Artifact Reading Inspector

Haejin hadn’t known Albert for long, but he could guess what kind of person he was.
He knew particularly well about his pride, so he didn’t expect for Albert to openly ask for his help.
“You want me to help you?” Haejin asked.
“Yes. I know we don’t really get along, but please.” Albert was serious.
Haejin was now in trouble. He hadn’t planned to stay in Italy for so long, therefore he was thinking of quickly going back to Korea.
Someone could break into his museum and steal the Double Dragon Sword while he was not there, and Byeongguk might have already found the tomb in Kimhae.
He couldn’t stay any longer.
“Hmm… hey, I cannot say that I am fond of you, but I don’t want to refuse to help you just like that. However, I didn’t think I would stay here for so long when I decided to come here. I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to go back.” Haejin had thought Albert would now back off, but to his surprise, he was stubborn. Maybe it was something urgent.
“It won’t take long. One day… no, two, just two days. It will take you less than an hour to appraise a painting, right?” Albert asked.
“Yes, but…”
Albert then continued, “I’m not asking you to help me for free. I will give you a million… no, two million euros. Please, help me just once. I will never forget it. You might not know about it, but my family has a great influence in England and in the entire Europe. You will be treated like a VIP no matter where you go in this continent.”
Haejin looked at Eunhae who smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
It meant he had to decide, but judging from her smiling face, she was thinking that it was okay to help.
“Have you called the museum?” Haejin asked her. Eunhae then gave him an account of the situation, “The special exhibition is going on without any problem, and the government has sent the documents for raising the rank of the museum. We will get an answer in less than a week. The Uffizi also sent us the papers to lease the artifacts. I didn’t know they would take care of it so fast, but the staff is in an uproar because of it.”
“Yes, they are taking care of it really fast,” Haejin commented. Eunhae then said, “They are either really grateful, or they really can’t let you work with the mafia.”
“Hmm… either way, all the better for us. Anything else?”
“Our new chief excavation counselor reported that he has found a strange site, although he isn’t sure yet.”
The new chief excavation counselor was Byeongguk, and he probably had found something.
“Really? But he is not sure yet?” Haejin asked.
“He didn’t say anything else, but he is about to start digging and has asked for backup. Mina is busy choosing a researcher to send.”
“Oh…”
Haejin nodded, then Eunhae nodded as well while poking him at the side.
“So, stop tormenting him and help. It’s not like two million euros is a small sum of money,” Eunhae said.
“I should, right?”
If his museum wasn’t in trouble, traveling to Europe wasn’t a bad idea at all, especially when Eunhae was with him.
Haejin then turned to Albert again. Haejin and Eunhae were speaking in Korean, but they seemed to be in a good mood. So, Albert was expecting him to say yes and now looked less worried.
“Okay, I will help,” Haejin agreed.
“Thank you. You won’t regret this. I believe in your skills, so I trust you will succeed in this.”
It sounded as if he would be really disappointed if Haejin failed, but he was a proud man. Haejin wasn’t offended.
“That’s good. I hate people who worry about failing. They ruin the things that were about to work. You know, people with a dark aura,” Haejin said.
“Khmm… yes,” Albert then looked away in embarrassment.
“Then, where should I go? I suppose you won’t let me work just here,” Haejin asked.
“Let’s go to London. My home is there.”
“Is the painting, I should appraise, also there?”
Albert smiled, “Of course.”
“Okay then, when are we leaving?”
Albert then replied, “I will have my plane ready. Pack up your things at the mansion and go to the airport, then we will leave immediately. Oh, and this is the phone number of one of my employees. Ask him if you need anything, and he will help you. When you arrive, I will let you borrow my cars, so don’t rent any car. I’m sure I have all the cars you ever dreamt of. Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini…”
“I suppose you are not the CEO of a car-renting company… why do you have all those cars?” Haejin asked. Albert laughed and patted Haejin’s shoulder, “Hahaha! That was a good joke. My hobby is to collect expensive things, especially cars. I drive the car I want each day. It feels better than you think.”
Of course. If you drive a different supercar each day and feel bad, you are insane.
“I envy you,” Haejin really didn’t want to say that aloud, but he did really envy that. Albert came to him and whispered, “If you help me well, I will give you any car you want as a gift.”
“Will you really do that?”
Albert then answered, “I buy at least one car every month, so giving you one wouldn’t be a problem. However, you will have to have it painted again when you take it to Korea. My cars are all red.”
