Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 96: The Medici of the 21 st Century (2)

If the controversial Dali’s painting was worth two billion, 3% of it would be sixty million won. No one would be willing to pay that much as the appraisal fee.

Both its new owner and the Haevici Gallery couldn’t accept that easily, even Yaerin, who was considered the next director, couldn’t accept it.

“This is a test, you can’t ask for a fee…”

“He might think this is a test, but to me, this is regular appraisal work. And, with what rights is he testing me?”

Yaerin couldn’t say anything at this. She looked at her rude client and turned to Eunhae.

“Fine then, write a document that you request that fee and send it. You can do that, right?”

“Well, okay…” Eunhae nodded.

Yaerin then looked at Haejin again.

“You will get your fee, either from Charles Saatchi or me. So, you don’t mind doing as they want, right?”

Haejin had no reason to refuse when he would get paid. Apart from how he felt about it, getting sixty million won as the fee would be good for the museum.

“Okay, I’ll do that. Then, are you going to wait until they contact you again?”

“Yes, we’ll come back tomorrow. Will that be okay, madam?” Yaerin asked her client but, as things were going that way, she had no choice but to nod.

“Hu… what else we can do? Do it.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, we’ll come in the morning. I hope we get to meet you without waiting then.”

Yaerin seemed to be in a hurry, she then left with her client.

Eunhae watched them leave and talked.

“She must be suffering from a severe headache now.”

“Will she pay the fee?”

“Yes. They can’t be expecting you to demand sixty thousand dollars after tossing you a photo to test you. Of course, they would refuse, and Yaerin knows it.”

“Then why did she ask you to send that document to Charles Saatchi?”

“She’ll ask me to send it to her later. She’s about to spend sixty million won as the fee, if that money leaves the gallery’s bank account without any evidence, she won’t be able to get away with it.”

“Oh…”

“Plus, she isn’t in charge of the museum yet. Her aunt is. So, she must show something to her aunt… unlike the money spent to buy artifacts, the appraisal fee is spent without any solid result. If she handles this poorly, she will get accused of making a secret fund.”

“Then, is that why you paid such a small fee to me when you were in Saeyeon Gallery?”

Eunhae looked away.

“Why are you bringing up what’s in the past?”

“Haha, why? You’re sorry?”

Haejin laughed and tried to look into her eyes. She then wrinkled her nose.

“That’s what Lee Jongmyeong said at the time. However, that wasn’t wrong. I had to do my best not to clash with the board members, but you were asking for a fee that was too big, so if I had given it to you, the board wouldn’t have overlooked it. They would have accused me of trying to wash that money to take it and gone through every bank account in my name.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was that serious.”

“I’m sorry as well. I regretted paying you so little for a long time. I had to quit in the end, why was I so worried at the time…”

“You didn’t have a choice then.”

Haejin had asked that to tease Eunhae, but the mood was now heavy. He felt sorry. Next, Eunhae suddenly looked at him.

“Oh, but what was that painting? It just looked like a still-life painting to me.”

The painting in the photo had a flower in a vase against the dark navy background.

The background, the vase, and the flower were all dark overall, so it was completely different from the Gogh’s Sunflower series.

“Oh… it looked like Gauguin’s.”

“Gauguin’s?”

“Yes. They didn’t include the bottom part in the photo on purpose so that I won’t be able to see the signature.”

“Then, how did you find it out so quickly? And in such a short time?”

“That painting is exhibited in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. Of course, I’ve seen it when I was in Spain.”

“You went around even more than I did. I have traveled a lot myself, but sometimes you sound like you scarcely were in Korea.”

“Few people have traveled around abroad more than I have.”

“You didn’t go to school?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…”

She was surprised. She looked at Haejin, waiting for him to tell her the truth, but Haejin ignored that.

“Let’s go to eat something. I’m famished.”

Haejin didn’t want to say that his father had been a grave robber who robbed graves all over Asia.

Even if it hadn’t been him but his father.

Eunhae wanted to ask more, but when Haejin didn’t talk, she gave up.

The next day, Yaerin came early in the morning, just as she had said. There was no need to talk in the hallway, so Eunhae let her come into her office.

“As it’s just you and me, let’s talk comfortably. I sent the document about the appraisal contract as you said, and they didn’t reply… what will you do about the fee?”

Eunhae asked leisurely. Haejin had let her handle this on purpose.

“We’ll pay the fee.”

“Oho… your aunt didn’t object?”

“There’s no reason to. If we can finish this with sixty million won, that’s not bad.”

Yaerin was taking this case quite seriously.

“Okay then, let’s start.”

Haejin had no reason to hesitate when Yaerin was going to pay him. He started to look at the photo.

