Chapter 181: Star Appraiser (1)

“Gambling? But he works at Hwajin Electronics! How can he gamble? Does he even have the time to?” Haejin asked.

“I checked, and he has been fired more than a year ago for going to the casino during work time. He is completely crazy!” Eunhae replied.

“Why on earth did he do that after getting hired by that good company?” Haejin was confused.

Eunhae plopped down on the chair, clearly irritated, “Oh, it makes me so mad. Mr. Usik told me Saebom had gotten 500 million won from her parent’s insurance, and it turned out that uncle took all of it!”

Haejin commented, “Wow… he is hopeless. He used it all on gambling?”

“Yes, Mr. Usik is going to take steps to stop him from getting near Saebom,” Eunhae replied.

“Then she should be fine after selling that painting, right?”

Eunhae confirmed, “I guess so. Plus, there is some money her parents left that she didn’t know about until now. Although it isn’t much.”

Haejin pitied Saebom, but he had done all he could to help. Now, he could only hope for her to take care of herself.

Then, Eunhae snapped her fingers as if she just recalled something.

“Oh, and about the Henderson Collection…”

“Oh, yes. Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard about them coming back. Are those people from Harvard University still in Korea?”

Eunhae answered, “Yes. It looks like they are visiting every tourist spot in this country. It’s like they came to go sightseeing, not to negotiate. They have visited all the museums, including the National Museum, private museums in Bukcheon and Insadong, and even the ones in the far provinces.”

“But they are doing that with their own money, we don’t have to pay attention to that.”

Eunhae then continued, “But they asked me this morning when I thought you would be able to do it…”

“Oh… you mean the promise I gave about going to Harvard University’s museums to find the artifacts?” Haejin guessed.

“Yes, what else can it be?”

“Hmm… how are you these days?” Haejin suddenly asked.

“What?”

“Have you seen anyone suspicious around here? Or has anyone followed you?”

Eunhae smiled and waved her hand.

“Haha, no. I’ve warned our staff more than once. I’ve been asking them every day, and nothing’s wrong. So, you can go.”

Haejin replied, “Then tell them I will leave next week, about… Wednesday?”

“Okay, I’ll tell them so. What do you want for lunch today?” Eunhae asked.

It meant she wanted to have dinner with Haejin as if it was a date, but Haejin scratched his head and looked away.

“Sorry… I’m meeting someone.”

Eunhae was disappointed and asked, “Who is that someone?”

Actually, Haejin was going to meet Princess Hassena who had become Eran Silvia.

She had been avoiding meeting him as her face was still recovering from the surgery, so if she wanted to meet him, there had to be something going on.

“She knows about that organization that’s after me,” Haejin replied and although he wasn’t lying, he felt like he did.

“Oh… okay then.”

Haejin worked until lunchtime and then went to Gangnam where Hassena was staying at. Next, he received a call from an unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

“It’s me, Eran Silvia.”

“But why is the number different? Have you changed your phone number again?” Haejin asked.

“I’ve got myself a phone that won’t be tracked.”

“Wow… that’s remarkable. Even us locals can’t get burner phones in this country even if we want to.”

“Haha! I still have traces of magic on me, although it is nothing compared to yours. I can do this much,” Hassena replied.

“Oh, okay. Where should I go?”

“Head to Gangnam Station. There’s a building with a Burger King place on the ground floor. I’m in the basement floor of the building, at a very small coffee shop.”

Haejin had to walk for a long time to arrive at a very, very small coffee shop that had only three tables.

Its cute interior must have been catching women’s attention, but the business couldn’t be very profitable…

Haejin wondered how Hassena had found such a place when he suddenly spotted her. At that moment, he even doubted his eyes.

“It can’t be…”

“It is. It’s me, Eran Silvia.”

Haejin was too shocked and slowly moved until he sat down across her.

He could see that her face was still swollen from the surgery, but her face was almost entirely covered except for the eyes with a mask and bandages. It looked as if she had been beaten up.

“Are you okay?” Haejin asked.

“Of course. I’m very good. I’m looking forward to my new face very much, so please, don’t pity me.”

“Khmm… okay. What about lunch?”

Hassena answered, “I can’t eat. If you’re hungry, you should eat alone after I leave…”

“Oh, but I was going to have lunch with you, Eran…”

“Please don’t call me Eran. Just call me Silvia. I like it better. And I’m sorry, but I cannot eat anything right now. Let’s eat together after I remove the bandages,” Silvia replied.

Well, it looked like she couldn’t even eat soup with her swollen face.

“Then you asked to meet me today because…”

Silvia then took out a piece of paper from her bag.

When Haejin received it, he saw an address that was somewhere near Seoul.

Confused, he started to ask, “This place is…”

“That is where the rest of the members of the Trinitatis, you haven’t found yet, are hiding,” Silvia replied.

“But how did you find this out?” Haejin curiously asked.

“To my surprise, there were many experts in finding people in this country…”

“Have you…”

Did she visit the errands center that provided the people finding service?

Silvia explained, “They didn’t ask much about me. Also, they were not that hostile when I spoke to them with the Korean which I’ve been learning…”

“Since when have you been learning Korean?”

