Artifact Reading Inspector

After Haejin returned to Korea with Silvia, he bragged as much as he wanted about his achievements to Eunhae who was surprised to see he had earned a huge sum of money.

Haejin then said, “I think I must go on a long business trip. Are there any urgent matters? If there is, I should take care of it as soon as possible…”

“But it hasn’t been 24 hours since you came back from Italy! A long business trip? What is it about?” Eunhae asked.

Although the museum belonged to Haejin, he couldn’t just do anything he wanted with it.

Additionally, as he had hired Eunhae as its director, he had to respect her.

“It is about a personal matter. You know what I mean, right?”

“Then is it about… that magic thing? And that requires a long trip?” Eunhae made a guess.

“It is a very important matter to me, and it might not be just about me,” Haejin replied.

Eunhae thought about it and nodded, “Okay. Are you going to leave immediately?”

“No, I need some time. About a week.”

That week was preparation time to go to Antarctica.

Even though he could preserve his body temperature with magic, he couldn’t just go empty-handed.

He had to make some preparations. Choosing the route was one of them. He had to ask for Eric’s help with it. He had to ask for help as the forgotten relic was at the north pole. He had to choose between a boat or plane to get there.

The boat was usually used for exploring or sightseeing around Antarctica. As Antarctica is as huge as Australia, it wasn’t good for reaching the center of it. So, Haejin had to take a plane. Getting a plane itself wasn’t hard, but he needed help with shelter.

There was no hotel nor accommodation in Antarctica. So, most people just sleep and eat on their boat, but there is only one place near the north pole where you can stay at.

It was Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, United States scientific research station. So, Haejin was going to ask through Eric if he could rest there if he couldn’t find the relic immediately after his arrival at the north pole.

Now that he had a week’s time, he just had to ask Eric, but he didn’t know how he would answer.

“Are you going to go alone?”

“Of course,” Haejin replied.

Actually, he was going with Silvia. He planned to go alone at first, but Silvia insisted that she couldn’t let him go on his own.

Of course, Haejin allowed her to tag along only because she had some powers as well, although not as much as himself.

“Hmm… okay. Then, you should meet someone tomorrow before you leave,” Eunhae then said.

“Who?”

“Do you remember how we helped the prime minister’s wife?” Eunhae asked.

“Oh… yes, and?”

Eunhae explained, “She told about us to one of her senator friends. She is trying to retrieve an artifact in Japan through someone she knows, and she wants your help with it.”

“She is trying to retrieve an artifact in Japan?” Haejin asked.

Haejin was curious about that senator who was actually trying to do something good.

Actually, although he was trying to retrieve Korean artifacts, doing it on his own was hard.

It would be much easier with a senator at his side, so he was glad to hear that.

Eunhae continued, “She said she would share the details when you come back, so I haven’t received any information about the artifact. But judging from how they spoke of it, it probably is a painting.”

“A painting… is it from the Joseon period?” Haejin asked.

There were not many paintings left from before the Joseon period, even counting those which Japan had stolen.

So, it was only natural for Haejin to think about the Joseon painting.

“I don’t know. Anyway, is it okay to meet her tomorrow at lunchtime?” Eunhae asked.

“Sure.”

Haejin was exhausted. He then had a light meal with Eunhae and went home to sleep.

The next day, Haejin went to work just before lunchtime.

He had slept for about 16 hours, probably because he had been so tired, but when he woke up, his body was full of energy.

It appeared that Pierosa’s bracelet had somehow affected him.

“Here!” Eunhae came out of a restaurant room she had reserved for the meeting.

“I’m not late, am I?” Haejin asked.

No one else was inside yet.

“Yes, but they will be here soon. You look great, you looked so pale yesterday… was the trip that exhausting?” Eunhae asked.

“Yes, but I got okay after a long sleep. I guess I had been very tired, even if I slept and ate at good places. But who are we about to meet?” Haejin asked.

“Senator Go Eunjin of Daehan Party. She works at the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee,” Eunhae replied.

Haejin remembered seeing news about the committee.

“Education, Culture, and Sports Committee? Do they care about the retrieval of artifacts, too?”

“Yes, it looks like it,” Eunhae answered although she didn’t seem to know much, either.

Anyway, they waited like that, but the senator didn’t show up.

Eunhae called a few times, but she just kept saying she was almost there.

After about an hour, a group of people came in.

“Oh, you must have been waiting. But the traffic was so bad…”

The senator was followed by her aides. For a second, Haejin wondered if they were here for a business meeting instead of having lunch.

“There must have been many cars.”

