Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 109: Soldier from the Tomb (2)

Even though Haejin earned well through appraisal, he had to appraise at least dozens of artifacts to earn 800 million won.

And those artifacts had to all be valuable enough to be worth at least 1 billion, so if he could receive 800 million by bringing one Terracotta Soldier, he had no reason to refuse.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

Dojin was feeling urgent, he coughed and chimed in.

“Khmm… and Korea will also help.”

Wang Huiyang then said to Dojin, who was trying to get into this, “I haven’t thanked you enough. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have met Mr. Park. So, from now on, I will help in improving the relationship between our countries.”

That answer made it all worth it for Dojin to run around trying so hard. However, what followed, slightly disappointed Dojin.

“But you have helped enough, we should take care of the rest. So please, stop here. It would be better for our countries.”

Dojin was content with that, he politely bowed and smiled.

“I understand. I hope China and Korea get even closer though this. We will stop by helping with the administrative matters in order to let Mr. Park work easier.”

“I will not forget your help.”

Wang Huiyang said everything he had to say, he then stood up and so did Wang Mingwan.

“I’ll call you. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

She was going to give Haejin the plane ticked and tell him where the Terracotta Soldier was.

After they left, Dojin plopped down on his chair and asked Haejin to sit.

“You’ve done well. Let’s eat first. They didn’t eat, so we will have to eat a lot.”

Dojin started by gulping down the wine as if it was grape juice and started to mix bibimbap.

The cook had said that it was the most popular Korean dish which everyone liked. He thought the guests would like it, so he would be disappointed if he were to find out they didn’t eat at all.

“I am famished.”

Haejin had been too hungry to talk in front of the food without eating, so he also mixed bibimbap and drank the wine.

“Anyway, thank you. Befriending Wang Huiyang was much easier than I thought, all thanks to you.”

“I just got lucky. I didn’t know Wang Mingwan would be at the auction.”

Haejin took a huge spoonful of bibimbap. It was more delicious than he expected, so he started to eat faster.

“Don’t you think everyone would have trusted you even if you were not that close to Wang Mingwan?”

“Umm… no, actually. They all seemed to care about Wang Huiyang, but at the auction room, Wang Mingwan had a strong influence. She heard what I said and started to raise her paddle. Then, the others followed.”

“Really?”

Dojin tried to remember what had happened.

“You were too busy to notice this, but at auctions, wealthy people who buy often, especially those with discerning eyes, have great influence. I don’t think Wang Mingwan has a discerning eye, but maybe it was because she is Wang Huiyang’s cousin. Anyway, people started to act differently once she raised her paddle.”

“I see. Anyway, I was puzzled to see Wang Huiyang come with an unexpected problem, but we have turned it into an opportunity. That’s great. But I have a question…”

Dojin didn’t say what it was, but Haejin could see what he was curious about.

“Do you want to know how I am going to recognize the real Terracotta Soldier?”

“Haha! Yes, I do. I think I know how to appraise porcelains and paintings, but I don’t know how you are going to appraise a Terracotta Soldier. Are you going to use the carbon dating method?”

“That kind of scientific test requires enough time and equipment.”

“Then, how are you going to appraise it?”

“Well…”

Haejin smiled, but actually, there was no way to do it.

All 8000 soldiers look different, and it is thought that only their legs were manufactured by identical molds, so finding out if it’s real solely based on its appearance would be hard.

The story of the fake Terracotta Soldiers being revealed in Germany was also funny. What happened was not a great appraiser seeing them and then raising a question.

The person who reported them being fake was an art dealer. He was a member of the Chinese Culture Center and had the exclusive rights about the exhibition of the Terracotta Soldiers.

However, some Terracotta Soldiers were being exhibited in Germany without him having any knowledge about it so, of course, he could guess they were fake and the whole exhibition was flawed.

Wang Huyaing and his cousin just thought Haejin must have had his own unique appraisal method, but he didn’t.

Maybe someone who had led the excavation at Qin Shi Huang’s tomb for decades might be able to try to find out using some kind of special analysis or characteristic that was yet to be announced.

Haejin’s guess was that Wang Huiyang couldn’t ask them or the Appraisal Committee’s members to help because of political issues, so he had no choice but to choose Haejin.

“Then I will put my faith in you and back you up. About the plane ticket to Japan…”

“Director Wang Mingwan will prepare it for me.”

“Then, what can I do for you?”

“She will also take care of the accommodation, so I must ask you something else.”

“What is it?”

“Maybe… you know, in movies and dramas, government agents use fake IDs.”

