Artifact Reading Inspector

What was that about? It wasn’t like Haejin had been shown those paintings in advance…

“Remarkable, truly remarkable. I knew you would get this honor,” Ed Harper and his wife didn’t care that Haejin was confused. They just applauded for him.

“What the f…” Before Haejin could finish cursing, he saw Albert Harrington slowly walking out in the front from Cavani’s left side.

He had a relaxed smile on his face. He even shook hands with the people on his way.

“Wow… he isn’t even nervous.” Eunhae was surprised to see that.

However, Haejin forced himself to stand up and said, “No, he is just pretending. He is so nervous that he can’t even look at me in the eyes.”

Albert was showing off in every possible way, but he didn’t look at Haejin who was right in front.

It was possible that he didn’t want to look at Haejin because he had been proved to be a lesser appraiser, but Haejin thought he was nervous.

Haejin could feel Albert glancing at him, although it was just for a short second.

Aristocrats on the first floor and celebrities on the ground floor applauded as Haejin slowly walked up to Cavani di Medici.

“I wouldn’t have been so shocked if you had told me in advance,” Haejin whispered, clearly not happy about it.

However, Cavani just smiled warmly, “It is not like you will use scientific methods, so knowing in advance wouldn’t have mattered. A person’s intuition is always the strongest and the most accurate when you see the object for the first time. If I had shown you these in advance and given you time to think, you would have made mistakes. Even the most skillful people make mistakes when the crowd is watching.”

It sounded as if he wanted Haejin to make a mistake. Haejin sighed, but as there was no way to escape this now, he decided to enjoy it.

“Well, okay, but let’s talk about money first. My fee is 1% of the price, but there has to be more for this kind of show.”

“So how much do you want?” Cavani asked.

“10%.”

Haejin could see Cavani’s facial muscles, that had been smiling all the time, trembling slightly.

“10%? Do you know how much that painting is?”

“Do you think I don’t know?” Haejin asked back.

Cavani then said, “Haha, okay. I will lose some money, but it would be entertaining enough.”

The paintings had to be worth at least tens of billions of won, but Cavani coolly said yes right away.

Haejin nodded, told Eunhae to get the contract, and went down to the ground floor.

Albert and a painting covered with a red cloth were waiting on the dais. As Haejin went up, Albert whispered to him, “Today will be different.”

Normally, Haejin would have said good luck, but he was so fed up with the arrogance of those aristocrats that he couldn’t say anything nice, “It won’t be easy… well, I guess you can try if you want, but don’t go home crying if you lose again. It would be embarrassing.”

Albert’s face turned red at this. He tried to say something, but then he stopped. He couldn’t be seen arguing in front of so many important people.

After Haejin went up the dais, the auctioneer talked on the microphone.

“I know you must be wondering about Mr. Park Haejin from Korea. So, I will introduce him first.”

She stopped, looked around with a smile, and then continued.

“As you can see, this handsome man is famous for being a genius appraiser in Korea. He is known to be the appraisal counselor of the Arab Emirate’s Abu Dhabi family. He is also working as a counselor of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.”

She was talking as if she was announcing the name and weight class of a wrestler before a match. What was funny was that Haejin had never heard before that he was the appraisal counselor of the Arab Emirate’s Abu Dhabi family and the counselor of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

He really wanted to go to her and say that what she just had said was untrue, but he endured and waited for her to finish.

“And most of all, he has his own art museum. The museum even has Picasso’s painting that wasn’t known before. You must be recalling what you saw on the news about it.”

The celebrities exclaimed.

“Oh…”

However, Haejin didn’t care. He just stared at the painting with his arms crossed, without any expression.

He wasn’t trying to look through the red cloth and see the painting. He was just waiting for the lady to finish what she was doing.

However, she spent another five minutes to introduce Albert.

He was a great appraiser, much better than Haejin had thought. He had been given the Royal Brooch from the appraisal committee in England, which is given only to the best appraisers, and he was also a member of the high appraisal committee of the French artifact appraisal institution.

He had appraised hundreds of artifacts, and hundreds of artifacts worth millions of dollars had been sold on auction thanks to him.

Haejin could see why he was so confident about his skills.

Additionally, because of the beautiful auctioneer’s compliments, Albert got back his ego. Now, he was able to look at Haejin and smile.

