Chapter 176: Appraiser Talks through Appraising (5)

A week passed in a flash.

Thankfully, after Dier(Father James)’s visit, none of his associates showed up.

Haejin had installed CCTVs around his museum in secret, so no one could spy on him without him knowing.

He guessed that the Trinitatis found out about Dier’s death and had decided that going after Haejin was too dangerous.

In the meantime, Haejin tried to find out more about the Trinitatis and the pro-Japanese people in Korea who had tried to screw him over.

He couldn’t find out much about the Trinitatis, but those who had tried to fool him with Renoir’s painting were already paying for it even without Haejin doing anything.

They had picked the wrong target.

They tried to drag the prime minister’s wife into their scheme, so of course, the police and prosecutors did their best to investigate the matter.

The criminals couldn’t get away with it as there was plenty of evidence that proved they had brought in the two paintings from abroad.

Of course, the people who had given orders to them were not investigated, but those pro-Japanese people received their warnings.

“You sure you can go like this?” Eunhae asked worriedly.

Haejin was about to testify in court as an antique appraisal expert, but he hadn’t prepared any document. He was just going to go empty-handed in his suit, so of course, Eunhae was worried.

“Everything will be revealed once I’m there. Mr. Yang Usik said he will prepare things to back up my testimony,” Haejin then replied.

“Okay, just be careful. And you haven’t heard about how the excavation in Gimhae is going, right?” Eunhae asked.

“Oh, yes. How is it going?” Haejin then recalled the professor who had insisted on restoring the glass vase Haejin found.

After that, what he had said had already been forgotten. Currently, Haejin’s museum’s excavation research agency was leading the project.

Eunhae answered, “It is going well. More than a few artifacts claimed to be valuable enough to become national treasures have been found already, so the Cultural Heritage Administration is keeping an eye on it. We are planning to show the artifacts to the public one by one once the restoration team there finishes restoring them, but you should take a look at them first, right?”

“That wouldn’t be necessary. They are in good hands already,” Haejin replied.

Many researchers, who had studied Shinra artifacts for decades, were included in the project. So, Haejin thought he would be going through unnecessary trouble if he checked the conclusion of such experts.

In the end, he had excluded the pro-Japanese scholars from the excavation, so he had already gotten half of the success.

“Okay, and someone is going to come tomorrow because of the return of the Henderson Collection,” Eunhae informed him.

“From Harvard University?” Haejin asked.

Eunhae then answered, “Yes. I think it is about deciding which artifacts are going to be returned.”

“Tomorrow when?” Haejin wanted to know the time.

“He will arrive at Incheon Airport at around lunchtime, so how about meeting at 4 p.m.?” Eunhae asked.

“Okay. We can have dinner together after the meeting, and uncle Byeongguk has played an important role in this excavation, so we should give him a bonus.”

“Okay,” Eunhae replied.

Actually, the less often you go to places like a police station, hospital, and court, the better it is.

Because of that, Haejin got slightly nervous, even though he was just going to testify as an expert about a lawsuit that didn’t have much to do with him.

He arrived at the court and called Usik who came out to meet Haejin.

“I’m not late, right?” Haejin asked.

“Yes. We still have half an hour.”

On their way, Usik reminded Haejin of what he had prepared. It was to check if there were any issues, and thankfully, there weren’t.

30 minutes passed soon.

And…

“Mr. Park Haejin, please come in.”

“Okay,” Haejin then nervously stepped into the court.

The photo of Lee Gyeongyoon’s painting was already on a huge TV screen.

Then, after Haejin swore the witness oath, Usik asked him, “Although the painting is wandering abroad, and this photo is the only evidence, you said you could appraise with it to some extent. Is that right?”

“Yes. In fact, appraisers often appraise with photos. It is not easy to carry around artifacts to have them appraised as they might be damaged,” Haejin replied.

“I see. Then let me ask you the most important question first. Do you think it is real? Or do you think it is fake?” Usik asked.

Haejin then answered, “I can’t imagine for this painting to be Lee Gyeongyoon’s.”

Usik readjusted his glasses while his eyes sparkled, “Please explain why it isn’t Lee Gyeongyoon’s.”

Haejin pointed at the screen and started to explain, “First of all, Lee Gyeongyoon was a scholar-artist of the mid-Joseon period. It means he inherited the Chinese style of painting.”

“So?”

Haejin continued, “It is a shame, but at the time, most paintings were drawn to boast about one’s knowledge about Confucianism or to show the noble spirit of scholar-officials, except for the paintings of a few masters. So, they were all about old Chinese stories. Because of that, the landscape and animals in the paintings are quite different from the landscape and animals in Korea.”

Usik nodded and encouraged him, “I see. Please, go on.”

“The ox in the painting is a Korean ox. You can still see oxen like those in urban areas. However, Lee Gyeongyoon’s other paintings show different oxen. His oxen have long horns that are curved to the outside. They are the oxen of southern China,” Haejin concluded.

“Oh… then this painting cannot be Lee Gyeongyoon’s, right?” Usik asked.

Haejin confirmed, “Yes, he never painted such oxen in his other paintings.”

“Thank you. As evidence, I submit this scrapbook of Lee Gyeongyoon’s other paintings,” Usik then backed off while looking confident.

