Chapter 146: Genuine Treasures (2)

Gangnam Station Exit 5.

An elderly gentleman in a suit emerged from the bustling crowd.

His white hair was neatly groomed.

Round glasses perched on the tip of his nose and sharp, intelligent eyes gave off a distinctly scholarly air.

The elderly man headed toward a sleek new building near Gangnam Station.

In front of the building stood a jade-colored structure modeled after Goryeo celadon pottery, and beneath it the information plaque bore large engraved letters.

[Republic of Korea Ancient Art Appraisal and Evaluation Association]

As the elderly man entered the building, the front desk staff bowed at ninety degrees.

“Welcome, sir.”

“Yes. You’ve worked hard today as well.”

With that brief greeting, the elderly man headed to his office on the fifth floor.

A panoramic view overlooking the entire Gangnam area unfolded.

On the elderly man’s desk sat an ornate nameplate.

[Kim Cheolhyun, President of the Republic of Korea Ancient Art Appraisal Association]

Kim Cheolhyun.

He was one of South Korea’s most prominent archaeologists and a leading expert appraiser of ancient artworks.

Since first diving into archaeology at the age of twenty, he had spent over fifty years immersed in antiques.

Today too, he had returned after appraising newly excavated artifacts from Gyeongju in Gyeongsangbuk-do.

At that moment.

Ding!

[A new email has been received.]

Kim Cheolhyun checked his smartphone.

Soon he let out a sigh and set the phone down.

Hundreds of emails flooded the Republic of Korea Ancient Art Appraisal and Evaluation Association every single day.

The contents were all similar.

They had found an incredible-looking item in their warehouse. 

They wanted their family heirloom appraised. 

They wanted the value of antiques imported from overseas evaluated…

If all those stories were true, the Korean Peninsula would already be overflowing with rare ancient artworks.

Of course, most turned out to be fakes upon actual appraisal.

Occasionally they discovered genuine pieces, but those were worth only a few hundred thousand won at best.

Kim Cheolhyun took a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and poured himself a full glass.

Gulp, gulp—

A burning heat spread throughout his body.

Had his aging body caused his mind to deteriorate along with it?

Lately, feelings of emptiness and bitterness washed over him like a tidal wave.

In his younger days, overflowing with youthful energy, finding even one genuine piece among tens of thousands of fakes had filled him with a sense of accomplishment and ecstasy.

……But not anymore.

His physical stamina and mental fortitude had hit rock bottom; he no longer had the strength to risk failure.

Nothing sparked any vitality or interest in his work.

‘Is this what they call burnout syndrome? To feel this way after passing seventy.’

At that moment.

Knock, knock!

A soft voice came from beyond the door.

“Sir? Do you have a moment?”

“Come in.”

A neatly dressed woman in her thirties entered the room.

She was the research assistant who supported Kim Cheolhyun.

“There is something I would like you to check, sir. A post about antiques went up on an internet bulletin board today, and it is becoming quite an issue regarding whether the items are genuine.”

“Internet? It is not just some fabricated composite images, is it? People pull those kinds of stunts all the time to attract attention, don’t they?”

“Yes, that is usually the case… but this time related news articles have even been written. Moreover, we received word that the TLT Appraisal Agency has already dispatched someone to the site.”

“Hmm.”

It did not matter how many related articles were posted.

There were quite a few sleazy reporters who wrote articles presenting false information as fact and then washed their hands of it.

However, the TLT Appraisal Agency was a different story.

For an agency made up of young, highly talented individuals to step forward…

“Let me take a look.”

Kim Cheolhyun examined the document folder the assistant handed him.

The first page featured a printed photo of a jar made in ancient Chinese style.

“Hmm?”

Kim Cheolhyun’s eyes narrowed.

He then silently began flipping through the documents.

Flip, flip, flip—

Plates, Buddha statues, brass bowls, bronze swords, molds, incense burners, wooden masks, broken tiles, faded books, and more.

Kim Cheolhyun’s eyes gradually widened.

A small spark blazed in his pupils.

Finally.

“……Let’s go.”

Kim Cheolhyun muttered under his breath.

Silence filled the office.

Soon the assistant spoke cautiously.

“Um… sir?”

“What do you mean by ‘let’s go’? Do you mean a phone call?”

Kim Cheolhyun shouted as he put on his coat.

“Start the car! We need to go right now! Immediately!”

***

A narrow alley slope like a hillside shantytown.

Climbing it for a while revealed an old villa that looked like it had been built in the 1990s.

The alley, usually deserted with hardly anyone passing through, was now packed with dozens of people.

Soon Kim Cheolhyun and his assistant joined the crowd.

Kim Cheolhyun looked around, scrutinizing each person one by one.

‘They are all people I know.’

The country’s top antique appraisers had gathered in one place.

Local government officials and newspaper reporters were mixed in as well.

‘Well, it is no wonder they are making such a fuss.’

Even Kim Cheolhyun himself had canceled his afternoon schedule and rushed over.

Around 1 PM that day, a post had gone up on various internet communities.

Hundreds of photos of antiques were attached, and the first comment contained an address, phone number, and a short message.

[All items for sale. Not urgent. Selling everything at fair market value. Professional appraisers are welcome to visit.]

Posts like this designed to attract attention flooded the internet year-round.

The problem was that the antiques in the attached photos looked anything but ordinary to the experts’ eyes.

Kim Cheolhyun swallowed dryly.

‘There were more than just one or two items that appeared to be artifacts whose whereabouts had long been unknown.’

Books lost during the Imjin War.