Fortunately, it was a clear picture, so he could examine in detail. Nevertheless, it is impossible to feel the texture of the oil painting with a photo, and there are things you know only when you see the actual painting, so it wasn’t perfect.

Haejin looked at the painting for a long time and opened his mouth.

“It’s fake.”

Yaerin had thought that could happen, she nodded and asked her question. She was recording with her phone.

It was to write down what Haejin would say and send it to Charles Saatchi.

“Why do you think this is fake?”

“First of all, I’ve seen the real painting. In Madrid… the artist tried to imitate its mood as much as possible, but the colors and feeling of the flower are different. This painting is luxurious and abundant. The flowers in the real painting have withered petals that look somewhat pitiful. Although this is similar, the image the artist is trying to create is completely different. This isn’t even a fake of great quality.”

Yaerin asked again.

“But the colors might look a little different as this is a photo. Plus, Gauguin might have wanted to depict the same motif differently after making the painting in Madrid.”

Haejin shook his head.

“If he wanted to create something like Gogh’s Sunflower series, he might have used different composition and methods. However, this is about the feeling the artist got from the flower in this painting. Getting a totally different feeling from one flower is strange unless Gauguin had a split personality.”

That answer was enough so Yaerin stood up.

“Thank you, you’ll get your fee before lunchtime. Our staff will come to write the contract about it.”

“Thank you.”

“I was just trying to help a friend choose a gift. I didn’t know this would happen.”

“I hope things go well for you.”

“Thank you for your help. I didn’t feel bad about paying you the fee as I failed to find the person you asked me to find. Let’s have lunch together later someday.”

“Okay.”

Yaerin left after that while Eunhae pouted.

“When are you going to have that lunch? If you’re going to have lunch with Yaerin, take me, too.”

“Haha! Of course, I should take you with me. How can I have lunch with Yaerin without my boss?”

Eunhae slowly smiled.

“Ha! Then I will look forward to it. Yaerin is cool and never buys at cheap restaurants. That’s the only thing I like about her.”

“How about Seolleongtang (Korean ox broth) for lunch today? With boiled pork…”

“Good! I’m hungry already.”

Eunhae was so cute that it made Haejin smile. It was now lunchtime. They ate Seolleongtang and enjoyed the date that wasn’t a date, but then Haejin got a call from the museum.

“What? Who’s trying to reach me?”

“Who is it?”

That was a strange reaction. Eunhae stopped eating and asked with her eyes as big as a rabbit’s.

“Charles Saatchi is asking my phone number.”

“Wow… you’ve become really famous.”

Haejin instructed them to give his number and hung up. He got an international call in less than five minutes. He hesitated, but he took it. He spoke in English, of course.

“Hello?”

“Hello. I am Damon of Charles Saatchi Foundation. I just received an appraisal of a photo from Korea, and they told me that it was from you. We are thanking you very much and are very impressed at the same time. You appraised it perfectly with only a photo.”

“Oh, really? You say you had it appraised, but you never paid the fee.”

Haejin could feel Damon getting surprised.

“Oh… I am very sorry about it. The owner of the painting said that she didn’t mean to ignore you.”

“Even if she didn’t mean that, she did have that photo appraised for free.”

“That’s… I heard that was a test. Wasn’t it?”

“Haha! Hey! Who do you think you are? You think you have the rights to test me?”

Eunhae looked worried, thinking that Haejin was taking it too far, but Haejin didn’t mind. He had said everything he wanted to say in front of Prince Sahmadi of the Arab Emirates, so an employee of Charles Saatchi Foundation was nothing…

“Oh… I am really sorry. We will look into this again and pay you the right fee.”

“No. I’ve already received my fee from the gallery that worked as the middleman in this matter. Then, are you going to stop arguing that painting is not fake?”

“We know that we have been late to take care of this. It’s been decided that the painting will be refunded without a problem.”

“Really? That’s good.”

Even though it wasn’t Haejin’s business, he thought it was good. It wasn’t like Yaerin was his nemesis.

He didn’t like that she did not keep her promise on finding the person for him, but it had been a slightly strange request and, as he had received sixty million for the fee, he had gained even more.

“Mr. Saatchi has officially invited you to our foundation. He wants you to come to Saatchi Gallery’s special exhibition.”

Saatchi Gallery is an art museum of contemporary arts in London. It has a great influence on contemporary art.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not that interested in contemporary art.”

“It’s okay. Mr. Saatchi said he wants to meet you very much.”

“Hmm… is it because Mr. Saatchi has something that has to be appraised?”

Or Damon wouldn’t be asking repeatedly like that. Just as Haejin thought, Damon revealed the real purpose of the invitation.

“Actually, Mr. Saatchi has invited famed appraisers. It is to have a painting appraised, and he wants you to come to appraise it, too.”

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