Artifact Reading Inspector - Chapter 207

An Gyeon was a great artist. Even those who were not as knowledgeable about the old Korean art, they would be aware of his name. Unfortunately, only a few things about him were known. Even the years of his birth and death were not clear.

“Did you really expected me to not know who Ju Gyeong is?” Haejin asked.

On the top side of the painting, there was An Gyeon’s art name and the words ‘Cheong San Ah Ah Baek Un Yu Yu’.

It just meant the mountains were high and the clouds were far away, but as the writer’s art name was Ju Gyeong, anyone who knew about Korean art would have guessed it was An Gyeon’s painting.

“So? What is this painting about?” Hadake asked back.

“It is An Gyeon’s Cheongsanbaekundo*.”

Records left by the people of Joseon says An Gyeon left around 50 paintings. People of his time picked Cheongsanbaekundo instead of Mongyudowondo as his greatest painting, probably to avoid mentioning his connection with Prince Anpyeong*.

“Hmm…” Ando Hadake’s gaze became deeper.

“Aren’t you curious about whether I know the answer? Or are you just worried about me getting the right answer?” Haejin scolded him.

Hadake then sighed and shook his head, “Hu… that’s how gambling always is. Before you show your card, all kinds of schemes and plots happen, and your opponents are eager to devour you. If you show weakness, you get eaten even before showing your card. I’m a samurai who’s been testing my fate in gambling all my life. You are mistaken if you think you can make me worried with such bluffing.”

“You talk too much. So, you cannot bet with An Gyeon’s painting?” Haejin asked.

“I cannot do anything about Mongyudowondo. The president of Tenri University has old connections with the Liberal Democratic Party, so if I try to make a move on such a man who is at the center of power, the entire gang will be shaken.” Hadake seemed to mean it.

Haejin smiled and spoke as if it was nothing, “Well, okay then.”

He turned back to the painting and examined it carefully.

Then, he slowly opened his mouth and said, “I’ve seen this painting before. Do you know Keijo Art Agency?”

Hadake pretended to be calm, but his shaking eyes showed he was stirring on the inside.

“I’ve heard of it.”

“You’ve only heard of it? You’ve never seen the catalogs of its auctions?” Haejin asked.

Keijo Art Agency was the biggest artifact agency in Korea under the Japanese rule. It was founded for auctions and to enhance relationships between antique dealers. It hosted auctions and made catalogs to lead artifact deals during the colonial era.

It was founded by the Japanese. By 1942, it had become the sixth largest auction agency after Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, and Kanazawa.

As it had been such a huge auction agency owned by the Japanese, Ando Hadake had to know more about it.

“There are more than one or two catalogs for me to see. It’s not like I’m a scholar, why should I memorize catalogs of an agency that existed decades ago?” Hadake replied.

“Huh! How funny. Well, okay, I’ll believe you. Anyway, I’ve seen this painting on one of Keijo Art Agency’s catalog,” Haejin continued.

“That is why this painting is fake? That’s not an answer.”

Haejin replied, “You should hear it to the end. When I saw that catalog, this signature and words were not on the painting. It was just a drawing. And then, these words suddenly appeared? It is impossible to explain unless it is fake.”

However, Hadake easily countered, “That isn’t enough. The evidence must be objective. Your claim means nothing unless you can bring that catalog.”

He wasn’t wrong, but if Haejin had been at some other place, his argument would have been accepted.

Other people, of course, would have looked into that catalog.

Maybe Ando Hadake thought Haejin would easily find out that much. However, he had shown that painting because Haejin couldn’t come up with objective proof right on the spot even though he knew it was fake.

As like with western paintings, it is not easy to discern a fake eastern painting, even if you are an expert.

Additionally, it is extremely difficult to come up with objective evidence so quickly without any scientific tool.

That was the reason why Ando Hadake betted his own life on the game.

Haejin frowned. He needed an answer, but he couldn’t spot anything.

So, he started to examine the painting carefully again.

If only he could use his magic…

“How strange, with your hands tied, you cannot say anything just like Samson without his hair,” Hadake commented.

“Shut up and just wait.”

“Hhhh… I should have had someone cut your fingers long ago. How funny,” Hadake continued to talk.

Haejin got impatient. It was probably because of the gun in Hadake’s hand.

Actually, he could free his hands anytime since he had casted a strength spell on himself.

However, he would lose the game the moment he moved his fingers to appraise.

“I’ll give you ten minutes. It would mean nothing to wait for more,” Hadake then said.

“…”

Haejin wanted to say he needed more time, but he didn’t. It wasn’t because it wouldn’t help, but because he didn’t want to spend precious time on quarreling as he knew Hadake wouldn’t grant his request.

One minute, two minutes… after about five minutes, he realized the coloring wasn’t right.

There was a part painted with aleurone and deep-color pigment which was not often used at the time but frequently seen in Buddhist paintings of the Goryeo period. He could see there was a tiny gap between the paint and the paper.

