Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 48: Needle in a Haystack (2)

“Hong Kong?”

“There is a place called Dafen not far from Hong Kong. Have you heard of it?”

“If I don’t know of that place, I should stop working as an appraiser.”

If Jingdezhen was the biggest porcelains production region in China, Dafen was the biggest oil painting region.

More than 60% of the world’s oil paintings were made in Dafen, and about 80% of them were fakes.

They don’t make fakes to sell them in secret and become rich (Of course, there were still some people who wanted to make money with forgeries).

The people, who live and study art in there, will paint fakes to practice, and they sell those fakes to make their living.

So, those fakes come in various qualities, from the crude ones that look different to even ordinary eyes and to great ones that were hard to tell apart from a real painting.

“This business card belongs to a very famous art dealer in Hong Kong. Half of the works of arts in Hong Kong go through his hands. Most are fake, of course, but there are some reals.”

“So, you want me to find a real one and buy it.”

“Yes, I will pay you enough.”

“Hmm… okay. I’ll go. I have, however, one condition.”

Haejin had no reason to not go. One trip would give him more than a hundred million.

“A condition? What is it?”

“I am going as Ms. Yaerin’s partner. Not as an employee… I guess you know what I mean?”

Yaerin’s face turned slightly red. It was not that she was ashamed, but probably because she didn’t expect that she would be scolded so openly.

Haecheol glanced at Yaerin and smiled.

“Hhh… she might be reckless, but not enough to mess up with business. I will also warn her, so don’t worry about it. We don’t have much time, so please leave tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Haejin pleasantly enjoyed the chewy raw fish while Yaerin was murmuring to herself.

“Show-off…”

The next day, they went to Hong Kong. What was different from the last trip was that Haejin was going to Hong Kong instead of the U.S. and Yaerin was with him instead of Eunhae.

“Jason Chang has known my grandfather for a very long time. However, grandfather doesn’t often buy his painting.”

“Because there are many fakes?”

“Similar to that. There are many fakes, and all his paintings are expensive.”

“Ohh…”

Yaerin was wearing a sleeveless shirt and sunglasses while enjoying downtown Hong Kong’s beauty in the open car as if she was there for fun.

“Jason Chang buys almost all of the best fakes in Dafen and brings them to Hong Kong.”

“Then, fakes must be often sold.”

“Many buy fakes while knowing that, many buy them without knowing that. Unless you have the record of every oil painting in the world, buying only reals among his paintings is impossible.”

It was a great expression. You can never buy only reals… that would make all the appraisers’ blood boil.

“Hmm… I knew that he was that great, but…”

Haejin had of course been to Hong Kong and Dafen when he and his father traveled around the world.

When they were in Hong Kong, Haejin’s father had lung disease and had gotten a knee surgery because of Ando Hadake so, instead of excavating, they just watched artifacts. They even went to Christie’s auctions.

Haejin’s father showed Haejin some great forgeries in Dafen. At the time, there were only a few paintings of that quality.

“You do not believe me.”

“This is not my first time in Dafen.”

Yaerin wrinkled her nose.

“I doubt it. It might not be your first time in Dafen, but it will be your first time working with Dafen’s real paintings. I guarantee it. Even my appraiser was fooled more than once.”

That ‘my appraiser’ had to be Oh Jaepil who used to appraise at her side. He was one of the top three appraisers in Korea so, if he had been fooled, the quality had to be great.

“I am excited.”

“I am hoping that you won’t disappoint me. I really want my grandfather to win this time.”

Yaerin looked rude, but she did care about her family.

30 minutes after leaving the airport, they went into a huge building situated in the middle of downtown Dafen.

The lobby was full of employees in suits, so Haejin thought this wasn’t right. However, when he arrived at the lower ground floor, he started to feel that he had come to meet an art dealer.

“Is it your first time?”

A beautiful woman in her 20s greeted them politely. Haejin gave her the business card Haecheol had given him. She took it and went inside.

A while later, she came out with a man in his late 30s. He was wearing traditional Chinese clothes.

“I will escort you from now on. Please, let’s go in.”

Haejin was slightly nervous because the man looked as if he would start performing martial arts at any moment, but Yaerin followed him as if there was nothing wrong.

He went past many paintings and went down to the second basement floor.

They went down the stairs. The man then opened the door and went in, the room was not that big.

There was an easel for the painting and a comfortable sofa to watch the painting at ease. Their material and pattern were not ordinary, so they must have been very expensive.

“We have many paintings here, but I guarantee you, they are all great. Which painting do you want to see first?”

Haejin was not going to examine the paintings one by one. He didn’t want to spend minutes on appraising one painting.

“Please show me all the paintings and I will choose one. Sitting still bores me, anyway…”

The Chinese man was a little surprised at Haejin’s fluent Cantonese. Then, he soon nodded and opened the door on the other side of the room.

“Then please, come.”

