Artifact Reading Inspector

“Do you know me?” The priest asked politely in a crude Korean when Haejin looked at him in surprise.

“No, no. I’m sorry. I looked at you because I’ve never seen a foreigner priest, but you are extremely good-looking. You are the most handsome priest I know. Which cathedral do you work at? I’m a Catholic, too,” Haejin replied on purpose.

“Haha, I don’t live in Korea. I just came for a visit.”

“Oh, I see. But may I ask your name?” Haejin asked again.

“James Rodler. It’s Father James.”

“Okay, Father James. But where are you from?”

The handsome priest started to get irritated, but he kindly answered, “I am from London.”

Haejin then said, “London! I’ve always wanted to go there. Could you tell me the name of the cathedral you work at?”

James’ face hardened for a second, but then he smiled again, “I’m afraid I cannot tell you. I’m sorry.”

Haejin wanted to dig deeper, but he didn’t want James to be suspicious. He decided to stop there after saying, “Oh… I was going to visit you in London.”

“Would it be necessary to come to London to see me?” The priest asked.

“But I was going to go to London one day, for sightseeing,” Haejin replied.

“London is a great city. I hope you go there someday.”

“Thank you. Then goodbye.” Haejin bowed and casted a hearing magic on the black band around James’s waist. Then, Haejin looked into his eyes.

He thought James would react if he felt him use magic, but he just smiled, “Then…”

Haejin thought about asking for a blessing, but he dismissed the idea as James might feel something if he touched his body.

Haejin looked at the priest for some time and walked toward where he had come from when he was gone.

The strong smell of blood and intense heat from James made it clear. He was from the organization.

One good thing, which Haejin was curious about, was that he hadn’t been able to feel the spell Haejin had cast on him.

According to the conversation he had had earlier, the priest had realized that the young man had lost his magic, but why he himself couldn’t feel anything?

“Yeouido,” James got on a taxi and yelled.

“Please follow that car.” Haejin also took a taxi and followed him. He then arrived in front of an office in Yeouido.

Previously, the priest was walking with ease, but now, he would always look back. The place had to be important.

Haejin was even more curious as he hadn’t said anything in the taxi.

“Thank you. I will get off now.” A moment after Father James went into the building, Haejin got off from his taxi and slowly walked to the coffee shop on the ground floor of the building.

He didn’t even know where James was going yet, so he thought going up after him was a bad idea.

He ordered a cup of coffee and sat down. His hearing spell finally started to tell him something.

[He is completely ruined. He cannot recover.]

[Oh… then we must lose the chosen one like this… where is the manager of the East Asia region? Haven’t you found him yet?]

[I am sorry. He is still missing.]

[Anyway, he couldn’t have ruined his own magic. What about the other one?]

[He left some traces, but it won’t be easy. And yet…]

[And yet?]

[I don’t know if this is connected to the matter, but there is a cub goslan in an art museum of Bukcheon, Seoul.]

Haejin’s heart sank. He knew that cub goslan had to be the black cat which had been protecting his museum.

[Are you saying a cub goslan is not leaving that museum?]

[It’s more than that. I watched for some time, and it looked like it was living there. The workers of the museum were feeding it.]

[No way… they never wander around without a master…]

[I think the other chosen one works there.]

Haejin had changed his looks with illusion magic not to reveal himself, and it was all in vain…

[Go to that museum immediately and find him. He won’t be able to use his powers if you have this. You must capture it.]

This? It looked like there was some kind of item that could control magic. Haejin would have never found that out if he hadn’t casted the hearing magic on James, so he had avoided great danger.

[Don’t worry. I will capture the beast.]

The conversation ended there. Haejin immediately left the coffee shop, got a taxi, and waited.

Father James came out after about five minutes. Haejin couldn’t see any item, therefore James had to be hiding it under his cloak.

He got a taxi and moved. He was heading to Bukchon. The priest soon arrived at Haejin’s museum, but he didn’t move right away. Instead, he went into the nearby coffee shop and waited.

Haejin didn’t know why he was waiting like that, but he also waited, watching him from afar.

Finally, around 6 p.m. when the sun started to set, James started to move.

Snap! Snap!

James snapped his fingers on a strange rhythm. It looked strange and cool at the same time.

But…

Snap! Snap snap!

That rhythm disturbed Haejin. It made him feel nauseous…

“Up!” Haejin covered his mouth with his hand and quickly hid. He wanted to throw up. That strange rhythm was changing the flow of his mana.