He forced his excited heart to calm down and stared at that part.

“One minute left. If you haven’t found anything, tell me your last words. Maybe I will deliver it to your lover.”

Haejin shook his head and looked up. Then, he smiled while saying, “I’m afraid you’re the one who should say the last words.”

“What?”

Haejin continued, “The coloring has been tampered with. It used great skill, but not good enough to fool every expert. It was hard to find only because the painting is so old that the lack of skill was covered.”

It was strange. Haejin thought if it had been before he got his magic, he couldn’t have found that out.

He could now judge if the artifact was real or not instinctively after he learned magic, and unlike before, his concentration and observation had improved greatly.

He felt like he had become a genius. If it had been before, he would have failed to notice anything was wrong.

Even though you have great knowledge, you cannot use it properly without enough experience.

“What’s wrong with the coloring?” Hadake asked.

Haejin explained, “The forger put in the writing to make it An Gyeon’s painting, but he didn’t have enough space to write words. Additionally, as the painting had been damaged a lot, he overpainted some parts to restore it, but he wasn’t good enough.”

“Restoration can be done afterward. That isn’t enough to conclude this painting as fake,” Hadake objected.

“No, no. You are not understanding. He made a mistake as he overpainted and wrote over it. That is why I noticed it,” Haejin replied.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Hadake asked.

“If you cannot believe me, I will show you.”

Haejin walked to Hadake and smiled.

“Huh?” The moment Hadake looked at him with confusion, he ripped off the bind and snatched the gun.

It happened so quickly that Hadake lost his gun without even resisting.

“Uuh…”

Haejin smiled, grabbed the gun’s body, and smashed the glass that contained the painting with it.

Crash!

The glass was shattered to pieces. Hadake and his men wanted to go to the painting, but they hesitated because of the gun in Haejin’s hand.

“What have you done?” Hadake couldn’t get up from his wheelchair. He waved his hands in anger, but then, Haejin got rid of the glass pieces and lifted the painting.

“I’m supposed to show you objective proof, right? Please understand as it was to show that evidence. Oh, and I’ll keep this for a while. Please understand that too,” Haejin scolded him while shaking the gun.

Hadake crossed his arms and said, “Fine, then explain.”

Haejin smiled and brought some water. He took a sip and spewed the water on the painting.

Hadake’s men wanted to lunge at him again, but Hadake stopped him.

“Stop, it’s fine. You must pay for the painting if this painting is real. You know that, right?”

“Of course. I will pay you 5 billion won if the painting is real.”

Haejin easily betted 5 billion won and brought a small knife from the kitchen. Then, he started to carefully scratch the painting when it was completely soaked with water.

Now, Hadake came to watch what he was doing.

It wasn’t easy to scratch the painting’s surface.

The paper could get ripped at any time, so scratching only its surface was extremely difficult, but Haejin did it calmly without even the slightest tremor in his hands.

It was only possible because he had perfect control over his body, and it was also the power of magic.

Time passed. Hadake couldn’t press Haejin anymore, probably because the gun was now next to Haejin. A drop of sweat appeared on his forehead when Haejin finally straightened his back.

“What do you think? Funny, isn’t it?”

Surprisingly, when Haejin scraped off the aleurone and deep-color pigment, part of the writing was damaged.

It meant the writing had been added after the overpaint was done, and it meant An Gyeon hadn’t written it himself.

“Hmm…” Hadake wasn’t sweating because it was hot. He wasn’t doing any exercise, either.

He realized that he had trapped himself in the game he made while he watched Haejin working.

“It was smart, though. I was actually a little nervous. Is it time to finish this?”

Haejin picked up the gun again. Hadake closed his eyes. He was accepting his death, so Haejin was quite surprised.

Such a greedy person giving up life so easily was certainly surprising.

“Why aren’t you shooting? Are you afraid of killing?” Hadake asked.

Haejin had burnt men to end their life. Shooting with a gun didn’t scare him. However, he thought for a moment and lowered the gun.

“Enough. I know what you’re up to, so get rid of that disgusting expression. But I have one question.”

Hadake was surprised at Haejin’s decision.

“What is it?”

“Tell me a secret of Tenri University’s president. Then I’ll leave. I don’t care if you kill yourself or not.”

Hadake’s face turned red. He clenched his fists as if he had just been insulted, but he still wanted to live. He then made his men leave.

“Is it to get An Gyeon’s Mongyudowondo back?”

*Cheongsanbaekundo means Painting of Green Mountains and White Clouds.

*Prince Anpyeong, Prince Suyang, and King Munjong were all sons of King Sejong. After King Munjong passed away and his young son Danjong became the king, Prince Suyang forced him to give up the throne. Later, he killed both Danjong and Prince Anpyeong. Mongyudowondo depicts the scenery that Prince Anpyeong saw in his dream. He then summoned An Gyeon to have him draw the dream.