“Can we look at the painting now?” Haejin found it so boring that he whispered to the auctioneer.

She looked back in surprise and then smiled, “I think this gentleman’s legs are in pain. Let’s try to understand. He can find this situation overwhelming.”

She walked forward, grabbed the red cloth that covered the painting, and looked around again. Then she slowly pulled it, smiling mischievously.

“Oooh…”

“Amazing…”

“Raphael? Is it Raphael’s?”

Haejin was shocked, but not because of the painting itself. There was another painting behind it.

He had never heard of two paintings being sold on auction at the same time. He looked at the auctioneer, who then winked at him.

“These two paintings are not the two paintings that will be on auction. Only one of them will be sold today,” the woman said.

Haejin couldn’t see why she was doing that. Others couldn’t understand it, either. Someone on the ground floor raised her hand and asked, “Then which painting will be on auction?”

“It is up to you and the other guests,” the auctioneer answered.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Mr. Harrington and Mr. Park will each appraise one painting. You should listen to them and bid for the painting you want. And one of them will be sold to the person who offers the most.”

So, she was saying only one of the two paintings were about to be sold…

“Then, is one of them fake?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they are both fakes. You have 10 minutes.”

It was more of an event than a charity auction.

However, she said it would start in ten minutes, not immediately. Haejin thought it was strange, but the moment that was said, the guests started to bet.

They were betting on which painting was fake, and it was so ridiculous and shocking to Haejin that he stared at them for some time.

The Medici were putting on a show with the appraisers for this event, but whether they were wagering or not, the profit of this event was going to be used for the poor children, so Haejin decided to understand and get along with it.

The two paintings were both drawings. Albert’s drawing showed a naked man giving a huge goblet to a woman with a baby angel in his arms.

On the other hand, Haejin’s drawing depicted a half-naked woman with a long wind instrument. She was looking away.

They seemed to have a similar line, but Albert’s drawing had been drawn with red chalk while Haejin’s had been drawn using a pen and brown ink.

“I’ve heard about those paintings! They are both Raphael’s!”

“No, the one on the right is Fra Bartolomeo’s. I’ve seen his drawings before.”

People started to debate about which painting was more valuable, using all the knowledge about art they had.

The beautiful auctioneer just stood there and watched them talking. Five minutes later, she started speaking again.

“The appraising begins now. First… Mr. Harrington?”

Albert slowly walked to the front, stood in front of the painting, and started to explain.

“Look at this perfect proportion of the body. I cannot help exclaiming. Before I appraise it, I must say that I feel humble when I meet a great work of art like this. I am so small in front of such a masterpiece.”

He looked down and then continued.

“You must have noticed what this drawing means. Psyche, who just married her love Cupid, is being given eternal life by Mercury. She is receiving the goblet of eternity and becoming a goddess. Look at the liveliness and beauty in each muscle. They are so impressive, and the perfectness of the lines reminds me of Raphael. Many artists used red chalk at the time, and so did Raphael. Let’s look at this thin neck, first.”

He analyzed the drawing and explained why it was Raphael’s for a long time.

After he was finished, the woman with the mike said, “Well, how was it? Do you think it will help you to decide?”

Everyone nodded satisfied. Then, the woman turned to Haejin.

“The guests here were looking forward to seeing you appraise, and I am also excited. So please, show us your skills.”

Haejin sighed and went to the painting.

“Hah… this painting is…”

Haejin then stopped and looked up. His eyes then met Cavani’s eyes. He was looking down on the first floor.

Actually, Haejin hadn’t paid attention when Albert appraised his drawing. He wasn’t going to appraise it himself, so he didn’t care about what Albert said.

He had been examining the drawing he was supposed to appraise, so finding out more about it wasn’t easy.

However, the problem was that he still didn’t know what this event was for.

Was he really supposed to announce what it was? He didn’t know.

He couldn’t finish his sentence, but the auctioneer gave him the answer instead of Cavani, “To appraise a work of art, you should focus on it. Shouldn’t you stop thinking about other things?”

She was right. Haejin nodded and said, “This drawing isn’t Raphael’s, and it isn’t Fra Bartolomeo’s, either.”

“Then, whose drawing is it?” Someone asked.

Haejin gave them the answer.

“It’s just… a forgery that was recently made.”