Dojin’s expression turned strange as if he was seeing a lunatic…

“So?”

Haejin was embarrassed, of course, but he continued to explain.

“Khmm… I was hoping you could get me one. Only for Japan.”

Actually, fake IDs wouldn’t fool anyone who knew Haejin’s face, nevertheless, he thought going around using his own name could be dangerous.

“Could you tell me why you need it?”

“Actually, there’s bad blood between me and someone in Japan, and he is an infamous art dealer in Tokyo. Although Wang Mingwan didn’t mention him, he is probably the owner of that Terracotta Soldier, or he is very close to the owner.”

“Who is he?”

“Ando Hadake, the Devil of Tokyo. He is either deeply related to the Yakuza or is one himself.”

Dojin stroked his chin and thought about it.

“Why don’t we eat fist?”

“Oh, shall we?”

They ate in the blink of an eye and resumed the conversation.

“Would that be hard? Without it, I cannot go to Japan. He has a grudge against me.”

Dojin thought about it again and called someone.

“Oh, it’s me, Yang Dojin. How have you been? Haha! Yes, of course, I’m fine. Yes, yes. I have good news. I had dinner with Wang Huiyang today and had a very meaningful conversation about the relationship between the countries. No, we didn’t talk about the actual details, but I found out what he had in mind.”

Dojin began with the good news and got to his point.

“Yes, yes. But… he offered us a little tricky deal. Of course, being offered a deal is a good opportunity for us. So, could you get me an ID that works in Japan? It is about… it went that way, anyway. Yes, yes, he is an antique appraiser, and he knows the yakuza in Japan. However, he cannot work in Japan without a fake ID.”

Dojin glanced at Haejin. He was probably trying to check what Haejin was thinking, probably doing this kind of thing had risks for both of them.

“Hmm… I understand. His name is Park Haejin, and his address and Social Security number is… could you write it down?”

Haejin quickly wrote his address and Social Security number on a piece of blank paper, hoping that Dojin wasn’t a fraud.

“Photo… oh, it’s not needed, okay. Thank you.”

Dojin hung up and smiled at Haejin.

“Fortunately, it is possible as it is for the country. But you will be working for the National Intelligence Service temporarily, is that okay?”

“The NIS?”

Dojin replied, as if he couldn’t understand why Haejin was so surprised, “Yes. They cannot make a fake ID for anyone. Even in dramas and movies…”

“Oh, of course.”

If you think about it, it was a necessary procedure.

“Anyway, they are verifying your ID, so if there’s no problem, you will get that fake ID. An agent in Japan will help you when you are there. He will be guarding you just in case, so don’t care about it much.”

Haejin was glad to hear that he would get a guard, but not about the ID being late.

“I am supposed to meet Wang Mingwan tomorrow…”

“You must drag for time. They can’t just make a fake ID in minutes. Oh, and once you’re a temporary agent of the NIS, there will be both something good and bad.”

“What kind of…”

“As you will get to know and befriend the NIS agents, you might be able to get the information you need quickly. Although I don’t know how much that would help…”

“Then the bad part is…”

“Nothing much. As there are few appraisers as good as you, they might ask for your advice. It might be bothering, but I think you can handle it.”

Haejin regretted getting into this bothering business because of the 800+ million.

“Oh… I see.”

However, it had been done already, and as he might be able to help in retrieving Korean artifacts that were abroad, he decided to think it was a good thing.

Dojin went back to his hotel, got some sleep, and met Wang Mingwan the next day around lunchtime.

She gave Haejin his plane ticket and paper that had the information about the hotel where he would stay at.

“Tokyo has a very active artifact black market. There are even more fakes than there are in China.”

You might think that it is impossible to have more fakes than China, but she wasn’t wrong.

Although the Chinese fake market was massive, the word fake didn’t exist in China.

In there, old works of art have been valuable all the time, and the descendants practice by imitating the valuable artifacts. Additionally, those imitations were considered just imitations, not fakes.

The legal artifact trade in China was deeply related to the imitation of old artifacts.

However, Japan was different. They also know well that old works of art are valuable, but around the Second World War, they were very passionate about looting and selling the artifacts of the east.

Of course, that culture is still there, and one of the reasons why China hates Japan so much is that countless artifacts from China were stolen by the Japanese back then.

“I know that black market.”

She smiled and raised her eyebrows.

“I am glad to hear you know Tokyo’s black market well. Then, I will have faith in you. And… if you do this well, I will give you a gift, apart from the money I promised.”

“A gift?”

“Yes. You might like it… or not like it.”

Her ominous smile remained in Haejin’s mind.

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