“Then please, finish the legal procedures before the next morning,” Haejin replied.

“Don’t worry about it. We will tell the customs, right?” Lionel was asking Angelica.

She quickly nodded, “Yes. I will prepare the papers and the move in the morning.”

“Good, good. Then it’s been my pleasure. I hope we meet again.”

Lionel left without taking a look at the painting Haejin wanted.

He was probably sure it wasn’t more expensive than the pot.

So, he was thinking there was no reason to bother to take a look at it, and in fact, he was right.

On auctions, Joseon paintings were shamefully cheap compared to Chinese antiques.

But it didn’t matter, it was a painting drawn by none other than king Jeongjo himself.

After the photographer Angelica brought finished taking the photos, Haejin took the painting and signed the contract.

“Excuse me, you are Mr. Park Haejin, right? I’m reporter Lim Haesol of Weekly Stars.”

“I’m reporter Oh Saejun of ABC. When you appraised Maeokdang Yu Hanwol’s painting, were you sure it was fake the moment you saw it?”

When Haejin arrived in Korea with the painting that had come through the customs, he was very puzzled.

It was because of the two reporters who started asking questions as soon as he came out of the gate.

It had to be about the program that had been broadcasted while he was in Korea, but he couldn’t understand why a reporter of Weekly Stars was here.

He just stared at them blankly until Eunhae showed up from somewhere and took his arm.

“I’m sorry, but he is a little busy now. Why don’t you send a request to the museum if you need an interview? We’ll look into it and set an appointment.”

Haejin and Eunhae escaped from them quickly and got on a car to head to Seoul.

“Was the program that shocking?” Haejin couldn’t help asking on the way.

“That Maeokdang Yu Hanwol is a powerful man. He has gotten himself a lawyer of huge law firm and is about to take legal actions,” Eunhae replied.

“Hmm… and that law firm took his case?”

Haejin thought it would be a trial which Maeokdang couldn’t win.

Eunhae then said, “I can’t understand that, either. Maeokdang can never win the case, but that law firm has agreed to work for him.”

“Really?”

Eunhae confirmed, “Yes, they have contacted me this morning. They wanted to meet you.”

“Wow, that Maeokdang must have some really powerful friends. But I don’t care, I’ll just testify again if they call me… you talk to that law firm’s lawyer,” Haejin replied.

“I thought you would not want to get a headache because of it. So, I’ve convinced them to talk to me instead.”

“It’s all settled, then.”

Eunhae then continued, “But that’s not important… someone has come to the museum, asking us to buy his antique.”

“He wants to sell an antique? To us?” Haejin asked.

“Yes… he said it was from North Korea.”