Honestly, Haejin thought, ‘There can’t be that many’. However, once he went through that door, the room was at least 300 square meters big and was full of paintings.

“If I see these paintings one by one, I would not be able to decide even after days.”

“That’s because all the customers have different tastes. This is a painting by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, this is by William Turners, and this is Diego Velazquez’s…”

The names that came out of his mouth all belonged to great artists. Each time he said a name, he pointed at a painting of great quality.

Yaerin had taken off her sunglasses and was staring at the paintings.

“There is no need to hurry. Take your time and choose.”

The man took a step back and stood like a guard. He was probably trying to protect the valuable paintings from the buyers.

“There is no price tag.”

“If you decided to buy, I will find out the price for you.”

What nonsense. It meant the price could change all the time.

“Okay. I’ll take my time.”

One good thing was that there was no time limit. Haejin started to examine the paintings at ease.

Yaerin was wearing sneakers as if she knew that she would have to stand for a long time.

After about 30 minutes, Haejin could see why Yaerin had warned him so much about this place.

All the paintings were good enough that made it hard to conclude them as fakes. Of course, most of the paintings he had seen so far seemed to be fake, but if someone just a little less capable had examined them, that person would have been shocked.

This place was so absurd. Even the paintings exhibited in the top 3 galleries of the world were here and arguing ‘those are fakes and we have the real deal’.

“You can do this, right?”

Yaerin came and asked. She sounded nervous.

“Can’t we just leave if I cannot decide on something?”

“If you come in here and just leave, you can never come back. You have to buy something, even if you know it’s fake.”

What a crazy place. However, that meant there had to be some reals among the enormous number of paintings.

“We have a lot of time, so stop nagging me. We don’t have to hurry.”

“Yes, but…”

However then, they heard the sound of the door opening again. Another customer came into this broad world full of oil painting.

Apart from a man in his 30s, who seemed to be an employee of this place, there were one man and one woman. Both of them were over 50 years old.

The woman was quite well-built and was wearing all kinds of luxurious goods. On the other hand, the man was thin and was wearing a navy suit.

As the woman walked in front, the man followed her one step behind. She was the buyer.

“There are guests here already.”

The woman glared at the employee. It probably meant, ‘How dare you make me shop with someone else?’

“I am sorry, but as we offer enough time to decide on buying, multiple people can be here at the same time.”

The anger in her eyes didn’t fade after the polite apology. So, Haejin spoke in Cantonese.

“Why don’t you stop letting your anger out at him and concentrate on the paintings? Fighting in front of these works of art is not good…”

Although Haejin’s Cantonese was good, it could not be the same as the locals’. She crossed her arms.

“You are not even a Han Chinese? You are handsome… but look like you don’t have money.”

“Whether I am a Han or not, what does that matter? What is important is that I have discerning eyes.”

That touched her ego. She took a step forward and lifted her chin.

“You think my eyes are lesser than yours? I won’t tolerate you because of your handsome face.”

Was that an insult or a compliment? Haejin thought she was just weird. Then, she came even closer.

“I cannot concentrate on the paintings when I am distracted by others, so why don’t you leave?”

“That is because you don’t have a discerning eye. Just staring at a painting hard doesn’t mean really recognizing their real value.”

Haejin was teaching her and that attitude made her snap. She turned red in an instant and raised her index high.

“Lee Shian! Come here!”

She yelled, and the man who had been standing behind politely came.

“Yes.”

“I guess this man has a great discerning eye, huh? Pick the most valuable painting here and bring it to me. Can you do it?”

“Of course.”

At this, the woman raised her eyebrows and talked to Haejin and Yaerin.

“This is Lee Shian, manager of the National Culture Bureau’s Artifact Management department. In other words, he is one of the top 3 appraisers in China. You think you can be more accurate than him? How dare you… and you look like you don’t have enough money to be here…”

This time, Yaerin snapped to hear that she looked not wealthy.

“You are hilarious. Who doesn’t have money? Judging from your shape, you must go crazy when it comes to food… hey, you can beat that fat woman, right?”

Yaerin yelled in Korean as she could understand Chinese but not speak it. However, the woman could see that Yaerin was cursing at her and raised her index again.

“Lee Shian! Teach that ugly girl what true art is.”

It was so hilarious and absurd. Haejin was thinking about whether he should play with her or not when Lee Shian came to him and offered his hand.

“What a funny game. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, yes.”

Haejin shook hands with him. Then, he saw the ring on his finger. Its pattern was somehow familiar, but he had never seen it on any products from ordinary brands.

He tried to forget it and concentrate on the paintings, but the pattern kept spinning around his mind.

Just when he was about to feel irritated, he recalled where he had seen it.

“Uuh?”

“What? What is it?”

Haejin was suddenly surprised. Yaerin quickly reached him. He waved his hand, said it was nothing, and got away from her. Cold sweat was running down his back, and he could feel his heart beating like crazy.

The magic book… it was the pattern that was on the book his father had brought him.

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