The man next to him seemed to be relieved. He had to be Gang Taeju.

“Prosecutor, please inquire the witness,” the judge said.

At hearing this, the prosecutor, who looked very sharp, stood up and looked into Haejin’s eyes.

Haejin wondered if he wanted a staring match, but soon the man’s lips curled up. The prosecutor then asked, “I am prosecutor U Jeongmin. Mr. Park, from what I know, you are not registered to the Korea Appraisal Committee. Is that right?”

“Yes,” Haejin confirmed.

“Hmm… first, you said the painting couldn’t bee Lee Gyeongyoon’s because the ox is different, but what if that day he just wanted to depict a Korean ox and did so? How can you be so sure? It’s not like you have watched his entire life,” the prosecutor inquired.

Haejin then replied, “Artists of Joseon were different from modern artists who just draw whatever they wanted to depict. To them, drawing was a tool for expressing one’s philosophy and reflecting on oneself. We can’t say he just drew a Korean ox just because he wanted to. Additionally, there’s no record of him being such a free man.”

“It makes sense, but it is all just your presumption without evidence… isn’t it?” As the prosecutor said that, he glanced at the judge who showed his agreement by slightly nodding.

“It is possible. Although it is unlikely, it is not impossible,” Haejin admitted it.

The prosecutor’s smile got even broader, but Usik’s face hardened, then he concluded, “I see. That is all.”

The prosecutor was about to return to his seat, but Haejin wasn’t done talking, “However, the ox isn’t the only evidence in the painting.”

There was something that Haejin hadn’t told Usik. As he hasn’t been able to trust anyone lately, he thought keeping it to himself wouldn’t be a problem when it was time to testify.

“What? There is another evidence of it being a fake?”

Haejin confirmed, “Yes. Please look at the flowing stream at the bottom of the painting. Can you see the two mandarin fishes in it?”

Of course, everyone could see them.

The two fishes were as huge as the ox’s head as if the artist had wanted to clearly show their shape.

Haejin continued, “Additionally, in Chinese letter, mandarin fish is guol(鱖). In Korea and China, different meanings are hidden in Chinese letters, depending on how they are pronounced. So, when there is a mandarin fish in eastern painting, it means daeguol(闕-palace). If there was just one mandarin fish, I would say Lee Gyeongyoon showed his relaxed life with the strolling ox, and it expressed his desire to become an official with the swimming fish.”

The prosecutor was thinking ‘so what?’. He wasn’t even trying to hide it while saying, “I see. But what is wrong with that? Lee Gyeongyoon was a member of the royal family, he wasn’t close to the king. He had no power and no title. So, this painting just shows his true feelings.”

“It shows Lee Gyeongyoon’s feelings too well, but unfortunately, the forger knew only half of the meaning,” Haejin said.

“What?”

Haejin explained, “As I just said, I would have interpreted it like that if there had been just one mandarin fish. However, there are two fishes in the painting. Two mandarin fishes mean two guols. It means rebellion.”

At that moment, a chill filled the court.

At the time, the rebellion was the biggest crime. The penalty for it was a massacre of three families: one’s father’s family, one’s mother’s family, and one’s wife’s family.

Everyone in the room was surprised, including the judge.

“Aren’t you exaggerating by saying that two fishes mean rebellion?” The prosecutor asked.

Haejin then continued, “You must understand the meaning behind an eastern painting in order to enjoy it well, not its shape. It is because unlike in the west, scholars made paintings in the east and they enjoyed expressing themselves through paintings. They thought it was vulgar to express or depict directly, so interpreting that meaning now is of course hard for us. Anyway, as you said, Lee Gyeongyoon was a member of the royal family, although he was a little far from the king. And such a man showed the desire to revolt in his painting? He couldn’t have done that unless he wanted to die.”

“Hmm… but…” the prosecutor looked like he wanted to insist the artist had drawn two fishes just because he wanted to do so.

Haejin, however, smiled and interrupted him, “This is not like the breed of the ox. If this court concludes the painting is Lee Gyeongyoon’s, the descendants of the royal family will immediately sue you. Saying he had the desire to take the throne is dishonoring the dead man.”

The tide had been turned now.

Even though the real painting was gone, Haejin had proved it couldn’t be Lee Gyeongyoon’s only with its content.

However, the prosecutor couldn’t be defeated like that. He pointed out at Haejin’s career, “Okay, but I do have a question. You haven’t finished university and are not even 30 yet. How can your appraisal be trusted? He hasn’t even registered to Korea Appraisal Committee. I wonder if he is really well-trained to be present in court.”

He had done some research about Haejin.

Haejin then answered, “I never registered to the committee because I thought I was a much better appraiser than its members.”

The prosecutor raised his voice, “You are way too confident. I can’t help but question what you just said!”

“Really? Then how about this? I’ve been proven by others,” Haejin replied.

“Proven by whom?” The prosecutor asked.

Usik stood up and came to the front with documents, “Mr. Park Haejin is working as the chief appraiser for the Arab Emirate’s Abu Dhabi Royal Family, special appraiser of Italy’s Medici Family, and outer appraisal member of the British Appraisal Committee. These are the certificates sent from them through fax. I submit them as evidence of Mr. Park’s appraisal abilities.”

The prosecutor’s face was distorted with anger.