Eunhae forced herself a smile and welcomed the senator, but Haejin was irritated at her attitude of not feeling bad about having them wait an hour.

So, he didn’t say hi and just stared at her with his arms crossed. Eunjin started to look embarrassed only then.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Senator Go Eunjin. You are Mr. Park Haejin, right?”

“Yes, but aren’t you supposed to at least apologize for being late for an hour? You don’t seem to have manners…”

The senator frowned, and one of her aides quickly spoke for her.

“Hey! Do you think we came late because we wanted to? We can be late as we work for the country, who do you think you are to speak like that?”

“What? Do you think I am here to be lectured like that? And who do you think you are to speak like that? Very funny. I’m here only because you have a favor to ask me. Ha… whatever, you should have your lunch without me,” Haejin replied.

Haejin had come with good intentions as the senator was trying to retrieve an artifact, but he was immediately disappointed by their attitude. He stood up.

Eunhae couldn’t stop him, but she didn’t know what to do. The senator straightened her face and grabbed Haejin’s sleeve.

“I’m sorry. The traffic was bad and there was nothing we could do about it. My aide was rude, wasn’t he? Although us senators get blamed a lot, we actually do a lot of things. So please, try to understand. I am really sorry.”

Haejin didn’t know if she really meant it, but at least she was apologizing and decided to sit down again. Then, Eunjin quickly introduced her aides.

“This is Mr. Yu Gwangil. He is smart and very capable. This is Mr. Jo Hyeoncheol. He has many friends and can do anything. And this is…”

She smiled as if nothing had happened and started eating.

When the dessert came out, she carefully started to talk.

“You must have heard some parts of this, but I am trying to bring back an artifact from Japan. But I must know if that is proper cultural heritage to decide whether to give up on it or try even harder. Then, I heard so much about you. You are very popular these days, right?”

“No, I’m not that popular,” Haejin replied.

Actually, Eunhae had told him that even more people came to the museum after he was on TV.

If he hadn’t gone to Europe, he would have been asked to be on a number of other programs.

The museum’s staff were a little disappointed to find out that Haejin was going on another trip after a week.

They said Haejin was missing a chance to be on TV again and promote the museum even more.

“Anyway, I was hoping you could help us…”

As she was asking for help with such a meaningful matter, Haejin had no reason to refuse.

“Okay, but what exactly is the artifact I should appraise?” Haejin asked.

“It is a painting of Gang Huieon. You know him, right?”

If you didn’t know about Gang Huieon, that meant you don’t know the art of the late Joseon period.

“Yes, but his paintings are very precious. How did you find out about it?” Haejin asked.

Compared to other Joseon artists, Gang Huieon left only a few paintings.

There were only 13 paintings left, but as most of them are owned by individuals, you cannot see them in museums or galleries.

Additionally, unlike western paintings that are made with oil, eastern paintings are painted with ink on paper, so they were not at all easy to preserve.

Unlike western paintings where discoloration with time wasn’t a problem, eastern paintings easily get discolored, so you can only enjoy them for some time.

Eunjin explained, “A friend in Japan told me. An old man, who has extremely valuable artifacts, is arranging his things to prepare for his death, and he is willing to sell the painting.”

That sounded probable enough.

“That’s good. If the painting is real, we should bring it back.”

Eunjin smiled and clapped, “Haha, thank you so much for your help. Actually, I really don’t know much about… ahaha!”

She was about to say she didn’t know much about art, but she just smiled embarrassingly. It made Haejin recall that she worked at the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee.

“I heard you work at the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee. And you are interested in this kind of business, too?” Haejin asked.

Yu Gwangil, one of the senator’s aide, replied instead, “Senator Go is interested in many things. She takes care of various opinions of her district’s residents herself and cares about such stolen artifacts. As she is a member of the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee, she is supposed to pay attention to artifacts.”

It made sense, but for some reason, Haejin had this bad feeling.

He wondered if the senator was trying to get political advantage by retrieving the painting, but as he knew nothing yet, he decided to accept the case.

Haejin then replied, “I see, okay. But I have things to do, so I must finish this within the week…”

“Yes, I’ve heard about it from Ms. Eunhae here. Then could you go to Tokyo tomorrow?” The senator asked.

As he had to go to Japan to appraise, going there wasn’t a problem.

Haejin was about to stand up after hearing about the schedule from one of the aides, but then he saw the senator sending a text to someone.

In a way, there was nothing wrong about it, but Haejin found it bothering because of the odd feeling he had been having.

In the end, he secretly casted a hearing spell on the senator, hoping that nothing was wrong…