Buddha statues that disappeared during the Japanese colonial period.

Bronze incense burners lost during the Korean War, and so on.

Artifacts that had vanished from history had suddenly reappeared.

Soon two people standing in front of the villa came into view.

An elderly woman who appeared to be over eighty.

Beside her stood a young man in his twenties who looked like her grandson.

He had a tall, well-built frame with broad shoulders.

Distinct facial features and flawless skin.

‘…He looks like a television actor.’

He was the most handsome young man Kim Cheolhyun had seen in recent times.

Kim Cheolhyun’s assistant could not tear her eyes away from the young man for even a second.

Soon the young man spoke.

“It looks like everyone has arrived. Thank you all for coming such a long way! I will serve each of you a cup of tea. Coffee, black tea, chamomile, rooibos, peppermint… We also have hot chocolate and yulmu tea. Warm? Or cold?”

The appraisers stared at the young man with displeased expressions.

No one answered.

At that moment, Kim Cheolhyun’s assistant shyly raised her hand.

“Um, I… will have a warm coffee…….”

“Hmm! Hmm!”

When Kim Cheolhyun cleared his throat repeatedly, the assistant quickly lowered her hand.

Only then did the appraisers begin to speak one by one.

“Skip the tea! Just show us the items already!”

“How long are you going to make busy people wait?”

“Are these items even real?”

Complaints erupted from here and there.

It seemed those who had arrived before Kim Cheolhyun had been waiting for quite a while.

Regardless, the young man smiled leisurely.

“You are all in too much of a hurry. The antiques do not have legs, so they will not run away. Understood. Then I will show you right away.”

There was not the slightest sign of intimidation in front of people several times his age.

Soon the young man began leading the appraisers up the stairs.

Watching this, Kim Cheolhyun tilted his head.

‘…Strange. That young man carries a peculiar sense of presence.’

The young man led them to a studio apartment on the fourth floor of the villa.

The moment the door opened, the appraisers burst into exclamations.

Hundreds of antiques were packed tightly into a space of roughly eight pyeong.

Every single one looked like a meticulously and delicately crafted genuine piece.

Even their preservation condition was overwhelmingly superior to museum exhibits.

But that was not the end of it.

“This is the first storage room. The remaining three studio apartments on this floor also contain similar quantities of antiques.”

The appraisers were left speechless, this time for an entirely different reason.

Some were completely absorbed in looking at the antiques, while others stared at the young man with suspicious eyes.

Soon afterward the young man opened all the remaining studio apartments where the antiques were stored.

“Feel free to look around at your leisure. If any of you are interested in purchasing, please speak directly to me. I do not believe any of you would do such a thing… but please note that CCTV cameras are installed everywhere.”

Soon the appraisers began wandering around.

Kim Cheolhyun approached the young man standing in the hallway.

“You… are you a ‘con man’?”

“A soldier? No, I was discharged last year.”

“No, I mean are you a grave robber?”

The young man shrugged his shoulders.

“In the first place, are there even any places left to rob graves these days?”

“I am not a grave robber, so do not worry. I have a ledger organized with purchase dates, locations, and prices. I can show it to you if you wish.”

“No need. Let me examine the items.”

Kim Cheolhyun walked over to an antique on the shelf.

It was a yellowish earthenware vessel narrow at the mouth and base but bulging in the middle.

As he examined it, Kim Cheolhyun’s eyes began to tremble.

“Th-this is…….”

Strange characters were densely engraved across the surface of the earthenware.

They were oracle bone script used in ancient China.

The vessel vividly depicted a war scene between King Zhou and the feudal lords of Zhou.

In other words, it was an artifact from ancient China made at least three thousand years ago. And it was in such perfectly preserved condition.

At that moment the young man approached and spoke.

“Your eye is excellent. It is from the Shang dynasty period. The surface bears an inscription in oracle bone script left by the last emperor, Di Xin, regarding the Hongdo Hall. Ceramics with oracle bone inscriptions are extremely rare, so their value is incredibly high, is it not? It should start in the tens of billions of won at minimum…….”

It was accurate.

From the period of the artifact’s creation to the reason for its high value and even the estimated appraisal price.

It matched Kim Cheolhyun’s thoughts down to the last detail.

‘Just who is this young man?’

He had never seen this face in the archaeology academic world or at any excavation sites.

Where on earth had such a person suddenly appeared from?

At that moment the young man began calling the appraisers together.

“Could everyone gather for a moment? I will now show you the rarest and most valuable antiques among everything here.”

The young man took out a small wooden box from the shelf.

Creak—

Inside was a pair of bells.

Black bells connected by a red knot.

The appraisers who saw them began to murmur.

“……What is that?”

“I have never seen this style before.”

“It looks somewhat similar to bells made during the Tang dynasty.”

“It appears to be a ritual tool, but I cannot even begin to guess the period of its creation.”

Even Kim Cheolhyun could not properly appraise the bells.

It was clear they were made in ancient Chinese style.

Then the young man smiled brightly and said.

“This single bell is valuable enough to turn every antique here into mere junk.”

One appraiser asked bluntly.

“So what era exactly is this artifact from?”

“This bell is a relic from before the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in China.”

“What? So you are saying this bell dates back to before the thirtieth century BC at the very least?”

“That is correct.”

The young man lifted the bell and continued his explanation.

“And it was a ritual item used to seal something.”

A heavy silence fell over the room in an instant.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the young man’s mouth.

Then, with one more statement from the young man, silence once again enveloped the interior.

“It is the bell that sealed Chi You, the god who appears in Chinese mythology.”