Be it red or yellow, it wouldn’t matter if it was a Ferrari or Lamborghini.
“You won’t be disappointed by my appraisal, of course.”
Haejin hadn’t been that happy when Albert offered to pay him two million euros as the appraisal fee, but after being promised a sportscar, he started to get excited.
Maybe, the sports car he could actually drive was much more appealing than the money he would gain to spend on his museum.
After that, Haejin went back to the ground floor, as the auction was still ongoing. He had nothing more to do there, so he went up to the first floor, said goodbye to Cavani di Medici, and left the mansion.
Cavani said they would meet again, and his family could call him anytime, but Haejin had a feeling that it would happen quite soon.
He and Eunhae packed up and went to Florence Airport where an employee of the Harrington family was already waiting for them.
He took them to the VIP lounge where they could get some rest. He told them a few things, including about the Harrington family’s business.
That family was a historic family from the suburb of London. They had a huge farm and got to own enormous real estates.
Then, they started to trade in London’s finance market. Now, they owned one of the three biggest financial company in England and even had an oil company.
To think that a member of that family was acting so humble in front of the head of the Medici family. Haejin could tell that the Medici still had great influence in the art world.
“You must have waited for long. Well, let’s go.” Albert showed up just in time, but the woman with him wasn’t his sister Florence.
“We meet again. I thought you just left, so I was disappointed.” It was Rachel Butler.
At first, she seemed to be Albert’s nemesis, so Haejin didn’t imagine that she would show up with him.
“I thought you were not that close,” Haejin commented. Rachel smiled, “We are most certainly not that close, but we are not kids. We should work together sometimes. Whether we are friends or not, that doesn’t matter when it comes to business.”
She had just graduated from high school, but she sounded like an adult.
“Haha, you are right. Then let’s go.”
They got up on the plane. Then, Haejin saw the luxurious interior, it felt like he was in a movie. The walls were red, and the sofas were made of real leather. There was even a flight attendant.
“Let’s sit, we have lots to discuss.” Albert invited everyone to sit. Then, he brought a bottle of wine and poured it on every glass.
“We just learned about your family,” Haejin said. Albert then said, “From my employee? Well, yes, my family is rich. You are supposed to be humble in this situation, right? However, I really don’t like that. That’s too childish. I don’t like people who say different things from what they really think, and that was why I didn’t like Asians. Oh, of course, I have changed my mind now.”
“That’s good.”
“Actually, I’m not interested in the fight between the Medici and the mafia. I am just passionate about money and works of art, not that kind of war for justice. Of course, I do admire the Medici for real, but I don’t want to get involved in its fight.”
“And are you sure you can tell me that?” Haejin looked at Eunhae and asked. However, Albert casually leaned back and picked up his wineglass, “Is it such a huge secret? I don’t care if you tell Mr. Medici about it. He would probably tell you he doesn’t care. It’s because you’ve experienced only person-to-person relationships. Family-to-family relationships work a little differently.”
“Hmm… okay. Well then, let’s get to the point. Why did you ask for my help, and why is Ms. Butler with us?”
Albert straightened his back and put his hands together, then he said, “As I said, I don’t want to get involved in the fight between the Medici and the mafia, but the problem is that I have fallen into a trap that the mafia set. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be backing up the Medici.”
“You fell into their trap?” Haejin asked.
“Ms. Butler is here because they had been manipulating the art market for decades. The Butler family lost the most to them. They have lost more than tens of millions of euros.”
That was a massive amount of money. Haejin turned to Rachel, and she sighed while nodding. Albert was right.
“So?” Haejin was waiting for further explanations.
“At first, they used to sell fakes as reals. However, since a few years ago, their schemes have greatly evolved. They even tried to sell the Mona Lisa to us, although it is at the Louvre.”
That was so shocking that Haejin’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t help but ask, “Really?”
“Yes, although the Mona Lisa has been stolen before, and there are still many questions around it, no one would believe them and buy from them so easily. However, they have been trying to do such a thing more than a few times. And then, I messed up.”
“What kind of painting was it for you to mess up? If none other than you believed that it was real…”
If there was another painting that Albert had failed to appraise properly, of course, Haejin was interested.
Albert continued, “No, it’s the other way around. I believed that a real painting was fake. That is why I am in trouble. If I had bought it, I would just take the loss. However, because of my appraisal, two people are about to start a lawsuit.”