He immediately stopped the hearing magic and calmed himself down. His mana went back to normal after about five minutes. He then ran to the museum.

He was worried that something might have happened to Eunhae or the others, but something strange was going on at the entrance.

The cat was about to attack, with its tail erected high, and the priest in black was glaring at it coldly like a statue.

They were staring at each other as if they were looking at their worst enemy. Just as Haejin was about to lunge in, James took out a long silver necklace. Then, he snapped his fingers and swung the necklace with that strange rhythm.

“Kaoo!” The black cat, which had been so nimble, started moving slowly as if it were about to die. The silver necklace maimed it.

The moment it turned red with blood, Haejin’s feet struck James’s side.

Bam!

James flew back as if he had been hit by a car. The priest then smashed into an old wall to the point where a crater was formed because of the impact.

Before he could gather his senses, Haejin put a hand on his head and recited a spell.

James spat blood, he then opened his mouth to say, “Gera de idiyahara…”

It was to thwart Haejin’s mental possessing magic, but he had little mana. So, he couldn’t stop Haejin.

“What is your name?” Haejin asked.

“Dier Mistrie,” the priest replied.

“Who do you work for?”

“Trinitatis.”

Trinitatis… it meant trinity in Latin.

“Which are the three things of the trinity?” Haejin then asked.

The priest then said, “Great One, word, and power.”

“Why are you after me?”

James wriggled for a moment at this, but then, continued to talk, “Chosen one. We need him to find the lost land.”

“And what happens if you find that land?” Haejin thought he was going to say the treasure would make them rich, but his answer was way beyond that.

“The Chosen One’s power does not belong only to him. We need that power to rule the world,” the priest replied.

That line would belong to an anime for children. However, it was frightening because Haejin knew it was not impossible.

“How many of you are in Korea now?” Haejin then asked.

“Three.”

“And the other’s names?”

“Novice Andro Boiase and High Priest Paulo… Paulo… Lo…” Dier was stammering as if he were video being streamed with a bad internet connection.

“Hey! Dier Mistrie!” The moment Haejin thought something was wrong, Dier’s body started to heat up, “Shit!”

The moment Haejin quickly backed off, a fire appeared on his chest and quickly spread to the entire body. It was a fire that couldn’t be put off with water. He was writhing in pain.

Haejin quickly looked around. Luckily, he had broken all the CCTVs around the area and had casted an illusion magic at the entrance so that no one could see what was happening there.

A few pedestrians just saw the vacant entrance of the museum because of the illusion magic.

After ten minutes of time, which could be both long and short, only grey ash remained were Dier Mistrie had been.

The fire had been so strong that it didn’t leave a single piece of bone. It had to be magic. Haejin wondered how they had casted such magic on him.

He dismissed the illusion from the magic and went to the cat. To his surprise, it was still breathing.

He quickly picked it up and ran to his car. As there was a huge vet’s office nearby, the cat could survive if it was lucky.

But just when he was about to drive out of the alley, he saw something shining on the floor.

He was about to ignore it, but then he recalled Dier’s silver necklace and stopped the car.

He ran there, and it really was the necklace. It had flown out of Dier’s hand when Haejins kicked him.

“It wasn’t just necklace, after all.”

He could feel pressure on his chest when he held it. It was as if someone or something was pressing his body.

He couldn’t leave it there, so he threw it in his car and drove. He had to save the cat first.

“What happened?” Eunhae asked in surprise at seeing Haejin with the cat in his arms the next day. She was surprised because the cat was literally wrapped in bandages.

“Some maniac attacked him. Please take care of him. Don’t let anyone else do it,” Haejin replied.

As it was not an ordinary cat, he thought he couldn’t leave it at the vet’s office.

“Okay, but are you busy today?” Eunhae asked.

“Why? Is there something coming up?” Haejin asked.

“Actually, yes. Do you remember Mrs. An Haewon?”

“Oh, the prime minister’s wife?”

Eunhae confirmed, “Yes. The person who sold that painting to her arrived, saying she can’t accept what you said about her.”

“Just send her back. It’s too bothersome.”

Haejin would have faced that woman normally, but now he was too tired. He didn’t realize that yesterday as he had been too tense, but after a day, he felt so tired.

“It’s… not that easy. She brought the appraisers of the Korea Appraisal Committee with her.”