“After I found you were the chosen one,” she replied.

“But you never spoke in Korean when you were with me.”

Silvia smiled, “Because It would be embarrassing. I’m not good at it yet. I’ll give it a try when I get a little fluent in it. I’m attending classes at the language center.”

“It turns out you are even busier than me.”

Silvia continued, “Haha, anyway, I wasn’t exposed, and when I told them their names, nationality, date of the day they came here, and with an appearance of foreigner priests, they said it wouldn’t be hard to find them. Then, they gave me that address exactly three days later.”

“Are you sure you haven’t been exposed?”

Haejin felt more worried about them finding out that Silvia was alive rather than excited about knowing their location.

“Don’t worry, I told you. I have some magic, although not as great as yours. I gave them no information about myself, so they can tell it to no one.”

“Hu… that’s good.”

Silvia smiled and stood up while saying, “I wish I could talk with you more, but it isn’t time yet. So, I must go now.”

Haejin was sorry to hear that.

“But you can stay just a little longer…”

“Meeting you in this condition alone required much courage. Goodbye.”

She lightly stroked down Haejin’s hand and left.

Haejin felt somewhat sad, but he then got a call from his museum.

He had told Eunhae that he had an appointment, so he didn’t expect to get a call unless there was something urgent.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Mr. Park. It’s me, Misun.”

She a member of the staff who handled the administration of the museum.

“What is it?” Haejin asked.

“I just got a request from ABC. They want to interview you.”

“Me? Why?”

“They are preparing to report about Maeokdang Yu Hanwol, so they need your appraisal. Should I set an appointment?”

“What did the director say about it?”

“She said it was up to you.”

“Then I will do it.”

Eunchae must have thought it would be better to tip off the media before Yu Hanwol could convince the prosecutors.

“They say they want to visit you today if it’s possible.”

“Then tell them to come before dinnertime. I’m coming back right now, so I’ll be there in less than an hour,” Haejin replied.

“Okay, sir.”

Haejin looked at the piece of paper in his hand as he stood up.

He was planning to go there immediately, but it looked like he would have to go late in the evening.

He thought it was all the better as he could be seen by people while confronting them even though he had the illusion spell. Next, he headed back to his museum.

When he got there, he took another look at the artifacts that had been entrusted to him for his appraisal. Then, he received the visitors at slightly after 4 p.m.

“Nice to meet you. I am Yu Jaeil. I produce ABC’s Accuse the Guilty.”

He seemed to be in his early 40s and very kind.

“I’m Park Haejin. I was told you wanted to interview me. Is that right?”

Jaeil confirmed, “Yes. You must already know this, but Executive Director Do Eunchae of Palas Hotel has told us about it herself. She also gave us information about the paintings Maeokdang has sold so far. She trusts you more than any other appraisers. That is why we came here to interview you. Would it be okay?”

“Yes, appraising is my job, after all,” Haejin answered while looking at the cameras that came after Jaeil.

The production crew found Haejin’s appraisal room interesting, and they kept filming it. Some of them were even discussing which angle would be the best.

“Haha, my colleagues are amazed, too. We don’t get to often film about antique appraisals.”

“Oh, yes. I see. Let’s just sit here for the interview. I can use the projector while I appraise so you can film it to make it easier for the viewers to understand” Haejin replied.

“Okay.”

Then, a cameraman set a camera and the lights before leaving the room.

“But what am I supposed to do?” Haejin asked.

Jaeil rummaged through a file he brought and showed Haejin a page.

It was the photo of a painting, the fake peonies painting of Sochi Heo Ryeon which Eunchae had him appraise.

Jaeil explained, “First, this is the certificate Director Do gave us says, ‘It isn’t Heo Ryeon’s skilled touch of the brush, and its content is very far from the scholars’ paintings’ philosophy and characteristics of the time. So, it cannot be Heo Ryeon’s painting.’ Is that right?”

“Yes, that is how I appraised,” Haejin replied.

“We don’t know much about paintings, so we don’t know what you meant by the content far from the characteristics and philosophy of the scholars’ paintings. Could you explain?”

Haejin immediately put on the peonies painting he had appraised before on the projector’s screen.

“Can you see the writing here?”

Haejin was pointing at a line of poetry written on the left side of the painting.

“Yes, it’s Bu… haha, I don’t know much about Chinese letters.”

“It’s fine. It’s Bu Gui Ok Dang (富 貴 玉 堂). It means ‘I hope wealth and preciousness come to your house’.”

“Oh, I see.”

Haejin continued to explain, “Moran(peony) is also called Buguihwa, the rich and precious flower, as it is the king of flowers. That is why you can write Bu Gui with peonies, but to add Ok Dang to it, you must draw other flowers.”

“Other flowers?”

“Yes, haedangwha (rugosa rose) and mokryeon (magnolia). As mokryeon is sometimes called okranhwa, it is Ok, and haedangwha has dang, so all three flowers together make Bu Gui Ok Dang. However, this painting has only peonies, so the artist didn’t understand the saying well. Sochi Heo Ryeon would have never made such a mistake. So, this painting has to be fake.”

Jaeil’s eyes sparkled, and he started to quickly write down on his notebook.

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